One of the most impressive aspects of Hades is the number of unlocks. The roguelike has a bunch of ways to get additional items and abilities to help you through hell. The “Companions” are an unlock that is pretty late game, and incredibly strong. It will take you a huge amount of runs to get them, but once you do… oh boy! Because of how important these are, and how long it takes to get them, we’ve got a short guide explaining how to unlock them.
Minor Spoiler Warning!
How to Unlock Companions in Hades
There are a total of six companions in Hades, all of them unlocked in the same way. You need to give someone 5-6 Nectar to increase their Affinity Gauge and then complete a favor for them. After you do that, they will give you a Summon, or “Legendary Keepsake,” which appears at the bottom of the keepsake screen after you spend an Ambrosia on them — these will serve as your companions.
In the list below, you’ll find a full breakdown on how to unlock every companion, or Legendary Keepsake as they’re also called.
List of Legendary Keepsakes
- Battie (Unlocked through Megaera): Deals a huge amount of damage in front of you, but can’t be used against the Fury Sisters or the Final Boss.
- Meg’s favor is completed after a random number of Fury encounters, when she meets Zag and informs him that she’s being forced to do this.
- Mort (Unlocked through Thanatos): After a delay, explodes in front of you for ridiculous damage, but can’t be used during Thanatos encounters or the Final Boss.
- Thanatos’s favor is a dialogue. Zagreus simply proves his strength to Thanatos.
- Rib (Unlocked through Skelly): Distracts foes, making them target it, but can’t be used against the secret boss, Charon.
- Skelly’s favor is a request to kill him using the Level 5 Zagreus Aspect (using five Titan Blood). After you “permanently” kill him, he can be given Ambrosia.
- Shady (Unlocked through Sisyphus): Deals a good amount of damage in an area and drops a small pile of darkness, gold, and hearts. No constrictions on targets
- Sisyphus asks Zag to lighten his burden. So, speak to Meg, Hades, and Sisyphus, and then purchase Knave-King’s Sentence for 7 diamonds.
- Fidi (Unlocked through Dusa): Summons an ally that lasts 15 seconds, shooting low-damage petrifying shots in a spread. Dusa doesn’t want to fight Hades himself, though. Understandable.
- Since she’s a cleaner, Dusa asks Zagreus to help her renovate the Lounge by purchasing a rug and a few pieces of furniture.
- Antos (Unlocked through Achilles): Deals a large amount of damage to two foes one after another, but can’t be used against the final boss.
- An actual part of mythology; Achilles wishes to be rejoined with his partner Patroclus. This is a seven diamond unlock after talking with Nyx.
Now that you know how to unlock every companion in Hades, it’s time to head out and starting collecting Legendary Keepsakes.
Jason Toro-McCue has committed his schooling to the study of the connection between game design and narrative. When he's not working on this bond through writing articles or guides, he's playing Dungeons & Dragons, or just playing games themselves and looking at the story there.
