Hades Aegis Shield Build Guide

Each of the six Infernal Arms available in Supergiant's roguelike hit Hades leads to a totally different play style, and with the randomization of the boons you receive on each run it, can be tough to figure out how to stack it. Never fear; if your shield hand is itching, we got you covered. Here are a few different builds I've run that have led to great success with Aegis, the Shield of Chaos.

Hades Aegis Shield Builds - The Steve Rogers (Knockback Focus)

The special ability of Aegis, ricocheting around a room, pairs very naturally with Posiedon's knockback abilities. Take the Conch Shell Keepsake to Tartarus with your shield. Grab Tempest Flourish if you can, and upgrade it to knock into 4+ enemies as soon as possible. This will be invaluable when fighting the rats in the Temple of the Styx, seeing as how there can be 12 or 13 on screen at once.

When planning your shield shots, it helps to have as little enemy motion as possible. I recommend both Demeter's Frost Flourish for your attack and Detemer's Aid for your call, so when you reach Asphodel switch over to the Frostbitten Horn Keepsake. Creating a cyclone of ice to slow down targets so you can better aim the shield is quite satisfying and works wonders for crowd control.

As long as you keep activating your call when the God Gauge is full and spinning the shield, all you'll need to do is keep dashing to avoid attacks. This build is my personal favorite.

Hades Aegis Shield Builds - The Frat Party (Hangover Focus)

This strategy obviously relies a lot of Dionysus, so it'll be worth grabbing the Overflowing Cup Keepsake to start and probably holding onto it until Elysium. Grab Drunken Strike as your attack and whatever you happen to come across for your special (Drunken Flourish is fine). The main thing you'll need is Drunken Dash and Dionysus' Aid.

Zipping back and forth while bull rushing constantly will work as long as you keep upgrading the range/duration of the dash and call. Keeping enemies in the Hangover zone is key here, so you'll want to avoid Poseidon's knockback abilities and pair with boons from either Aphrodite or Ares for support. If you can keep all enemies afflicted with Hangover, you can whittle away at enemy health however you like and keep a slow, rhythmic pace.

Hades Aegis Shield Builds - The Beyblade (Blade Rift Focus)

This strategy revolves around Ares' boons, so grab the Blood-Filled Vial Keepsake for Tartarus and collect some Slicing Shot for the blade rift as soon as possible. Upgrade your blade rift as many times as you can throughout the first world and grab a Doom boon from Ares for your special as well.

Switch to the Frostbitten Horn Keepsake for Asphodel and load up on freezing powers for your Call and attack. At this point you should have a pretty solid blade rift (and hopefully 3+ casts), and once you build up the God Gauge 2-3 notches you can do some real damage.

Let out Demeter's Call and fire a blade rift in each direction. Doom does large damage a few seconds after the initial hit, but if Demeter's Call can keep enemies frozen, you can use those five seconds to toss the shield around and sweep up any stragglers. If you're going for this one it'd help to grab the Chaos boon early on that adds casts, so keep an eye out for the gate.

How are you enjoying Hades? How many times have you completed a run? Let us know in the comments below.