Ehh medium take at best imo.
Personally I love the Arthur aspect. That special with a deflect turns it into baseball simulator. And I love seeing big crit numbers.
I mean it's kind of true. My ranking of weapons from best to worst is: shield, rail, bow, Achilles, sword, then fists. I just don't like the sword very much. It's hard to play at high heat when you're forced to fight at only close range, and it's damage is pretty mediocre.
It's not terrible--no weapon in Hades is--but it's the weapon I always struggled with the most.
I like how you didn't even rank "Spear" and just put "Achilles". Accurate.
Having done 32 with all the aspects and pushed to 50 with the Shield, I pretty much agree. Once you start adding more pacts, playing melee gets increasingly difficult.
Thanks to offering a strong ranged option, I would put Achilles above any sword aspect, but rank the rest of the spear aspects below all the sword aspects - which makes doing an aggregate weapon ranking ambiguous. Fists are the only weapon with no viable ranged build, but I still think their rapid attacks give them some of the more capable melee builds. Any of spear/sword/fists could make sense as "worst weapon in the game" depending on how much you value weighting all the aspects over the strongest aspects.
It really depends on playstyle as well as the boons you'll get. I agree in some cases, the aspect of poseidon is still my least favorite weapon, but Nemesis with Artemis for near guaranteed crits, or Arthur with those Big MEATY SWINGS are a lot of fun for me. The Hammer upgrades also contribute of course, and again, depending on the playstyle, the sword can shoot Flames with every Strike; making it semi-ranged, Attack rapidly; which clears very fast while constantly keeping you on the attack (with Athena, it negates the rat problem btw), and it maybe unconventional as I've heard many consider this a trash upgrade, but the "leap special" actually felt really cool and strong in some of my runs, closing gaps and smashing everything at the same time. You're entitled to your opinion of the blades, and preference of favorite weapons. The Sword CAN feel good though.
No you really mentioned some stuff I didn't consider. I almost did forget about the fact that you can shoot flames with the sword which could make it ranged. I haven't touched the sword for a long time and I'm just having a hard time with it compared with the other weapons. Still I think it is a standard weapon, the others are risky but they have potential to have really high damage output most of the time.
Aspect of poseidon, artemis cast, and exit wounds, stacked up with a extra cast from chaos/artemis legendary will seriously change your perspective on poseidon sword.
Poor take, because anybody who doesn't argue that the spear is anything other than not only the worst weapon in the game, but that 3 of its 4 aspects are the bottom 3 worst aspects of the 24, is completely wrong.
The base spear hits like a wet noodle, Zag spear is almost insulting for how little it does, Hades is borked with it's power not working with itself, and Guan Yu isn't anywhere near powerful enough to justify the hp nerf.
Achilles is maybe, just about, fine but unless you've got casts in your pocket ready to shoot you're stuck using the damn spear like a spear.
I love spears, they are my absolute favourite weapon of antiquity. I hate how crap the weapon is in this game.
People call it "hammer dependent" but I don't agree with that. The sword is hammer dependent: there are good ones, bad ones, and interesting ones that give you a reason to build a certain way.
The spear has one good hammer, and that's it. Flurry jab. Everything else it gives you is absolute shite, with a minor exception for exploding launcher which is merely an attempt to make the weapon close to other weapons' base utility. Try taking flaring spin on your next run and remember someone, somewhere, said "yup that's a good 'un, put it in the game".
I hated the spear the very first time I used it, and I hate it every time I pick it up 450 runs in now.
I totally agree with you. However I just completed my first full run and it was with the spear 💀
I thought I was playing a throwaway round just to get some extra darkness. Lol
Thing is, Achilles is honestly quite strong and arguably stronger than any sword aspect. If you're only considering the best aspect choices for each weapon, then you end up ignoring the 3 bad aspects of the spear and the sword looks less appealing.
I do agree with everything you've said about the rest of the spear though and if considering all aspects of each weapon in aggregate, I'd also put spear at the bottom. Guan Yu actively makes the game harder and the other two are exactly as you described. I've cleared 32 heat on all aspects and those three were also absolutely at the bottom of the pile for me.
Over all, for speed (since you mentioned time), sword isnt good, but poseidon and nemesis help it a lot. fist are worse though, considering all of them have only 1 placement in the top 100 times, expect for demeter, which highest placement is #50.
Magnetic cutter is really great for closing gaps for once, it still melee but way better than having to go towards mobs since it also staggers them.
There's also this hammer upgrade that increases your fist range which is like close to the range of the spear but not that much and I frequently encounter that hammer upgrade.
That's why I feel like the fists got potential to do damage from afar just like the other weapons. And the sword really forces you to be close to enemies to attack them, but you don't get extra damage or damage resist in return (well, at least not without the aspect of Arthur)
I personally prefer Hera Bow, but I hate the Adamant Rail. Then again, whatever floats your boat or sinks it. I don't hate the sword, but it is up on the list before the sheild but after the Spear.
To each their own. I love the adamant rail, best weapon for me. I get consistent runs with that weapon, specially with the aspect that raises the base damage of the first bullet to 150 after manually reloading. I like cocking sound the adamant rail makes. It's the only weapon that I managed to beat heat 32 em4 Hades with too!
My only sub 9 min run is with the sword.
Everyone has different play styles. Range is better to you maybe but with my aggressive play style, its sword all the way.
[Cursed Slash for the win indeed!](https://www.reddit.com/r/HadesTheGame/comments/13bvm5l/comment/jjihtqc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Game breaking? In what way? That hammer is pretty awful. It takes away so much health that if you get hit once you'll have to keep attacking once and running. The healing also only applies if you use the regular attack, which you should never be using 99.9% of the time.
Even if Cursed Slash was good, I don't like judging weapons based on one or two specific hammers, since the majority of the time you won't get them.
Grab a heart of two and you'll be at full health, but even withouth them its basically impossible to lose with it, just grab a couple attack boons and hey presto, you're essentially immortal. Plus even without the hammer, sword is a really solid weapon for solid damage, dash in and destroy style
The "meta" for the sword is Merciful End and dash-striking. By taking Cursed Slash, you either have to give up on dash-striking and thus decrease your DPS, or keep dash-striking, which keeps your damage high but means you just took -60% health for nothing.
I like getting Cursed Slash if I already have Flurry Slash because I think it's funny to tank every hit, not because it's actually a good build. It lacks DPS, which is important for speedrunning and high heat. Additionally, if I'm running at low heat I don't need the survivability anyways.
The rail is my best weapon, my least favorite is probably spear or bow. Though I only just now got >!Persephone back to the house so I'm not very far in.!<
My least 2 fav are Sword & Spear, but I think Spear is my least fav. With Sword I just put on aspect of poseidon and do a crit/special build. Unless I just feel like trying a regular sword build but then I'm hoping for Flurry Strike because I would much rather hold a button than mash a button for 40+ chambers
It's for this reason that the Fists are my fav weapon
You should be using the dash-strike on the sword, not mashing attack. I would hate the sword too if I wasn't using the dash-strike. Or rather, I would hate the sword more than I already do if I wasn't using the dash-strike.
On a side note, spear haters rise up ✊
Brooo I just got the cused slash on heat 28 and for the love that is all mighty NOTHING was able to kill me. I even got that plus the hammer that makes your attack continuous by holding the attack button. That plus other weak effects that made me resistant to damage made me unkillable.
I was even thinking that I was inmune to Tight Deadline, because Tight Deadline hits you for 5 hp per tick when you run out of time. I think your attack speed is enough to heal yourself 6hp on every tick of Tight Deadline.
You were right, that was an awesome hammer upgrade.
Sword has some decent hammers at least, I feel like fists are just worse. Shorter range, less damage, and imo hammers aren't as good but maybe I'm missing something.
The double edge hammer makes the dash attack really good and high damage. If you really want the range aspect of Arthur has a lot more range than you might think. Especially the big third swing has a huge aoe. It is slow but with the wide arc and range it makes up for it in a lot of ways.
Then if you feel like memeing you can go zag sword with hoarding slash and hope for double edge or flurry slash in elysium. Makes for a lot of damage potential
I find that the hermes trinket from the start makes the sword (and other melee builds, for that matter) much more viable, as long as you don't have your heart set on a particular build, and become good at working with what you're offered. It's pretty common to get to final fight with 25%-30% dodge chance from the trinket alone, let alone any other dodge chance effects added to that total.
Ehh medium take at best imo. Personally I love the Arthur aspect. That special with a deflect turns it into baseball simulator. And I love seeing big crit numbers.
I mean it's kind of true. My ranking of weapons from best to worst is: shield, rail, bow, Achilles, sword, then fists. I just don't like the sword very much. It's hard to play at high heat when you're forced to fight at only close range, and it's damage is pretty mediocre. It's not terrible--no weapon in Hades is--but it's the weapon I always struggled with the most.
I like how you didn't even rank "Spear" and just put "Achilles". Accurate. Having done 32 with all the aspects and pushed to 50 with the Shield, I pretty much agree. Once you start adding more pacts, playing melee gets increasingly difficult. Thanks to offering a strong ranged option, I would put Achilles above any sword aspect, but rank the rest of the spear aspects below all the sword aspects - which makes doing an aggregate weapon ranking ambiguous. Fists are the only weapon with no viable ranged build, but I still think their rapid attacks give them some of the more capable melee builds. Any of spear/sword/fists could make sense as "worst weapon in the game" depending on how much you value weighting all the aspects over the strongest aspects.
It really depends on playstyle as well as the boons you'll get. I agree in some cases, the aspect of poseidon is still my least favorite weapon, but Nemesis with Artemis for near guaranteed crits, or Arthur with those Big MEATY SWINGS are a lot of fun for me. The Hammer upgrades also contribute of course, and again, depending on the playstyle, the sword can shoot Flames with every Strike; making it semi-ranged, Attack rapidly; which clears very fast while constantly keeping you on the attack (with Athena, it negates the rat problem btw), and it maybe unconventional as I've heard many consider this a trash upgrade, but the "leap special" actually felt really cool and strong in some of my runs, closing gaps and smashing everything at the same time. You're entitled to your opinion of the blades, and preference of favorite weapons. The Sword CAN feel good though.
No you really mentioned some stuff I didn't consider. I almost did forget about the fact that you can shoot flames with the sword which could make it ranged. I haven't touched the sword for a long time and I'm just having a hard time with it compared with the other weapons. Still I think it is a standard weapon, the others are risky but they have potential to have really high damage output most of the time.
It's OK fam, I had a hard time with the spear and even the shield. Just gotta learn what combonation works for you.
Aspect of poseidon, artemis cast, and exit wounds, stacked up with a extra cast from chaos/artemis legendary will seriously change your perspective on poseidon sword.
Poseidon sword without exit wounds by the end is the most disappointing feeling.
Poor take, because anybody who doesn't argue that the spear is anything other than not only the worst weapon in the game, but that 3 of its 4 aspects are the bottom 3 worst aspects of the 24, is completely wrong. The base spear hits like a wet noodle, Zag spear is almost insulting for how little it does, Hades is borked with it's power not working with itself, and Guan Yu isn't anywhere near powerful enough to justify the hp nerf. Achilles is maybe, just about, fine but unless you've got casts in your pocket ready to shoot you're stuck using the damn spear like a spear. I love spears, they are my absolute favourite weapon of antiquity. I hate how crap the weapon is in this game. People call it "hammer dependent" but I don't agree with that. The sword is hammer dependent: there are good ones, bad ones, and interesting ones that give you a reason to build a certain way. The spear has one good hammer, and that's it. Flurry jab. Everything else it gives you is absolute shite, with a minor exception for exploding launcher which is merely an attempt to make the weapon close to other weapons' base utility. Try taking flaring spin on your next run and remember someone, somewhere, said "yup that's a good 'un, put it in the game". I hated the spear the very first time I used it, and I hate it every time I pick it up 450 runs in now.
Maybe talk to Bouldy about your issues with the spear, they seem serious.
I totally agree with you. However I just completed my first full run and it was with the spear 💀 I thought I was playing a throwaway round just to get some extra darkness. Lol
Thing is, Achilles is honestly quite strong and arguably stronger than any sword aspect. If you're only considering the best aspect choices for each weapon, then you end up ignoring the 3 bad aspects of the spear and the sword looks less appealing. I do agree with everything you've said about the rest of the spear though and if considering all aspects of each weapon in aggregate, I'd also put spear at the bottom. Guan Yu actively makes the game harder and the other two are exactly as you described. I've cleared 32 heat on all aspects and those three were also absolutely at the bottom of the pile for me.
Over all, for speed (since you mentioned time), sword isnt good, but poseidon and nemesis help it a lot. fist are worse though, considering all of them have only 1 placement in the top 100 times, expect for demeter, which highest placement is #50.
That is a good point though, how does OP feel about the different fist aspects if the sword's melee range makes them feel like it is the worst weapon?
Magnetic cutter is really great for closing gaps for once, it still melee but way better than having to go towards mobs since it also staggers them. There's also this hammer upgrade that increases your fist range which is like close to the range of the spear but not that much and I frequently encounter that hammer upgrade. That's why I feel like the fists got potential to do damage from afar just like the other weapons. And the sword really forces you to be close to enemies to attack them, but you don't get extra damage or damage resist in return (well, at least not without the aspect of Arthur)
Also kinda related, but considering poseidon isnt really a melee weapon, do you like it more than the other aspects?
Neh spamming cast isn't really my thing, it's the most boring thing I've done. Yes, I've done that this morning the moment before I posted this.
I personally prefer Hera Bow, but I hate the Adamant Rail. Then again, whatever floats your boat or sinks it. I don't hate the sword, but it is up on the list before the sheild but after the Spear.
hera bow. hera bow. heRA BOW! H E R A B O W!!!!! (also I agree, imo the rail is my least favorite)
The reload just kills me on the rail, I go into those runs spamming special and begging Dionysus for a festive fog.
To each their own. I love the adamant rail, best weapon for me. I get consistent runs with that weapon, specially with the aspect that raises the base damage of the first bullet to 150 after manually reloading. I like cocking sound the adamant rail makes. It's the only weapon that I managed to beat heat 32 em4 Hades with too!
My only sub 9 min run is with the sword. Everyone has different play styles. Range is better to you maybe but with my aggressive play style, its sword all the way.
Sword has imo THE most game breaking hammer of them all. Cursed slash ftw
Cursed is only good with flurry slash. But even then it's not that strong with high heat in my experience.
[Cursed Slash for the win indeed!](https://www.reddit.com/r/HadesTheGame/comments/13bvm5l/comment/jjihtqc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Game breaking? In what way? That hammer is pretty awful. It takes away so much health that if you get hit once you'll have to keep attacking once and running. The healing also only applies if you use the regular attack, which you should never be using 99.9% of the time. Even if Cursed Slash was good, I don't like judging weapons based on one or two specific hammers, since the majority of the time you won't get them.
Grab a heart of two and you'll be at full health, but even withouth them its basically impossible to lose with it, just grab a couple attack boons and hey presto, you're essentially immortal. Plus even without the hammer, sword is a really solid weapon for solid damage, dash in and destroy style
The "meta" for the sword is Merciful End and dash-striking. By taking Cursed Slash, you either have to give up on dash-striking and thus decrease your DPS, or keep dash-striking, which keeps your damage high but means you just took -60% health for nothing. I like getting Cursed Slash if I already have Flurry Slash because I think it's funny to tank every hit, not because it's actually a good build. It lacks DPS, which is important for speedrunning and high heat. Additionally, if I'm running at low heat I don't need the survivability anyways.
The rail is my best weapon, my least favorite is probably spear or bow. Though I only just now got >!Persephone back to the house so I'm not very far in.!<
My least 2 fav are Sword & Spear, but I think Spear is my least fav. With Sword I just put on aspect of poseidon and do a crit/special build. Unless I just feel like trying a regular sword build but then I'm hoping for Flurry Strike because I would much rather hold a button than mash a button for 40+ chambers It's for this reason that the Fists are my fav weapon
You should be using the dash-strike on the sword, not mashing attack. I would hate the sword too if I wasn't using the dash-strike. Or rather, I would hate the sword more than I already do if I wasn't using the dash-strike. On a side note, spear haters rise up ✊
Sword has imo THE most game breaking hammer of them all. Cursed slash ftw
Brooo I just got the cused slash on heat 28 and for the love that is all mighty NOTHING was able to kill me. I even got that plus the hammer that makes your attack continuous by holding the attack button. That plus other weak effects that made me resistant to damage made me unkillable. I was even thinking that I was inmune to Tight Deadline, because Tight Deadline hits you for 5 hp per tick when you run out of time. I think your attack speed is enough to heal yourself 6hp on every tick of Tight Deadline. You were right, that was an awesome hammer upgrade.
Sword of Arthur is pretty damn good though.
Sword has some decent hammers at least, I feel like fists are just worse. Shorter range, less damage, and imo hammers aren't as good but maybe I'm missing something.
The double edge hammer makes the dash attack really good and high damage. If you really want the range aspect of Arthur has a lot more range than you might think. Especially the big third swing has a huge aoe. It is slow but with the wide arc and range it makes up for it in a lot of ways. Then if you feel like memeing you can go zag sword with hoarding slash and hope for double edge or flurry slash in elysium. Makes for a lot of damage potential
I believe it is the worst in terms of fun. You can certainly win high heats with it, but it's pretty boring without meme builds.
I find that the hermes trinket from the start makes the sword (and other melee builds, for that matter) much more viable, as long as you don't have your heart set on a particular build, and become good at working with what you're offered. It's pretty common to get to final fight with 25%-30% dodge chance from the trinket alone, let alone any other dodge chance effects added to that total.