Chronos is the hardest boss in Hades 2’s early access period. To kill him, you’ll need a great build, knowledge of his moveset, and fast reflexes. Now, I can’t help you with that last one, but I can certainly give you some advice on the rest of it.
In this Hades 2 guide, I’ll show you the best builds for Chronos. I’ll also give you some pointers on how to beat Chronos.
Best builds for beating Chronos in Hades 2
Defeating Chronos is no easy task in Hades 2. Regardless of your build, you’ll need skill to take him down. However, you can utilize a few tools to make your battle against the Titan of Time much easier. Let’s talk about them.
Best weapon for Chronos
Let’s start with your weapon of choice. You can technically beat Chronos with all of the weapons in the game, but you’re best served prioritizing range and speed. The Witch’s Staff — the weapon you start the game with — offers a great mix of both, so I recommend you bring it with you for your first real attempt at Chronos.
Best Arcana Cards for Chronos
A lot of Arcana Cards can help you against Chronos. However, on my first victory, there are two I couldn’t have gone without:
- I, The Sorceress: Slows down time for two seconds while you channel Omega moves
- XII, Eternity: Start each run with one Death Defiance
Chronos is very quick, the fastest boss in Hades 2’s Underworld route by a mile. Using Omega moves against him is great because they’re very powerful and they charge your Hex, which can also deal a ton of damage to him. The Sorceress will help you land Omega moves without getting crushed while you’re channeling.
Eternity is pretty self explanatory, as two lives are better than one. Chronos is the only boss during the early access period that has two phases, and being able to reach that second phase with a second life in your back pocket is extremely helpful. (Plus you can upgrade Eternity to offer even more Death Defiances per run.)
If you end up using some of the Boons I suggest below, Arcana Cards that augment your Cast like The Furies and The Moon are very good as well.
Best Keepsakes for Chronos
Though there are Keepsakes that’ll help you reach Chronos, one of them in particular will help you in the actual boss fight: Knuckle Bones, the Keepsake you get from Odysseus.
This Keepsake causes you to take 15% less damage from Guardians (regional bosses) and causes the next Guardian you fight to instantly take 5% damage to its health bar, which is incredible. If you use Knuckle Bones a lot, you can upgrade that burst damage as well.
Just don’t pick up the Knuckle Bones keepsake until you enter the prep zone for the final area of the game. As long as you’ve done the “Kindred Keepsakes” incantation, you can swap to the Knuckle Bones after you defeat Cerberus so you can use it against Chronos.
Best Boons for Chronos
With your weapon, Keepsake, and Arcana Cards all set, it’s time to decide what build you want to use against Chronos. This is absolutely the most flexible section of this guide, but there’s one type of build I’ve found easiest to use against Chronos: cast builds.
Boons that enhance your Cast can give you a major advantage against Chronos. While he is fast and has a tendency to move out of your charged casts if you time it poorly, he also stands still for long periods of time for some of his moves. (Your cast is great against the additional enemies Chronos loves to summon into his arena too.)
The idea with casts is to run over to Chronos, set one on the ground, and then retreat so you can harass him with a long-range attack. If you have some of the more powerful cast-based boons, it should do the bulk of the work for you. Just make sure you have some way to restore magick mid-fight, as Chronos has a lot of health.
Here are some boons I like to enhance my casts with:
- Storm Ring, Zeus: Omega casts call lightning bolts down on an enemy inside
- Lightning Lance, Zeus: You can fire your cast at range and it deals damage when it hits a target
- Arctic Ring, Demeter: Your cast constantly deals damage in an area and freezes targets
- Gale Force, Demeter: Your cast creates a damaging ice tornado around it
- Solar Ring, Apollo: Whenever your Omega cast expires, deal bonus damage in the area
- Lucid Gain, Apollo: While standing in your cast, rapidly restore magick
- Super Nova, Apollo: Your cast rapidly expands
- Rapture Ring, Aphrodite: Your cast drags foes in and inflicts the weak status effect
- Anvil Ring, Hephaestus: Your cast deals damage three times but in a smaller area
- Smolder Ring, Hestia: Your cast constantly burns enemies
- Glowing Coal, Hestia: Launch your cast out at range like a fireball, dealing damage
- Easy Shot, Artemis: An arrow flies toward any target damaged by your Omega cast
Best Hex for Chronos
Finally, let’s talk about what Hex you want to bring against Chronos. Ideally you want something that deals a lot of damage or makes you difficult to hit, but also doesn’t slow you down. That really limits your options, so I typically go with one of these four:
- Wolf Howl: Rise up and slam into the ground, dealing some minor damage
- Total Eclipse: Blast the target area for a high amount of damage after a few seconds
- Dark Side: Become an impervious, living nightmare for a short time
- Phase Shift: Make everything move slowly for a few seconds
How to beat Chronos in Hades 2
Once you reach the Titan of Time sitting in the depths of Hades, he’ll opine at you for a bit and then the fight will begin.
As previously mentioned, Chronos has two phases, so we’ll start with the first one.
Chronos boss fight, phase one
Right when the fight against Chronos starts, defeat his rat allies. Kill them to clear the battlefield and then put some distance between yourself and the boss.
Chronos relies on a few main moves, but the most devastating is when he throws his cane like a buzzsaw blade. The hit box on this attack is huge, and will almost certainly strike you if you’re to the side of him. The sweet spot here is behind him, but it’s a little finicky, so I’d just try to stay away when he does this.
His other main move involves him dashing or swiping in a direction. These attacks are simple to avoid, as you can just move to the side or stand behind him. When he does these moves, use them as an opportunity to deal massive damage to him. However, remember that the areas that he moves and swipes through explode after a short time, so don’t get caught in the delayed explosion.
Chronos will occasionally shield himself and cast in the middle of the room. Just dodge him or kill his enemies until he becomes vulnerable again. Sometimes, when he goes over to the throne area, he’ll start spinning his cane at you to try and suck you in. Dash behind him and just beat on him when he does this.
Eventually, Chronos will summon a bunch of flags that give him a shield. Destroy them before turning your attention back to the boss. Any time Chronos makes some kind of field that slows you down, make sure to stay out of it, or he’ll catch you and deal significant damage before you can get free.
Keep beating up your grandpa until his health bar reaches zero. Here, he’ll admit he’s had enough of you and move to phase two.
Chronos boss fight, phase two
In the second phase, Chronos will teleport you to a giant clock face. This section of the fight is far more chaotic than the first, but the boss doesn’t seem to have as much health as in phase one, so it evens out.
The first move Chronos typically makes here is to cast an area-of-effect attack that deals damage everywhere in the arena, save for one of the numbers. Drop an Omega cast on him and quickly make for the number that’s glowing. If you make it to this safe zone before his blast goes off, you’ll be fine.
For most of this fight, Chronos will stand in the middle of the clock, firing orbs or making lines appear on the arena. The idea here is to just stay away from anything that glows. Mercifully, the game usually tells you where to stand by drawing lines on the ground that highlight the safe areas and the dangerous ones. Pay attention to these signs on the arena and Melinoë’s feet the entire fight, as it’ll tell you more than the boss. Just be careful and shift your mindset back to phase one when he starts using his swipe and buzzsaw moves again.
Eventually, Chronos will summon a bunch of little hourglass minions. These guys are annoying no matter what you do. If you ignore them, they’ll throw blasts at you. But if you kill them, they’ll leave behind area-of-effect fields that slow you down. Do your best to keep damaging Chronos while hitting the little guys with collateral damage when possible.
Past the halfway mark in Chronos’ health, this fight just becomes extremely hectic. Do what you can to keep dealing damage to the boss while continuing to watch your feet. Eventually, his health will drop to zero and he’ll fall to his knees. You got him — on this run, at least.
