Hades II Achievements Guide (Post-Launch Patch 2)

The v1.0 launch on 2025-09-25 added 50 achievements to Hades II in one drop, all retroactive against existing saves. They cover the eight regions of the run, each Nocturnal Arm's first clear, the Animal Familiars, the Major Arcana, the named Prophecies on the Fated List, and the True Ending arc that Post-Launch Patch 1 expanded. Load any pre-1.0 save and the eligible achievements pop on the next chamber transition.

TL;DR, the Five Achievement Categories

Region clears: one achievement per biome on both Underworld and Surface paths
Weapon and Aspect mastery: the six Nocturnal Arms each gate a Prophecy chain plus the all-Aspects "Sword of the Night" capstone
Bond, Familiar, and Crossroads collection: comrades, Animal Familiars, Keepsakes, Kudos, and Crossroads activities
Story and True Ending: Death to Chronos, Golden Age (epilogue), and the Post-Launch Patch 1 events that gate the deeper True Ending scenes
Hidden and platinum: Goddess of Nightmares is the Earn-all-others achievement, and a small set sit below 15% global completion

Region Clears (8 achievements)

Both run paths award a clear achievement per biome. Underworld: Witch of the Woods (Erebus), Witch of the Depths (Oceanus), Witch of the Plains (Fields of Mourning), Witch of the Abyss (Tartarus). Surface: Witch of the Outskirts (City of Ephyra), Witch of the Waters (Rift of Thessaly), Witch of the Mountains (Mount Olympus), Witch of the Clouds (the Summit). The Erebus pop sits at 99.87% Steam completion, meaning everyone who launches the game earns it inside the tutorial run; the Summit pop sits at 56.62%, the threshold most players quit before reaching. The Permeation of Witching-Wards Incantation gates the Surface route, so the four Surface clears require unlocking that first.

Weapon Mastery and Aspect Prophecies (~10 achievements)

Each of the six Nocturnal Arms has its own Prophecy on the Fated List, awarded when you clear runs with that weapon equipped: The Arms of Night and The Unseen Sentinel cover the entry weapon clears, while Sword of the Night is the all-weapons capstone. The six weapons are the item:black-coat (Coat of Xinth), item:sister-blades (Blades of Lim and Oros), item:witch-staff (Staff of Descura), item:moonstone-axe (Axe of Zorephet), item:argent-skull (Skull of Revaal), and item:umbral-flames (Flames of Ygnium). For first-time clears at 0 Fear, the item:aspect-of-melinoe-witch-staff reads as the lowest-friction starter; HackTheMinotaur reports a 70% clear rate at rank 1 even before optimization. Once that opens the door, item:aspect-of-circe handles the next push for safe ranged poke and item:aspect-of-anubis takes over once Fear vows start punishing positional play.

Fear Progression and Testaments (built into the Prophecy list)

Fear is the Oath of the Unseen's numeric difficulty score, summed from activated Vows; max reachable Fear with the full roster at full rank sits at roughly 55. Testaments live on each weapon-aspect path, and beating a Testament both awards Nightmare and raises the Fear floor for the next tier on that path. The Prophecy list bakes the Fear-based grind directly into named achievements: Born to Win, Unrivaled Prowess, Natural Talent, and the Sword of the Night capstone all key off Testament progression. The recommended ladder for the Fear-gated set: clear at 0 Fear with Witch's Staff Aspect of Melinoe, push to 16 Fear with item:aspect-of-circe running the always-be-casting magick build, then take the 32-Fear marathon on item:aspect-of-anubis for forgiving zoning or item:aspect-of-charon when you need stationary-boss DPS for Chronos. The 50-Fear ceiling on Charon Axe and the 62-Fear Medea Skull speed-crit run sit above what the achievement list demands; clearing 32 Fear once on a single weapon is enough to satisfy the standard Testament gates.

Bond, Familiar, and Crossroads Collection (~12 achievements)

Close Comrades wants 10 forged bonds with named comrades. Animal Whisperer recruits all five Animal Familiars: item:frinos, item:toula, item:raki, item:hecuba, and item:gale. Beast Master fully ranks them up, an 18.86% global completion that flags the back end of the grind. Familiar Confidant chains a Prophecy on top of bonding. Sentimental Value collects every Keepsake. Three Crossroads-activity pops cover the social loops: Soothing Soak (Hot Springs), Catch of the Night (Fishing Pier), and Ambrosia for Two (Taverna). So Mote It Be wants 50 Cauldron Incantations cast, which lines up with the natural pace of completing the Fated List. Mind for Magick pushes you to 30 Grasp at the Altar of Ashes; Unassailable Insight fully upgrades all Arcana, the steepest collection ask at 21.76% global completion. Giving Back at 10,000 Kudos covers the resource-stockpile track, and the Post-Launch Patch 1 cost reduction on Crossroads decorations refunded excess Kudos already spent, so the threshold reads as a natural side effect of running the Renewal Project rather than a deliberate farm.

Story Completion and the True Ending (~6 achievements)

Death to Chronos pops on the first Underworld clear at the Tartarus boss; 42.89% global completion makes it the highest-rarity story milestone most active players see. Behold Night's Champion, Mercy Night's Executioner, and Elysian Glory chain through named story beats (Gifts of the Veil and the Contest of Champions). Golden Age awards on reaching the epilogue, sitting at 18.01% global completion. The True Ending arc that Post-Launch Patch 1 expanded sits behind the Long Arm of the Unseen Cauldron Incantation and demands more Underworld clears than the original 1.0 cut required; the in-flight 'Returning to a Real Possibility' Incantation lets you re-experience key True Ending events without re-grinding from save load. Patch 2's Familiar Forms expansion added Unfamiliar Forms, the achievement for altering the appearance of each Animal Familiar via the Alteration of Familiar Forms Incantation, and Bearing Dark Gifts joined the Prophecy list as part of the fresh Fated List entries shipped with 1.0.

Trial and Combat Challenges (~5 achievements)

Infinite Possibility wants 20 Chaos Trials cleared. Chaos in Hell asks for the Great Chaos Below specifically. Improbable Outcomes is the rarest Prophecy completion on the published list at 12.96% global completion. Fair Fight earns 1,000 Gold competing against Nemesis. Sheep's Clothing, Breaking Up the Band, and Dressed to Kill are flavor combat achievements: slay a Sister of the Dead while afflicted with Twilight Curse, raise a Siren via Night Bloom, and reach the final confrontation in an Arachne outfit. Most are byproducts of normal play if you read the Fated List as a checklist rather than chasing the Prophecies blind.

Goddess of Nightmares (the platinum)

Goddess of Nightmares awards on earning every other achievement, sitting at 10.86% global completion. The hardest gates for most completionists are Beast Master (full Familiar rank-up), Improbable Outcomes (the 12.96%-rarity Prophecy), Chaos in Hell (the specific Great Chaos Below Trial), and the Testament-driven Prophecies that demand Fear-vow runs at meaningful difficulty.

Recommended Path

Run 0 Fear with item:aspect-of-melinoe-witch-staff for the first weapon clear and the eight region pops. Cycle the Nocturnal Arms one weapon at a time to clear The Arms of Night, The Unseen Sentinel, and the per-weapon Prophecies that feed Sword of the Night. Move into Cauldron Incantations and Crossroads activities while running the Fated List as a checklist; the 50 Incantations and 60 Minor Prophecies thresholds clear themselves alongside Familiar bonding and Keepsake collection. Push 16 Fear with item:aspect-of-circe, then the 32-Fear marathon on item:aspect-of-anubis for the Testament-gated Prophecies. The True Ending sequence comes last because Post-Launch Patch 1 raised the Underworld-clear count it demands. Steam Hunters median completion runs 60 to 100 hours.