Hades II Arcana Tier List and Build Presets

Twenty-five Major Arcana cards ranked, with five build-archetype loadouts

By BrokenBuilds WikiMay 3, 2026Updated May 3, 2026

Hades II Arcana Tier List and Build Presets (Post-Launch Patch 2)

The Altar of Ashes holds 25 Arcana cards on a fixed 5x5 grid, and a per-run Grasp pool from 10 to 29 decides how many of them you can run at once. This page ranks every card and turns the post-1.0 meta builds into copy-ready Arcana loadouts.

TL;DR

Five cards earn a slot in almost every serious loadout: item:origination, item:death, item:the-furies, item:the-centaur, and item:the-fates. Role-locking A-tier picks are item:persistence for chip survivability, item:the-messenger for invulnerability after every Cast, item:the-swift-runner for movement, and item:the-sorceress for omega builds. Skip item:strength outside Berserker runs; skip item:excellence and item:the-huntress until the rest of the grid is open.

How the Arcana Grid Works

The 5 by 5 grid sits at the Altar of Ashes. A card starts hidden, becomes purchasable once one of its orthogonal neighbors is unlocked (up, down, left, right, never diagonal), and stays unlocked across deaths once you spend the Ash. Origination sits in the inner ring; reaching it takes three to four adjacent unlocks. Budget 400 to 600 Ash from a fresh save.

Activating cards each run is a knapsack against the Grasp pool. Grasp starts at 10 and rises to 29 by spending Psyche on the cap upgrade. Per-card cost ranges from 1 to 6, with Origination at the high end. Ranking a card scales its effect but never changes its Grasp cost. A handful of cards Awaken instead of costing Grasp: they trigger automatically when the run shape qualifies (for example, three active cards sharing a Magick cost), giving the loadout a free effect on top of the budgeted picks.

Per-Card Tier

S Tier

Origination (6 Grasp)

+25% / +38% / +50% / +63% Punished damage on enemies with two or more Olympian Status Curses. The damage capstone of the post-1.0 meta. Punished sits outside the additive boon math, stacking multiplicatively with everything Hera and Aphrodite stack additively. Any Doom plus any Hitch satisfies the two-curse trigger.

Death (4 Grasp)

+1 / +2 / +3 / +4 Death Defiances. Each is one full revive on falling to 0 health. Value scales with Fear: a comfort blanket at 32 Fear, the only reason most builds finish a Chronos fight at 50 Fear.

The Furies (5 Grasp)

+10% / +20% / +25% / +30% damage above 75% HP. The cleanest flat damage line in the grid. The 75% gate matters less than it reads; most rooms either kill you or leave you near full.

The Centaur (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

+25 / +35 / +45 / +55 Max Life and +5% / +8% / +10% / +12% movement speed. Free if the loadout shape qualifies. No opportunity cost; the speed bonus shortens every dodge window.

The Fates (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

+1 / +1 / +2 / +2 boon rarity tiers per Fated boon offer. Boon rarity is the largest single damage multiplier outside Origination. Awakening-free, so it goes in every loadout.

A Tier

Persistence (3 Grasp)

+6% / +9% / +12% / +15% damage reduction. The cheapest "stay alive" card. Pairs with Death rather than competing: Death gives revives, Persistence reduces the damage that would force one. Mandatory at 50 Fear and above.

The Messenger (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

Brief invulnerability after every Cast. Time the Cast to overlap a boss tell and Messenger eats the swing for free. Any Cast-heavy build qualifies.

The Swift Runner (4 Grasp)

+10% / +15% / +20% / +25% Sprint speed. Movement is damage when you can position into Cast windows faster. Speedrun loadouts run this at Rank III.

The Sorceress (3 Grasp)

+20% / +30% / +40% / +50% Magick capacity. Universal in any omega-heavy build. Funds longer Cast spam on Circe, more shockwaves on Charon, longer ghost channels on Moros.

The Wayward Son (3 Grasp)

+6% / +9% / +12% / +15% damage when alone. Most meta loadouts run a familiar, killing the bonus, but Wayward Son slots in as a budget Origination substitute on early-Ash runs.

The Lovers (3 Grasp)

Boon offers always include at least one from your current god combo. Smooths boon RNG enough to make Aphrodite or Hera lock-ins reliable.

The Enchantress (3 Grasp)

+1 to all god boon rarities at the Crossroads. Stacks with The Fates rather than overlapping. Both wanted in any boon-stacking build.

The Boatman (3 Grasp)

Discount on Charon's Shop offers and Wells of Charon. Charon Axe loadouts treat this as a soft requirement.

Eternity (4 Grasp)

item:eternity slows time during Omega Moves. Layers with Death; the slow window opens dodge frames during the omega channel. Strong on Charon and Moros.

B Tier

Night (3 Grasp)

Damage bonus in low-light biomes. Strong in Nyx Coat wave-clear runs that linger in Erebus.

The Champions (3 Grasp)

Damage bonus during boss encounters. Too narrow when Furies covers everywhere. Pick after Origination, Death, and Furies are maxed.

The Artificer (4 Grasp)

item:the-artificer adds a third Daedalus Hammer offer. Strong on builds that need a specific hammer (Volatile Array on Medea, Giga Cleaver on Charon).

Strength (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

Damage reduction at 0 Death Defiance. S-tier on Nergal Berserker lifesteal; dead weight on every other build.

The Moon (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

item:the-moon charges your Hex automatically by 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 Magick per second. Awakens through a Selene questline. Mandatory in Hex spam loadouts (Lunar Ray, Total Eclipse, Moon Water).

The Queen (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

+6% / +8% / +10% / +12% Duo Boon chance, stacked on the base 12%. Pairs with picking only the gods involved in a target Duo.

The Unseen (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

item:the-unseen grants bonus damage tied to the Selene Hex moon-phase track. Sister card to The Moon; idle outside Hex spam.

Divinity (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

Boon offer rarity floor goes up. Trigger is harder than Centaur or Fates; a late-Ash addition.

Judgment (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

item:judgment grants a bonus on Olympian Curse interactions. Lifts Origination-style curse stacks. Marginal until late-Ash investment.

C Tier

Excellence (Awakening, 0 Grasp)

Conditional damage on a narrow encounter shape that most loadouts cannot consistently produce. Skip until experimenting.

The Huntress (3 Grasp)

Bonus damage on backstabs. Backstab opportunities are too few to justify the Grasp cost. Replaced by The Furies in every meta loadout.

Awakening Cards Quick Reference

Centaur, Fates, Messenger, Moon, Queen, Unseen, Divinity, Judgment, Strength, and Excellence Awaken instead of costing Grasp. Each has a loadout-shape trigger. Plan the loadout shape first; the Awakening cards come along for free.

Build Presets by Archetype

Speed-Crit (Medea Skull, 62 to 67 Fear)

Loadout: item:the-furies, item:persistence, item:the-messenger, item:the-swift-runner, item:death, item:the-centaur, item:origination, item:the-lovers, item:the-enchantress, item:the-queen, item:the-fates, item:the-champions, item:divinity.

Argent Skull's base 90% bonus to attack and special means every boon scales on top. The spread funds the Origination band (curse-stacking via Hera Hitch and Zeus Static Shock), the survivability band (Death, Persistence, Messenger), and the boon-rarity band (Fates, Enchantress, Lovers).

Boss-Shred (Charon Axe, 50 Fear)

Loadout: item:the-sorceress, item:the-wayward-son, item:the-furies, item:persistence, item:death, item:the-centaur, item:origination, item:the-lovers, item:the-enchantress, item:the-boatman, item:the-queen, item:the-fates, item:the-champions, item:divinity.

Charon's omega-cast launcher demands Magick capacity (Sorceress) and Apollo's Lucid Gain. Boatman discounts the shop. Death and Centaur cover channel windows where dodging is impossible. Champions earns its slot because Charon spends most damage on bosses.

Always-Be-Casting (Circe Staff, 32+ Fear)

Loadout: item:the-sorceress, item:the-wayward-son, item:persistence, item:the-swift-runner, item:death, item:origination, item:the-champions, item:the-fates.

Circe spams omega-casts for 200 to 400 damage homing orbs. The 8-card shape fits inside 22 Grasp, leaving room to push Origination to Rank III. No Furies because Circe rarely sits above 75% HP.

Room-Clear Burst (Moros Flames, 32 Fear)

Loadout: item:the-sorceress, item:the-wayward-son, item:persistence, item:death, item:origination, item:night, item:the-champions.

Moros charges the omega-special into a pack, detonating 5 to 10 stored ghost hits. Night earns a slot because Erebus packs are the farming ground. Persistence covers the 3-second channel.

Berserker Lifesteal (Nergal Axe, 32+ Fear)

Loadout: item:persistence, item:the-centaur, item:death, item:strength, item:origination, item:the-wayward-son, item:the-fates.

The only meta build that runs Strength as a core card. Nergal trades HP for damage windows, dropping to 0 Death Defiances by design; Strength's damage reduction at 0 Defiance keeps the lifesteal loop alive.

Path-Up Order

From a fresh save, walk the grid in this order. First reach Death; chip survivability beats raw damage in the mid-Fear band. Second, take The Furies for the +30% line that bridges every loadout. Third, route toward Origination through Persistence and The Swift Runner; both earn their Grasp cost on the way, and Centaur Awakens for free.

After Origination opens, rank up the core trio (Origination, Death, Furies) before unlocking new tiles. Rank IV Origination outdamages two new Rank I cards on every meta loadout. Once the trio is maxed, route into Fates and Enchantress for the boon-rarity band, then specialize: Sorceress for omega builds, Messenger for speed-crit, Moon and Unseen for Hex spam.