Hades II Weapon Tier List
All six Nocturnal Arms ranked by post-1.0 ceiling and consistency
Hades II Weapon Tier List (Post-Launch Patch 2)
This ranks all six Nocturnal Arms by their post-1.0 performance through Post-Launch Patch 2 (2026-04-14), with the best-aspect ceiling, Fear-clear range, and the mechanic that earns each placement.
TL;DR
S Tier carries the run: Argent Skull (Revaal) holds the unseeded 67-Fear record on Aspect of Medea, Moonstone Axe (Zorephet) shreds stationary bosses on Aspect of Charon, and Witch's Staff (Descura) owns 50+ Fear marathons on Aspect of Anubis. A Tier covers Sister Blades (Lim and Oros) and Umbral Flames (Ygnium), strong burst tools that cap below the S-tier ceiling. B Tier is Black Coat (Xinth), a wave-clear specialist that trails on boss damage.
How We Rank Weapons
Rankings reflect three things at once: 32-Fear consistency, 50-Fear push potential, and the 67-Fear unseeded ceiling. A Hades II build is a five-axis package (weapon, aspect, Arcana grid, keepsake rotation, boon priority), and aspects matter as much as the weapon they sit on. This list ranks each weapon by what its strongest aspect can do at the limit, then looks at how often that ceiling is reachable in practice.
S Tier
Argent Skull (Revaal)
Best aspect: item:aspect-of-medea Fear ceiling: 62 Fear verified, 67 Fear unseeded community record Why: item:argent-skull on Aspect of Medea is the speedrun chassis of the post-1.0 meta. The 90% bonus to attack and special damage already exists at base, so any boon set scales on top. The Special doubles as evasion: graze targets to deal damage while their hitboxes pass under you. Sub-12-minute clears are the standard target, and the Hera attack plus Zeus special package punishes anything that holds still long enough to take a Blitz proc.
Moonstone Axe (Zorephet)
Best aspect: item:aspect-of-charon Fear ceiling: 50 Fear verified Why: item:moonstone-axe on Aspect of Charon is the strongest stationary-boss damage in the game. Pin enemies with the cast, charge omega-special at the same spot, and three 300-radius shockwaves stack for 600+ damage in one window. Apollo's Lucid Gain funds infinite repeats; Chronos phase 2 dies in roughly 80% of baseline aspect time. Slow base swings demand patience on packed waves, but the boss-shred ceiling clears 50 Fear cleanly. Aspect of Nergal sits A-tier on the same chassis and lets you trade HP for damage on Vow of Forfeit pushes.
Witch's Staff (Descura)
Best aspect: item:aspect-of-anubis (50+ Fear), item:aspect-of-circe (32+ Fear) Fear ceiling: 50+ Fear on Anubis, 32+ Fear on Circe Why: item:witch-staff is the only weapon on the list that owns two distinct S-tier roles. Aspect of Anubis is the lowest-APM S-tier in the game: place persistent 30 DPS damage fields through every attack, drag them with the special, dodge while the fields kill the room. Aspect of Circe is the safest 32-Fear clear, spamming 200-400 damage homing orbs on the omega-cast for 300+ DPS without ever stepping into melee. The standard item:aspect-of-melinoe-witch-staff also clears 32 Fear at a 70% rate cold and is the recommended first weapon for anyone entering high Fear.
A Tier
Sister Blades (Lim and Oros)
Best aspect: item:aspect-of-pan Fear ceiling: 32 Fear comfortably, 50 Fear with optimized boon path Why: item:sister-blades reward fast hands and tight spacing. Aspect of Pan auto-seeks targets and adds extra blades on the special, which is the friendliest pickup in the kit. Aspect of Artemis turns the omega-attack channel into a parry-and-riposte window that punishes telegraphed boss swings, and the hidden Morrigan aspect adds a backstab modifier the speedrun community has been pushing into 50 Fear. Fast chip damage scales with flat-damage boons (Zeus Blitz, Hestia Scorch, Poseidon Splash) and pairs with Hera's King's Ransom for compounding Blitz procs. The ceiling sits below Argent Skull because the burst is distributed rather than front-loaded.
Umbral Flames (Ygnium)
Best aspect: item:aspect-of-moros Fear ceiling: 32 Fear Why: item:umbral-flames on Aspect of Moros has the highest room-clear burst in the post-1.0 meta. Charge the omega-special into a pack, mash attack to trigger 5-10 stored ghost detonations, watch 1000+ DPS land in one window. Aphrodite percentage damage and Ares Doom multiply on each detonation, which pushes single-room totals past anything Sister Blades can match. The trade is fragility: a whiffed channel kills the run, and the build collapses without 30% magick cost reduction or equivalent Gain support. Aspect of Eos rewards longer fights and Aspect of Supay opens up a hidden second build path on the same weapon.
B Tier
Black Coat (Xinth)
Best aspect: item:aspect-of-nyx Fear ceiling: 32 Fear Why: item:black-coat on Aspect of Nyx is the fastest room-clearing aspect in the game: sprint to build Omega Boost, fire specials and attacks that split and bounce, and the Nightspawn mirror adds a 2x effective output across the room. Wave-heavy Fear vows die in seconds. Boss damage trails Argent Skull and Moonstone Axe by enough that 50 Fear pushes ask for a different weapon. Aspect of Shiva sits A-tier on hex stacking, and item:aspect-of-selene on the Sky Fall Hex applies Shine curse for crowd control, but the weapon itself caps at 32 Fear because the ceiling is room-clear, not boss-shred.
Picking a Weapon
Pick by the run you want. Speedrun and 50+ Fear pushes go to Argent Skull or Moonstone Axe, both of which need solid magick economy and Apollo Lucid Gain on the first biome. 32-Fear clears with whatever roster the run offers go to Witch's Staff, the most boon-agnostic pick in the roster. Wave-heavy Fear combinations (Hordes plus Grit plus Wards) ask for Black Coat Nyx or Witch's Staff Anubis, both of which distribute damage in ways that don't punish positional restrictions. Burst-aggressive players who like 1-3 second damage windows pick Argent Skull, Umbral Flames, or Moonstone Axe; reactive players who prefer parries and counters pick Sister Blades or Black Coat.