Hades: How To Unlock Weapon Upgrading | Blood Bound Achievement Guide

Hades is yet another recent game that’s totally kicking our butts. Like Spelunky 2, Hades is a hardcore rogue-like that’s about completing as many blisteringly fast runs as possible — but with way more focus on the combat.

There are six weapons you’ll (eventually) be able to unlock in Hades, and the challenge progressively ramps up as you play into the end-game and beyond. Eventually, you’re going to need to earn permanent upgrades for your weapons. How do you do that? It isn’t as straight-forward as you might think. You’ll have to unlock the ability to empower weapons.

Once you can empower weapons, it’s all about earning a resource called Titan Blood. Below, we’ll explain how to empower your weapons and where to get that sweet, sweet Titan Blood.

How To Unlock Weapon Empowering & Aspects

Weapon Aspects are upgrades you can purchase in Hades — empowering weapons and upgrading aspects costs Titan Blood. To unlock Empowering, you’ll need to complete the following task:

• How To Unlock Weapon Empowering: Collect all 6 Infernal Arms and then complete a run.
  • There are six Infernal Arms. Use Cthonic Keys to unlock them before beginning a run:
  • Stygius: N/A – Starting Weapon.
  • Coronacht: Costs 1 key.
  • Aegis: Costs 3 keys.
  • Varatha: Costs 4 keys.
  • Malphon: Costs 8 keys.
  • Exagryph: Costs 8 keys. Only available once all other arms are unlocked.

How To Get Cthonic Keys: Keys can be a rewarded after a room clear, or traded for from the Wretched Broker vendor. Fishing also has a small chance to reward you with a key.

Empowering weapons costs Titan Blood. Each weapon has four Weapon Aspects you can unlock.

• Weapon Aspect #1: Costs 5 Titan Blood
• Weapon Aspect #2: Costs 15 Titan Blood
• Weapon Aspect #3: Costs 16 Titan Blood
• Weapon Aspect #4: Costs 15 Titan Blood

Each weapon require 51 Titan Blood to unlock all aspects — so that’s 306 Titan Blood total to upgrade all Infernal Weapons.

How To Earn Titan Blood

Titan Blood is the currency required to empower weapons and upgrade weapon aspects. It’s very rare, and you can earn 2 Titan Blood per run by completing Pact of Punishment bounties.

• The primary method for earning Titan Blood is by completing Pact of Punishment bounties — you must defeat the Furies boss or the Final Boss and escape, then turn in the bounty.
  • Pact of Punishment bounties can be completed on the Tartarus Route or the Temple of Styx Route — and there are 1-20 Heat bounties. For 40 bounties in total.
  • These bounties can’t be completed. If you complete a 1 Heat Tartarus Run, you need to complete a 2 Heat Tartarus Run next to earn a Titan Blood Reward.

Charon’s Shop will also rarely sell Titan Blood for 1,200 gold. Save up and check often.

• The Wretched Broker will trade for Titan Blood, but his trades are steep. These trades are infinitely repeatable.
  • 1 Ambrosia = 1 Titan Blood
  • 2 Diamonds = 1 Titan Blood
  • 100 Cthonic Keys = 1 Titan Blood
  • 20 Nectar = 1 Titan Blood
  • 1,000 Gemstones = 1 Titan Blood

That’s everything you need to know. Even if you complete all 1-20 Heats for bounties, you won’t earn enough Titan Blood to fully upgrade all six weapons. To get enough, you’ll have to buy the extra from Charon or trade with the broker.