Best Boons and Upgrades For The Black Coat In Hades 2

The sixth and final weapon of Hades 2, Black Coat Xinth, is a beautiful combination of the knuckles and gun weapons from the original game. Beautifully blending strength and agility, the Black Coat is a welcome alternative for fans of the Sister Blades who want something a little sturdier.

The Sister Blades charging up an Omega Special in Hades 2

Hades 2: Sister Blades Combat Guide

The Sister Blades are very fast weapons that Melinoe can unlock in Hades 2. Here’s everything you need to know.

But mastering this weapon will require study of its aspects, its tricky benefits asking a player to pay attention to the fine text. Without understanding the mechanics of this surprisingly complex mech-suit of a weapon, you might just end up making decisions you’ll want to rewind time to undo.

Hades 2 is currently in Early Access
, meaning that the details below may change over the course of development.

What Is The Black Coat Moveset?

Melinoe targets multiple possessed shades with the Black Coat Omega Special in Hades 2.

Attack	Description
Attack	Melinoe unleashes a flurry of punches that ends in a large, horizontal sweep.
Omega Attack	A blocking attack in much the same fashion as the shield from Hades or the pre-patch Moonstone Axe special, Melinoe holds her block and unleashes it with a powerful but short forward blow. Damage dealt is scaled to a growing Magicka consumption.
Special	Melinoe unleashes two, untrained projectiles in a short burst in front of her.
Omega Special	Within a cone on the ground, Melinoe locks onto any targets within range with six nodes. She releases an equal amount of missiles to nodes that track the target, even if they move out of the initial range.

There are two important takeaways from the Black Coat moveset:

Tracking multi-shots
Close-quarters, quick attacks

This means that the Black Coat has the flexibility to serve players well in close-quarters as well as at medium distance. Aggressive playstyles and hit-and-run playstyles can both work very well with this weapon.

Melinoe strikes Schelemeus (Skelly) in the training grounds in Hades 2 while wearing the Black Coat, Xinth.

Blocking is also a great asset for this weapon and makes it stand out in the crowd of weapons as one of the few weapons with defensive options (especially after the Moonstone Axe lost its shield in early patches). The block serves both a means for protecting against projectiles while also charging up a powerful attacking strike that can deal significant damage.

Xinth’s block is diamond shaped, and because of its narrow nature, it can sometimes be difficult to consistently block projectiles that have a curve. Misaligning a block even slightly can be punishing. Therefore, it is recommended to use this blocking feature sparingly until one gets accustomed to its odd shape.

What Are The Aspects Of The Black Coat?

Melinoe observes the new aspects and levels of the Black Coat, Xinth, in Hades 2.

Aspect	Description
Aspect of Melinoe	This is the default incarnation. It has no special effects to begin with, but upgrading it will increase your sprinting speed, attack speed, and attack power.
Aspect of Selene	This incarnation will grant you the special Hex, Sky Fall. Having this aspect will prevent you from having any other boon of Selene, but you’ll be able to upgrade it via a special path on the Moon of Stars.
Aspect of Nyx	This aspect will include a special new attack by Dashing. Holding Dash, you can charge your sprint and then ram into an enemy to unleash a shockwave. Afterward, you’ll gain a special effect that results in your attack (special or normal) becoming split into two damage instances at slightly reduced damage individually. This effect lasts five seconds.

All of these incarnations will be available to you with the Coat of Night, but they’ll require extra-rare resources to properly unlock. Likewise, upgrading both the Aspect of Selene and Nyx will require a large amount of Nightmares. Melinoe’s is much easier to upgrade, allowing you to play with the Black Coat in the long interim to get used to the coat’s playstyle.

Melinoe prepares to upgrate Raki's Stone Bond ability in Hades 2.

The Aspect of Nyx is incredibly
difficult to obtain due to the necessity of Plasma.
You will
need four pieces of Plasma and one Darkness
to unlock this aspect. Unfortunately,
Plasma is extremely rare.
In our experience, it took 56 runs to acquire two Plasma without intentional farming.

To get this aspect, you will have to intentionally look for Plasma.
To increase your chances
to the maximum,
we recommend the following strategy:

Bring Raki, the raven familiar you can find in Erebus.
Level up his ability, Stone Bond, through the use of treats.
Use the boon from a Charon’s Well to summon a Chaos Gate, and if a Plasma isn’t in Chaos’s realm, look for the boon from Chaos that increases the odds of finding resources (or for increasing the intake of resources).
Look for Chaos again in the same run, and your odds of finding a Plasma should be slightly better.

Melinoe prepares to spend Plasma to obtain the Aspect of Nyx Black Coat in Hades 2.

Each aspect has its pros and cons. None of them have a claim to being the best, but one might be a better fit for your playstyle than another:

The Aspect of Melinoe is a general catch-all that helps you learn the basics of this weapon. It has lower Magicka cost, higher speed, and flexibility to use any choice of Selene boon.
The Aspect of Selene is for those who prefer to utilize the Omega moves over normal attacks as use of Magicka will be rewarded by Selene’s inherent boon and the use of an Omega after using your hex will enjoy a high damage boost.
The Aspect of Nyx is essentially – in most regards – a bulldozer. It has a very high Magicka cost, requiring a good Mana-setup to function properly but dealing incredible damage. It requires constant close-combat to utilize well, risking high damage intake.

Aspect Of Selene, Path Of Stars: Sky Fall

Melinoe inspects the new Path of Stars for the Sky Fall boon in Hades 2.

Name	Rank	Effect
Sting	Common	Hex has +10 Power.
Omen	Common	When afflicted by Shine, enemies take +5 percent damage from Omega moves.
Growth	Common	The hex charges 1 Magicka point every second.
Brilliance	Common	The hex deals +1 instance of damage.
Scorn	Rare	Each time the hex hits the same foe, it deals an additional +50 percent damage (stacking).
Calm	Rare	During the hex’s duration, you take -20 percent damage.
Ferocity	Rare	Your hex gains the trait bonuses of your Attack’s boon.
Prism	Epic	Rather than targeting one nearby foe each strike, your hex targets three nearby foes for each strike.

This special boon from Selene, inherent to the Aspect of Selene, has its own Path of Stars tree. You will not be able to change the type of hex Selene grants you while donning this aspect, nor does it appear to give any post-hex status bonuses like other hexes.

As such,
it is recommended to liberally use your Magicka and your hex
to get the maximum benefit from this aspect.

What Are The Best Boons and Upgrades For The Black Coat?

Player looks at all boons used with the Aspect of Melinoe Moonstone Axe after defeating Chronos in Hades 2.

There are three general rules of thumb to follow when making any build for the Black Coat:

Increase your ability to negate or lower damage.
Find a way to reliably restore Magicka and quickly.
Prioritize damage boons that benefit most from quick damage build-up and close-quarters fighting.

Weapon Upgrades

Melinoe chooses between Daedalus Hammer upgrades for the Black Coat in Hades 2.

Weapon Upgrade	Effect
Shimmering Rockets	Your specials bounce twice more between foes.
Launcher Frame	Whenever you strike a foe with a normal attack, you have a 25 percent chance to fire your special.
Sudden Salvo	Your Omega Special locks on faster and costs 20 percent less Magicka.
Ripper Rockets	Your Special deals +5 Power for each hit against the same foe, stacking up to five times.
Rapid Frame	Your Attack is dealt 35 percent faster.
Exhaust Riser	Your Dash Strike hits three times with one attack.

While the Black Coat has several great aspects, the six above shine the most for their ability to synergize with the most amount of boons for the least amount of effort. Likewise, there are certain boons that can sabotage builds, such as the Siege Frame, which could potentially sabotage Aphrodite’s Flutter Strike.

World Collider (charged Omega Attack deals +100 Power) could be a very fun build, and it’s been tested and proven capable of destroying the entire first and second phase healthpool of the Siren Sisters in a single blow each. However, it comes at the great cost of large damage intake and requires clever boon-hunting to pull-off. It should be considered a high-effort, high-risk, and high-reward ability.

God Boons

Black Coat Aspect of Selene reviews boons that bested Chronos in Hades 2.

God	Evaluation
Aphrodite	She is hands-down the absolute best choice for this weapon. Almost every boon in her repertoire will benefit a Black Coat user. The best boons will be the Flutter Strike (increase Close-Up damage) and the Glamour Gain (inflict Weak on nearby foes and restore Magicka when near them).
Apollo	Apollo can serve two phenomenal purposes: evasion builds and Cast support. With Super Nova, your casts will be larger and help stop mobs from swarming until you’re ready to face them (which can also stack with your choice of Cast type, such as Demeter’s Freeze Cast or Hestia’s Scorch Cast). Additionally, his Daze effects can limit damage intake while also giving Air Infusions for Ahprodite’s Evasion Infusion Boon: Wispy Wiles. As icing on the cake, the Back Burner boon allows for increased Backstab damage while Dazed.
Hera	Hera’s Hitch effects can allow your chaining attacks to hit multiple mob enemies – something Black Coat can struggle with. This is especially best on the Special Attack which is best for setting up damage rather than building up status effects.
Zeus	With so much outgoing damage with this fast and hard weapon, Blitz effects will trigger often. His Sprint can also be a benefit, dealing additional damage when you have to dodge out of an enemy’s range for some reason (though the downside is an even higher Magicka cost).

The best boons you can take from the gods are those that slow your opponents, raise your own speed, and increase your defenses.

When it comes to the remaining gods:

Demeter can be okay, but she’s just outclassed. Her Mana regeneration is fast, but it requires standing still on a weapon that likes to spend a lot of time moving in opponents’ faces. Additionally, Freeze is really only good at a distance and for allowing retreats unless you set-up for a Hestia and Demeter Duo build.
Artemis is great, but you can’t rely on her. Critical damage increases and Support Fire for a fast-hit build is amazing, but she shows up too inconsistently to recommend a build around her.
Hestia is great, but you need someone for defense. Hestia’s Scorch builds up quickly with this weapon, but you’ll need to smartly choose a second god to make her viable such as Hephaestus or Aphrodite.
Hephaestus is best for defense and not much else. On a weapon that hits so frequently, there are much better attack boons that fit it. However, his cast, Anvil Ring, can have great synergy, and his defensive boons are a welcome addition.
Poseidon self-sabotages this weapon. Pushing away your enemies when you want to get close is the antithesis of the Black Coat. He’s best used for resource-gathering or pushing away from casts when you need an escape.

Dionysus would be a great god for the Black Coat with the Hangover Strike, but his help is so short-lived it isn’t fair to place him in the list. Only available for the end of the road as of the Olympic Update, both Dionysus and Athena (with her amazing Deflect ability sorely enjoyed by this weapon) cannot be fairly judged yet.

How To Best Use The Black Coat In Combat

The Black Coat is all about attack, attack, and attack. Weaving in-and-out of the line of fire, the Black Coat’s fast-paced action will require you to strategically plan your assault to avoid unnecessary damage.

When using this weapon, follow these general tips:

Single out the highest-risk enemies at the start of combat.
Open fire with your Omega Special first and then Dash-Strike after firing to close the distance.
Use your Attack to stagger-lock mob enemies, but don’t overstay your welcome with Shielded enemies and Guardians.
Cast should be used for zoning first and damage second, keeping enemies where you want them at all times.

It is very easy to forget your Omega Attack with how long its charging takes and how much damage you can take during that charge. While it is generally poor for mobs, there are certain enemies where it can function very well at certain points.

For Guardians and minibosses, this list includes:

The Root Stalker
Hecate
The Sirens: Scylla only
Chronos
Eris

Melinoe uses the Night Coat's Aspect of Selene Hex on Cerberus in Hades 2.

Your high-Magicka cost will be the greatest downfall for this build, so getting a steady supply of it will be your ticket to success. In fact, it could be more Magicka-costly than even the torches.

Manage your Magicka wisely, picking boons that best fit your strategy to prioritize the amount you have at all times.

As long as you have a solid magic regeneration and a good head for knowing where you should be on the battlefield, the Black Coat’s raw potential will do the rest of the heavy-lifting for you and punch through every barrier between you and success.