Hades 2 Chronos boss guide: How to clear Tartarus

Find out how to make the titan pay for his sins

Supergiant Games

You know how Hades had redeeming qualities about him in the original game despite being the final boss? Yeah, his father Chronos doesn’t have those. He’s an arrogant prick who’s still sore about his children taking over and who wants to turn back the clock to the time in which he had absolute power over everything – so kicking his butt feels really good.

Table of Contents

1. Hades 2: How to beat Chronos
2. Hades 2: Best boons vs. Chronos

Naturally, he won’t make it easy for you and Melinoë to defeat him. As annoying as he is, being Time itself is pretty nifty in a combat situation. Luckily, Melinoë has trained her entire life for this and you’ve hopefully grabbed some useful boons on the way down from Erebus.

It’s time to take back the Underworld and this Hades 2 Chronos boss guide will show you how.

Hades 2: How to beat Chronos

Chronos is a tough nut to crack, because some of his abilities are very difficult to read – using a scythe in battle that can literally rend time and space, most of Chronos’ attacks leave behind a rift in the fabric of the universe, which deals damage after a short delay. Stay clear of whichever path Chronos or his weapon take – don’t be too eager to dive in or suffer the consequences.

Avoid the black-gold ripple effects caused by Chronos' attacks. / Supergiant Games

In addition to slicing and dashing, Chronos can throw his scythe in a wide, sweeping half-circle in front of him, and create a wall of bubble projectiles around himself. It’s worth noting that Hestia’s sprint boon can make you immune against these. One of his most devastating attacks, if you’re caught by it, is a continuous stream of air pulling you towards him – similar to an attack used by Cerberus and other enemy types in the Fields of Mourning.

Being the sniveling coward he is, Chronos also tends to shield himself, summon reinforcements, and create time bubbles that stun you for a while, similar to the hourglass enemies in Tartarus.

The safest place in the battle against Chronos is either directly behind him or very far away – he doesn’t have any wave or projectile attacks with a high range that he could throw at you from off screen with the sole exception of a relatively slow wave he uses if you remain out of range of his suction attack. Most of his mobility comes from teleporting, which he does whenever he creates a time bubble, and his dangerous dash attack, which he often uses two or three times in a row. Funnily enough, time is your ally in this battle – don’t rush things and get caught by the aftereffects of his abilities.

Conserve your strength, because once you’ve depleted Chronos’ health bar, you have to do it all over again – after felling Chronos, he’s pulling a good, old domain expansion out of his pocket to give himself a second chance.

In Phase 2, the arena is your enemy as much as Chronos is. From time to time – crucially, right at the very start of Phase 2 – most of the arena will go dark, with only one specific spot lit up. In that situation, you need to sprint and dash over to this spot and stay on it. Otherwise you suffer a 999 damage hit – and it doesn’t matter how many Centaur Hearts you picked up on your way down, that’s an insta-kill.

Immediately dash for the safe zone if the rest of the arena goes dark. / Supergiant Games

Other new tricks include deadly beams of light mimicking the hands of the clock on which you’re fighting and a barrage of small time bubbles to stun you. The good news is that Chronos seems to be far less tanky in this phase of the battle, allowing you to deal with him much quicker – just stay on your toes and don’t make a mistake when he’s using his insta-kill ability. Mind as well that his attacks leave the same deadly time ripple effect as before.

With the arena being much smaller, staying out of Chronos’ way isn’t really an option anymore – stick glued to his back and unload whatever damage you can. Once the Titan of Time is down a second time, not even he can quickly recover and you’re free to enjoy the spoils of victory.

Seeing Chronos finally on his knees is incredibly satisfying. / Supergiant Games

Hades 2: Best boons vs. Chronos

Among the best Hades 2 builds to deal with Chronos is one centered around Apollo, Aphrodite, and Hermes. Apollo can give your attacks a lot more punch and make your sprint speedier. In addition, he allows you to inflict Daze on enemies to lower their chance of hitting you and can boost the damage dealt to targets with Daze. Aphrodite’s boons allow you to inflict Weak on the enemy and deal additional damage in melee – and a Duo boon from Apollo and Aphrodite makes the synergy between Daze and Weak even better, debuffing afflicted enemies even more. 

Combining the sprint boons of Apollo and Hermes, you’ll zip over the battlefield like lightning, Daze nearby enemies, and have a shield preventing you from taking damage – this is invaluable while navigating around Chronos to stick to his back and reaching the safe zones in Phase 2. 

Plus, Hermes can grant you a ton of dodge chance. Aphrodite, too, has a boon granting you dodge chance as long as your build contains four Air Elements – which, thanks to Apollo and Hermes’ skills predominantly being of the Air Element, is pretty easy. Altogether, you can get a dodge chance of over 50% this way.

Between the miss chance from Daze and your evasion, Chronos will find it very difficult to inflict damage on you, giving you the necessary time to erode down his health bar. Whose side is time now on, old man?