Step into the Underworld with newfound power in Hades 2 by mastering the art of Arcana Cards – a game-changing mechanic that grants passive buffs to transform your runs. But wielding these potent cards requires increasing your Grasp, the crucial resource that limits how many cards you can activate at once. Unlock all 25 Arcana Cards, learn how to boost your Grasp by spending Psyche earned in battles, and craft unstoppable combinations that will redefine your journey through the depths.
Like Keepsakes (accessories), Arcana Cards grant you passive perks, based on how much grasp you have. Some cards boost your stats. Some are even more helpful, going so far as to revive you from death. Unlike Keepsakes, though, think of Arcana Cards more like a skill tree. As you unlock more cards, you’ll get access to even better cards.
Here’s how to unlock Arcana Cards in Hades 2, plus a list of all Arcana Cards and their abilities, along details about how to get more grasp.
How to unlock Arcana Cards with grasp in Hades 2
To unlock Arcana Cards in Hades 2, you need to spend Ash at the Altar of Ashes located in the Crossroads after your first respawn in the Underworld. Ash can be earned by completing specific encounters or purchased from vendors like the Wretched Broker or Charon’s shop. Each Arcana Card requires a certain amount of Ash (and sometimes additional materials) to unlock, and unlocking a card reveals adjacent cards on the Arcana board, expanding your options. To use these cards, you must have enough Grasp, which starts at 10 and can be increased by spending Psyche at the Altar of Ashes. Psyche is gained by clearing encounters marked with a green flame or can be bought or gathered through other means. Some cards have no Grasp cost but require meeting specific conditions called “awakenings” to activate. Managing your Grasp and unlocking more Arcana Cards will enhance your gameplay with passive abilities that improve survivability and damage output.
You can unlock Arcana Cards by interacting with the stone slab at the entrance of the room right before you embark on a run.
The primary resource for unlocking new Arcana Cards is ashes, a resource most commonly found as a reward for clearing encounters (the chambers with combat). Look for chambers marked by a gray flourish of sand.
Unlocking an Arcana Card for the first time will unveil the cards adjacent to it, expanding the number of cards you can unlock.
How to increase grasp and equip more Arcana Cards in Hades 2
To increase your Grasp in Hades 2 and equip more Arcana Cards, you need to spend the resource Psyche at the Altar of Ashes in the Crossroads. You start with a Grasp limit of 10, which allows only a few Arcana Cards to be equipped, and the first upgrade to increase Grasp from 10 to 12 costs 40 Psyche, with subsequent upgrades becoming progressively more expensive. Psyche can be earned by completing encounters marked with a green flame, purchased from the Wretched Broker, or obtained using the Tablet of Peace Gathering Tool on Lost Shades. Increasing your Grasp lets you equip more or higher-cost Arcana Cards, enhancing your run with unique modifiers. You can also disable cards you don’t want to use to manage your Grasp effectively. Some Arcana Cards have no Grasp cost but require specific conditions to activate, known as “awakening”.
Your grasp meter determines how many Arcana Cards you can equip at once. Each Arcana Card comes with a grasp cost, ranging from one to five, with the better cards typically associated with a higher grasp cost.
You start Hades 2 with 10 grasp. You can increase your grasp limit by spending psyche, also a resource that’s earned by clearing encounters. Look for the chambers with the little green will-o-wisp as a reward.
Some cards have no grasp cost and are instead activated by an “awakening” – whether or not you’re able to equip it is contingent on whether or not you’ve met a certain set of pre-requisites. We’ve noted such “awakenings” in the table below.
All Arcana Cards and abilities in Hades 2
In Hades 2, there are 25 unique Arcana Cards that provide a variety of passive buffs to enhance your gameplay. Each card has a specific Grasp cost, and you start with 10 Grasp, which limits how many cards you can equip at once. These cards grant effects such as slowing down time during Omega moves, restoring health, increasing damage, boosting magick regeneration, and providing Death Defiance, among others. You can unlock new cards by meditating at the Altar using Ash, a resource found during runs. Increasing your Grasp by spending Psyche, earned from clearing rooms, allows you to equip more powerful combinations of Arcana Cards, tailoring your build for different challenges in the Underworld. Mastering the use of these cards is key to progressing further in Hades 2.
There are 25 Arcana Cards in Hades 2. Each card is associated with a roman numeral. There are five rows, with five Arcana Cards per row; refer to the image above to see each card’s placement on the Arcana Card board. Note that all card values in the following table show the card’s lowest rank, and don’t factor in upgrades.
In Hades 2, increasing your Grasp is crucial to wielding more and stronger Arcana Cards, which provide powerful passive buffs and unique perks to enhance your runs. You start with 10 Grasp, which limits how many cards you can activate simultaneously, as each card requires a specific Grasp cost. To increase your Grasp, you need to spend Psyche, a resource earned by clearing rooms in the Underworld. By investing Psyche, you can raise your total Grasp, allowing you to equip more Arcana Cards and thus unlock greater strategic depth and survivability in your gameplay.
Card number |
Card name |
Card Effect |
Grasp cost |
Unlock cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | The Sorceress | Your Omega moves are 10% faster. | 1 | 1 Ash |
| II | The Wayward Son | After you exit a chamber, restore 2 health or twice that if you have no more than 30% health. | 1 | 3 Ash |
| III | The Huntress | While you have less than 100% magick, your attack and special deal 30% more damage. | 2 | 10 Ash |
| IV | Night | Your Omega cast has 50 power whenever it detonates. | 2 | 15 Ash |
| V | The Moon | Your Hex also charges up automatically as though you used 2 magick every 1 second. | 0, Awakening: Activate any surrounding card | 20 Ash, 1 Pearl |
| VI | The Furies | Deal 20% damage to foes in your casts. | 2 | 3 Ash |
| VII | The Titan | Gain 20 max health and 0 max magick. | 2 | 7 Ash |
| VIII | The Messenger | You have a 3% chance to automatically dodge incoming attacks. | 1 | 20 Ash |
| IX | The Unseen | Restore 4 magick every one second. | 5 | 25 Ash |
| X | Death | Your Omega moves have a 9% chance to deal critical damage with each move in an Omega combo. | 3 | 30 Ash |
| XI | The Swift Runner | You sprint 5% faster. | 1 | 10 Ash |
| XII | Eternity | Start each run with one Death Defiance (which revives you when you run out of health). | 4 | 20 Ash |
| XIII | The Centaur | After every five locations, gain 3 max health and 3 Magick. | 0, Awakening: Activate cards that use 1 grasp through 5 grasp | 25 Ash, 1 Cinder |
| XIV | Origination | Deal 25% more damage to foes afflicted with at least 2 curses from different Olympians. | 5 | 30 Ash |
| XV | The Lovers | In Guardian (area boss) fights, you take no damage the first time you are hit. | 3 | 35 Ash |
| XVI | The Fates | Start each run with one Change of Fate, which can alter location rewards. | 3 | 15 Ash |
| XVII | The Boatman | Start each run with 200 gold. | 5 | 25 Ash |
| XVIII | The Artificer | Start each run with one chance to turn any minor find into a random major find. | 3 | 30 Ash |
| XIX | Excellence | Any boons youâre offered have a 30% chance to be rare. | 5 | 35 Ash |
| XX | The Queen | Any boons youâre offered have a 6% chance to be a Duo (whenever possible). | 0, Awakening: Activate no more than two cards that use the same amount of grasp | 40 Ash, 1 Tear |
| XXI | The Seer | You have two bonus Changes of Fate. | 0, Awakening: Activate each surrounding card | 20 Ash, 1 Wool |
| XXII | The Champions | Start each run with one Change of Fate, which allows you to alter boons and other choices. | 4 | 30 Ash |
| XXIII | Strength | If you have no Death Defiance effects, you take 30% less damage and deal 25% more damage. | 4 | 35 Ash |
| XXIV | Divinity | Any boons youâre offered have a 10% chance to be epic. | 0, Awakening: Activate all five cards in any other column | 40 Ash, 1 Golden Apple |
| XXV | Judgement | Activate three random inactive Arcana Cards whenever you defeat a Guardian (area boss). | 0, Awakening: Activate three cards at most | 50 Ash, 1 Zodiac Sand |
How can I maximize my grasp to unlock all powerful Arcana Cards in Hades 2
To maximize your Grasp in Hades 2 and unlock all powerful Arcana Cards, you need to focus on acquiring and spending Psyche, the key resource for increasing your Grasp limit. You start with a Grasp limit of 10, which determines how many Arcana Cards you can equip at once, each card having its own Grasp cost. To increase this limit, spend Psyche by interacting with Melinoë’s portrait on the Tarot Arcana screen, where you can allocate Psyche to raise your total Grasp capacity. Psyche is earned by clearing encounters, especially those marked by a green will-o-wisp, and is abundant enough to allow multiple upgrades, though costs rise with each increase.
Additionally, unlocking an Arcana Card reveals adjacent cards, expanding your options and allowing you to strategically purchase cards that open paths to more powerful ones. Prioritize spending Psyche to raise Grasp early to equip higher-cost, more potent cards that significantly enhance your runs. This approach ensures you can build a versatile and powerful deck of Arcana Cards to dominate the Underworld.
What is the best way to farm Psyche for increasing my grasp quickly in Hades 2
The best way to farm Psyche quickly in Hades 2 to increase your Grasp is a combination of efficient run strategies and smart resource management:
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Equip the Tablet of Peace before your runs. This lets you help the small green shades find their way back to the Crossroads, granting Psyche as a reward.
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Prioritize Psyche Rooms during runs. These special rooms reward Psyche upon clearing and typically appear at least twice per run, depending on your progress.
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Use the Wretched Broker at the Crossroads. After unlocking him by completing the “Summoning of Mercantile Fortune” Incantation, you can buy Psyche by trading Bones-30 Bones for 5 Psyche. Since Bones accumulate quickly, this is a fast and reliable Psyche source.
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Optimize your runs for speed and Psyche gain. Some players recommend deliberately dying to restart runs quickly, focusing on Psyche-rich encounters like Poseidon rooms and Psyche Rooms, and using Frost on lone Shades to spawn more Psyche rewards. Efficient runs can net 80 to 120+ Psyche each in about 5 to 8 minutes, allowing 10-12 runs per hour and up to 1,440 Psyche per hour.
By combining these methods-helping shades with the Tablet, selecting Psyche Rooms, buying Psyche from the Broker, and running efficient, Psyche-focused runs-you can rapidly farm Psyche to maximize your Grasp and unlock all powerful Arcana Cards in Hades 2.
