Hades 2 Chronos Boss Guide Tips and Rewards

In the relentless depths of Hades 2, Chronos, the Titan of Time, waits to test your every skill and reflex. Mastering his chaotic attacks and unpredictable phases is no easy feat-but with the right strategy, build, and timing, you can bend time itself to your will and emerge victorious. Ready to outsmart the ultimate boss? Here’s how to beat Chronos and claim your place among the gods.

Best builds for beating Chronos in Hades 2

To beat Chronos in Hades 2 effectively, the best builds focus on maximizing ranged damage and cast abilities to keep distance from his deadly attacks. Weapons like the Witch’s Staff and Moonstone Axe with the Aspect of Thanatos are highly recommended for their range and damage output. Key boons from Apollo and Hermes enhance attack strength and mobility, while Aphrodite’s boons help weaken Chronos and increase damage when attacking from behind. Arcana cards such as I, The Sorceress (which slows time during Omega casts) and XII, Eternity (extra life) are invaluable for survivability and damage. Keepsakes like Knuckle Bones reduce damage taken and help chip away at Chronos’ health. Cast builds combined with boons that boost cast speed and damage, along with careful evasion and use of Death Defiance, provide a reliable strategy to overcome this challenging boss.

Defeating Chronos is no easy task in Hades 2. Regardless of your build, you’ll need skill to take him down. However, you can utilize a few tools to make your battle against the Titan of Time much easier. Let’s talk about them.

Best weapon for Chronos

Let’s start with your weapon of choice. You can technically beat Chronos with all of the weapons in the game, but you’re best served prioritizing range and speed. The Witch’s Staff – the weapon you start the game with – offers a great mix of both, so I recommend you bring it with you for your first real attempt at Chronos.

Best Arcana Cards for Chronos

A lot of Arcana Cards can help you against Chronos. However, on my first victory, there are two I couldn’t have gone without:

I, The Sorceress: Slows down time for two seconds while you channel Omega moves
XII, Eternity: Start each run with one Death Defiance

Chronos is very quick, the fastest boss in Hades 2’s Underworld route by a mile. Using Omega moves against him is great because they’re very powerful and they charge your Hex, which can also deal a ton of damage to him. The Sorceress will help you land Omega moves without getting crushed while you’re channeling.

Eternity is pretty self explanatory, as two lives are better than one. Chronos is the only boss during the early access period that has two phases, and being able to reach that second phase with a second life in your back pocket is extremely helpful. (Plus you can upgrade Eternity to offer even more Death Defiances per run.)

If you end up using some of the Boons I suggest below, Arcana Cards that augment your Cast like The Furies and The Moon are very good as well.

Best Keepsakes for Chronos

Though there are Keepsakes that’ll help you reach Chronos, one of them in particular will help you in the actual boss fight: Knuckle Bones, the Keepsake you get from Odysseus.

This Keepsake causes you to take 15% less damage from Guardians (regional bosses) and causes the next Guardian you fight to instantly take 5% damage to its health bar, which is incredible. If you use Knuckle Bones a lot, you can upgrade that burst damage as well.

Just don’t pick up the Knuckle Bones keepsake until you enter the prep zone for the final area of the game. As long as you’ve done the “Kindred Keepsakes” incantation, you can swap to the Knuckle Bones after you defeat Cerberus so you can use it against Chronos.

Best Boons for Chronos

With your weapon, Keepsake, and Arcana Cards all set, it’s time to decide what build you want to use against Chronos. This is absolutely the most flexible section of this guide, but there’s one type of build I’ve found easiest to use against Chronos: cast builds.

Boons that enhance your Cast can give you a major advantage against Chronos. While he is fast and has a tendency to move out of your charged casts if you time it poorly, he also stands still for long periods of time for some of his moves. (Your cast is great against the additional enemies Chronos loves to summon into his arena too.)

The idea with casts is to run over to Chronos, set one on the ground, and then retreat so you can harass him with a long-range attack. If you have some of the more powerful cast-based boons, it should do the bulk of the work for you. Just make sure you have some way to restore magick mid-fight, as Chronos has a lot of health.

Here are some boons I like to enhance my casts with:

Storm Ring, Zeus: Omega casts call lightning bolts down on an enemy inside
Lightning Lance, Zeus: You can fire your cast at range and it deals damage when it hits a target
Arctic Ring, Demeter: Your cast constantly deals damage in an area and freezes targets
Gale Force, Demeter: Your cast creates a damaging ice tornado around it
Solar Ring, Apollo: Whenever your Omega cast expires, deal bonus damage in the area
Lucid Gain, Apollo: While standing in your cast, rapidly restore magick
Super Nova, Apollo: Your cast rapidly expands
Rapture Ring, Aphrodite: Your cast drags foes in and inflicts the weak status effect
Anvil Ring, Hephaestus: Your cast deals damage three times but in a smaller area
Smolder Ring, Hestia: Your cast constantly burns enemies
Glowing Coal, Hestia: Launch your cast out at range like a fireball, dealing damage
Easy Shot, Artemis: An arrow flies toward any target damaged by your Omega cast

Best Hex for Chronos

Finally, let’s talk about what Hex you want to bring against Chronos. Ideally you want something that deals a lot of damage or makes you difficult to hit, but also doesn’t slow you down. That really limits your options, so I typically go with one of these four:

Wolf Howl: Rise up and slam into the ground, dealing some minor damage
Total Eclipse: Blast the target area for a high amount of damage after a few seconds
Dark Side: Become an impervious, living nightmare for a short time
Phase Shift: Make everything move slowly for a few seconds

How to beat Chronos in Hades 2

To beat Chronos in Hades 2, focus on staying mobile and dodging his area attacks while steadily chipping away at his health. Keep close to him during his rotating orb attacks and try to stay behind him to avoid damage. In Phase 2, avoid his insta-kill moves by staying inside safe zones when the screen glows yellow or in the correct circle during the clock attack. Use boons that boost your cast, attack damage, and magick regeneration-Apollo and Hermes boons are especially effective. Also, prioritize killing any summoned enemies quickly to reduce pressure. Maintaining patience, timing your dodges well, and having a solid build with damage and speed enhancements are key to defeating the Titan of Time.

Once you reach the Titan of Time sitting in the depths of Hades, he’ll opine at you for a bit and then the fight will begin.

As previously mentioned, Chronos has two phases, so we’ll start with the first one.

Chronos boss fight, phase one

Right when the fight against Chronos starts, defeat his rat allies. Kill them to clear the battlefield and then put some distance between yourself and the boss.

Chronos relies on a few main moves, but the most devastating is when he throws his cane like a buzzsaw blade. The hit box on this attack is huge, and will almost certainly strike you if you’re to the side of him. The sweet spot here is behind him, but it’s a little finicky, so I’d just try to stay away when he does this.

His other main move involves him dashing or swiping in a direction. These attacks are simple to avoid, as you can just move to the side or stand behind him. When he does these moves, use them as an opportunity to deal massive damage to him. However, remember that the areas that he moves and swipes through explode after a short time, so don’t get caught in the delayed explosion.

Chronos will occasionally shield himself and cast in the middle of the room. Just dodge him or kill his enemies until he becomes vulnerable again. Sometimes, when he goes over to the throne area, he’ll start spinning his cane at you to try and suck you in. Dash behind him and just beat on him when he does this.

Eventually, Chronos will summon a bunch of flags that give him a shield. Destroy them before turning your attention back to the boss. Any time Chronos makes some kind of field that slows you down, make sure to stay out of it, or he’ll catch you and deal significant damage before you can get free.

Keep beating up your grandpa until his health bar reaches zero. Here, he’ll admit he’s had enough of you and move to phase two.

Chronos boss fight, phase two

In the second phase, Chronos will teleport you to a giant clock face. This section of the fight is far more chaotic than the first, but the boss doesn’t seem to have as much health as in phase one, so it evens out.

The first move Chronos typically makes here is to cast an area-of-effect attack that deals damage everywhere in the arena, save for one of the numbers. Drop an Omega cast on him and quickly make for the number that’s glowing. If you make it to this safe zone before his blast goes off, you’ll be fine.

For most of this fight, Chronos will stand in the middle of the clock, firing orbs or making lines appear on the arena. The idea here is to just stay away from anything that glows. Mercifully, the game usually tells you where to stand by drawing lines on the ground that highlight the safe areas and the dangerous ones. Pay attention to these signs on the arena and Melinoë’s feet the entire fight, as it’ll tell you more than the boss. Just be careful and shift your mindset back to phase one when he starts using his swipe and buzzsaw moves again.

Eventually, Chronos will summon a bunch of little hourglass minions. These guys are annoying no matter what you do. If you ignore them, they’ll throw blasts at you. But if you kill them, they’ll leave behind area-of-effect fields that slow you down. Do your best to keep damaging Chronos while hitting the little guys with collateral damage when possible.

What secret tactics can help me outsmart Chronos in Hades 2

To outsmart Chronos in Hades 2, several secret tactics can significantly improve your chances of victory:

Use the Hex that summons undead monsters, especially the Rat spearman, which can be resurrected repeatedly to deal continuous damage and quickly melt Chronos down.
Focus on ranged attacks and builds that allow you to keep distance, such as homing cast spells combined with Demeter boons, to avoid getting too close to Chronos’s deadly melee combos.
During his rotating orb attack, stick close to Chronos and try to bait him into charging toward a wall so the orbs are destroyed by the environment, reducing the threat.
Learn to dodge his charge by dashing behind him or sprinting around in a circle to avoid the shadowy explosion trail he leaves behind.
In Phase 2, prioritize dodging his insta-kill attacks by moving into the safe zones indicated by glowing circles and avoid the large gold bubbles by finding safe spots and staying still until the attack ends.
Keep killing all summoned enemies quickly to avoid being overwhelmed and to maintain control of the arena.
Employ a build with strong binding circle casts (such as from Hestia or Zeus boons) and infinite mana generation to control Chronos’s movement and prevent his charge attacks.
Maintain patience and timing in your dodges, as many of Chronos’s attacks can be dashed through if you watch his telegraphs carefully.

Combining these tactics with a well-prepared build and quick reflexes will greatly increase your odds of defeating Chronos in Hades 2.

How can summoning undead monsters help melt Chronos faster

Summoning undead monsters, particularly the Rat spearman, helps melt Chronos faster because these summons continuously deal damage over time while you focus on dodging and attacking safely. The Rat spearman can be resurrected repeatedly, maintaining a steady source of pressure on Chronos without requiring constant direct engagement from you. This tactic effectively chips away at Chronos’s health while minimizing your risk, allowing you to control the battlefield and overwhelm him more quickly.