Weapons, or Nocturnal Arms, are Melinoë’s primary tools of destruction in Hades 2. Though boons, Keepsakes, and Arcana Cards can significantly change your build, weapons are the means by which you deal damage.

Each weapon is vastly different from the others. Some require you to get up close and personal; others allow you to keep your distance. And you can change how they function by finding Daedalus Hammers in the middle of your runs. (Just look for the hammer-shaped icon when choosing which room to enter.)

Here’s a list of all weapons in Hades 2, plus details about how to unlock them and what they’re best at.

Hades 2 features six weapons, and according to Supergiant, that’s the entire roster planned for Hades 2’s launch. Here’s a list of Nocturnal Arms, their respective unlock requirements, and a detailed breakdown for each.

Every weapon in Hades 2 has a basic attack (X on Steam Deck or controller input) and a special attack (Y on Steam Deck or controller input). You can hold each input for a few seconds to perform an “Omega” version of that move, which costs some magick but is generally more powerful.

The Witch’s Staff (Descura) is the weapon you start with, and the easiest to use. Its attack is as basic as it gets, the sort of standard melee combo you’ll find in many isometric action games of this nature. Its special, meanwhile, is a long-range projectile — and if you charge it up for an Omega move, that projectile will explode on impact.

The Sister Blades (Lim and Oros) are the most nimble of the Nocturnal Arms, faster than the rest, though they deal notably lower damage. But the Omega version of the basic attack is one of the best moves in the game: It allows you to teleport behind an adjacent enemy.

The Umbral Flames (Flames of Ygnium) are, quite frankly, really hard to make sense of. You can either shoot magic orbs of fire or, as a special, surround yourself with magic orbs of fire. (We have not had much success with the Umbral Flames, perhaps because we have yet to figure out how best to use them.)

The Moonstone Axe (Zorephet) is a lumbering monstrosity, with slow-moving but high-damage attacks. While it’s extremely effective at clearing rooms of enemies, it underperforms against bosses, which typically require you to both keep your distance and move quickly.

The Argent Skull (Revaal) is the most unique weapon in Hades 2 at the moment. You have three skulls you can use as ammo for a hard-hitting primary attack. Once you fire the skull, it sits on the ground until you pick it up. Your special is a dash that deals some damage, but is specifically great for helping you reclaim your skull ammo.

The Black Coat (Xinth) is kind of like an Iron Man exosuit with built-in boxing gloves. Your standard attack is a punch, which can be charged up for a block with an Omega move. The special fires off a series of rockets, but the Omega version creates homing missiles which only fly toward targets you paint with the reticle.

You unlock new weapons in Hades 2 in the staging room before you go on runs. Interact with the giant pool of light in the center of the room to pull up a menu with all available weapons.

As you can see from the chart above, you unlock most Nocturnal Arms with silver, but will need some other resources — cinder, glassrock (or G Rock), and bronze — to get every weapon.

To get silver, you’ll first need to unlock the Crescent Pick, which costs one ash.

Once unlocked, equip the Crescent Pick before heading out on a run (you can only have one tool equipped at a time) and keep an eye out for mounds of silvery crescent moons. Each mound grants you three silver. If you unlock the Reagent Sensing incantation (it costs one moly flower), the game will automatically point out reserves of silver once you’ve cleared a room of enemies.

Additionally, if you come across Narcissus in Oceanus, he has the chance to offer you six silver as one of his rotational rewards. But given the random nature here, you’re better off going with the Crescent Pick.

As for cinder, you get one each time you defeat Hecate, the first boss. In other words, you’ll need to defeat her three times before you can unlock the Umbral Flames.

For the Argent Skull, glassrock (or G rock) is located in the Fields of Mourning region. Just as with silver, the Reagent Sensing incantation will direct you directly toward any mounds of glassrock.

Also for the Argent Skull, bronze is located in the City of Ephyra, which you can only reach once you’re able to go to the surface. Once you’re topside, the Reagent Sensing incantation will point you toward any nearby mounds of bronze. It’s a bit of an involved process, though, so you may want to consult our guides on how to get bronze and how to get thalamus (a resource you’ll need to cast an incantation that allows you to survive on the surface).

For the Black Coat, you’ll need to find adamant, which is located in the Mount Olympus region. Outside of the final boss (which is currently unavailable in early access), this is the final region in the surface path. As usual, follow the Reagent Sensing incantation while topside and you’ll find some black and blue rocks sparkling in the snow. Mine it with the Crescent Pick and take it back to camp with you to make the Black Coat.

With the addition of the Black Coat, Supergiant claims in the in-game roadmap and patch notes that the set of Nocturnal Arms are now complete, meaning we won’t be getting any more weapons in any of the other major updates to the game.

While it’s possible the studio could add a surprise weapon or additional weapon aspects (which change how your weapons work) in a future update or even post-1.0, that’s pure speculation. However, Hades 2 will be in early access through at least early 2025, and has at least two major updates left at the time of this writing, so it’s possible things could change and Supergiant could announce more tools of destruction for you to wield against the enemies of Olympus.