Hades 2The Arcana Card Unlock Order
Haelian's recommended order for unlocking Arcana Altar cards from a fresh save up through a full 18-Grasp loadout, then how to adapt it for 50-Fear runs. The short version: Sorceress, Wayward Son, The Furies, Persistence, and Death cover your starting 10 Grasp, Origination becomes the priority the moment you can afford it, and Strength eventually replaces Death once you're comfortable fighting at zero Death Defiance.
Before you start
- None to begin. The Arcana Altar is available from your first save file
Early Game: The 10 Grasp Safety Core
Unlock The Sorceress, Wayward Son, Furies, Persistence, and Death
With a fresh save, unlock cards in this order: The Sorceress first, since you're required to, then Wayward Son, The Furies, Persistence, and finally Death. That's exactly your starting 10 Grasp spent, and it covers the fundamentals, faster Omega moves, a healing trickle, damage in your Cast, extra Health and Magick, and a safety net of Death Defiances, before you touch anything else on the grid.
12 to 14 Grasp: Your First Real Power Spike
Grab The Huntress the Moment You Reach 12 Grasp
The very next upgrade takes you to 12 Grasp, just enough to pick up The Huntress. It only boosts your base Attack and Special damage while under 100% Magick, not attached effects like Splash or Scorch, and priming Magick doesn't count as being under 100%, so you need to actually spend some at the start of a room to keep it active.
Push to Origination via The Centaur at 14 Grasp
After The Huntress, the priority becomes Origination, which requires unlocking The Centaur first even though you may not have room to activate it yet. Origination deals bonus damage to any foe carrying two curses from different Olympians, and unlike The Huntress it applies to everything, attacks, specials, Blitz, Splash, Casts, all of it, making it the single most important damage card on the Altar. At 14 Grasp you likely have to temporarily drop The Sorceress to fit it in. If you do, hold off on leaning into Omega moves until you can afford to bring The Sorceress back.
18 Grasp: A Complete Starting Loadout
Fill Out to 18 Grasp with The Boatman and Rerolls
Once Origination is secured, where you go next is largely personal preference, but The Boatman followed by reroll cards is a strong default. The Boatman is expensive at 5 Grasp, roughly the value of two early boons, but the upfront gold keeps your run's pace up. Reroll cards, The Fates and The Champions, let you actively hunt the boons you want instead of accepting whatever a run offers, which matters more than almost any single stat card once you know what you're building toward.
Swap Death for Strength Once You're Comfortable
Once you're settled into a run with most of your cards upgraded, replace Death with Strength. While you have zero Death Defiance, Strength grants roughly 40% less damage taken and 20% more damage dealt globally, covering attacks, specials, Blitz, Splash, and Scorch alike. That flat damage reduction makes any healing you do find, including Wayward Son's trickle, noticeably more effective. The two cards are closer in power than they look on paper, but players who switch consistently report it feeling easier once they get used to playing without the extra lives.
High-Fear Setup: Exploiting Death Defiance Resets
Run Death Defiances with Athena's Keepsake for 50-Fear Runs
For heavier Fear runs, especially alongside Vow of Scars reducing your healing and making Wayward Son much weaker, switch back to Death Defiances instead of Strength. Equip Athena's keepsake, which requires being at zero Death Defiance to use, and she can offer a Boon that restores all of them at once. Deliberately burn through your Defiances early in a run, then cash in at a keepsake-eligible point, commonly the third biome or the fourth if you haven't lost too many, to top back up before the final stretch. The Lovers pairs well here to block a boss's opening hits, and Night is worth turning on for Aspects like Momus or Shiva that reward alternating between different Omega moves, since both build up stacks and want to be strung together rather than repeating the same move.