Hestia stacks Scorch, a burn that grows stronger the more it builds, climbing toward a 999 damage cap on a single foe.
Hestia is the burn build, and her Scorch curse only gets scarier the longer a fight drags on.
She is the oldest Olympian, the Goddess of the Hearth, and a former bearer of the Adamant Rail. Her boons coat enemies in Scorch, a stacking burn whose damage ramps as it builds and can reach a hard cap of 999 on a single target.
On top of the damage she brings real survivability: a sprint that all but ignores burning, Magick restored on every hit, and a dodge chance that doubles against the foes she has already set alight.
This guide covers how Scorch works, every core Hestia boon, the Everlasting Ember keepsake, and the build that turns the burn into a 999 ceiling.
Flame Strike to put Scorch on your Attack, with Pyro Technique to make it tick faster.Every Hestia blessing builds around Scorch, her signature burn and her place among the Olympian boon-givers.
Scorch is a status curse that deals damage over time and grows stronger as more stacks pile on. The wiki notes Scorch damage cannot exceed 999 on a single foe, so the goal is to apply it fast and keep it climbing toward that ceiling. By default the burn ticks several times a second, which adds up quickly once a target is fully stacked.
Her boons apply Scorch through different actions. Flame Strike puts it on your Attack, Flame Flourish on your Special, and Smolder Ring keeps reapplying it to anything inside your Melinoe 
Cast circle. From there, support boons make the burn tick faster or hit harder the first time it lands.
The trade is that Scorch is a ramp, not a burst. As of patch v1.0 she rewards fights that last a few seconds, which is why she shines on Guardians and tanky packs rather than rooms you delete on contact.
Apply Scorch as early in a fight as you can. The damage builds the longer it ticks, so a Scorch you land in the first second is worth far more than the same boon used on an enemy about to die.
Her menu is one of the deepest in the game, splitting into Scorch appliers, Scorch boosters, and a strong set of utility blessings.
The wiki effect blocks list the per-rarity values below, with the Common to Heroic range shown for each.
| Boon | What it does | Value (Common to Heroic) |
|---|---|---|
| Flame Strike | Your Attacks inflict Scorch. | 30 to 75 Scorch damage |
| Flame Flourish | Your Specials inflict Scorch. | 35 to 88 Scorch damage |
| Smolder Ring | Your Cast repeatedly inflicts Scorch on foes in the circle. | 40 to 100 per second |
| Pyro Technique | Your Scorch effects deal damage faster. | +50% to +125% Scorch rate |
| Highly Flammable | The first Scorch on a foe inflicts extra damage. | +80 to +200 first-time damage |
| Heat Rush | Sprint leaves a cinder trail and cuts burning damage you take to 1. | 10 to 25 trail damage |
| Cardio Gain | Your Attack or Special restores Magick on hit. | 4 to 10 Magick per strike |
| Hot Pot | Gain Dodge chance, doubled against Scorched foes. | +4% to +7% Dodge |
Flame Strike or Flame Flourish is your starting point, since you need Scorch on a move you use constantly. Pyro Technique and Highly Flammable are the multipliers that turn a slow burn into a real damage source, while Heat Rush, Cardio Gain, and Hot Pot are why Hestia doubles as a survival god.
Pyro Technique is the quiet keystone. Doubling how fast Scorch ticks means a fully stacked burn reaches the 999 cap far sooner, so grab it early if you plan to lean on Scorch as your main damage.
The Everlasting Ember is Hestia keepsake, and it is the cleanest way to force a Scorch core to come together early.
You earn it the first time you gift Nectar to Hestia. Once equipped, it works like the other Olympian keepsakes: a Boon of Hestia becomes likely on offer, and you can Rarify her Common, Rare, or Epic blessings once that night, raising one a tier on the spot. It sits in the wider keepsake pool with the other Olympian mirrors and cups.
Equip it on the region where you want to lock in Flame Strike or Pyro Technique early, then swap to a damage or defense keepsake once your burn core is online. The Rarify charge is the real value, since bumping a Scorch boon up a tier early raises its damage for the whole run.
Save the Rarify charge for Pyro Technique or your main Scorch applier, not a utility boon. A higher-rarity Scorch source scales every tick for the rest of the run, while a rarer dodge or Magick boon barely moves the needle.
The strongest Hestia build stacks one Scorch applier, the Scorch boosters, and a way to hold foes still so the burn reaches its cap.
Open with Flame Strike or Flame Flourish to match your weapon, add Pyro Technique and Highly Flammable so the burn ramps fast and hits hard on the first application, then take Cardio Gain for Magick and Heat Rush to ignore the chip damage of standing in your own fire.
Flame Strike (Scorch on your Attack) Pyro Technique (Scorch ticks faster) Highly Flammable (big first-time Scorch) Cardio Gain (restore Magick on hit) Heat Rush (ignore your own burning)
Demeter Freeze (hold foes in the burn)Across multiple runs, the Scorch core holds up because it scales with time on target rather than raw hits. Freeze, slows, or a binding Cast keep enemies sitting in the fire long enough for Scorch to climb, and Heat Rush means you can stand in the chaos without paying for it.
Hestia pairs best with gods who lock enemies in place or stack the Fire element, since both let Scorch reach its ceiling.
Demeter is the classic partner: her Freeze holds foes still so Scorch keeps climbing, and slowed enemies stay in your Cast circle. Hephaestus 
stacks well too, since his blast effects and Fire boons feed Hestia Slow Cooker, which grants Power for each Fire boon you hold.
Worth noting against the other burn god: Hestia Scorch and Dionysus Hangover are different curses, and a run can carry both as separate damage-over-time layers. Whatever duo boon you chase, the throughline is keeping enemies alive and in place long enough for the burn to do its work.
Scorch rewards tanky fights. On packs you clear instantly the burn never ramps, so save your Hestia damage estimates for Guardians and armored enemies, where a fully stacked 999 burn carries the fight.
Hestia is the Olympian Goddess of Flame and a boon-giver. Her blessings inflict Scorch, a stacking burn that deals damage over time and grows stronger as it builds, and she also offers strong survival tools such as Magick on hit and dodge chance.
Scorch. It deals damage over time to an afflicted foe and increases as more stacks are applied, up to a hard cap of 999 damage on a single target. The more you keep it applied and boosted, the harder it hits.
Flame Strike, which puts Scorch on your Attack, is the usual starting point, paired with Pyro Technique to make Scorch tick faster. Highly Flammable adds a large first-time burst, and together they turn a slow burn into a main damage source.
Scorch is a damage-over-time burn that ticks several times a second and ramps as more is applied, capping at 999 damage per foe. Boons like Pyro Technique increase how fast it ticks, while Highly Flammable adds extra damage the first time it lands.
The Everlasting Ember, earned by gifting her Nectar. It makes a Boon of Hestia likely on offer and lets you Rarify one of her Common, Rare, or Epic blessings once that night, which is best spent on a Scorch applier or Pyro Technique.
Yes, especially on tanky fights. Her Scorch curse scales toward a 999 cap, which crushes Guardians and armored enemies, and her Heat Rush, Cardio Gain, and Hot Pot boons add real survivability on top of the damage.
Take a Scorch applier like Flame Strike, add Pyro Technique and Highly Flammable to boost the burn, grab Cardio Gain for Magick and Heat Rush for defense, then pair a Freeze or slow to hold enemies in the fire so Scorch ramps to its cap.
They use different curses, so a run can use both. Hestia Scorch ramps to a 999 cap and rewards holding enemies still, while Dionysus Hangover can land critical hits. Hestia tends to be the stronger standalone burn, but the two stack as separate layers.
Keep building out your Hades 2 knowledge with these next stops.
Game data and character art adapted from hades.fandom.com, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Supergiant Games.