Apollo pairs the biggest raw damage boons in the game with Daze, a curse that can simply stop enemies from dealing damage at all.
Apollo gives you both the biggest damage numbers on the boon menu and a curse that can shut enemies down entirely.
The God of Light leans on huge area damage and his signature Daze, which gives an afflicted foe a chance to deal no damage at all. Where most gods buff one slot, his Nova boons add enormous flat damage in a wide radius, so they hit everything in front of you.
That combination makes him both an offensive and a defensive pick. You delete packs with light, and the survivors keep whiffing their attacks thanks to Daze.
This guide covers how Daze and his area boons work, every core Apollo boon, his Harmonic Photon keepsake, and the build that ties it together.
Nova Strike for huge area damage, with Back Burner to punish Dazed foes.Apollo builds around two ideas: massive area damage and the Daze curse, which makes him one of the most well-rounded Olympian boon-givers.
His signature status curse is Daze. The wiki notes a Dazed foe has a chance to deal no damage at all, so spreading it across a room turns enemy attacks into coin flips. It is one of the strongest defensive curses in the game, on top of his offense.
The offense is his Nova boons. Nova Strike and Nova Flourish add the highest flat damage percentages of any god, up to +100% and +120% by rarity, and they widen the area your hits cover. For Melinoe 
, that means a single swing can clear a whole pack.
As of patch v1.0 he also rewards clean play. Perfect Image grants bonus damage while you avoid taking hits, which pairs naturally with Daze keeping enemies from landing attacks in the first place.
Spread Daze early, then commit your Nova hits. With enough Daze on a pack, most enemy attacks simply fail, which lets you stand in melee range and use his wide area boons safely.
His menu splits into high-percentage area damage, Daze appliers, and a few clever damage multipliers.
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) |
|---|---|---|
| Nova Strike | Your Attacks deal more damage in a larger area. | +40% to +100% Attack damage |
| Nova Flourish | Your Specials deal more damage in a larger area. | +60% to +120% Special damage |
| Solar Ring | Your Casts inflict Daze and burst for damage before expiring. | 80 to 200 Cast damage |
| Dazzling Display | Your attacks gain a chance to inflict Daze. | +10% to +25% Daze chance |
| Back Burner | Dazed foes take more damage when struck from behind. | +50% to +125% backstab damage |
| Light Smite | After you take damage, your foe takes damage and you Daze nearby foes. | 50 to 125 revenge damage |
| Perfect Image | Deal more damage until you take a hit, regained after 15 seconds clean. | +10% to +25% no-hit damage |
| Lucid Gain | Restore Magick whenever your Cast expires. | 40 to 100 Magick |
Nova Strike or Nova Flourish is your damage core, since the percentages are the highest on offer. Dazzling Display and Solar Ring spread Daze, Back Burner turns that Daze into a damage multiplier, and Perfect Image rewards the clean play that Daze enables.
Back Burner is the sleeper damage boon. Once foes are Dazed, hitting them from behind for up to +125% damage adds a huge spike, so position to attack into a Dazed pack rather than straight on.
The Harmonic Photon is Apollo keepsake, and it is the cleanest way to force a Daze-and-Nova core to come together early.
You earn it the first time you gift Nectar to Apollo. Once equipped, it works like the other Olympian keepsakes: a Boon of Apollo becomes likely on offer, and you can Rarify his 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 shards.
Because his Nova boons scale so hard with rarity, the Rarify charge matters here. Bumping Nova Strike from Common to Epic early can nearly double its damage for the rest of the run.
Spend the Harmonic Photon Rarify on Nova Strike or Nova Flourish, not a utility boon. The Nova boons carry the highest damage percentages in the game, so a tier upgrade there scales every hit all run.
The strongest Apollo build pairs a Nova damage boon with Daze spreaders and Back Burner, so you delete packs while their survivors cannot fight back.
Open with Nova Strike or Nova Flourish to match your weapon, add Dazzling Display and Solar Ring to keep Daze on the room, then take Back Burner so Dazed foes take huge backstab damage. Perfect Image rewards the safety that Daze provides.
Nova Strike (huge area Attack damage) Dazzling Display (attacks inflict Daze) Solar Ring (Cast Daze and burst) Back Burner (backstab Dazed foes) Perfect Image (damage while unhit)
Artemis crit (crits on top of Nova damage)Across multiple runs, this core holds up because Daze solves survival while the Nova boons solve damage. You rarely take hits, your area damage clears packs, and Back Burner punishes anything still standing.
Apollo pairs well with damage gods who stack onto his Nova hits and with anything that adds another status to a Dazed pack.
His twin Artemis is the natural fit: Critical hits multiply his already huge Nova damage, and the two share a light theme. Ares 
also stacks well, layering Wounds onto the same enemies his area boons hit.
Defensively, Daze does so much work that Apollo can run alongside a pure offense god without feeling fragile, though a deflect from Athena 
layers even more safety on top. Whatever duo boon you chase, the throughline is using Daze to stay safe while your Nova boons and a second damage source do the killing.
Daze and Perfect Image form a loop. The more Daze you spread, the fewer hits you take, which keeps Perfect Image bonus active. Lean into Daze coverage and your no-hit damage rarely drops off.
Apollo is the Olympian God of Light and a boon-giver. His blessings inflict the Daze curse, which can make enemies deal no damage, and his Nova boons add the highest area damage percentages of any god, clearing whole packs at once.
Daze. It gives an afflicted foe a chance to deal no damage at all when it attacks. Spread across a room, it turns most enemy attacks into misses, making it one of the strongest defensive curses in the game.
Nova Strike or Nova Flourish for raw area damage, since they carry the highest percentages of any god at +100% and +120% at top rarity. Back Burner is the standout multiplier, hitting Dazed foes from behind for up to +125% damage.
Daze is Apollo status curse. A Dazed enemy has a chance to deal no damage when it attacks. Boons like Dazzling Display and Solar Ring apply it, and Back Burner rewards striking Dazed foes from behind with bonus damage.
The Harmonic Photon, earned by gifting him Nectar. It makes a Boon of Apollo likely on offer and lets you Rarify one of his Common, Rare, or Epic blessings once that night, best spent on a Nova boon to scale your damage.
Yes, he is one of the most well-rounded gods. His Nova boons give the highest area damage in the game, and Daze provides strong defense by making enemies miss. He works as both your damage core and your survival tool.
Take a Nova damage boon, add Dazzling Display and Solar Ring to spread Daze, then Back Burner to punish Dazed foes from behind. Perfect Image rewards the safe play Daze enables, and a crit god like Artemis multiplies the Nova damage.
They do different things and pair well together. Apollo offers area damage and Daze defense, while Artemis gives Critical hits. Many strong builds run both, stacking Artemis crits onto Apollo high-percentage Nova boons.
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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.