The hidden Aspect of Nergal swaps your axe for the Rock Lion Mace and turns you Berserk once you strike enough foes.
The Aspect of Nergal is the Moonstone Axe hidden aspect, replacing the axe with the Rock Lion Mace and a Berserk state you build by striking foes.
Land enough hits and Melinoe goes Berserk, a rampage mode that rewards staying aggressive and in the fight. The aspect rank lowers how many strikes that takes, from 21 at rank I all the way down to just 4 at rank VI, so a leveled Nergal enters Berserk almost immediately.
It is the most aggressive way to play the axe, trading the weapon usual slow, careful hits for a build-up-and-rampage loop.
This guide covers how the Rock Lion Mace and Berserk work, how to reveal the hidden aspect, the rank scaling, the best build, and when to pick it over the other Moonstone Axe aspects.
gives the Rock Lion Mace and turns you Berserk after enough strikes.
attack speed and multi-hit boons to reach Berserk faster.The Aspect of Nergal replaces the Moonstone Axe with the Rock Lion Mace, and striking enough foes turns Melinoe Berserk.
On the Moonstone Axe, the base weapon is slow and deliberate. Nergal flips that into an aggressive loop: keep hitting enemies to fill the Berserk threshold, then rampage once it triggers. The wiki tracks the aspect scaling as how many strikes Berserk requires, so the build is about reaching that count quickly and often.
Because the trigger is a flat number of strikes, the loop rewards hitting frequently rather than hitting hard once. That makes attack speed and any effect that lands extra hits more valuable here than raw per-swing damage, the opposite of how the base axe usually plays.
Open every room aggressively. Nergal only pays off once you are Berserk, so the worst thing you can do is play cautiously and slow your strike count; wade in, rack up hits, and trigger the rampage as early as possible.
Nergal is a hidden aspect, so it must be revealed through a ritual before you can buy it.
Per the wiki, get either the Aspect of Charon or the Aspect of Thanatos on the Moonstone Axe to rank 5, then talk to Charon with any weapon equipped until he gives the waking phrase ("I see you hoard the shattered corpses of your foes"). Activate the Silver Pool in the Crossroads afterward and the aspect is revealed.
Since it gates behind leveling Charon or Thanatos first, Nergal is a later unlock, not an early-run option, so expect to invest in the base axe aspects before the Rock Lion Mace becomes available.
Push Charon or Thanatos to rank 5 on a build you already run, then talk to Charon each time you return to the Crossroads. The waking phrase only appears in conversation, so frequent chats are the fastest way to surface it.
The aspect scales how many strikes you need to trigger Berserk, so higher ranks let you rampage far sooner.
| Rank | Berserk After |
|---|---|
| Rank I | 21 strikes |
| Rank II | 18 strikes |
| Rank III | 15 strikes |
| Rank IV | 12 strikes |
| Rank V | 9 strikes |
| Rank VI | 4 strikes |
Ranks II through V each cost Nightmare, and the rank VI drop to just 4 strikes unlocks through the Hephaestus Legendary boon Premium Service. This is the rare aspect where lower numbers are better: at rank I you grind out 21 strikes before Berserk, while at rank VI you trigger it after a single combo, which transforms how often you get to rampage.
Nergal is one of the most rank-dependent aspects in the game. At 21 strikes it can feel sluggish to get going, but at the rank VI 4 strikes you are Berserk almost constantly, so fully investing is close to mandatory before you main it.
The strongest Nergal build maximizes strike frequency so you hit the Berserk threshold as fast as possible, then stay in the rampage.
Take attack-speed and multi-hit boons so each engagement racks up strikes quickly, add a status that stacks on those rapid hits, and keep a defensive layer so you can stay aggressive without dying. The faster you strike, the more uptime you get on Berserk.
Aspect of Nergal (Rock Lion Mace, Berserk)
Apollo or Hestia (percentage damage on each hit)
Aphrodite Weak (stacks fast across strikes)
Ares (aggressive melee layering)
Poseidon knockback (space to keep swinging)
Artemis (crit on the flurry of hits)In practice this build wants you in the thick of every fight, racking up strikes and rampaging through packs in Berserk. Across multiple runs, Nergal rewards aggression more than any other axe aspect, which makes it a high-risk, high-reward pick rather than a safe default.
Nergal wants anything that raises your strike frequency or rewards staying aggressive in melee.
Apollo and Hestia add percentage damage that scales with every hit, and Aphrodite Weak stacks almost instantly across a fast strike count while softening the foes you are wading into.
Ares layers aggressive melee damage, Artemis crit rewards the volume of hits, and Poseidon knockback buys you the spacing to keep swinging safely. In practice, attack speed and multi-hit effects are the real enablers because they get you to Berserk faster.")
Value strike count over big single hits. Unlike the base axe, which loves huge per-swing damage, Nergal cares how often you connect, so a boon that adds extra small hits beats one that adds a large amount to a single slow strike.
Pick Nergal for an aggressive Berserk rampage, and pick a different aspect for area clear, single-target crit, or simple stats.
The Aspect of Charon turns your Cast into a Cleave-Cast for pack clear, while the Aspect of Thanatos speeds your Attack and stacks Omega crit for single-target damage. 
The Aspect of Melinoe adds flat Attack Power and Max Life as the safe default.
Nergal is the rampage option, best when you want to play the axe aggressively and rank it high enough to stay Berserk. It is the most demanding of the four and the most rank-dependent, so the others are stronger until you fully invest. The full Moonstone Axe weapon guide compares all four aspects in depth.
On the Moonstone Axe, the hidden Aspect of Nergal replaces the axe with the Rock Lion Mace and turns Melinoe Berserk after she strikes enough foes. The rank lowers the strikes required, from 21 at rank I down to just 4 at rank VI.
Reveal it by getting the Aspect of Charon or Aspect of Thanatos on the Moonstone Axe to rank 5, talking to Charon with any weapon until he gives his waking phrase about hoarding the shattered corpses of your foes, then activating the Silver Pool at the Crossroads.
The Aspect of Nergal is the hidden aspect of the Moonstone Axe, Zorephet. It swaps the slow axe for the Rock Lion Mace and a Berserk rampage state, turning the weapon into the most aggressive of its four aspects.
Berserk is the rampage state the Aspect of Nergal grants after you strike enough foes with the Rock Lion Mace. The aspect's scaling stat is how many strikes it takes to trigger, so higher ranks let you enter Berserk far more often.
Maximize strike frequency to reach Berserk fast. Take attack-speed and multi-hit boons, a fast-stacking status like Aphrodite Weak, percentage damage from Apollo or Hestia, and knockback or crit support, then stay aggressive to keep the rampage going.
It is strong once fully ranked, since at rank VI you enter Berserk after only 4 strikes. It is the most aggressive and most rank-dependent axe aspect, so it rewards confident melee play but is weaker than Charon or Thanatos until invested.
Pick Nergal for an aggressive Berserk rampage with the Rock Lion Mace, and pick Thanatos for attack speed and stacking Omega crit against single targets. Thanatos is the safer single-target pick, while Nergal is higher-risk and rank-dependent.
Rank VI is close to required because it drops the Berserk requirement to 4 strikes from 21 at rank I. That difference decides how often you get to rampage, so fully invest before you rely on Nergal over the other axe aspects.
Keep building out your Hades 2 knowledge with these next stops.
Game data and weapon 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.