Five animal familiars, each with a combat bond and a resource bond.
Melinoe can bring one animal familiar into each night, and picking the right one quietly shapes the whole run.
Most players judge familiars by their attack and miss that each one carries two Bonds: a combat buff and a resource bonus that stacks up as you feed them.
This page lists all five familiars with every Bond, explains how to recruit and upgrade them, and calls out which companion fits which run.
Everything here is grounded in the Hades Wiki, from Frinos the toad who lives outside your tent to Gale the polecat.
Familiars are recruited at the Crossroads and each brings two Bonds: one combat bonus that helps in a run and one resource bond that increases how often a specific material appears. You can only take one familiar per night, so the choice is really about what a given run needs.
According to the wiki, you unlock the ability to recruit them with the Faith of Familiar Spirits Incantation, then offer each animal a Witch's Delight to bring them along. To deepen a bond you complete the Bravery of Familiar Spirits Incantation once you have at least three familiars, then offer each one up to nine gifts to raise its Bonds to max.
The wiki notes the top Heroic rank of a familiar's bonus only unlocks at max level and requires Circe's Primal Psychic Connection, which doubles the effect. Familiar Forms are cosmetic alternate looks and do not change the Bonds.
Level the resource bond that matches your current grind, not the combat bond. In actual play, doubling how often Flora or Fishing Points appear pays off across a whole progression cycle, while the combat buff only helps the current run.
Each familiar's combat bond and resource bond, at max rank. Bring the one whose bonds match your run.
| Familiar | Animal | Combat bond | Resource bond |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frinos | Toad | Life Bond, up to +80 Health | Soul Bond, more lost souls |
 Toula | Cat | Heart Bond, restores up to 80 Health | Sense Bond, more Fishing Points |
 Raki | Raven | Blood Bond, up to +8% Critical chance | Stone Bond, more Outcroppings |
 Hecuba | Hound | Spirit Bond, up to +120 Magick | Earth Bond, more Digging Spots |
 Gale | Polecat | Veil Bond, up to +12% Dodge and Move Speed | Nature Bond, more Flora |
Frinos is the first familiar most players bond with, a green toad who settles on a rock outside Melinoe's tent and doubles as her confidant between runs. His Life Bond grants up to +80 Health, and his Soul Bond raises the chance for lost souls to appear. The wiki notes he also carries the Tablet of Peace tool, which turns Lost Shades directly into Psyche and skips the minigame.
Toula is a bold cat who attacks enemies far larger than herself. Her Heart Bond restores up to 80 Health from her effects, making her a strong sustain pick, and her Sense Bond raises the chance for Fishing Points to appear for players working the fishing grind.
Raki is the aggressive pick and the best pure-damage familiar. The Blood Bond grants up to +8% Critical chance, which pairs with crit-scaling weapons like the Moonstone Axe on Aspect of Thanatos, and the Stone Bond makes Outcroppings appear more often for mining materials.
Hecuba is a loyal hound whose Spirit Bond adds up to +120 Magick, the largest single-stat boost among the familiars and a natural fit for Omega-heavy casters. Her Earth Bond makes Digging Spots appear more often.
Gale is the mobility familiar. The Veil Bond grants up to +12% Dodge Chance and Move Speed together, which is the safest defensive option in the roster, and the Nature Bond makes Flora more likely to appear, with a chance of double collection.
For a hard combat run, bring Raki for crit or Frinos for the flat Health cushion. For survivability on a new weapon, Gale's dodge and move speed keeps you alive while you learn the moveset.
For farming nights, ignore combat entirely and match the resource bond to your grind: Toula for fishing, Hecuba for digging, Gale for flora, Raki for mining, Frinos for souls. The unlock path runs through the Incantations at the Crossroads, and the familiars pair naturally with the right keepsakes and builds for each run.
Familiars are one layer of a run. These guides cover the boons, weapons, and fights around them.
Game data and screenshots adapted from hades.fandom.com, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Supergiant Games.