All six Nocturnal Arms ranked, with the aspect that carries each weapon.
The Argent Skull on Aspect of Medea is the strongest weapon in Hades 2 right now, and it has held that spot since well before launch.
Below it, the gaps are smaller than most tier lists admit: the Moonstone Axe shreds bosses, the Witch's Staff runs the longest Fear marathons, and even the bottom of the list clears content comfortably.
This ranking reflects the current patch and weighs aspect ceiling, boss damage, and room-clear speed. Weapon movesets and aspects come from the Hades Wiki; the tier placement is our read on the live meta.
Below you get the full tier table, the reasoning behind each placement, and the single best aspect to run on every weapon.
Every weapon in Hades 2 can clear the game, so this list ranks ceiling and consistency, not whether a weapon is viable. Three factors drive placement: the strength of a weapon's best aspect, its single-target boss damage, and its room-clear speed against waves.
Aspects matter more than the base weapon. According to the wiki, each Nocturnal Arm has four aspects, and the hidden aspect often defines the top build, so we rank each weapon at the ceiling of its best aspect rather than its base form.
This is a living ranking. It reflects the current post-launch patch, and Supergiant patches the meta regularly, so a weapon can move a tier when its aspect gets tuned. Across multiple runs the top three have stayed remarkably stable, which is why they anchor S tier.
A tier list tells you the ceiling, not your ceiling. The weapon you play best usually beats the theoretical S-tier pick you are still learning, so use this to pick what to practice, not to abandon a weapon you enjoy.
Weapons are ranked at the ceiling of their best aspect. Click any weapon to open its full build guide.
| Tier | Weapon | Best aspect | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Argent Skull | Aspect of Medea | Fastest room-clear in the game |
| S |  Moonstone Axe | Aspect of Charon | Shreds stationary bosses |
| S |  Witch's Staff | Aspect of Anubis | Safest, best for long Fear runs |
| A |  Sister Blades | Aspect of Morrigan | High burst, caps below S |
| A |  Umbral Flames | Aspect of Moros | Strong sustained area damage |
| B |  Black Coat | Aspect of Selene | Wave-clear specialist, low boss damage |
The top tier is defined by aspects with the highest damage ceilings in the game. All three clear the hardest Fear vows and finish bosses fast, and each one owns a leaderboard niche.
The Argent Skull on Aspect of Medea is the clearest number one. In actual play it deletes rooms faster than anything else, and it has held the top of the meta since Early Access through multiple balance passes. It rewards aggressive close-range play and reloading rhythm.
The Moonstone Axe on Aspect of Charon is the boss killer. Its heavy Cleave-Cast lands enormous single-target damage on stationary targets, which makes it the pick for anyone struggling with Chronos or Typhon. The Witch's Staff on Aspect of Anubis is the safety pick, running the longest high-Fear marathons because its range keeps Melinoe out of danger while chipping steadily.
The A-tier arms are strong, flexible, and only a step below the ceiling of the S tier. Neither has a glaring weakness; they simply cap a bit lower on damage than the top three.
The Sister Blades are the fastest weapon in the game and reward players who like weaving in and out of melee. On Aspect of Morrigan they gain a triple-goddess theme that layers extra hits, and the wiki notes the connection to Hecate. The Umbral Flames sit at mid-range and lean on sustained area damage; Aspect of Moros is the reliable pick for players who want to melt waves without committing to point-blank range.
The Black Coat is the newest arm, added in The Unseen Update, and it lands in B tier for now because its strengths are narrower than the rest. It is an excellent wave-clearer and a stylish counter weapon, but it trails on single-target boss damage, which is where runs are won or lost.
On Aspect of Selene it gains the Sky Fall hex, a stream of moon lasers that lets Melinoe keep fighting while it fires, so the damage output is real once the counter timing clicks. It has the steepest learning curve of the six, and in the right hands it climbs; the B placement reflects its current consistency, not its ceiling.
If you only unlock one aspect per weapon, make it these. The wiki lists four aspects per arm, and these are the ones that define the strongest build on each.
The full unlock paths for the hidden aspects are covered in the hidden aspects guide, and the loadouts that pair with each pick live in the Hades 2 builds guide. For the moveset details behind every arm, see the full Hades 2 weapons guide.
Once you have picked a weapon to main, these guides cover the builds and fights around it.
Weapon and aspect data adapted from hades.fandom.com, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Tier placements are RogueRanker editorial assessments. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Supergiant Games.