Hermes speeds up everything you do, and his Success Rate boon quietly multiplies the odds on every other chance-based effect in your build.
Hermes is the only Olympian in Hades 2 with no duo boons at all, and he still earns a slot in most runs.
His blessings make you faster: faster attacks, faster dashes, faster Omega channels, and faster movement. Speed in this game is survival, since a build that dashes more often and channels Omega Moves quicker takes fewer hits and lands more.
The sleeper of his menu is Success Rate, a boon that multiplies the chance on every other proc you run, from Poseidon knockback to Artemis crit. It turns a coin-flip build into a near-guarantee.
This guide breaks down how Hermes boons work, his best speed picks, the Success Rate and Tall Order standouts, the Paid Dues legendary, and his Metallic Droplet keepsake for Melinoe.
the Olympian God of Swiftness, a boon-giver themed entirely around speed.Every Hermes blessing is built around speed, which makes him a support god rather than a primary damage boon-giver.
According to the wiki, his boons increase the speed of your attacks, casts, dashes, Omega Moves, and movement, and a few slow enemies down instead. Faster actions mean more uptime: more dashes for invincibility frames, quicker Omega channels, and more hits per second on whatever weapon you carry.
What sets him apart structurally is that he has no duo boons with any other god. Where most Olympians chase a flashy duo, Hermes instead carries support boons that lift the rest of your build, so you take him for the run you already have rather than for a combo you are building toward.
His boons also span all four elements, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, which feeds the Infusion system better than any single-element god. As of patch v1.0 that makes him one of the easiest gods to slot into an elemental build.
Treat Hermes as a multiplier on the rest of your kit. His boons rarely win a run on their own, but they make a strong weapon or a proc-heavy build noticeably more consistent.
The fastest way to read his menu is by what you want to speed up, since each core boon targets a different action.
Nimble Limbs and Stutter Step are the two most universally useful, because faster strikes and more frequent dashes help every weapon. The wiki effect blocks list the values below.
| Boon | Speeds up | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Nimble Limbs | Attack, Special, Cast | Strike speed up to +25% by rarity. |
| Stutter Step | Dash | Dash recovery up to +40%, so you dash more often. |
| Racing Thoughts | Omega Moves | Omega channel speed up to +30%. |
| Winner's Circle | Omega Cast | Channels and detonates Casts far faster, up to +175%. |
| Nitro Boost | Sprint | Sprint 15% faster plus a barrier that blocks 1 to 4 hits per encounter. |
| Mean Streak | Damage | Each kill adds damage for 45 seconds, stacking across Locations. |
Beyond these he offers utility boons such as Hard Target, which slows enemy ranged shots, Quick Buck and Travel Deal for Gold, and Hasty Retreat for scaling dodge. Nitro Boost is the standout defensive pick, since a barrier that ignores a few hits outright pairs with his dash speed to make a fragile run much harder to punish.
Winner's Circle is a trap on some Cast boons. It speeds Casts up but reduces total damage on options like Rapture Ring and Storm Ring, so save it for ring boons that reapply or pulse rather than ones that tick for big numbers.
Success Rate is the most powerful boon Hermes offers, because it multiplies the odds on every chance-based effect in your build instead of adding a flat percentage.
The wiki specifies it multiplies existing chances rather than topping them up. A Heroic Success Rate at +60% applied to Poseidon's 30% Sea Star does not jump to 90%; it multiplies the odds by 1.6 to reach 48%. It works on crit, proc, and status-chance boons across Poseidon, Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, and Ares, though not on Dodge or Daze.
That multiplier reaches outside the boon menu too. The wiki notes it raises the crit cap of the Mortality bonus on the Aspect of Thanatos as high as +32%, so a Zeus or crit-heavy run gains real damage from a single Hermes pick.
Tall Order is his other build-defining boon. The wiki states that while you hold at least 8 of any one element, it grants a global +25% damage increase that applies to all your damage, not only infused sources. On a run already collecting one element, it is a clean flat boost.
Take Success Rate after your proc boons, not before. It multiplies whatever odds already exist, so a build with several chance-based effects squeezes far more out of it than an empty one.
The strongest Hermes core is a speed-and-consistency shell that stacks his action speed, a barrier, and Success Rate on top of a proc-heavy second god.
Open with Nimble Limbs and Stutter Step so your weapon and dashes feel quicker, add Nitro Boost for defense, then take Success Rate once your damage god has dropped a few chance-based boons. Tall Order closes it out if you are committed to one element.
Nimble Limbs (faster Attack, Special, Cast) Stutter Step (more frequent dashes) Nitro Boost (barrier that blocks hits) Success Rate (multiplies your proc odds)
Artemis crit boons (the odds Success Rate scales)
Ares bleed (Profuse Bleeding loves higher chances)This core leans on a second god such as Ares for the kill while Hermes raises the floor on speed and consistency. In actual play, the Success Rate multiplier is what makes the build feel reliable rather than streaky, because your big proc boons stop missing.
The Metallic Droplet is Hermes' Hades 2 keepsake, and it is a timed burst of pure speed rather than a permanent passive.
You earn it by gifting him Nectar. Once equipped, the wiki states it makes you move, strike, and Channel 20% faster for the next 200 to 400 seconds depending on rank, with the timer ticking down like a clock. It sits in the wider keepsake pool alongside the other Olympian options.
Because it is on a timer rather than tied to a region, it front-loads a run. Equip it to blitz the early Locations while the clock runs, then swap to a defensive or damage keepsake once the bonus expires. His older Lambent Plume keepsake was a Hades 1 reward and does not return for Melinoe.
The Metallic Droplet rewards fast, aggressive early Locations. Push the opening regions while the timer is live, since the speed buff is doing nothing once the clock hits zero.
Hermes is the Olympian God of Swiftness and a boon-giver whose blessings speed up your attacks, dashes, Omega Moves, and movement. He also offers support boons like Success Rate and Tall Order, and his legendary, Paid Dues, spends Gold instead of health when you take damage.
Nimble Limbs and Stutter Step are the most universal, speeding up strikes and dashes for any weapon. Success Rate is the standout for proc-heavy builds since it multiplies your chance-based odds, and Nitro Boost adds a defensive barrier.
No. Hermes is the only Olympian with no duo boons at all. Instead of a flashy combo, he offers support boons that raise the consistency and speed of whatever build you already have.
Success Rate multiplies the odds on your chance-based effects rather than adding a flat percentage. A Heroic Success Rate at +60% turns a 30% Sea Star into a 48% chance, not 90%. It does not affect Dodge or Daze, and it even raises the Mortality crit cap on the Aspect of Thanatos.
Paid Dues. When you take damage, you lose Gold before you lose health, at a minimum of 3 Gold per hit. It has only a 1% chance of appearing, much lower than the usual 10% legendary rate, and it requires one of his speed boons first.
Tall Order is a Hermes Infusion boon. While you hold at least 8 of any single element, it grants a global +25% damage increase that applies to all your damage, not just infused sources. Since his boons span all four elements, he reaches the threshold easily.
The Metallic Droplet, earned by gifting him Nectar. It makes you move, strike, and Channel 20% faster for 200 to 400 seconds on a countdown timer, which front-loads a run. His Lambent Plume keepsake was a Hades 1 reward and does not return.
Yes, as a support god. His speed boons help every weapon, Success Rate makes proc builds reliable, and Tall Order is a clean global damage boost. He is weaker as a primary damage pick, so pair him with a stronger offensive god.
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.