Links to Chthonic Conversations Index and Collection. Potential spoilers in comments.

Bad duo boons as well as their overall design were covered in CC48. Situational and mediocre duos were covered in CC52. This post will go over good duos and how/where to use them.

All of the boons on this list are huge power increases for the right build. The only duo here that you wouldn't really 'build' towards from the start is Smoldering Air, but it's such a powerful effect in any build that doesn't have Artemis or Aphrodite call that it absolutely deserves a spot here. Every other duo here is a large part of what makes certain builds so powerful.

Finally, while I do my best to remove my personal bias and look at the game from the perspective of more experienced players as a whole, that isn't fully possible, and how good a duo is can definitely vary on experience level. I do always love hearing your takes in the comments, though; be vocal about where you disagree with my views!

Heart Rend is the best 'crit' boon in the game. It effectively increases the crit multiplier from 3x to 4.5x. Additionally, keeping it up is easy; Aphrodite's cores have solid damage on them and Weak lasts for 6 seconds, or even longer with Empty Inside. This boon is the reason Nemesis sword always wants Aphrodite and Artemis in Attack and Special. Heart Rend is also solid any time you have Artemis cores and are critting regularly, but it is most effective on Nemesis sword and Zag bow.

Smoldering Air, as previously mentioned, is kind of a jack-of-all-trades. It's better the stronger your call is, obviously, but it's also better the slower your weapon is. SA is far less noticeable on fists than on hidden sword, for example. In general, I recommend avoiding Aphrodite and Artemis calls, and all the other calls work great with SA. Zeus and Dionysus in particular will tear through rooms, while the invulnerability options will mean anytime you don't feel like dodging, you can just pop a call.

Hunting Blades is the main thing that makes Slicing Shot relevant at all. Endgame Slicing Shot builds with Achilles, Hunting Blades, Vicious Cycle, and extra Stygian Soul casts are some of the most fun and easy builds in the game. Of course, actually getting to that state is difficult and the build really struggles before Hunting Blades, but that just goes to show how strong the duo is. Granting the rifts seeking properties means you don't have to think about aiming or positioning at all and guarantees you'll be getting nearly full damage out of every cast.

Merciful End is one of the few duos to be nerfed, which had Divine Dash removed as a prerequisite. It was so powerful on fists for speedrunning that it was toned down in that way, but the effect is still so strong that it remains the best overall build for fists; you just have to get Athena special as well as dash. This with extra dashes from Hermes and Impending Doom from Ares (and Ares attack, obviously) means you have some of the highest dps potential in the entire game. If you haven't hit a crazy ME build before, do yourself a favor and go experience it; it's exhilarating.

Crystal Clarity feels very similar to Hunting Blades. Without Crystal Clarity, Demeter cast builds are underwhelming at best, but with them... here's me beating the final boss in 52 seconds with a good Demeter cast build. Paired with Glacial Glare, Arctic Blast, and extra Stygian soul casts, this build can really destroy anything the beams target.

Mirage Shot is a huge damage increase for all cast builds. It's effectively a multiplicative 30% damage increase while also dealing any effects again, which is sometimes relevant. Every cast build in the game would love to see Mirage Shot. However, some in particular like it more. 'Flare' variants of casts (from hidden shield) that are copied by Mirage Shot deal the full base damage, meaning Mirage Shot straight-up doubles cast damage for hidden shield. Frankly, it's busted.

Scintillating Feast is a large reason Dionysus cast is used with hidden shield. The lightning has high base damage and strikes pretty quickly in the large area in the cast, meaning it provides significant bonus damage to bosses. It is perhaps the weakest option in this list, but that by no means means it's a bad duo; it's incredibly powerful. It is just only useful on hidden shield Dionysus builds, and is lower priority than Mirage Shot (imo) there.

Sea Storm is perhaps the poster child for Hades duo boons. If you don't think this duo is strong, I don't know what game you've been playing, but it's not Hades. It's also one of the only duos that has been nerfed, which removed Poseidon dash as one of the prerequisites, which means many builds don't actually go for it any more, but if by chance you end up getting a Poseidon core that works for Sea Storm as well as the dash... it's pretty fantastic. There are also some niche builds that use Sea Storm; it's a decent choice for Chiron bow, but it's outclassed by other options. It also is what makes the fire hose build on hidden rail so effective.

So, what do you think of the list? What would you have placed differently? Does Scintillating Feast deserve to be here? How often do you use Crystal Clarity and Hunting Blades? Give me your thoughts down below!

P.S.- I was finishing up a really nice video this morning when I normally post Chthonic Conversations; sorry about the brief delay!