Out of the many materials worth gathering in Hades 2, Bones are arguably the most important. Yes, the purple calcium-rich litter is more useful than you realize, letting you trade in the stuff for resources that range from common to high rarity. Here’s how to farm Bones in Hades 2.
Bones are a common reward for clearing enemy encounters in Hades 2, but that’s hardly the only way to acquire them. You can easily up your Bones yield by following some easy steps, all the while staying cognizant of how and where Bones may appear.
Hades 2 Bones farming guide: Boons, incantation, Keepsakes, and more
There is a lot you can do to increase the amount of Bones earned in Hades 2. First off, you should consider the path of resource gathering. You should have the Crescent Pick unlocked already. If not, look for its incantation and then summon it to the Silver Pool in the Crossroads Training Ground. With that done, let’s go over the many steps you can take to farm tons of Bones in Hades 2.
Enter doors with the Bones insignia
This should be a no-brainer, but if you’re hunting down bones, be sure to pick the correct path. Doors that offer Bones as a reward are adorned by the item’s symbol. For more on door symbols and what they mean, check out our guide.
Use weapons with ‘Grave Thirst’ activated
The number-one best way to farm Bones in Hades 2 is to complete an incantation that gives your weapons ‘Grave Thirst’. When it’s active, a random weapon is given Grave Thirst, which allows you to passively earn a small amount of Bones as you complete each Location in the game. You can tell which weapon has the bone thirst if it’s engulfed in a black and red haze:
Here’s how to get Grave Thirst:
- Unlock the Crescent Pick tool for one Ash
- Harvest Limestone in Oceanus, the second Region of the game
- Return to the Cauldron until you see the incantation ‘Gathering of Ancient Bones’
- Activate the incantation using 2 Limestone
With that complete, you can go out each night with a weapon hungry for Bones.
Multiply your chances with Poseidon’s Keepsake
Poseidon offers you some of the best boons in Hades 2, and two are perfect for farming Bones in Hades 2. Seek out the God of the Sea and offer him Nectar for his Keepsake, ‘Vivid Sea’. Equipping it increases the chances of Poseidon’s boon appearing, and upgrading the Keepsake allows you to increase a Boon’s rarity once per night.
During your farming runs, equip Poseidon’s Keepsake and seek out the boons Ocean’s Bounty and Double Up. The former boon makes it so resources gathered are worth more. But the second is key: Double Up has a chance of doubling any reward you find. Upgrading the boon to Rare ups the chance to 25%; and 30% at Epic.
Improve your odds with Arcana Cards
This is more of a late-game strategy, but one worth looking into. After all, you’ll need Bones no matter your experience with the game. There are several Arcana Cards that allow you to change Location Rewards. You’ll find them at the bottom-left corner of the card list:
Unlocking and activating these cards provide you multiple chances to re-roll a door reward.
Sell unwanted goods to the Wretched Broker
You’ll get more resources than you need in Hades 2, so thankfully there’s someone out there more than happy to take them off your hands. The Wretched Broker will trade any excess stock you have for Bones. Many incantations need things like Deathcap and Nightshade but, afterward, they end up mostly taking up space. Open up the ‘Pawn Shop’ tab and sell them to the Broker, along with other items, like fish you’ve captured, for some extra scratch.
Complete tasks for the Fated List of Minor Prophecies
Technically, this isn’t a very reliable method to farm Bones since it takes a lot of time. However, completing tasks for the Fated List will reward you with heaps of Bones. Unlocking game mechanics, completing lists, and finishing story missions can award in dozens or hundreds of Bones. Keep an eye on the list and see if you can get a little bit further with each farming run.
By the way, here’s how you can accomplish the task in the image above.
One final tip:
- If you don’t have a door with the Bones symbol but there’s one for Gold Coins, pick the latter and seek out Charon’s shop. The Stygian Boatman often sells Bones for a fee.
That just about covers it all. Bones are exceptionally important in Hades 2, and their worth only increases the more progress you make as rarer resources get added to the Wretched Broker’s stock.
