Hammer of the gods comes down on the weapons of Hades 2 in the roguelike's latest patch, but in a good way

Witchy roguelike Hades 2 got a fresh update yesterday that sees a bunch of weapons getting stompier, thumpier, and, yes, whompier. It's like the hammer of Hephaestus himself was put to work on the entire armory. The Moonstone Axe's heavier attacks now channel faster, for one thing, which could make the most sluggish of the weapons a little more viable. I haven't had a go at the re-jigged bashing yet myself but I trust from these patch notes it will be subtly noticeable.

Apart from the sharpened edge of that axe, the twirling pain orbs of the Umbral Flames are also now "stronger and faster". Plus, fans of the stagger daggers will be happy to know slices from the Sister Blades now stagger foes for longer. Meanwhile, the Argent Skull, your morbid bowling ball of hurt, has got a wider field of damage when you do its dash-like Omega attack. The default pokey stick, the Witch's Staff, gets a simpler tweak: "Special knocks foes away, but is slightly slower."

The upgradey effects of the Daedalus Hammer have also seen a big change (the Daedalus Hammer is a heavy-hitting dinger that can alter your attacks when you find it during a run). A large number of its upgrades have been cut and replaced with new effects. I count eight new upgrades with six being removed. The Witch's Staff and the whirligig wound-making of the Umbral Flames seem to be the most affected here. So if you're a fan of those weapons, you might feel a significant difference as you get deeper into a run. One of the new upgrades for the Staff is called Mirrored Thrasher, and reads: "All your Attacks hit twice, but you take more damage". Ouch. But also: pow!

There are a lot of other changes, including alterations to some enemy behaviours (self-destructing Hippos are now more accurate) and some fixes to the menus. As is often the case with Supergiant patches, there are a lot of small but significant changes. Individually they seem minor but altogether they constitute a big ol' update. Very importantly, there is some extra dialogue for when you speak to your pet frog. "More voice lines should play when confiding in Frinos in certain contexts," the notes say.

You can read the full list of changes here. Or if you have no idea what's going on and, for some reason, don't even know what this game is all about, you can read my Hades 2 review. I like it!