If there is one pet that was super important throughout Greek Mythology, then it has to be Cerberus. This three-headed beast is the hound of Hades, who is tasked to guard the gates of the Underworld. He serves the role of a watchdog and prevents the dead from escaping his master’s realm.
But unlike the first game, you can’t bribe him with Satyr Sack to get him to move out of your way. The poor dog is now covered with miasma thanks to Chronos and will attack you once you enter his arena.
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Things are starting to heat up, both figuratively and literally, as not only is this fight harder than the previous ones, but he also will often attack you with fiery attacks that chip away huge chunks of your health if you aren’t careful.
Luckily, Melinoe won’t disappoint Zagreus and will free their family pet, and hopefully, we get to pet him one day. Until then, here is how you can beat Infernal Cerberus in Hades 2 and free him from his curse.
How To Prepare For The Infernal Cerberus Fight
Infernal Cerberus is a boss that uses a lot of AoE attacks; as such, it is important that you move around a lot throughout the fight. So, to better prepare yourself, you want Boons for your Cast and Sprint.
In the first half of the fight, the beast doesn’t move from the center of the battlefield at all. This is where a powerful Cast can significantly impact this fight. Some good Casts to go for if you are lucky to stumble upon them are Demeter’s Arctic Ring, Hestia’s Smolder Ring, Poseidon’s Tidal Ring, and Hephaestus’s Anvil Ring.
While you will be running around a lot, you shouldn’t worry too much about Sprint if you are unable to pick up a good Boon for it. The last thing you want is to distract yourself from the fight just to remind yourself to make use of your sprint ability to deal some extra damage instead of using it to dodge or get away.
However, Aphrodite’s Passion Rush, Zeus’s Thunder Rush, and Ares’s Stabbing Rush are some handy picks that you could go for if you happen to get them.
How To Beat Infernal Cerberus In Hades 2
To defeat Infernal Cerberus, your goal should be to survive his attacks and strike back when there is an opening. Depending on what weapon you brought, the boons you got, and their ranks, it is a good idea to slow down to get an idea of his moves and attack only when you have a clear window.
Ideally, you want to fight up close or preferably behind Cerberus, and use your Omega Cast when he is busy using some attack. Get in a few strikes if possible, or create some gap and use ranged attacks. This will be your strategy for most of the first phase.
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During the second phase of the fight, Cerberus becomes a lot more active and moves around constantly. This is where you will have to chase him around the arena. But you will also need to be careful and get away from him when he gets too aggressive.
Cerberus doesn’t stay in one place for a long time during the second phase. Instead of using Omega Casts, you should use normal Casts. Get some damage or status effect like “Weak” in, land a few strikes or specials, then move away depending on which attacks it uses.
Be sure to use Gift of the Moon whenever you get the chance. Lunar Ray and Wolf Howl are some of the best options to deal some quick damage. Meanwhile, Moon Water can come in handy to heal yourself when you get too low.
Continue this pattern of stopping to get a few attacks in, then moving around, and you will eventually defeat him.
Infernal Cerberus Phase 1
|
Attack |
Description |
Action |
|---|---|---|
|
Wave of Flame |
Cerberus swings his arm and launches a giant, wide arc of flame forward that moves slowly but can do a lot of damage if it hits. |
Dodge into it or run away from the attack. |
|
Shedding Smoke bombs |
Cerberus sheds red bombs from its back that fall on the ground and create smoke clouds. Touching the cloud makes Melinoe move slowly. |
Avoid touching the smoke clouds. |
|
Triple Hound Casts |
Cerberus creates three Casts that charge up over a few seconds, after which its faces sprout up to bite the cast location. |
Run away from the Cast area. |
|
Vacuum Pull |
Cerberus strongly inhales and tries to pull Melinoe towards him to attack her. |
Dodge to either side and sprint away or get behind Cerberus. |
|
Teeth Fireballs |
Cerberus spews fireballs that look like its mouth. These are relatively slow and explode after they have traveled a certain distance. |
Run away to get out of its explosion range. |
|
Ground Pound |
Cerberus smacks both his hands on the ground, which creates an AoE shockwave in a circle. This attack has a variant where it only smacks one hand on the ground. This move has a bigger range but is off-center. |
Run away or dodge outside the circle’s AoE area. |
|
Covering the Area with Casts |
Cerberus covers the area surrounding him or a circle outside his range with Casts that attack with hounds. |
Move out of the Cast’s AoE. |
|
Summoning Enemies from Fields of Mourning |
Cerberus randomly summons some of the foes that you find at the Fields of Mourning. |
Get rid of the enemy mobs while dodging Cerberus’s other attacks. |
|
Covering the Entire Arena with Casts |
Cerberus spawns his Casts in the entire arena, but he doesn’t spawn them all at once. These are the same Casts that spawn hounds that bite you. |
Dodge to the empty area after a hound has spawned or find an open spot outside of Cast’s AoE. |
Phase 1 of the fight might appear easy because Cerberus doesn’t move from his location, but you shouldn’t let your guard down. This is because almost all of the above attacks can chip away a lot of your health when you get hit by them – thus putting your skills to the test on what you learned in the fields of mourning after the Scylla fight.
It is best if you land a few hits when encountering the above moves, at least for the first few times. Once you are comfortable with his attacks and their dodge timings, you can hang around longer to barrage him with your attacks.
After Cerberus is down to 50% health, he digs into the ground, which starts the next phase.
Infernal Cerberus Phase 2
|
Attack |
Description |
Action |
|---|---|---|
|
Summoning Stronger Enemies from Fields of Mourning |
Cerberus digs himself into the ground to disappear from the fight and summons some enemy mobs. These have armor and will be a bit harder to deal with. |
Kill the enemies before Cerberus comes out of the ground. |
|
Covering the Arena with Flames |
Cerberus covers the arena with flames that explode after a few seconds. There is a safe area around him. Standing in the flames when it explodes can deal you a lot of damage. |
Dodge and sprint into the safe area. |
|
Chasing Ground Pounds |
Cerberus now starts chasing you around the arena while using ground pounds that deal AoE damage. |
Run away from Cerberus and use ranged attacks. |
|
Tri-beam of Casts |
Cerberus creates a tri-beam of Casts that spin counterclockwise until the Cast is about to explode. Upon explosion, hounds bite you if you are in the Cast. |
Dodge or Sprint away from the Cast. |
|
Flame Thrower |
Cerberus spews flames in your general direction while following you, as long as you are in front of him. |
Sprint away from the flames or dodge behind Cerberus. |
With Cerberus starting to move around the battlefield, you will start to feel the difficulty spiking up. Aside from the above unique moves, he also uses some of his attacks from the first phase, most notably where Cerberus covers the entire arena with Casts.
He can also combine the new moves with his older moves, like covering the arena with flames and also with Casts.
Your goal in this phase should be to survive, especially the chasing ground-pound attack. This is one move where it is best if you run away instead of trying to get a few hits in – unless you happen to have some really good Boon or ranged attack. Otherwise, the risk is not really worth it.
If you don’t clear the enemy mobs summoned when the second phase starts in time, Cerberus will join the fight. Try to clear them as quickly as possible so that you can focus on fighting him.
Another move that you should be wary of is Cerberus’s Flame Thrower. If you are close to the beast, this move becomes a joke, because you can simply dodge behind him and spam your attacks. However, if you are in front of the beast but not close enough, it is best if you run around in circles to avoid getting hit by this attack.
Selene’s Night Bloom can be quite a useful gift for this phase, as you can summon your last slain foe to fight for you.
Infernal Cerberus Rewards
After defeating Infernal Cerberus, you get the following reward:
Tears can be farmed repeatedly whenever you beat Infernal Cerberus. It can be used to unlock the Arcana Card “The Queen”. You need 5x Tears if you want to upgrade the card “Divinity”.
Tears are also needed for the incantation “Attending a Faithful Beast”. For this recipe, you need: Tears x1, Wool x1, and Wheat x4. This incantation makes it so that your animal familiars can harvest 2 times the resources after they have rested at the Training Grounds.
Lastly, you need 4x Tears and 5x Bronze to unlock the Aspect of Moros for Umbral Flames (Sister Blades).
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Hades 2
- Released
-
May 6, 2024
- ESRB
-
t
- Engine
-
Proprietary Engine
- Prequel(s)
-
Hades
