Melinoë has her hands full inHades 2: along with her missions to the House of Hades and Olympus, the god Chaos has also decided to take interest in her and the conflict. The Pitch-Black Stone sits ominously in Melinoë’s training grounds.

The Trial of Blood is one of the more difficult of Chaos’ trials, ranking in at five out of five… eyes? It challenges Melinoë with the task of traversing the Rift of Thessaly and besting the goddess of Strife, Eris, with the Sister Blades, the White Antler, and a cat. The initial loadout for the Trial of Blood can get a bit complicated, and you’ve still got some ship-hopping to do.

Artemis makes a random appearance, holding her bow over her shoulders. She comments that “the old [Chronos] are seldom wise, and often weak."

What Is The Loadout?

For the Trial of Blood, the most important features you start with are the weapon, its Aspect, and the Keepsake. Those are theSister Blades in the Aspect of Artemis, and the White Antler.You won’t be able to attempt the Trial of Blood until youunlock all three of these things.

The Sister Blades are quick and mobile.The Aspect of Artemisgives you a Parry and Riposte: when Channeling your Omega Attack, you have a chance to Parry,preventing damage from most types of direct attacks, then Riposte, making you Impervious for pme Sec andgiving your next nine strikes a +50 percent Critical chance.

Aphrodite holds a spear and shield. She says that “Poseidon’s boasting” about already giving Melinoë a boon.

Artemis’ keepsake, the White Antler, also increases your Critical chance, starting at +20 percent and increasing as you upgrade the keepsake. It also sets your Maximum Life to 30.When it’s possible to start a run with 100 Life, 30 is quite the downgrade.

While Chaos’ trials dictate which weapon, aspect, keepsake, Boons, Arcana,andfamiliars you start with,any upgrades you make to Melinoë and her tools and companions will carry into the Pitch-Black Stone. Similarly, encounters in the Pitch-Black Stone apply towards upgrading your keepsakes.

In the Rift of Thessaly, Melinoë encounters a Trial for Aphrodite and Poseidon. Their symbols float in the middle of some island ruins. Melinoë bemoans “Can’t they form an orderly queue?"

Some Trials also give you a specific Familiar, Arcana, and Boons to start out with. Here, you havethe cat, Toula!While she does have a nice attack, for this trial, she brings to the table a single Death Defiance. When you only have 30 Life, it’s a valuable one.

Your Chaos-made Arcana spread consists of only two cards:The Lovers and Strength.The Lovers gives you one instance of damage resistance in Guardian Encounters. In the Rift of Thessaly, this will likely just be Eris, though there is a chance of encountering Charybdis as well.

Eris, Strife Incarnate, stands holding her gun up on one shoulder. She warns Melinoë that “the trail to the mountain’s closed."

The heavy lifter here is Strength. This card gives you adamage reduction and a +25 percent damage dealt as long as you have no Death Defiance effects. You could theoretically pop your Death Defiance early and deliberately in order to get that damage boost, but since Toula’s Defiance only restores 10 Life, you’re more likely to put yourself at a disadvantage. Better to save Strength for when that Death Defiance goes naturally.

What Are The Trial’s Boons?

You start out with a handful of Boons from Artemis, Aphrodite, and Poseidon, meaning you will likely only see Aphrodite and Poseidon throughout the Rift of Thessaly.

Flutter Strike, from Aphrodite, gives your attacks an extra +120 percent damage against nearby foes.Glamour Gaininflicts her special condition, Weak, on nearby foes, andlets you gradually restore Magick when any nearby foe is Weak. Finally,Broken Resolvemakes your Weak effects more potent.

Weakfoes deal less damage.

Poseidon’s Heroic Boon,Flood Control, reduces any damage you take by five, but Primes 30 Magick. TheSister Blades aren’t a super Magick-dependant weapon, so this likely won’t cause much of an issue, especially with Aphrodite’s Glamour Gain.

Finally, your Boon from Artemis isFirst Blood. Any foes with at least 80 percent Life or Armor may take Critical damage, increasing your chance by 30 percent.

Into The Rift

The Trial of Blood is easy if you think about it.Just don’t get hit. Simple.

Really, though:damage reduction can only do so much. Especially once reaching Eris, whose attacks get stronger the more hurt she is, one attack could mean the end of a run. The Trial of Blood forces you to pay attention to every detail on the screen and stay ahead of it all.

Artemis is here to help you obliterate anyone in your path: everything she offers for this Trial increases your Critical chance, with some damage prevention thrown in for good measure. It’s very easy to kill most enemies in a hit or three. It just becomes a matter ofmaking sure you hit first.

Boons In The Rift

You’ll likely just see Poseidon and Aphrodite in the Rift of Thessaly, but there’s also a chance of Hermes showing up. A lot of what you choose will be about finding what works best for you.

For example, you could favor Poseidon’s knockback Boons, keeping distance between you and foes that could potentially hit you; or you could lean into the proximity features of Aphrodite’s, and forego those knockback abilities to keep your enemies close and benefit from Flutter Strike and Glamour Gain.You can try the Trials as often as you want, so there’s no harm in some trial and error to find what works best for you. In the meantime, though, some are almost always going to be easy picks.

Almost anything from Hermes is a great.Most tend to make you or your attacks faster, or make enemies slower.

Aphrodite’s Boons are largely focused on dealing more damage and taking less damage. They tend to be a little bit less flashy, but are almost always a good option. Just watch out for Life Affirmation—it makes anyMax Liferewards more potent, which won’t help you here.

Poseidon has a lot of knockback abilities, which help give you room to breathe when surrounded by enemies.

Daedalus Hammers

Since your starting Boons are geared towards close combat, if you happen upon a Daedalus Hammer, it’s best to stick towards ones that upgrade your Attacks, though there are some exceptions.

How To Defeat Eris

Thestrategyis simple: hit others before they hit you. The execution, a bit more difficult.

Eris is trouble.She’s got a gun, she’s having a great time, and you only have 30 Life.

It’s fine if it takes practice. You’re just killing some time, after all.