Hades 2: How To Find (& Beat) The Cyclops Polyphemus (Boss Fight)

The Cyclops Polyphemus appears on your path to the Surface in Hades 2 as a powerful boss that can be extremely difficult to beat if you're unprepared. This giant enemy uses sheer physical strength to end your run as quickly as it began, especially if you don't have the right tools. You need to gather important bonuses along your path to Polyphemus to stand a chance against his might.

Unlike many of the boss fights against other opponents, such as Headmistress Hecate in Hades 2, Polyphemus has phases to his battle. There will be a clear time when an aspect of the fight shifts, instead of the boss just using new moves when their health gets low. This forces you to form two strategies that blend to form a consistent and singular plan that will overcome both phases equally.

Polyphemus is encountered on the path to Olympus as the first boss you fight in Ephyra, the first settlement you reach on the Surface.

Related How To Unlock The Fated List of Minor Prophecies In Hades 2 The List of Minor Prophecies in Hades 2 is a questboard that gives various side objectives with decent rewards, along with an entirely new character.

Best Weapons Against Polyphemus

The best weapons to use against Polyphemus are the Witch's Staff or Argent Skull due to their ability to attack over a distance with ranged magic. The Cyclops' greatest strength comes from their close-range melee strikes, which deal so much damage that they could one-shot Melinoë in Hades 2. Having weapons that don't force you to close distance to this boss gives you more chances to stay away from their attacks.

The Witch's Staff is a well-rounded weapon you start with at the beginning of the game that can do physical strikes and special projectile moves in tandem. This weapon gives you more freedom to adapt to Polyphemus, but those looking to specialize in only ranged attacks should stick to the Argent Skull. The Skull has limited ammo but packs more of a punch with heavy damage on top of a deadly dash attack.

Some weapons Melinoë has in Hades 2 must be crafted using rare materials. For example, the Moonstone Axe takes 15 Silver to create, while the Argent Skull takes 1 Bronze and 2 Glassrock.

Surprisingly, the Moonstone Axe is another great option against Polyphemus, though not for the reasons you might think. The Cyclops tends to summon a lot of minions throughout his boss fight, including small enemies that can heal him. The Area of Effect (AoE) slam of the Axe can quickly clear crowds of smaller enemies Polyphemus calls upon, making it easier to deal with the boss while they're on their own.

Best Boons Against Polyphemus

Gain Powerful Buffs To Combat The Cyclops

Although there are not many opportunities to earn Boons from various gods in Hades 2 before reaching Polyphemus, you can still collect a few with strong passive buffs. Boons from Zeus, Poseidon, and Demeter are strongest against the Cyclops compared to other characters. The benefits from these Boons include additional sources of damage, inflicting status conditions, or knocking enemies away.

Zeus' Boons allow you to create powerful lightning bolts to deal extra damage to Polyphemus and whatever minions the boss summons. Similarly, Poseidon's Boons offer another angle to crowd control by knocking enemies away. This can be an incredible help during the second phase of the fight with the Cyclops when they are trying to heal by being close to some of the smaller minions summoned into the arena.

Boons from Hermes are another good choice against Polyphemus, as the messenger god's favors are always good against bosses due to how they increase your overall movement speed.

The Boons from Demeter also target the minions of Polyphemus by applying the Freeze condition to hold them in place. Demeter's favors also tend to increase the range of your magical attacks, as seen in the Artic Ring Boon. Cyclones are also created from the Boons of this goddess, dealing extra damage akin to the lightning bolts formed from the blessings of Zeus in Hades 2.

Related Hades 2 Early Access Roadmap: Updates To Expect Before 1.0 Release Hades 2 has released in Early Access with more content than the original game's full version - and an in-game roadmap promises even more to come.

How To Defeat The Cyclops Polyphemus (Phase 1)

Avoid Taking Hits From The Cyclops

During phase 1 of the boss fight, you need to keep your distance from the Cyclops and only attack when you don't see a shockwave on the ground from the boss' physical attacks. There should be a visual indicator warning you which area around Polyphemus will cause damage in an AoE. Similar to other bosses, you need to Dodge or Sprint away from these areas before the boss unleashes an attack on that spot.

You need to dance around the battlefield during this phase, either staying away entirely from Polyphemus or carefully closing in and backing off quickly. If you decide to use melee strikes in Hades 2, you should only approach the Cyclops at the end of their attacks and dodge away as soon as you land a few hits. Getting greedy with the number of hits you land is a recipe for disaster as one wrong move could lead to a failed run.

The most powerful attack from Polyphemus you need to watch out for is his jumping slam, where he leaps into the air and creates a large red ring shockwave that slowly travels across the whole battlefield. It can be hard to predict how fast this ring travels if you are too close to the boss. You need to Dodge through the red ring to avoid taking damage, so stay back and watch carefully for when its AoE effect appears.

How To Defeat The Cyclops Polyphemus (Phase 2)

Don't Let The Boss Heal

As you can see in the above video by YouTube creator Trophygamers, the second phase of the boss fight begins when Polyphemus summons a ton of minions to the arena. Parts of the battlefield erupt in flames, so you need to adjust to the new environment to prevent Melinoë from getting burned. Some minions go down quickly, but others have larger health bars that make them harder to defeat fast.

With enough crowd control, you should be able to take down the minions fast, but you should try to spot the sheep minion whenever you can. If Polyphemus eats this minion while it stands close to him, the boss will regain a portion of its health in Hades 2. The moment this enemy shows up, it would best if you prioritize it instead of the Cyclops for a short time until it has been removed.

Make sure to keep destroying the sheep whenever it appears or keep knocking it away from Polyphemus whenever possible. The boss has the same moves from phase 1, which become harder to notice with all the extra enemies around. As long as you stay focused, you should be able to eventually beat the Cyclops Polyphemus in Hades 2 and receive Wool material for Incantations as a reward.

Source: Trophygamers/YouTube