Melinoë may be a goddess and Princess of the Underworld, but she’s also a witch in Hades 2. And what kind of witch does their witchy business without an animal familiar by their side? Well, in Hades 2 you can get an Animal Familiar to join you on your journey.
You can get an Animal Familiar in Hades 2 after unlocking the proper Incantation for it. The issue here, sadly, is that the Incantation won’t come your way for quite some time. It took me around 20 hours before the game began hinting I could have an animal friend join me on my adventure. Of course, the moment I figured it out I set out to get a familiar as fast as I could. Wouldn’t anyone?
Hades 2: How to get an Animal Familiar – Incantation and more
As mentioned, getting the Incantation for an Animal Familiar in Hades 2 requires some steps. The game isn’t very open in telling you the correct path to follow, either. But I will share what I accomplished leading up to unlocking the feature.
Follow these steps to unlock animal familiars:
- Unlock and cast the Incantation ‘Woodsy Lifespring’ to create a hidden glade in Erebus.
- Gather the materials Silver and Moly and keep playing until the incantation in the Cauldron’s menu.
- Gather both Nectar and Lotus at least once.
- Discover the hidden glade in Erebus. If you’ve made the right progress, a cat should appear near the exit. Greet the cat before going to the next Location.
- Keep visiting the glade and petting the cat. After the third time, Melinoë will wonder if it’s hungry.
- Next, fight Headmistress Hecate in Erebus until the topic of animal familiars comes up. After you win the fight, Hecate will give you the incantation ‘Faith of Familiar Spirits’.
If any of the said situations haven’t happened yet, keep playing the game and making progress while keeping these steps in mind.
Once you’ve received the Incantation, you’ll need to cast it at the Cauldron. To cast Faith of Familiar Spirits, go to the Cauldron in the Crossroads and complete it using 2 Nectar and 1 Lotus. You can gather Lotus by hand in the Oceanus region.
Casting the Incantation gives you one ‘Witch’s Delight’, food used to convince an animal to become your familiar. After choosing a familiar, you get the incantation ‘Beast-Loved Morsel’ which lets you make +2 Witch’s Delight. It costs 1 Star Dust and 2 Lotus to create.
Now, it’s time to pick your first companion.
All Animal Familiars in Hades 2
As far as I can tell, there are two animals you can turn into Animal Familiars in Hades 2. The obvious first choice for many is Frinos, Melinoë’s amphibian friend and unlicensed therapist who resides at her camp. Giving the helpful frog a Witch’s Delight should turn Frinos into a familiar.
The second animal you can turn into a familiar is the aforementioned cat. However, it may be gone the next time you visit the hidden glade.
How to get the cat familiar in Hades 2
The cat familiar can be found in the surface region, Rift of Thessaly. You need to first learn the incantation that allows you to go up to the surface area. You should find the cat lying on the ground far to the left of the pier that acts as a safe area after the Guardian fight. Feed it a Witch’s Delight, and Toula the cat should become your newest ally.
How to equip an Animal Familiar, and what they do
You’ll find all your Animal Familiars in the Training Grounds area of the Crossroads. They are next to the Gather Tools, to the bottom-left of the Silver Pool. To bring one on your journey, press the activation button (RB on an Xbox pad) when you see it above their heads.
Animal Familiars are incredibly useful, but they aren’t going to win all your fights. They each provide a small passive buff, a defensive or offensive move, and one use of a Tool.
Frinos
- +10 bonus max life
- 1 use of the Tablet of Peace
- Occasionally absorbs a ranged shot that would have struck Melinoë
Toula
- +1 bonus Death Defiance that resurrects Melinoë and restores 10 health
- 1 use of the Rod of Fishing
- Sprinting near Toula will cause her to attack the nearest foe for 99 damage, but there is a cooldown
How to upgrade Animal Familiars in Hades 2
Your Animal Familiars can become more useful over time. By feeding them more Witch’s Delight, you can upgrade their abilities.
Let’s use Toula as an example. Approach Toula in the Crossroads and choose the ‘Treat’ option to give her a Witch’s Delight. This opens up the ‘Familiar Bonds’ menu, where you can upgrade one of the three abilities mentioned above. Upgrading Toula’s ‘Claw Bond’ makes it so she will attack a target +1 times.
Later, you’ll get a new incantation called ‘Attending a Faithful Beast’. The incantation upgrades the familiar’s harvest ability, letting you a +2 bonus to Tool uses. Attending a Faithful Beast requires 1 Tears, 1 Wool, and 4 Wheat to complete.
As Hades 2 is in Early Access, there may be more Animal Familiars added to the game before development is complete. Keep an eye on this guide for updates as changes arrive.
