In Hades, Meg is the first boss players must face in their ascent up from the bowels of the underworld. She’s actually one of three random bosses that can appear in Tartarus — the game’s first region — but will always appear on your first escape attempt. As such, players are going to see a lot of Meg (or Megaera) in Hades. And you’d likely rather not lose a lot of health fighting her. So what are some tips to take the Fury down a notch? Let’s take a look in our guide to Meg in Hades, and learn how to tackle the boss.
Meg has four major features to watch for. The Fury can dash about to deal melee damage, ready up and whip in a wide radius, fire strict patterns of projectiles, and mark the ground for explosive damage. All the while you must also contend with basic enemies — both melee and ranged types. On the plus side, you have a lot of room to work around with, so watching her patterns gives you time to move.
The key with Meg (and indeed a lot of Hades bosses) is to not get greedy. She’s tougher than the rank and file. She won’t be stun locked by basic attacks. Therefore you can only hit her one or a few times before she counters. In some cases, once you do enough damage, she’ll even twirl in the air and surround herself with an unbreakable crystal. She’s impervious during this phase. That makes it a good time to catch your breath and perhaps wham a few additional enemies during the downtime.
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For the majority of the fight, Meg will chase Zagreus around the large arena with dash attacks. There’s a good opportunity to poke at her after she finishes each charge. And that’s one of the best times to deal damage. Be careful, though! Once she halts, Meg can reach up into the air with her whip and prepare a huge melee attack that lashes out in a circle around her. Be wary of her standing in one place for too long if you have trouble recognizing the animation.
The same goes for when she fires projectiles. These “bullet hell” attacks are easiest to avoid at long range — where the space between shots is widest. That not only gives you more room to dance between hits, but also to avoid any minor enemies you missed.
Running isn’t your only option, though. You’re invincible while dodging after all. And Hades offers very generous “invincibility frames” while the animation plays. You can dodge through bullets without taking damage. If you have the Athena upgrade for your dash, it will even send shots back at Meg for free damage, but the positioning can be tricky. When in doubt, it’s often safer to just slow down and walk between the projectiles. This is a fairly useful tactic in a number of Hades fights. Although it can be hard to train your brain…
Running without dashing is also useful against the Fury’s attack circles. She will occasionally summon these dark discs on the ground for a few seconds. After about a second each, the circles will explode, damaging Zagreus if he’s standing inside. Your impulse might be to constantly dodge out of them. That’s dangerous, however, as it’s easy to accidentally stop on a trap floor. There’s a brief instant after your final dash where you cannot move. If that happens on a trap, you’ll take extra damage, so tread carefully.
The better solution is just running. Zagreus is faster than the circles! This also lets you dodge off hazardous space if you catch a bad position and aren’t sure you’ll avoid the attack. Not to mention you can zip past minions and trap tiles if you need it.
Make sure you avoid trap tiles when in bullet hell, too. Moving around a lot can make it tough to tell where you’re standing. If you have trouble, any attack from your weapons will also “break” the projectiles on hit. Stygius (the sword) is particularly good for this thanks to its wide, sweeping reach. Varatha (the spear) is also useful. If you stand close enough to Meg with it, you can quickly spam the basic attack button towards her. This deals damage and breaks the bullets before they can hit you (usually).
Coronactht (the so-called heart-seeking bow) isn’t a terrible option. Its special attack fires a sweep of arrows that breaks shots and easily hits distant targets. It’s just slow enough to make things tricky. Malphon, the twin fists, have the opposite issue. Their attack animation is quick, but so close-range and tight that breaking every attack before it hits you is difficult. The shield, Aegis, on the other hand, is of course a shield. And I don’t recommend using Exagryph (a.k.a. the adamant rail, a.k.a. the gun) with this method at all. Just keep moving and lobbing bombs from a distance instead to capitalize on damage.
Whatever weapon you use, Meg drops Titan Blood when you beat her (or her sisters) for the first time with it. After that she drops Darkness (unless you’re using certain endgame modifiers). This is great for healing with the Dark Regeneration upgrade. Combined with the guaranteed fountain after every boss, it’s a good way to top off on your way to Asphodel.
And that’s it! Once you get the hang of it, Megaera the Fury should fall down easier and easier on subsequent runs. This has been our Hades Meg boss fight guide, and we hope it helps you reach the surface that much faster. Good luck!
