Hades 2: All Animal Familiars and where to find them

The task of killing time itself isn’t the easiest in Hades 2, so it’s nice to know that you don’t have to go it alone. Through an incantation, you’ll be able to unlock the ability to bring an animal friend with you on your adventures that give certain buffs along the way. What’s more is that by completing further incantations, you can upgrade these bonds to expand on your buffs.

We’ll go through each Animal Familiar currently in Hades 2, explain what they do, and how to obtain them, as some of them don’t appear until certain conditions are met. If you're struggling for resoures in Hades 2, then check out our guide on where to get every flower seed in Hades 2.

How to tame an Animal Familiar

To tame a familiar, you need to create the treats to win them over. These have two different recipes. The first time you make one of these, it will cost you:

• 2 Nectar
• 1 Lotus

However, shortly after crafting your first, you’ll unlock a repeatable recipe for them. This new recipe costs:

• 2 Nectar
• 1 Stardust

Frinos the Frog

Frinos is the easiest to find as they’re in the Crossroads, next to where you spawn anytime you return from a run. There are no requirements to make Frinos appear. Give them a treat and they’ll hop around after you – they may not be the fastest, but they’ll always catch up.

Frinos offers the following buffs:

• Absorbs any ranged shots that hit him
• Gives +10 max HP at the start of a run
• Deals 10 damage when leaping on foes
• You are 10% more likely to find Lost Shades

Toula the Cat

Toula is a little trickier to get hold of. Toula will not appear until the following conditions are met:

• Visit the docks between the City of Ephyra and the Rift of Thessaly more than once
• Successfully catch a fish using the Rod of Fishing at least once.

After those requirements are met, you can find Toula at the docks between City of Ephyra and Rift of Thessaly.

Toula offers the following buffs:

• Lets you catch fish without needing to complete the minigame.
• Provides an extra use of Death Defiance
• Death Defiance restores 10 more HP
• You are 10% more likely to find fishing spots
• Toula strikes enemies 3 times per encounter

Raki the Raven

Raki will appear in the fountain room in Erebus and can be tamed pretty early on. They offer the follow buffs:

• You can gather ore from mining spots in one hit
• +1% Critical chance
• You are 10% more likely to find mining spots
• Occasionally pecks foes, applying Marked

Hecuba the Hound

Hecuba requires a bit of legwork to tame, as they only have a 75% chance to appear in Echo’s room in the Fields of Mourning after the following conditions are met:

• Do at least 12 runs
• Complete the Bravery of Familiar Spirits incantation
• Give at least three treats to other familiars to upgrade their abilities
• Nemesis must not appear in Echo’s room

That’s not all though, as that just allows Hecuba to appear. For them to become tamable, another set of requirements must be met:

• Recruit Frinos, Toula, and Raki
• Use Frinos’ ability to compel a Lost Soul at least once
• Use Raki’s ability to gather from mining spots at least once
• Give at least four treats to other familiar to upgrade their abilities

Once you’ve finally tamed her, Hecuba offers the following buffs:

• +15 mana
• You are 10% more likely to find digging spots
• Occasionally stuns surrounding foes for 1 second
• Has a chance to dig up extra health and mana when you’re low

Gale the Polecat

Gale is the last familiar you’re likely to encounter, as they reside in Charon’s Shop on Mount Olympus, just before you face Prometheus. However, they will only appear after the following conditions are met:

• Do at least 12 runs
• Complete the Bravery of Familiar Spirits incantation
• Give at least three treats to other familiars to upgrade their abilities

Like Hecuba, they also have an extra set of conditions to become tamable:

• Recruit Frinos, Toula, and Raki
• Use Frinos’ ability to compel a Lost Soul at least once
• Use Raki’s ability to gather from mining spots at least once
• Give at least four treats to other familiar to upgrade their abilities

Once all those requirements are met, talk to Hecate, and she will give dialogue granting you permission to tame Gale. Once you’ve done do, they offer the following buffs:

• +3% dodge chance
• +3% movement speed
• You are 10% more likely to find flowers
• Occasionally leaps into harm's way, blocking damage to Melione and dealing 250 damage to the foe.