How to get and use Nightmare in Hades 2

The deep recesses of Greece are filled with all things horrible, which is perfect for a witch like Melinoë. In Hades 2, Nightmare is a type of collectible resource, but it might seem impossible to find—for a while.

Where can you find Nightmare in Hades 2?

You find Nightmare primarily by clearing tasks for the Oath of the Unseen, a difficulty modifier system unlocked after killing Chronos in Hades 2. Check your Oath of the Unseen board and make sure you have the Weapon and Fear required to turn the portrait fully colored. However, as long as your run has Fear, there is a chance to find Nightmare during your runs. You can also purchase one at the Broker for 1,000 Bones.

Nightmare becomes somewhat common during Fear runs, but only for the exceptionally lucky. There are three ways to get a Nightmare drop, guaranteed.

• Complete Testament Challenges. The Testament Board before a run begins features a portraits that currently show five bosses—one for each Nocturnal Arm. If you equip the Nocturnal Arm for that boss and then raise the Fear level using the modifiers on the right, you cause that boss’s portrait to become colored in. Afterward, when you kill the boss during your run, the boss drops their normal reward as well as one Nightmare. Just make sure you know whether or not the boss is an Underworld or Surface boss—they constantly cycle.

• Purchase Nightmare from Charon during a run. Charon occasionally has Nightmare in his shop, at the bottom of Tartarus. This shop cycles through expensive meta progression rewards, like Moon Dust for your Arcana. Nightmare is one of the more expensive options that can appear, with a base cost of around 1,300 Gold.

• Purchase them from the Broker. The Bone Broker sells one Nightmare for 1,000 Bones. This is quite expensive, and we only recommend doing this if there’s an Aspect upgrade you’re really invested in.

The game mentions there’s a chance to Nightmare during high-difficulty runs, but we haven’t been that lucky yet.

What is Nightmare used for in Hades 2?

Nightmare is primarily used for upgrading Nocturnal Arm’s Aspects. While the Aspect of Melinoë typically requires basic upgrade materials, most other Aspects require one or more Nightmares to get their full effects. As of this patch, Nightmare is not needed for Incantations or Arcana upgrades.

For most Weapon Aspects—other than Melinoë’s Aspects—you need one Nightmare to get to rank two and three, and then two Nightmares for rank four, and three Nightmares for rank fve. That means if you want all Weapon Aspects to be fully upgraded, you need a total of 70 Nightmares. That’ll take quite a while as you gather the resource through any means, so don’t worry about getting everything immediately. Focus on upgrading your favorite aspects first, since Nightmares aren’t used for anything else.