The Mega-Dracon inHades 2is not the only dangerous miniboss to find on your ascent to Olympus. Harder to find but also exceptionally harder to fight, Talos will put everything you know about the automatons of Mount Olympus into real combat practice.

Complete with flying projectiles, wide melee attacks, and devastating damage output, Talos is everything you’d expect to see from a miniboss leading up to the ever-difficult Prometheus. With the Titan of Foresight around the corner, you’ll want to master this miniboss to ensure you’re walking into that boss fight healthy and armed.

Talos chases Melinoe while firing fire bombs in Hades 2.

Talos Move Descriptions And Counters

Talos’s moves are punishing not because they’re new to the eye (they aren’t; they’re just combined automaton moves with extra pizzazz).They’re difficult because of the arena.

A strangely-shaped, narrow hourglass room, you’ll need tostudy the table aboveif you want to ensure that his wide-reaching moves in such a confined space don’t take much-needed health from your run.

Melinoe attacks Talos with Momus after dodging a disc attack in Hades 2.

How To Beat Talos

Talos shares a lot in common with the other automatons on Mount Olympus. The dangerous creations are enough to be wary of on their own, butTalos takes all of their abilities for itself and has a few more things to add as well.

While you shouldn’t be making any preparations specifically for a miniboss,there are a few boons that show increased effectivenessagainst Talos:

Talos performs a spin attack and hits Melinoe in Hades 2.

Why it works

Heavy Metal

Hephaestus

The prevention of knockback can allow for tanking his disc attack while continuing to strike. Arisky movewith potentially high pay-off with the right build.

Glowing Coal

Hestia

Shooting a Castprevents the need to get close to Talos during his spin attack. Paired with another Cast boon for overtime damage, it’s very effective. (Zeus and Dionysus shot-Cast boons also work.)

Supernova

Apollo

Increasing Cast sizeensures that your Cast, thrown or otherwise, will ensure a catchandslowfor Talos. If combined with Aphrodite’s Cast boon (which pulls foes to the center), you can effectively control Talos’s movements during his spin.

Boons from Hermes are also always appreciated.The extra chance to dodge, increased speed, and ignored instances of damage are all very effective for Talos in what is meant to be a short, but potentially dangerous fight.

Talos throws two discs as Melinoe dashes between them in Hades 2.

As you can tell from above,Casts are extremely effectiveagainst Talos. The reason Casts work so well is because of the small area, meaning Talos is very likely to be stuck in a Cast.4

Additionally, it serves you asthe most dangerous aspect about Talos is his spin attack.His spin can easily block out a fifth of the map, and it tracks Melinoe quickly.

Talos turns the arena into a fiery mess as Melinoe returns damage in Hades 2.

If you are hit by his spin attack, you can take several instances of punishing damage.Trapped in a Castduring this attack, Talos becomes far less of a threat.

The advice to trap Talos in a Cast goes double, if not triple, when fighting Talos with the Vow of Shadows active. With two of these dangers on the field,the need for keeping them zoned is very high.

Talos uses his Vacuum attack while Melinoe prepares to finish the fight in Hades 2.

Generally, we recommend trying tokeep them together at all times.When separated, they pose a huge threat as their spin attack can reduce your field of play by extraordinary percentages (up to 70 percent of the arena). Damage will, at times, become impossible to avoid.

The best part about this fight is thatit is meant to be short.With a lower health than you’d expect for a miniboss, you’ll likely chunk through him quickly.

However, this also means he can do the same. To avoid being the reason the fight ends quicker than you’d scheduled,focus on these key openings:

With your openings secure and a good handle on his moves,your only other concern is his fire zoning.Thankfully, you can control where his fire spreads fairly easily.

Remember touse your Castto limit his speed and spread area, andkeep to one side of the roomto prevent the fire from spreading into the open.

If you have Hestia’s Legendary ability (which is also useful for Prometheus’s fight), you won’t need to worry about this zoning as much. In fact, it becomes almost negligible if you don’t have Apollo’s No-Damage boon or Artemis’s White Antler keepsake.

Now that you have everything accounted for, go forth and put that bag of bolts where he belongs.

When he’s packed up and ready for shipping back to Hephaestus,claim your prize and mentally prepare yourselffor the real boss to come: Prometheus.