You’ve probably been there. You just finished a grueling run through Styx, your pockets are overflowing with Nectar, and you’re ready to finally get that legendary keepsake or a bit of spicy dialogue from Artemis or Ares. You gift them the good stuff, the heart meter goes up, and then... nothing. A giant padlock appears. It’s frustrating. Supergiant Games didn't make it easy to figure out how to form bonds with Olympians in Hades because the game treats relationships less like a checklist and more like a messy, organic family drama.
Basically, if you want those pretty pink ribbons on your relationship menu, you have to do more than just bribe the gods with juice. You have to actually care about their specific neuroses.
The Nectar Phase: Just the Basics
Before you can even worry about the deep stuff, you need Nectar. A lot of it. For most Olympians, the first six hearts are straightforward. You find their boon, you talk to them, and you hand over a bottle. In exchange, they give you a Keepsake. These are the lifeblood of specific builds. If you’re trying to force a Zeus/Jolted build, you need his Thunder Signet. That's common knowledge.
But here’s the kicker: the sixth heart is almost always where the "favor" begins. You can’t just keep throwing Nectar at Aphrodite and expect her to love you back. The game forces a stalemate until you complete a hidden quest. Some of these are easy. Others require you to be a literal RNG god. Honestly, the internal logic of the Underworld is a bit petty, and the Olympians are the pettiest of all.
The Favor: Breaking the Locked Heart
Every single god has a specific trigger. If you want to know how to form bonds with Olympians in Hades, you have to understand the "Favor." This is an unlisted objective that unlocks the final heart (or hearts) so you can start gifting Ambrosia.
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Take Zeus, for example. The King of the Heavens is a narcissist. To get his favor, you need to hear a bunch of dialogues about other gods' opinions of him. It’s passive. You just play. But then you look at someone like Artemis. She’s shy. To bond with her, you have to hear her talk about her hunting partner Callisto multiple times. You can't force this; you just have to keep picking her boons and hoping she feels like venting about her social anxiety that day.
Ares is even weirder. He wants blood. Specifically, he wants you to kill 10,000 enemies. If you haven't hit that total kill count yet, that heart is staying locked. It doesn't matter how many times you beat Megaera; if the body count isn't high enough, the God of War isn't interested in being your bestie.
The Problem with RNG and Dialogue Queues
Here is where most players get stuck. You might have met the requirements for a favor, but the dialogue won't trigger. Why? Because Hades has a massive "priority queue" for lines of code. If you just beat a boss, or if you just met a new character, that dialogue takes priority over your relationship progress.
I've had runs where I was waiting for Athena to acknowledge my strength so I could give her Ambrosia, but she kept talking about the hydra I just killed instead. You just have to keep going. It sucks, but patience is a mechanical requirement in this game.
Who is the Hardest to Bond With?
Honestly, it’s probably Hermes. Most gods just want you to talk or kill things. Hermes? He wants a level 3 Lambent Plume. That means you have to clear rooms fast, consistently, over dozens of runs. If you aren't a speedrunner, Hermes is going to be a giant pain.
Then there’s Aphrodite. Her favor requires you to have forged bonds with her "romanceable" options: Dusa, Megaera, and Thanatos. You essentially have to be a master of the Underworld's dating scene before the Goddess of Love gives you the time of day. It’s a meta-requirement that catches people off guard because it involves characters who aren't even on Olympus.
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Why Bother? The Epilogue and Beyond
You aren't just doing this for the cute icons. Forming bonds is the secret sauce for reaching the game’s true ending—the Epilogue. To trigger the "Queen's Plan" and finally bring some semblance of peace to Zagreus's chaotic family, you need to have forged a certain number of bonds with the Olympians.
Specifically, you need a high affinity (usually meaning the favor is done and at least one Ambrosia is gifted) with at least six different Olympians. Persephone won't feel comfortable making her big move until she knows you've got the backing of the family. It’s a long game. A very long game.
Quick Favor Checklist for the Main Cast
- Poseidon: Catch a fish during a run and then talk to him. He wants to see your "angling prowess."
- Dionysus: Give at least 10 Nectars to different characters and gift Ambrosia to at least six. He loves a party, clearly.
- Demeter: You can’t even finish her bond until you’ve reached the Epilogue. She is literally locked by the plot. Don't waste your time trying to force it early.
Maximizing Your Efficiency
If you’re serious about this, stop taking the "best" boons. Start taking the boons of the gods you need to talk to. Use their Keepsakes to force them to appear in Tartarus. If you need Ares, wear the Blood-Filled Vial. Even if his boons don't fit your current build, you need that dialogue trigger more than you need a slightly faster clear time.
Also, keep your Ambrosia stash safe. Ambrosia is much harder to get than Nectar. You get it from beating the Heroes in Elysium or trading at the Wretched Broker. Don't go spending it on the first god that unlocks. Prioritize the ones needed for the Epilogue or the ones whose Legendary boons you actually use.
Actionable Steps for Completionists
- Check the Codex constantly. If a heart has a lock on it, stop gifting that person. You are wasting resources. Look up their specific favor requirement.
- Farm the Wretched Broker. If you have a surplus of Gemstones or Darkness, trade up. You’ll eventually reach a point where Nectar is your bottleneck.
- Equip the right Keepsake. To trigger a favor, that god needs to appear. Forcing them into the first room of every run is the fastest way to cycle through their dialogue queue.
- Kill more stuff. For gods like Ares, there is no shortcut. You just need to play the game and rack up the numbers.
- Talk to everyone in the House of Hades. Sometimes an Olympian's favor is triggered by a conversation with someone like Nyx or Achilles. If you ignore the home base, you stall your progress in the field.
The bond system is a marathon, not a sprint. You'll likely finish the main story long before you've finished all the bonds. Just keep the Nectar flowing and pay attention to what they're actually saying between the lines.