Hades has one of the most amazingly designed upgrade systems amongst the sea of rogue-like games. Every temporary and permanent upgrade in the game oozes perfection, elevating this game’s combat and providing such a variation in the playstyle between runs that it never gets old.
The Mirror of Night bestows permanent upgrades, and if you set it up correctly, then you will reap the benefits in the long run.
Each upgrade in the Mirror of Night has an alternate to choose from, and you can level up each upgrade individually to boost its effectiveness.
All the upgrades in this Mirror are tempting, but instead of wasting your Darkness on weaker upgrades, you should select the ones we have gone for in this article to get the most out of your resources.
The best upgrades in the Mirror of Night are:
- 1. Shadow Presence
- 2. Dark Regeneration
- 3. Death Defiance
- 4. Greater Reflex
- 5. Boiling Blood
- 6. Infernal Soul
- 7. Golden Touch
- 8. Thick Skin
- 9. Family Favorite
- 10. Olympian Favor
- 11. Gods’ Legacy
- 12. Fated Persuasion
We will discuss why we chose these upgrades over their alternates below.
What Is The Mirror Of Night In Hades?
The Mirror of Night, located in Zagreus’s room, was a gift from Nyx to Zagreus to aid him in his attempts to escape the underworld. It is one of the main meta-progression systems in Hades.
Reflecting on the Mirror allows Zagreus to spend Darkness gathered from the Underworld to improve his abilities. However, many of the abilities are locked at first, each requiring several Chthonic Keys to unlock. After several escape attempts, the ability to refund spent Darkness for use on other abilities is unlocked. Refunding Darkness costs one Chthonic Key and refunds all Darkness spent in the Mirror of Night.
Each ability from the Mirror has two versions, one colored red and one colored green (the green talents are not available from the start — they will be unlocked following a conversation with Nyx after collecting a minimum of 300 Darkness). Each version needs to be invested in separately.
For example, spending Darkness on Shadow Presence does not upgrade Fiery Presence. Only one version of each ability can be active at a time, and they can be switched between freely while reflecting in the Mirror.
Related: How To Get Hidden Aspects in Hades (Which One Is Best?)
The Best Mirror Upgrades / Abilities In Hades
Each upgrade in the Mirror of Night has two alternate abilities to choose from and considering the appeal of both options, it gets quite frustrating to choose the one that is the best. Although it is quite easy to swap between the two as you please between runs giving you the benefit of experimenting.
Sticking with one upgrade is more beneficial as you can invest your Darkness in the one that suits your playstyle and get the best result. We have compiled a list of the best upgrades in our opinion below:
1. Shadow Presence
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow Presence | Each rank gives you +10% damage when you strike foes from behind. | 5 (+50% damage) | 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (100 Darkness ) |
The reason for choosing Shadow Presence is that you will be hitting a lot of the enemies just before they have spotted you and you’re going to hit them in the back, dealing bonus attack and special damage at 50%.
This ability is absolutely amazing and you can very easily rush straight behind your enemies and hit them dealing that extra damage. Not only will you be dealing a huge chunk of damage but if you move fast and circle behind even alert enemies then you can be dishing out this bonus damage consistently. It is a very versatile and devastating upgrade that shouldn’t be ignored.
2. Dark Regeneration
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Regeneration | Each rank makes +30% of any Darkness you collect restore your Health by that much. | 2 (+60% restored) | 30 / 60 (90 Darkness) |
Dark Regeneration ability stays potent regardless of which stage of the game you are in. You will be collecting Darkness, so why not get a second health benefit from it? Along with this, there are certain Boons and upgrades along your run that boost your Darkness yield, and with this upgrade active you will get insane chunks of health back.
The alternate upgrade, Chthonic Vitality, is best for when you reach Styx but before that the health back benefit is measly. If you are a player that is finding it hard to survive with a good HP till the end then, by all means, go for the alternate, but as you play along and get good with health management, then Dark Regeneration provides the most effective health back potential.
3. Death Defiance
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Death Defiance | Each rank restores you 50% Health 1 time when your Life Total is depleted. | 3 (+3 extra chances) | 30 / 500 / 1,000 (1,530 Darkness) |
Choosing Death Defiance is a no-brainer for most players. Fully upgraded, this ability gives you three extra lives to come back from death. This is even more useful when you have a hard time surviving a boss encounter and getting extra chances to stand your ground before being sent back to Hades.
The alternative, Stubborn Defiance, sounds great by having a chance to revive once for each chamber instead of a fixed number of lives but considering bosses where you end up dying early then you won’t have any lives left as a safety net. Death Defiance is a stable and useful upgrade, especially when pumping up the heat levels.
4. Greater Reflex
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Reflex | Each rank lets you chain +1 Dash before briefly recovering. | 1 (+1 extra dash) | 50 Darkness |
Another no-brainer upgrade, Greater Reflex is one of the best upgrades in the whole lot. It straight up gives you an extra dash which can be helpful and downright life-saving considering the chaos on the screen.
Using this, you can easily move away quickly from sticky situations and approach the fight in a controlled manner. Hades’ combat is very fast-paced, so adding another dash gives you the edge in applying a hit-and-run strategy.
Ruthless Reflex, on the other hand, has a very niche use, and as stated before, the chaos on the screen can make it hard for you to spot an incoming attack to take advantage of. All the while, Greater Reflex is great on its own without relying on enemy action; it is a proactive rather than reactive ability.
Greater Reflex is amazing for dodging those massive AOE attacks from bosses where a single dash won’t be enough to move you out of harm’s way.
5. Boiling Blood
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boiling Blood | Each rank gives you +10% Attack & Special damage to foes with Cast Ammo in them. | 5 (+50% damage) | 10 / 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 (250 Darkness) |
Boiling Blood is so good that it allows you to deal bonus attacks and special damage to foes with Cast in them. Whenever you fire your Cast at an enemy, it gets stuck in them, and with this ability, you can deal even more damage to them. This is great for dealing massive damage to tankier enemies/bosses or simply getting the Cast ammo back quickly by destroying weaker enemies swiftly.
The alternate, Abyssal Blood, does have a good ring to it, but it is better to deal higher damage rather than slow down enemies. Instead of slowing enemies, you can effectively speed up your game, especially if using the Greater Reflex ability and dealing devastating blows.
6. Infernal Soul
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infernal Soul | Each rank gives you +1 Cast Ammo for your Cast. | 2 (+2 Cast Ammo) | 20 / 80 (100 Darkness) |
Infernal Soul gives you extra Cast Ammo, and two more if fully upgraded. Having even more firepower is always great in Hades and considering a Boon, which gives your Cast a deadly ability having more of these to throw at your enemies will be a game changer.
Having a greater ammo count means that you won’t be waiting around for the Cast to drop, and if you manage it properly then you will be dishing out punishment consistently.
Stygian Soul replaces the pick-up after dropping element of Cast with regeneration, while it sounds great, there will be countless times when you have fired all your Casts and are waiting for the ammo to come back. This wait can be devastating for you depending on the enemies on screen.
Related: Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Hades
7. Golden Touch
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Touch | Each rank grants you +5% Obols of your total each time you clear an Underworld region. | 3 (+15% Obols) | 70 / 90 / 110 (270 Darkness) |
Golden Touch allows you to gain 5% more Obols whenever you clear an Underworld region. This upgrade is great as it gives you a lot of options like if you want to save them for the end, you want to buy some Titan Blood, or you want those extra Boons from Charon/shop. You might want to hold your spending initially, but as you progress, you will have a good bank to buy the best stuff.
With Deep Pockets, you will start with some Obols already on you, which can be good for initial investment. Still, you might end up going on a shopping spree and lose them all, while Golden Touch can help you in the long especially considering you have to bring some money back to upgrade your base.
And if fully upgraded and have good money management, then you will be making quite a buck with this ability.
8. Thick Skin
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thick Skin | Each rank adds +5 Health to your Life Total. | 10 (+50 Health) | 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 (625 Darkness) |
Thick Skin is amazing in every situation as it gives you raw extra health. It allows you to have a lot of versatility in your builds as you don’t always have to pick up the healthy options, and you can easily opt for other upgrades like Poms and Boons. This ability has a simple yet potent appeal which is not a bad thing at the end of the day.
High Confidence is for dealing higher damage at higher health levels, and considering the uncontrollable nature of the combat, you can not ensure what your health will be, and if you end up dropping below the threshold early, then this ability will be useless until you bring it up again.
If you have complete control over your dodging harm skills, then choose the alternate, but for the rest of us, Thick Skin is the best option.
9. Family Favorite
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family Favorite | Each rank gives you +2.5% damage for each different Olympian whose Boons you have. | 2 (+5% damage per Olympian) | 50 / 150 (200 Darkness) |
Family Favorite is the best upgrade, especially when you have a hodgepodge build of Boons from different Olympians. Not only will you benefit from various godly powers, but this upgrade will turn it up a notch by providing a damage boost for each Olympian involved in your build. The ease of not thinking about this ability’s usage makes it stand out.
Privileged Status is exclusively beneficial for Boons that give some sort of status effect. If you are into inflicting a bunch of curses on your enemies, then, by all means, go for Privileged Status. Still, for the most part, you don’t have control over what Boons you will be getting, and in that case, we find relying on Family Favorite to be most effective.
10. Olympian Favor
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympian Favor | Each rank adds a 1% bonus chance for a Boon to be Rare. | 40 (+40% chance) | 50 per rank (2,000 Darkness) |
Olympian Favor is a great upgrade for early to mid-game. It gives you an added chance of getting Rare Boons which is great for creating an effective build. It is one of those upgrades that doesn’t require much thought, and you can reap benefits quite easily. Although the effectiveness of this upgrade can be diminished by ones down in the list, which we will get to later on.
Once you have upgraded the latter abilities, we recommend swapping Olympian Favor with Dark Foresight. Dark Foresight will increase the chances of getting Boons, Hammers, Obol and Poms, which ensures other upgrades besides the Boons. But as mentioned before, staying with Olympian Favor will benefit you with better Boons regardless of your game stage.
11. Gods’ Legacy
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gods’ Legacy | Each rank gives you +1% greater chance for a Boon to be Legendary or a Duo (if possible). | 10 (+10% chance) | 250 per rank (2,500 Darkness) |
Gods’ Legacy is the absolute must-have upgrade as it will increase the chance of getting the best Boons and highest rarity in the game. Not only will you be getting the best rarity, but you will also be getting Duos that reward double Boons in a single chamber that further varies up your build. This is the best upgrade for the late game and one that shouldn’t be looked over.
While the alternate, Gods’ Pride, provides added chances of getting Epic Boons. Compared to Gods’ Legacy, this upgrade seems rather weak. It is a no-brainer to pick Gods’ Legacy to get the most powerful build, as it gives the best chance at acquiring the most devastating stuff the game has to offer.
12. Fated Persuasion
| Ability | Description | Ranks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fated Persuasion | Each rank gives you 1 dice, used to randomly alter Boon and Well of Charon choices. | 4 (4 dice) | 1,000 / 2,000 / 3,000 / 4,000 (10,000 Darkness) |
Fated Persuasion allows the player to change any Boon or Well of Charon choices. Think of this as a re-roll, meaning every time you get something you don’t want, like a conflicting Boon; you can simply change it for something more useful. Pairing this with the previous Mirror upgrades, you can easily re-roll to get the better Boons.
You get more dice for a fully upgraded Fated Authority. Still, if you are unlucky, then the chamber reward you opted to re-roll might not result in something in your favor, which can lead to multiple re-rolls and wasted potential. As for Fated Persuasion, you can re-roll the Boon list and get the chance to score something great.
In our opinion, these are the best upgrades in the Mirror of Night. Some of them don’t even need justification like Greater Reflex, but others can be changed according to your preference though we have tried to give the best reason for choosing the upgrade.
You can always respec your Mirror upgrades by spending Chthonic Keys, so it is not a waste but spending your resources wisely is essential to the overall Hades experience.