How to use Hades 2 Nectar and get more of it
Nectar is an important item in Hades 2 to improve your relationships with characters
Collecting Hades 2 Nectar and handing it out to your divine friends is the main way you'll boost your affinity levels and get Keepsakes. Since Melinoe can't drink the stuff herself, it doesn't seem all that useful at first, but it's actually a very important Hades 2 item for improving your relationships with characters from the Crossroads and beyond, and even comes up in some crafting recipes. Below, I've explained how you can hand Nectar out in Hades 2 and how you get more of it.
What is Nectar for in Hades 2?
Nectar is an Indulgence item in Hades 2 that can be given as a gift to allied characters to get a Keepsake and improve your relationship level with them. When you have Nectar in your inventory, you can approach most Hades 2 characters and offer a gift by pressing RT/R2 and selecting the Nectar item from the list of possible gifts.
Giving a character Nectar increases your relationship level with them by one and, the first time you do this, you'll be given a Keepsake from them in return, which can be a huge help on your runs. Early on in Hades 2, when you first start finding Nectar, you should give it out to several characters to quickly build up a small collection of Keepsakes that you can switch between. You can give Nectar to most characters in the Crossroads, such as Hecate, Nemesis, and Odysseus, and you can hand it over to any friendly characters you find during runs. This includes all divine Boon gods, like Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Zeus, as well as special characters, such as Charon and Arachne.
Once you're happy with some of your Keepsakes, you can consider giving Nectar to just one character, ideally the one you like the most, to start improving your relationship level. You won't get anything in return for every Nectar bottle you hand over after the first, but you can eventually get unlock Fated List prophecies and opportunities to offer other Indulgences, such as Bath Salts and Twin Lures for bathing and fishing with a friend respectively.
How to get Nectar in Hades 2
Hades 2 Nectar can be obtained in a few different ways and stored in your inventory, ready to be given out as a gift:
- Choose it as an Encounter reward. Nectar is an uncommon reward from Encounters in all regions, so you should have it as a reward option occasionally.
- Trade for it with the Wretched Broker at the Crossroads. If you've cast the Kinship Fortune Incantation, you can buy one Nectar for 30 Bones each time you visit the Wretched Broker at the Crossroads after a run.
- Kinship Fortune Incantation: As well as unlocking the ability to trade for Nectar, you also get one bottle of the stuff just for casting this Incantation.
- Buy it from Charon: The boatman very occasionally sells a bottle of Nectar for Gold at his shop.
- Harbinger of Doom Minor Prophecy: By summoning Moros for a second time, you will complete the Harbinger of Doom Minor Prophecy from the Fated List, getting you one Nectar as a reward.
- Sweet Nectar alchemy recipe: Later in the game, you will unlock this recipe at the Cauldron, letting you turn one Golden Apple into three Nectar vials. I got the recipe from Aphrodite after beating the Hades 2 Eris boss fight.
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Will Sawyer is a guides writer at 12DOVE who works with the rest of the guides team to give readers great information and advice on the best items, how to complete a particular challenge, or where to go in some of the biggest video games. Will joined the GameRadar+ team in August 2021 and has written about service titles, including Fortnite, Destiny 2, and Warzone, as well as some of the biggest releases like Halo Infinite, Elden Ring, and God of War Ragnarok.