Nightmare is a rare late-game reagent that fuels the strongest weapon upgrades in Hades 2.
Most of Melinoë’s default Aspects don’t need it, but every other Aspect tied to Greek figures (Thanatos, Momus, Artemis, Persephone, and so on) asks for Nightmare as you raise their rank.
These upgrades can make a weapon much stronger than its base form and help defeat bosses like Eris and Chronos.
How Do You Unlock Nightmare?
You won’t see Nightmare until you’re deep into the game, as the key trigger is defeating Chronos once.
That win unlocks a new Crossroads feature called the Oath of the Unseen, where you can add difficulty Vows and tackle special boss fights known as Testaments. Only after this appears can you start earning Nightmare.
How Do Testaments Work?
On the Oath board, you’ll find cards for each Guardian showing a purple-skull Fear level and the weapon Melinoë must use.
You can trigger a Testament by equipping the weapon pictured on the card and turning on enough Vows to match or exceed its Fear level.
Once these conditions are set, head into a run and defeat that specific Guardian. Completing the fight under the right setup rewards you with one Nightmare.
Each unique combination of Fear level, weapon, and boss can only pay out once, so to keep collecting Nightmares, you’ll need to adjust your Vows or switch to other weapons when the current setup no longer grants rewards.
What Other Ways Can You Get Nightmare?
While Testaments are the main loop, there are a few backup sources once you’ve unlocked the Oath:
- Wretched Broker – sells a single Nightmare for about 1,000 Bones after you’ve earned your first one. Good for finishing an upgrade, but too expensive for farming.
- Charon’s shop (late-run) – sometimes lists a Nightmare for around 1,300 Gold. Prices can shift if you’re running certain Vows that alter shop costs.
- Prophecies & rewards – completing some Minor Prophecies can award Nightmare.
- Stash / late-region drops – after brewing certain incantations (like Bounties of the Infinite Abyss) and running with enough active Vows, you can occasionally find free Nightmare in the final regions.
These are nice bonuses, but they aren’t reliable enough to replace Testament farming.
How Do You Use Nightmare?
Before you can spend Nightmare, you first need to unlock weapon Aspects at the Silver Pool.
To do this, defeat Hecate at least once with each of the five Nocturnal Arms. After that, brew the Aspects of Night and Darkness incantation at the Cauldron, which requires resources like Bronze and Nightshade.
Complete the incantation, then check the Silver Pool to view the full list of weapon Aspects. From there, open the Aspect Awakenings tab to begin upgrading.
Every non-Melinoë Aspect requires Nightmare to increase its rank, and the amount needed grows as you push those upgrades higher.
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