Where to find bronze in Hades 2 and how to reach the surface

Bronze is the a resource you’ll get in Hades 2 once you reach the Surface area. It’s a critical crafting ingredient, one that you’ll need if you want to unlock all weapons (specifically the Argent Skull).

Unfortunately, it’ll take you at least several runs before you can reach the surface. In this Hades 2 guide, we’ll tell you how to reach the Surface and how to find bronze when you get there.

How to reach the Surface and find Olympus in Hades 2

Unlike the first Hades, Hades 2 offers multiple routes: the Underworld and the Surface. You’ll start the game able to delve into the Underworld, but the Surface is something you’ll need to unlock after several hours of play and multiple incantations.

You’ll first need to unlock the wards leading to the Surface. You’ll then need to banish the curse that afflicts you there.

How to unlock the Surface wards

Image: Supergiant Games via Polygon

You’ll know you’re getting close to bronze when you unlock the ability to do the “Permeation of Witching-Wards” incantation at the cauldron in the Crossroads, which should be available shortly after Hermes contacts you in the Underworld.

For this incantation, you’ll need a cinder (which you get from defeating Hecate) and a moly (a flower you can find in Erebus, the first area). You’ll also need a shadow, which you need the Alchemy system to unlock. If you don’t have access to Alchemy just yet, do another run or two and it should appear.

Eventually when you visit the cauldron in the Crossroads, you’ll be able to tab over and do Alchemy, which allows you to transmute some of your more common materials into rare ones. The Alchemy you’ll need to perform to reach the surface is “Shadow Extraction,” which will turn 30 ash, 30 psyche, and 3 fate fabric into a single shadow. Once you start the Alchemy process here, you’ll need to kill some time to let it cook. You can either do another run or take an NPC to the hot springs for a bath.

Once you finally have your Shadow, perform the “Permeation of Witching-Wards” incantation. This will remove the ward in the Training Grounds heading to the Surface, allowing you to head there on your next run.

But on your first run in the Surface, after clearing the first room, you’ll start taking significant damage every few seconds, effectively barring your ability to get too far into the City of Ephyra — and impeding your hunt for bronze.

How to remove the Surface curse

Image: Supergiant Games via Polygon

Now you need to remove the curse, which is going to take another incantation and some items you don’t have yet.

Back in the Crossroads, you’ll now have access to the “Unraveling a Fateful Bond” incantation, which will remove your curse and let you hang out on the Surface as long as you want. To use it, you’ll need two lotus, two nightshade, two moss, and two thalamus.

• Lotus is a flower found in Oceanus.
• Nightshade grows from nightshade seeds that you can harvest in Erebus.
• Moss is located on the Surface, found by identifying little green patches on the ground. Just start a run and grab it before you die. Keep doing Surface runs until you have enough.
• Thalamus is the trickiest to get. First, equip the Silver Spade tool, then head into the Underworld. You’re looking for Chaos Gates, which take you to the primordial realm of Chaos. Once there, you should find a dig spot on the ground. Use your Silver Spade to dig up an origin seed (it should hopefully give you two). Keep visiting Chaos on your runs until you have two origin seeds. Back in the Crossroads, plant them and wait for them to grow into thalamus.

Once you have all of your resources, use the cauldron for the “Unraveling a Fateful Bond” incantation. Now, free of the curse, you can finally hunt for bronze on the Surface.

Where to find Bronze in Hades 2

Image: Supergiant Games via Polygon

Mercifully, bronze is fairly plentiful in the City of Ephyra, so you should be able to stock up on it to unlock the Argent Skull and Fishing Rod in just a run or two.

There’s a chance for bronze to spawn in any room in the Surface’s first region, including the hub for the City of Ephyra and the boss arena. Make sure you bring your Crescent Pick with you and start adventuring into the various quadrants of the city until you find some.

The node for bronze might throw you off a bit if you’re used to looking for the very obvious ore nodes like you find in the Underworld. For bronze, you’re actually looking for a pile of bronze armor (seen above) resting on the ground. If you’re having trouble recognizing it, unlock the Reagent Sensing incantation and it’ll point you to any nearby deposits before you leave the area. Each node should give you three bronze in total.