Hades 2 players will need N Mare, the awkwardly abbreviated Nightmare, for upgrades and incantations but how do players find it and farm it?
Hades 2 has players fill the shoes of the witch Melinoe. The daughter of Hades wields various incantations, weapons, and other items from the dark corners of Greek Mythology. Everything requires a set of ingredients that players can find in different locations.
However, while some items can be found in the early game, others require players to push deeper. One of the items that falls in the latter category is N Mare. Here’s what Nightmare is used for in Hades 2 and how to farm it.
What is Nightmare in Hades 2?
N Mare, or Nightmare, is a resource in Hades 2 that players use to upgrade aspects of the Nocturnal Arms Melinoe wields.
After unlocking a weapon in the game, players can upgrade it in various ways by upgrading its aspects. Weapon Aspects in Hades 2 are similar to skill trees for weapons, and every aspect has different attributes. While some are “Aspects of Melinoe,” others are attached to various other characters in Hades 2.
N Mare is required to upgrade every non-Melinoe aspect. For example, after unlocking the Aspect of Artemis for the Sister Blades, N Mare is required to strengthen it through further upgrades. However, upgrading Melinoe’s aspects, which are already unlocked, doesn’t require N Mare but instead uses other ingredients.
Where to get N Mare in Hades 2 and how to farm it
Players can get N Mare by completing a Testament under the Oath of the Unseen, which is unlocked after defeating Chronos once, or by buying it from the Shadow Broker.
Similar to the first game, Hades 2 doesn’t conclude after defeating the final boss just once. Melinoe is sent back to The Crossroads where she has to plan her next run to take down her grandfather again. Defeating the Titan of Time once also unlocks the Oath of the Unseen at the Crossroads training grounds.
Melinoe can go on challenge runs by adding difficult limitations and modifiers to increase the run’s Fear level. This is similar to the Heat feature in the first Hades. After reaching a certain number of Fear, the table on the left tells the player which boss they must defeat to acquire N Mare, and what weapon they must use.
Following the instructions and defeating the required boss drops a single N Mare. However, this also means players must go on multiple runs to farm N Mare. In a way, collecting N Mare this way is a loop of interacting with the Oath Of The Unseen to increase the Fear level, going on a run to defeat the required boss and acquire the N Mare, and repeating everything.
Supergiant Games must have realized that the farming N Mare by repeating Fear runs could get repetitive. Therefore, another way to acquire N Mare is to buy it.
The Crossroads’ Wretched Broker sells Nightmare for 1,000 Bones, which allows players to expedite the farming process. Ultimately, there is no particularly expedient way to farm N Mare in Hades 2. This is ultimately a key component in getting players to continue making runs and keep strengthening Melinoe.