The first familiar you get is the one the tier list likes least
If you are looking for the best pet in Hades 2, the answer is Raki or Toula — and the companion the game hands you first is neither. The five animal companions are not interchangeable, because each one feeds a different resource, and the one that is right for you depends entirely on the build you are about to run.
You will meet Frinos the frog outside Melinoe’s tent at the Crossroads, and you will probably keep him equipped for a long time, because he is the easiest to recruit and the first the game puts in front of you.
He is B-tier.
The two S-tier familiars are Toula and Raki, and the reason Frinos ranks below them is not that his perk is bad — it is that his perk solves a problem you do not have during a serious run. Frinos raises the Lost Shade spawn rate, and Lost Shades convert into Psyche, which feeds Arcana upgrades. That is a real benefit and no S or A tier build needs more Psyche mid-run.
So the useful version of the advice is: use Frinos on dedicated farming runs, then swap back for the real attempts.
All five, ranked
| Tier | Familiar | Passive perk |
|---|---|---|
| S | Toula | Increases Fishing Point spawns |
| S | Raki | Increases Outcropping spawns — the metals you craft with |
| A | Hecuba | +Max Magick; increases digging spots for seeds |
| A | Gale | Boosts dodge chance and speed; increases flora spawn rate |
| B | Frinos | Increases Lost Shade spawn rate — Psyche farming |
You take one per run, chosen at the Crossroads, and swapping between runs costs nothing. That is the whole mechanic: the question is always which passive matches the build you are about to play, and there is no penalty for changing your mind.
Why the two S-tier picks win
Toula turns a long Argent Skull setup into a short one. Fishing Points feed the keepsake economy that the speed-crit build leans on, and the extra spawns mean your Cloud Bangle and Engraved Pin rotations land on schedule instead of a biome late. On a sub-12-minute clear, that timing is the run.
Raki feeds three of the eight named meta builds. The Charon Axe Omega-Cast Launcher needs the crafting progression his Outcroppings fund, the Circe Staff caster path runs through the same metals to keep Magick regen items stocked, and Moros Flames benefits from the same supply.
Neither of those is a combat bonus. They are economy bonuses that arrive early enough to change what the run can do.
The per-build assignment
This is the part that matters more than the tier list, because the ranking is meaningless without the build.
| Build | Familiar |
|---|---|
| Medea Skull Speed-Crit | Toula |
| Charon Axe Omega-Cast Launcher | Raki |
| Circe Staff Always-Be-Casting (speed) | Raki |
| Circe Staff Always-Be-Casting (sustain) | Hecuba |
| Moros Flames Ghost-Detonation | Raki |
| Anubis Staff Zoning Fields | Hecuba or Gale |
| Nyx Coat Nightspawn Wave-Clear | Gale |
| Nergal Axe Berserker Lifesteal | Gale |
| Melinoe Staff Balanced All-Rounder | Toula on flex runs, Gale on a first 32-Fear push |
The pattern across all nine: Toula on the Argent Skull, Raki on the omega-cast scalers, Hecuba on Magick-pool builds, Gale on movement and face-tank aspects, Frinos when the run is about resources rather than Fear.
What they do in combat, and the disagreement
The passive perks are agreed on. The combat behaviour is not.
One tier list states plainly that a familiar grants its passive for the whole run, with no in-combat ability.
Other sources describe specific behaviours at max bond:
| Familiar | Reported combat behaviour |
|---|---|
| Frinos | +40 Max Life at max bond; pounces to block ranged projectiles |
| Raki | +4% crit at max bond; pecks enemies every few seconds, marking them for increased crit damage |
| Toula | Grants one revival per run, restoring 40 HP |
| Hecuba | +60 Max Magick; digs to heal you at low HP; her howl causes a group stun |
| Gale | +6% dodge, +6% move speed; absorbs three hits per region |
Those two positions cannot both be strictly true. Treat the passive perks as certain and the combat behaviour as worth verifying in game — and if the combat effects do apply, they change the ranking’s shape considerably, because Gale’s three blocks per region and Toula’s free revival are exactly the kind of thing that saves a high-Fear run.
How to recruit them
- Progress until the Crossroads cauldron offers the incantation that unlocks animal bonding.
- Craft a Witch’s Delight.
- Find an eligible animal and give it the treat.
| Familiar | Where |
|---|---|
| Frinos | The Crossroads, waiting outside Melinoe’s tent — the easiest by far |
| Raki | Erebus, in the fountain room. The first encounter will not let you tame him — you must find him again on a later run and interact a second time |
| Toula | Near the docks and along the surface route; you need to have fished at least once |
| Hecuba | A probability spawn in the Mourning Fields echo room, and you need the corresponding incantation first |
| Gale | Only unlocks before Prometheus, on Olympus |
If an animal is not appearing, keep running routes, keep talking to Hecate and the other Crossroads characters, and keep checking the cauldron for new recipes.
Progression order
One commonly recommended route is Frinos → Raki → Toula → Hecuba → Gale, which front-loads the two you will actually use and leaves the two hardest for last.
The reasoning for the first three:
- Frinos first, because he is free, immediate, and his survivability carries you through learning boss patterns.
- Raki second, because the ore perk solves the long-term crafting problem permanently.
- Toula third, for the extra life on the later regions.
Upgrades
Familiars are upgraded by giving them further treats or the required upgrade resource at the Crossroads familiar menu. Each has multiple upgrade paths tied to its combat support, gathering perk or passive utility.
Upgrade the one you use. Upgrading three at random slows your progression down, and a rarer companion is not automatically the better one for your save.
Also worth knowing: the four familiar forms cost 12 Moon Dust in total — Moon-Touched for Frinos (3), Magickal for Toula (3), Moon-Touched for Raki (3) and Huntress for Hecuba (3). If you are budgeting Moon Dust against maxing your Arcana at 264, those 12 are worth planning for rather than discovering.
The short version
Take Frinos while you are learning, then never again. Raki for anything that scales on omega-casts or metals, Toula for the Skull, Hecuba when your Magick pool is the bottleneck, Gale when you are face-tanking. And change it every run, because it costs nothing.