How to get the Nightmare resource in Hades 2 – Oath of the Unseen unlock guide

You’ve made it far enough to finally unlock weapon Aspects. Congrats! But it doesn’t stop there. You’re tasked with finding a new resource to upgrade your weapons further. To get it, you’ll need to unlock the Oath of the Unseen feature and earn the Nightmare resource in Hades 2.

Nightmare is a rare resource in Hades 2, one that won’t be earnable until you finish at least one run against Chronos. Beating the Titan of Time rewards you with the Oath of the Unseen artifact, allowing you to earn Nightmare for Aspect upgrades. It’ll take some time to get to this point, clearly, but the struggle will be worth it.

Note: This guide may contain late-game spoilers, so keep that in mind before scrolling further.

Hades 2: Oath of the Unseen unlock and Nightmare resource guide

So, you defeated Chronos? Good. This is where the game finally begins. Taking down the mad Titan signals the start of the Hades 2 late-game content grind. To win your war against Chronos, you need to drive back his forces with more and more powerful weaponry. That’s where the Oath of the Unseen comes in.

Oath of the Unseen is an artifact that allows you to up the challenge of each Hades 2 run, where successful fights against marked Guardians reward Nightmare. For those who completed at least one run of the original Hades, think of it as the sequel’s version of the Pact of Punishment. But instead of turning up the Heat, you instead stack a different element called Fear.

The artifact appears in the Crossroads Training Ground between the entrances to the underworld and the surface.

To use the Oath of the Unseen, choose a weapon from the Silver Pool and press the “Kneel” button or key once you’re next to it. ‘Vows’, which are used to raise Fear, are something akin to curses. They can range from increasing enemy speed and strength to lowering the effectiveness of healing items. You can see your level of Fear as a purple skull at the top-left section of the in-game HUD:

Pursuing Guardians will gradually require more Fear, which can be stacked to make Vows more potent and runs more dangerous.

Defeating the marked Guardians awards in one Nightmare resource:

What is Nightmare used for in Hades 2?

Nightmare is used in Hades 2 to upgrade weapon Aspects in the Aspects Awakenings tab in the Silver Pool. The Aspect of Circe for the Staff requires one Nightmare, for example. Upgrading weapons further means collecting more Nightmare.

Every successful run will make the subsequent fights harder, but hopefully more rewarding. Upgrading your weapons feeds into this late-game grind, as the more powerful you become, the higher the chance to be successful.