I have been plugging away at this, doing attempt after attempt, and filling up the mirror of darkness (or whatever it's called). However, I felt like i'd hit a wall. There was no way to get any more Titan's blood, and so level up your weapons, and i'd max'd out all the mirror specs. I was about ready to call it a day - i'd played for over 30 hours, which isn't bad for a game that only cost £20. To be honest I was surprised i even managed to get to the final boss anyway. When i started playing, i didn't think i'd even get that far!
Then I was browsing the Hades sub-reddit, and i saw a message by someone giving advice for your first clear if you are having trouble. They suggested using the shield, applying Ares boons (doom) on your attack, and Athena boons on your special, and then picking up as many Pom fruits to stack up the doom damage. I thought 'what the hell', i'll give it a go!
So I used the Ares keepsake, and with the Ares boon at the beginning of the level.....there was no attack option. Crap. And then there were no more Ares boons, at all until Elysium. I didn't get a Athena boon until halfway through Asphodel, and when I did, special wasn't an option. I panicked halfway through the run, and sold off the boons i had got on my attack and special, hoping to get Ares and Athena later on, but it all fell apart, and i ended up sauntering into the third boss with 17 health and no extra lives. A disaster.
Well that didn't go so well, so i thought i'd try it again! This time, I got the Ares doom on my Attack first try, and although I didn't get an Athena special, I did get Athena Divine dash. I also managed to get a hammer boon that gave me double damage on my attack. Soon I was tearing through the enemies simply using dash+attack! Eventually i picked up enough Poms that I was doing several hundred in damage just from doom.
I got to the final boss with two or three lives left, and managed to smack him down with plenty to spare. Finally escaped on attempt 59!