“ | Taken from Lord Hades, these cruel hooks grant you power over souls. | ” |
The Claws of Hades were chained weapons formerly utilized by the God of the Underworld, Hades. Kratos stole them during his battle with Hades and used them to claim the god's soul.
History[]
During both of the Great Wars, Hades could be seen fighting with those weapons. They were depicted as a set of spiked chains with two hooks at the end of each that glowed pale purple. Hades was "draped" in them, and they were imbued with his magic Powers. Using the magic stored within the chains, Hades could pull out the soul of his enemies.
That was seen in one of the cutscenes in God of War II, where Hades ripped out the soul of Atlas and absorbed it. Those chains were extremely lethal weapons as they allowed Hades to attack at short and long distances. They glowed with a dark purplish aura that indicated the number of souls it absorbed. By absorbing countless souls, the chains' attack power increased as well as speed. Hades had the ability to summon legions of the Undead as well as a wide array of undead beasts by using the Claws' power. The chains were a very powerful part of Hades' arsenal, and, with them, defeated many Titans in the Titanomachy.
In God of War III, Kratos used those chains after he took them from Hades. The Claws allowed Kratos to summon the souls of the Undead. With them, Kratos could rip the souls out of his enemies and they then would attack the other enemies. They had an attack that was similar to the Barbarian Hammer which allowed Kratos to summon souls of the enemies he fought in order to occupy them.
The Claws could be also controlled with the user's mind, as seen in the attack Tormenting Lash (see below) where the claws spun around Kratos, without him moving his arms.
The Claws allowed Kratos to summon the souls of his enemies, with more that became available when the Claws were levelled up. A soul could be selected in the power up menu out of a selection of beasts that Kratos encountered on his quest.
When Kratos dodged while using the Claws, he used them to pull himself forward, which gave him a slight increase in speed and distance to dodging.
The Claws of Hades were later destroyed by Zeus's Astral Form along with the rest of Kratos' Equipment excluding the Blades of Exile, the Blade of Olympus, and the Boots of Hermes.
In-game[]
Orb Costs[]
- Level 1 - NA
- Level 2 - 3,000 Orbs
- Level 3 - 5,000 Orbs
- Level 4 - 6,000 Orbs
- Level 5 - 9,000 Orbs
Power Multiplier[]
- Level 1 - 100%
- Level 2 - 135%
- Level 3 - 160%
- Level 4 - 190%
- Level 5 - 225%
Attacks[]
Level 1[]
- Hades Agony - Light combo. Square, square, square, square, square
- Hades Curse - A slow and powerful combo ending in a haunting finish. Triangle, triangle, triangle
- Hades Ascension - Launch enemies into the air and follow them. Hold triangle
- Soul Rip - Grab an enemy with your claws and rip a soul out of an enemy that will attack others for you. Best for distraction/occupying, building up and maintaining huge combos, very weak damage. L1 + O (if you are at the gate to the Pits of Tartarus, this attack is the best option to achieve the "Hitman" Trophy (execute a 1000 hit-combo)).
- Soul Summon - Summon the soul of a monster to attack your foes. R2
Level 2[]
- Tormenting Lash - Spin your claws around you quickly the fend off close enemies. L1 + square
- Tormenting Lash (Air) - Spin your claws around you quickly the fend off close enemies. L1 + square
- Increased Damage
Level 3[]
- Hades Bane - While evading, press Triangle to deliver a vicious overhead slam. R + triangle
- Soul Summon Lv. 2 - Summon the soul of a monster to attack your foes. R2
- Increased Damage
Level 4[]
- Increased Damage
- Unending Sorrow - Summon your claws and launch foes into the air with this powerful strike. L1 + triangle
- Unending Sorrow (Air) - Stab your claws to the ground and pull them back to attack your enemies. L1 + triangle
Level 5[]
- Increased Damage
- Soul Summon Lv. 3 - Summon the soul of a monster to attack your foes. R2
Soul Summons[]
- For the list of enemies that can be summoned with the claws, see Soul Summon
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In Greek mythology Hades's most signature weapon was the Bident. The claws in God of War actually look like shorter bent versions of this weapon, with their 2 ends.
- When Kratos dodged while he used the Claws of Hades, he used them to pull himself forward. That dodging was the fastest when it's compared to any other of Kratos' Weapons.
- Each time that Kratos used the Claws of Hades to attack his enemies, voices of souls could be heard.
- While fighting Kratos, Hades' Soul Summon was the Cerberus Mongrel and three floating heads of Soul Rip (see above).
- Like most of Kratos' Weapons (except for the Blades of Exile and the Blade of Olympus), the Claws of Hades were destroyed by Zeus' Astral Form.
- It was also possible that the Claws weren't actually destroyed as they were seen undamaged on the floor. It was possible that, even though their physical shape stayed intact, their powers were drained.
- Oddly, if Kratos used the Soul Rip on Zeus' clones while he battled the King of the Gods inside Gaia's Heart, the Soul Rip could still be executed, even though it's used on image copies of Zeus.
- The Soul Rip was based on the Army of Hades from God of War, but was less powerful.
- In God of War II, the Claws were golden, but in God of War III, they were purple. That could have meant that they were stronger than during the Great War as they absorbed more souls.
- The Grim Claws of Ice in Darksiders II were possibly based on the Claws of Hades as they looked very similar especially their color pattern.
- The Claws were far bigger when they were wielded by Hades than Kratos. That was possibly because the larger version of the Claws would have been be too big for Kratos to attack with effectively.
- Unlike other weapons in God of War III, the Claws had no real mandatory purpose after they were obtained. After defeating Hades and completing the "Magic tutorial", the usage of the Claws of Hades was completely optional. A similar situation was seen with the Spear of Destiny in God of War II.
- Those hooks returned in God of War: Ascension Multiplayer as Claws that were fused with a pair of gauntlets.
- A Statue of Hades was seen holding similar claws in God of War: Chains of Olympus in the Temple of the Gods, although their shape was different, had only one hook on each claw, and a ring above each hook.
- Interestingly, after having his soul extracted by Hades, Atlas was shown to still be alive. But when Kratos used them to extract Hades' soul, the latter perished almost instantly. This could mean that Titans, with their immense power, are able to survive without their souls, but gods (or at least some of them) cannot. Alternatively, since The Claws of Hades can be controlled mentally, it is possible that the wielder can choose to sustain the soul even after it is removed, ensuring the opponent's continued survival. Although, as god of The Underworld, this power may be attributed to Hades himself (rather than The Claws), as he is shown to possess control over souls already.
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