Claws of Hades

“	You have acquired the Claws of Hades, Kratos.	”
–Athena.

The Claws of Hades were chained weapons formerly utilized by the God of the Underworld, Hades. They were later procured by Kratos after the former owner's death.

History

During both of the Great Wars, Hades can be seen fighting with these weapons. They are depicted as being a set of spiked chains with two hooks at the end of each that glow pale purple. Hades is "draped" in them, and they are embodied with his magic powers. Using the magic stored within the chains, Hades can pull out the soul of his enemies. This can be seen in one of the cut scenes in God of War II, where he rips out the soul of Atlas and absorbs it. These chains are extremely lethal weapons as they allow Hades to attack at short and long distances. They glow with a dark purplish aura indicating the number of souls that it has absorbed. By absorbing countless souls, the chains' attack power increases as well as the speed . Hades has the ability to summon legions of the undead as well as a wide array of undead beasts using the Claws' power. The chains were a very powerful part of Hades' arsenal, and with them he defeated many Titans in the First War.

In God of War III, Kratos uses these chains after he takes them from Hades. It allows Kratos to summon the souls of the undead. With them, Kratos can rip the souls of his enemies out, the souls then attack the other enemies. They have an attack similar to the Barbarian Hammer which allow Kratos to summon souls of the enemies he is fighting to occupy them.

The claws can be also controlled by the user's mind, as seen in the attack tormenting lash (see below) where the claws spin around without Kratos moving his arms.

They allow Kratos to summon the souls of his enemies depending on the claws' level. A soul can be selected in the power up menu out of a selection of beasts Kratos encounters on his quest.

When Kratos dodges while using the Claws he uses them to pull himself forward. This gives a slight increase in speed and distance to dodging.

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

Trivia

When Kratos dodges while using the Claws of Hades, he uses them to pull himself forward. This dodging is the fastest compared to any other Kratos' weapons.
Each time Kratos uses the Claws of Hades to attack his enemies, voices of souls can be heard.
While fighting Kratos, Hades' soul summon is 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 also destroyed by Zeus' Astral Form.
- It is also possible that they aren't actually destroyed as they were seen undamaged on the floor. It is possible that, even though their physical shape stayed intact, their powers had been drained.
Oddly, if Kratos uses the Soul Rip' movement on Zeus' clones while battling the King of the Gods inside the Heart of Gaia, the Soul Rip' can still be executed, even though they're used on image copies of Zeus.
The Soul Rip is based on the Army of Hades from God of War, but is less powerful this time.
In God of War II, the claws are golden but in God of War III, they are purple. This could mean that they are stronger than during the Great War as they have absorbed more souls.
The Grim Claws of Ice in Darksiders II are possibly based on the Claws of Hades as they look very similar especially their color pattern.
The claws are far bigger when wielded by Hades than when used by Kratos, this is possibly because the larger version of the claws would be too big for Kratos to attack with effectively.
Unlike other weapons in God of War III, the claws have no real mandatory purpose after they are obtained. After defeating Hades and complete the "Magic tutorial", the usage of the claw is completely optional. A similar situation is seem with the Spear of Destiny in God of War II.
These hooks return in God of War Ascension's Multiplayer as claws fused with a pair of gauntlets.