One of the most limited resources in the roguelite Hades are Diamonds. These little gemstones are as rare as they are valuable, and they’re critical for evolving the game’s storyline. They are also important for cosmetics, and are needed to get songs that you can listen to at anytime. So, as you gather them, what should you spend them on? How many should you save? And how many does the game need in total? Learn all of this and more in this quick guide to Hades Diamonds!
What To Spend Diamonds On First in Hades
Diamonds might be the hardest-to-gather resource in Hades. They are constantly needed for various things around the House, like Work Orders, decorations, music, and Ranks. In order to get everything that Hades has to offer, you need 224 total Diamonds… But there are only 159 guaranteed in the game! That means you’re going to want to be careful with what you spend them on. We suggest spending your Diamonds in this order.
Diamonds for Upgrades
With the House Contractor Desk, there are a bunch of objects that you can gather with your glorious gemstones. If you have access to these upgrades, then we recommend that you prioritize them! Because you might get unlucky with runs or upgrades, this list is not in order. Pick them up as they show up! They’re not too expensive.
- Deluxe Contractor’s Desk (2 Diamonds): Once you have the Fountain Chamber, Keepsake Collection, Fated List of Minor Prophecies, Lesser Plunder, Lesser Urns of Wealth, and the Court Musician’s Sentence, you get this option. This opens up the Contractor a lot, and will be a huge boon for your runs.
- Rod of Fishing (1 Diamond): Allows you to fish, which will get you additional consumables and upgrades.
- Music Stand (1 Diamond): Now, Orpheus will sing for you! Needed for his storyline.
- Administrative Privilege (2 Diamonds): Allows you to gather files for damned souls. Also grants access to past runs, for the memories.
- Knave-King’s Sentence, Court Musician’s Sentence, Singer’s Gamble, Hero’s Sacrifice (1-5 Diamonds): These unlock as you befriend Sisyphus, Orpheus/Eurydice, and Achilles/Patroclus and complete their storylines. In total, you’re spending 13 gems on these guys, but it’s important to finish their quests.
- Splendid Lyre (1): Exactly what you need for Good Riddance! Now you can practice your music with ease. Make sure you strum it a few times before each run! It’ll bring good luck. And a refund of 2 Ambrosia for your 1 Diamond. (This takes 210 Interactions. Might not be worth a total sit-through).
These on-the-fly upgrades cost a total of 20 Gems. Not bad at all! And they all bring storylines forward.
Lower Priority Work Orders
After getting the Deluxe Contractor’s Desk, you get a ton of new ways to spend Diamonds. These options should be taken after getting your Administrative Upgrades, as you’ll be clogging dialogue boxes otherwise.
This list is done in order.
- Vintage Nectar (3): A randomized Pom is still a Pom! This is a crazy good upgrade and makes Nectar so much more useful.
- Fated Keys (3): +1 Fated Authority or Fated Persuasion makes these rooms grant an extra reroll. Remember to pick up the Fated upgrade before picking this up!
- Pitch-Black Darkness (3): This allows you to gain a large amount of health with Dark Regeneration, and makes these rooms 1/5th as good as a heart room. Not bad! Can give you that small edge you need.
- Brilliant Gemstones (3): 20 gold isn’t much. Unlike Pitch-Black Darkness, this is not like a Gold Room; you can break Urns for money, and it’s just as much as this upgrade!
- Erebus Gateways (5): These are tricky challenge rooms that you might not find too easy. Since these don’t activate until Level 5 Heat, you’re not needing them for a long time. But, they’re really good to get once you reach a certain level in the game.
- Darker Thirst (2): More Gemstones! You’re not really using Darker Thirst weapons to get cosmetic upgrades. Good for when you are looking for Gemstone-based cosmetics and furniture.
- Vanquisher’s Keep (4): For completed runs, this gives you 110 Gems. That builds quickly! Once again, consider waiting on this. Gems don’t help you win runs.
In total, all of these Run Upgrades cost 23 Diamonds. Quite a lot, but these are expected to take some time to get.
If you want to make your runs easier, then before you complete Diamonds for Storyline upgrades, we recommend getting Vintage Nectar, Fated Keys, and Pitch-Black Darkness. Those three are legitimately great for making runs more impactful when entering Resource rooms.
Decorations
There are a few Decorations that you’ll gather using Diamonds. These are completely cosmetic; you should get them after you get your Work Order upgrades.
- Infernal Theme (10): A really hot theme for behind Hades! Themes unlock after buying all other Work Orders.
- Prince, Fury Sisters, God of the Dead Paintings (2, 4, 5 Diamonds): Beautiful portraits of various members of the family. You can’t see these until you get 44 Contractor Upgrades.
- All-Seeing Bat Cage, Great Hall Shortcut, Revolving Prism-Sphere, Revolting Prism-Sphere (3, 3, 5, 5 Diamonds): Small Lounge upgrades. The Great Hall Shortcut actually gives you a little hole in the Great Hall, in case the extra 3 seconds matters for you.
In total, you need 38 Diamonds for this category.
Music Box
There are a ton of songs that you can purchase for your Music Box; 24 of them in total, in fact! These songs range from basic Area mixes to boss battles to special arenas. You can get them all, as long as you’ve met the prerequisites to hear them out in the wild. These songs also range in cost; between one and five Diamonds are needed for some of these music pieces.
I would personally recommend saving Music for last. As a cosmetic service, you do not need them to make runs easier or free your friends from eternal torment. However, once you spend your last Diamond on something that progresses story, there is nothing stopping you from grabbing some tunes!
