Hell is Us Guide – Best Loadout to Dominate Combat

Hell is Us is very focused on its puzzles and exploration gameplay, but there's also a fair amount of combat to deal with. Progression blockers are mostly linked to puzzle solving, but there are a few points in the game where Rogue Factor gives you a combat challenge to move through to the next major story beat, and it's in those instances where you'll want to be prepared.

There are several elements that can go into your combat loadout in Hell is Us, but only a few of them really make a difference. This guide will give you a breakdown of one of the best loadouts possible in the game to give you a dominating presence among the creatures that stalk Hadea.

Hell is Us Guide - Best Loadout to Dominate Combat

Combat Basics

First, a few basics about combat in Hell is Us. You have a few different weapons you can choose from, but they're not all made equal for the combat situations Hell is Us throws at you. You're more often than not facing multiple enemies. It's less common that you'll have to deal with only one Hollow creature at a time, and that's due to an elevated variant of enemies that have something called a Haze with them.

Haze's are based on four core emotions that the narrative and lore in Hell is Us focuses on: Rage, Grief, Ecstasy, and Terror. They're color-coded, and there are different tiers of Haze enemies to face, though you won't know what tier you're facing until it appears.

Because of Hollow enemies with Haze, you'll constantly be fighting multiple enemies at once. You have to defeat the Haze before you can damage the Hollow, and each will move independently, so you can be focusing on the Haze, only to be attacked from behind by the Hollow. That's why you'll want to have weapons and abilities that help you crowd-control situations more than anything.

You can block attacks by holding the block button, but parrying is far more effective, and has the chance to break your enemies' stance and perform a killing blow. You have a stamina bar of your own along with your health bar, but part of the trick to Hell is Us is the fact that the less health you have, the less stamina you have available. Keeping both up is paramount to survival.

Regarding your weapons, you have a few different weapons to choose from, each of which can be altered by one of the four core emotions. Altering the weapons based on the different emotions locks the weapon into only being able to use abilities tied to that specific emotion, and alters its visual appearance. So when you find a pair of Twin Axes, and you make them Terror Twin Axes, their appearance will change, and you'll only be able to attach Terror-based abilities to them.

The four different weapons you can choose from are:

• Sword
• Greatsword
• Polearm
• Twin Axes

Each of them can be made into Rage, Grief, Ecstasy, and Terror variants. You can also use them in their neutral forms if you want to, though that's not exactly recommended.

Loadout Basics

Your loadout in Hell is Us is comprised of five parts: your weapons, of which you can have two equipped at any time. Your defensive gear, which, to be entirely fair, has little impact on combat. Your relics, a passive and an active one, the abilities (called Glyphs) tied to your weapons, and your Drone's abilities (called Modules).

Those are all the parts you can modify, besides what items you can have equipped at any time. A lot of those item slots might be filled with key items for your investigation and exploration, so I won't be going into what items you should have equipped, except to say that it's a good idea to have Lymbic Batteries and Medkits on you for tricky situations.

Lymbic Batteries refill the gauge that lets you use your weapons' abilities, and Medkits heal you without having to use the Healing Pulse mechanic. There are other consumables that can be helpful, but none are more significant than the batteries and medkits.

You can equip one passive relic and one active relic at a time, and two defensive gear items at a time. Each weapon can have three abilities attached to it that are mapped to your D-pad, combined with a press of the left trigger, with the fourth space saved for your active relic, which will be available to you no matter what weapon you have equipped. You can also have four different abilities equipped to your Drone, which, like your abilities on the D-pad, are equipped to face buttons plus a press of your right trigger.

The Loadout to Dominate Combat

To clarify, this loadout won't exactly be available to you immediately from the beginning of Hell is Us, but you'll be able to build up to it, and there are elements of it you can build early on, like focusing on levelling up the Twin Axes you'll find early in the game.

All weapons are levelled up through a combination of experience points gained through use (or a consumable called a Tuning Stone to fast-track levelling), and increasing their Grade at the Blacksmith in Jova, which is the first major city you'll visit.

Here's everything you'll need for the loadout:

• Weapons: Twin Axes of Terror, Polearm of Rage
  • Twin Axes Abilities: Frightful Ambush, Feed on Fear, Recoil
  • Rage Polearm Abilities: Rage Spike, Berserk, Animosity
• Drone Abilities
  • Distract
  • Whirlwind
  • Surge Step
  • Death from Above
• Active Relic: Aster's Band of Domination
• Passive Relic: Mark of the Betrayed
• Defensive Gear: Bracers of Rage, Bracelet of Ecstasy

Below are explanations of every element of it, and why they each make a significant part of the loadout that'll have you dominating combat in Hell is Us:

Weapons:

• Polearm of Rage
• Twin Axes of Terror

The Twin Axes are the fastest weapon in the game, making them ideal for parrying attacks. You'll find a pair of Twin Axes in the very first area of the game, and while they won't do as much damage per hit as the sword you start with, their speed outweighs that disadvantage, especially when you can increase their damage through levelling.

The Polearm, for anyone who has played Dark Souls or Elden Ring, is similar to a Halberd in that it can be used like a spear, but also gives you a wide horizontal range of attack, letting you damage multiple enemies in front of you at once. It has a faster parry timing than the Greatsword and more range than the standard Sword, while also still being capable of heavy attacks. All of this is what makes it a top choice, along with the Twin Axes. Between both weapons, you're covering your needs for crowd-control, agility, and strong attacks to deal huge damage in a single blow. You'll also find a Polearm early on, in the second area you visit in the game.

Rage Polearm Abilities:

• Rage Spike
  • This lets you fire a lance that shoots out of your Polearm at enemies, and is one of the few abilities that lets you attack from a range. The lance will also explode on impact for extra damage. You'll find the first level of this Glyph by closing the Timeloop in Acasa Marshes. You'll find the top-level 'Elite' version of it in the Marastan Vault of Forbidden Knowledge.
• Berserk
  • This Glyph will put you in a state of rage that keeps you from being stunned, staggered, or knocked back for 40 seconds, and is a great way to keep the pressure on your enemies. You'll find the base version of it in Vitalis' secret office. You'll find its Elite variant by closing a Timeloop in Jeljin.
• Animosity
  • This chain's enemies to you and pulls them in closer in melee range, while also stunning them in the process. You find the base level of this Glyph in the Sendra Forest Vault of Forbidden Knowledge. You'll find the Elite version of it by closing the Timeloop in Auriga Museum.

Terror Twin Axes Abilities:

• Frightful Ambush
  • Another area-of-affect ability, creating a pool of damage around you that damages your enemies and has the added bonus of stunning them. You'll find the base version of this Glyph by solving the Blood Queen’s Story Room mystery. You'll find the Elite version of it in the Marastan Vault of Forbidden Knowledge.
• Feed on Fear
  • This links you to a targeted enemy and lets you drain their health to heal yourself from range, and is another one of the limited ranged attacks available in Hell is Us. You'll find the base version of this Glyph in the Senedra Forest Vault of Forbidden Knowledge. You'll find the Elite version of it by closing a Timeloop in Auriga Museum.
• Recoil
  • Makes you jump backwards and stun enemies near you. Again, another solid crowd controlling method that keeps you in control of the flow of combat encounters. You'll find the base version of this Glyph in Vitalis' secret office. You'll find its Elite version by closing a Timeloop in Marastan.

Active Relic:

• Aster's Band of Domination
  • This stuns all nearby enemies for 10 seconds, and is one of the more useful active relics purely because it has the shortest cooldown of only 3 minutes, whereas most others take 9 minutes to recharge. You'll find this relic in the Vyssa Hills Vault of Forbidden Knowledge

Passive Relic:

• Mark of the Betrayed
  • This is the key to the whole build, because it absolutely changes the way you'll play the whole game. With this in your loadout, you'll deal 200% damage for the next 10 seconds. If you can chain link successful parries, then you'll take almost everything down in three to four strikes. You'll find this Relic by closing a Timeloop in Acasa Marshes.
• Alt: The Blood of the Phelange
  • I mention this because it is also effective, but the barrier to activating it is a bit more of a fence to hop over. You increase the damage dealt with each attack after every kill by 25% for 30 seconds, though, of course, it's easier to hit a successful parry and keep your damage output up than having to wait for a kill, especially when you will have the odd time where it's just one major enemy in front of you, making this passive ineffective. Consider it an alt, but Mark of the Betrayed is what you should use. You'll find this Relic by closing a Timeloop in Vyssa Hills.

Drone Abilities:

• Distract
  • This is the first ability or 'Module' you'll get for your drone in Hell is Us, and it's effective the whole game. With crowd-control being such a big part of combat, being able to take at least one enemy off the board by distracting them and keeping them stunned until you attack that specific enemy. You get the base version of this Module almost immediately after you fight your first Hollow in the game. You'll find the Elite version of it by completing the Locked Computer mystery in the Research Department of the Auriga Museum.

• Whirlwind
  • This ability spins you around really fast and lets you hold out your arms and attack enemies around you, which is a tactic that covers plenty of ground, either with the Twin Axes or the Polearm. You'll find the base version of this Module just ahead of the tunnel you enter to check out the ON convoy in Acasa Marshes. You'll find the Elite version of this it in the OMSIF training area's supply room in Auriga Museum.

• Surge Step
  • This ability is like having an extended dash, as the drone will pick you up and almost throw you out of the way of an oncoming attack. You'll find the base version of this Module on a fallen ON agent in Jova, near the Blacksmith shop in the Acasa Marshes area. You'll find its Elite variant in the Drone workshop in the Auriga Museum.

• Death From Above
  • This one is another which is what it sounds like. It's a ground-pound for those who first learned about slamming attacks from platformers. The drone picks you up, and you do a strong attack slamming into the ground, dealing a large chunk of damage to enemies. You'll find the base version of this Module near Agatha's body in Vyssa Hills. You'll find the Elite variant of it in a OMSIF crate in Marastan in the backyard of a house on the path to the Deimos Division camp.

Defensive Gear:

• Bracers of Rage
  • This gives you some health back with each hit you deal against an enemy. You'll find them by completing the Aster’s Safehouse secret.

• Bracelet of Ecstasy
  • All of your attacks take less stamina to perform, a helpful trick to have up your sleeve, considering how stamina and health are tied. You get this by solving the Caddel's Brothers Treasure mystery.

Beyond swapping out the base versions of these Glyphs and Modules for the stronger ones, it should go without saying that to improve your damage output, you should be levelling up your weapons. But these are the bones of what gives you the best loadout in the game to help you absolutely dominate combat encounters in Hell is Us. Plenty of these pieces can be found in the game's early hours as well, so you'll have the full game to turn it into the powerhouse it evolves into by the end of the game.

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