The Tool Desk
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There is no developer-published universal percentage preset. Your room, headphones or speakers, platform output, and tolerance for loud effects all change the result, so a repeatable method is more useful than copying numbers from another player.
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Which audio controls Hades II provides
Hades II separates the four controls that matter most for this problem: Master Volume, Music Volume, SFX Volume, and Voice Volume. The sequel also places its settings in a distinct accessibility section, so look for the audio controls there if you do not see them alongside gameplay options.
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|---|---|---|
| Master Volume | The overall level of the game mix. | A comfortable listening level with enough headroom that loud attacks do not clip or become painful. |
| Voice Volume | Character dialogue and spoken performances. | Every word should be understandable in a busy room and during an active encounter without straining. |
| SFX Volume | Combat impacts, attacks, warnings, interface sounds, and other effects. | Close to Voice so timing and hit feedback remain readable; lower it slightly only when effects cover speech. |
| Music Volume | The score and other musical material. | Present enough to support the atmosphere, but reduced whenever it competes with dialogue or combat cues. |
These controls are independent, which means lowering Music does not make dialogue louder by itself; it simply removes material competing with the Voice channel. Likewise, raising Master raises everything, including the effect that was already too loud. Treat each slider as a specific problem-solving tool rather than as a single loudness control.
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A reliable Hades II balancing method
Follow the sequence below whenever you start from defaults, move to a different listening setup, or notice that the mix no longer feels right.
1. Start from the current defaults
Reset the audio sliders, or make a note of their current positions before changing them. This gives you a known reference and prevents an old adjustment from hiding the real problem. It is especially important after a major update: the v1.0 Launch Update changed dialogue-related music, a character voice level, and many effects and ambient sounds. A setting that worked before that update may no longer represent the current mix.
2. Set Master Volume for comfort and headroom
Use Master Volume to establish the game’s overall level, not to force one channel to compete with another. Raise it until ordinary speech and effects are comfortably audible, then leave some room below the point where heavy attacks or other peaks sound distorted. Use your operating-system, television, receiver, or other output control for the final room-level loudness. That arrangement makes later channel adjustments easier: the in-game mix remains balanced while the external control handles how loud the room is.
3. Prioritize Voice in a busy conversation
Choose a conversation with background activity rather than judging voices in a silent menu. Raise Voice Volume until every word is intelligible without leaning toward the speakers. If the words are clear but the entire presentation feels harsh, reduce Master Volume slightly instead of burying Voice beneath more Music. This preserves the relative priority of speech while taking the edge off the whole mix.
4. Bring SFX close to Voice
Combat effects are information, not decoration. They tell you when an attack lands, when a hazard activates, and when an action has produced a hit. Set SFX near Voice, then run through a loud encounter. If impacts repeatedly cover syllables, lower SFX a little rather than muting it; if attacks feel vague or arrive without readable feedback, raise it back toward Voice. The right relationship is usually close, not maximum and not silent.
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5. Fit Music around speech and combat cues
Music is the first control to trim when the mix feels crowded because reducing it creates space for both dialogue and effects without removing gameplay information. Lower Music until you can follow a conversation and identify important combat sounds. Then raise it gradually until the atmosphere feels satisfying. Stop at the first point where speech or a warning begins to disappear. This produces a music level tailored to your other two priorities rather than an arbitrary percentage.
6. Check two different kinds of scene
Test one dialogue-heavy conversation at the Crossroads and one loud encounter. The Crossroads reveals whether voices remain natural and easy to follow when the score is prominent. Combat reveals whether SFX still communicate timing and whether the mix becomes tiring at its loudest. A setting that succeeds in the quiet scene but fails in combat needs another adjustment; do not judge the whole game from one location.
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Move a control in a small increment, listen again, and stop once the specific problem is solved. Changing Music, Voice, and SFX simultaneously makes it impossible to know which move helped. There is no official universal numeric mix in the published settings information, so the useful record is the relationship between sliders and the scenes in which you tested them.
How to make voices louder than music
When the score masks dialogue
Lower Music first, then replay the same line. If the words become clear without needing to raise Master, you have solved a masking problem rather than a loudness problem. Keep the reduced Music level if it also improves conversations elsewhere; do not compensate by pushing every other channel upward, because that can make combat peaks uncomfortably loud.
When combat effects cover speech
Leave Voice where it made the conversation intelligible and pull SFX down slightly. Effects should remain audible enough to convey attack timing and hit feedback. If a particular encounter still overwhelms dialogue, use that encounter as your reference instead of returning to a quiet room and raising Music again.
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When voices are audible but unpleasantly sharp
Reduce Master a little before lowering Voice. Voice is already doing its job if every word is clear; reducing it would force you to rely on even more Music reduction and could make performances disappear in the next scene. A lower overall level with the same channel relationship usually preserves intelligibility more consistently.
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When raising Voice seems to do nothing
Check the platform’s volume control and the Master slider before making Voice extreme. If the operating system, television, receiver, or headset output is very low, all four in-game channels will be constrained by that external level. Correct the platform output, then return Voice to a moderate relationship with SFX and Music.
Why Hades II presets can change after an update
Supergiant has continued to revise the audio mix, so treat any saved slider positions as a starting point rather than a permanent specification.
v1.0 Launch Update
The v1.0 Launch Update adjusted music volume while characters were speaking and changed the volume of Athena’s voiceover. It also included many sound-effect and ambient-audio changes. Those edits can alter the balance even if you never touch the settings: a conversation that was previously covered by the score may become clearer, while an effect that once sat quietly may become more prominent.
Unseen Update
The Unseen Update added more than 2,000 new voice lines. New dialogue means more situations in which you should verify intelligibility, including conversations with different background activity and performances that may sit at different perceived loudness within the overall mix. Use more than one speaker or scene when checking Voice rather than assuming one successful conversation represents every line.
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Post-Launch Patch 2
Post-Launch Patch 2 recorded volume adjustments for several sound effects. If combat suddenly feels louder, softer, or less evenly balanced after that patch, revisit SFX in an encounter instead of copying an older setting. Individual effect changes are a reason to recalibrate by listening, not evidence that your hardware has failed.
The scale of the soundtrack
Supergiant’s v1.0 announcement describes a completed Hades II soundtrack just under four hours long. The score is therefore a substantial part of a normal play session, not an occasional menu layer. Giving Music its own deliberate adjustment lets you keep that musical presence while protecting speech and combat information.
Useful starting profiles without fake percentages
The following profiles describe relationships, not official numeric presets. Start with the profile that matches your priority, then validate it in both test scenes.
| Profile | Dialogue intelligibility | Combat-cue clarity | Music presence | Headroom approach | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dialogue-first | Voice is the clear priority. | SFX stays close to Voice but may sit slightly lower when impacts cover words. | Music is reduced until speech is effortless. | Master remains conservative so sudden effects do not clip. | Long conversations, noisy rooms, or players who miss lines easily. |
| Balanced | Voice and SFX are close and both remain easy to follow. | Combat timing and hit feedback stay prominent without dominating speech. | Music is audible and atmospheric but yields space when dialogue starts. | Master is set for comfortable peaks rather than maximum loudness. | General play when no single channel needs special treatment. |
| Music-forward | Voice remains intelligible before Music is raised. | SFX is kept near Voice so the score does not erase combat feedback. | Music is raised gradually after speech and cues pass the test. | Leave additional Master headroom because the fuller score can make the mix feel louder. | Quiet listening environments where the soundtrack is a major part of the experience. |
These profiles are decision aids, not promises that one arrangement will fit every platform. A music-forward setup that works through headphones may be too dense in a reflective room, while a dialogue-first setup can make the score feel thinner than intended. Recheck the same two scenes whenever you change where or how you play.
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Troubleshooting quiet, distorted, or uneven audio
The entire game is unexpectedly quiet
Verify Master Volume, then verify the platform’s output volume and mute state. If other applications are also quiet, the problem is outside Hades II. Once the external level is normal, return to the in-game sliders instead of compensating by maxing one channel.
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The mix sounds distorted or fatiguing
Lower Master first and listen for the loudest combat peaks. Distortion that disappears when the overall level drops indicates insufficient headroom at the chosen output level. If only one category remains aggressive, reduce that category—usually SFX for repeated impacts—while preserving Voice and the amount of Music you can comfortably follow.
One character or effect changed while everything else seems normal
Consider the update history before changing every slider. The Launch Update specifically adjusted Athena’s voiceover, and later patch notes recorded changes to several effects. Re-test the affected scene, compare it with another character or encounter, and make a small channel adjustment only if the new behavior is consistent.
Audio problems persist across scenes
Keep your platform audio drivers current and follow Supergiant’s platform-specific Hades II troubleshooting guidance. Drivers and system output settings can affect the entire game, whereas a single quiet line or effect is more likely to be a mix change or an isolated scene issue. After any system fix, repeat the Master, Voice, SFX, and Music check so you are not evaluating the game through an old external setting.
The balance changes between quiet and loud scenes
That is precisely why both scenes belong in the calibration loop. Use the dialogue scene to set the minimum Voice clarity you will accept, then use the loud encounter to check SFX, Music, and headroom. If you optimize only for one, the other will expose the compromise later.
Final recommendation
Set Master for a comfortable level with room for peaks, make Voice intelligible during a busy conversation, keep SFX close enough to preserve combat timing, and then raise Music only until it supports the atmosphere without masking either channel. Recheck Crossroads dialogue and a loud encounter after updates, especially those that alter the dialogue mix, individual voice levels, or sound effects. That process gives you a dependable Hades II mix without pretending that an unverified percentage works for every player or platform.
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