Athena is one of the best defensive characters in Megabonk, and with the right build, she can become almost immortal.
Unlike characters like Sir Oofie and Megachad, Athena isn't a typical tank. The longer you survive with her, the stronger she gets. You must use a well-built and effective strategy with her strengths and weaknesses.
Table of contents
How to unlock Athena in Megabonk
Athena's signature weapon is the Aegis, which is rather hard to unlock. You'll also have to obtain the Thorns tome on your run, which drops randomly from chests. Next, you'll need to level up the tome to at least level 9, requiring multiple runs.
Once your Thorns tome has reached level 9, you can unlock Athena from the shop.
Best Megabonk Athena build
As I said, building Athena successfully requires some skill and patience. While she's a tank, her base shield is low at the start of a run. The following build, however, will negate those weaknesses and quickly turn her into a character that rarely dies.
| Type | Best Choices | Good Choices |
|---|---|---|
| Weapons | Aegis (primary) Aura Axe |
Sword Bone Lightning Staff |
| Tomes | Attack Speed Size Shield Damage |
Luck XP Pickup Range Agility |
| Items | Beefy Ring Gym Sauce Thorns Burgers |
Holy Book Moldy Cheese Power Gloves |
The Aegis provides a shield and sends out shockwaves when enemies attack you. However, the weapon's shield at the start is relatively weak, and your primary focus is to level up as quickly as possible. This is the main reason behind having Aura as your second-best choice. Aura keeps farming XP passively and damaging enemies without you needing to aim.
The Sword and Axe are good choices with Athena's highly melee-focused build. The Lightning Staff and Bone are decent options if you want to add a bit of ranged attack to your build.
Coming to the tomes, your first pickup should be Attack Speed if possible. The Aegis initially feels extremely slow, and the Attack Speed tome removes that problem. Size increases the radius of your waves, while Shield increases the regeneration rate. All these tomes will directly improve Aegis, making it significantly better.
Athena allows a wide range of items to be used. Beefy Ring is a must-have item for any tank in Megabonk, as it raises the HP and scales up the damage. Gym Sauce permanently buffs all damage by +10%, while Thorns land additional hits on enemies when they're close to you.
Your early game strategy will involve leveling up Athena and getting items and tomes that buff up Aegis. Once Aegis has received a few upgrades, it will become the backbone of Athena's build. Keep finding the tomes and items mentioned on the table above, and you should be ready.
While Athena is decent against most enemies, she struggles against elite bosses. This has more to do with the character and the limitations of her kit. I am hopeful that she will be buffed in the near future with an update or two.
We have a list with multiple options if you're looking for more meta builds to dominate Megabonk.
Like our content? Set Destructoid as a Preferred Source on Google in just one step to ensure you see us more frequently in your Google searches!
The post Best Athena build in Megabonk appeared first on Destructoid.
