[Watch all the God of War boss guides in the playlist above, and subscribe to GuideRanx for daily new gaming guides.]
Midgard is a dangerous place — even for Kratos. To help you survive the giant set-pieces and monstrous creatures in God of War, we’re putting together text and video boss guides to show these mind-blowing opponents off. Kratos might be more “grounded” in this soft reboot of the series, but he’s still a rage-o-holic that tears his enemies apart, or splits them in half with his new axe. The bosses are a little more complex, and you won’t have health items to help you survive. If you’re struggling, and need a few tips from a few God of War experts, you’ve come to the right place.
The bosses, generally, are a little less bombastic than the previous games in the franchise. You won’t find too many QTEs or unbelievably huge opponents that barely fit on the screen — well, not right away, at least. Usually, you’ll have to fight bosses in a pretty straightforward way. It’s you versus a tough bad guy, and you’ll have to overcome the odds to win. That means learning patterns, blocking / dodging at the right time, and knowing when you can parry to punish one of the many monstrosities you’ll face. Whether you’re looking for help, or you’re just curious to see these bosses in action, check out the boss guides below.
More God of War (2018) guides on Gameranx:
How To Beat Every Boss | Strategy Guide
[Work-in-Progress: Check back soon for new boss strategies and tips!]
You’ll know it when you encounter a massive boss battle in God of War — a health bar will appear at the bottom of the screen. Kratos will encounter many different types of bosses, and we’re going to cover them all, even the optional fights.
Main Quest Bosses
The First Troll – Daudi Kaupmadr
You’ll encounter the first troll boss early in your adventures. While hunting a deer, the troll will suddenly attack. Kratos will need to work with his son Atreus to successfully bring down this hulking brute.
The troll attacks with a massive stone block. He’ll naturally swing is forward — watch out for its extended range. Roll left / right and back away if you’re taking too much damage. Use Atreus’ help as much as you can to distract the troll — when he shoots the troll with arrows, it will wander away from Kratos.
While it’s back is exposed, you can dish out some pretty good damage, then retreat when it decides to start attacking again. You can throw your axe to do a little damage at range, but you’ll need to get in close to really hurt this sucker.
The Stranger
The mysterious, god-like human appears at Kratos’ house, asking a few too many questions for the old Spartan. When they throw down, the fight seriously escalates into a titanic early encounter.
The Stranger’s first phase is pretty simple — he’ll leap away when he takes too much damage, then counter-attack with a blast of magic power or a leap forward. Whenever he begins to glow, dodge left or right to avoid his charged attacks. Try juggling him with a heavy attack and cutting him down while he’s floating in the air.
Once you do enough damage, the Strange will tackle Kratos and knock him on the roof of his house. Press [L1] to counter when he tries to attack, and press [R1] to just keep punching. Unfortunately, this fight isn’t over yet — he’ll recharge.
In the second phase, Kratos will have infinite Spartan Rage — you move faster, and your attacks are more powerful. You’ll exclusively use your fists to beat down the stranger. You’re totally invincible here, so try out a few different combinations before the fun is over.
After doing enough damage, your rage meter will start to drain. You’ll have to finish off the Stranger the old fashioned way. The boss gains some new moves — he’ll zip left and right, then strike forward. He’ll also glow and attempt to punch Kratos with a three-hit combo. Dodge his lunge attack, and strike when he’s about to use his third punch to interrupt him.
In the third phase, you’ll both refill your health bars and enter a final confrontation. He’s faster, more aggressive, and generally tougher — but you’re supposed to win this early fight. Just put everything you’ve learned into the battle, and you’ll be able to begin your journey proper.
The Second Troll – Brenna Daudi
The second troll encounter is very similar to the first. You’ll still want to distract him with arrows to let Kratos do his thing, but you’ll have to watch out for some new attacks.
He’ll spew lava from his hands (or his weak spots, if Atreus shoots them, partially stunning him) while Draugr continue to spawn. The lava attacks will burn you and the Draugr, so try to stay behind the boss — if he starts spewing lava, roll to flank him immediately. Backing away won’t give you enough distance.
The Stone Ancient
The Ancients are special mini-bosses you’ll encounter in many different variations on your journey through Midgard. The first you’ll fight is in Alfheim — or, you’ll fight a similar monster called a Soul-Eater in the favor quest.
Ancients will begin to appear all over Midgard after facing one in Alfheim, and they drop valuable Ancient Hearts, so they’re worth fighting. They all fight in a similar way — they have a glowing weak spot in their chest. When it opens, they’ll fire a blast or beam, usually it’s hot enough to set Kratos on fire. Dodge the initial beam, then throw your axe into the fissure to damage the Ancient. No need to get close, you can’t harm them in close-combat.
Keep dodging and throwing your axe into the weak spot until it is stunned. When it falls to a knee, you can attack the opening or use a powerful brutal attack to knock off a chunk of its health. Just watch out when they summon enemies to help them, and every ancient fight will go (basically) like that.
The Dark Elf King – Svartaljofurr
The first real boss is found at the end of the Alfheim quest. While leaving the Temple of Light through the Ringed Temple Trench, the Dark Elf King will ambush Kratos. It’s time to throwdown — the Dark Elf King is a beefier version of the common Dark Elves you’ve been fighting in Alfheim. Instead of shooting once with his staff, he’ll shoot a spread of explosive pellets that pop like grenades after a few seconds.
He’s fast, and he likes to retreat, then launch attacks from afar. Most of he standard swings can be blocked, but you can only parry when he flies and attacks three times mid-air — on his last swing, you can parry. When he charges his staff and sprints toward you, dodge-roll away from the shield-breaking strike.
Sometimes, while retreating, he’ll leave behind explosive pellets to distract you and keep you from attacking. Keep shooting with Atreus to distract him, and don’t bother throwing your axe — most of the time, the King will block and knock the axe away before you can inflict any damage.
When he summons a cloud of darkness, just keep moving and wait it out. You can’t target him while you’re in the darkness, and he’ll try to blast you with explosives instead of showing himself. His explosives cause the blindness effect — watch the eye-shaped meter on your HUD to see when it will fade away.
The Dragon – Hraezlyr
The massive dragon ambushes Kratos and son as they make their way to the summit of the mountain. There’s a whole lot going on before the real fight begins — but you’ll know what’s up when the health bar appears at the bottom of the screen.
The Dragon sprays lightning across the arena and summons blasts from the sky. Keep moving and dodge when you see sparks appear on the ground. To actually damage the dragon, collect explosive charges from the trees along the outer rim of the arena — throw them at the dragon’s head, then make them explode with Atreus’ arrows.
A successful hit will cause the dragon to crash into the arena with a hole in its skull. Attack the weak point to hurt it. In the second phase, the dragon will attack personally with claws and bites — when it stomps and sends a shockwave, all you can do is block it. Rush in and attack the claws, and dodge when it tries to bite.
More explosive crystals will appear in the arena. When the dragon looks exhausted, toss another onto its head and detonate to stun it, opening another hole in its massive head. Rinse and repeat — keep throwing explosives and attacking until the massive crystal appears. Again, stun the dragon with a smaller red crystal — this time, Atreus will drop the crane, allowing Kratos to use it on the dragon, embedding a massive crystal into the creature’s head.
You know what to do. One more shot, and this dragon is toast.
Magni and Mordi
Magni and Mordi fight together – but they won’t gang up on you right at the start. Early in the battle, they’ll take turns attacking. Magni uses a heavy sword, while Mordi prefers a stronger defense with his shield / hammer combo.
Watch out for Mordi’s charged lightning attack. He’ll bow to the ground and summon electricity from the sky, blasting and area around him. He’ll also throw a small explosive ball of energy that explodes on contact, like a grenade.
When they take too much damage, they’ll summon a storm. Watch for the red danger compass marker and turn to face them. They’ll try to attack from the fog. Block until the fog recedes. In the second phase, they’ll try to fake you out. When they stop, quickly change directions!
During the second phase of the fight, they’ll charge their weapons with electricity. When Magni’s sword sparks with lighting power, dodge left or right to avoid his follow-up ranged blast attack that shoots straight forward.
At each phase, you can only damage the brothers up to a certain point. You won’t do damage, but they will continue to fight. At their lowest health for each interval, you can continue to attack to increase their stun meter. When the stun meter is full, the brother will be knocked out of the fight, so you can focus on just one until the phase is over.
The Bridge Keeper
This advanced version of the common troll can teleport before attacking, making him more unpredictable than your average mini-boss. This guy will summon slow homing energy pellets that you can slash out the sky with your blades. Be prepared to dodge when the keeper teleports far away from Kratos – that means he’s about to summon the dead to attack, or launch some ranged attacks. He’ll fire ground waves of frozen energy, roar to send you flying back, and generally make things difficult for Kratos.
You won’t have Atreus to help you in this fight, either. It gets chaotic – when there are zombies, energy balls, and an angry troll all attacking at the same time. When the troll slams his stone pillar on the ground, wait for three blasts. He’ll always pause at the third blast.
As you fight, he’ll get more aggressive – summoning more homing pellets, summoning more undead, and teleporting faster, using his more powerful spells. Stay on the move, and save your rage when you’re low on health to recover. Use your horizontal (light) attacks to wipe out the pellets when they’re close, and you’ll eventually take this monster down.
Grendel of the Ashes & Grendel of the Frost
This is a quick gimmick boss that appears at the end of Tyr’s Vault. There are two trolls you’ll have to take on simultaneously, and they both heal – one will only heal as much as his twin’s max health. The more you damage both of them, the less each will be able to heal.
Basically, don’t fight just one of the trolls – attack them both to slowly whittle them down. They fight just like any other trolls, except you can only hurt them with the right weapons. The Frost troll is immune to ice magic, while the Ashes troll is immune to fire magic. Swap between your axe and the blades of chaos to damage these lumbering mutants.
Neither of the trolls has much health, so just keep attacking, swapping, and smashing to bring an end to this quick boss battle.
Baldur – Final Battle
This time, you’ll have your son to help you – but Freya will try to stop the fight, capturing both Kratos and Baldur in vines. Break free while fighting. The fight won’t last long. After you trade blows, and Baldur heals, you’ll reach a cutscene. Remember that arrow Atreus got from Sindri? The mistletoe breaks the spell on Baldur. Now you can actually kill him.
After moving to a new location, Baldur will attack while the enormous corpse of Thamur attacks thanks to Freya’s magic. She wants to protect her son. Watch out for the giant’s fists. When he touches the ground, he’ll summon vines. When his fist hits the ground, it sends an explosive shockwave of ice.
Baldur is even faster than before. After knocking off one of his health bars, he’ll swap to his ice form. Only the Blades of Chaos can harm him when he glows blow. Dodge when he sprints toward you and parry when you’re close to him and he attempts to ground-slam. Most of his standard attacks can be blocked up until he’s at half-health.
At the half-way mark, press [Square] to shoot the glowing crystal on the underside of the hammer. Baldur will gain fire abilities, making him only vulnerable to the Leviathan Axe. The giant won’t attack as often – instead, it summons swarms of enemies to fight alongside Baldur.
Baldur has some new skills now too. He’ll jump into the sky and slam the ground, causing unblockable explosions all around him. His groundslam that shoots a shockwave forward is also unblockable now. Keep fighting until Thamur’s pick slams into the ground. Climb up and follow Baldur to the top when he chases after his mother Freya, looking for revenge.
On the monster, you’ll need to attack, dodge, counter and shoot when the prompt appears for Atreus. After doing enough damage, hit Spartan Range to enter the final arena. Here, Baldur will swap between fire and ice forms – switch to the right weapons to damage him. The wrong weapon won’t do any damage. He’s faster and stronger than before. Keep pelting him with arrows (and magic) from Atreus while dodging Baldur’s unblockable attacks.
Thanks to a save from the World Serpent, you’re able to escape Freya’s final, freezing attack. And that’s it – the final boss is defeated. The game isn’t over yet. You still need to travel to Jotunheim and complete your final task. It’s been a long journey.
God of War sure has grown up.
The days of gratuitous sex and violence are over. Kratos is older and wiser, and he's got a second shot at being a family man. When you add all of that together and see how the full story plays out, it's clear: God of War has something to say.
SEE ALSO: In 'God of War,' the biggest surprise is how familiar everything is
It's also an enjoyable action-adventure with lots of big set piece moments and stunning visuals. So much so that it's easy to get swept up in the game's more visceral pleasures.
This is a story you don't want to miss, however. So, having played through the entire game now to nearly 100 percent completion, I've put together a short list of things you should do that help to keep you plugged in.
God of War is more punishing on its standard 'Give Me a Balanced Experience' difficulty than most games coming out in 2018. It rarely holds your hand and never pulls its punches in battles. The longtime God of War fans among you should know what to expect.
If you find yourself dying frequently, even when you're facing off against a group of scrub enemies, don't be afraid to choose the 'Give Me a Story' difficulty setting. It's still reasonably challenging, especially once you get to the tougher foes, but it makes the game far more manageable for those who may not be as well-versed in combo-driven action games like this.
Best of all: You're never locked into a set difficulty in God of War. If you turn it down and suddenly feel like everything is too easy, you can always ratchet the challenge back up with nothing more than a quick trip to the pause menu.
The in-game journal — accessed at any time by pressing the controller's Touchpad — is actually a tangible object in the game world. It belongs to Kratos's young son, Atreus, and new entries are written in his voice, from his perspective.
Atreus was born in Midgard, and he's learned a lot about the land's history and the beings that dwell there from his mother. But he's never traveled widely, and that's reflected in every entry he writes.
Just about anytime you discover a new location or foe, get a new quest, or obtain a new treasure, there's something new added to the journal. If you watch the left side of your screen for a pop-up, you'll see you can press up on the D-pad to quickly view what Atreus has written. Do that. Every time. You'll learn so much more about the world of Midgard.
Unlike past God of War games, there's a big focus here on exploration and optional activities. Take advantage of that every chance you get, for two reasons.
First: The more optional stuff you do, the further ahead you are on the power curve. Completing sidequests levels you up and, in turn, cuts down on the challenge of working through the story. Just watch for enemies with yellow or (preferably) green health bars — that means you're on or above their level. Blue and purple health bars are stronger, so take note when you see them and try again later.
The other reason to stray from the main path: There's so much more story out there! The more you explore, the richer Midgard's world becomes. In addition to all the secrets and treasures tucked away, there are entire, completely optional subplots that help color your understanding of Midgard. Go find them, you won't regret it.
Roughly one-third of the way into the story, a third character joins Kratos and Atreus on their journey. He possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of Midgard, and he loves sharing tales from the past when you're cruising around the open world in your canoe.
Let him finish. He always stops talking when you leave the boat. He'll pick up where he left off when you return, but even if he remembers the tale he was sharing, you might not. Hang out and let him say his piece before you disembark. There aren't any time constraints on your adventure, so just indulge in the moment and absorb what he's saying. You'll learn a lot.
God of War has been around since 2005! That's a whole lot of story. There's an original trilogy, plus two PlayStation Portable spin-offs and one PlayStation 3 prequel. The spin-offs and prequel don't have much bearing on the new game, but the original trilogy does.
If you haven't played those first three games and you have both the time and the money, do that. They're great, and they hold up surprisingly well from a gameplay standpoint.
If you have played them but don't really remember any specifics, or you just plain don't have the time to commit to three 10-plus hour games before taking on the new one's 30-40 hour playtime, read a recap. We have one right here. There's also a comprehensive series wiki.
You can't really go wrong with either option, and catching up means you won't miss any of the various backward nods in the new game's story. More than that, the new God of War has so much more emotional resonance when you really have an understanding of what Kratos has been through and where he's come from.
In this God of War Niflheim guide, we’ll teach you how to master what may be the toughest (and certainly the most confusing) area in God of War, using several maps that we made to help you navigate the mist.
To survive Niflheim, you need to collect Mist Echoes, buy some amazing armor and learn the map to defeat enemies. It’s a loop: fighting, looting, solving Nornir chest puzzles and growing your bank account. By the time you finish this guide and leave Niflheim, you’ll be a better fighter with more powerful enchantments and armor.
Table of contentsUnderstanding NiflheimNiflheim mapsNornir chests (the ones with runes on them)Niflheim Ivaldi’s Workshop combat tips and strategiesNiflheim walkthroughUnderstanding Niflheim
Niflheim isn’t like other God of War realms, so in this section we’ll explain the concepts and currency unique to this world — Mist Echoes, the Cursed Mist and Ivaldi’s Workshop.
Mist Echoes
Mist Echoes are effectively Niflheim currency. You use them to craft armor, as well as open Realm Tears and certain chests. Defeating enemies and opening the chests they’re guarding gets you Mist Echoes. Leaving the Cursed Mist (heading back to Sindri or to the center of the arena, Ivaldi’s Workshop) lets you bank the Mist Echoes you’ve collected. If you die before leaving the mist, you lose whatever you’re carrying, which includes Mist Echoes and any items you’ve collected in chests, which includes Mist Echoes, hacksilver and possibly some Niflheim alloy (a rare crafting material that we’ll talk about soon).
Enemies, the Cursed Mist and Ivaldi’s Workshop
The area past Sindri in which you fight enemies is called Ivaldi’s Workshop. Enemies appear when you arrive in certain places. When you kill them, they remain dead until you leave Ivaldi’s Workshop or die and return. It’s kind of like a Dark Souls game, except you can’t retrieve what you lost after you leave or die.
To complicate matters, a pink meter appears at the top of your screen when you’re walking through the Cursed Mist that shrouds Ivaldi’s Workshop (and, really, most of Niflheim). When that bar drains completely, you’ll start losing health. When you open chests, you gain a little more fuel for the bar, which reminds us a lot of an oxygen meter in a game where you can swim underwater.
To progress, you need to get in, gather Mist Echoesand leave without dying to keep what you’ve earned. Teaching you how to do that is what the rest of this guide is about. And before you learn anything, you need to learn the map.
Niflheim maps
Niflheim is full of difficult enemies. If you don’t understand the map, it approaches impossible. So in this section, we’ll give you the proverbial bird’s eye view of Niflheim.
Niflheim’s map is never clear of clouds, so your first challenge is to figure our what Ivaldi’s Workshop looks like underneath the mist. We made the maps above to help you. And when we were making them, we realized that Niflheim is basically a baseball diamond. If you have even a passing familiarity with baseball, it’ll be easy to understand — and even if you don’t, we’ll demystify it.
There are four Niflheim maps in the gallery above. They’re all correct, but we made a bunch so you could use whatever makes the most sense for you. Here’s what they show:
Every circular area on our map — home base (where you enter), first base (right from home base), second base (left from home) and third base (top center), the pitcher’s mound (the center of the map) and left field (far left) and right field (far right) — is an arena where you can fight enemies. Every square area between the bases is a safe place between corridors where giant blades and walls try to kill you. Left and right field are where you fight the toughest enemies and collect the best loot.
Navigating Niflheim (running the bases)
You enter Ivaldi’s Workshop, and you fight. But where should you go? And how do you know where you are?
From home base, you have three paths — left to third base, right to first base and straight ahead to the pitcher’s mound. (Left and right both lead to the outfield and second base, just to be clear. In fact, since it’s a loop, left and right technically lead to each other, eventually. But there’s no particular reason to go left if you want to reach right field. Go right, which is a shorter, more direct path.)
How to find your location in Niflheim
After understanding Niflheim’s layout, your primary challenge will be either remembering or figuring out where you are. The image below shows you how to do this.
Even if you understand Niflheim’s layout, it’s easy to lose your way. This is the essence of orienting yourself:
In short, if you get confused, face an exit and load the map to figure out where you are and which direction you’re facing.
In the screenshot above, Kratos is between home and first base. The golden arrow shows which way Kratos is facing. If he were to go straight, he’d end up at first base. If he were to turn around, he’d head back to home base.
Home, first, second and third bases
These are the standard arenas. You’ll enter and fight a group of enemies. When you kill them all, you can open the treasure chests and wooden crates in the area.
To work correctly it must be configured first and if you've never configured IPTV boxes it may be difficult for you to configuring it. Panda keymapper 1.1.6 apk gratis.
The deadly corridors (or base lines, if you’re into baseball)
Between the bases there are corridors that try to kill you. Sometimes they have chests to pillage, typically for Mist Echoes and hacksilver, though sometimes for rarer crafting materials.
Corridors are randomly generated. Leave or die and reenter, and the path left could that last contained blades could contain deadly walls. Make the loop enough, and you’ll immediately recognize what you have to do.
Left field and right field
Left and right field are the toughest arenas in Niflheim. The hardest enemies live there, including a Valkyrie in left field and Champions in right field. These enemies sometimes contain high-level gear, like the Flawless Element of the Realm you can see in the screenshot above. And the chests in these areas can contain rare items, like the Haze Weave crafting material.
The pitcher’s mound
On the pitcher’s mound in the middle of Ivaldi’s Workshop, there are several chests that you can open for 1,000, 2,500, 5,000 and two chests for 7,500 each. There are also several chests and wooden crates you can open as soon as you arrive. Finally, there are three Realm Tears: one for 10,000 Mist Echoes and one Anchor of Fog (more on those in the next section), a second for 15,000 Mist Echoes and one Anchor of Fog and the final one for 20,000 Mist Echoes and one Anchor of Fog.
As usual, you’re receive some Dust of Realms in each Realm Tear you close. Here’s what you’ll get for opening each chest and closing each realm tear:
God of War Niflheim realm tears and mist of echoes chest loot
In the gallery below, you’ll see the loot we got from opening each chest, including the details from the menu. If the item looks good, go for it. If you could do without it, you’re free to hold onto your Mist Echoes for something else.
How to get an Anchor of Fog
God of War','image_left':{'ratio':'*','original_url':'https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10704581/God_of_War_Niflheim_Anchor_of_Fog.jpg','network':'polygon','bgcolor':'#f8f8f6','caption':null,'credit':null,'focal_area':{'top_left_x':0,'top_left_y':0,'bottom_right_x':1920,'bottom_right_y':1080},'bounds':[0,0,1920,1080],'uploaded_size':{'width':1920,'height':1080},'focal_point':null,'asset_id':10704581,'asset_credit':'SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon','alt_text':'God of War Niflheim Anchor of Fog'},'image_right':{'ratio':'*','original_url':'https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10704589/God_of_War_Niflheim_Realm_Tear_Anchor_of_Fog.jpg','network':'polygon','bgcolor':'#f8f8f6','caption':null,'credit':null,'focal_area':{'top_left_x':0,'top_left_y':0,'bottom_right_x':1920,'bottom_right_y':1080},'bounds':[0,0,1920,1080],'uploaded_size':{'width':1920,'height':1080},'focal_point':null,'asset_id':10704589,'asset_credit':'SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon','alt_text':'},'credit':'SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon and SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon'}'>
The Anchor of Fog is an item that you need to open the Realm Tears on the pitcher’s mound. It’s only available in area chests after you defeat the enemies in left or right field, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll find one in any of the chests there.
Open every chest you find throughout Ivaldi’s Workshop. Each chest that you open increases your odds for finding better loot in the next chest. That isn’t limited to outfield chests that might have an Anchor of Fog, but it sure helps your odds of finding one in there.
Put differently, if you were to just run directly to left or right field without opening chests, you’d be doing yourself a disservice. Open all of the chests you see.
Nornir chests (the ones with runes on them)
Nornir chests can appear in a couple different places and situations in Niflheim:
Depending on where you find a Nornir chest, you’ll need to do different things to open them.
In the corridors
In corridors, they’re all bell-based puzzles, so you have to throw you axe at three bells relatively quickly to dim the runes on the bells and the chest. You’ll do this a lot, and finding and throwing them will get easier once you get familiar with their placement.
The rune bells are all visible from within the safe area (which are square in our maps). First, find all three. There’s always one bell super far away. Start with that one (which’ll take you a few tries to hit) and then hit the one near it. The third one is almost certainly close and behind you.
At home base
Nornir chests at home base appear after you’ve defeated enemies in left or right field, You’ll find their corresponding runes at first, second and third base. And instead of simple bells, you’ll have to toss your axe to rotate runes on pedestals.
Here’s the most efficient way of getting those runes:
Check out the gallery below to see the copious loot we found in Niflheim’s Nornir chests, as well as common placements for runic bells and rotating contraptions. If you spend a lot of time in Niflheim, you’ll find yourself full of enchantments like the Perfect Artifact of the Blight in many different permutations.
Niflheim Ivaldi’s Workshop combat tips and strategies
That pink bar at the top of your screen is basically a death timer. No matter where you’re fighting in Ivaldi’s Workshop, your goal should be to kill everything quickly. If you can’t do that, you’ll die. We left Niflheim with twice the combat skill we had when we entered. Why? Because we had to master it.
Here are some tips for killing things quickly:
It’s nothing complicated, really. It’s just fighting with several of the tricks in your arsenal. And learning new tricks will make you better fighter. Do it enough (you’ll be spending a lot of time here, so there’s plenty of time for practice), and these moves will become second nature. They’ll turn button mashing into deadly strategies.
Niflheim walkthrough
Most of the time you spend in Niflheim will be a series of loops you run to gain Mist Echoesand spend them to buy armor and open chests and Realm Tears. So in this section, we’ll talk about the best ways to run your loop to maximize your gains, including finding and collecting the loot from Nornir chests (the ones with the runes on them).
The first parts — Arrival in Niflheim and Ivaldi’s Workshop — are straightforward. The rest involves putting your knowledge and skills to the test.
Arrival in Niflheim
When you arrive on the bridge, check the area ahead of you for several items, including a Lore Marker, wooden chests filled with Mist Echoes and a red coffin in the middle with an Etched Crest of Defiance.
Ivaldi’s Workshop
Meet Sindri at his shop on the bridge, and you’ll get the Ivaldi’s Workshop Favor. You need to collect Mist Echoes and return to Sindri. That process will get you into the chamber (home base). Head down the stairs to find a Lore Marker that’ll tell you about Ivaldi’s Workshop.
You need to collect 500 Mist Echoes to gain access to what we’re calling the pitcher’s mound (it’ll make sense, we promise). You can see what you’re carrying in the Resources tab of the God of War menu. Collecting those will require several trips in and out of the mist. The pink timer is no big deal if you stick to the first areas. You’ll be able to kill everyone with plenty of time left. You’ll regain it if you manage to leave the mist. You’ll also refill a bit of your meter every time you open a chest.
Exploring the mist
You can explore farther into the mist, but at this point it’s best to stay near home base and focus on filling your Mist Echoes bank account. If you’re anything like us, you’ll think you’re better than you are. That’ll lead to death and frustration.
There will be plenty of time to go much father. For now, concentrate on just getting in, killing enemies and getting back out.
When you’ve collected enough, Sindri will let you know after you return to him. Buy the Niflheim Entry Stone for 500 Mist Echoes.
Return to the first arena in Ivaldi’s Workshop (home base), and insert the stone into the pedestal. That’ll complete Ivaldi’s Workshop, open a door in front of you and begin the Ivaldi’s Protection favor, in which you need to “find materials to craft Ivaldi’s armor.” That armor will protect you against the Cursed Mist.
Ivaldi’s Protection and Ivaldi’s Niflheim armor
Head through the newly opened door (to the pitcher’s mound), climb up and smash the wooden chests for Mist Echoes. In a red coffin you’ll find Ivaldi’s Rusted Armor, a crafting material that Sindri needs to create this realm’s armor.
Returning the armor to Sindri will complete Ivaldi’s Protection and begin Ivaldi’s Curse.
Trust us: This armor is worth the investment. It’ll take a while to earn the Mist Echoes and other items that you need, but it’s indispensable. Browse the gallery above to check out the three flavors of armor that Sindri sells. We chose the armor of Deadly Mist, almost entirely because it provided the best spread of stat buffs.
Beyond offering you more protection against the Cursed Mist (turning your short trips into long ones), Niflheim armor also gradually restores your health, which makes it viable in every realm.
Ivaldi’s Curse
To complete Ivaldi’s Curse, you need to close the three Realm Tears behind the door that you opened (the one that leads to the pitcher’s mound). To do that, you’ll need a lot of Mist Echoes. That means more fighting in the mist.
Seal the three Realm Tears
Niflheim has three Realm Tears on the pitcher’s mound. They’re what you’d expect if you’ve done others: Difficult enemies appear, and you need to kill them.
The sections above dealing with the Niflheim loop showed you how to make money, collect loot and survive. When you have 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 Mist Echoes (and an Anchor of Fog for each, which we also detailed above), you can open a Realm Tear.
Below, we’ll teach you how to survive all three Realm Tear encounters. And the first thing you should do is buy a Resurrection Stone at Sindri’s shop. The cheapest one will do, though you’re free to buy whichever one you like.
These are tough fights. If you die holding a Resurrection Stone, pressing Square on your controller allows Atreus to bring you back to life. It’s a second chance. You’ll get plenty of hacksilver in Niflheim to fund your purchase.
Realm Tear encounter 1 (Ogres)
Your first encounter will be with three Ogres — one at level six, seven and eight. This doesn’t have to be a difficult fight. Focus the first Ogre and unleash everything you have, chaining together Runic attacks and Rage of Sparta (if you have it). When that Ogre’s health bar drains enough, you can mount it with R3 and use it to attack the others. Repeat the process with another Ogre until they’re all dead and gone.
For your victory, you’ll receive the Gift of Apollo, a Heavy Runic Attack that fills Kratos’ health with every hit. (Check out the gallery above for details.)
Realm Tear encounter 2 (Wulvers and a Soul Devourer)
Wulvers abound in this fight. When you kill one, another will appear. That’ll happen over and over. They’ll start at low levels, and every one you defeat will spawn one at the next highest level, all the way up to Wulver level eight. It’s best to save your most powerful attacks for the high-level Wulvers.
There’s also a Soul Devourer, and we had a lot of luck focusing our attention on it. Throw your arrow with L2 at its exposed chest, collect the glowing rock that flies out, and then hurl that at its exposed chest.
For your victory, you’ll receive the Mistbourne axe pommel, which has a low perk activation chance to grant Healing Mist on any successful hit. That regenerates Health and increases Runic. (Check out the gallery above for details.)
Realm Tear encounter 3 (Revenants)
Revenants — the witch-like creatures who hurl elemental damage at you — are our least favorite enemies in God of War. This fight pits you against three powerful variants and the Nightmares that one summons.
As always, have Atreus attack the Nightmares. They’ll go down with a few arrows each.
When fighting Revenants, your best offense is a good defense. It may be a cliche, but it’s true. Blocking will protect you from the poison, ice and fire that worms its way across the arena. If your shield’s up, you’re protected. If it’s down, you’re dead in a few hits.
Our favorite strategy is to pick whatever Revenant appears first and closest to you and destroy her. Or if you’re feeling confident, you can target the Revenant Summoner to get rid of the Nightmare threat.
Whatever you choose, forget about damaging the others. There’s going to be so much death flying at you that spreading your damage around is counterproductive. Destroying one as quickly as possible so that you’re only fighting two instead of three makes this fight … well, if not easy then significantly easier than the alternative.
Find a Revenant. Mark her for death, and unleash everything you have, blocking at basically every moment you’re not attacking.
For your victory, you’ll receive the Talisman of Cursed Power, which allows Kratos to unleash a wave of Cursed Mist that instantly weakens all surrounding enemies. (Check out the gallery above for details.)
Niflheim Valkyrie Hildr boss fight
Hildr may be the easiest Valkyrie fight in God of War, not because she’s a pushover but because Niflheim makes you a better fighter.
Still, the best offense for fighting Valkyries is a good defense. To win, you need to learn their attack patterns and unleash Kratos’ might when they’re vulnerable and distracted. In this guide, we’ll show you how to read Hildr’s attacks so you can respond and defeat her.
How to find the Valkyrie in Niflheim
In short, hug the left wall.
From home base (where you start), head left to third base. Then head through third base as if you were going to second base. In the safe area between the deadly corridors that connect third and second base, turn left to enter left field. Ignore all of the enemies you encounter along the way.
God Of War End Game Guide RedditBe prepared
Before you begin a Valkyrie fight, do three things:
Hildr attacks and strategies
The trick to defeating a Valkyrie is identifying and responding to her attacks. Then the fight becomes an if-then statement: If she does this, then I do this. In this section, we’ll show you Hildr’s most common attacks (the “if” part) and how to respond (the “then” part).
Parry her dash attacks
The best single thing to do to counter Hildr is to parry, which gives you what feels like a huge window to attack.
You can parry many of her attacks — especially when she slides across the arena to close the distance between her and Kratos. Just wait for her to get close, and hit L1 to bring up your shield and stun her.
Then use the powerful new attacks (hold L1 with your axe, for example) that you used to defeat the enemies in Niflheim quickly. Those are just as effective here as they are elsewhere.
Block and dodge her ranged attacks
When she launches her ranged snowball attacks, block them. She’ll fire a bunch of snowballs. You can block all of them. Then she’ll fire a large ice ball. You can’t block it. When she pauses and you see the telltale red circle indicating an unblockable attack, double-tap X and roll to the left or right. It’s easy to dodge.
Her other ranged attack is unblockable. It’s easy to spot the difference: The unblockable one begins with the telltale red circle, but it ends with a yellow burst of energy traveling across the battlefield. Just do the same thing as you did with the ice ball attack — dodge left or right.
Shoot and dodge when she jumps into the air
When Hildr flies up into the air, have Atreus shoot her. She may fall right back to the ground, giving you an opportunity to attack. She may dive at you with another unblockable attack. If you see the red circle, dodge out of the way as soon as she starts moving.
Block her wing attacks on the ground
Her only other notable attack is when she hits you with her wings at close range. Lots of Valkyries use this attack, and you should deal with it the same way you deal with in Niflheim it elsewhere: Block it, and attack after her flurry ends.
Collect your loot
Defeat Hildr, and you’ll receive Hildr’s Helmet, the Heart of the Valkyrie Epic enchantment, Asgardian Steel, its Epic counterpart Perfect Asgardian Steel, the Epic chest armor Cuirass of the Valkyrie, and the Epic axe pommel Wing of the Valkyrie. Browse the gallery above for the details on each item.
There’s a telling scene very early on in the new God of War, in the denouement of an exhausting battle sequence that ends with Kratos and his young son Atreus taking down a massive troll.
Dad’s done most of the work, with the arrows fired from Atreus’s bow only contributing a bit of damage to the giant beast from a safe distance away. But after the troll dies, Atreus, filled with prepubescent rage, runs up close to it and begins madly slashing at the corpse with his tiny knife, blindly hacking away its flesh, screaming “You’re nothing to me!”
This post originally appeared 4/12/18.
It’s a hard-to-miss callback to the last time we saw Kratos—in the series’ chronology, that is—at the end of 2010's God of War III, filled with the same sort of rage, mercilessly hammering the face of his father Zeus, not stopping even after he was dead. Kratos yanks his son away from the troll. You are not ready, he tells Atreus. And with that, we understand Kratos the dad, and the fear that motivates him: He doesn’t want his son to grow up to become him.
On April 20, Sony will release God of War, which simultaneously serves as a long-awaited storyline sequel to, and a much-needed reboot of, the franchise. As groundbreaking as the original series was, it was definitely becoming stale. This new take on Kratos’ adventures is happy to slaughter the series’ sacred cows as nonchalantly and as thoroughly as its protagonist once murdered the entire Greek pantheon.
This new God of War is an excellent game, lovingly crafted and engaging all the way through. But much has changed. It’s not merely the drastically revamped combat, with its over-the-shoulder angle and its emphasis on evasion. It’s also the story, and the way it tells that story, with an emphasis on family relationships and quiet, low-key moments.
God Of War Tips Reddit Download
The most fundamental, and immediately noticeable, change is to the game’s camera. The original series was defined by its automatic camera angles, which were carefully hand-placed by the game’s designers to always frame the game’s action in a specific way. What this meant in practice was that any scene in the game, no matter how intense the action, could be shown from a dramatic, exciting angle, often zoomed far back to show the scale of the object (or the monster or the god) that termite-sized Kratos was running on, climbing up, or slicing his chain-blades into.
The approach was so impressive at the time that I truly thought many more games would embrace it as a technique, and was surprised over time as few actually did. In the new God of War, this signature look is no more: The camera is positioned over Kratos’ right shoulder, and you control it (and thus his positioning) with the right stick, like so many other third-person action games.
While this does work well to enable a more deliberate, less arcadey combat style, it also saps the series’ ability to show off that sort of cinematic spectacle, replacing it with something that looks a lot more like many other triple-A third-person action games. The environments, while always technically beautiful and occasionally artistically inspired, are now built of fairly simple caves, hallways, forests, and the like, with far fewer moments where you’re climbing up the 100-foot-tall buttcrack of a Titan. The camera may occasionally pull out a bit when one of those obligatory moments is happening, but it’s only a slight change.
When Kratos leaves his home, Atreus in tow, he carries with him not his signature chain-swords but the Leviathan Axe, which he can use to slash enemies up close or throw at enemies who are farther away. Here’s the wrinkle: the axe doesn’t return automatically, like a boomerang. You’ll have to press another button to recall the axe from wherever it landed (or, more likely, lodged itself), and it will also hit enemies on its return flight.
You’re hardly defenseless if you throw the axe and don’t immediately recall it. Kratos will just switch over to a bare-handed fighting style, using his fists and shield to bash up enemies. Punches and kicks don’t take off as many ticks on an enemy’s health bar, but they do build up its Stun meter more quickly. Fill that up and you’ll get the old reliable QTE indicator icon that says you can smash them up real good and cinematic-like with a single button press. Sometimes, with certain enemy types, you’re forced to Stun rather than directly damage, but not often; in general, you get to choose how you fight.
God Of War Tips Reddit Free
And then there’s Atreus, always by your side. You don’t control him directly—instead, you have a dedicated Atreus button that you press to have him fire an arrow at whatever enemy you’re pointing at. It’s difficult at first to remember that you have this option, while you’re concentrated on dodging and swinging your axe. But it’s important to remember that Atreus should Always Be Shooting.
At the onset, his arrows do very little damage and mostly serve to distract enemies into turning their gazes towards him instead of Kratos. (Atreus can’t die and there are no escort missions, hallelujah.) But later in the game, as his weapons and skills level up, Atreus will actually be able to take out small enemies on his own, single-handedly fill an enemy’s Stun meter, and do significant damage to bosses.
So right from the get-go, the game offers up a unique, quite fun, style of melee combat that you’ve got to learn. And the game wastes no time in forcing you to learn it: You’re put into some pretty difficult fights right off the bat, often against a variety of different enemy types—there might be some small flying enemies that force you to throw your axe while dodging others on the ground, or mid-sized dudes with slow but unblockable heavy attacks that you have to avoid while shredding up the weaker, faster ones. (There are even some optional enemy encounters, rather reminiscent of the Talus fights from Breath of the Wild, that wander peacefully until you engage.) You’ll quickly be taking on several tough enemies at once, and you’re not going to be able to get through them by smashing the Square button in blind rage. You’ll need to learn to dodge, anticipate, take advantage of openings, and work the crowd.
Take your Pokemon into adventure and make it stronger, capture many Pokemon to complete your Pokedex. At the beginning of the game, you will choose between Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander as your starting Pokemon. Play as a little boy who tries explore the world full of Pokemon with the help of the starter Pokemon given to him by Professor Oak. Play Pokemon Red and become the champion of the Pokemon league!Pokemon Red is a role-playing video game released for Game Boy (GB) in 1996 and was created by Game Freak. Pokemon red blue interactive map.
Advertisement
At first, I thought I would have to lower the difficulty level down from Normal to Easy just to get through the game, but that turned out not to be necessary. In part, that was because I was learning about how the game worked, but also it was because I was able to start tackling sidequests that let me upgrade my skills and equipment.
God of War initially feels rigidly linear. For the first several hours, you’re confined to a series of hallways and small open areas linked one after the other. But it eventually becomes apparent that the game started you out on the far end of one spoke of a hub. Upon reaching said hub, things open up. No, the game does not become The Witcher 3 or anything, but maybe it’s like Witcher Lite: You can wander around, take on sidequests, find chests, solve puzzles, and beat up more enemies to earn more experience points, all without advancing the story.
As the game goes on, more and more side stuff opens up, although sometimes when you decide to continue on the main story path you’re restricted from going back to the hub for a while. It’s not quite completely open world, but that sprinkling of non-linearity still makes for a richer experience, even if it takes the game a few more restrictive hours before it fully reveals itself. Those carefully-controlled hours, though, are necessary to begin telling the game’s story.
As God of War begins, we find a Kratos who just wants to be left alone. He’s fled Olympus and moved to Midgard, met a nice girl, settled down, had a kid. He’s not interested in killing anybody, has no elaborate revenge plots to enact. When his wife passes away (seemingly of natural causes), he’s not filled with Spartan Rage™, he just wants to fulfill her final wishes by scattering her ashes from the highest peak in the realms.
Unfortunately, fate isn’t about to let that happen, and he finds himself tracked and assaulted by entities who, surprise, reveal themselves to be gods from Norse mythology. A whole new pantheon to slice and dice his way through? Kratos isn’t tempted. He just wants to bury his wife and raise his kid and avoid difficult questions like, say, dad, what are those scars on your forearms? He doesn’t want to tangle with the Aesir or the Vanir or any Norse gods at all, he wants to get where he’s going and go home.
Advertisement
We glean much of this through his silence, as well as his restrained body language. Even though he’s the new, sensitive Kratos for the 90s, in touch with his own feelings, he’s not quite ready to open up and share them with Atreus. Much of the initial story exposition plays out during father and son conversations in between battles rather than through directed cinematic scenes. Kratos is eternally somber and serious, but Atreus, as a typical grade schooler, does like to crack wise at his grim-faced dad. If you think that what God of War really needed all along was a smart-aleck kid sidekick making fun of dour Kratos, well, have I got a game for you.
Besides his growing skills with a bow, Atreus also has a preternatural gift for languages; he’s able to read all the runes engraved around the world, while his dad cannot. This is ironic insofar as while I was playing the game I wished I could sit my own kid about one foot from the television so he could read me the frickin’ menu text. I don’t know if the entire God of War staff had some sort of Super Lasik surgery as a team bonding exercise or what, but the text in this game’s menus is too small for me to read while sitting 8 feet away from a 42-inch television.
This wouldn’t be as big of a problem were it not for the fact that God of War sends you into its menus constantly. As you adventure, you start getting loaded up with stuff. Chest armor. Wrist armor. Waist armor. Heavy runes. Light runes. Enchantments. Emblems. A dozen or so consumable resources used to upgrade those things. And beyond that, there’s also a skill tree into which you’re constantly dumping your experience points.
In an effort to give you many options for how you want to outfit Kratos, the game dumps tons of individual pieces of armor and enhancements on you at a fast clip. At first, finding chests in the world (or solving puzzles to unlock bigger chests) is fun every time, but it’s not long before the additional utility that I derived from opening the nth chest in a row went down to almost zero. I don’t want to pause God of War every five minutes to read several paragraphs of explanatory text, even if it was big enough to see.
That said, while you don’t really need 90 percent of the stuff the game loads you up with to get through the main storyline, I can see how finding all of these various bits, upgrading them all, and using them effectively might be important if you want to clear out the entirety of the game. When you finish Kratos and Atreus’s story, it’s likely that there will still be a lot more for you to do. There are two entire areas of the game that don’t need to be visited at all to finish the story, and many more sidequests get scattered across the map once you finish.
I haven’t done everything, but with about 20 hours invested into the main story (it’s pretty big), it seems like there’s another 20 to go, easily. I feel the game drawing me back, even though I’ve seen all the big revelations, because the combat is just so much fun and the interstitial conversations are so funny.
Advertisement
Back of the box quote
'You're kinda scary sometimes.'
Liked
Innovative and varied combat system, nice balance of action and downtime, relatable and funny storyline.
Disliked
World's tiniest text, too many inventory items, less originality.
Platform
PlayStation 4
Played
The main campaign plus several sidequests, roughly 20 hours.
As a well-known puzzle-lover I am happy that God of War is full of them again. One of the major selling points of the first game was its blending of action and puzzles, but the latter was steadily shaved away as the series evolved—devolved, if you ask me. While you don’t need to solve many puzzles to get through the story, there are plenty of optional ones, which usually revolve around carefully hunting through whatever scene you’re in to find hidden runes that unlock chests. The story-critical puzzles that do exist are pretty generously hinted, but the optional ones just leave you to your own devices.
This creates a nicely balanced pacing to the proceedings. You’re not just slashing, slashing, slashing without breaks. Often, you get through a major battle to find that you now get to explore the world around you, find secrets, test out your brain cells a bit.
Hey, want to feel as old as Kratos? It’s been over 13 years since the first God of War was released for the PlayStation 2. Between its brutal, beautiful combat, its unique and dramatic story, and its groundbreaking camera work, that debut was like nothing I’d ever played before. It was an entity unto itself. 2018's God of War seems more content to borrow from other successful recent games: it’s a little bit Witcher, a little bit Dark Souls, a little bit The Last Of Us, and a little bit old-school God of War. It feels like more of a trend follower than a trendsetter, a pastiche of ideas. But they are good ideas, done well enough to bring a once-stale series back up from the depths of Helheim.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |