IGN’s Essential Tips and Tricks for God of War: Ragnarok covers everything from important combat strategies to things you should know about when exploring the various realms. The tips below have been arranged into three categories by type.
Note: These tips encompass much of what you will encounter as you adventure through the opening hours, and do not contain any story spoilers. For those who are further into the game, be sure to check out our Advanced Tips and Tricks to be posted at a later date which will cover topics in mid to late-game.
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- All armor and weapon attachments can be upgraded many times as you progress through the game. Note that certain Armor and Weapon mods can add new bonuses once they’ve been upgraded a bunch. This can include anything from set bonuses to increased stats or a chance on hit to increase your power. Be sure to see how the armor will perform when fully upgraded to pick a goal worth spending your resources on; you can do this by using L2 and R2 when selecting your gear.
- The white and red symbols and runes indicate an interactive wall or ledge of some sort, but they can come in various colors throughout the game depending on where you are. Learn to recognize these and they will often lead to secrets or paths you might not instantly recognize.
- Take note of your aiming reticle when trying to solve puzzles. Oftentimes when aiming your weapon to throw at targets, you’ll find it the reticle will light up when you hover over a target it can interact with, like Nornir Runes or brambles to ignite. This includes items that can be obscured by geysers or other obstacles.
- You can also see the reticle change slightly when using the Blades of Chaos if it can actually reach a nearby surface to better judge its range. If the Leviathan Axe is aimed at a target that causes the aiming reticle to light up (like a chain target or an Odin’s Raven), you don’t have to worry about adjusting your aim for the distance drop off.
- A lot of PlayStation games default the X button to being Interact, with Circle being dodge. However, like the previous God of War, the prompts are swapped by default in Ragnarok. If this isn’t your style, you can either remap the controls manually, or simply go to the Playstyle menu and easily swap them.
- Ragnarok’s accessibility options can help you out in ways you might not expect: If you get stuck and can’t figure out what to do next, try using the High Contrast settings in Text & Color settings. You can highlight interactive objects like Chains, or Traversal Markings that mark where you can climb. You can then go to TouchPad Shortcuts under Controller Remapping to assign this to a swipe on the TouchPad, letting you quickly turn it on and off again whenever you need it.
- You can also find an option to turn on auto pick up, letting Kratos automatically grab anything on the ground (though even if you miss something, it will appear in a blue chest the next time you visit the Dwarf Shop.
- If you are the type of player who always likes to find every optional secret when traversing a story quest, you can turn on a compass/directional indicator in the accessibility menu. It’s not just for avoiding getting lost, as it will always point in the direction of the main quest progression when you hit a fork in the road, and usually going the OPPOSITE direction leads to more loot!
- Whether in open sandbox areas or on linear paths, you’ll find things like barrels, boxes, hanging pots and more all over the place. Make sure to smash all the barrels and pick up loot as you progress. These aren’t in infinite supply, but they will give you Hacksilver and resources that really do add up, especially in the early game.
- Certain realms sometimes have unique loot containers you should try to familiarize yourself with.
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- Don’t feel like you need to spend XP on skills you probably won’t use or don’t suit your current playstyle. Kratos and Atreus will unlock new skills as their weapons level up and as they progress the story, so it’s always handy to have XP waiting for when the time comes. XP can also be used to upgrade other things like Runic Attacks, Summons, and Kratos’ Rage Ability, so it can be worth it to spread your XP around.
- If you’re into the story, look for major collectibles like Chests and Coffins, or complete Side Quests. These often provide fun or insightful moments between characters that would otherwise be missed.
- In the Goals section of the pause menu, Favors and Labors cover both side quests and active challenges to earn more XP. These sections can also have multiple categories, and you can quickly scroll up or down to the next category with L2 or R2!
- Ragnarok, like the 2018 game, tends to slowly drip in side quests and collectibles across the map as you progress the story. In most cases, you probably won’t be able to find everything in a region or realm on your first (or even second) visit, so don’t worry too much about missing out. Even low level equipment you may have missed earlier can quickly be upgraded to be just as viable as your other gear.
- Your companions are extremely talkative, and will often suggest you explore around before moving on with the main story when visiting certain areas. Due to the staggering amount of treasure, gear, abilities, and more you can find, it’s usually well worth deviating from the main story to expand your wealth. This is especially true considering certain chapters of the main story may set you on more linear paths for a decent amount of time.
- That said, if you find yourself looking to upgrade your gear and increase your level and keep running into lower tier resources, it might be time to progress the story to unlock new areas and Side Quests with a better pool of resources to claim.
- If you’re unsure what exactly a resource that you just picked up is for, head to the Resources section of the Codex. When you highlight an item, it will tell you what it’s for, including if it’s for specific tiers of equipment. Sometimes you may even learn where you can find more!
- If you upgrade from a PS4 to a PS5 while playing Ragnarok, you can transfer your saves from the PS4 to PS5 version of the game!
- Your shield is more important than ever in Ragnarok, as is the type of shield you use. Certain shields will let you block attacks more easily, while others balance the risk and reward of getting down the rhythm of last second parries. Experiment with different types of shields to find the one that suits you best – and remember dodging can be just as useful
- Well-timed parries can be used against melee and ranged attacks alike (so long as there isn’t the unblockable red ring indicator). Ranged parries will send the projectile flying back, and you can redirect it at more immediate threats by pivoting Kratos when parrying.
- Kratos has a Block Break ability that you can use to break the defense of any shielded enemy: by default it’s used by double-tapping L1. This can outright destroy the shields of certain enemies, increase their stun meter, and is also crucial in interrupting attacks marked with blue rings – as these attacks may otherwise prove to be unblockable and extremely deadly.
- It’s easy to forget about manually triggering Atreus’s arrows at first since there’s already so much to think about, but try and get into the rhythm of pressing Square early on to build the muscle memory, as his arrow abilities will only get more powerful over time.
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- Timing your companion’s attacks with your own can help you maximize damage, especially against bosses that are mobile. You can unload Atreus’ arrows while you have a strong enemy stunned with a runic attack, or try to interrupt them quickly if your defense is broken and stop them from landing a deadly blow.
- Remember, a fight’s not over until you get the XP for it. Until that happens, there’s still enemies left in the encounter, so keep your guard up!
- If you’re fighting a miniboss who has summoned some minions during the fight, then defeating the boss will cause all the minions to die automatically! Keep this in mind as a boss approaches low health.
- However, it’s also important to remember certain boss fights will require you to execute them when they are out of health by stunning them – if they have minions, don’t get yourself killed trying to rush over and finish the fight!
- If you see that you are approaching another battle, get in the habit of holding Triangle to apply Frost to your axe, or mashing Triangle to apply Burn to your Blades, before walking in. It’s good to do this mid-fight as well as more reinforcements show up, but you can reliably start a fight with the upper hand by applying more elemental damage to begin with.
- This tactic also works with a specific shield you can unlock later – one you can charge up with L1. Notably, the charge stays even when you retract the shield, letting you charge it during a quiet moment in a fight, or even before it’s begun! The only downside is that this charge is lost if the shield absorbs damage.
- Kratos’ Spartan Rage recharges faster and hits harder in Ragnarok than it did in 2018, so you may want to get into the habit of using it more frequently during annoying or difficult fights, rather than only using it for some bosses a handful of times throughout the whole game. Rage drops are also plentiful enough that you can always get it back quickly.
- If your Stun Grab prompt (R3 by default) is yellow, that means that using the Stun Grab won’t kill the enemy, since they have too much health. If that’s the case, try depleting their health some more so that the prompt changes to red: that means the Stun Grab will kill them!
- If you’re having trouble with mini-boss fights, you can turn on an option to add checkpoints to those fights in the Accessibility menu. Scroll down to the Combat section and you’ll see it last on the list. You cannot turn this on for certain difficulties.
- The Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos can be upgraded with the Permafrost and Immolation skills (respectively), which charge by getting quick melee kills without taking damage. If you have both unlocked, they will both charge at the same time!
- Remember, activating a Runic Attack can be devastating, but it doesn’t give you invulnerability. Be sure to face as many enemies as possible or pivot while using them, otherwise you’ll still take damage if struck from behind.
- Luckily, executing a stunned enemy does give you invulnerability during the animation, so take advantage of any stunned enemy to finish them off without worrying about getting killed in the process.
- Each realm often has its own hazards that can be used against enemies when fighting. Some arenas have simple stone chunks or trees to swing around, while others are a bit more complex, and all of them can give you a big advantage when used properly.
- When fighting elves in Alfheim, take advantage of the purple Twilight Stone walls and floors surrounding you. Ricocheting your axe off them into enemies often leads to an instant stun.
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- Small but annoying enemies like Wretches and Nightmares can be grabbed with the Blades of Chaos for an instant kill. The more explosive or poison variants will automatically by thrown – so pivot yourself to aim back towards a group of enemies!
- Try to get a good feel for which of your skills and abilities knock enemies back. Perfectly timed shield parries, certain runic abilities, and attacks that make use of R2 can all be used to send enemies flying – which can sometimes help end a fight really quick if you can position foes near ledges or pits.
- If you want to quickly spot a lone enemy you can’t see, press R3 to snap the camera to them with a lock-on. Lock-on is also useful for making sure your ranged attacks, like Leviathan Axe throws or arrows, won’t miss.
- That being said, while lock-on is great for focusing on a single target like bosses, frequently you’ll find yourself surrounded with enemies. This can confuse the lock-on so that moving the right analog stick may not snap to your intended target. Many enemies can also fly out of view or vanish, which removes the lock-on. Thus, we highly recommend getting used to playing without lock-on so that you can quickly react to the most immediate threats.
- Certain enemies, such as Wretches, Raiders and Cursed Gulons, will enter an explosive state after they’ve been killed, where they’ll explode after a few seconds (marked by a giant red circle on the ground). If you deal damage to them, they’ll die prematurely without the explosion! Incidentally, this is why lock-on stays on these enemies even though they’ve already been “killed” the first time.
- If you’ve purchased a Skill but find it inconvenient during a certain encounter, or just want to disable it altogether, you can highlight it in the Skills menu and press Triangle to turn it off (Triangle can also be used to enable it again). Note that you cannot disable any of the Skills you start the game with, nor can you redeem a Skill for the XP spent on it.
- Consider turning on the High Contrast Display feature within the Accessibility menu to change the color saturation of targetable objects that need to be hit with a thrown weapon (such as Odin’s Ravens), interactive objects that require a prompt to use, traversal markings, and much more. This feature is helpful for mopping up resource chests and other easily missed collectibles. It can also be assigned as a shortcut on the TouchPad via the Gameplay menu, making it completely toggleable with a simple swipe.
- Similarly, if you’re having trouble navigating especially dark areas, like mines and underground areas, use High Contrast Display to change the Background Color to White.
- Seek out Draugr Holes throughout the Nine Realms and defeat the Draugr minibosses there. Each will drop a Chaos Spark: find all six, and they can be combined into a Chaos Flame, which can be used to upgrade the Blades of Chaos!
- If you want to use a workshop but are far from one, try using a Mystic Gateway. After Svartalfheim, you can use them to return to Sindri’s House in the Realm Between Realms, where you can then go to the shop inside, or target a Mystic Gateway next to a shop!
- When using the sled, don’t be afraid of walking too far from it: it’ll automatically follow you if you wander off, so you won’t have to trek all the way back!
Similar to the 2018 God of War, you’ll be unable to collect Buried Treasure until you find its corresponding Treasure Map, even if you know where the treasure is beforehand. - If you’re having trouble locating a Treasure Map for a spot you’ve found, look in areas where you haven’t found all the Lore yet; the Map is counted as a piece of Lore. Similarly, once you’ve found a Treasure Map, the region the Buried Treasure it’s found in will have its “Buried Treasure” listing revealed on the map screen checklist.
- You can do sharp U-Turns on the Sled! Hold R1 or the Circle Button to make very quick turns.
- If an item on a map’s list is marked as “Undiscovered” even after you’ve seemingly found everything, then that means it’s either a Favor side quest, Buried Treasure, or you lack the means to find and complete it just yet. So don’t worry too much about them for now!
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- Just like when you’re on a boat, riding over any pickups like loot when on a sled will automatically collect them. No need to dismount!
- If you’re getting frustrated with the way the Axe drops after you throw it at Odin’s Ravens, wait until you pick up a piece of equipment when you revisit The Forge. It allows your ranged attacks to not drop until a much further distance, making nailing Odin’s Ravens significantly easier.
- Nornir Chests will almost always alternate giving you a health and rage upgrade, no matter what order you find them in, so don’t worry about finding only one type of upgrade.
- If you’re having trouble activating a Nornir Chest, listen out for Mimir or your companion remarking that you may not have the right tool for the job.
Coming Soon!
Up Next: Things God of War Ragnarok Doesn’t Tell You
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