God of War Ragnarok established itself as one of this generation’s best story-driven action games by continuing Kratos’s and Atreus’s journey in this fantastically handcrafted Norse world. Intense combat, puzzle-solving tasks, and deep exploration have been packed into this game for its new players and veterans. This God of War Ragnarok gameplay guide will be a walk-through of essential tips, mechanics, and advice on how to get the most out of your experience in the game.
Key Mechanics & Features
Even if you’ve played the previous God of War (2018), Ragnarok introduces new mechanics and features that take some getting used to. Here’s a quick breakdown of crucial gameplay elements to keep in mind when starting the game:
- Weapons & Combat: You’ll still rely heavily on the Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos, but God of War Ragnarok adds the powerful Draupnir Spear, which can deal devastating blows in melee and ranged combat.
- Runic Attacks: Gear each weapon with Light and Heavy Runic Attacks to defeat more vigorous opponents. Do not forget to charge the attacks for increased damage and utility.
- Relics & Amulets: Besides Rune Attack, Relics offer some more spells which you can cast; Amulets provide an opportunity to personalize the gameplay process with many buffs and enchantments.
- Armour & Upgrades: Improve your defensive stats while learning to enhance your armour sets with other perks. Frozen flames, chaos flames, and much more will be required to upgrade the gear. The choice of armour set should relate to one’s playstyle, whether it is a genuinely tanky defence or an aggressive damage output.
Combat Tips: Mastering Kratos’ Arsenal
God of War Ragnarok’s gameplay is relatively adamant but feels very rewarding if you find the right way to use your weapons and abilities together.
Leviathan Axe: This is a mighty axe with excellent strength for close-up and shooting attacks. Freeze the enemy with ice elemental attacks to allow you to strategize or change to a different weapon.
Blades of Chaos: These fast-attacking flames are great for crowd control and maintaining steady damage on several enemies. Unlock and upgrade your Runic Attacks for more area-of-effect fire-based damage.
Spear of Draupnir : A New in Ragnarok This spear is ideal for enemies’ throwing to be struck at a distance and then exploding with multiple spears simultaneously for great fire explosions.
Atreus & Friends: He’s much more aggressive this time, so he can use arrows, conjure up animal spirits, or get in the faces of his enemies to clear some room to breathe. Don’t forget to give Atreus some skills and abilities to maximize what he can do.
Combat Strategies:
- Parrying & Dodging: Time blocks and dodges for maximal counterattacks on enemies. Properly timed, parries will leave enemies defenceless to a devastating counterattack, while dodges let you dodge heavy blows.
- Stagger & Finisher Moves: The enemies have a stagger meter. Fill up the meter with heavy attacks or Runic Attacks, then unleash a finisher move for an execution.
- Elemental Synergies: Both have elemental affinities, like the Leviathan Axe’s ice and the Blades of Chaos’s fire. Use them against enemies vulnerable to those elemental forces.
Exploration & Puzzle-Solving
God of War Ragnarok is a beautiful world, an entire realm with deep secrets and mysteries. This article will uncover each one and how to solve the puzzles:
- Unlocking Realms: As you progress, you unlock more realms, with new, challenging challenges in each. You use the Bifrost to travel between realms, which opens up other side quests and collectables.
- Solving Puzzles: Many areas need to catch up on environmental puzzles. Solve the Waterwheel Puzzles and help kill those pesky Heavy Vines by sigil in areas like Applecore; don’t forget to take in your surroundings and what’s available.
- Collectables: There’s treasure hidden from Odin’s Ravens to Nornir Chests – find and unlock them all for great rewards such as upgraded health and rage levels, enchantments and more. So, get searching in each area so Kratos can be powered up.
Side Quests & Rewards (Favors)
Besides the main storyline, God of War Ragnarok also features side quests called Favors. They are excellent because they develop layers in the lore of the Nine Realms, but also because they dispense rewarding material, such as XP, new armor sets, and upgrade materials.
Notable Favors:
- Secret of the Sands: This reward quest provides one unique enchantment to advance the Vanaheim storyline.
- Born from Fire: One of the tougher Favours pits Kratos against fierce enemies from the Muspelheim realm.
- The Lost Lindwyrms: Side Quest which involves chasing after several realms in search of a valuable reward for finding said small serpent creatures.
Usually, favours are done parallel to the game’s main storyline, and completing them at the beginning grants you some better gear and abilities for more challenging encounters.
New Game Plus Mode
If you complete the main story, New Game Plus unlocks, and you can replay Kratos’ adventure in harsher conditions. NG+ mode includes more challenging boss fights, new armour sets, and additional customization. Moreover, you retain all your skills and equipment to test various class combinations and playstyles.
Main characteristics of NG+:
- Some more challenging boss battles: Bosses have new attack patterns, and the enemies are generally far more aggressive.
- New Sets: Only in NG+ do these unlock unique armour sets with huge buffs and special effects.
- Customization and Enchantments: NG+ has additional enchantments that will grant further customization of Kratos’ stats and abilities.
Best armors and builds
God of War Ragnarok has developed a wide variety of playstyles with the system of armour. Be it a defensive build or one through which you can dish out heavy damage, almost everything is available.
Best Armor Sets:
Dragon Scaled Armor Set – as excellent defence and stagger damage while blocking and dodging.
- Raven Tears Armor Set: Its set build is healing, making it a good arm set for players who want to stay longer in battle by healing after receiving damage.
- Nidavellir armour set: One of the best early-game sets for sustained health. Excellent against more challenging, more aggressive bosses in early games.
The Secrets of the Nine Realms
God of War Ragnarok offers plenty of content even at the end, with a small amount left to cater for completionists. Most excellent post-game content includes:
- Finding Tyr in Every Realm: Unlock a secret ending by finding Tyr across the Nine Realms.
- Unlocks All Endings: Depending on your choice, you will unlock several endings. Many of the endings require the completion of specific side quests to unlock.
Summary
God of War Ragnarok is an epic journey that offers a perfect blend of action, exploration, and storytelling. Whether tackling the main story, exploring hidden realms, or battling through New Game Plus, there’s always something new to discover. By mastering combat, upgrading your gear, and taking on challenging side quests, you’ll be able to experience everything the game has to offer.
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