Category: God of War: Ragnarok

God of War: Ragnarok is out now and since the last game was a couple of years ago, your skills might be a bit rusty. You need not worry. In this God of War: Ragnarok guide, we go over some useful tips and tricks that will help you on your journey.

God Of War: Ragnarok Tips And Tricks

The following are the tips and tricks that you should keep in mind when playing God of War: Ragnarok.

Tweak The Accessibility Settings

Santa Monica Studio has added plenty of accessibility options to God of War: Ragnarok. We recommend checking out the puzzle aim assist and auto pickup settings. You will be picking up a lot of items in the game so auto pickup is going to save a lot of time and button presses. If you are having trouble with mini-bosses then you can also turn on boss checkpoints.

Break Objects In The Environment

While progressing through the world, you will often find breakable objects such as vases and crates. You can break these to get items such as a health boost, rage boost, and even some Hacksilver.

Enemy Health Bars Show How Powerful They Are

Enemies in God of War: Ragnarok can have health bars with different colors. Green indicates that the enemy is lower level than you while yellow indicates a similar level. Orange means the enemy is a level higher than you, purple means two levels above yours and red means three levels above you.

Upgrade Your Runic Attacks

You can update your runic attacks up to level 3 by spending XP. Which is also used to upgrade and acquire skills. Try not to spend all your XP on skill and spend some on upgrading runic attacks that you like. This is similar to the previous game.

Rage Keeps You Out Of Harm’s Way

If you are surrounded by enemies or missed the yellow parry prompt then you can activate spartan rage to protect yourself. When this is triggered enemies will be knocked back. This even applies to some bosses such as the Dreki.

Interacting With Mystic Gateways Will Fill Your Gauges

Mystic Gateways are fast travel points that allow you to move from place to place quickly. When you interact with them, your health bar and rage meter are going to fill up. If you are low on health or want a full rage meter then interacting with a nearby Mystic Gateway is one way of doing just that. You do not have to go anywhere for the effects to take place.

Skills Can Be Disabled

If you activate a skill unintentionally and find it annoying then you can disable it from the skill tree. You can do that by pressing the triangle button.

Atreus’ Skill Tree Grows As You Progress

Atreus’ skill tree grows and opens up new possibilities as you progress through God of War: Ragnarok. If you do not like his initial skills then you can hold off until you progress the game enough to unlock skills that you like.

A Resurrection Stone Helps You Cheat Death

A resurrection stone allows Atreus to revive you if you die. This can come in handy if you are up against a tough boss. You can buy these from Brok or Sindri but you can only have one on you at a time. Which means that you can only be brought back to life once. Once the stone is used, you will need to buy another one.

These are some useful tips and tricks that should help you out while playing God Of War: Ragnarok. If you are interested in learning more then you can check out our guide on where you can find the different shields in the game. You can also check out our guide on how you can earn all the trophies in the game.

There are 5 Shields in total in God of War: Ragnarok which you must acquire if you wish to 100% the game. None of these Shields is terribly tough to get since you will be able to craft almost all of them at the Blacksmith Shop. This also makes it very convenient to get them once you have completed the story. You will obviously need to have the required Hacksilver to get them but that is not a huge concern. Below, we have shared the locations of all the Shields that you can get in God of War: Ragnarok.

Dauntless Shield
You can acquire it from the Blacksmith Shop.

Stone Wall Shield
This one can also be unlocked from the Blacksmith Shop.

Shatterstar Shield
Another shield in God of War: Ragnarok that you can get from the Blacksmith Shop is the Shatterstar Shield.

Guardian Shield
You will automatically receive it right before ‘The Word of Fate’ quest.

Onslaught Shield
There are a couple of different ways to get the Onslaught Shield in the game. The first one is to loot it from the Legendary Chest immediately after defeating Garm in Helheim. However, in case you forgot to pick it up, it will automatically be added to the inventory of the Blacksmith Shop from where you will be able to get it for 7,500 Hacksilver.

As you might have noticed that none of these Shields in God of War: Ragnarok are missable. Since most of them are tied to the Blacksmith Shop, you can easily get them after completing the story if you just care about unlocking the ‘Phalanx’ trophy to earn the 100% completion status.

These are all the Shields that can be found in God of War: Ragnarok. You can check our complete coverage of God of War: Ragnarok by heading over to our detailed wiki page.

Similar to the original game, there are quite a few difficulty options in God of War: Ragnarok. Choosing the right difficulty will ensure that you enjoy the overall experience a lot more. There are people who enjoy the toughest challenges that the game has to offer and there are some who cannot be bothered and just want to enjoy the story. There are no difficulty-related Trophies as well so you can complete the entire game on the ‘Easiest’ option if you want and still get the Platinum. This guide aims to help you choose the right difficulty in God of War: Ragnarok so that you have an enjoyable experience with the game.

Before we begin, remember that you can also change the difficulty if you are finding the game too hard or easy — unless you are playing on Give Me God of War. To do that, simply go to ‘Settings’, click on ‘Gameplay’, and change it from there.

Give Me A Story
Games are meant to be fun. If you are the type of person who loves to have a good time after day’s of work, go with ‘Give Me A Story’ by all means. Story is easily one of the best aspects of God of War: Ragnarok and there is no need to deprive yourself of it by choosing the hardest difficulty from the get-go. If you love the game, you can always choose a tougher difficulty in your consequent playthroughs.

Give Me Grace
If you think you’re finding the game too easy on ‘Give Me A Story’, feel free to turn it up a notch. There will not be a huge leap in terms of difficulty but you will definitely notice some changes. If you are a new player who just wants to hack and slash your way through the game while enjoying the story, go with this difficulty option.

Give Me Balance
As the title suggests, this is what we recommend most people to go with. This difficulty will provide a good balance of challenge. You will not feel that you are dying in one-hit or doing the same to enemies — it is just perfectly balanced as all things should be.

Give Me No Mercy
This is the difficulty that we recommend to people who love SoulsBorne games. Even if you have sufficient time invested in the original God of War, you will be adequately challenged in this one because of new enemy types, different attack patterns, bosses, and whatnot.

Give Me God of War
If the first game is any indication, you should not start your journey with this one unless you like suffering. While it is far from being impossible, it is not something a lot of people will enjoy. We would recommend completing the game at least once before attempting this. Those of you who love a challenge, ‘Give Me No Mercy’ is much better for the first playthrough. Another important thing to keep in mind is that if you choose this difficulty, you will have to stick to it until the very end — it cannot be changed mid-game.

We hope this helped you make an informed decision when it comes to choosing a difficulty in God of War: Ragnarok. Also, feel free to stop by our God of War: Ragnarok wiki for more tips and strategies.

There are 14 Relics / Sword Hilts in total that can be found in God of War: Ragnarok. You can only equip a single Relic at any given time but once equipped, it provides an incredibly powerful ability that can be unleashed by holding L1 + Circle. It is also important to note that these abilities have fairly long cooldowns. In addition to this, these Sword Hilts can also be upgraded to get various benefits such as decreased cooldown time, increased effect, etc. Most of these Relics are tied to different Favors in God of War: Ragnarok that can be completed after you are done with the story. This guide will show you the locations of all the Relics / Sword Hilts that you can get in God of War: Ragnarok.

Relic / Sword Hilt	Where to Find	Effect	Cooldown
Hilt of Dainsleif	It can be crafted with Svefnthorn which can be dropped by Ormstunga during a Favor called ‘The Lost Treasure’.	You slam the ground to create an explosion of Seior Poison, leaving behind a hazard. Once upgraded, it increases the amount of Hazard.	157 Seconds.
Hilt of Skofnung	This one is really hard to get as it requires you to defeat Hrolf in King’s Grave, Midgard. Also, do note that it can only be accessed after completing all the Berserker Gravestones.	It unleashes the power of the souls within the sword. You can upgrade it to increase the strength of the effect.	256 Seconds.
Hilt of Angrvadall	You can craft it with Skirnir’s Gambanteinn that is acquired during a Favor called ‘The Desert Door’.	You slash forward with 3x waves of light that deal increased damage against enemies that are afflicted with Sonic. Once upgraded, it reduces the cooldown.	142 Seconds.
Hilt of Ridill	This can be crafted with Crackle of Bilskirnir that you can get during a Favor called ‘Animal Instincts’.	You unleash a wave of Shock to electrify enemies. You can also upgrade it to increase the AoE of the electrocution.	142 Seconds.
Glaive of Dodher	You unlock it automatically after defeating Fiske in The Reckoning.	You toss a Bifrost Chakaram that continues to swerve into enemies. Once upgraded, it gains an additional number of Chakarams that can be tossed.	94 Seconds.
Huldra Project #9	You can craft it at the Blacksmith by spending a bunch of Hacksilver.	You can turn Mimir’s discomfort into a Bifrost Blast that deals a huge amount of damage to nearby enemies. You can upgrade it to increase the strength of the effect.	189 Seconds.
Mystical Heirloom	It can be found in Lake of Nine, Midgard. You will find it behind a destructible wall, right next to a corpse.	It awakens something dormant inside the bearer. It cannot be upgraded.	16 Seconds.
Hilt of Forsbrandr	This one is pretty tedious. First, you must find all 48 of Odin’s Ravens. After you have done that, you will need to open 6 Legendary Chests at The Raven Tree, Nilfheim. This will cause ‘The Raven Keeper’ to appear. After you defeat it, you will get the Hilt of Forsbrandr.	You can knock enemies back and get an Aura of Protection. It can also be upgraded to get increased duration.	94 Seconds.
Hilt of Tyrfing	You need to defeat Blatonn in The Abandoned Village to get Nar’s Cup. Once acquired, you will be able to craft it.	You can charge the sword to sacrifice some HP in order to get bonus damage — the amount of bonus damage gained depends on the HP sacrificed. You can upgrade it to reduce the cooldown.	59 Seconds.
Talisman of Meign	You can get it during The Quest for Tyr from a body in the wall.	You get additional Melee Damage for a short while. You can also upgrade it to increase the duration.	94 Seconds.
Hilt of Gram	You need to head over to the Temple of Light, Alfheim. Once there, you will find a Legendary Chest during the Twilight Stone puzzle. It can be found inside that chest.	You gain Rage and stun all nearby enemies. It can be upgraded to increase the amount of Rage gained.	94 Seconds.
Hilt of Hrotti	You need to defeat any 2 of 3 Oath Guard mini-bosses that can be found in The Plains, Vanaheim.	You can apply a mark onto nearby enemies. Attacking the marked enemy decreases the Runic Cooldown of the equipped weapon. If you kill the marked enemy, you will get a Blessing of Runic. Once upgraded, it increases the duration of the mark.	142 Seconds.
Motsognir’s Call	To be updated.	You create a shockwave that deals high Stun nearby enemies. You can also upgrade it to increase the strength of the effect.	157 Seconds.
Hilt of Hofud	This one is acquired after defeating Heimdall during Creatures of Prophecy.	You can distort space and time by creating a Realm Shift.	205 Seconds.

After you have collected all 14 Relics, you will get the ‘Collector’ trophy which is needed to get the 100% completion status.

These are all the Relics’ locations in God of War: Ragnarok. For more tips and strategies, you can check out our detailed God of War: Ragnarok wiki page.

God of War: Ragnarok does not have any trophies that are tied to the difficulty setting. So you can platinum the game in a single playthrough. In this God of War: Ragnarok guide, we go over all the trophies in the game to complete it 100%.

There are a total of 36 trophies that you can earn in God of War: Ragnarok. We have removed the spoilers so if you are interested in going into the game blind then you can still do that.

All God Of War: Ragnarok Trophies

The following are all the trophies in GoW: Ragnarok and how you can unlock them:

Trophy Name	How To Unlock
The Bear and the Wolf	Get all trophies
Ready for Commitment	Fully upgrade one armor set
Ragnarök	Fight (redacted)
Grave Mistake	Fight (redacted)
The True Queen	Fight (redacted)
The Florist	Collect a flower from each realm
The Librarian	Collect all of the Books
The Curator	Collect all Artifacts
How it Started	Equip an Enchantment
Spit Shine	Upgrade a piece of armor
Knock off the Rust	Buy a Skill
A Grizzly Encounter	Fight (redacted)
Blood Debt	Defeat Thor
Backyard Brawl	Fight (redacted)
Root of the Problem	Fight (redacted)
The Cauldron	Destroy (redacted)’s cauldron
Off the Leash	Fight (redacted)
Comeuppance	Fight (redacted)
Better Together	Fight (redacted)
Rebel Leader	Return Hammer of the Rebellion
New Friends	Get Lunda’s orb
Spartan Ways	Remember Spartan teachings
Full Belly	Get all Apples of Idunn and Horns of Blood Mead
Phlanx	Get all shields
Collector	Get all Relics and Sword Hilts
Dragon Slayer	Craft the Dragon Scaled Armor Set
How it’s Going	Fully repair the Amulet of Yggdrasil
(Redacted) for a Friend	Attend the Funeral
Full Gufa	Free the Hafgufas
Making Amends	Free the Lyngbakr
It Was a Good Day	Retrieve Mardöll
Invasive Species	Complete all Crater Hunts
Besties	Pet Speki and Svanna
Rightful Place	Return all of the Lindwyrms to Ratatoskr
Pure of Hart	Return the Stags of the Four Seasons
Trials by Fire	Complete Trials of Muspelheim

These are all the trophies that you can earn in GoW: Ragnarok and how you can unlock them. If you want to learn more about the game then you can check out our God Of War: Ragnarok guides hub.