God of War (2018): Complete Guide

A guide to Santa Monica Studio's 2018 God of War on PC: combat fundamentals, gear stats and upgrades, Atreus, a spoiler-light story route, side content (Valkyries, Muspelheim, Niflheim, collectibles), difficulty advice, and PC settings.

Researched September 2026 — covers the PC version (released January 14, 2022) through patch v1.0.13 (May 2023). The game is complete; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Pick "Give Me a Balanced Experience" for your first run if you're comfortable with action games. "Give Me a Challenge" is the intended difficulty for experienced players.
• Block and parry. Blocking just before an attack lands parries it and staggers most enemies. Learn this early.
• Throw and recall the axe. The Leviathan Axe can be thrown and recalled. Recalling it hits enemies in its path.
• Use Atreus. Command him to shoot arrows. He stuns and interrupts enemies, and his upgrades are some of the best in the game.
• Spend XP on skills, Hacksilver on gear. XP unlocks combos. Hacksilver upgrades armor and weapons.
• Watch enemy attack indicators. Colored rings warn you before special attacks. Red rings mean an unblockable attack: dodge instead of blocking.
• Upgrade the axe at Brok and Sindri's shops. Axe upgrades raise its level and unlock skills.
• Explore with the boat. The Lake of Nine is full of side content. The world opens up the more you progress.
• Collect Iðunn's Apples and Horns of Blood Mead. Three of each raise your max Health and Rage.
• Almost nothing is permanently missable. You can return to most areas and finish side content after the story.

Combat Fundamentals

Kratos' tools

Tool | What it's for

Leviathan Axe | Main weapon. Ice-infused, can be thrown and recalled. Freezes enemies

Blades of Chaos | Obtained later in the story. Fire-infused chain blades for crowds

Guardian Shield | Block, parry, and shield bash

Bare hands | Fast stun damage, especially after axe throws

Spartan Rage | Fills with damage dealt and taken. Makes Kratos much stronger and heals him

Runic attacks

Each weapon has a light and a heavy runic attack slot. Runic attacks are special moves on a cooldown, found in chests and bought at shops. Examples for the Leviathan Axe include Hel's Touch and Ivaldi's Anvil. Upgrade your favorites at the shop.

Stun and grabs

Enemies have a stun meter. Punches and shield hits build it fast. When full, you can grab the enemy for a brutal finisher. Stun grabs are one of the best damage and crowd-control tools.

Parrying

• Perfect block (parry): block just before a hit lands.
• Shield parry can reflect projectiles.
• Red ring attacks can't be blocked or parried. Dodge them.

Atreus

• Atreus shoots arrows on command. They interrupt, stun, and can trigger special effects.
• Early on he gets Light arrows and Shock arrows for puzzles and combat.
• His runic summons call spectral animals that attack or distract enemies.
• Upgrade his bow, armor, and skills. His stun damage is huge in harder difficulties.

Gear and Stats

Stats

Stat | Effect

Strength | Melee damage

Runic | Runic attack and elemental damage

Defense | Damage reduction

Vitality | Max health

Luck | Chance for bonus effects and XP/Hacksilver

Cooldown | Runic attack and talisman cooldowns

Gear slots

• Armor: chest, wrist, and waist.
• Axe pommel (attachment on the Leviathan Axe).
• Talisman (special active or passive effect).
• Enchantments (socketed into your amulet).

Upgrading

• Hacksilver and crafting materials upgrade armor.
• The Leviathan Axe is upgraded with Frozen Flames. The Blades of Chaos use Chaos Flames.
• Balance your stats. Mixing sets for Strength, Runic, and Cooldown works well.

Story Route (Spoiler-Light)

The story follows Kratos and Atreus on a journey to scatter his wife's ashes from the highest peak in the realms. Key areas in order:

• Wildwoods — the opening area and home.
• River Pass — first real exploration.
• Lake of Nine — the central hub. Meet Brok and Sindri. The boat unlocks side content.
• Alfheim — the realm of the Light Elves. Light arrows.
• The Mountain — climb inside and to the summit, where you meet Mimir, who joins you as a talking head.
• Thamur's Corpse — find the Magic Chisel.
• Tyr's Vault — a puzzle dungeon beneath the Lake of Nine.
• Helheim — a detour after a turn in the story. The Blades of Chaos return before this trip.
• Jötunheim — the finale.

After the credits you can keep exploring and finish side content.

Skill Priorities

XP buys skills in trees for the axe, the shield, bare hands, Atreus, and later the Blades of Chaos. Good early picks:

• Axe throw upgrades — more damage and control from throws and recalls.
• Shield skills that improve parries and bashes — parrying is the backbone of every difficulty.
• Bare-hand stun skills — faster stuns mean more grabs.
• Atreus' combat skills — more arrows and stun damage. Much stronger than they look.
• Recall and combo extensions once the basics are covered.

Some skills need a higher weapon level first. If a skill is locked, upgrade the weapon at Brok or Sindri's shop.

Boss and Enemy Tips

• The Stranger (opening fight): learn to block and dodge here. He's aggressive but readable.
• Revenants: they teleport and poison. Hit them with Atreus' arrows to make them vulnerable, then attack.
• Trolls: big, slow, lots of health. Dodge the slams and use runic attacks when they stagger.
• Magni and Modi: when both are on you, focus one and keep the other in view. Watch both health bars.
• Draugr: varied and numerous. Freeze them with axe throws to take them out of the fight.
• Wulvers and fast enemies: block and parry, then counter.

Side Content

Valkyries

Nine Valkyrie fights are the game's hardest optional bosses: Gunnr, Geirdriful, Kara, Eir, Rota, Gondul, Olrun, Hildr, and Sigrun, the Valkyrie Queen.

• They're spread across the realms you can visit (Wikipedia counts six locations). Most sit behind the sealed Hidden Chambers of Odin, which you can only open once you have the Magic Chisel from Thamur's Corpse, so most Valkyrie hunting happens mid-to-late game.
• Gondul is in Muspelheim.
• Sigrun waits in the Council of Valkyries once you've defeated the other eight and returned their helms there.
• Valkyrie fights reward high-level materials and their Valkyrie Helms.
• For the exact spot of each Valkyrie, use a map-based walkthrough. Several share areas with other side content, so it helps to clear an area's chests and puzzles on the same visit.

Tips:

• Learn each Valkyrie's patterns. They share many moves.
• Keep a Resurrection Stone equipped.
• Upgrade armor and axe first.

Muspelheim and Niflheim

• Muspelheim — combat trials. Find the Muspelheim Language Cipher pieces to unlock it.
• Niflheim — a maze filled with toxic mist. Find the Niflheim Language Cipher pieces to unlock it.
• Both reward rare materials and endgame gear, such as Ivaldi's Deadly Mist set crafted from Niflheim materials.

Dragons

Free three trapped dragons: Fáfnir, Otr, and Reginn. Each is in a different area and needs a small puzzle.

Collectibles

Collectible | Where / what

Odin's Ravens | 51 green-glowing ravens. Destroy them all for a reward

Nornir Chests | Solve a rune puzzle (bells or seals) for Idunn Apples or Horns of Blood Mead

Legendary Chests | Rare gear and materials

Artifacts | Sets you can sell for Hacksilver

Lore Markers and Jötnar Shrines | Story and lore

Realm Tears | Fights with realm-specific enemies

Difficulty Modes

Difficulty | Who it's for

Give Me a Story | Story focus, very easy

Give Me a Balanced Experience | Standard

Give Me a Challenge | Recommended for experienced players

Give Me God of War | Hardest. Enemies hit very hard and are aggressive

New Game Plus was added in patch 1.30 on August 20, 2018. It carries over your gear and adds higher-level enemies and new rarity tiers.

PC Settings

• Use DLSS on NVIDIA GPUs or FSR 2.0 (added in patch v1.0.12) for better performance.
• NVIDIA Reflex reduces input latency.
• Ultra-wide (21:9) is supported.
• Controllers: DUALSHOCK 4, DualSense, and other gamepads are supported, and mouse and keyboard bindings are fully customizable.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Only using the axe. Punches and shield bashes stun faster.
• Ignoring Atreus. His arrows are huge for crowd control and stun.
• Hoarding Hacksilver. Spend it on armor upgrades.
• Fighting Valkyries too early. Come back with better gear.
• Blocking red ring attacks. Dodge them.
• Forgetting the Resurrection Stone. It saves you in hard fights.

Advanced Tips

• Axe throw into punch stun: throw the axe, then punch to stun quickly.
• Runic cooldown builds let you spam runic attacks.
• Spartan Rage heals you. Use it when low health.
• Atreus' runic summons distract enemies in big fights.
• Freeze enemies with the Leviathan Axe to control fights.
• Use the Blades of Chaos for crowds and the axe for single targets.

FAQ

How long is God of War (2018)? Around 20 to 25 hours for the main story, more with side content.

Can I miss anything? Almost nothing is permanently missable. You can return after the story.

What's the hardest boss? Sigrun, the Valkyrie Queen.

Which difficulty should I pick? Give Me a Balanced Experience for most players. Give Me a Challenge if you want it to be hard.

Does the PC version have New Game Plus? Yes. NG+ was added in August 2018 and is in the PC version.

What's the last PC patch? v1.0.13 (May 2023), which only updated the credits.

Sources

• God of War on Steam
• God of War Steam news — patches v1.0.12 and v1.0.13
• God of War (2018) on Wikipedia