God of War: Beginner's Guide & Tips God of War Guide and Walkthrough

In this chapter of our guide you can read about general tips for God of War. You will find useful information about the game content and key in-game mechanics. These features will help you in the journey of Kratos and Atreus.

• Level of difficulty
• Atreus development
• Inaccessible treasures and passageways
• Shores of Nine
• Fights with stronger opponents
• Hacksilver and experience points
• Destroying Rocks
• Nornir Chests
• Leviathan Axe Throw
• Controlling Kratos
• Weapon selection
• Upgrading equipment

Level of difficulty

God of War offers several difficulty levels and even on the default normal one, winning some of the battles can be a bit of a challenge. Valkyries can be the most problematic to defeat, but they are optional bosses in the game.

A huge improvement, however, is the fact that it is possible to change the difficulty level as you progress through the game. For example, after encountering a boss that is too strong. What's more, lowering the difficulty won't hinder you from obtaining the Platinum trophy as none of the trophies require to complete the campaign on a particular difficulty level.

Atreus development

Atreus is a really strong warrior in the later stages of the game.

Development of Atreus. Initially, Atreus will be a weak companion, but over time, he becomes a very strong character and an efficient archer. Try to develop his skills as soon as possible and buy him a better armor on an ongoing basis - this will definitely help you to fight many enemies.

The topic of developing hero abilities has been described in detail on the Development of Kratos and Atreus page of our guide.

Inaccessible treasures and passageways

Unavailable treasures/passages. During the game, you will encounter a lot of hidden treasures and passages, which will be inaccessible at the beginning of your journey. You can return to them later, when Kratos gets a second weapon which has the ability to destroy roots that entangle chests with items.

God of War allows you to return to skipped or overlooked treasures and other collectibles even after completing the main storyline. Returning to this secrets may be a good idea, as after you complete the main story Kratos will have a set of abilities and equipment to help with exploration.

Shores of Nine

You'll often return to the Shores of Nine - as time goes by, the location will discover more and more secrets.

Shores of Nine. Quite quickly you will reach the Shores of Nine, an archipelago of islands where you'll find plenty of extra activities. It is worth to spend some time exploring the lake, also after lowering the water level, because new objects will flow out on the surface. In addition to silver barrels (just sail through them by boat), there will also be stains of Aegir Gold. However, the most valuable are the plants picked by Atreus (the legendary Nectars), which give a steady increase in skill if they are in the possession of Kratos. They can be found near the Death Island, in the south-western part of the lake. Special items are permanently put in the inventory and cannot be sold.

Fights with stronger opponents

Fight against stronger enemies. Some of the strongest opponents don't have a negative attitude towards Kratos. It's not always worth attacking your opponents as soon as you see them, because sometimes it's just better to run and pass them safely.

Ignoring fights with challenging opponents is not a good idea. You may forfeit rewards for defeating them (including unique ones). The recommended idea is to return to ignored unique enemies after Kratos and Atreus have become stronger.

Hacksilver and experience points

At first, I definitely recommend you to develop Atreus' skills and buy new moves for Leviathan Axe.

Silver and experience points. In the game you can gain much higher amount of experience points than it's required to develop all the skills from the skill tree. The same applies to silver - unique raw materials are more valuable. See the material descriptions and the Resources tab for tips on how to get them.

Destroying Rocks

Rock Detonation. The golden pile of stones, which is an unbearable barrier, can only be destroyed in one way - by throwing the axe at a nearby red urn. It works like a typical exploding barrel.

The topic of getting rid of obstacles from rocks has been described in more detail on a separate page Blocking rocks - how to destroy them?.

Nornir Chests

To open a Nornir Chest you have to solve a riddle - usually related to runes and markings on the chest.

Nornir Chests. This type of chest requires you to destroy three runes or hit three bells in a short time interval. In each chest you will find a "piece" of object that enhances your maximum health or rage bar - you need to complete three pieces of the same type to strengthen Kratos.

In our walkthrough we described the location of all chests, together with videos on how to open them.

Leviathan Axe Throw

Return to the old locations. The game is designed in such a way that you can easily return to most of the lands later and explore them freely. This is necessary if you want to discover all the secrets of the game.

Many puzzles are based on the axe throw.

Axe Throw. The axe, thrown upwards, moves on a parabola. This should be taken into account when trying to destroy an object or when attacking a target (e.g. the Raven of Odysseus) that is beyond your reach. If the pointer does not appear when you try to aim, move it up a little so that the falling axe reaches the target. The returning axe destroys everything on its way. Sometimes, reaching some objects requires a bit of cleverness. If an object is protected by a barrier and you are unable to hit it with a simple throw, you should find a place to place it behind an obstacle and then position yourself so that the returning axe reaches the target along the way.

Controlling Kratos

Controls. You will quickly find out that controls are completely different than in the previous versions of the series. You will mainly use R1 and R2 for attacks and cross to dodge. In the game options, you will find the possibility to change the control to classic setting - although the default control is really thoughtful, you just need to get used to it.

Check the Controls page in the guide's appendix for complete information on how to control Kratos.

Weapon selection

Wherever possible, upgrade weapons and armor. When you are lacking materials, remember that you can buy a lot of raw materials from the blacksmith.

Selecting Weapons. Most of the enemies are easily dealt with by the Leviathan Axe. In the fight against blue enemies who look like they are made of ice, the second weapon of Kratos works much better.

For information on the circumstances of unlocking the second main weapon, check the Second main weapon - how to get it? page.

Upgrading equipment

Improving Equipment. You need to upgrade your equipment on an ongoing basis, or forge a new armor while visiting the blacksmith. Even a small change in the statistics makes a big difference and makes the game easier. Try to collect red boxes and explore the game's world and you'll get a lot of materials to help you forge a strong equipment. Additionally, remember that you can improve every part of the apparel - including Atreus armor.

You can find more information about upgrading your character's equipment on such pages as Best equipment - where to get it? and Kratos' Second Weapon - how to upgrade it?.