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- The Realms At War
- Boss Battle: Thor
- Boss Battle: Odin
- Boss Fight: Odin's Final Form
God of War Ragnarok's The Realms at War is a no holds barred, full-tilt, series of conflicts escalating in a battle against the All-Father himself. There is no treasure collecting here. No ravens to spot in the distance. You aren't on an adventure, here. Your sole task is to fight your way through hordes of enemies and do battle with the gods themselves.
While this guide won't help you encounter treasures, or track down secrets, it will help you navigate some pretty tricky encounters. If you are struggling with some of these bosses, and you don't want to take the difficulty down a notch, we can give you the nudge you will need to see these conflicts through to the end.
The Realms At War
Your quest will begin with you traveling to Tyr's temple. Just as you did in the previous chapter, take to the lift on the left side of the bridge, and travel to the top. Once there, you will see that a camp has been raised here. Travel to the end of the bridge and talk to Freya. You'll watch a number of cutscenes before you eventually head into Tyr's temple proper. You will then open the gate to Asgard, and emerge in Vigridr. Now, your first task is to destroy the war machines. For this first stretch, you will be accompanied by Freya.
We're going to be giving a minimal amount of directions in this guide, but it is a profoundly linear stage. You will be funneled down trenches for the most part, so there really isn't much direction needed.
The Wyvern
You will fight a couple of Einherjar as you travel along the trenches. However, you will eventually stumble into a slightly more open arena. Here you will encounter some of the tougher Einherjar variants, as well as a Wyvern. This area isn't that wide and will be lined with Einherjar. So, your Blades of Chaos will be highly effective, as every swing is sure to clip someone.
With the Wyvern, your best bet is to toss a few spears into it at the beginning of the battle. Then, If the Wyvern takes to the sky, detonate your spears to bring it back down. This is also a good point to use your Spartan Rage if you have it equipped, as the enemies are grouped tightly enough together that you should be able to hit multiple at once with your wild swings.
The Ogre And Fiske
You will continue on the path, working your way through a few Einherjar here and there, before you enter into another arena of sorts. This time you will run into the mid-boss from Vanaheim, Fiske, as well as an Ogre. As the battle progresses, more Einherjar will back them up, too. Whatever will you do? Well, you are going to ignore every other enemy and focus on stunning the Ogre. That is your only goal. Then, once you stun him, you are going to ride it and crush everyone. Even the resilient Fiske will drop after a few Ogre punches. Easy as pie.
The Gradungr Fight
Once the Ogre and Fiske are dead, you will just need to clean up the few remaining Einherjar. Progress forward, you will fight an Einherjar here and there, while also having to dodge the odd bit of dragon's fire. You will eventually meet back up with Atreus. Now, you will need to battle another Gradungr. Like the one you fought in Muspelheim, this Gradungr will be shielded by the rider. You can break the shield with a shield bash, and then kill the rider (or at least knock them off). However, there are going to be quite a few Einherjar to replace them.
We found that Atreus' summon was pretty handy for distracting the Einherjar as we whaled on the Gradungr. You want to kill it as quickly as possible. Once you kill the Gradungr, the dragon will perch on the tower across the water. It will kill the remaining Einherjar for you. However, it will then set its sight on you. Use your spear to detonate the glowing spot below it.
Further down the path, you will meet up with Sindri, who will now accompany Atreus. You will fight an arena of Einherjar. However, it is pretty large, meaning that Atreus will be able to easily maneuver around it, popping off headshots. Just make sure to take out the archers above when they appear. Eventually, once you have cleared enough of them, Atreus will take his bear form. You are invincible here, so just have some fun.
You will now meet up with Thrud and Kratos, but lose Sindri. Taking control of Kratos, the three of you will engage two large groups of Einherjar. The first group will have many warriors shielded either against frost or fire. Naturally, you should switch to the opposing element to melt these shields as quickly as possible. Einherjar will keep entering the battlefield as you kill Einherjar, so be wary of the back attack! As is always the case, your Blades of Chaos will be particularly effective at dealing with a large number of foes.
The second group of Einherjar won't come in numbers quite as overwhelming as the previous encounter, but there will be some archers you will need to deal with attacking you from above. Moreover, partway through, you will be attacked by a Wyvern. As you did earlier, you are going to use your Draupnir Spear to keep the Wyvern ground, exploding the spears you lodge into it every time it tries to take to the air. Once you finish this group off, you will work through a few Einherjar before you are confronted by the mighty Thor.
Boss Battle: Thor
Thor is coming at you with a souped-up version of the moveset he had in your first encounter with him. And he has pretty much everything he had in that first fight. A fight which had four phases. Which is to say, Thor has a considerable amount of attacks. Here is a quick recap of what moves he has access to.
Thor has a few basic combo attacks. This includes a series of punches and a number of hammer swings. These strikes are all blockable. He also has a hammer combo that alternates between being completely unblockable (red indicator), and parryable (yellow indicator). Thor has a giant haymaker punch, where he will wind up, and then deliver, a powerful straight shot, this can be parried. However, if you miss the parry, he will deliver a damaging kick that will be unavoidable.
Thor also has his hammer-based projectile attacks, which need to be dodged to the side, his clap attack, which needs to be dodged to the side, his ground slam, which you need to dodge away from, and his grab, which also requires you to dodge away from. Finally, Thor has the ability to call his lightning down by pounding the ground with his fists. All of these moves are taken directly from your first encounter with the god of thunder!
Just like in the first encounter, Thor's ground slam attack is shockingly fast. So, if you see him raise his arms above his head, immediately dodge away from him. On the positive side, he seems to use the attack less frequently.
However, Thor has a new move in his first form as well. He will jump away from you, and then throw his hammer down at your feet. Once it collides with the ground, lightning will fork to the left and the right at an angle. This means that if you dodge to the side you will roll directly into a bolt of lightning. As long as you dodge backward, away from the hammer, you will be fine.
You want to dodge his moves appropriately (as outlined above) and look for a few key attacks that leave him particularly vulnerable. First is his punch combo. This series of punches is slow, easy to parry, and gives you a great chance to deal some damage. Just like in the first encounter, Thor is also incredibly vulnerable when he is calling lightning down the sky. His giant punch attack, and the second swing of his powered-up hammer combo, are parryable as well. So, those are another opportunity to land some blows if you are feeling confident in your timing. Beyond that, when Thor is pacing around you will have opportunities to tag him with your ranged attacks.
Thor's Second Form
Once you shave a quarter of his health bar off, Thor will enter into his second form. Here he will pulsate with electricity. You will fight him in basically the exact same way, but he will be much faster once he enters this phase of the battle. He also gets a teleport in this form, so he will zip from side to side, making it harder to get a bead on him. He will also use this teleport to close the distance and deliver his giant kick.
Thor gets a powerful attack where he levitates midair before firing lightning off in every direction. However, this is actually less of a problem, and more of an opportunity to deal damage, as Thor will hover in midair for quite some time, and he is absolutely vulnerable to your shield bash as he does so. This will be one of the main things you look for, as it is easy damage. Beyond that, you are going to be looking for the same attacks as in the first phase. Just be aware that now his punch combo will end with an unblockable hammer swing, so you need to parry one of the first two swings.
Thor's Third Form
Thor's final form is the same as the second, but he will now have a new way of calling lightning down from the sky. Instead of pounding the ground, he will throw his hammer into the sky. The lightning comes down far faster with this move, but more concerning, Thor will come crashing down on top of you. Once Thor takes to the sky, start dodging! This move is fast. So, you are going to watch Thor himself, and dodge the moment he lifts off. Thankfully, once he slams down, he will be left vulnerable. So, once you get used to this move, it becomes another opportunity to deal damage.
Electrified spots on the ground will appear during the final phase. Sometimes Thor will stand on top of one as he does his big lightning attack where he hovers in place. You need to shield bash him! Take the small amount of damage from standing on one of those electrified spots to hit him with your shield blow. The alternative is far, far worse.
Other than his new lightning attack, you are still looking for the same moves to punish. If he hovers midair, you want to shield bash, and punish. If he throws punches at you, you want to parry and punish. When he does his clap, you will want to roll behind him and attack his back. You will also still be attacking him after he slams down from the sky, but he will now do this move twice in a row, so look out for that. Beyond that, hit him with projectiles whenever he is at a distance. It can be a lot to deal with, but you will eventually fell this god of thunder. After a brief cutscene, you will be joined by Atreus, and need to deal with ol' one-eye himself.
Boss Battle: Odin
Odin takes a far less melee-focused approach. He has a Bifrost projectile, which starts as three fireballs that then converge and shoot toward you. Just dodge to the side when they converge. When Odin rises up, he is about to bring down a frost beam on your head. So, prepare to roll to the side. Odin also has an attack where he will plunge his staff into the ground, creating a wave of Bifrost to fire out from him. This is, yet another, attack you will dodge to the side. Beyond that, he has a lunging staff attack that can be parried, but you can also roll to the side to dodge it if you like. Finally, he has a two-hit staff combo. This attack is pretty slow and predictable. While you can't block it, you can parry it. This is Odin's only attack you don't side-dodge.
As you can probably tell, nearly all of Odin's moves can be beaten by rolling to the side. Most of his attacks are imbued with Bifrost, so you will need to be wary of that, but this is only a problem if you get hit, and if you remember to always dodge to the side, you may find that he doesn't hit you particularly often. You will do a lot of damage by hitting him with projectiles when he is at a distance, but your best opportunities will be when he lunges toward you with his staff attack, or when he uses his two-hit staff combo. Both of these are easy to parry, and parrying him will lead to big damage opportunities. You also have Atreus back for this fight, so you can use his whole bag of tricks as well.
Odin's Second Phase
In Odin's second phase, he will split the arena into three sections. However, you don't really need to worry about that yet. He will get two new moves. A flying lunge attack that is completely unblockable, but can be easily rolled away from, and move where he plunges his staff into the ground and generates a giant pool of Bifrost that will erupt after a period of time. You could escape this attack by traveling to one of the other sections of the stage, but you can also just shield bash him and land a big combo. The better option is pretty damn obvious. Otherwise, this version of Odin is essentially the same as the first.
Odin's Third Phase
Once you have brought Odin down to about a third of his life, he will transition into another phase. This version of Odin will start to string his projectile attacks together. So, instead of attacking with one frost beam, he will do two or three in a row. However, the more dramatic change is that his big Bifrost attack will now be performed in the center of the stage. You won't be able to reach him when he is doing it, so you no longer have the option to shield bash him to stop it. Also, it will cover two of the three sections of the stage in Bifrost instead of just one. Your only option is to run and jump onto the section that isn't drenched with Bifrost.
In this stage, Odin's projectiles are more dangerous, as they come faster and are linked together. So, you aren't going to have as many opportunities to land your own projectiles, as you will be too busy dodging to the side (though he will still pause long enough between some sequences to get an axe throw or two in). This means that you will be looking for those staff attacks. Thankfully, he doesn't have much life left at this point anyway. A good idea is to pin him down with one of Atreus' summons so that you can dish out massive damage. Once you take away all his health, a cutscene will play out, and you will fight a whole new form of Odin. On the plus side, Freya will join you and Atreus in this final encounter.
Boss Fight: Odin's Final Form
While Odin has a few shared moves with his previous form, this is largely a completely different fight. Let's start by tackling what is the same. He still has his lunging staff attack. His two-hit staff attack is also pretty much the same. However, he does have a thrusting staff follow-up. This is also parryable attack. Odin also has his Bifrost projectile, but it is considerably quicker here. Much like in the previous fight, parrying his staff attacks will be a consistent source of damage for you.
As for his new attacks, the All-Father will now have a Bifrost whip combo. The combo consists of two horizontal swipes of his whip. These all need to be dodged. His whip combo will also send a projectile your way with each swing, so he will do it up close and far away. Much like the whip swings, you will dodge this projectile by rolling to the side. Odin has another whip attack where he swings his whip above his head, as a giant pool of Bifrost gathers underneath him. This is your opportunity to shield bash him and deal some damage. He has another projectile that sends a large column of Bifrost in a direct line. This is another attack that calls for a side dodge.
Odin gets two new ranged attacks that make use of his ravens. One sends a flock of them at you, you can parry this projectile. The other raven attack sees Odin flee to the opposite side of the screen, where he will summon five orbs above his head (each consisting of ravens). All you need to do is to destroy one with a projectile attack and Atreus and Freya will take care of the other four. Your Draupnir Spear is the best way to take one of these orbs out. If you don't hit one of the orbs in time, they will very slowly pursue you. Just destroy them if that happens.
If you get hit by the flock of ravens, you can shake them off by hitting the circle button. If you successfully shake them off when Odin is close to you, the shockwave that comes from Kratos will stagger him.
While this all seems like a lot—and it is—you will beat Odin much in the same way as you did in the previous fight. You are going to stick close to him, parry his staff attacks, shield bash him when he tries to use his giant Bifrost attack, and otherwise dodge to the side when he sends projectiles your way. If you stay on him, you will find that you will have a ton of opportunities to deal damage.
Odin's Final Phase Of His Final Form
Once you have gotten Odin down to half-health, he will start to utilize a bunch of attacks from the first fight. This includes the attack where he plunges his staff into the ground, sending a giant wave of Bifrost forward and the attack where he flies towards you and stabs his staff down into the ground. Both of these moves are faster now. Odin will also start using his frost beam from the first fight. Once again, it is considerably faster, and he will always use it three times in a row in this phase. In fact, he does the same thing with the Bifrost column attack. He will use that one three times in a row now as well.
On top of the returning moves, Odin will fly away from you, take to the air, and send several projectiles all around that will litter the ground with different status effects (such as frost, fire, and poison). He also gets a flamethrower projectile. He will sweep the fire across left and right, you will need to dodge through it. In a lot of ways, this feels like a long-range version of his whip attack. Though the timing is different, as the flames travel slower. Finally, Odin will now start to use elemental shields. So, if he summons a frost shield, pound him with your Blades of Chaos, if he uses a fire shield, hit him with the Leviathan axe.
The tempo of the fight will have changed, but you are still looking for all the same things that you were in the first phase. Parry the staff attacks, dodge his Bifrost column and attack his back, shield bash his big Bifrost attack (the one where he swings his whip above his head), and, in general, keep the pressure on him. This is also the time to unload all your runic attacks. Inevitably, Odin will fall. Now all that is left to do is to sit back and relax. Enjoy the cutscenes, and celebrate the fact that you have beaten God of War Ragnarok. Not that there isn't more to do, of course. But that, my friend, is for another guide!
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