God of War: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

Introduction — My Honest Take

Look, I’ve been playing God of War (the 2018 one, and Ragnarok when it dropped) since launch day. I’ve got save files piling up like Kratos piles up corpses. And I’ll tell you straight: this game is not the "easy action adventure" the trailers sell it as. It’s a beautiful, brutal, tight-ass combat puzzle that will punish you for button-mashing like it’s 2005. I love it precisely because it’s hard to master. I hate it because the first time I fought the Baldur fight on "Give Me God of War," I spent 45 minutes dying to his ground slam because I thought the dodge roll had invincibility frames the whole way — spoiler: it doesn't.

What makes this game special for me isn’t the story (though it’s great), or the graphics (they’re obscenely good). It’s the weight. Every swing of the Leviathan Axe feels like you’re hauling a sled full of rocks. Every block with the shield vibrates through your controller. And the combat system is way deeper than the first hour lets on. You think you’re just smacking guys? Nope. You’re juggling cooldowns, distance, elemental damage, and rage management. This guide is everything I wish someone had told me before I wasted 10 hours under-leveled and screaming at a Revenant. Let’s fix that.

Getting Started / First Steps — What I Wish I Knew

When you first boot up, the game throws you into a hunting trip with Kratos and Atreus. It’s slow. Don’t quit. The first few hours are a tutorial in disguise, but the game doesn’t tell you half of what matters. Here’s the stuff I had to learn the hard way:

• Do NOT start on "Give Me God of War." Seriously. I did it because I’m an idiot. The difficulty spike is unfair for first-timers. Start on Balanced or Give Me a Challenge if you’ve played action games before. God of War is doable, but you’ll hate the endgame grind if you’re dying every 30 seconds to a basic Draugr.
• Spend your first Hacksilver on the chest upgrade. I bought a cool pommel for the Axe and immediately regretted it. The chest upgrade from the dwarves (Brok and Sindri) gives you more inventory slots for runic attacks, which are your big damage dealers. You need that more than a 3% frost damage buff.
• Atreus is not just a distraction. I ignored his arrows early on. Huge mistake. The boy’s arrows can stun-lock certain enemies, interrupt attack animation, and even apply weak status effects. In your first few fights, just spam square while you circle around. It makes the early trolls easy.
• Explore everything in the Lake of Nine after you lower the water the first time. There are entire regions, chests, and favors (side quests) tucked behind those gates. I missed half of them because I beelined for the story marker. The game world opens up after the first "pay attention" moment, but you have to pull the chain yourself to open new docks.
• Read the codex entries. Yeah, I know, nobody reads codex. But the game hides information about enemy weaknesses and lore that directly affects combat. The Revenant enemy? Codex literally says "weak to shock arrows." I died to their fire spam for an hour before I read that.

Core Mechanics & Progression — How It Actually Works

The game lies to you on the surface. It says "Level Up" is tied to gear. That’s only half true. Your actual power comes from three things: Your Runic Attacks, Your Talisman, and Your Stats from gear. The number (like Level 3) is just a rough average of your gear level. But it’s the stats that matter.

Here’s the breakdown you won’t get from the tutorial:

• Runic Attacks are your nukes. You get one light and one heavy per weapon. They have cooldowns, and they scale entirely off your Runic stat. If you stack Runic early, your attacks like Hel’s Touch (light) or Glaive Storm will hit like trucks. The default ones are okay, but I swapped to River of Knives on the Axe and it staggers everything in a line. Huge.
• Talismans are the real game-changers. You get one, and they can give you a burst of stat, a slow-mo effect, or a protective shield. I swear by the Talisman of the Realms (found in Muspelheim) — it gives you a slow-down effect for a few seconds. That’s enough to unload two runic attacks and a few combos on a boss. Insane.
• Stats are not equal. Strength is for raw damage. Runic is for special ability damage. Defense is a tax — you need enough to not die in two hits, but don’t stack it over damage. Luck is a lie. Yes, it procs bonus XP and Hacksilver, but in combat it barely does anything. I ignore it until post-game.
• Armor sets have hidden synergy. The Valkyrie set gives bonus perks like "bare-handed damage" or "runic cooldown." But the Ivaldi’s Deadly Mist set (Niflheim) is the best all-rounder because it heals you every few seconds. You can ignore health management if you wear it. That’s ridiculous.
• Enchantments are endgame. You grind for these in Niflheim and Muspelheim. They slot into your armor and provide stat boosts + unique effects (like "increased stagger resistance"). Until you get there, don’t stress them. Just equip the best you have.

Progression is not linear. You can’t just grind random monsters. You have to farm specific materials from bosses or by opening legendary chests. The Dust of Realms is needed for high-level upgrades, and you only get it from chests or the dwarves. I spent 3 hours farming a troll that dropped nothing. Don’t be me.

Expert Tips & Tricks — The Stuff They Don’t Tell You

These are the things I figured out after 100+ hours and multiple playthroughs. Write them down. Or don’t. But you’ll thank me later.

• The Axe throw is faster than you think. You can recall it with triple-tap triangle (fast recall). This lets you hit an enemy, recall, and hit another in a split second. I’ve chained throws to kill three exploding Draugr before they touched me. Practice this in the open world with birds. It’s muscle memory now.
• Save your Spartan Rage for "oh shit" moments. Rage is not for damage. In early game, it does okay damage but the health regen is insane. I pop it when I’m one hit from death and have no healthstones. Also, Rage interrupts boss attacks — you can start raging to break out of a stunlock or grapple. That saved my ass against the Dark Elf king.
• Atreus’s summons are the best crowd control. Once you unlock the Summon Arrow skill, the boy can call a wolf, bear, or some freaky ghost thing. The Bear summon has a massive knockback. I use it when 5 Nightmares are spawning in. Instant clear.
• Parrying is not just for show. The Guardian Shield (your default one) has a small parry window but a big stagger follow-up. If you parry a heavy attack from a traveler or a troll, you can do a shield bash (R1 after parry) that knocks them off balance and reduces their stagger bar. I can parry the Valkyrie queen’s non-fast attacks reliably now. It’s all timing. Practice on Valkyrie Gunnr — she’s the easiest.
• Use the Blades of Chaos as a "get off me" tool. Your Blades (unlocked mid-game) have massive area damage. The Whiplash combo (R1, R1, R1, hold R1) sweeps around you. If you get surrounded by wolves or fast enemies, just switch to Blades and spam heavy attacks. They don’t need perfect aim.
• The "Permafrost" and "Immolation" meter are critical. When you attack with Axe, you build up a status meter (visible as a blue glow on the weapon). At full, your next run heavy attack does 2.5x damage and freezes the enemy instantly. For Blades, it burns them. You can ignore enemy defenses with that. I killed the final boss with a single Permafrost-boosted heavy attack.

Common Mistakes to Avoid — What Got Me Killed

Let’s talk about my failures so you don’t repeat them. I died more times than I care to admit. Here’s what hurt the most:

• Holding block against enemies with unblockable attacks. This sounds obvious, but the game has red-circle attacks that go through blocks. The Valkyrie’s blinding attack is a circle indicator — you have to roll sideways. I kept blocking it and getting flash-banged. Roll through, not away.
• Not upgrading the Blades of Chaos reputation. When you get them, the game says "use them on weak enemies to gain XP." I ignored this. Turns out you unlock runic attacks for the Blades only by using them a lot. I had a level 6 Axe and a level 2 Blades. Terrible.
• Ignoring side quests ("Favors") in the late game. The main story will under-level you around the Light of Alfheim part. If you push through, you’ll face level-differentiated enemies that one-shot you. Do every favor in the region before moving on. I went straight to the Mountain and got stomped by a level 5 Ogre.
• Not using the "Quick Turn" ability. It’s bound to down on the D-pad by default. I never used it until my third playthrough. Enemies like Dark Elves teleport behind you constantly. Quick turn into a parry or block. It’s a lifesaver.
• Farming resources inefficiently. I spent hours killing random wolves for Hacksilver. The real money is in selling gear you don’t need and doing the "Brok’s Favorite" favor. You get thousands of Hacksilver and a rare item. Also, selling Dust of Realms might seem smart, but you need it for endgame. I sold 50 and regretted it when upgrading my Axe to level 8.
• Considering the "Spinning Attack" for the Blades as a dodge. It’s not. The Blades’ heavy spin move has a long wind-up and you take damage during it. I got killed by a simple fire blast because I tried to "attack through" it. Not worth it.

FAQ — Quick Answers to Questions You’ll Have

These are the questions I see in every Discord channel and Reddit thread. Straight answers, no fluff.

• Can I respec? How? Yes. Go to any of the dwarves (Brok or Sindri). Open the shop, then press the joystick button (or whatever your platform says) to "reset skills." Costs 500 Hacksilver. Do it anytime.
• What’s the best armor in the game? For raw stats, Ivaldi’s Deadly Mist set (Niflheim) is the best for survivability. For pure DPS, Valkyrie+ set from the queen. For early game, traveler armor is fine. Don’t invest heavily until level 6+.
• How do I beat the Valkyries? Learn their move patterns. They have 8 attacks that rotate. The biggest tip: when they do the "valkyrie lunge" (ground rush), dodge toward them, not sideways. Also, use Atreus’s shock arrows to cancel their aerial attacks. The queen took me 6 hours. It’s all pattern memorization.
• Is the Niflheim maze worth it? Yes, but it’s a grind. You need to clear the maze multiple times for Mist Echoes to craft Ivaldi’s armor. The timer is stressful, but if you collect Niflheim keys from chests, you get permanent debuffs cleared. It’s the best endgame content, honestly.
• Can I play as Atreus? No. Not even in Ragnarok (well, kinda, but not in 2018). He’s the sidekick. Get used to it.
• Why is the Leviathan Axe so slow? Because it’s meant to be positional. Use it for single-target damage, freezing, and throwing. Don’t hack with it in crowds — that’s the Blades’ job. If you want speed, Level 2 and 3 have skills that reduce recovery frames. Look for "Grip of the Maze" pommel — it increases speed.
• What difficulty should I really play? If you’re new to action RPGs, Give Me a Balanced Experience is perfect. You’ll see enemy patterns but not get one-shot. If you’re a veteran, Give Me a Challenge makes the game more rewarding. "God of War" (the highest) is for masochists like me. Only do it if you know you can handle 13% damage taken per hit.
• Is there a way to fast travel? Yes, but only after you get the Mystic Gateways unlocked. You can teleport between them. Later, you get a key item (the Dwarven Seals) that lets you open the "realms" travel doors. It’s not instant, but it beats walking.
• How do I get the "Odin’s Ravens" trophy? Kill 51 ravens scattered across the realms. You need a specific talisman (Brok’s or Sindri’s) to find them. Use YouTube guides. I’m not listing locations — it’s pure chore.
• One final tip: take breaks. The game is long (30+ hours) and intense. I played 8 hours straight and started missing parries and getting killed by the tutorial troll. Walk away, cool off, come back. The combat is brutal when you’re angry.

That’s it. You’ve got the real guide now. Go kill some Draugr, and remember: throw your axe more than you swing it. I learned that too late.