God of War: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

This Game Will Punch You in the Face (And You'll Love It)

Look, I'm not gonna sit here and lie to you. When I first booted up God of War, I thought I knew what I was getting into. I'd played the old ones—the hack-and-slash days where Kratos was basically a blender with anger issues. This? This is a completely different animal. It's slower. Meaner. Every fight feels like a bar brawl where the other guy brought a knife. And at first, I hated it. I died to the tutorial troll three times. Three. I'm a veteran, man. That stung.

But here's the thing nobody tells you about this game: the learning curve is front-loaded with a sledgehammer. The first four hours are the hardest. Your attacks feel sluggish, your cooldowns are garbage, and Atreus is still learning what "don't stand in fire" means. But once the combat clicks? Once you internalize that this isn't a combo fighter but a rhythm-based positioning game? That's when it becomes one of the best action games ever made. The combat system is so tight that when you nail a fight against a Valkyrie, you feel like a god. When you screw up, you feel like a guy who just walked into a spinning fan.

I'm writing this guide from the perspective of someone who has beaten the game four times, killed all nine Valkyries on Give Me God of War difficulty, and still occasionally gets my ass handed to me by a random Draugr patrol because I got greedy. I'm not perfect. But I've made every mistake possible so you don't have to. This isn't a flowery "welcome to the adventure" article. This is me sitting across from you at a tavern, telling you exactly what not to do, with the voice of someone who has been there.

Why Most Players Hit a Wall (And How to Climb Over It)

Let me call out the elephant in the room. You're probably here because one of these things happened to you:

• You can't beat the first boss (The Stranger). Don't feel bad. That fight is a tutorial in disguise—it's teaching you that blocking isn't always the answer. He has unblockable attacks that look blockable, and his grab has a weird timing window. The trick? Stay close. Sounds backwards, right? But his close-range combo has a predictable rhythm. Block the first two hits, dodge the third, hit him twice, back off. Repeat until he starts throwing you. When he does, just tap your dodge roll the moment you hit the ground. He punishes panic rolling more than anything.
• You're always out of health stones. Stop using them as soon as you get scratched. I was guilty of this—every chip of damage made me spam L1+R1 for a health pickup because I was panicking. Save them. You can have up to three health stones in your inventory at once. Pop them only when you're at 40% health or less and you know a big hit is coming. Bosses have "soft" phases where they pause for dialogue. That's your window.
• You've wasted all your Hacksilver on the wrong things. Yeah, I did this too. The first time I played, I upgraded the Axe Pommel that gave +2 Defense and thought I was set. Huge waste. Hacksilver is tight early on—don't upgrade gear that you'll replace in two hours. Save for the Léviathan's Wake runic attack (you get it from the Lake of Nine), and prioritize the Niflheim set once you unlock it. Early game, your best friend is the Prototype Amulet of Kvasir—it gives you a last-second dodge window that's absurdly generous. Get it from the Fafnir's Storeroom favor.
• The Valkyries are ruining your life. They're supposed to. That's their job. But here's the secret most guides won't say bluntly: they all have one attack pattern that's slower than the rest. Eleanor of the Mountain? Her wing spin has a longer wind-up than you think. The Queen? She does a double dash that looks like a single dash. I'm not gonna give you a full moveset analysis here, but I'll tell you this: wear the Talisman of Unbound Potential and spam your runic attacks. She can't block frost damage. That's how I beat her on GMGOW. It's not cheap; it's strategy.

Here's the real reason people quit, though: they treat it like Devil May Cry. This is not a game where you press buttons fast and look cool. This is a game where you wait for the enemy to attack, punish, then wait again. Kratos moves like a man carrying a world on his shoulders, because he is. Embrace the deliberate pacing. Once you stop trying to "combo" everything and start treating each encounter like a chess match, the difficulty drops by about 40%.

First Steps Nobody Tells You About

If I had a time machine, here's what I'd tell my past self before the opening cinematic ends:

Start on "Give Me a Balanced Experience." I know you think you're hot stuff. I started on "Give Me God of War" because I'd beaten Souls games. This game doesn't care. The harder difficulties just turn enemies into damage sponges with one-hit-kill potential, which doesn't make you better—it just makes the early game a slog. "Balanced" is hard enough. You'll hit a skill wall around Alfheim anyway. Save the masochist run for New Game+.

Spend your first XP on just two things: The Guardian Shield's "Shield Strike" skill (mid-combo shield bash that interrupts heavy enemies) and Atreus's "Arrow Blitz" (locks an enemy down for 3 seconds). That's it. Everything else can wait. Arrow Blitz alone trivializes the first four boss fights because it gives you a free damage window. I skipped it my first run and spent an hour on the Revenant boss in the cave. An hour.

Do NOT open every chest you see. This sounds crazy, right? But chests in this game follow a weird rule: the ones that are easy to reach give you crafting materials you'll never use. The ones that require a puzzle or a side path? Those give you Idunn Apples and Horns of Blood Mead (your health and rage upgrades). I wasted 45 minutes in the Wildwoods opening every obvious chest, got a pile of "Soft Svartalfheim Steel" I never used, and missed three health upgrades that were hiding behind breakable walls. If a chest is in plain sight, it's probably junk. If it's behind a chain you have to shoot with a light arrow, it's probably an Apple.

Upgrade the Leviathan Axe to Level 3 before you go to Alfheim. I know you want to explore the Lake of Nine—I get it, it's beautiful—but the enemies there scale with your level. If you're Level 2 with a Level 1 axe, those "Travelers" in the lake area will two-shot you. The upgrade materials for the Axe (Hacksilver and a few Soft Svartalfheim Steel) are all found in the Wildwoods and Foothills. Do those zones 100% before moving on. The extra stun damage from a Level 3 axe turns the first boss from a nightmare into a minor inconvenience.

Learn to parry with your fists. The shield parry (L1 just before an attack hits) is good. But unarmed parrying? It's busted. If you punch the air just before an enemy's attack lands, you automatically counter with a haymaker that sends most enemies flying. This is how you bully Draugrs. It also builds stun meter much faster than the axe. I didn't even know this was a mechanic until my second playthrough. Mimir (the head, yes) even has voice lines about it, but they're easy to miss if you're fighting.

And for the love of Odin, upgrade your goddamn Rage meter. Not the health—the Rage. Health in this game is deceptive. It scales poorly; +10 health feels like nothing. But two extra Rage pips mean you can pop Spartan Rage twice in a boss fight. Use it not to deal damage but to recover health. When you're low, pop Rage, mash square to heal, then cancel it early to save meter. That trick alone will save you from 50% of the game's bullshit moments.

Stuff I Learned After 200 Hours (So You Don't Have To)

Alright, you've got the basics. Now here's the advanced stuff that separates "I finished the game" from "I made the Valkyries my sworn enemies."

The "Chest Slam" is your best crowd control. If you sprint and hit R2, Kratos does a downward slam with the axe that creates a small AoE shockwave. This does minimal damage (maybe 20 points). But the stun buildup on each enemy caught in it? It's around 30 points per enemy. If you catch three enemies at once, that's almost a full stun bar for one of them. Use this when you're surrounded. Sprint, slam, then follow up with a light arrow from Atreus to stun-lock the strongest enemy. This combo carried me through the Helheim gauntlet.

Atreus is not your support—he's your primary DPS in certain fights. I know, I know, you want to be the big guy with the axe. But against certain enemies (Nightmares and Spear-Throwing Draugrs especially), Atreus's arrows actually out-damage your axe because they interrupt animations. If you're fighting a Revenant (the teleporting witches), don't even try to hit them until Atreus has shot them three times. The arrow stuns them long enough for you to land a full runic combo. I used to hate Revenants until I realized Atreus can kill them in about 45 seconds if you spam the R1 key.

The Talisman of Betrayal is better than the Talisman of Unbound Potential for boss fights. Hot take, I know. Everyone says Unbound Potential is god-tier because it resets runic cooldowns. But Betrayal gives you +40% damage on your next three attacks after using it. On a full runic combo, that's an extra 800-1000 damage per cycle. You lose the cooldown reset, but you gain burst damage that actually kills enemies before they can hit you. I switch between both depending on the fight. If the boss has less than 15 health bars, Betrayal wins. If it's a marathon fight (like the Queen), Unbound Potential wins.

Upgrade the "Furious Charge" skill last. I know it looks cool—Kratos running at an enemy with the shield up? Badass. But it leaves you completely vulnerable for 1.5 seconds at the end, and enemies can hit you out of the charge animation. It's a noob trap. Instead, max out "Countering Strike" (the parry follow-up) first. That skill lets you parry, then immediately attack with a heavy blow that procs runic damage. Against bosses, that's free damage every time they swing.

Hacksilver farming is a waste of time. You'll see guides telling you to farm the "two Chargers" in the Foothills area for Hacksilver. Don't. The respawn rate is slow and the drop is pitiful (about 120 Hacksilver per kill when you need 5000 for an upgrade). The real money is in selling armor you don't use. Every piece of armor that isn't part of your build? Sell it. I sold my entire "Traveler's Set" (which I'll never use) for 3,200 Hacksilver. That funded my Level 6 upgrade faster than any farming route could.

One more thing: the "Broken Glass" in the Lake of Nine is actually a shortcut. I spent an hour trying to find the "right path" to the second Valkyrie before I realized you can just break the glass barrier near the wheel with a heavy axe throw. The game doesn't tell you this. It just assumes you'll try it because it's breakable. I didn't try it for 70 hours. Don't be like me. If you see a shiny wall, throw the axe at it.

The Dumb Mistakes That Got Me Killed (Fix These Immediately)

I've died more times than I can count. Most of them were my fault. Here's exactly what I did wrong so you can laugh at me and then not do the same thing.

• Mistake #1: Ignoring the "Hold" mechanic on runic attacks. I used to just press R1 or R2 for runic attacks and let them play out. Turns out, for three specific runic attacks (including Ivaldi's Anvil), holding the button extends the duration by 2 seconds. Ivaldi's Anvil normally hits twice for 150 damage each. If you hold it, it hits four times for 150 each. That's 600 damage instead of 300. I missed this for two entire playthroughs. The game shows a tiny icon near the skill description, but it's easy to miss. Always hold the button unless you're interrupted.
• Mistake #2: Not using the "dodge roll" cancel. After any attack, you can dodge roll out of the recovery animation. This is how you stay aggressive without dying. I used to attack, wait for the animation to finish, then dodge. That extra half-second of standing still got me hit by every blockable attack in the game. The timing is tight: immediately after the attack connects, tap X. You'll cancel the recovery frames. It took me 30 hours to figure this out because the game doesn't teach it—it only shows you how to block.
• Mistake #3: Opening the "wrong" realm tears first. There are two realm tears in the Lake of Nine area. One is easy (rewards: Hacksilver and a simple enchantment). The other is the one with the Valkyrie (rewards: a legendary pommel). I opened the Valkyrie tear at Level 3. I died in three hits. Wait until you're Level 6 or higher to tackle the Valkyrie tears. The game marks them with a big skull icon above the tear—if you see that, walk away. Come back when you have the Runic armor set.
• Mistake #4: Selling Ancient materials. The "Ancient" enemies (you know, the big rock guys with the glowing weak spots) drop Ancient's Heart and Ancient's Skin. These are used to craft the Ancient Set, which gives you +30% Runic damage at max level. I sold them for 200 Hacksilver each because I thought they were vendor trash. They're not. They're used in exactly two crafting recipes, both of which are top-tier. Never sell them. Not even if you're desperate for cash.
• Mistake #5: Not using the "quick turn" button. Pressing Down on the d-pad does a 180-degree instant turn. This is crucial for when you hear the audio cue of an enemy behind you (the game has a subtle sound—a grunt or a shuffle—that plays when an enemy is about to hit you from behind). I used to try to manually turn the camera, which takes about two seconds. That's two seconds of not blocking. The quick turn is instant. Bind it to muscle memory. I still use it every 30 seconds in combat.

Oh, and here's one that's 100% my fault but still pisses me off: I spent 8 hours in the Lake of Nine before realizing I could use the "fast travel" doors. The doors are marked with a glowing green rune on the minimap. I just assumed they were decorative. You have to activate them once by walking through them, but after that, you can fast travel between them from the map screen. This saves you about 4 hours of walking. I walked everywhere. Like an idiot.

Questions You're Too Embarrassed to Ask

Q: I'm stuck at the first boss. How do I beat him?
A: The first boss (a big troll with a pillar) has two phases. First phase: he does a three-hit combo (swing-left, swing-right, overhead slam). Block the first two, dodge the slam, hit him three times with light attacks. Repeat. Second phase: he pulls the pillar out of the ground and starts doing a spinning attack. You cannot block the spin. Run backward as soon as you see the wind-up. Use Atreus's arrows to interrupt him during the spin—two arrows will stop him. Hit him after the spin ends. That's literally the whole fight. Don't be greedy.

Q: What's the best armor for a beginner?
A: The SoA (Spartan Armor) that you get from the first blacksmithing quest is fine for the first 6 hours. But if you want something better early, do the "Dead Frost" side quest in the Foothills. It gives you the Leviathan Chestpiece, which has +6 Runic and +5 Defense. That's better than anything you can buy until you hit the Lake of Nine. Don't waste Hacksilver on the "Defender" set from the shop—it looks cool but the stats are worse than the "Traveler's Set" you'll get later.

Q: How do I get more Idunn Apples?
A: You can miss them permanently. There are 9 total in the game (enough to max health at 12 bars). They're hidden in specific chests that require a puzzle. The easiest one to miss is in the Wildwoods behind a breakable wall near the first witch's house. It requires you to shoot a chain with a shock arrow (which you don't have yet at that point). Come back later. I missed it until post-game. The game doesn't mark missed apples on your map.

Q: Is the "Give Me God of War" difficulty worth it?
A: For a first game? No. It just makes enemies spongy and one-hit-kill you. It doesn't change their AI or move sets. It's artificial difficulty. Play "Balanced" first. If you want a real challenge, try the Valkyries on Balanced—that's more fun and less frustrating. GMGOW is for second playthroughs when you already know the game's rhythms.

Q: The controls feel stiff. Is this normal?
A: Yes. Kratos is intentionally slow. His animations have weight. If you're used to fast-action games, it takes about 5 hours to adjust. Lower your camera sensitivity to 3 or 4 (default is 5). This makes tracking enemies smoother. Also turn off the "Show Hints" option—they pop up during fights and block your view. Trust me, the game plays better when you trust your own reflexes over prompts.

Q: Atreus annoys me. Can I turn him off?
A: You'll regret that. Atreus is your best utility tool. He cures debuffs, stuns ranged enemies, and his "Wrath of the Wolf" summon (unlocked mid-game) does 400 damage per wolf and staggers bosses. Without him, you're fighting the game's systems. Plus, his combat chatter (yes, even the "I'm stuck on a rock" lines) often tells you when an enemy is using an unblockable attack. He says "Watch out!" just before the red circle appears. Turn on subtitles so you don't miss it.