10 Tips & Tricks for God of War

We're all playing it, right? The notorious God of War on PC. Whether you've played it already on the PlayStation 4 and endured the hardship that it is to aim the Leviathan axe with the controller, or are playing it for the first time, it's always good to have a couple of tips so that you can truly play like the god of war. Here are the top tips it took me the longest to learn, alongside the mistakes I noticed my wife making whilst she played.

#1 - Play on an easier difficulty on your first run

This is a weird tip to have, right? But I find it extremely crucial.

You see, the first time I played God of War, my greatest flaw was hubris. I believed that I could do everything, I could win anything, and I'd persevere through aught. Sure, I wasn't wrong, but I beat the final boss only after dying well over 100 times to it, and this wasn't an isolated incident of me dying over and over again.

The "Give me a challenge" and "Give me God of War" difficulties are staggeringly difficult, with some blatant balancing issues. Some enemies will go as far as three-shotting you, and you can easily get overwhelmed by several of these enemies at once that can arrive over multiple waves. It's fun... if you like difficulty and perfecting your playstyle; otherwise, try to steer clear from it to prevent dying several dozen times per encounter.

#2 - Remap your controls (Steam port)

God of War is expertly built, with a lot of actions to do but they all make sense and fit nicely... on the PlayStation controller. The Steam port is a different story.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the game feels clunky to play. However, the controls were never meant to be played with mouse and keyboard, which is the main problem. In the PlayStation, the controls are built so that they make sense, and no button feels out of place. On Steam, however, there aren't actually enough buttons to make it feel comfortable. So don't be afraid of jumping into the settings menu and messing around with the mappings until you find something that suits you!

#3 - Explore

Tomb Raider: God of War

There are a lot of things that you're going to want to pick up in God of War. There are two main collectibles that increase your health bar and rage bar, two very essential upgrades. However, that isn't the only thing you should be keeping your eyes open for, with chests filled with hacksilver (currency) and several upgrade materials such as the Svartalfheim steel variants. 

Not only should you explore for collectibles, but you also have to keep your eyes peeled for Odin's crows which you can shoot down that will work towards goals that award XP. These are essential to complete because of the sheer amount of XP that they award, which will work as a currency to purchase upgrades for runic abilities and Kratos' skill tree.

Bonus: God of War has a lot of Metroidvania-esque elements incorporated in the game, such as coming back to areas with brand-new abilities to access them. Whenever in doubt, throw your axe at things several times and listen to see if Atreus will comment on how you don't have what's necessary to interact with that yet.

#4 - Be careful with what you upgrade and sell

 

I know these count as two tips technically, but they work within the same area: purchasing, upgrading, and selling

Whenever you are upgrading anything in God of War, you have to make absolutely sure that you are upgrading something you have equipped to ensure that you do not waste precious materials that should be going to upgrading the items you have equipped. This is signified by an E on the equipment.

Likewise, whenever you are going to sell old equipment, make sure that you are not selling it while it has its enhancement slots filled. This will also sell the enhancement slotted to the equipment.

And last, but not least, sell all junk and collectibles. These are the items you find scattered throughout the world, such as the toys that appear within the tutorial area. Their only use is to be sold for hacksilver (currency).

#5 - Don't neglect using Atreus' arrows

We've all been there, we see arrows, we think that they're just feeble little things with an iron tip that won't really do much. Except... they do. A lot.

Atreus' arrows are a wonderful tool to use in combat and it's imperative to use them whenever available. Not only do they provide extra damage to ensure that your enemies are withered away by both Kratos' brutish blows and Atreus' sharp arrows, but they can ensure that your enemy's STUN bar increases whenever trying to go for an execution.

#6 - Don't neglect using Kratos' Leviathan axe throws

That's what "Put your back in it" means, look at him go!

I tried my absolute hardest to learn how to use the Leviathan axe throws, but for the life of me, I was unable to actually get used to the PlayStation controller. Whilst my own lack of experience with consoles made it a big issue, I also underestimated the usefulness of how it might work.

Using a heavy throw will freeze smaller enemies, which will prevent you from getting overwhelmed whenever fighting several enemies, while also being able to set them up for a heavy kick with the unarmed stance that might shatter them against the wall or deal heavy STUN damage.

#7 - Don't neglect Kratos' runic abilities

Here, for instance, Kratos is using his special: Disco Ball. Everyone's dancing, I swear.

It's starting to get repetitive, isn't it? But it's the truth! Whenever I was playing God of War, I continued to neglect to do what should have been basic things. One of these is the runic abilities.

I have a bad habit of saving things such as abilities until I absolutely need them, second-guessing when "absolutely needing" something actually is at every turn of the corner. There were times I was a one-hit-wonder and I had my runic abilities, but I still thought I could maybe use it to ensure that I kill several enemies and not just one. I neglected using them so much that I knew throughout my battles that if I'd used it at any given point, the cooldown would have passed and I could have used it again.

#8 - Use Spartan Rage sparingly

 

Remember how I said spam runic attacks? Yeah, don't do that with Spartan Rage. This is because you can't naturally raise the bar unless you're fighting and beating up baddies. It might be most useful whenever fighting a specifically tough group of enemies, and making sure that it's up for whenever that happens is a harsh, but necessary, task. When you do use it, try using it early in combat so that you can go back to building up your bar via beating up the enemies so that for the next fight you might have it ready once more.

#9 - Don't use heavy attacks while on Spartan Rage

Also known as Hulk Smash

I don't know if I'm right about this, I did a bunch of tests and most of it felt rather inconclusive. But, whenever I entered Spartan Rage, it felt like the best use of these punches was to use light attacks because they deal the most damage in the end. Unless you can use a heavy attack to knock an enemy over a ledge, it might be best to stick to cornering them and using light attacks.

#10 - Learn to block and dodge, and when to do each

God of War started as a hack and slash game, but this latest iteration turned into quite the fighting game. Make sure to learn how to block and dodge whenever necessary and try not to stick to only one, changing as is applicable. The most important thing, however, is learning how to parry, for the quick interruption that Kratos does will offer a short reprieve from hectic combat and a moderate stun to get in some blows.

And that's all for this part of God of War tips and tricks! Make sure to stay tuned for the next part, in which we touch on more survival tactics that might be extremely useful for the harder difficulties, or for that one run in the "Give me God of War" difficulty. And until next time, stay awesome!