Checking out the best God of War Ragnarok skills is essential when it comes to gameplay. Although Kratos is exceptionally powerful even while barehanded, you don’t have to scour the early game for weapons. God of War Ragnarok picks up where the first adventure ended; ensuring you’ve got the Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos at your disposal. However, since the game’s skills don’t carry over from its predecessor, you’ll have to invest in the right skills to elevate your gameplay experience.
Since things are a bit different this time, gathering XP (Experience Points) is slightly tricky in the game’s early stages. While you’ll have to grind considerably to fight against the more formidable enemies, there’s a way to improve your gameplay. In this blog, we’ll tell you about the best skills in God of War Ragnarok that you need to purchase early on. Using these skills will ensure that you’ve got the perfect balance of Health, Offense, and Defense. Let’s check them out below!
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Skill Trees
God of War Ragnarok features three skill trees. Each of these skill trees branches out into different areas based on the type of skill that’s on offer. This might be slightly complicated for newcomers to the RPG (Role Playing Game) genre. However, for more seasoned players, they’ll feel right at home in operating the skill trees. You’ll also find that the skill trees are divided based on the Leviathan Axe, Blades of Chaos, and Atreus. Check out the skills that you need for each of these divisions:
Frozen Ascent – Leviathan Axe
This is one of the best skills to have for your Leviathan Axe. God of War Ragnarok incorporates aerial combat more meticulously than its predecessor. So, to take full advantage of the improvements in the combat system, you’ll have to acquire specific skills. With Frozen Ascent, you’ll receive a minor upgrade to the damage dealt with the Axe. Moreover, by holding the Triangle or corresponding button, you’ll be able to use Frost Awaken. Using these together during the flow of combat will launch the enemy into the air and deal a significant amount of frost damage. Following this, you can chain together more aerial moves and eliminate them the way you want!
Hyperion Grapple II – Blades of Chaos
The Blades of Chaos is one of the most iconic weapons in video game history. First introduced in the older God of War Trilogy, this set of chained blades has become a staple to God of War lore. Although the Leviathan Axe is quite popular, thanks to the reboot, the Blades of Chaos remains one of Kratos’ most potent and deadly weapons. Moreover, in God of War Ragnarok, the Blades of Chaos deal lots of damage through fast movement and wide ranges.
With the Hyperion Grapple I, Kratos is able to use the Blades of Chaos to pull himself towards an enemy and close the distance. This allows him to follow up with some brutal combos for significant damage. However, upgrading this skill to the Hyperion Grapple II deals even further Stun damage and spreads damage in an Area of Effect. With this upgrade, your target and any enemies around them will be dealt severe damage.
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Extinguish Flames – Leviathan Axe
If you like mixing up their combos and attacks by swapping weapons mid-combat, you’ll love the Extinguish Flames skill. This is a passive skill that provides further damage to enemies who are suffering from Flame damage. If you’ve damaged the enemies enough through your Blades of Chaos, to the point of them burning, you can change to the Leviathan Axe and damage them even more severely. The Extinguish Flames skill may not be one that you’ll require all the time. However, despite its contextual use, the skill is one of our absolute favourites!
Vaporized Frost – Blades of Chaos
There are different types of enemies in God of War Ragnarok, and most of them are based on their environments. For example, frost environments will house frost-based enemies who are immune to frost attacks. In these situations, you’ll have to use the Blades of Chaos. Think the opposite for the Leviathan Axe and fire-based enemies. This particular skill in question is for the Blades of Chaos. While this weapon is quite strong against frost enemies, the Vaporized Frost skill increases the damage you can deal with them. In fact, it significantly boosts the active damage that you can cause with the Blades. So, we’d recommend you pick up this skill as soon as possible.
Perma Frost – Leviathan Axe
The Leviathan Axe is already a pretty powerful weapon. Its slower and more deliberate damage output is often the best way to dispatch smaller enemies. Moreover, a few added passive skills can make the Axe absolutely ideal for certain situations. With the Perma Frost skill, your Leviathan Axe will start building more and more frost damage with each hit. However, you’ll have to ensure that you’re not taking any damage when you’re building up the combo. Otherwise, the skill won’t be activated. Also, practice your dodging and parrying as much as possible before purchasing this skill.
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Plume of Chaos – Blades of Chaos
The Plume of Chaos skill is one you’ll be able to unlock during the early to mid-game phase. It requires you to level up your Blades of Chaos to at least level four. However, once you have achieved Level 4 with the Blades, your first skill purchase should be the Plume of Chaos. In fact, it’s a callback to the older God of War games, which featured more button-mashing combat and greater damage effects. To perform this skill, you’ll have to perform five light attacks and then follow them up with a heavy attack. This will make Kratos perform multiple hits and complete the combination with a heavy finisher. By slamming the Blades of Chaos into the ground at the very end, Kratos will create a large Area of Effect explosion that will fatally damage all nearby opponents.
Glacial Rake – Leviathan Axe
One of the major drawbacks of the Leviathan Axe is its lack of range. At the most, you can hurl it at an enemy and have Kratos call back the Axe, Mjolnir style. However, it doesn’t have too many skills for Area of Effect hits which can affect multiple enemies. This is why you must purchase the Glacial Rake skill for the Axe. With this skill, Kratos will unleash a vicious attack that can target multiple enemies up to moderate ranges. Moreover, considering the fact that the Blades of Chaos lack the level of damage that the Axe deals, you might need to use the Glacial Rake skill more often than expected!
Chaotic Rampage – Blades of Chaos
If the name Chaotic Rampage isn’t telling enough, this skill is undoubtedly one of the essential upgrades for the Blades. In fact, it gives off the vibe of the older Kratos that we’re used to seeing in the older God of War Trilogy. With this skill, you’ll be able to press and hold the light attack button, automatically allowing Kratos to unleash a barrage of attacks on the enemy. You won’t have to press the buttons repeatedly, and nearly every enemy in Kratos’ line of sight will be affected. Moreover, it’s a very useful skill to have if you’re targeting a sizeable single enemy.
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Atreus Skills
Atreus is an entirely different and somewhat independent identity in the game. Of course, for most of your battles, he will help to the best of his ability. However, his basic abilities won’t be enough to get you through the game’s latter stages. So, it becomes imperative for you to upgrade his skills through the skill tree as often as possible. Let’s check out a few skills that we consider essential for Atreus:
Watchful Protector
Atreus is generally helpful during fight sequences. However, his basic skillset is barely enough to scrape by the first couple hours of gameplay. To ensure that he works better with Kratos and is far more helpful, you’ll have to upgrade his skills. One of the first skills you should purchase for the demi-god is Watchful Protector. This skill allows Atreus to draw the enemy’s attention away from Kratos whenever the latter is low on health. It allows Kratos to recover and restore a bit of health and attack his enemies from behind. This skill becomes particularly useful if there are too many enemies pressuring you.
Breaching Bash
Atreus is a more stun-oriented NPC in the game. Although he uses a bow and arrows as his primary weapons, most of his combat will be close quarters. So, his stun-based attacks are actually quite useful if you know when to use them. With Breaching Bash, Atreus will use his shield to bash enemies, thereby stunning them for a short period. Kratos can then use this small time frame to interact with the stunned enemy and eliminate them with a brutal finisher. It’ll also buy you some time if you’re overwhelmed by a tightly packed group of enemies.
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Final thoughts
Thanks to the RPG nature of God of War Ragnarok, there are plenty of skills and moves that you can acquire. Moreover, the developers have ensured that there’s enough variety for players to choose their own playing style. Considering this, choosing the best God of War Ragnarok skills becomes highly important, especially in the early stages of the game. With the perfect skills, you’ll be able to progress through the game much faster as well. Hopefully, with this list of skills, you’ll be able to understand what works best for your playthrough. If there are any other skills that we’ve missed out on, let us know in the comment section below!
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Writer, researcher, and avid gamer. Geeks out over postmodern novels and the latest PC games. Usually intends all his puns.