God of War Ragnarok has arrived and sees us rejoin our heroes, Kratos and Atreus, deep in Fimbulwinter and with years of training under their belts. This game brings in amazing characters both old and new for us to enjoy, and Santa Monica wastes no time making good on the Thor teaser seen at the end of the previous game.
Thor shows up at Kratos and Atreus’ house with mead and asks to join them inside. Before this fight, we’re treated to an amazingly written cut scene that introduces Thor and Odin to the audience perfectly. After rejecting Odin’s offer of peace, Kratos is forced to fight Thor for the first time. Thor is an imposing figure and his boss fight is full of cut scenes and surprises. If you’re looking for a bit of help with it, then you’ve come to the right place.
Phase One
After Thor launches Kratos right out of his own home, the two fight in an icy location nearby. For this part of the fight, Kratos doesn’t have his Leviathan Axe and must take down Thor with his shield and his fists. It’s a brutal start to the fight. If you have your Spartan Rage available, this is a good time to use it, especially since it will help move along this phase. One thing to note about Thor is that in every phase he is faster than he appears. He can close the gap between himself and Kratos in an instant, making it very important to keep moving. Don’t view distance as safety. Once you regain the Leviathan Axe, finish taking down Thor’s health to trigger a cutscene and phase two of the fight.
Quick-Time Responses
Thor will occasionally grab you and you’ll have a chance to respond if you hit L1 fast enough, otherwise, he’s just going to overwhelm Kratos and finish his attack.
Yellow Rings
While you can make decent use of your shield on weaker attacks, the yellow-ringed attacks are going to knock aside your shield and leave you open to a pummeling. Using your block in this fight is okay, but dodging is even better.
Red Rings
The red-ringed attacks are the big bad ones that will blow right through any of your defenses. Too many of these and you’ll end up on your back very quickly. Dodge these whenever possible.
Phase Two
In this phase, you have your axe and Thor has his hammer out. Thor’s hammer allows him to introduce a few new ranged attacks that he mixes into his moveset. Thor will throw out his hammer often. His ranged attacks are both fast and devastating. As many of them have the red unblockable ring, it’s best to try and evade these attacks altogether. You’ll also be faced with another couple of quick-time responses where you need to mash O in order to deflect Thor’s hammer. These are harder to miss than the ones in phase one of the fight.
Use The Environment
A bunch of pillars are scattered around this arena. Kratos can pick them up and slam them into Thor, really rocking his world for a second. After hitting him with a pillar, feel free to get in there and deal some damage while he’s recovering.
Phase Three
After another wild cutscene you’ll see that Thor’s health bar is completely refilled. You also have a new arena to fight in with what looks to be a frozen piece of lightning as a centerpiece. Thor also introduces a new attack where he slams the ground repeatedly and summons lightning to strike around him, meaning you need to dodge both Thor and the lightning. This is the only new mechanic added to the mix, meaning most of the fight is the same as before. Trust your tactics. Once you get his health down this time, you’ll have finished the fight.
