If you are a fan of the first hour of God of War you must have noticed how much the combat system has changed. Always the clashes with the enemies have been the beating heart of this franchise which, after years of honourable career, has decided to turn in a new direction. Our Kratos will make its debut with a new weapon, the Leviathan Axe, which will allow him a very different approach to the various fights which he will face; all this without, of course, considering the very important contribution of Atreus, the young archer son of the Phantom of Sparta. In this guidebook of ours, we will tell you all basic tips to better deal with confrontations with enemies and familiarize yourself immediately with the new combat system.
God of War PS4: General combat tips
When you start the new Kratos adventure, you will immediately realize that you don't have who knows how many skills at your disposal. The possible approaches to combat will initially be few, but they can be increased by acquiring new abilitieswhich can literally turn the outcome of a confrontation upside down. Each weapon you use will have its own personal skill tree, and it's up to you to decide which strategy you prefer in combat: whether to attack at a distance or if you launch into close combat. It goes without saying that, of course, there will be some skills much more useful than others that, for this reason, you should prefer. If you want to go deeper into the subject, click our guide on the best skills to develop.
Obviously each weapon will have its own specific function. Some abilities of theLeviathan AxeFor example, it can freeze your enemies, making them immobile and more vulnerable to your subsequent attacks; in addition, the axe in question can churn out loaded attacks capable of inflicting the highest possible damage in God of War . Despite the Guardian Shield may seem like a simple defence tool, it may also come in handy as an offensive weapon. Many of the enemies that you will encounter will in fact be equipped with shields: for this reason, acquiring the appropriate skills of the Guardian's Shield, you can break their guard, creating an opening to attack and avoiding numerous headaches. On the other hand, it has always been said that the best defense is attack.
However, never forget the teamwork In God of War . During the fighting, Kratos will never be alone: Atreuswith his bow, he will provide all necessary support and, with the appropriate skills, can contribute to the stunning of our opponents. Despite the young age of the young archer, his help will often be vital, and will never be a burden in our adventure. In addition, by unlocking a certain skill, Atreus will be able to back-climb of bigger enemies, trying to strangle them. All this will distract the enemy in question, allowing Kratos to attack them without too much trouble.
How to deal with the fighting in God of War
After this general smattering, it's time to go into more specific combat phases. As all fans will God of War surely remember, in the course of his epic, Kratos has found himself up against a huge variety of enemies. Even in this new adventure of his, every enemy will have its weak point, and it's up to us to discover it, either by trial and error or by consulting the Bestiary in the Pause Menu, which will contain all the necessary information about each monster in the game.
The importance of dodging, blocking and counterattacking
One of the novelties of this new chapter of the Santa Monica Studio saga is the importance given to the defensive action. Defending ourselves will be an important, almost vital part of this new God of War combat system, and we will have to use all the skills at our disposal for Dodge, block and repel attacks that our opponents will hurl at us, while choosing the right moment to counterattack and launch our offensive. Precisely for this reason, learning the mechanics of dodge, parry and counterattack commands will literally save our lives in many situations.
Obviously every skill you learn will have different possibilities of use and may not be usable for all categories of enemies. For example, blocking large enemy attacks will cost you a certain percentage of your health, and dodging it may not always be the ideal solution, especially in very small and cramped stages. Based on the above, we'll have to learn the advantages and disadvantages of every single skill... taking great care to memorize each creature's attack patterns, so as to "predict" what its next move will be. That's exactly how we'll have to prepare for combat, in order to minimize the damage we're going to take in.
As for the CounterattackThis is a gimmick that can be used in almost any fight. In many cases, when you are attacked by enemies and you manage to parry their blows, you can stop their attack, thus creating an opening for you to fight back. In this timeframe, make sure to deliver hits as fast as possible; by doing so, and avoiding slow, heavy attacks, you will have no problem inflicting large amounts of damage to the various monsters you encounter.
God of War the importance of the Fury of Sparta
The Fury of Sparta is the special ability of Kratos that, when activated, will allow the Greek warrior to attack enemies with deadly fists that will increase the stun damage counter and, at the same time, will heal him slowly. It is a very useful skill, and you'll have to make sure you do whatever it takes to accumulate Fury and make it available during the fight, since you'll never know when you'll need it to bring home the skin.
There are a lot of different weapons and armor modifications that can be forged to increase Kratos' Fury; you'll learn more simply by consulting the information of the items in your inventory. There are also small stones that can be broken to unlock any upgrades and increase the amount of Spartan Fury available. These items will be available in the Norns' coffers; if you want information on where to find these trunks, click our guide to collectibles by God of War .
Stunning enemies
As you may have experienced, most of the fighting in God of War will occur against a multitude of enemies. For this reason, loading head down is not always the best option, especially if there are large and/or heavily armored enemies. Precisely for this reason, you may want to throw the Leviathan Axe away and only call it back later, concentrating on the hand-to-hand combat.
This mode allows Kratos to focus on kicks and punches, or using his shield; in this way, our hero will cause stun damageby increasing the counter. Once the counter in question fills up, the enemy will momentarily lose consciousness: all you have to do is get closer and press the R3 button, in order to trigger a powerful attack, which will cause a lot of damage, killing minor enemies and seriously injuring major ones.
Don't forget Even Atreus' arrows can stun enemies.... According to what has just been said, never forget to throw a few at the right time, so as to stun the biggest and most dangerous monsters. Despite the understandable initial scepticism, the young Atreus will prove to be a valuable ally in the main plot.
