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Healing is tricky in God of War Ragnarok. Unlike other action games like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry, you can’t carry extra items to heal. While you will be hunting for materials throughout the entire game, you’ll never get medkits — you have to rely on the health you have in any given combat situation. But there are ways to heal yourself either between battles or during combat. We’ve played deep into God of War Ragnarok, and we’re here to explain one of the most basic aspects of the game. This is how to heal with Kratos.
God of War Ragnarok mostly follows the basic design of God of War (2018) — as you battle monsters and open chests, you’ll find green crystals called Healingstones. These are the primary method through which you’ll heal. They can be found all over the game and will even drop from random breakables during boss fights. You’re never far from a healingstone but these aren’t the only way to heal in the game. Eventually you’ll unlock new methods to top up your health — right about when the game starts to really ramp up the difficulty.
And if you’re really struggling with health, open the options menu and check out the extensive Accessibility Options.
How Healing Works | Healthstone, Rage & Valor
In God of War Ragnarok, Kratos has a green health bar — like most video games, your health determines how long you’ll survive any combat encounter. Take too much damage and you’ll die. To keep your health from depleting too much, you’ll need healing. The most basic way to heal is by using Healthstones.
- Healthstones: Common crystals that glow green. Healthstones drop from enemies, appear in small chests, or can drop from breakables in the environment. Healthstones return some health to Kratos when used. They are expended immediately upon use.
Healthstones have variable healing power. Some will return a small amount of health to Kratos, while others will provide a larger boost — you can also increase the effectiveness of healthstones by equipping certain items.
- How To Heal More: By equipping items like the Raven Tears Armor Set, earned by finding Odin’s Ravens and opening the chests at the Raven Tree in Niflheim, you can increase the power of healing. By equipping multiple of these armor pieces, you’ll increase healing exponentially — 15% then 30%. The Chest Armor also provides a chance to generate Healing Mist.
- Later in the game, near the end of the story, you’ll even find Enchantments that regenerate Kratos’s health over time. Very useful!
In addition to healthstones, Kratos will also heal outside of combat. If Kratos’s health is critical, a small amount of health will automatically restore. If the health bar is flashing red, it will restore to about 25% Health outside of combat.
Finally, you can heal with Resurrection Stones. This is the only “healing” item you can prepare at the Blacksmith.
- How To Self-Revive: Craft a Resurrection Stone at the Blacksmith. You can craft multiple levels of Resurrection Stone — the higher quality the stone, the more you’ll heal when you’re revived.
- Resurrection Stones are used when Kratos is defeated in battle. When your health is depleted, an option will appear prompting you to use any Resurrection Stone you have in your inventory.
Using The Rage Meter For Healing
The Rage Meter is also used for healing. You’ll unlock your Rage Meter very early in the adventure — much earlier than in God of War (2018). During the first encounter with Thor, Kratos will unleash his rage. As you progress in the adventure, Kratos will unlock more Rage Meter variants that provide different effects. The first two also provide healing.
- Rage Mode Healing: Activating Rage Mode will begin healing. You’ll heal slowly over time. By avoiding damage while Rage Mode is active, you can heal Kratos a large amount.
- Valor Mode Healing: Much later in the story, you’ll encounter a Valkyrie boss fight. During this fight, you’ll unlock Valor Mode — Valor Mode splits your Rage Meter into multiple segments. Instead of powering up Kratos, Valor Mode heals. You can use it multiple times at full charge.
Saving up meter to use Rage Mode or Valor Mode for healing is one of the most important strategies in the game. God of War: Ragnarok is not as difficult as the first game in the starting half, it isn’t until Kratos reaches the later parts of the story that the game becomes more unforgiving — you’ll need Valor Mode by the time you unlock it.
Healingstones and Valor Mode are the most important methods for healing, but always be on the lookout for more healing chances — by changing the difficulty you can heal more outside of battle or find more tools to restore your health in combat. Other damaging effects like Bifrost will heal slowly while under the effect but deal massive damage if you take another hit with bifrost build-up on your health meter. God of War: Ragnarok is packed with wrinkles to its surprisingly complicated combat system and by the end you’ll be praying for every bit of health you can find.
