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God of War Ragnarok brings back one of Kratos’s signature abilities from the original trilogy — Spartan Rage! Once you fill the red meter beneath your health bar, you’ll be able to unleash an unstoppable and enhanced form of Kratos, dealing more damage with your attacks. As you play through the game, you’ll unlock more Spartan Rage abilities that change how this seemingly simple feature works.
And Spartan Rage is a critical ability. God of War Ragnarok is surprisingly difficult — the story starts off relatively easy before ramping up. By the end you’ll need every bit of Spartan Rage you can get. There’s only one way to upgrade your Spartan Rage, and that’s through Horn of Blood Mead upgrades. You’ll find these rare rewards exclusively from Nornir Chests. To get you started, we’ll explain more about Spartan Rage below and how to get more for your meter.
More God of War Ragnarok guides:
How To Unlock Muspelheim | How To Unlock The Crater | How To Fully Explore The Crater | How To Use Crystalline Shards | Across the Realms Ingredient Locations | How To Unlock Witch Time Playstyle | How To Make Finding Collectibles Easy | All Jewel of Yggdrasil Locations | How To Unlock Enchantments | All Cosmetic Armor | Best Graphics Settings | Atreus Combat Guide | How Leveling Works | How To Upgrade PS4 To PS5 | All Healing Methods | How To Increase Health | How To Unlock Transmog
Spartan Rage | How It Works
Spartan Rage is an ability Kratos unlocks very early in the story — before you can really explore the realms, Kratos will reveal his Spartan Rage ability. There are three forms of Spartan Rage that you’ll unlock as you progress through the story.
- To Activate Spartan Rage: With Red Meter — Press [R3+L3]
- Earn Spartan Rage by collect Rage Stones. These are red stones dropped by enemies or chests.
Spartan Rage enhances Kratos’s combat abilities. You attack faster, take less damage, and deal more damage for the duration of your meter. You can cancel rage at any time to retain meter. As long as you have enough meter, you can reactivate it. Very useful for exploiting weaknesses in enemies. Later, you’ll unlock more forms of Spartan Rage.
- Valor Mode: Heals Kratos instead of dealing damage. Meter is split into multiple segments. Expend one segment to heal a portion of Kratos’s health. You’re vulnerable to damage while using this ability — it locks you in place for a moment.
- Wrath Mode: Unleashes a powerful single attack against an enemy. Splits meter into multiple segments. Each use expends one segment of your meter. Using Wrath instantly interrupts enemy attacks, makes you invincible during the duration of the attack, and can be used to break out of a stun state.
All three Spartan Rage abilities have their uses. And you’ll be able to use them more by increasing your Rage Meter.
How To Increase Spartan Rage Meter
To increase Spartan Rage and use your powers longer — or more often — you’ll need to find a unique key item called a Horn of Blood Mead. Horns of Blood Mead can only be acquired by opening Nornir Chests. To get you started, here’s a list of all the Nornir Chests containing Blood Mead throughout (most) of the game.
Each Horn of Blood Mead increases your maximum Spartan Rage meter. The more you collect, the more Horns of Blood Mead will be required to increase your maximum meter.
Check out our complete Nornir Chest locations guide for more information on Nornir Chests and how to unlock them.
- Nornir Chest: Aurvangar Wetlands | Svartalfheim – After passing the large gate by activating the geyser, move ahead and look to your left. You’ll see a legendary chest on a high ledge. Go past it and find a narrow crevice you can slip under. This leads to a landing with a Nornir chest straight ahead — after you deal with the poisonous Grim creatures first. You need to flip the runes to match the chest.
- Nornir Chest: Alberich Island | Svartalfheim – The beach is located in the far north of the Bay of Bounty. The chest is located to your right after disembarking on the boat landing. Impossible to miss. This one requires you to hit three bells before they reset.
- Nornir Chest: The Forge | Svartalfheim – Directly ahead after stopping the spinning wheel with your ice axe. You need to light three braziers with the Chaos Blades.
- Nornir Chest: Temple of Light | Alfheim – After the fight with the elves in the large room filled with Twilight Stone, cross the light bridge and you’ll encounter the Nornir Chest to the right between two stairs. You have to hit three bells quickly to unlock.
- Nornir Chest: The Barrens | Alfheim – In the structure in the northeast of the Barrens. The building is covered in hive matter. Throw your axe from the back to hit all three hive bulbs — now you can access the chest inside.
- Nornir Chest: The Abandoned Village | Vanaheim – Found just after solving the crane puzzle with the hanging fire. There are three braziers you need to burn in this area. You’ll need to use the crane to light two of the braziers. Found to the right of the bridge after crossing it.
- Nornir Chest: The Veiled Passage | Vanaheim – As you land in the Veiled Passage, you’ll step onto a small camp. Up the hill you’ll find the Nornir Chest. The three bells are on the opposite side of the cavern, on the far wall.
- Nornir Chest: The Forgotten Sands | Alfheim – On the far western cliff, look for a heart-shaped symbol. It leads into a small area with a Nornir Chests. You’ll find the Braziers all over the grounds nearby. You’ll need to use Sigil Arrows and Blades of Chaos to reach the high braziers.
- Nornir Chest: Lake of Nine | Midgard – In the far end of the canyon to the northwest, far past the blacksmith and off your sled. There’s a chest that requires three braziers to be lit at the bottom of a climbable cliff.
- Nornir Chest: The Forge | Svartalfheim – Retuning to the train tracks with the Draupnir Spear, we can finally unlock this chest. There are three runes and you have to detonate all three at the same time.
- Nornir Chest: The Plains | Vanaheim – In the northwest corner of The Plains, you can find a gate locked by Seidr magic. Poison blocks the door leading into the camp. To clear it, go through the gate in the northern watery area at night and travel northwest to a treasure chest. A Traveller will ambush you here. Defeat the Traveller and look over the ledge to freeze the source of the poison.
- Now you can return to the door and go inside. This area is packed with collectibles.
- You’ll find a Nornir Chest against the back edge of the courtyard. It is at the base of the statue. You need to shatter three seals.
- Nornir Chest: The Plains | Vanaheim – In the center / east open area of the Plains, check the northeast — to the right of the frozen lightning — to find a simple Nornir Chest. Ring the three bells to open it.
- Nornir Chest: The Sinkholes | Vanaheim – Found outside the dragon combat area in the northern section of the Sinkholes. After unlocking the second boat dock by travelling through the catacomb, you’ll find this chest. This requires destroying spear runes. Hit all three with your spear and detonate at the same time.
That’s all the Nornir Chests we’ve found so far! Check out our Nornir Chest guide for more tips explaining how to open each chest.
