God of War Ragnarok Walkthrough Part 2: Bjorn Boss Guide

Players of God of War Ragnarok will fight their very first boss pretty early in the game. After a little bit of searching for Atreus in the Upper Wildwoods, Kratos will come face to face with Bjorn, a giant bear with something of an attitude problem. If you’re not familiar with Ragnarok‘s combat style, the fight can be a little challenging as it teaches players some of the more intricate parts of the game’s combat.

Veterans of the series, however, shouldn’t encounter any major issues with the fight as it’s relatively straightforward. If you’re struggling, use the guide below to help you see Bjorn’s patterns and how to best combat them.

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Bjorn Boss Guide

As mentioned above, the Bjorn boss fight is pretty simple but it showcases some of the more intricate elements of God of War Ragnarok‘s combat. Up to this point in the game, you could mostly get away with simply wailing on the enemies without much strategy, but if you try that approach with Bjorn, you’ll most likely get chewed up.

Defeating Bjorn doesn’t come with any gimmicks or twists (at least, on the combat side of things.) Hit the bear with attacks until its health disappears, simple. But to do that, you’ll need to learn which attacks to block and which to dodge.

Before we truly get into things, it’s worth pointing out that if you’re getting low on health during the boss fight, you can break the small trees in the arena which will reveal green health items that you can use to top off your health.

Bjorn has only a handful of moves at its disposal at the start of the fight. When the fight kicks off, the bear will only attack in simple three-hit combos. The first two attacks can be easily blocked, but on the third attack, you’ll see a yellow ring form around Bjorn indicating that it’s performing a Block Break, an attack that can punch through Kratos’ shield and leave him open to taking a decent portion of damage.

Although Bjorn’s first two attacks can be blocked, it’s best to roll out of its way to its side/rear when it starts slashing at you since you’ll be able to hit it a few times with your ax as it finishes its combo. Wear down the bear’s health while being careful not to get hit and the next phase of the fight will commence.

Once you’ve spent some time in the ring with Bjorn, the bear will get on its hind legs and do a big AoE smash attack that can hit you from afar. Each time it does this, a red ring will appear around it indicating that it’s performing an Unblockable attack. Unblockable attacks are similar to Block Breaks in that they break through Kratos’ shield, but Unblockable attacks don’t just leave Kratos stunned, instead, they deal damage to him in addition to breaking his guard. Luckily, Bjorn’s AoE attacks are clearly telegraphed and easy to run out of the way of.

As you continue wailing away at the bear, you’ll build up your rage meter, located in the bottom left corner underneath your health. Once it’s full, you’ll be able to click in both thumbsticks and deal massive damage very quickly with your fists. Activate rage mode as soon as you’re prompted and start hammering away.

By the time rage mode wears off, Bjorn should be left with a fraction of its health left. At this point, you should have a good feel for the bear’s attack patterns and notice that it has added an additional attack to the end of its three-strike combo: a red-ringed lunge that has Bjorn jump towards Kratos. The lunge comes pretty quickly after the third attack in the combo, so make sure that you’re out of the way for when it comes.