God of War (2018): How To Find (And Beat) All 9 Valkyries | Optional Boss Guide

God of War isn’t truly over until you’ve defeated all 9 Corrupted Valkyries. These totally optional boss battles are (usually) located in the many Hidden Chambers you’ll find while exploring the lands of Midgard. Locked away in these secret arenas, each one has a unique set of moves and abilities, and they just keep getting harder. They’re the hardest fights in the entire game, so you’ll want to fight them prepared.

Technically, you can start hunting Valkyries right after gaining the special chisel required to unlock Hidden Chambers. That’s a story-related item, so you won’t miss it — but unless you’re really, really good at God of War, I don’t recommend going after too many Valkyries. The first Valkyrie, found over at Thamur’s Corpse, is actually the most beatable, so if you’re looking to earn tons of rewards and XP earlier, that’s a good place to start. Otherwise, save these fights until you’re at the endgame.

More God of War (2018) guides on Gameranx:

• God of War (2018): How To Beat Every Boss | Strategy Guide
• God of War (2018): How To Fully Upgrade The Leviathan Axe | Level 6 Upgrade Guide
• God of War (2018): How To Unlock Every Shortcut | Mystic Gateway Locations Guide
• God of War (2018): All Artifacts Locations | Collectibles Guide
• God of War (2018): ‘More Than A Myth’ Shrines & Marker Locations | Lore Guide
• God of War (2018): How To Free All 3 Dragons | ‘Dangerous Skies’ Guide
• God of War (2018): All 7 Hidden Chambers of Odin Locations Guide
• God of War (2018): All Nornir Chest Locations & Solutions Guide
• God of War (2018): Legendary Chests Locations | Runes Guide
• God of War (2018): Unlock Witch Time & Improve Parry | Best Talismans Guide
• God of War (2018): Language Cipher Chests Locations | ‘Trilingual’ Guide
• God of War (2018): All 12 Treasure Maps & Digging Spots | Locations Guide
• God of War (2018): All Odin’s Raven Locations | Collectibles Guide

How To Find (And Beat) All 9 Valkyries | Optional Boss Guide

There are nine Valkyries to find in God of War, and defeating them all will not be easy. This is the single greatest challenge of the game, and bringing down all previous Valkyries leads to one of the hardest battles in the series — you’ll have to defeat the Corrupted Valkyrie Queen, and she will not go down without a fight.

Before getting into strategies and tips, here’s where to find all nine Valkyries. It should also be noted that you’ll automatically unlock all the Valkyrie locations after completing the game — they’ll just pop-up on your map.

• Valkyrie #1: The Wildwoods – Return after completing the game and find the first boss arena. From the boss, leave the lower arena and stick to the left wall. Unlock the hidden chamber here, and fight your way to the end.
• Valkyrie #2: River Pass – In the Witch’s Cave, accessible from your boat and landing at the dock, ride the lift up and take the right path down under the bridge. Use Atreus to generate bridges to a Nornin chest, then go left — there’s a red bramble blocking the way. Use Atreus to extend a bridge right of the chest, grab the explosive and throw it at the brambles. Blow up the root and climb up to find the chamber door.
• Valkyrie #3: Foothills – Found very close to Sindri’s shop. Climb the rocky cliff wall and run to the far end of the path. In the cave, you’ll find the Hidden Chamber door past the locked (or unlocked, if you’re far into the story) Winds of Hel door.
• Valkyrie #4: The Mountain – For once, it’s easy to find a Hidden Chamber. This is found in the large room with the wooden wheel, near the first vendor. Instead of going down the path to the left, go to the back-right to find the entrance door.
• Valkyrie #4: [This is optional. Only four Valkyries will appear in Midgard. If you complete four different chambers, a Valkyrie will not appear here.] Thamur’s Corpse This is the region where you’ll first be able to open the special locks that block entry to hidden chambers. After completing the area, return to the start — around where the giant’s fallen hand is located — to find the first chamber you can actually enter.
• Valkyrie #5: Alfheim – Land on the optional beach to the left in the lake area of Alfheim. There’s a short cavern near the shore that leads to a Hidden Chamber.
• Valkyrie #6: Helheim – Return to Helheim with Atreus at a later time, and reach the bridge with the walkway-like bridges leading to interior rooms. One is blocked by a red crystal and brambles — use Atreus to set off the explosive red crystal to get inside. This is the only hidden chamber locked behind a different kind of door.
• Valkyrie #7: Muspelheim – Will appear in one of the later challenges.
• Valkyrie #8: Niflheim – Found deep in the Niflheim randomized maze.
• Valkyrie #9 (The Valkyrie Queen): Bring all eight Valkyrie helmets to the Council of the Valkyries in Midgard to summon her for a final battle.

Defeating the Valkyries will unlock a powerful set of legendary armor. It lowers Runic power activation time and  stops attack interruptions — you’ll be able to unleash your powerful attacks fast, and will simply soak up damage while continuing to unleash your abilities.

How To Beat Valkyries

[NOTE: You can LOWER THE DIFFICULTY to make the most difficult Valkyries easier at any time. If you’re struggling with the Queen, just lower the difficulty in the setting menu, it has no effect on the achievement / trophy.]

Valkyries are incredibly tough opponents. They’re warriors of the highest order — seeing as they choose which of the dead get to hang out partying in the after-life, it only makes sense they’re the most badass of the bunch. The Corrupted Valkyries get more powerful after each fight, so you’ll want to bring the best-of-the-best gear.

• Tips To Defeat Valkyries:
  • You might be able to beat the first two or three Valkyries before finishing the game, but they get much, much tougher. Wait until the story is over, then work on completing all the favors you can.
  • Get the Niflheim Legendary Armor to heal while you fight. You’ll need to delve into Niflheim already to fight one of the Valkyries — might as well stick around.
    • You’ll also want to unlock the chest to get the Level 6 Upgrade for the Leviathan Axe. It’s located in Niflheim.
    • Similarly, you’ll want to complete lots of challenge trials is Muspelheim to unlock the Level 6 Upgrade for the Blades of Chaos.
  • At the start of the fight, you can get in some sucker-punches on the Valkyrie as they unfurl themselves. If you’ve got buffs and use runic attacks, you can quickly take out a full bar or more.
  • Learn the Valkyries moves — don’t just attack wildly! Watch for the yellow rings that signal you can parry. Electric arrows can also stun the Valkyries, but it is rare.
  • Usually, after a charge, they’ll vulnerable for a second or two. Use this time to grab healing crystals off the ground (don’t ever pick them up in the middle of a fight, unless you know you’ve got a precious few seconds post parry or dodge!) or unleash a string of attacks.
  • When a Valkyrie flies into the air, it will charge a red unblockable attack. Use Atreus to shoot arrows at the boss to interrupt the attack.
  • Lots of Valkyrie attacks can be dodged, but they’re pretty tricky — when they swing their wings, you’ll need to dodge in a specific direction to avoid taking damage. Better to bring up your shield. Shield parries are very, very useful against these Valkyries.
    • When summoning fog, listen for a high-pitched scream. That means they’re about to charge forward with a red unblockable attack. Roll!
  • Purchase the best Resurrection Stone you can get your hands on. It’s better to prioritize health over rage.

And that’s basically everything you need to know! It helps to upgrade everything — your armor, your runes, your crystals and weapons — basically, use XP to enhance everything you can, and swap around to enhance your survivability. The Valkyries are lengthy fights, so it’s smart to come prepared.