Here are the best skills in God of War Ragnarök, which you can (and should) unlock as early as possible. The game once again offers a big variety of different skills, with some being better than ours. In this article, you can see our recommendations for the early game of Ragnarök.
In God of War Ragnarök, there are again a number of skills you can unlock for Kratos and Atreus. Not all of these are equally useful though, some shine more in battles than others. We will show you our favorite skills for the early game in Ragnarök, which you will be able to (and should) unlock in the beginning of the game.
In this article, we will focus on Kratos and his big daddy skills. Atreus has some great skills as well, but they don't unlock until further into the game. To keep this whole story early game, we will leave him out for now.
God of War Ragnarök: The Best Skills To Unlock Early In The Game
In the beginning of the game, Kratos has the same two weapons he had by the end of God of War (2018): the Leviathan Axe and the Chaos Blades. And outside the new Weapon Signature Moves, which you trigger by holding Triangle, the weapons work in the same way as well. Here are our favorite skills for each weapon from the first hours of the game.
If you want to know more about Ragnarök potentially coming to PC, check out this video:
Leviathan Axe
The axe focuses on heavy attacks against single enemies and its ranged capabilities with different throws. You will also need the axe to deal damage to "Burning" enemies, before you can damage them with other attacks.
Extinguish Flames & Permafrost
First we will show you two skills, that work very similar and which you just have to get. "Extinguish Flames" is very simple, as it gives you bonus damage against "Burning" enemies. With 250 XP, it's one of the cheapest skills in the game and it's extremely useful when fighting this specific type of enemy (who you will see plenty of).
Permafrost also works with the ice-related properties of the axe. With this skill, you inflict increasingly more "Frost" damage with each successive attack you land without taking damage. It also boosts your "Luck" and "Runic" stats as a little bonus.
Vengeful Sickle I & Freezing Throw II
This is a bit of a toss-up between the upgraded versions of the two ranged attacks of the Leviathan Axe. With Vengeful Sickle, you can charge the R1-throw to hit an enemy multiple times. Freezing Throw II is the extended version of the normal R2-throw, with this skill adding a frosty explosion into the mix. Both are great skills, it's up to you whether you prefer one over the other or if you will just go for both.
Glacial Rake
In my opinion, this skill is THE must-have in the "Melee" category for the Axe. "Glacial Rake" allows you to cast a wave of ice shards, which can hit multiple enemies and it also deals "Frost" damage. Also it looks sick as hell.
Chaos Blades
The Chaos Blades are stronger for crowd control and can more easily deal more damage against a group of enemies. You will also need the blades to deal damage to "Frosted" enemies, before you can damage them with other attacks.
Vaporize Frost & Immolation
These skills are the equivalents to the first ones we highlighted for the Leviathan Axe. Here it's all about dealing damage to "Frosted" enemies with "Vaporize Frost" and inflicting "Burn" damage with "Immolation".
Hyperion Grapple
The ranged attacks of the blades are awesome, and this is one of the best ones in the game. After impaling an enemy with L2 + R1, hold R1 to launch towards an enemy. You don't just cover great distances and get in your enemy's face, it also causes stun damage and slams airborne enemies into the ground. Wonderful stuff.
Blazing Explosion I
Another amazing ranged attack. Impale an enemy with L2 + R2 and hold R2 to send a literal explosion down the line. Massive "Burn" damage, a shiny explosion that can take down an entire group of enemies - what's not to love?!
Rushing Chaos
We love sprinting into a fight and letting off a devastating attack to start off the whole brawl. Rushing Chaos is the best early game move of this type. You can also use it after covering distance between you and the enemy. It's not too expensive with 500 XP as well, so get it to add more variety to the melee moveset of the blades.