The Best Builds in God Of War Ragnarok, on the surface, might seem limited in options for players, but once you dive deep enough into acquiring every equipment piece, that is when the creative RPG aspect truly shines. While players can certainly control Atreus during several sections of the game, Kratos will always be the main star of the show, and quite a few builds can give you the edge in combat or during intense boss fights.
Key Takeaway
The 10 Best Builds in God Of War Ragnarok can provide players with the optimal play style to use with Kratos.
Endless Realm Shift: Slows downtime during combat.
Poison Build: Effective against various foes and beginner-friendly.
Tank/Healer Hybrid: Focuses on Defense and near-indestructibility.
Spartan Rage Build: Uses the Rage bar for healing and damage boost.
Soulless Warrior Melt: Requires practice but can annihilate bosses quickly.
Vanaheim Set | Asgard Set | Boon of Valor | Seal of Runic Storm | Emblem Of the Nine Realms
5. Endless Realm Shift
Most Strategical Build in GOWR.
Realm shift build (Screenshot Grab: eXputer)
I’ve talked about Realm Shifts as a crucial element in some unconventional game builds. In God of War 2018, it was exceptionally potent, allowing me to easily take down endgame bosses such as Sigrun in a personal best record time. In God of War Ragnarok, my in-game tests confirm that the Realm Shift-focused build remains popular and effective.
Realm Shifts slow down time.
Slowing down time in boss fights provides more uptime for DPS.
Viable against bosses like Berserkers.
Build requires high-skill usage, which can be troublesome for some players.
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Loadout And Weapon Attachments
Surtr’s scorched cuirass: Kratos’ attacks that hit enemies during their attack animations do bonus damage.
Gauntlets And Belt of Radiance: A last-second evade activates Realm shift, temporarily slowing down surrounding enemies.
The Furious Maul: High luck chance to grant a gift of strength buff on any Axe kill.
Deadly Obsidian Blades: Low luck chance to grant a rage burst buff on any Blades kill.
Hind of the Four Winds: Adds a concussive wave to the end of the R2 Spear combo.
Dauntless Shield: Rond of Disruption (low luck chance to create an Elemental Storm when interrupting double Blue ring attacks or Parrying.)
Spartan Rage: Fury or Valor
Relic
While it may be obvious to use the Hilt of Hofud with this build, I urge you to use the Talisman of Meign instead, as it will boost your melee damage for a short duration.
Amulet Enchantments
Alfheim Set: Last-second dodges empower Kratos’ next attack based on his strength.
Muspelheim Set: Increases Kratos’ melee damage when the Permafrost, Immolation, or Maelstorm skills are fully charged based on his Runic stat.
Seal of Runic Storm: Using Runic attacks of three different weapons in quick succession grants a buff of increased stagger resistance and creates a storm of Bifrost.
Emblem of the Nine Realms: Increases melee damage during Realm shifts.
I ended up using Niflheim’s Justice enchantment as the final piece to boost my total strength value.
4. Poison Build
The Best Elemental Build in GOWR.
Poison build (Image credit: eXputer)
When in doubt, I recommend using the Poison build in God of War Ragnarok, as it’s simple and effective for taking down tough foes and bosses. Start with Lunda’s Armor Set as the foundation. Enhance it with attachments and enchantments to boost poison buildup on enemies.
Poison is extremely powerful against almost all enemies.
Lunda’s armor set can be obtained towards the mid-game as quest rewards.
Explosions on poisoned enemies make crowd control encounters a cakewalk.
The build is mainly reliant on bare-handed attacks instead of Kratos’ signature weapons.
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Loadout And Weapon Attachments
Lunda’s lost cuirass: Bare-handed attacks, parrying, and blocking have a high chance of dealing bonus damage and poisoning enemies, lowering their power level.
Dragon Scaled bracers and girdle: Increases all Shield damage, and successful blocks or parries now deal shield damage to nearby enemies.
Stonecutter’s Knob: Adds a concussive wave at the end of the R1 button Axe combo.
Deadly Obsidian Handle: Low luck chance to grant a Rage burst on any blades of Chaos kill.
Hind of the Four Winds: Adds a concussive wave at the end of the R2 button Spear combo.
Stone Wall shield: Rond of Affliction (Shield strikes against status-afflicted enemies consume the element, causing a damaging elemental explosion)
Spartan Rage: Valor
Relic
The relic honestly comes down to your own personal choice here, as I found almost anything to be effective, but most players will most likely go for the Hilt of Hofud due to its ability to slow down time.
But, if you are like me and trying to maximize damage output, then the Talisman of Meign will likely benefit you in the long run.
Amulet Enchantments
Vanaheim set: Increases Kratos’ melee damage against status-inflicted enemies based on his luck.
Svartalfheim set: Increases stun damage inflicted based on Kratos’ defense.
Niflheim set: Increases Kratos’ melee damage when he is above 75% health based on his defense.
3. The Maximum Healing Tank Build
The Best Tank Build in GOWR.
Tank/Healing Hybrid (Image credit: eXputer)
Evolved from the previous healer build, this tank build for Kratos in God of War Ragnarok prioritizes maximizing the Defense stat for nearly limitless damage mitigation. From my experience, you should aim for a Vitality stat around 170 through the loadout to use healing-focused enchantments effectively.
Allows you to easily tank most incoming damage.
Extremely potent against crowd-control battles to Stun grab enemies, and restore HP.
Building up the Stun meter becomes a breeze on most enemies.
Most of the stats are focused into Defense and Vitality.
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Loadout And Weapon Attachments
Steinbjorn Plackart: After significant damage, Kratos’ attacks will restore some lost health for a time.
Bracers of Raven: Increases the healing from Healthstones, Rage, and gear.
Surtr’s Scorched Girdle: Kratos takes reduced damage and has increased stagger resistance during his basic attacks and skills.
Banahogg Knob: Successful precision throws increase bare-handed attack damage for a short duration.
Hardened War Handles: The Hyperion Grapple and Hyperion Pull skills do extra damage and stun.
Hind of Volatile Might: Elemental siphon-imbued spears do increased melee damage, but the siphoned element now fades after a short duration.
Stone Wall Shield: Rond of Restoration (On taking damage, Kratos has a luck chance to gain defense for his next shield strike hit to restore health. The chance increases with lower health.
Spartan Rage: Valor
Relic
You can freely use any relic of your choice for the build, but if you want an extra layer of protection, then feel free to use the Hilt of Frosbandr, which pushes enemies back and grants an aura of protection. But I strongly suggest using any offensive-type relic, since you will hardly need that resiliency.
Amulet Enchantments
The enchantments for the indestructible tank build will be the main building blocks for it to work properly, so I suggest grabbing each one here and equipping them. They are all pretty much based on healing as well as adding multiple layers of resiliency to Kratos, which makes him almost unkillable:
Regenerating Essence: Provides a small constant health regeneration.
Greater Regenerating Essence: Offers a higher constant health regeneration.
Crest of Desperate Heroics: When Kratos’ health becomes critical, it grants a brief invincible barrier, increased strength, and a health burst upon completion.
Stone Idol of Souls: Using healthstone or ragestone grants soul steal, restoring a small amount of health and rage when striking enemies.
Eir’s Armament: Provides a very high chance of a health burst upon a successful runic attack kill.
Celestial Panacea: Offers 25% resistance to all status effects, including Frost, Burn, Blind, Daze, Poison, Shock, and Bifrost.
Poison Protector: Increases resistance to poison by 50%.
Bright-Eyed Emblem: Enhances resistance to Blind and Daze by 50%.
Boon of Valor: Valor heals less but grants a potent strength buff and lifesteal for a duration.
This build caters to fans who miss Kratos’ ruthless Greek pantheon days. It centers on using Kratos’ rage bar, thanks to the Redemptive Rage perk of Sol’s Spaulders of Courage, to heal from incoming damage, making you nearly invincible. From my experience, I strongly recommend using this build for the Muspelheim Trials due to the unique survivability it provides.
To boost your rage, equip the Fate Breaker Wraps and waist, and use the Furious Immolation skill upgrade for the Blades of Chaos and the Deadly Obsidian Blades. This combo rapidly builds rage, making it great for crowded fights.
High-risk, high-reward playstyle.
Beneficial in scenarios like the Muspelheim Trials.
The build is mainly reliant on dropped Rage stones to keep up the Rage meter.
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Loadout And Weapon Attachments
Sol’s Spaulders of Courage: Kratos deals more melee damage as his rage increases, and it can absorb incoming lethal damage if there’s enough rage available.
Fate Breaker Wraps and Belt: Increases the rate at which rage is gained.
Deadly Obsidian Handle: A low chance of triggering a Rage burst on Blades of Chaos kills.
Hind of Volatile Might: Elemental siphon-imbued spears deal increased melee damage, but the siphoned element fades briefly.
Stone Wall Shield: Rond of Restoration grants a chance to gain defense and restore health on taking damage, with a higher chance at lower health.
Spartan Rage: Valor ability.
Relic
The Hilt of Gram will undoubtedly prove great for the build here, as upon activation, it will grant you a burst of rage and apply stun to nearby enemies. The best time to use it is when you’re looking to quickly gain rage when it’s run out and when enemies are swarming over you.
Amulet Enchantments
Jotunheim set: Increases Kratos’ maximum rage based on his vitality.
Helheim set: Increases Kratos’ melee damage when he is below 50% health based on his vitality.
Stone idol of souls: Using Healthstone or Ragestone grants Soulsteal, during which a small amount of Health and Rage is restored when striking enemies.
Crest of desperate heroics: When Kratos’ health drops to a critical level, it grants a short invincible barrier, buff to Strength, and Health Burst when complete.
Greater regenerating essence: Adds a greater amount of constant health regeneration.
1. Soulless Warrior Melt Build
The Best DPS Build in GOWR.
The Soulless Warrior build (mage Credit Copyright: eXputer)
This build focuses on dealing massive damage quickly to the enemy. The key is using the Berserker Armor Set’s Cuirass piece, obtained by defeating Berserker Svipdagr and Sisters Of Illska in the Barrens of Alfheim. Combine it with Vidar’s bracers and belt for maximum strength. I personally found this build too overpowered, to the point where I refrained from using it unless I wanted to speedrun through specific bosses.
Overpowered damage.
Great for endgame boss fights and cleanup for 100 percent.
Only downside I can think of how precise you need to be for this build to work effectively.
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Loadout And Weapon Attachments
Berserker Cuirass: Using a relic massively increases the damage of Kratos’ melee attacks but also the damage received for a short duration.
Vidar’s Bracers and Belt: Increases Strength stat.
The Furious Maul: High luck chance to grant a gift of strength on any axe kill.
Deadly Obsidian Blades: Low luck chance to grant a rage burst on any blade kill.
Mighty Olympic Sauroter: Detonating Thrown spears have a moderate luck chance to increase strength and stagger resistance.
Dauntless Shield: Rond of Expedition (Grants a blessing of cooldown when interrupting double blue ring attacks or when parrying)
Spartan Rage: Valor
Runic Attacks
The following is the list of the Relic attacks that you will need for each of the three main weapons for the build to function properly:
Leviathan Axe
Hel’s Touch: An extremely quick burst of energy that interrupts and knocks back all nearby enemies.
Mists of Helheim: A lingering area-of-effect attack that creates a small hazard, inflicting frost status on all enemies inside.
Blades Of Chaos
Flames of Anguish: Quick uppercut that creates a fiery geyser, launching nearby enemies.
Nemean Crush: A massive fiery shockwave attack that sends enemies flying back.
Draupnir Spear
Thurst of a Thousand Soldiers: Perform a flurry of stabs with Draupnir, which embeds spears into the enemy. Press the R1 Button for extra stabs!
Vindsvalr’s Windstorm: An array of chaotic clones rampages through the field, damaging all enemies in their path
Relic
The Hilt of Hofud once again takes center stage again as you will be using it slow down time to pour out the tons of damage I stated previously. Without it, the build will be missing a consequential component to make it work efficiently, so I urge you to grab it if you haven’t already in GOW Ragnarok.
Amulet Enchantments
Vanaheim Set: Increases Kratos’ melee damage against status-afflicted enemies based on his total Luck stat
Asgard Set: Increases the damage of all of Kratos’ weapon (Triangle button) attacks and abilities based on his cooldown.
Boon of Valor: Valor heals less but provides a powerful buff of strength and lifesteal for a duration.
Seal of Runic Storm: Using Runic attacks of three different weapons in quick succession grants a buff of increased stagger resistance and creates a storm of Bifrost.
Emblem Of the Nine Realms: Increases Melee damage during Realm Shifts.
What I Think Is The Best Build
My GOWR Hours
If you ask me, as someone who’s achieved the Platinum Trophy, I strongly recommend the Soulless Warrior and Poison Build. The latter is extremely good in the early to mid-game stages, while the Soulless Warrior build can pretty much melt bosses when it is executed properly. I found that it helped me take down Gna and the Berserker bosses on Normal difficulty with relative ease.
Usama Mehmood is a Games Specialist, and writer on eXputer who's either hunting for the richest loot in Destiny 2 or endlessly playing his favorite games such as Yakuza or Final Fantasy. Usama has been gaming for 15+ years during which he has accumulated 4000+ hours on Destiny 1 & 2. His constant adoration for video games has allowed him to pursue eXputer as a platform to showcase his striving talents in writing helpful articles. Get familiar with Usama's extensive gaming library on his Steam, PSN, and Xbox profiles.
Experience: 2+ Years || Mainly Covers Reviews And Guides || Education: Bachelors in Physiotherapy.
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