The fight against Heimdall is probably the least surprising in God of War Ragnarök, since prophecy and history strive to tell you that he is an inevitable adversary. The character is completely detestable, a spear is specially forged to kill him, and he holds the horn that will sound Ragnarök. However, the fight itself has a lot of surprises in store for you.
The objective of this guide, as well as all those dedicated to bosses, is to help you beat them on maximum difficulty, "Only God of War", so that they are relevant for all levels.
Choice of weapon and equipment
You have been told a lot about the Draupnir Spear, which is mandatory to kill Heimdall, since it dodges everything, as you have seen by playing with Atreus. But this is actually not completely the case. You can use other weapons during certain phases, after Heimdall's gift has been saturated by the spear. In any case, remember to improve the spear, its handle, its runic attacks and its skills as much as possible before starting the fight, it will make your life easier. The powerful explosion of the copies of the spear with Triangle is especially interesting.
We advise you to use the Intrepid Shield on this fight, you will not miss opportunities to make parries.
Consider buying a Major Rune of Resurrection or a Berserker Rune of Resurrection before you go to rescue Freyr.
Phase 1: Gulltoppr
As with all story mode bosses, a checkpoint is created at the end of each phase. In case of death, you will recover your life and your techniques, so do not hesitate to use everything you have in stock, except the Stone of Resurrection.
Heimdall uses his tiger as a mount during this phase. You don't need to limit yourself to the spear. Overall, this phase is very simple.
Charge (red attack) : Used from a distance, this classic attack is easily dodged laterally.
Protection (blue attack) : Gulltoppr will often adopt a defensive posture, followed by an attack if you drag too long to interrupt it with the shield blow.
Ball of Bifrost (normal attack) : Heimdall channels an attack into his hand, you can easily dodge or block it. But with a bit of timing, you can also parry it to throw it back at the tiger, dealing damage.
Bifrost Explosion (Red Attack) : The only thing you really need to be wary of during this phase. The whole tiger and Heimdall start to glow blue, you have to back up urgently with a roll, otherwise you will take heavy damage.
Fang Bash (yellow attack) : If you have taken the reflex to parry attacks, this is one more opportunity. But this first phase is so simple that you probably won't have the opportunity to learn how to handle it properly, so there's no shame in skipping it.
Phase 2: Launch a lot
Heimdall is on foot, the time has finally come to use Draupnir, but not just anyhow. None of your attacks will hit Heimdall during this phase. To make him vulnerable, you have to throw the spear with L2 + R1 , so that he catches it in flight. Then blast the spear in his hand with Triangle . You can also wait until he has a spear in each hand, for a nicer effect. This will knock him out, so you have to get close and press R3 . Make sure you're not too far.
He will start dodging your spears next, the solution is to throw them in front of his feet and then detonate them nearby . This will fill his red stun bar. Once full, you can press R3 again.
After inflicting enough stun damage with spear throws, a cutscene will trigger, and the real fight will begin.
During this phase, Heimdall does not fight seriously, he uses a powerful red attack, which is easy to dodge laterally, a yellow attack with the Horn, which you can parry, and a ball of Bifrost, which you can block, dodge, or return. .
Phase 3: Slow mo
Heimdall will finally fight seriously. During this phase, you have two opportunities to attack the boss, the first is to use its "Not so fast" Time Slip, in order to parry or dodge its attack, then to counterattack. This can confuse you a bit at first, but you just have to dodge or parry, as soon as the slow kicks in , there's really no need to try to get the timing right. Look to perform one and only one action during the slowdown, and it has to be the appropriate defensive action.
The second method is to use spear blasts, again. Using abilities that plant spears, like Elder's Storm and Quick Attack, when the boss is vulnerable, then detonating them afterwards, is a good strategy.
Heimdall's repertoire of attacks is quite limited, and it's split between yellow (parryable) and red (unstoppable) attacks. It is easy to distinguish them in advance even before the appearance of the circle, when you know what to pay attention to. When Heimdall draws his sword, or raises it with his left hand, a red attack is coming . If not, he will attack with the horn, using the right hand, and you can parry it. Yellow attacks are also signaled much earlier, so the absence of a yellow circle in advance is synonymous with a red circle.
The boss still uses a ball of Bifrost, which you can also parry to send back to him.
Finally, Heimdall will reinforce himself with a gray elemental armor bar. To destroy it quickly, you have to use the Draupnir Spear, which is quite logical. It's also a good lesson for other bosses and enemies in the future.
Phase 4: Bully time
Eventually, Heimdall is enraged, and he'll use a lot of Bifrost-based attacks to attack you. He will still dodge during certain moments, but he is overall much more reckless, which allows him to be hit more often, including with other weapons.
Insane Charge (red attack) : Heimdall laughs, while rushing at you, his fist also starts to glow . The charge is always followed by a red punch, or a red ground kick too. In all cases, you have to dodge laterally and then counter-attack .
Combo Charge (Yellow Attack) : This looks like the Insane Charge in appearance, but its fist doesn't glow. Ideally, you should try to parry your attack on arrival (or dodge at the very least). This won't interrupt him though, he'll turn around and also give another yellow knock . Don't be fooled by its weird animations. Sometimes his back punch combo is considered a normal attack. Make a habit of parrying everything, especially since he often uses it in conjunction with his time slow.
Bifrost Rock (red attack) : The boss digs up a rock and throws it at you. He also loves to cast the time slow right after. In any case, don't think, do a sideways dodge .
Bifrost Impact (Red Attack) : Heimdall flashes his fist and smashes the ground, which produces a violent Bifrost blast. It goes without saying that you have to roll to put a few meters between her and you. However, do not retreat too far, on the contrary, immediately prepare to advance to counter-attack, since he will often launch his Mega Bifrost explosion in stride.
Bifrost Mega Explosion (blue attack) : Heimdall likes to take advantage of his ground blow to launch an even more powerful attack. By taking the right reflex, you can easily interrupt it with a double shield hit. But if you've made the mistake of backing up too far, it may be safer to do another back roll, out of the area of effect.
