God of War Ragnarök likes to give players very long-term quests, such as the berserkers quest, which is by far the longest and most difficult in the game. But with Skjothendi, you should finally see the end of it, which will allow you to to go and rub shoulders with one of the game's two ultimate bosses.
The objective of this guide, as well as all those dedicated to the bosses that will follow, is to help you beat them on maximum difficulty, "Only God of War", so that they are relevant for all levels.
How to reach the tombstone of Nilfheim?
You have to be almost at the end of the story to find this ultimate berserker tombstone, since you come across it in a new section of Nilfheim, at the controls of Atreus and in the company of Thor. Unfortunately, you cannot activate it at the moment, you will have to come back later with Kratos. Specifically, you must have completed the main story, and seen the end credits scroll . Go see Ratatosk in front of Sindri's house, to obtain additional Yggdrasil seeds, which will allow you to unlock new accesses in each kingdom. You will then be able to unlock access to the Mist Fields in Nilfheim (it is not the same as the Tree of Crows, and therefore by extension, the tombstone).
Recommended equipment
- We suggest that you use a shield capable of performing parries, and above all, to choose your Spartan Rage power carefully. This boss is the "king" of the Bifrost, it is wiser to purge it regularly. The Fury's Rage Blast can also help manage its Area Bifrost Blast ability.
- We suggest that you mainly use the Spear on this fight, since sticking spears in the boss and detonating them (Triangle version maintained) allows you to interrupt his most painful ability from a distance.
- Amulet : Using the rune 25% resistance to the elements (including Bifrost), as well as the one that allows Bifrost to be healed by attacking, can help you limit the damage received, but you don't strictly need it. The rune that allows you to lose less rage when you deactivate Fury is also a good investment in this fight, since it helps preserve your resources, when you only use it to stun the boss or purge the Bifrost.
Special attacks and how to counter them
Skjothendi should be an easy boss at this point in the game, if you've already defeated the other berserkers. Almost all of his attacks should be familiar to you, since they are also used by other berserkers. The big difference is that they are flavored with Bifrost. The upside is that you take little direct damage initially, but if you get hit afterwards, you'll grope. This boss even accumulates so much Bifrost that your life bar can be entirely blue. Suffice to say that it tends to give all or nothing. We suggest that you purge the Bifrost from time to time, by activating Spartan's Rage for a short time .
We are not going to relist all the attacks common to berserkers, which you should master at this point . Instead, here is useful information about his 2 unique abilities:
Aura de Bifrost : This is certainly the most surprising thing about this fight. It's not a direct attack, but the boss will wrap itself in a small blue aura. Being in melee will quickly accumulate Bifrost on Kratos, and it's unavoidable. As long as you don't take damage, it's irrelevant. As mentioned above, you can purge it easily when you need to, if you're not confident in your abilities.
Bifrost Explosion : This is the only really dangerous attack on this fight. The boss flies to the other end of the arena, and he begins to prepare a big attack from Bifrost. The damage isn't very significant, as long as you haven't already accumulated Bifrost, but it is unavoidable if he manages to cast his spell, since the area of effect covers the entire arena . We have found several ways to interrupt the casting of the spell. The first is to stick spears into the boss, with its runic abilities or by holding R1. When he casts his spell, hold down triangle to cause powerful explosions (if you purchased the skill). This will stun him and he will fall to the ground. It remains only to plant other spears, for the next time.
The alternative is to just walk up close and activate Spartan's Rage to stun him (or activate it and throw a rock).
There are other methods, as long as a runic ability or a powerful hit hits the boss mid-air, such as a powerful ax throw , it should interrupt it.
