If you found berserker pairing Bodvar and Starolf a pain, wait until you see this trio. It is one of the most difficult fights of God of War Ragnarok, one could even say that it is brutal, even unfair. This is by far the most painful in our opinion. The camera is your enemy, and you're going to have to adopt some unusual techniques.
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. Unfortunately, a recording issue compromised this video of the fight.
The 12 Berserkers and their king
Normally, at this point, you should know how this quest works. Once the 12th berserker is dead, you can return to where you found the sword hilt, at the Tomb of the King, in Midgard, to face what could be considered one of the game's two ultimate bosses.
Be aware, however, that you cannot kill the 12 berserkers before completing the main story, since the last one is in an inaccessible area before the "post game" content, after the death of the final boss. Check out our 12th Berserker guide for more info on his location.
The tombstone of Svipdagar the Cold and the Sisters of Illska can be found north of the Scorched Lands of Alfheim. In the middle of a circle of stones, near the giant skeleton.
What equipment to use?
Cold Svipdagar and the Sisters of Illska are level 6, if you play on high difficulty you need at least the same level of equipment. If the enemy's life bar is red, with a skull and crossbones, victory is almost impossible. Given the structure of the fight, we advise you to save this berserker for the end, and to go and do it at level 7 or 8, even 9 , especially if you play in a high difficulty mode.
Use whatever weapons you want, but you'll definitely have to use the Draupnir Spear at times, in order to take out the Mega Fire/Ice Balls.
Certain armors have the opportunity to shine in this fight, we especially think of the Radiant Bracelets and the Radiant Belt , since their slowdown bubble in the event of a dodge in extremis, will save your life by controlling a little Svipdagar the cold, which will give you a moment to breathe.
Don't forget your Berserker Rune of Resurrection, it won't be too much for this fight. You really don't want to die when there's only one or two of the three bosses left.
We recommend the usual Enchantments in your Yggdrasil Amulet:
- Emblem of Dodge : Extending the range and speed of rolls will save your life many times over, especially given the deluge of spells and blows you will receive.
- Celestial Panacea : The damage of magic attacks will be reduced, and it will take more attacks to be afflicted by their effect.
Strategy
There are two possible methods on this fight:
- The first is to kill Cold Svipdagar first , since she's in melee and she absolutely never lets go of you. This is probably the "normal" way to do the fight, since there is always one of the two sisters occupied by your companion. The problem is that she has a lot of life, and once dead, the two sisters become more dangerous, even if they are much easier to deal with.
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The second method is obviously to kill the two sisters first. As their lives are linked , and they have relatively few, it is not excessively long. The problem being that it's terribly difficult to chase down a bombarding spellcaster, while a mad warrior hacks your ass off with an axe. Cold Svipdagar also gains new kill attacks from the sisters. Rather than going into melee, it's also possible to kill them by throwing spears at them , while looping around the room to dodge spells and blows, but it's not easy to share so much of your pay attention constantly.
We therefore advise you to start by killing Svipdagar the cold, this is what allowed us to win the fight on maximum difficulty, but perhaps the other option will seem more comfortable to you.
This fight shares a lot in common with the one against Bodvar and Starolf, which makes sense. We advise you to do it before, it is relatively simpler.
The main point in common is that one of the two sisters is always occupied by your companion . So you won't have to dodge the deluge of spells from two mages at the same time. But they will regularly change targets, so you will sometimes receive fire spells, other times frost. It can also create some pretty dangerous combos when transitioning.
The big flaw in the fights of God of War Ragnarok is that the game is absolutely not designed for fights against several enemies at the same time, especially if some are at a distance. The camera is way too close for that. One of the solutions is to keep an eye on the circle at your feet, and to roll in an emergency if a big red arrow appears. He will sometimes chain rolls, in order to escape the combination of spells and the melee boss. Using an invocation of Atreus or Freya can get you out of a critical situation (Square maintained).
A technique that has helped us a lot on this boss is not locking the boss's targeting in melee, and sticking to the edges of the arena. Then you have to rotate the camera sideways, so that you have both cold Svipdagar and the two sisters in your field of vision at all times . This allows you to react faster when a large guided ball is launched, or when 4 ultra-guided projectiles arrive. You just have to adapt to the fact that you will be attacking, blocking and parrying a target on the edge of the screen, rather than in the center. Luckily, the game automatically targets the nearest enemy when attacking.
Do your best to attack the boss of your choice, while circling the arena, always sticking to the edges, so you have more time to react when a painful spell is cast.
When your target dies, don't relax, the survivors will gain new abilities that may surprise you . Now let's review the abilities of the different bosses, to see how to deal with them.
Svipdagarla
This melee berserker has quite unique attacks compared to his colleagues. She performs long combos that are difficult or even impossible to interrupt while flinching , whether with a parry, or even the explosion of your rage. This makes it particularly difficult to manage and DPS quickly, since you risk trading blows by triggering a runic attack. She's also incredibly sticky, between her huge combat jump (red attack), her moving whirlwind, and her big forward thrusts that keep her going. Even escaping him requires a lot of dodging in extremis. She also has a lot of guard breaking abilities in her repertoire. As your attention will be divided between several targets, and the more attacks you dodge, the more likely you are to dodge a spell, we advise you to opt for this solution instead. Only parry combos you're good at that will stagger Svipdagarla . And above all, never underestimate the range at which she is able to reach you , whether it is with a jump or her basic hits, it will kill you.
Illska Sisters
As long as cold Svipdagarla is alive, they only fight at a distance . They are similar to berserker wizards, but without the melee attacks, nor the air dive, unless you go straight into melee on your own. If you need your memory refreshed on how to deal with their spells, check out Beigadr's guide below. It's the same thing, but with fire and frost, instead of lightning.
However, there are two notable exceptions:
The Storm is replaced by a Blizzard, and Rains of Fire : The Blizzard causes 3 large areas to appear on you, several seconds apart. It is necessary to urgently get out of the first one and prepare for the appearance of the following ones. Rain of Fire spawns lots of small areas on you, and around you, which can sometimes cut you off. The impact is much faster, so the damage is harder to avoid. In any case, completely ignore cold Svipdagarla, and roll everywhere.
Guided Mega Ball : The worst spell at the start is probably this one. It is similar to the large guided balls summoned by light elves. Relatively slow, it will follow you across the entire map, with virtually no range limit. The damage is titanic, and you will burn / freeze as a bonus. The normal method of destroying these balls is to throw a projectile at them , which is easier said than done, when you have a big enraged berserker in melee trying to kill you. That's why you have to try to keep the sisters in sight, so you have time to aim and shoot something when you can, before the ball gets too close.
We had to disable ranged auto-aim assist , since it backfired when the game wanted to force us to shoot the sisters instead of the balls, which is to say it's deadly. Go to Gameplay and Accessibility options if you are having the same issue. If the ball is already too close, or you don't want to risk shooting it, your only hope is to perform (enhanced) rolls hoping it hits the ground, rather than your character. After testing this method many times, we found that rolling in one direction doesn't work very well, and it tends to hit Kratos anyway. The problem was solved by drawing circles with the roulades. Try to get around the ball with your rolls, which will force it into a tight turn, which will take it straight into the ground .
Be careful, the sequences of the sisters' spells are random, you will sometimes take nasty combos like 2 guided balls almost at the same time, or the 4 projectiles and the blizzard just after. Dodging blindly while watching the arrows at your feet has its limits.
When Cold Svipdagar dies, don't slack off. The two sisters regain all the skills of normal wizards, including air dive, two melee strikes, and melee blast . They can kill you very easily at the slightest mistake. Blizzard and Rain of Fire can also kill you at the slightest misplacement. The same goes for the 4 guided projectiles. The good news is that a sister stays busy with your companion, but they still switch targets regularly.
An earth dragon sits behind the locked door to the Forbidden Sands in Alfheim. Here's a written strategy guide with tips and tricks for defeating him on maximum difficulty, as well as a video of the fight in this mode.
