God of War Tips and Tricks You Should Know Before Getting Started

If you’ve checked out our God of War review you probably noticed that Kratos’ latest outing is far from the bombastic, over the top fare we’re accustomed to. Not only is the setting different but the combat is also far from what we've come to expect from past entries. Levelling up, earning currency, gaining more abilities and gear, all of these have more in common with fully-fledged role-playing games than Kratos' past adventures. With that in mind, here’s what you need to know before tackling God of War for PS4.

Leviathan Axe recall timing
This time around you’ll be using the Leviathan Axe instead of Kratos’ blades. You can throw your axe by pressing R1 and recall it with the triangle button. While being a handy trick that lets you solve puzzles with ease, you need to keep in mind that the time it takes for you to get your axe back depends on where you threw it.

Lobbing it at an enemy in front of you sees it return immediately while using it to solve a puzzle three rooms earlier means you’ll be waiting a bit before it gets back to you. And though Kratos’ fists are a good alternative, you’re best served recalling the axe as soon as you can.

God of War's Combat Borrows From Dark Souls and Improves on It

God of War stats explained
Kratos has several stats that are impacted by the armour and weapons you carry. They are as follows:

• Strength - increases damage for all standard attacks
• Runic - increases elemental damage
• Defence - reduces all damage taken
• Vitality - increases maximum health and decreases the severity of hit reactions from enemy attacks
• Luck - increases XP and Hacksilver gains
• Cooldown - reduces recharge time of runic attacks, summons, and talismans

This allows for a certain degree of customisation, allowing you to tweak Kratos’ attributes to suit your play style. In our first playthrough we focussed on Strength and Vitality, while our second time around had us upgrading Luck. Why you ask? We explain that in the next section.

How to earn XP fast
XP or experience points in God of War let you buy new skills for Kratos and Atreus. Over the course of a normal playthough you’ll be able to unlock most of them. But if you’re looking to master every possible ability you’ll need every XP bonus you can find. This is where the Luck stat comes in handy. Although Luck is often ignored, you’re best served finding gear that raises this stat. Doing so allows you to gain XP and Hacksilver at a faster rate. Taking on additional quests and challenges helps as well.

God of War travel runes, Niflheim and Muspelheim
Set in Norse mythology, God of War has you travelling to several realms during the course of the story. Two are of interest if you’re looking for an extra challenge — Niflheim and Muspelheim. They’re optional locations that can be accessed by acquiring travel runes found in treasure chests scattered across the game world.

In Niflheim you can acquire gear and items from hard to kill enemies in a cursed dwarven workshop while avoiding instant-death obstacles like spikes, while Muspelheim has you run the gauntlet against hordes of foes. Completing both nets you extra resources and provides an additional challenge if you find the main campaign a cakewalk.

How to earn hacksilver fast
Hacksilver is the currency in this edition of God of War. You’ll need it to purchase new armour and supplies as well as upgrading your weapons. And while God of War is generous with how much hacksilver you earn, there are ways to speed up the process. One way is to take on optional quests for Brok and Sidri — the game’s dwarf merchant duo. The other is to solve Treasure Maps found in God of War’s menus. Succeeding in these puzzles net you in excess of 10,000 hacksilver. You can also earn hacksilver by opening chests, looting enemies, and defeating new enemy varieties.

Do you plan on playing God of War? Let us know via the comments.

If you're a fan of video games, check out Transition, Gadgets 360's gaming podcast. You can listen to it via Apple Podcasts or RSS, or just listen to this week's episode by hitting the play button below.