God of War 2018 Trophy Guide & Roadmap

Below is a picture of what the full uncovered map looks like (area names are shown on the map).

The areas you need to discover are (in clockwise rotation, starting in the north -> east -> south -> west):

• The Mason’s Channel
• Council of Valkyries
• Stone Falls
• Veithurgard
• Buri’s Storeroom
• Cliffs of the Raven
• Lookout Tower
• Isle of Death
• Iron Cove
• Forgotten Caverns
• Ruins of the Ancient
• Light Elf Outpost

Just follow the God of War (2018) – All Collectible Guide and you’ll uncover every region.

Awarded for finding all collectibles in Veithurgard.

Velthurgard is the area in the north-east corner of the “Lake of Nine” in Midgard. You can get there by boat. The area is sealed off by a huge golden gate which you can open at the top of the Stone Falls (the area across from the golden gate). To unlock the trophy you must find all collectibles in Veithurgard (except for freeing the dragon, it is not needed). There are 6 Artefacts, 1 Mystic Gate, 1 Favour (not needed), 1 Shop, 6 Lore Markers, 1 Legendary Chest, 1 Nornir Chest, 3 Odin’s Ravens.

Simply follow the video above for everything or refer to the complete collectible guide below.

» God of War (2018) – Veithurgard Collectibles (Text Guide)

To unlock the languages of Muspelheim and Niflheim you must find purple “language cipher chests”. Those are the ones that have a floating white face-lock which Atreus can open with his dagger. You need 4 ciphers (4 purple chests) per language, so 8 in total.

Luckily, there are more of those chests than you need. One is actually missable, inside the Serpent’s Belly at the end of the story. When you row your boat into the Sea Serpent to get Mimir’s second eye, there’s a purple chest next to the crate where you find his eye. You can’t go back to this place, but no worries, just find any of the other additional purple chests and you’re good.

Unlike other collectibles, the purple chests aren’t tracked on the map and don’t count towards 100% completion. After having found 4 ciphers of each type it will unlock the respective realm (Muspelheim and the other one Niflheim). They are areas with hidden trials and some of the best gear in the game. After you have found 8 chests, the rest will simply contain upgrade materials instead of ciphers.

You can pick up all the ciphers while you work on the other collectibles. They are included in the collectible guide / videos.

For all the cipher locations, refer to the Collectible Guide, where they are marked as “Language Cipher Chests”:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

You can find health upgrades (Idunn Apples) inside Nornir Chests. Those are the chests that have 3 rune-seals on them. To fully upgrade your health you need 9 of them (every set of 3 gives a health upgrade). Nornir Chests can also contain Horns of Blood Mead, which you need to upgrade Rage. So in total you must collect 18 Nornir Chests out of 21 available (9 Health Upgrades, 9 Rage Upgrades).

None of them are missable, you can still get everything after the story in free-roam. Each area has a collectible tracker so you always know where you’re missing something.

For all Nornir Chest locations, refer to the collectible guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

You can find rage upgrades (Horns of Blood Mead) inside Nornir Chests. Those are the chests that have 3 rune-seals on them. To fully upgrade your rage you need 9 of them (every set of 3 gives a rage upgrade). Nornir Chests can also contain Idunns Apples, which you need to upgrade Health. So in total you must collect 18 Nornir Chests out of 21 available (9 Health Upgrades, 9 Rage Upgrades).

None of them are missable, you can still get everything after the story in free-roam. Each area has a collectible tracker so you always know where you’re missing something.

For all Nornir Chest locations, refer to the collectible guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

If you want to farm kills, it can be done in the Muspelheim Trials. Press to select the warmup option and just keep fighting waves of enemies.

• The Dragon “Fafnir” – Region: Council of Valkyries (north of Midgard)
• The Dragon “Reginn” – Region: Konunsgard (west of Midgard)
• The Dragon “Otr” – Region: Veithurgard (the big area in north-east of Midgard)

The dragons are tracked as “favours” (side quests) in their respective regions. You will free them all when you follow the collectible guide. Their quests consist of destroying 3 dragon shrines. Those are little stones with a blue rune on them. They are hidden around the area near the dragon, never in other regions. After destroying the 3 dragon shrines you can return to the dragon to break open its lock and free it.

For their exact locations, refer to the collectible guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

Brok has 2 favors and Sindri has 2 favors. After doing each of their favors they will be together in the Tyr’s temple and give you the 5th favor.

The favors are:

• Second Hand Soul (Brok)
• Deus Ex Malachite (Brok)
• Fafnir’s Hoard (Sindri)
• Family Business (Sindri)
• Hail to the King (Brok + Sindri)

Sindri’s favors in Niflheim are not needed for this, only the 5 in Midgard. You can still do all of them after the story! I didn’t trigger a single one during the story and did them all afterwards. After completing a favor you can talk to the quest giver again to get the next one (if it’s unavailable you need more story progress).

Doing the favors is well worth your time. They unlock side areas that contain lots of collectibles needed for trophies. After the 5th favor you also unlock two really good level 6 armors in the shop.

None of them are missable, you can still get everything after the story in free-roam. Each area has a collectible tracker so you always know where you’re missing something.

For all artefact locations, refer to the collectible guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

None of them are missable, you can still get everything after the story in free-roam. Each area has a collectible tracker so you always know where you’re missing something.

For all raven locations, refer to the collectible guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

Each rune has 2 upgrades. To upgrade it, open the Menu > Weapons > (put a Rune in a free Slot if you haven’t already) > press on the Rune > hold to upgrade it.

You can make a manual save beforehand and reload it to get your XP back.

Awarded for upgrading the Axe to Level 6. The last upgrade is only possible after beating the story.

The axe can be upgraded at any shop. It requires “Frozen Flames” to be upgraded. Those are dropped automatically by bosses in the story, cannot be missed. If you forgot to pick them up, they will be placed in the “Lost Items” section at the shop so nothing is missable. By just finishing the Story you can upgrade the Axe to level 5.

For level 6 you must open the chest in the central chamber of in Niflheim that costs 5,000 Mist Echoes to get a Chilling Mist of Niflheim. You must farm echoes in the randomized Niflheim Labyrinth or sell loot to get the echoes. The trophy “Darkness and Fog” requires you to buy all those chests anyway (refer to that trophy for more farming tips).

Now at the shop go to: Buy > Resources > Trade the Chilling Mist of Niflheim for Frozen Flame. Now you can fully upgrade the axe. Remember the last upgrade requires you to have beaten the story.

To unlock the Realm of Niflheim in the realm travel room, you must first find 4 Niflheim Language Ciphers. They are found in the purple chests with a floating face-lock with Atreus opens with the dagger.

For the locations of all purple cipher chests, refer to the collectible guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

Awarded for upgrading the Blades of Chaos to Level 5. The last upgrade is only possible after beating the story.

The blades of chaos can be upgraded at any shop. It requires “Chaos Flames” to be upgraded. Those are dropped automatically by bosses in the story, cannot be missed. If you forgot to pick them up, they will be placed in the “Lost Items” section at the shop so nothing is missable. By just finishing the Story you can upgrade the Blades of Chaos to Level 4.

For level 5 you must get a Raging Inferno of Muspelheim. This is dropped by the Valkyrie in the Muspelheim Realm. So just defeat the Valkyrie there.

Now at the shop go to: Buy > Resources > Trade the Raging Inferno of Muspelheim for Chaos Flame. Now you can fully upgrade the Blades of Chaos. Remember the last upgrade requires you to have beaten the story.

To unlock the Realm of Muspelheim in the realm travel room, you must first find 4 Muspelheim Language Ciphers. They are found in the purple chests with a floating face-lock with Atreus opens with the dagger.

For the locations of all purple cipher chests, refer to the collectible guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

To craft it you need these materials:

• 8 x Traveller’s Armour Shard
• 30 x Traveller’s Grisly Trophy

Both of these are dropped by Travellers (enemies that look like knights with heavy armor and shield). After killing the first traveller you will unlock a special crafting labour called “The Road Less Travelled”. Hand a Traveller Shard to Brok or Sindri at one of their shops to unlock the armor in the crafting menu.

Throughout the game you will encounter more than enough of these enemies to craft the full set. If you forgot to pick up the materials they will be placed in the “Lost Items” section at any shop and can be retrieved later. This way nothing is missable. It will take 4-5 Travellers to get enough materials.

Here’s a selection of easy Traveller Locations (there are many more, these are just the easiest):

• Main Quest: The Magic Chisel (unmissable encounter)
• Main Quest: Escape from Helheim (unmissable encounter)
• Main Quest: A Path to Jötunheim (unmissable encounter) – 2 Traveller’s spawn here together
• Side Quest: Deus Ex Malachite (unmissable encounter)
• Side Quest: Family Business (unmissable encounter)
• More are found on the towers surrounding the Lake of Nine in Midgard.

To craft it you need these materials:

• 3 x Ancient’s Heart
• 16 x Ancient Rubble

Both of these are dropped by enemies called “Ancients” (big stone enemies that shoot energy at you from their chest). After killing the first Ancient you will unlock a special crafting labour called “Hearts of Stone”. Hand an Ancient’s Heart to Brok or Sindri at one of their shops to unlock the armor in the crafting menu.

Throughout the game you will encounter more than enough of these enemies to craft the full set. If you forgot to pick up the materials they will be placed in the “Lost Items” section at any shop and can be retrieved later. This way nothing is missable. It will take 3-4 Ancients to get enough materials.

Here’s a selection of Ancients Locations:

• Main Quest: The Light of Alfheim (unmissable encounter)
• Main Quest: The Magic Chisel (unmissable encounter)
• Main Quest: Return to the Summit (unmissable encounter)
• Side Quest: Fafnir’s Hoard (unmissable encounter)
• Side Quest: Hail to the King (on the left path to get one of the two keys marked as a quest objective)
• Open World: The River Pass Region, by the left Mystic Gateway titled “Wildwoods Edge”, in the area below Brok’s Shop where you find the Nornir Chest. There’s a white Ancient rolled up there, just looks like a piece of rubble and sleeps until you attack it.
• Open World: Ruins of the Ancient Region, there’s one big Stone Ancient walking around that island. The place is in the north-west corner (top left) of the Lake of Nine (Midgard). It’s a marked place on the map and can only be reached by boat, a small island you never go to during the story (normally hidden behind white fog on the map but the fog goes away once you have landed on the island).
• Open World: Veithurgard Region, the big lake area in the north-west corner (top right) of the Lake of Nine (Midgard). At the beach of Veithurgard where you dock your boat the Stone Ancient can be found. The Stone Ancient is marked on the map by a purple “Fight” Icon (I don’t remember when it showed up exactly, you may need to beat the story first and clear Veithurgard region).

• Favor “Dead Freight” in Region “Forgotten Caverns”. The spirit is found at the beach of the southern dock of this area. It will ask you to “put to rest” the rest of his crew. They are marked on the map, so just follow the waypoint markers and kill them, then return to the spirit.
• Favor “Hammer Fall” in Region “Stone Falls”. Talk to the Spirit at the top of the Stone Falls Region, next to the big chain that opens the gate to Veithurgard. The Spirit will ask you to go to Veithurgard to destroy a statue of Thor, then come back.
• Favor “The Anatomy of Hope” in Region “The Mason’s Channel”. At the northern boat dock of the this region you’ll find the spirit. It gives you a quest to retrieve 3 bones. Those bones are marked by waypoints and easy to find. Return to the spirit afterward.
• Favor “Unfinished Business” in Region “Shores of Nine”. There are actually 4 lore markers around the Lake of Nine that can initiate this quest. The Lore Markers are at: Cliffs of the Raven, Isle of Death, Iron Cove, Forgotten Caverns. After finding any one of them (all in plain sight in those areas), it will mark the other 3. Each of these loremarkers triggers an enemy encounter and afterwards a spirit spawns at the loremarker. Complete all 4 lore markers to finish the quest.
• Favor “Time Heals All“. You must pick up the lore scroll at the end of “Northri Stronghold” to initiate this quest. Then return to Fafnir’s storeroom to talk to the spirit there. This is the only really hidden favor as it’s acquired from a scroll, not a spirit directly. You go to Northi Stronghold during Sindri’s second side quest. For the exact scroll location, refer to the Time Heals All Walkthrough.

There are 12 Treasure Maps & Dig Spots in God of War.

For their locations refer to this Treasure Guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Treasure Map Locations & Dig Spots

Unlike other collectibles, these are not tracked on the map. But luckily, none of them are missable. You can still get everything after the story in free-roam.

For all shrine locations, refer to the collectible guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

To unlock Muspelheim you must collect 4 Language Ciphers. They are found in purple chests (the ones with a floating white face-lock). All of those ciphers are included in the collectible guide.

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations

There are 6 Trials in Muspelheim. Each one has 3 difficulty levels (normal, hard, impossible). On your first visit you must beat the normal and hard versions to advance to the next challenge. The “Impossible” version becomes available after defeating the Valkyrie in Muspelheim, she comes after the 5th trial. To play the 6th Trial you must collect 3 keys which you get by beating any of the Impossible-Difficulty Trials. Because you only need 3 keys (from the 5 available trials at this point), you can pick and choose which you find the easiest.

You can put your game difficulty on easy in the game options for this. It’s recommended that you do this after the story when you have better gear.

After collecting 3 keys and then beating the 6th trial for the first time, the trophy will pop. It is not necessary to beat every trial on impossible difficulty! Just pick the 3 that are easiest for you.

Trials #2, #3, #5 are recommended, they are the easiest by far. If you have trouble, be sure to get level 6 or level 7 armor first (level 6 armor is from doing all of Brok’s and Sindri’s side quests, level 7 armor is from the Niflheim Realm).

To put the numbers in perspective, you’ll have to play trials 1-5 two times each (their normal and hard version). This is to advance to the next challenge. Defeat 1 Valkyrie at the end. Then beat the “impossible” version of 3 trials to get the keys. Then beat the 6th challenge one time by getting 50 kills in less than 8 minutes.

Trials:

• Trial 1 Normal: Kill enemies before time runs out
• Trial 1 Hard: Kill enemies in quick succession
• Trial 1 Impossible: Avoid taking damage –> the hardest one, better skip this. There’s a Stone Ancient boss at the end, throw your axe at its exposed chest.
• Trial 2 Normal: Survive for 5 Minutes
• Trial 2 Hard: Enemies quickly regenerate health (kill them all)
• Trial 2 Impossible: Kill enemies before time runs out –> recommended for trophy, very easy if you are level 6 or above, make good use of your runic attacks for quick kills
• Trial 3 Normal: Kill Grunts to break the Elite’s Shield
• Trial 3 Hard: Kill enemies while they are inside the gold rings
• Trial 3 Impossible: Kill enemies while they are in the gold rings –> recommended for trophy, use Runic attacks that deal Area damage to hit multiple enemies when they enter the circle. Also pull enemies towards you with the blades of chaos. In the last wave, ride the Ogre and kill it with heavy punches when it’s in the circle
• Trial 4 Normal: Defeat 100 enemies
• Trial 4 Hard: Don’t let enemies capture Atreus (3 captures will fail this)
• Trial 4 Impossible: Enemies quickly regenerate health –> better to skip, rather annoying challenge. The best way to do it is to hit enemies with bare hands until the button prompt shows up, this will kill them instantly.
• Trial 5 Normal: Kill Enemies to increase time
• Trial 5 Hard: Avoid taking damage
• Trial 5 Impossible: Kill enemies to increase time –> recommended for trophy, use runic moves whenever the cooldown is over and also Atreus’ runic attack
• Trial 6: Defeat 50 enemies in 8 minutes

The workshop’s center chamber is found in Niflheim, a bonus realm that is unlocked by collecting 4 Language Ciphers from the purple chests (same procedure as for Muspelheim). For this trophy you must clear everything in the central chamber, open the 5 chests and 3 realm tears. Also see How to Unlock Niflheim for the language cipher locations.

Niflheim is basically just a randomized labyrinth area with a few death traps and randomized enemy spawns. This map features its own currency called “Mist Echoes”. You must use these Mist Echoes to buy all the chests and realm tears in the central room of Niflheim. There are a total of 5 treasures chests and 3 realm tears in the central chamber. Opening all of them costs 68,500 Mist Echoes. You can farm them by opening chests throughout the randomized labyrinth. Also required to open the Realm Tears are 3 “Anchors of Fog” (1 per Realm Tear). Those are found randomly from legendary (golden) chests in the fog, usually in an area in the north where the path ends (there’s often an ogre there).

You can also sell resources for Mist Echoes! However, only resources that you find in Niflheim can be sold for Mist Echoes. This drastically decreases the grind. Go to Sindri’s shop in Niflheim > Sell > Resources. For example, the epic item “Break down Easirbane” gives 2500 Mist Echoes each. By selling these resources you save A LOT of time.

It’s worth noting that you must exit the Mist alive (go back to Sindri’s Shop) for your Mist Echoes and Resources to be saved. If you die, it will revert to an autosave before you entered the mist and resets what you have earned in the meantime. The layout of the labyrinth is always the same. Also look out for Nornir Chests within the Labyrinth, those give the most Mist Echoes.

Mist Echoes Farming Guide (15,000 – 20,000 per run)

Even though it seems grindy at first sight, it really is not. It only took me 4 full runs of the labyrinth (around 60 minutes total) to get 70,000 echoes. The general rule of thumb: the more chests you open per run, the more the next chest will give. At first it might only be 200 or so per chest, later it will be 1500+ per chest if you clear the entire labyrinth in one run. So the key to farming is really just to stay alive, pick up all materials dropped by enemies, and open all chests along the way.

With the following strategy I got 15,000 – 20,000 Mist Echoes per run. Around 9000 from opening chests and around 5000-6000 from selling materials that the enemies dropped.

• At the start of the mist is always a Nornir Chest. Remember the 3 symbols on it, if they are weird letters exit the mist and re-enter to get a new combination that’s easier to remember. As you make your way through the labyrinth there are 3 signposts up high in the corner sections on either edge of the labyrinth. Those have the rune symbols of the Nornir Chest. You must throw the axe to spin the signposts until they show one of the 3 symbols. The signposts are always in the same corner quadrants. At the end, if you put all 3 Nornir Runes in position correctly, you can open the chest at the start of the Labyrinth.
• Open all chests in the labyrinth, go to every possible section.
• There’s always a second Nornir Chest placed randomly somewhere in the labyrinth. When you stand straight in front of it you can always see the 3 rune symbols you need to hit with the axe (they are always visible from the section where the Nornir Chest is).
• Enemies can be killed super fast with Runic Attacks. Use anything that does a lot of damage and some Area of Effect attacks (Sindri’s Armor Set is best because it greatly reduces cooldown times).
• Obviously, make it out alive before time runs out. If you die you lose everything from that run.
• After you’re out, sell the materials that the enemies dropped to Sindri (Shop > Sell > Resources). Per run I usually found 1-2 materials that give 2,500 echoes each, and 2-4 that give 1,000 each.

• 4 in Midgard
• 1 in Alfheim
• 1 in Helheim
• 1 in Muspelheim
• 1 in Niflheim

After having killed the 8 Valkyries, you must bring their heads to the Council of Valkyries Region in Midgard. It’s in the north of the Lake of Nine. Place the 8 heads on the thrones to summon the Queen. After you defeat her the trophy pops. The Valkyrie Queen is a tough boss to beat. She does many unblockable attacks (but they can be dodged). It’s highly recommended you put the difficulty down to easy or else she can one-hit you. Be sure to have fully maxed out your weapons and have high-end armor equipped. The armor “Sindri’s Royal Dwarven Set” from doing all of Brok’s & Sindri’s quests in Midgard is recommended for this fight, and that’s what I personally used. The chest piece of this set adds a protective barrier that renders you invulnerable when using Runic attacks. Sindri’s Set also reduces the cooldown of Runic Attacks. The trick is to just dodge and wait a few seconds for runic attacks to recharge, use them and repeat. Thanks to Sindri’s Set you’ll be invincible while using them. It’s highly recommended you buy “Berserker’s Resurrection Stone” from a shop. It will revive you with full rage.

Recommended Character Build: Put everything in Cooldown Stat

• Fully upgraded Armor Set “Sindri’s Royal Dwarven” Set (Purple Color “Legendary”, Level 6 by default, Level 7 when fully upgraded). The chest piece makes you invulnerable when using Runic attacks. The set also reduces the cooldown of your Runic Attacks.
• Put Epic Runes in all enchantments slots that increase Cooldown Stat.
• Axe Rune – Light Attack: Hel’s Touch (Automatic Story Unlock)
• Axe Rune – Heavy Attack: Frost Giant’s Frenzy (Bought from Shop after Story)
• Blade Runes: Whatever you have that does the most damage. If available, the Light Attack “Rampage of the Furies” and Heavy Attack “Fire of Ares”.
• Atreus Runic attack: whatever does the most damage. If available, the “Murder of Crows”.
• Be sure to fully upgrade all Runic Attacks to Level 3 (go to Weapons, select the rune and hold to upgrade it with XP)

Valkyrie Queen Boss Strategy (works for any other Valkyrie too):

• Put difficulty to easy in-game options.
• At all times, keep shooting the Valkyrie with electric arrows by pressing while you attack. Use electric arrows to stun her.
• Watch out when she has a red “signal” sign around her, this indicates she’s about to launch an unblockable attack – so dodge, dodge, dodge.
• Use Hel’s Touch to stun the Valkyrie. Then unleash all of your other Runic Attacks. Remember after upgrading them they get extra attacks which can be initiated with more buttons presses. For example, the Heavy Axe Runic “Frost Giant’s Frenzy” will do a lot more hits if you keep pressing .
• The key here is that you are invulnerable while using Runic Attacks with Sindri’s Royal Dwarven Armor Set. By maxing out your cooldown stat, you just need to dodge and wait for a few seconds before you can spam them again. Unleashing all runic attacks can take away half of her health in a few seconds + you’re invulnerable while doing it. Ideally, use the runic attacks outlined in the Character Build section or use any other that deal a lot of damage.
• When health gets low, trigger your spartan rage and attack with quick strikes. Be sure to dodge though. While spartan rage is active your health regenerates quickly.
• If you die, quickly press for Atreus to revive you (if you bought the Berserker’s Resurrection Stone from Shop). It revies you with full rage. Trigger it immediately, it will regen your health while you attack. Afterwards, you can immediately trigger another set of Runic Attacks. By this point the valkyrie should be done.

To access Muspelheim and Niflheim you must find Language Ciphers from Purple Chests. For all of those, as well as all Valkyrie Locations, refer to the complete collectible guide:

» God of War (2018) – All Collectible Locations