Combat Strategies

This section provides some general combat strategies for God of War. Find weapon and magic specific combat strategies in the Weapons and Magic section of this guide.

Combo Starters

Some of Kratos' strongest attacks are those that knock down enemies. This is because Kratos can then follow up with additional damaging combos. Use the Blade of Chaos and try out the Plume of Prometheus (Square, Square, Triangle), Ascension (Hold Triangle) and Apollo's Ascension (L1 + X) and Square, Triangle, Triangle, Triangle. Check the weapons section for when these combinations become available.

Knock down undead or minotaur and continue to strike the fallen foe with more powerful strikes to juggle enemies, inflict damage with multiple hit combinations, or even unleash Poseidon's Rage. Score bigger combinations by trapping enemies against walls or cliffs or other obstructions. Juggle the enemies in the air and invoke Poseidon's Rage. After killing an enemy, keep the combo going by immediately seeking out a new target and scoring a blow. The higher the combos the greater the red orb experience reward.

Evasive Maneuvers

You could rather easily argue that Kratos' roll maneuver is as important as any of his combo attacks. When an enemy is about to attack or if you're suddenly surrounded by foes, just flip the right-analog stick in a direction to roll and evade the enemy's attack.

Although it'll be primarily used to evade attack, it's important to use the roll to put some distance between you and any enemies nearby. The advantage of Kratos' Blade of Chaos is its long-range usefulness. As you near closer range, roll away using the right-analog stick and restart your combination attacks. If you're close, an enemy can strike and interrupt combo strings. A solid pattern would be to perform a combo that knocks down enemies, perform a multi-hit strike to damage the prone foe, and then roll away and repeat the sequence.

Stat Management

As you'll learn during the game, killing a minotaur using a mini-game sequence provides health orbs and killing a gorgon using a mini-game sequence produces magic orbs. If you aren't in dire need of either then simply eliminate the minotaur or gorgon using combination attacks. You'll receive red experience orbs instead. The more experience orbs received, the faster you can upgrade your Blades of Chaos or magic abilities.

If you're approaching a circular "arena" like area you can probably count on being trapped inside and forced to battle a collection of beasts before you can escape. Obviously it's wise to use any health and magic chests before entering so you enter the battle at full strength.