God of War Ragnarok Walkthrough Companion: Armor That Matters, Bosses That Will Wreck You & The Collectibles Worth Chasing

There are 38 Odin's Ravens in the game. Or 48. Depends on which guide you're reading. The point is there are too many and most of them are perched in places you'd never look without a video guide open on your second monitor.

I collected all of them. Twice. And I can tell you with confidence that only about half are worth the detour, the ones that unlock the Raven Keeper enchantments and the final chest with the Hilt of Forsbrandr.

The rest of this guide is about armor choices that actually change how you play, bosses ranked by how many times I died to them, and the handful of collectibles you should actually prioritize.

Armor isn't about stats. It's about how you like to play.

Ragnarok's armor sets fall into three buckets: tanking hits, dodging everything, and status-effect cheese. Mixing pieces from different sets almost always gives worse results than committing to a full set because the three-piece bonuses are where the real power lives.

Steinbjorn from The Crater is the tank option. You kill four trolls, Bjorg, Ryg, Golrab, and Fiske, scattered across Vanaheim. Each drops a piece. At max level honestly it's 150 defense per piece, 45 vitality, and the set bonus releases a shockwave when you take damage that stuns nearby enemies and heals 10% of your max HP.

I used this against Gna on Give Me God of War difficulty. She has this wing slam that does about 40% of a normal health bar in one hit. With Steinbjorn, the hit lands, the shockwave triggers, I heal 10% back, and she gets stunned long enough for me to land a runic combo before she recovers. The net result: she hits me and I end up healthier than before the hit.

Radiance is the dodger's set. You get pieces by turning in Odin's Ravens, 10, 15, and 20 ravens unlock the three pieces at the Raven Keeper in Niflheim. Each piece is 80 defense with 20 cooldown reduction. The set bonus triggers a Realm Shift on perfect dodge, three seconds of slowed time where all your damage is boosted by about 30%.

If you've played the 2018 game, Realm Shifts are the talisman effect that everyone used to cheese Sigrun. This armor gives you that effect for free on every perfect dodge. Against the Berserker in Alfheim's Barrens, who has that obnoxious three-hit sword combo, dodging the first hit triggers the shift and you can land a full Runic rotation before he recovers.

Survival Plus is the boring-but-practical choice. Crafted from Hacksilver and Luminous Alloy, no rare materials. 90 defense per piece, 15 strength, 15 runic. No flashy perk, but you can upgrade it to level 9 way earlier than any other set because the materials are common. I used this until I got Steinbjorn and it never felt underpowered.

The boss difficulty ranking nobody asked for

Hrolf is number one, no contest. Nine Berserker gravestones to unlock him, twelve phases, and an unblockable ground slam that turns the arena floor red. His charge has a red circle telegraph but the timing is tighter than it looks. Dodge into him, not away, the hitbox activates at the end of the charge, not during, so dodging forward puts you behind him when the damage frame triggers.

Gna is a different kind of hard. She's fast, not tanky. 100,000 HP versus Hrolf's 80,000, but she has no shield phase and takes full damage from everything. The challenge is landing hits at all. Her teleport grab is the run-ender, she vanishes, reappears behind you, and if you don't dodge within about half a second, you eat a grab that does 60% of your health.

The trick with Gna is to stay close. Most players back off to heal and she punishes distance with her charge attack. If you stay in her face and dodge through her melee combos rather than away from them, her AI is less likely to use the charge.

Odin actually isn't that hard compared to the optional bosses. His attacks are telegraphed and the arena gives you plenty of room to reposition. The real threat is his raven summons, if you ignore them, six ravens will peck you to death from offscreen while you're focused on the big guy. Draupnir Spear detonation clears them instantly.

Collectibles: what to bother with and what to skip

Odin's Ravens. All 48. The final reward, the Hilt of Forsbrandr, slows time on command. It's the single best relic in the game for boss fights. Whether that's worth three hours of raven hunting is up to you. I'd say at least get to 20 ravens for the full Radiance set, then decide if you want to push for 48.

Legendary Chests. There are 50-something. Most contain runic attacks you'll never use because you already have your favorites by mid-game. The ones that matter: the Muspelheim Crucible chest (Raven's Cry heavy runic, 15,000 damage on a direct hit), the Barri Woods chest in Alfheim (missable if you finish the main story before grabbing it), and any chest containing a weapon attachment rather than a runic attack.

Yggdrasil Rifts. Six total, scattered across Svartalfheim, Vanaheim, and Midgard. Each drops Dust of Realms needed for max-level upgrades. They respawn after main story missions, so you can farm them if you're short on materials. The rift under the bridge in Midgard's Lake of Nine is the easiest and gives two amulet upgrade materials.

Kvasir's Poems. Seven in Midgard, each giving a permanent +3 to a random stat. All seven gets you an amulet with 50% runic cooldown reduction. That amulet stacked with a cooldown-focused build lets you spam runic attacks almost back-to-back.

Artifacts. Fifteen sets scattered around. The "Soul of the Valkyrie" in Muspelheim is hidden behind a lava waterfall, you need to use the Blades of Chaos to pull down a chain while dodging fire geysers. It's missable if you don't do it before finishing the main story.

Two builds I've actually tested

Immortal Tank: Full Steinbjorn at level 9, Stone Wall Shield for blocking unblockables, amulet with Svanin's Blessing (5% heal on block) and Niflheim's Justice (10% defense boost), runic attacks of Leviathan's Fury on axe and Meteor Slam on blades. Result: 200 defense, 45 vitality, constant healing from multiple sources. You can face-tank Gna's full combo and walk away with half health.

Speedster: Full Radiance at level 9, Dauntless Shield for parry focus, Hilt of Hrotti relic for additional time slow, Hel's Touch and Fury of the Ice Troll as runic attacks. The rotation is: perfect dodge to trigger Realm Shift, pop Hilt of Hrotti during the slow-mo for extended duration, unload both runic attacks while everything is frozen. Cleared Hrolf in two minutes flat with this build once I memorized his parry timing.

The thing about transmog

Armor transmog unlocks after you beat the main story. It lets you apply the appearance of any armor piece to any other piece while keeping the stats. So you can look like you're wearing the starting Survival Set while having full Steinbjorn stats underneath. This is purely cosmetic but it matters, some of the best-stat armor pieces look ridiculous, and if you're going to stare at Kratos for 80 hours, you might as well like what you see.