Remember that game called God of War I started back in May? I just got the Platinum Trophy for God of War! It’s called Father and Son and to get that, like all other Platinum trophies for other games, you have to get every other trophy in the game, including “Chooser of the Slain”. This was the most difficult one to get as it requires you to defeat the nine Valkyries, the hardest boss encounters in the game.
Did I mention that I did it all on Give Me God of War difficulty?
The thing you should know, if you aren’t playing the game yourselves, is that the Give Me God of War difficulty setting is locked in. In most games you can ramp up or down the difficulty setting in the middle of the game. It’s true for God of War too but not on the highest difficulty called “Give Me God of War”. I’d be lying if said I wasn’t tempted to just quit, start over on easy mode, and then just burn through the game. One Google search on “Give Me God of War Difficulty” will give you links up on links of complaints, criticisms, stories of surrender, and accounts of frustration and agony. But I was resolute in my goal. It took a long time but once I was able to craft better gear and raise my level, the game became easier (but only slightly) and way more fun.
Sadly, there is no trophy for completing the game on Give Me God of War mode. The above screenshot is the only proof of my achievement. It may not be much but I’ll take it. This was a couple of nights ago. The story mode was complete, but I still had one last thing to do, and that was to kill the Valkyrie queen. I finished up every other objective in every region and I was not about to let this one tough battle stop me from getting 100% of the game and the last two coveted trophies.
The battle against Valkyrie Queen Sigrun was similar to the previous 8 Valkyrie fights in that it is an exercise of patience, stamina, and muscle memory. The fight lasts about 10 minutes, but to get there it took me dying over and over again, over hours and hours across several nights. Sometimes I’d die near the beginning of the fight, sometimes I’d get her health down about halfway. A few times she’d have one or two bars left and I’d flub a parry or forget to dodge and I’d be toast. I’d set the controller down during those defeats, put my head in my hands, and just rest a minute. I am not kidding when I say the fight is exhausting: ten minutes of absolute focus, maybe less if I die faster, for hours on end? It wore me down.
Each death was a practice session though and as the nights wore on I’d be able to consistently knock her health down more and more. The moveset doesn’t change, it’s about reading her attack correctly and responding appropriately. Most of her attacks can be blocked or parried, but she has one particular move that temporarily blinds you. When this happens your view distance is much shorter making tracking her and anticipating her next move difficult. This is when I would die the most because once I was blinded, Sigrun can follow it up with just about anything. It took me a while to figure out that once my field of view was impaired, I would need to run in close to her to see what she was about to do.
But that Wednesday night, after about three hours of dying, I finally did it. I beat her and got my two well-deserved trophies and screenshots. Give Me God of War was NOT easy, and has broken many gamers into giving up and questioning their life choices. I was almost one of those players. I’ve contemplated quitting and starting all over on easy mode. I’m glad I didn’t because finishing this game on Give Me God of War gave me a great feeling of accomplishment.
Tips For Beating Sigrun On Give Me God of War Difficulty
- Use your Leviathan axe. Don’t use the Blades of Chaos. Sigrun has one move where she flies up in the air and spins her scythe to unleash a shockwave that will knock off about 90% of your health. Once you see her fly up and the red circle appears, you need to hit L2 and then R1 to fling your axe at her to disrupt the move. Then recall the axe upon impact, rush in, and start hitting her. The Blades are no good here because the range is limited and you’ll more often than not will try and keep your distance from her.
- Keep your distance from her and stay in the center of the ring. It makes anticipating moves and dodging her attacks much easier.
- Memorize her move set. Know when to block, when to parry, and when to dodge. She has a couple of moves where she rushes in and thrusts her right wing at you. Because of this you should always be sidestepping to your right whenever possible.
- Use enchantments and gear that have useful perk activations. Choosing my best gear and enchantments had me at level 9 halfway to 10. I swapped out a piece of armor and bunch of enchantments and ended up still at level 9 but just a hair up from bottom. I used a couple of lower level enchantments that would grant a health boost or cooldown upon successful block or parry. You WILL get hit, so having some passive mechanic to replenish health is definitely helpful. The cooldowns will let you unleash Runic attacks more frequently.
- Start the battle with full rage. You can regain health with every punch and kick you land while in Rage mode. You won’t be able to get back to 100% health, but if you’re in the red, it’s a good way to get some health back so you have a little more breathing room.
- Carry a resurrection stone, preferably the one that gives you a good amount of health. The one that gives you full rage and little health may sound like a good idea because you can resurrect, go into rage mode, knock Sigrun down some and gain some health back. The truth is, the amount of health you can potentially get back isn’t that much and you will more than likely die in one hit after rage mode wears off. The health resurrection stone will give you a lot more breathing room.
- Expect to die. A LOT. This fight, like every other Valkryie fight, is about muscle memory. Even when you know her moves and the appropriate response, it will take a lot of practice. Sigrun hits hard and it will remind you how it was at the beginning of the game.
The one thing I regret during this journey was not being fully familiar with the PS4’s share options. I thought I saved video of my fight against Sigrun but alas, I did not. The screenshots will have to do.
