The best skills to unlock early in God of War Ragnarok

When you begin your journey into God of War Ragnarok, the nine realms are waiting for you to explore them as you progress through the game. However, it wouldn’t be a God of War game without armies of enemies ready to take you down. You will have to cut through them, and fight your way through every location you find, especially if you’re keen to grab the helpful resources and treasures awaiting you. Here’s what you need to know about the best skills to unlock early in God of War Ragnarok.

The best early skills in God of War Ragnarok

You can purchase skills from two distinct trees for Kratos’ weapons: the Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos. Both are available to you when you start the game. The only way to unlock more skills is to earn experience for Kratos, which you can receive for defeating enemies, completing labours, side quests, or progressing the story.

Related: Where to find the Legendary Chest at Althjof’s Rig in God of War Ragnarok

Blazing Explosion

With Blazing Explosion, while using the Blades of Chaos, you can connect to an enemy using them and send a firey explosion to the other end, heavily damaging enemies and those around them. It’s an effective area-of-effect (AoE) attack that you can land, mainly when your foes are clustered together.

Chaotic Rampage

Chaotic Rampage is another attack from the Blades of Chaos tree. With them, you can hold down the light attack (R1) button while using the Blades to unleash several high-damage flurry attacks against a single target. Again, these are quick strikes against an opponent, giving you plenty of room to dodge away if you need to fight multiple enemies.

Evasive Embers

For those who prefer to dash away and damage foes in combat, the Evasive Embers attack will have it so Kratos dashes away from an enemy, but when pressing the R1 button, he will unleash a burst of sparks from the Blades, pushing an enemy backward.

Extinguish Flames

The Extinguish Flames ability comes from the Leviathan Axe tree. Although a small effect, the Axe will now deal increased damage to burning enemies, which Kratos will frequently fight throughout the nine realms, especially in the early game.

Frozen Ascent

This is another skill from the Leviathan Axe tree. With it, while pressing the R2 button with Frost on the Axe, Kratos will drive the Axe into the ground and perform an upward strike, sending multiple opponents flying in the air. It’s a good way to cause crowd control against several attackers, disorienting them, and you can pick them off from there.

Hyperion Grapple

Going back to the Blades of Chaos tree, we recommend grabbing the Hyperion Grapple. With this ability, when Kratos impales an enemy with the Blades of Chaos, hold the R1 button, and instead of pulling them to him, he will rush forward to their location. It’s a good way to create distance from another attack and focus on a single target.

Permafrost

By grabbing the Permafrost skill and using the Leviathan Axe, Kratos will need to hit targets without sustaining damage to Frost build-up on it. The more Frost the Axe does, the more damage it will do in combat while increasing the chances of Luck and Runic-based abilities to activate.

Rushing Chaos

When sprinting at a target with the Blades of Chaos, you can press the R1 attack and leap forward with the Blades, damaging your opponent. It’s a good way to create an opening strike against your foe, warming them up for the next series of attacks you can use.

Serpent’s Snare

Moving back to the Leviathan Axe, we have the Serpent’s Snare. You will need to hold the R2 button for a brutal strike against an enemy. It will grab the enemy on the Axe, spin them around Kratos, and he will throw them. If you use this on a weaker foe, when they land, they will cause a frost explosion where they hit, potentially damaging other foes.

Vengeful Sickle

The final skill we want to recommend is called Vengeful Sickle. You will need to aim and hold the R1 button while wielding the Leviathan Axe, charging it up. After it has finished charging, send it out against your enemies, and it will unleash multiple strikes against them, building up a good amount of damage.