How Spartan Rage Works - God of War Ragnarok Guide - IGN (2024)

One of God of War Ragnarok’s central combat features is Kratos’ ability to use his Spartan Rage to enter an incredible battle state. This page contains information on how Rage works, including how to build rage, use Spartan Rage, and other new features in Ragnarok.

How to Build Rage

As you engage enemies in combat, each successful attack you land on enemies will raise your Rage by a little bit - shown in the orange meter below Kratos’ health bar. This can include both regular melee attacks, ranged attacks, shield bashes, and runic attacks. Attacks from companions or hazards do not increase your rage.

Kratos will also gain more rage each time he is hit by an attack, and the stronger the attack, the more rage he will gain (especially when under the influence of status effects like being poisoned or shocked). However, you should try not to rely on getting hit just to build rage, and more of it as a way to come back with a powerful attack when near death.

Certain gear can also have abilities that grant a chance for you to get a Rage Burst, which will automatically fill a portion of your Rage Meter when activated.

Lastly, you can find red rage stones on the battlefield - some are static and can be found in and out of combat encounters, and others can be dropped by defeating or staggering enemies.

If you want to go into a difficult challenge fully prepared, be sure to visit a Mystic Gateway and interact with it first - it will fully fill your Rage meter so you can go into a fight ready to trigger it!

Using Spartan Rage

Once you have fully filled your initial rage meter, there will be a prompt to press L3 + R3 to unleash your Spartan Rage. Doing this will automatically stagger any nearby opponents from your rage explosion, and after this you will be able to deal bare-handed damage at an astounding rate.

As you attack in rapid fire brawling, not only will you deal a lot of damage fast and constantly stagger most enemies, but each hit you land will heal you for a small amount. You’ll also be invulnerable to damage in this state, but any damage taken will cause your rage meter to deplete that much faster.

Kratos will actually have more than just one type of move when in Spartan Rage mode, and you can vary your attacks to fit the situation:

• Pressing R1 will unleash a rapid series of punches that you can chain together for quick bursts.

• Holding R2 will cause Kratos to crouch and gather power while drawing in enemies, and letting go will unleash a mighty leaping slam attack to damage all nearby enemies
• Pressing L1 will cause Kratos to charge straight at a close enemy and slam into them. If they are a regular foe, he will grab them and use them as a battering ram to charge into other opponents as you direct his control, before throwing them.
• Pressing L2 will cause Kratos to rip a chunk of rock right out of the ground before throwing it forward - which can be used to eliminate ranged threats.

Note that if you’ve eliminated your targets and want to conserve remaining rage, you can press L3+R3 to disengage Spartan Rage at any time and stop the meter from depleting.

Other Types of Spartan Rage

As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock other modes of enacting Spartan Rage. Each of these modes can be bolstered by spending experience to increase their potency or damage:

• Fury - the standard Spartan Rage, allows you to use different moves to unleash damage and regain a small amount of HP for each hit.

• Valor - this new Spartan Rage mode will consume a large chunk of rage to gain a moderate burst of health. You can also use it as a parry of sorts by enacting Spartan Rage right before an enemy attacks to stagger them, gain more HP, and a temporary melee attack bonus.

• Wrath - this new Spartan Rage mode lets you consume a large chunk of rage for a single target high power attack, charging the target with your currently equipped weapon to deal massive damage with bonus weapon effects. If the target is killed by this attack, you’ll be healed for a small amount.