Kratos first encounters Thor during the Surviving Fimbulwinter mission right after he takes down bear Bjorn and returns to his hut in God of War Ragnarok. Though Thor is powerful and has unblockable attacks, you must learn tricks to survive on the battlefield. You will fight Thor twice in God of War Ragnarok, once in the beginning stages of the game and once near the end.
As you may expect, he doesn’t make your job easy. But with the right strategy and planning, you can turn these fights on their heads, both of them. Here is how.
God of War Ragnarok Thor First Fight
The first fight has Thor attack Kratos at his house during the game’s early stages, just like Baldur did in the previous game. The two then go out to battle in the icy landscape.
Phase 1
During the first phase, Thor is stronger and does not take any damage, and Kratos only has a shield. Thor uses a few predictable moves in this phase, which can be dodged easily with the correct timing.
Thor uses a three-hit combo sequence with a powerful clap and an incoming attack. For the clap, he throws back his arms. You can hide behind him to parry the attack, and when a red circle appears on him, this hints that there is an incoming attack, so roll away to dodge the damage.
Thor will also use his hammer to charge at you; don’t let the hammer get to you else you will deal a lot of damage.
Time your attacks perfectly; for this, you need to charge at him right after dodging them and use your Spartan Rage mode (L3 and R3), as it will drop his health to half. Remember, if Thor catches you, press L1 to defend yourself.
Thor drops health stones (green medicines) at different places in the arena; you can use them to heal up. As Thor’s health drops to half, you will get the Leviathan Axe, and now you can hit him properly. Once his health is down entirely, he will knock you out of the arena. This will initiate phase 2 of the fight.
Phase 2
The second phase begins at Tyr’s bridge with Thor’s full health. This time, there will be objects nearby that you can use to hit him. Note that pillars will deal him a massive blow and knock him back.
Thor uses his hammer to attack you; this move can be predicted again by a red circle; if you’re at a distance, he will throw the hammer toward you and roll away to dodge, but if you are near him, he will give you a fatal blow.
During the last phase, Thor will send a shockwave; make sure to avoid it at any cost, and when he throws Mjolnir at you, press X to catch it.
While near the pillars, press O to target him with them and knock him down, and when he aims at you with charged attacks, parry them and make him vulnerable to counterattacks. Keep dodging and attacking him until his health has entirely depleted.
This phase, however, ends with Kratos dying and a game over the screen popping up. But don’t despair, this is supposed to happen and Thor will revive you with Mjolnir’s lightning, kind of like using a defibrillator to revive a heart. This is when the third and final phase begins.
Phase 3
For the final phase, Thor adds an area-of-effect attack in the arena, which allows Mjolnir to target lightning at three different points with a few more tricks, which makes this a tough battle.
You need to focus on using Spartan Rage to increase the damage dealt to Thor.
The new attacks include rain projectiles, which can be predicted immediately with red circles on the ground. This happens when Thor smashes Mjolnir into the ground; you must avoid standing in circles and getting close to attack him.
His three-attack strategy (red, yellow, red) includes one unblockable and two blockable attacks. You need to dodge them together. His charged clap remains the same till the last phase.
Use Spartan Rage when you can and parry his attack. When Thor is at a distance, throw your axe to give him damage, rush towards him during that time, and give him more damage with your shield.
As Thor’s health falls below half, he will end the fight with the last dialogue “Consider your blood debt paid”. This will end the first fight between Thor and Kratos in God of War Ragnarok.
God of War Ragnarok Thor Second Fight
Now it’s time for round 2 between Kratos and Thor, and this time, the Norse god is stronger and has some unique tricks, like catching you off guard, so you need to be quick and on guard.
The final battle resembles the first with an identical moveset, but Thor’s attacks are unblockable this time. If you are low on health, parry incoming attacks and unleash Runic Attacks once Thor is vulnerable after Sheild Strikes.
Phase 1
The final battle begins as Thor says, “This time I am allowed to kill you.” The first phase includes many ringed attacks and Mlojnir strikes. Though the attacks are unblockable, you need to time your movement to dodge them.
Thor will use some old attacking tactics like charged clap, tossing Mlojnir, and lightning strike attack that has three AoE lighting blast at once. The red circle can predict all these attacks and can be dodged by rolling to the other side.
Thor uses two variations of Mlojnir tossing attacks: (i) he raises his arms and quickly throws the hammer at you, and (ii) the hammer glows blue and charges at you with heavy force. The lightning projectile can be dodged by moving out of the red rings on the ground.
Once you walk out of the rings, Thor will take a few seconds to complete his attack. This is a good opportunity to attack him with your spear.
When Thor charges at you with combination of attacks, dodge and wait for his attacks to end then turn up your Runic Attacks, this gives him a good deal of damage.
Once Thor’s three health bars deplete, press R1 and R2 to give him damaging strikes. This ends the first phase with Thor breaking free of Kratos’s blades of chaos.
Phase 2
Thor uses the same moveset for the second phase but gets quicker and more aggressive, so you will get significant damage if caught under any attacks.
Amongst the previous attacks there are two new attacks up Thor’s sleeves. The first you need to keep your eye open for is when Thor starts to levitate off the ground, this is when he unleashes the enraged AoE lightning. This attack is marked with blue circles, so you cannot miss foreseeing this.
Another attack you need to be aware of is the teleporting attack. Thor teleports three times across the battlefield, sending shockwaves to your way. The lightning strike in this attack is quick, so you must wait for this attack to end before you plan a new one.
The second phase ends with Thor being more enraged as Kratos attacks him with his spear in God of War Ragnarok.
Phase 3
For the final phase, Thor’s moves have gone into overdrive, and he is fully powered up. Though dodging the attacks is still easy, considering the arena is big. But remember, if you launch an attack combo and Thor initiates red rings on the ground, you need to move immediately because, this time, the rings will be greater in number.
Thor will frequently spawn lightning strikes in the arena merged with teleporting with quicker speed. After the lightning strikes, Thor will levitate and crash down. Like previous attacks this is predictable with a red circle over him, you need to dodge the rings on ground to miss this attack.
Keep attacking from a distance to avoid significant damage. However, you need to rush to attack him after he crashes down to the ground; this is a good chance to deplete his health once his health has drained, land the ending blow with R1.
