Vanadis, who is Freya from the first game, is one of the main story bosses of God of War: Ragnarok. Her encounter is unmissable because defeating her is the only way to unlock Valor mode, which is a Spartan Rage ability to let Kratos heal and negate incoming attacks.
Vanadis might seem far more challenging to deal with after the earlier Dreki boss fight. However, it is still an easy fight overall.
Read on to know what kind of attacks Vanadis does and how you can counter them in God of War: Ragnarok.
Where to find Vanadis
You will encounter Vanadis outside Kratos and Atreus’ home in Midgard after defeating the Hel-Reavers in the fifth chapter, The Lost Sanctuary. This will be just before you start The Reckoning, the mainline sixth chapter of the game.
Best strategy to defeat Vanadis
Vanadis fight may seem daunting and scary as you are not expecting a Valkyrie, but it is easy once you know what to do.
Now unlike Valkyries in GoW 2018, Vanadis is not so melee-heavy. She has unblockable attacks, so dodge them. Her melee attacks are in either chain of two or three. For this, wait to counterattack, as you might get hit with the second attack. She is a Valkyrie and does hit hard.
Next, Vanadis uses a lot of ranged attacks, and almost all of these can be dodged back to hit her. All her attacks are in volleys, so make sure that Vanadis is not about to follow up with an unblockable ranged attack.
We recommend blocking the first projectile attacks and parrying the second. If you have reflexes of a god (which Kratos is supposed to be), parry all the projectiles or dodge the second unblockable projectile.
Parrying will be a huge part of the fight, as Vanadis sucks at a close-range battle. Unlike previous Valkyries, Vanadis can be easily stunned and locked by your attacks.
She will always back out of a melee fight to go for a ranged battle. The only time you see her melee attacks is when she rushes in on her own to use them, allowing you almost to control the pace of your fight.
After the cutscene where Vanadis throws you, she will start using poison. These projectiles fall around her, and the effects linger for a while. Stepping into the poison allows Vanadis to recover health while you take damage, so it’s best to avoid them at all costs if you are struggling.
Just parry her ranged attack, go in for a few hits and then dodge back out. This will keep you safe from the poison spit attack, and you can easily reposition or parry until the poison is gone.
Honestly, Vanadis might cause PTSD due to the Valkyries in GoW 2018, but she is pretty weak. She can be easily countered and defeated in GoW Ragnarök.
Vanadis’ rewards and loot
- Spartan Rage
- Valor Mode
- Backyard Brawl trophy/achievement
