After Odin and Thor enter your house, Kratos swiftly denies a peace treaty that Odin proposes, knowing that the all-father is being far from genuine.
This then leads to the first proper fight of the game as Thor launches you high up into the sky with his hammer.
The resulting fight can seem quite hard, depending on the difficulty chosen, but we’re here to help.
Here’s how to defeat Thor in God of War Ragnarok.
Thor’s Attack Patterns
Thor has some specific attacks that you have to pay attention to. Honestly speaking, most of what Thor does is very easy to notice.
If you can’t tell what each of the Thunder God’s moves does, we are here to help by thoroughly explaining each and how to avoid them.
Knowing his moves will grant you a significant advantage in this battle and make this boss fight much easier.
One Handed Grab
If you stick around Thor long enough, he raises his right hand and tries to grab Kratos. This unblockable attack is not too troublesome since you can avoid it even after getting caught.
Still, make you dodge sideways as soon as you see him doing it.
Charging Grab
Thor will run at Kratos and try to grab him with both arms. This attack is more dangerous than the previous grab.
Not only is it an unblockable attack with a fair amount of range, but it also deals a lot of damage.
You might see it coming because Thor usually jumps away from Kratos before performing this move.
Ground Slam
Thor will put his left arm behind his body, open his mouth, and then slam the ground. This move will cause a shockwave that you cannot avoid unless you move away.
You must move away while Thor is still readying the attack. As soon as you notice that Thor is about to hit the ground, dodge or run away to avoid the area of effect.
Once he starts using the Mjolnir, he will also perform multiple ground slams with the hammer. They will be quicker and cause many electrical bursts around the arena.
In that case, just make sure you are not standing in an area that turns red after Thor hits the ground.
Thunder Clap
This attack is harder to avoid. It is telegraphed, but it is also rather quick. Thor will clap his hands, causing an electric burst and a small shockwave right in front of him.
This attack is one of the most dangerous in higher difficulty settings since you might not see it coming. Stay alert and dodge sideways to avoid it.
Shockwave
Once Thor starts using Mjolnir, things get a bit more serious. He will often swing his mighty hammer to cause a shockwave that travels all the way to Kratos.
Dodge sideways every time he swings the hammer from afar. When Thor holds his hammer, and you are far from him, chances are a ranged attack is coming.
Hammer Toss
This attack is much like the shockwave, but it is also unblockable.
The recommendation is the same. Once Thor swings his hammer, dodge sideways. This will help you avoid both the shockwave and the Mjolnir when he throws it at you.
Be careful, though. Dodging the Mjolnir itself is a bit trickier. If you dodge too early, he might still hit you.
Punches and Hammer Swings
Thor also performs other less worrying attacks. Most of them can just be blocked normally, so remember that and do so when you have to react quickly.
The Mjolnir is powerful, but so is Faye’s shield, so you can trust it to block pretty much everything as long as you don’t see any circles around Thor while he attacks.
That said, make sure that you perfectly time your blocks when you see yellow circles when Thor telegraphs his attacks.
Tips for Beating Thor in God of War Ragnarok
Unfortunately, the best early skills in God of War Ragnarök won’t help you here. Beating Thor is a matter of learning his patterns and reacting to them correctly.
Once you land in the first location, Thor will immediately rush you to land some attacks.
The thing about Thor is that he hits hard, but he doesn’t hit fast. Many of his moves are easy enough to identify and dodge if you pay attention.
The only attack that might be too fast to react consistently is his close-range grab. He performs that with a single hand, but the game will allow you to respond by pressing R1 to break his grasp.
When enemies attack, you will sometimes see circles that appear on them. The colors indicate how you have to deal with the enemy’s attack.
If it’s a red circle, it means that the attack is unblockable. Quickly hit X to get out of the way of those. However, if it’s a yellow attack, wait for the enemy to nearly strike and hit L1 to block it. This will stun the enemy and leave a gap for you to attack.
If you don’t block one of these attacks correctly, they will break Kratos’ guard, which usually leads to the enemy getting a free hit on Kratos.
Those red or yellow circles work the same way, no matter who you are fighting. Thor has many attacks that show red and yellow circles, as you saw described above, so pay attention to those.
Note that when attacking Thor, you may or may not break his composure.
Using the attacks with yellow circles to stun Thor with a perfect block is the best way to get some easy damage on the boss.
That said, there is another way.
To increase your chances of stunning him, hold the triangle button to charge your Leviathan Axe and deliver a charged heavy blow by holding R2 up close.
Do not overextend. Thor will grab you as soon as he has the chance. If you see that your attacks are not knocking him back, move away and get ready to dodge or charge your axe again.
The most reliable way to land some blows is by parrying his yellow attacks with L1 and striking him. It is either that or hitting him with a heavy attack after the Leviathan Axe is charged.
Still, you can hit him normally if he gives you a moment without attacking, and you trust your reaction time to dodge all he throws at you.
Sometimes you will see a red or green glow in the boss arena. Those are items that help you fill your Spartan Rage if red or heal you if green. Pay attention to your surroundings since these items can save your life.
Another thing that will massively help you is your Spartan Rage, so as soon as your meter fills up, activate this and go to town.
In higher difficulty settings, you might want to save the Spartan Rage to deal with the last phase of this fight. That’d be when Thor starts using his Mjolnir hammer.
Other than that, you might want to use the Spartan Rage as soon as the fight begins since that gives you a chance to get it back.
