Unlock Kratos' true power in God of War with the final upgrade for the Blades of Chaos. Getting it won't be easy. Here's what you have to do.
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It can’t be a God of War game without Kratos’ most iconic weapons — the Blades of Chaos. Yes, that’s a total spoiler, but there’s no getting around this one. The Blades of Chaos are totally a thing, and you’ll be able to upgrade them just like the Leviathan Axe. The Blades of Chaos can’t be upgraded quite as much — instead of six levels, there are only five — but getting to that max rank is very, very difficult.
No, this isn’t the toughest challenge in the game, but it’s certainly going to give regular players a headache. It’s all about Muspelheim, the optional area Kratos can unlock by finding four secret language cyphers in Midgard. Find all four, and the door to Muspelheim will open in the realm travel room. Muspelheim isn’t your average realm either. There are challenges in each area, and I do not recommend attempting them until you’re at peak performance.
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How To Fully Upgrade Blades Of Chaos | Level 5 Upgrade Guide
If you follow the normal path of progression, you’ll only be able to upgrade the Blades of Chaos up to Level 4 — but there’s one final upgrade you can get. The final item you need to get the Blades of Chaos up to max level can only be acquired in Muspelheim, the optional challenge realm you can unlock by finding all four hidden cipher chests.
- How To Upgrade The Blades of Chaos [Quick Guide]
- Unlock Muspelheim (Find all 4 cipher chests.)
- Complete Trial 1-5 and reach the Valkyrie at the top.
- Defeat the Valkyrie — she drops the item you need to trade at Brok / Sindri’s shop.
- Trade the item in to get the final upgrade item for the Blades of Chaos.
It sounds simple, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. Completing the trials and defeating the Valkyrie is really, really hard — so hard, I don’t recommend even attempting it until you’re basically at the end of the game, or at the post-game. I’ll provide some tips to help complete the trials below, but first let’s go over the locations of the cipher chests.
- How To Unlock Muspelheim:
- Muspelheim Cipher #1: River Pass – Once you meet up with the Witch, you’ll be able to access the cave underneath her house. Near the entrance lift, turn right and blast through the red vines / viscera with a charged explosive root. The cipher chest is just to the right.
- Muspelheim Cipher #2: The Mountain – From the Summit mystic gateway, you’ll find this chest straight up the steps leading to the green garden at the top. You can’t miss it.
- Muspelheim Cipher #3: Cliffs of the Raven – Here’s an area you might miss. From the Lake of the Nine, land on the beach to the right, on the path southeast from the temple. You’ll pass the beach on the way to Volunder Mines. Enter the large arena-like area at the end of the cliffs, and look left for a small opening blocked by wood — smash through and toss Atreus up so he can drop a chain. Climb up to find this optional chest.
- Muspelheim Cipher #4: Forgotten Caverns – Another totally optional region. This is one directly northwest of the temple in the center of the Lake of the Nine, and you can visit this area at any point in the game. Go inside and climb the narrow cracks (twice) to reach the upper level of the caverns. The chest is at the top.
Tips To Help You Complete Muspelheim
- Come back to Muspelheim when you’ve completed the main game. The first challenges should be a total breeze at that point — bring the Level 4 Blades of Chaos and the Level 5 Leviathan Axe.
- Purchase Resurrection Stones before battle if you don’t already have one ready.
- Swap between weapons, unleashing your Runic Attacks to quickly slaughter enemies. Killing enemies quickly is what’s most important here.
- The Valkyrie is by far the toughest part of this challenge. I recommend collecting the Level 6 Upgrade for the Leviathan Axe before attempting to defeat her.
- The Level 6 Axe Upgrade and armor that heals you over time are both found in Niflheim. I recommend mostly completing Niflheim first — it’s good practice, and you’ll be able to easily slice through the trials to reach the Valkyrie — the Valkyrie is what makes this so much more difficult than the Axe Upgrade.
- When the Valkyrie rises up, she’s charging an unblockable attack you can’t dodge. Hit her with Atreus’ arrow.
- Heavy Runic attacks can interrupt her attacks. Unleash one at the right time when she’s charging or attempting a combo to do lots of damage. With the fully upgrade Leviathan Axe, the fight should only last a few minutes.
