HT Games
Weapons
There are two main weapons that Kratos receives in God of War. The Blades of Chaos are the initial weapon that Kratos has. Later on in the game, he also receives the Blade of Artemis. The Blades of Chaos are faster and have a larger move set when upgraded. The Blade of Artemis is a much stronger weapon, especially once it is upgraded. Both weapons have their own merit, depending on your playstyle. The Blade of Artemis can tear through enemies much faster, but it leaves Kratos far more open to attack. Even players using the Blade of Artemis almost exclusively should still upgrade the Blades of Chaos. Some faster enemies are difficult to hit using the Blade of Artemis, which effectively negates the strength advantage.
Upgrades
The red orbs collected from chests and dead enemies are used to upgrade Kratos' abilities. This is essentially the experience point system of God of War. The player uses these orbs to increase the level of each type of weapon or magic they have. The increased level either adds more moves or spells or increases the power of existing moves or spells. It is possible to upgrade every weapon and magic ability to maximum, but very difficult and tedious to actually do. Most players will benefit by specializing on a few different abilities to conserve red orbs. Specializing in a few weapons and spells is better than trying to evenly level all of them up. A player with only Blades of Chaos and Poseidon's Rage leveled up completely is just as effective as another player with every skill maxed out that is currently using the Blades of Chaos and Poseidon's Rage.
Gaining Red Orbs
Many enemies in the game do not respawn, which limits the amount of red orbs you can get. The few enemies that respawn indefinitely will stop dropping red orbs after a few hits. There are two other ways to get red orbs from infinitely respawning enemies for players that do want to maximize all their abilities. Killing enemies with Medusa's Gaze or from Combo Bonuses will always grant red orbs. Generating a high number of hits in a combo will give a Combo Bonus, which gives Kratos red orbs. The Blades of Chaos and Poseidon's Rage are both very good at generating high combo strings. Medusa's Gaze turns enemies to stone. If the enemy is hit and smashed after being turned to stone, it gives the player 15 red orbs. If you hit an enemy in mid-air and they fall and smash on the ground, the bonus is doubled to 30 red orbs.
Killing Medusa
Medusa can be a tricky opponent due to her speed and agility. She can evade midway through your combos and start attacking you. Do not expect to get more than two to three fast hits in before she counterattacks. Avoid getting locked into using combo attacks at this point in the fight. Try to get a few light hits in and block as soon as she starts dodging to your side. She also uses a Stone Gaze ability. You can roll out of the way to avoid it fairly easily. If you get hit with Stone Gaze, you will need to rotate the left analog stick before she hits you to remove the stone effect. If she hits you while you have the stone effect you will automatically die. Keep using these tactics until the mini-game starts to finish her off. Once that starts, just rotate the left analog stick to match the patterns shown above her head.
Final Ares Fight
The final fight against Ares works a little differently from the rest of the boss fights. The first difference you will notice is that you will lose all of your weapons and magic skills. You will only be able to use the Blade of the Gods for this fight. In addition, the health meter is replaced by a tug of war system. Every time Kratos or Ares does damage, the bar moves in their favor. You can only win the fight by getting it all the way to your side. This means you need to consistently block or evade attacks. Stay out of close range until Ares misses one of his short range attacks. Move in, do a couple hits, and jump out of range while he is recovering. Ares is quite predictable, but the timing to evade and block his moves is a bit tricky. After a few successful blocks and dodges, you should have little trouble beating him.