Homecoming Walkthrough - God of War Ragnarok Guide - IGN (2024)

Homecoming is the second Story Goal in God of War: Ragnarok's free Valhalla DLC. In this "Roguelite" Mode that takes place after the main story, Kratos encounters an echo of his past before awakening back at the shores of Valhalla, and is determined to find out more by reaching Upper Valhalla.

Rewards: 25 Mastery Seals

• Jump to:
• Mastering the Lower Realms
• Defeating Valhalla's Chosen
• Proving Yourself Against the Boss
• Exploring Upper Valhalla
• Making the Sacrifice

Master the Lower Realms of Valhalla

Though the last loop didn't end with Kratos dying, you'll appear back at the shore regardless, where Freya will warn you of what can happen if you don't play by the rules of Valhalla.

If you didn't die prematurely during your last goal to reach the Ascending Sands, you may notice a few new additions to the Shore that weren't there before:

Off to the left, Eir stands by a small pedestal with a glowing armor icon, which allows you to change the cosmetic appearance of Kratos' armor and weapon handles (but provides no actual bonuses).

In the middle, a large lore marker has been erected that will give you a random selection of Labors to complete and earn extra currency the more you complete (and will keep giving you more random tasks when all are completed).

Off to the right by Gunnr, a large red marker called the Tablet of Reflection can be interacted with to finally spend your Mastery Seal currency in exchange for permanent boosts to Kratos' stats. Along with improving your Health, Rage, Strength, and Defense, getting this far will also allow you to upgrade Kratos' other stats like Vitality, Runic, Cooldown, and Luck! Consider spreading some upgrades around, especially for your core stats like Health and Strength.

When you arrive at the Ritual of Selection, you'll now find that one specific Shield and Rage type will glow, indicating that you'll gain extra currency for using these in your next attempt. This is a good way to train in varying your tactics, if you feel up to the risk if it's something you don't usually use.

Upon entering Valhalla this time, the "loop" will have expanded slightly. You'll still need to go through the process of fighting through Challenge Rooms, gaining rewards, and then preparing for the next encounter in the Realms Sanctuaries.

When in the first Asgard Sanctuary (where you can now see the extent of Valhalla up in the sky featuring ominous statues), you can try interacting with the Ascending Sands, only to find it has now been locked to you, and requires the defeat of "Valhalla's Chosen" to unlock it.

To reach this new challenge, you'll need to get through several more challenge rooms, which will start to increase in difficulty the more you finish. Pay attention to when enemy health bars turn from green to yellow, noting an increase in their health and damage. If things are getting to tough, make sure you're grabbing Mastery Seals in the Sanctuary areas, and using it to increase Kratos' stats before starting another attempt.

After getting through a few Sanctuaries (especially if you die prematurely and need to attempt several runs before reaching Valhalla's Chosen), you'll begin to see more Mystic Gateways opening up in a Sanctuary, giving you multiple options to pick. Each will have a symbol above the door depicting the reward you can earn for completing that challenge room, making it important to consider what you may be lacking in to try and earn before fighting Valhalla's Chosen. If you need a refresher, see the chart below:

Defeat Valhalla's Chosen

After passing through around three consecutive Sanctuaries and their subsequent Challenge Rooms, the door past the third challenge will lead into an arena with one of Valhalla's Chosen. After this attempt, you'll be given a heads up by seeing their Mystic Gateway marked with a skull icon.

As you might expect, Valhalla's Chosen are not an easy adversary. While not a true "boss", they are bolstered variants of strong enemy types, often with ice or fire armor that needs to be depleted with the opposite weapon type before you can truly damage, and will usually be resistant to staggering or boast a very high health pool.

To make matters worse, they'll often be helped by various other enemies (usually much weaker, thankfully), and you'll need to constantly reposition and move to avoid getting swarmed or hit from the side. In most cases, you should try to remove additional weaker enemies as soon as you spot them, and then return to your main target.

The types of Valhalla's Chosen you'll face are random, but so far we've seen these ones you should expect:

• Hel-Viken (w/ Hel Raiders) - dodge back from horizontal swings and to the side from vertical swings before countering
• Fierce Wulven (w/ Wulven) - be ready to interrupt its overhead slashes, and dodge to the side when it charges across the room
• Einherjar Brute (w/ Einherjars) - Remove the ranged attackers and weaker allies first, but be wary of the brute's quick lunges and bifrost attacks, stay out of range until its removed.

Defeating this strong enemy will not only earn you Mastery Seals, but also Spirit Seals for a job well done, which we'll also be able to use between attempts after this goal is complete.

Your trials in this particular story beat are far from over however, as the most harrowing is yet to come. Be sure to spend any remaining Fleeting Echoes you can at the next Sanctuary to heal yourself up or get any last bonuses, because touching the Ascending Sands now won't lead right to that strange throne, you'll need to prove yourself against a real boss first.

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Prove Yourself: Boss Fight - Fiske

The Einherjar Captain boss from Vanaheim has returned to face you once more, and Here are some quick tips and tricks you may find helpful during your encounter with Fiske. For a more detailed breakdown of each of Fiske’s attacks, be sure to continue reading below.

Fiske will primarily perform combo attacks with his scythe that can be turned into a spear at will, so always expect each of his unique attacks to contain at least three to five moves – whether combined with standard scythe swipes, block breaks, or even unblockable attacks.

After each of Fiske’s attacks, you’ll have a brief moment to unleash several heavy attacks upon him. However, don’t be surprised if his first attack that follows is unblockable, so whenever moving in close, be sure to play it safe and don't be greedy. Backing up after a few quick attacks will likely save your life.

When performing his powerful stab attack, the one that sees him transforming his scythe into a spear, we found that if you’re too close, even while dodge rolling, you’re still very likely to be damaged. So, when you see this attack occur, try to stay well out of range by backing up first and then proceeding to roll sideways rather than backward.

Fiske has many powerful melee attacks, many of which begin as a simple scythe swipe before incorporating either a block break which can be parried, or an unblockable attack that will see his scythe glowing purple, inflicting BiFrost damage if his attack catches you.

In addition, Fiske will also perform a charge attack in which his scythe will glow purple and transform into a spear, where he’ll then attempt to stab you on three different occasions. While this attack can be parried and blocked, his speed and steer strength will make it risky. So, instead, we recommend backing up as quickly as possible and dodging out of the way.

Avoid taking bifrost damage whenever possible to maximize your survival chances, and expend your Spartan Rage when needed to even the odds.

Once his health drops, perform a finisher on him to defeat this boss, and help yourself to not one but TWO reward chests in this room.

Once you're ready, take the Mystic Gateway to return to the throne room, and you'll finally meet the owner of that mysterious voice - an old "friend" from Kratos' past.

Explore the Upper Realms of Valhalla

With a new head to talk to, continue through the other door to enter the Upper Realms of Valhalla. You'll be placed in another Sanctuary of the 9 Realms, though these will be different than the ones you've visited before.

For starters, the Tablet of Endeavor here has more bonuses you can buy with Fleeting Echoes, often including a Weapon Attunement Glyph to increase the base damage of a weapon, and the ability to buy one of three types of Crests in each new Sanctuary to combine for a Divine Triumph - the rarest type of persisting currency!

You'll be much higher up in Valhalla now among the large statues and chain straight out of Ancient Greece. Keep heading through the linear sanctuary area breaking pots as you do, until you reach a door to a circular room with a chain in the middle.

Look for an exit that will take you out of the Realm Sanctuary, and up a path towards "home". You'll need to jump down and then cross the gap to an even larger Ascending Sands, and note the distinctly Grecian pottery you can break open around the sands before you try to ascend once more.

Push the Cage to Make the Sacrifice

In this next room, Kratos will come to face another of his past misdeeds. The place will take the form of an area from an early God of War game, where Kratos sacrificed an unwitting soldier to proceed in his path of revenge, and now you'll need to relive those steps.

Be sure to grab the Health and Rage stones along the corridor before pulling the lever on the right, sending a cage crashing down. Kratos will place your new companion in the cage, as new enemies burst to life around you.

These Undead Legionnaire's are straight out of Greece, and while they are similar in ability to Draugr, they can leap at you with strong attacks, and even unblockable ones. Block the lunging slices and sidestep the overhead attacks, and try knocking them into the air to keep them juggled where they can't hurt you.

When the first wave is dead, you can push the cage to the far end of the pit, where it will rise up as more Legionnaires face you. These can include Shield Legionnaires that will throw explosives at you while hiding behind shields that slam, but you can disrupt them with your own shield.

At the final platform, a larger group will appear. With a group this big, Kratos will tap into another piece of his past to draw forth a new kind of Spartan Rage: Legacy.

With this rage, Kratos will summon the mighty Blade of Olympus, once used to defeat Zeus himself. The weapon is extremely powerful, allowing you to quickly move to targets by pressing Triangle, and using attacks with R1, R2, and L2.

You can also hold down attack buttons to charge up Kratos attacks to deal massive damage, and even heal you a small amount. Similarly, you can still parry using the blade itself by pressing L1, which will restore a bit of Rage on successful parries, or you can regain some Rage by defeating enemies.

Your Rage will stay at max until this wave is defeated, so have fun testing out its abilities on the swarm of Legionnaires until none remain.

When the way is clear, push the cage the rest of the way, and relive the past by making the Sacrifice.

When things get out of hand, Kratos will try and alter Valhalla's rules, only to be sent hurtling down to certain doom. Luckily, the arrival of some much-needed help with save Kratos and Mimir, placing you back at the Shores of Valhalla for a new expanded attempt.