God of War II strategy guide

Spear of Destiny
Another secondary weapon that you pick up near the end of the game, the Spear of Destiny has potential if you stick with it. Attacks from the spear are quick and damaging, but because you pick it up late on, you won't get much chance to upgrade it. It is an ideal way to vary the God Of WarII experience if you use it onyour second time through the game.

Blade of Olympus
Defeat Zeus and you'll receive this blade. In our opinion, it's a little overrated. It may be quick, but pulling off meaty combos is a fiddly process, and because of that it isn't as pleasing to use as the Spear of Destiny. Still, well worth a look if you're looking for some variety on a repeat play though, and you can turn it into a real bastard of an energy-blasting weapon if you take the time to upgrade it fully.

2. The Basics: Magic

Typhon's Bane
This is your basic bow, and its main use is shooting down targets from a distance. Equip it by pressing Right on the D-pad, and fire it by holding down the L2 button and tapping Square.

There are plenty of situations in this game that call on you to make use of the bow (this walkthrough relies on it a few times) so we'd recommend getting familiar with it and levelling it up a few times, too.

Cronos' Rage
A weaker version of the lightning attack from the last game, this can be used to zap multiple enemies at once by tapping the L2 button. Select it by pressing Left on the d-pad. As a magic ability, it isn't that useful unless you're surrounded by plenty of weaker enemies, and even then, there are better ways of dispatching them. It does, however, work wonders for stunning certain bosses and keeping them from attacking for a few precious seconds.

Euryale's head
This is the equivalent of Medusa's head from the original game, and it works in exactly the same way. Select it by pressing Up on the D-pad, hold down L2 to lock a target, and hold down the Square button to fire. It turns your enemies to stone for a short time, so when they're vulnerable, lay in with a few combos from your blades, and you'll pull off an easy kill.

This is a useful weapon to have in a scrap, especially if you're being pounded on my larger enemies. It can freeze multiple targets, too, so try and get as many foes in your beam as possible. Well worth upgrading, as you'll be able to launch big turn-everything-to-stone bombs at full strength.

Atlas Quake
Perhaps the best magic in the game, this will get you out of a scrape fast. Select it by pressing Down on the d-pad and tap L2 to activate. Kratos will stomp his feet on the ground, flinging rocks around the screen that devastate your enemies.

Leveled up, it's a lethal weapon. Two or three stomps will kill any low- to mid-level creatures and seriously weaken the rest. Well worth spending your hard-won red orbs on.