How to beat all God of War Ragnarok Muspelheim Crucible challenges

God of War Ragnarok Muspelheim Crucible challenges are a series of arena battles that challenge you to master certain enemies, combat styles and other conditions. In return you can earn significant God of War Ragnarok rewards. However, there are fifteen trials in total, and a secret boss fight to track down, making it one of the harder tests in the game. So if you're ready to step into a literal trial by fire, here are all the details you need for the Muspelheim Crucible challenges in God of War Ragnarok.

• Muspelheim 'The Crucible' combat trials
• Muspelheim 'The Final Challenges' combat trials
• Gna boss fight location and tips

God of War Ragnarok Crucible challenges

You'll need to find all the God of War Ragnarok Muspelheim seeds to gain entry to the realm and the Crucible itself. One there you'll have to face six Muspelheim combat challenges split across three different arenas found around the outside of the main arena with one of the God of War Ragnarok Nornir Chests inside. Approach the large, golden sword marked with a rune in any of the arenas and interact with it to select and start a challenge.

So that you know which arena is which, I'll name each after the rune that appears on the sword. The small arena on the left (to the north) is marked with a rune that looks like an ‘F’, the middle small arena is marked with an ‘N’ rune, and the right arena (to the east) is marked with an ‘R’ rune - bear these in mind as they’ll be important later when you come onto the Final Challenges of the Crucible.

Completing a Crucible challenge will earn you with a Legendary Chest containing some exclusive Muspelheim rewards, including Divine Ashes needed to fully upgrade lots of armor pieces, and the full Undying Pyres armor set. The exit door doesn’t unlock until you’ve collected your reward, so you can’t miss out. 

Here are six challenges you need to complete as part of The Crucible Favor:

1. Weapon Mastery (Arena F): Kill 16 enemies within three minutes. This is the easiest challenge by far and just tests your ability to use Kratos’ weapons against different foes. We got 1,000 Hacksilver, 250 Divine Ashes, and the Shoulder Guard of Undying Pyres chest armor.
2. Flawless (Arena F): Kill 15 enemies without taking any damage. Dodge a lot, throw your Axe and Spear, and use your companion’s arrows to deal damage at range. When we completed this challenge for the first time, we got 1,000 Hacksilver and 250 Divine Ashes.
3. Ring Out Challenge (Arena N): Throw 21 enemies into lava pits. Enemies regenerate health too quickly so must be insta-killed by forcing them into a lava pit. Do this using the Leviathan Axe Serpent’s Snare attack (hold R2) to grapple and throw each enemy. We were rewarded with 1,000 Hacksilver, 250 Divine Ashes, and the Bracers of Undying Pyres.
4. Feed the Rift (Arena N): Defeat enemies and throw the glowing orbs they drop into the realm tear within the time limit (60 seconds to throw six, then 150 seconds to throw 15). Run up to the realm tear before throwing the orb as sometimes Kratos will just lob the orb at a nearby enemy. We got 1,000 Hacksilver and 250 Divine Ashes for completion.
5. Population Control (Arena R): Kill the Bergsra without letting more than four Grim be present at once. Quickly wipe out the Grim using the Blades of Chaos and any area-of-effect Runic attacks, then go berserk on the Bergsra to kill it before too many Grim can spawn. For our first completion, we got 1,000 Hacksilver, 250 Divine Ashes, and the Girdle of Undying Pyres.
6. King of the Hill (Arena R): Keep enemies out of the rings until time expires across three waves. Kill enemies quickly before they can step into a ring or get them out of the ring by killing them or throwing them with the Leviathan Axe Serpent’s Snare attack (hold R2). Completion of this challenge awarded us with 1,000 Hacksilver and 250 Divine Ashes.

With all six Crucible challenges completed, you’ve now completed The Crucible Favor and can open the Nornir Chest in the main arena to get a Chaos Flame upgrade. However, there are still plenty more challenges to overcome in the Crucible.

God of War Ragnarok Final Challenges

If you’re looking for even more Crucible challenges in Muspelheim, start by interacting with the golden sword that appears just behind the Nornir Chest. Doing so will begin ‘The Final Challenges’ Favor, which tasks you with completing six tough God of War Ragnarok Crucible challenges in the main arena. Although, you’ll have to repeat many of the six smaller challenges you just completed, as well as some new ones, to unlock them. The three new small arena challenges are:

• Rampage (Arena F): Kill 20 enemies in 150 seconds. Just kill stuff as quickly as possible and stun the Ogres to smash up more enemies. Completing this challenge for the first time gave us 2,500 Hacksilver, 250 Divine Ashes, four Asgardian Ingots, and one Smouldering Ember.
• Health Steal (Arena N): Kratos takes constant damage, but damaging enemies heals him. Be aggressive to get as many hits in as possible. Our first completion of this challenge awarded us with 2,500 Hacksilver, 250 Divine Ashes, three Luminous Alloy, and one Blazing Ember.
• Kill Fuse (Arena R): Kill 22 enemies in 30 seconds, but every kill adds more time. Just kill stuff as quickly as possible but save your powerful Runic Attacks for the tougher Wulver enemies. We got 2,500 Hacksilver, 250 Divine Ashes, five Petrified Bone, and one Glowing Ember.

Here's where it gets complicated - to unlock and initiate one of the final challenges at the main arena, you must first activate a combination of runes found in the smaller arenas by completing any of their challenges. Once you’ve completed a challenge at two of the smaller arenas, head back to the sword in the main arena to initiate a Final Challenge – as an example, you could complete the Weapon Mastery challenge in Arena F and the Kill Fuse challenge in Arena R to activate the Shield Breaker challenge in the main arena.

God of War Ragnarok Final Challenges combinations

Here are the six rune combinations you need for all the Final Challenges in Muspelheim:

• Endurance – F,N: Defeat 99 enemies. This is a long one, so just make sure you don’t take too much damage early on. For our first completion we got the Muspelheim’s Force Amulet Enchantment, one Blazing Ember, three Smouldering Embers, two Glowing Embers, 2,000 Divine Ashes, and 40,000 Hacksilver.
• Shield Breaker – F,R: Kill weaker enemies to temporarily break the Einherjar Captain’s shield. Dodge the Captain as best as you can while you focus on the weaker enemies. Additionally, a Stalker boss enters the fray when the Captain gets down to about 25% health. The first time we completed this challenge, we got one Blazing Ember, Surtr’s Scorches Cuirass, three Smouldering Embers, one Glowing Ember, 2,000 Divine Ashes, and 40,000 Hacksilver.
• Ring of Fire – N,F: Defeat all 15 enemies while inside the ring. For our first time completing this challenge, we got Surtr’s Scorched Arm, one Blazing Ember, two Smouldering Embers, three Glowing Embers, 2,000 Divine Ashes, and 40,000 Hacksilver.
• Onsalught – N,R: Survive in the static ring of fire for five minutes. This is another endurance test but in a much tighter arena, so be careful and focus more on keeping enemies away rather than killing them as fast as possible. Our first completion of this challenge awarded us with the Muspelheim’s Endurance Amulet Enchantment, two Blazing Embers, one Smouldering Ember, three Glowing Embers, 2,000 Divine Ashes, and 40,000 Hacksilver.
• Phantom – R,F: Defeat a Flame Phantom boss. The Phantom boss isn’t too difficult but the extra enemies that come in to distract you make things much tougher. We were rewarded with the Muspelheim’s Essence Amulet Enchantment, three Blazing Embers, two Smouldering Embers, one Glowing Ember, 2,000 Divine Ashes, and 200,000 Hacksilver for our first completion.
• Boss Rush – R,N: Defeat a series of increasingly challenging boss enemies. There are five bosses to fight, so be cautious as healing is limited and save your Runic Attacks and Relic for the later bosses when things get trickier. We got Surtr’s Scorched Girdle, three Blazing Embers, one Smouldering Ember, two Glowing Embers 2,000 Divine Ashes, and 40,000 Hacksilver for our first completion.

Once you’ve completed all six of the above challenges, you will complete The Final Challenges Favor in God of War Ragnarok. You’re now free to repeat any of the 15 Crucible challenges to farm for upgrade materials, including Smouldering, Blazing, and Glowing Embers, and Divine Ashes which are exclusive to Muspelheim. 

But it's still not over - get enough materials and upgrade all your gear to Power Level 9 and then you can consider taking on a hidden boss...

God of War Ragnarok Gna boss fight

There’s a secret boss in God of War Ragnarok that you can get to via a crawl space in the south of the Crucible’s main arena. Crawl through and then grapple across the cliffs to reach Gna, the new Valkyrie Queen, in her own special arena.

Gna is the toughest boss in God of War Ragnarok. She has a massive number of attacks that hit hard and can apply various status effects, and she also has a colossal health bar. Beating her will complete the Defend Your Valor Favor and will get you the Queen’s Armor for Freya, a Lore Scroll of Gna’s journal, The Queen’s Roar Runic Summon for Freya, and the Shield Rond of Obliteration which adds a projectile blast attack to your shield.

It's a tough fight though so here are some tips to bring down Gna:

1. Gna is an extremely high-level enemy, so it’s definitely best if you face her when you are at Power Level 8 at least, but preferably maxed out at Level 9.
2. The Hilt of Skofnung Relic is fantastic for dealing massive damage to Gna and locking her in place so that you can attack at the same time. Make sure you’re wearing the full Berserker armor set to reduce the cooldown of the Relic and hit Gna with some Soul Explosions. Alternatively, try the Motsognir’s Call Relic to quickly deal massive Stun damage to her.
3. We used the Dauntless Shield and parried Gna’s attacks whenever possible. Doing so, and following up with a shield bash, deals lots of Stun damage and often interrupts her attacks, giving you a good chance to follow up with damage. However, if parrying is just not your thing, consider using the Steinbjorn armor set for its unmatched Defense stats.
4. The Draupnir Spear is very good against Gna since it is great up close and at range. Use the Hoplite Lunge and Impaling Thrust attacks to deal melee damage and impale Gna with spears that you can detonate later to create an opening. Spear throws and detonations also deal good Stun damage and can interrupt certain attacks. Conversely, we found that the Blades of Chaos are not worth using as the Hyperion Pull/Grapple and Blazing Surge/Explosion ranged attacks do not work against her, limiting your attack options.
5. Sonic arrows are excellent for this boss fight. Gna has a move where she rises into the air and summons a chunk of Soundstone to launch at Kratos but hitting it with a Sonic Arrow detonates the rock and stuns her, creating a great damage opportunity. Sonic arrows also deal good Stun damage, which is useful for building up to that extra chunk of damage that gets dealt when you fill the Stun bar.
6. Try to avoid or block her Bifrost projectiles. Gna throws out so many different types of projectiles that are all dangerous in their own ways, but her Bifrost ones are especially harmful – vertical beams can rain down in a line or she can lob out a volley of bolts. If you get hit with enough of them and then take more damage, Gna can shred through your health.
7. As with the Valkyries from the previous God of War game and with some of the Berserkers, Gna has an air drop attack where she leaps into the air and then drops directly onto Kratos. However, her version of the attack is especially dangerous and must be understood quickly. It has a short wind up, no indication of where she’ll land, and she lands almost immediately after taking off. To top it all off, she can do this multiple times in a row, meaning you’ll have to almost constantly dodge for several seconds. If she does hit with this attack, you’ll have to escape a deadly grapple with a quick-time event.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission