God of War Ragnarok special equipment and items are those exploration-focused tools and weapons Kratos uses to access new areas and interact with special triggers that were previously unusable. In that way God of War Ragnarok is a little metroidvania in style, as you'll see elements like the yellow cracks, vines and roots, blue symbols and wind holes before you can actually activate or interact with them, pushing you to come back later on and fully explore the region when you have all the special equipment. If you want to know what those items are and how to get them, we'll lay out their locations in God of War Ragnarok here.
God of War Ragnarok yellow cracks and Draupnir spear
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You'll see yellow cracks on walls early on - they need a weapon called the Draupnir Spear, obtained as part of the 'Forging Destiny' quest in the main story. Once you have it you can break any object with these glowing gold cracks on it by throwing the spear at it and then pressing Triangle to detonate the spear, causing it to drill through the cracks. Some objects have multiple cracked spots so you'll need to throw a spear into each spot and then detonate them all at once in that case.
God of War Ragnarok wind holes explained
Wind holes are small openings with a swirling wind vortex coming out of them you'll find in walls and, again, need the Draupnir Spear. You'll need to aim as near on to the hole as you can with the spear and there'll be a yellow marker if you've got the angle right. Hit the target and the spear will embed in the hole, serving as a bar that Kratos can climb on or swing from to access new areas or shortcuts.
The Spear is also incredibly useful for hitting targets at long distances so when you get this story-locked item it's incredibly useful for hitting far away God of War Ragnarok Ravens.
God of War Ragnarok blue circle rune symbols explained
The blue circle rune symbols you find in God of war Ragnarok look a bit like gongs, but they function as locks. Like the Valkyrie doors from the first game, Kratos will use his chisel to crack them open. However, you'll need a modification first which is locked to the story when you reach Vanaheim for the first time and have your chisel enchanted. At that point it will be able to open the blue rune locks by letting you carve a rune, which will create a word (sometimes elsewhere) which you can read to open a door somewhere in the area.
God of War Ragnarok red vines explained
Red vines are very similar to the blue ones you can burn away with the Blades of Chaos, but you'll need a little more to clear these. The first time you enter Vanaheim you'll gain Runic arrows which cast purple auras around where they land. These magnify and spread elemental attacks and cause the Blades' fire, or the Axe's ice, to explode - covering more distance and doing more damage.
That't what you need to clear the red vines, so shoot them with a Runic arrow so that they start glowing, then hit them with a heavy ranged attack from your Blades. That will ignite them and burn them away. Later you'll need to chain arrows together to reach more distant areas you can't hit outright. Using Sigil Arrows to burn away red vines are essential in the later game to reach areas like the God of War Ragnarok Lost Treasury.
God of War Ragnarok glowing green metal explained
When you first reach Svartalfheim for the first time, shortly after clearing the God of War Ragnarok waterwheel block puzzle - you'll see piles of metal with a green glow around it, obstructing your way. This green material is called soundstone and it won't obstruct you for long because not long after finding it you'll get the Sonic bow and arrows, which destroy any green soundstone you can aim at. You might occasionally find barrels and other containers locked with soundstone too, so hit them with a sonic arrow to break them and get the loot inside.
God of War Ragnarok Celestial Altars and bowls explained
Love finding even more loot? The God of War Ragnarok Treasure Maps will lead you to rewards if you can decipher what the pictures and clues mean.
These small structures appear exclusively in Vanaheim and contain metal bowls full of water. These Celestial Altars are Jotnar in origin and require a special item to use - a green scepter you'll get at a key point in the main story. Once you have it take it to any of the Shrines or Altars and interact with it to turn everything from day to night or vice versa. This isn't just an visual thing either as changes to plant life and other things mean that areas and what you can access change as well.
And that's it for the key items and special equipment you'll need to access some of the hidden areas in the game. There are other contextual things, like the God of War Ragnarok Mystical Heirloom for example, but what we've listed above are all the things you need to reach every last corner of the game.
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