Beat the God of War Muspelheim challenges and trials by fire

Taking on board some God of War Muspelheim tips is essential, if you want to convert what appears to be an impossible set of trials into an admittedly still extremely tough but a least survivable series of tests. The Muspelheim trials and challenges form part of your adventure in the later stages, presenting an escalating series of tiered combat arenas with great treasures to unlock, while also leading you to face what is considered to be one of the hardest encounters in the whole God of War story. You have been warned.

Muspelheim kind of acts as its own enclosed ecosystem, with trials that provide specific resources for crafting that are only available here. We recommend you reach level 6 or 7 before tackling these red-hot challenges, but for those who think they're ready to take it on, here are all of the God of War Muspelheim tips you'll need to make it through the fiery tasks ahead.

God of War Muspelheim Trial 1

Reward - 8 Smouldering Ember and Hacksilver

Each trial initially has two stages: a normal and a hard level. Challenge number one’s normal difficulty gives you 3 minutes to kill 15 enemies. There’s nothing too hard here, just keep attacking, using your Runic abilities to deal heavy damage and brutal attacks for quick kills if you get the chance. You’ll earn three Smouldering Ember and some Hacksilver for your troubles. The hard level has you facing three waves of enemies that will keep respawning if any are left alive, so you have to kill them in quick succession. There’s no time limit here, so just stay alive and try to lower everyone’s health equally before killing them all in one go. You’ll get five Smouldering Ember and some Hacksilver.

God of War Muspelheim Trial 2

Reward - 13 Smouldering Ember and Hacksilver

At the normal level you just have to stay alive for five minutes, so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. There are a lot of fast moving and quick attacking enemies though, plus a lot of projectiles, so keep moving and try not to get surrounded. You’ll get five Smouldering Ember and some Hacksilver when the time’s up. The hard level has enemies that heal instantly, making them very hard to kill. The thing to do here is use your fists and Atreus’ blue arrows to stun and then brutally kill them because no one’s healing a crushed head. Brutal killing everything is a good technique to master for later as well, so get the practice in now. You’ll get eight Smouldering Ember and some Hacksilver.

God of War Muspelheim Trial 3

Reward - 13 Smouldering Ember and Hacksilver

The easy version of number three has an ‘Elite’ enemy that is invulnerable while his allies are alive. Make sure you know who he is so you’re not wasting attacks, and dodge the explosive charges he fires into the ground as they limit your vision. Kill the minions as they appear and hurt the Elite in between. You’ll get eight Smouldering Ember and some Hacksilver this time. The hard version only counts kills inside special circles that move around, and against a timer. Avoid dealing final blows outside marked areas, and watch for when they move. It’s useful to use lock on to dodge around enemies and and attack them into the circle for a kill. Completing this will earn you five Smouldering Ember and some Hacksilver.

God of War Muspelheim Trial 4

Reward - 13 Smouldering Ember and Hacksilver

The normal version of this trial is sort of easy. Just kill 100 enemies. No time limits, no tricks, just a bodycount. There’s not even any difficult enemies, although be careful of the heavy sword-wielding Travellers. As only numbers count, you can even just avoid them and focus on the easier guys. You’ll get eight Smouldering Ember and some Hacksilver for the full 100. The hard level is also fairly easy: don’t let anything capture Atreus. Just keep hammering anyone that goes near him and this will take care of itself. You’ll get five Smouldering Ember and some Hacksilver for keeping him safe.

God of War Muspelheim Trial 5

Reward - 24 Smouldering Ember and Hacksilver

Trial five is a good time to practice those brutal kills again as you have a minute on the clock and can only extend it by killing things. Get your fists out and spam Atreus’ blue arrows to pull off instant kills, and avoid lengthy fights. Watch out for the Soul Devourer at the end though as he’ll take some time to down. You’ll get 12 Smouldering Ember and some Hacksilver for all that slaughter. The hard version has you kill 20 enemies without taking damage. Just be careful here, there’s no time limit so take it slow using axe throws and runic attacks to keep your distance and only risk getting close if you have space to single someone out. You’ll get 12 Smouldering Ember, some Hacksilver and probably a mild breakdown after all that.

God of War Muspelheim Trial 6

Reward - 20 Smouldering Ember, 3 Crest of Flame and Hacksilver

This is it, the final challenge. For now. At the top of the mountain you’ll find a valkyrie who’s a tough boss to beat because she has a lot of devastating attacks. Use Atreus to shoot her down whenever she starts an attack in the air as it’s unblockable otherwise. There’s also a high damage fire splash to dodge, and an area of effect attack when she stabs the ground with her spear. And, for the love of God, whenever she shouts Valhalla and launches herself into the air dodge constantly, as she comes down with a brutal neck stomp that will often finish Kratos off. Basically just dodge, watch for unblockable red attacks and look for windows post-attack when she’s vulnerable. Survive, and you’ll find two chests that will get you 20 Smouldering Ember, 3 Crest of Flame and a load of Hacksilver.

God of War Trials of Surtr

Max reward (gold level) - 50 Smouldering Ember, 20 Crest of Flame, 12 Greater Crest of Flame and 5 Crest of Surtr, enchantments and Hacksilver

And that’s how to complete the Muspelheim challenges. The first time. With these challenges done you’ll find all the swords reappear, with different versions of everything you’ve done so far, and a new single difficulty level of Impossible. The good news is that as well as 12 Smouldering Ember, you now earn keys for completing challenges and only need three to reach the final objective called Surtr’s Hidden Trials at the summit. This will be a different extended challenge each time and will reward you depending on how you do with bronze, silver and gold levels. A gold level completion will net you 50 Smouldering Ember, 20 Crest of Flame, 12 Greater Crest of Flame and 5 Crest of Surtr, as well as enchantments and tons of Hacksilver. This, along with Niflheim’s maze, is where you’ll be grinding to craft and upgrade all the best level armour in the game, so get used to lava.