Talismans in the new God of War, grant you a wide variety of active and passive abilities to help you in battle. You’ll find buckets of these throughout your journey, but there are two that you can find extremely early in the game that are totally viable even 20 hours after you get them. We’ll walk you through the basics of where to find them, and what makes them so great.
THE GOLDEN TALISMAN OF PROTECTION
This talisman can be found within the first five hours of the game, upon reaching the Lake of Nine in Midgard, in a location known as Stone Falls. You can follow along with the video above or follow our written guide, but all told it only takes about 10 minutes to nab and may be your go-to talisman for the bulk of the campaign.
What makes it so good? A few things. For one, it lets you recover faster after being hit by an attack. It also increases your defense when you’re guarding with your shield. But the biggest benefit is that it increases your parry window, letting you reflect attacks and counter without requiring super precise timing.
If parrying’s not your thing, though, you can also opt for the …
AMULET OF KVASIR
This amulet is slightly later in God of War’s story, requiring that you reach Alfheim. But, if you head straight for it, it should be accessible less than an hour after reaching the Lake of Nine.
You can find out how to get it in our video guide, or follow along with our Alfheim collectibles guide.
The Amulet of Kvasir is also a defensively oriented talisman, but it focuses on dodging rather than parrying. With it equipped, if you dodge just before you’re attacked, time will slow down and you’re able to unleash hell on whomever swiped at you. If you’ve played Bayonetta, this will feel very similar to Witch Time.
Whichever talisman you go for first, there’s no need to lock yourself down. God of War tosses a ton of gear your way, and it’s always best to experiment with new equipment to best match your play style.
