God of War guide: Iron Cove walkthrough and collectibles

In God of War, once you’re free to explore all there is to offer on the Lake of Nine, you’ll likely head to the various towers and landmarks shrouded in the mist throughout the body of water. Each of these has various items, enemies and more to explore. We’ll breakdown what you can find at one of these such locations, Iron Cove, located southwest of Tyr’s Temple.

When you reach the Iron Cove at the beginning of the game, your trip will be a short one, but thankfully it will still be an eventful one. Immediately upon landing, you’ll find a brazier you can light to face off against some nightmares and reavers. Upon defeating them, you’ll get a reward for the Unfinished Business favor.

SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

There is more to explore in the Iron Cove, but you will need to wait until later in the game to see more.

SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Getting to the new areas of the Iron Cove after the first water drop won’t be as simple as just sailing over to the beach (although there is a southern beach you can reach, but it won’t give you full access to all the new areas). To get to the new areas in the Iron Cove, you must first reach the peak of the Isle of Death and take the zip line pictured below.

SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Upon landing, detonate the explosive in front of you to clear a path to scale a cliff to a new area. Ahead you’ll find an urn hanging from a mast which you need to knock down with your axe to clear a path forward. Doing so will unleash a Wulver that you’ll need to deal with before doing anything else.

Once it’s down, destroy the Scorn Pole under the ship. Then enter that part of the ship and destroy the urn there to get access to the coffin beside the ship, which contains Solid Svartalfheim Steel and World Serpent Scales. Now you can scale the wall to the top of the ship.

SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

From there, you can hop over to the front half of the ship. Looking to your right, you’ll see a rune door surrounded up by some Scorn Poles. To open it, you’ll have to hit several run devices located around Iron Cove to release its locks.

UNLOCKING IRON COVE’S RUNE DOOR

Grid View

• The Rune Door at Iron Cove SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon
• SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon
• SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon
• SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Getting the runic door thankfully doesn’t involve too much running around:

• Looking out over the east side of the ship will reveal the mechanism you need to spin with your axe throws to reveal the “P” rune location.
• Hopping onto the other side of the ship, look west toward the rocks and below and you’ll see the rune the “E” rune.
• To get to the last rune, you actually need to climb up where the poison is near the rune door. You might get attacked by two Poison Wulvers, so clear them out before proceeding. Once that’s done, spin around and look toward the east, where the front of the boat is and you’ll see the location of where the “B” rune is.

BEACHES AND THE OPEN DOOR

Once the door is unlocked, you’ll have to deal with all of the Scorn Poles. Above the Scorn Pole on the left is a jar that you need to drop with your axe, while the one on the right has an exploding jar right next so it. There’s an additional Scorn Pole on the far left leading to another area we’ll discuss in a moment.

With the door open, you’ll find several exploding jars. Give yourself some space for destroying them all to reveal the Legendary chest which contains a Heavy Runic attack, the Mist of Helheim, as well as a Pristine Ore of the Realm, which you can use to upgrade armor that’s only found in Iron Cove.

If you head through the area where the third Scorn Pole was, you’ll find the original beach of Iron Cove. If you drop down the area in the far back, you’ll end up in a lower area with a coffin containing some Solid Svartalfheim Steel and World Serpent Scales.

If you make your way down the path between the boats and where the Rune Door was, you’ll find another area beyond yet another explosive jar leading to the southern beach. To the right, you’ll find a wooden chest with hacksilver.

Once you’re on the southern beach, you’ll find a coffin hidden under some rocks that you can destroy to break free. Doing so will five you access to its Solid Svartalfheim Steel and World Serpent Scales, but you’ll also have to face off against a Fire Ancient. If you’ve approached this beach before and fought the Ancient, the beach will be occupied by two high level Wulvers.

Free of enemies, you’ll also find a treasure map for Creation Island.

EAST DOCK

SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

If you’re on the southern beach, take your boat out into the water and hook around the rocks of Iron Cove until you find a small passage on the east and in the darkness of the small cave, is a beach. Dock there, take out the two Poison Wulvers hanging out in the cave and you’ll find a Realm Tear containing some Dust of Realms.