God of War Valkyrie guide: Olrun (Alfheim)

Olrun, God of War’s Alfheim Valkyrie, doesn’t react well to aggressive offense. To win, you need to learn her attack patterns and unleash Kratos’ might when she’s vulnerable, recovering or distracted. In this guide, we’ll show you how to read Olrun’s attacks so you can respond and defeat her.

Be prepared

Before you begin a Valkyrie fight, do three things:

• Fill your Runic attack meters. Begin every Valkyrie fight with back-to-back Runic attacks (L1 + R1 and L1 + R2). As Valkyries descend from their winged cocoons, they’re vulnerable. Attack then, and you’ll chip away a big portion of her health without resistance. (If your meters aren’t full, you can just stand around and wait for them to fill up.)
• Fill your Spartan Rage meters. Spartan Rage does two things. The obvious one is inflict massive amounts of damage. The less obvious one is restore your health as you attack. You can use it to finish off a Valkyrie or restore your low health — or both! (If your meters aren’t full, go find some enemies to kill. You can warp right back to the Mystic Gateway.)
• Bring a Resurrection Stone. If you die while you’re holding a Resurrection Stone, press Square and Atreus will bring him back to life. Any Resurrection Stone will do, and you can buy them at Brok or Sindri’s shop. Just remember that you can only hold one at a time.

Olrun Odin’s raven

SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

As soon as you enter the arena, turn left and look up. The Odin’s raven is perched on a small branch just above the arena’s wall.

Olrun attacks and strategies

The trick to defeating a Valkyrie is identifying and responding to her attacks. Then the fight becomes an if-then statement: If she does this, then I do this. In this section, we’ll show you Olrun’s attacks (the “if” part) and how to respond (the “then” part).

Wing-based attacks

Olrun has two flavors of wing-based attacks:

• She’ll twirl couple of times, hitting Kratos with her wings as she spins. She’ll end with an unblockable punch. Block the wings. Dodge when you see the telltale red circle to avoid the final attack.
• She’ll twirl a couple of times, back away and then close the gap she created with a spinning attack. Block all of these.

Wait out her wing-based attacks. Olrun is vulnerable after she’s done with her flurry, and that’s your opportunity to attack.

Dash attacks

While she’s on the ground, Olrun will dash and attack Kratos like she’s trying to shiv him. She can do this from across the arena. You can’t block it, but you can dodge it.

Alternatively, she can dash and twirl with her wings (instead of stabbing).

Thanks to Polygon reader Joshua, we know how to distinguish between these attacks. Here’s what he told us:

If she strafes to your right, she comes in for the unblockable pierce, if she strafes to your left, she does the double wing attack. It was so much easier once I realized this. Before it was really difficult to gauge when she was going for either.

And you can see Joshua’s tip in action below — Olrun strafes to the right and follows up with the unblockable pierce.

Before this attack, she’ll put distance between Kratos and her. She’ll strafe. Watch for the strafe followed by the telltale red circle, and dodge as she slides across the arena.

Ranged attacks

Olrun will spin in place and shoot black clouds of smoke. Block them.

Vertical leap and stomp

Olrun’s vertical leap and stomp is her strongest attack. She’ll disappear from your screen and reappear wherever you’re standing. If you don’t move out of the way, she’ll take most of your health away. To avoid it, dodge to the side as soon as she jumps.

The good news is that she kneels to recover at the end of this attack, creating a period of vulnerability. Attack when she kneels — chained Runic attacks are perfect here.

Collect Olrun’s loot

Grid View

• Olrun’s loot SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon
• Olrun’s loot SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon
• Olrun’s loot SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Defeat Olrun, and you’ll receive Olrun’s Helmet, the Ivaldi’s Corrupted Mind Epic enchantment, the Waist Guard of the Valkyrie Epic waist armor and Asgardian steel. Browse the gallery above for the details on each item.