To defeat Kara, God of War’s Valkyrie in River Pass, you’ll need to avoid the minions she summons, 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 Kara’s moves 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 before the fight 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 outside of the arena.)
• 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.

SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Kara Odin’s raven

SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

As soon as you enter the arena, look right. The Odin’s raven is perched in an alcove in the wall.

Kara 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 Kara’s attacks (the “if” part) and how to respond (the “then” part).

Air-based attacks

Kara uses a scythe in the air, and we’ll show you what to do when she does.

Scythe swing

Kara jumps, hovers and flies across the arena, attacking Kratos with her scythe. You can dodge this. You can fire arrows to interrupt the attack. Or you can parry it. To do the latter, identify this attack with the telltale yellow circle and double-tap L1 just before she strikes Kratos.

Projectile attacks

Kara has a projectile attack on the ground that’s easy to deal with. It’s trickier when she throws projectiles from the air.

Smoky knives

Kara flaps her wing on the ground and throws smoky, knife-like projectiles at Kratos. Block these.

Magic yellow discs

Kara jumps into the air and stays put, hovering above the ground. Then she fires yellow discs at Kratos. There are two flavors of this attack, and she sometimes chains them together:

• She fires several projectiles. Block them all.
• She fires a single projectile. Dodge this.

Watch her hovering to discover what she’s going to do. If you see the telltale red circle, you need to dodge. If you don’t, you need to block or parry.

Ground-based attacks

Kara has two primary attacks that she uses while on the ground. We’ll show you both and what to do about them.

Twirling wings

Kara attacks with her wings, dipping her shoulder and twirling toward Kratos. Block these, and attack when her flurry ends.

Summoning

Kara has the unique ability to summon enemies. They’re more of an annoyance than anything else. Use the arena to your advantage, and knock them off the edges into the endless pit.

They’re relatively weak enemies, but the biggest danger they pose is distracting you from Kara. If you decide to clear out the rabble, keep the Valkyrie in mind. She’s targeting you even when you’re not targeting her.

Listen to Head, too. He’ll often warn you of an incoming attack, yelling something like, “Behind you!” or “Watch your left!” If you hear him scream, stop what you’re doing and dodge roll away.

Collect Kara’s loot

Grid View

• SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon
• SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Defeat the Valkyrie, and you’ll receive Kara’s Helmet, the Epic Talisman of the Realms, the Legendary enchantment Heart of Midgard and Asgardian steel. See the gallery above for the details on the loot.