How to Beat Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok

God of War Ragnarok has plenty of fearsome beasts and foes that make up the Nine Realms, but few are able to give Kratos as challenging of a fight as the protector of the World Tree. While it’s unfortunate that this bout even came to be, as it’s part of a trap by Odin, defeating this enemy is necessary to progress the narrative. Here is everything you need to know about how to beat Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok.

Nidhogg Boss Fight in God of War Ragnarok

You’ll end up fighting Nidhogg about halfway through God of War Ragnarok while traversing through Vanaheim with Freya. When Kratos and her come up the root (literally) of what is keep her stuck in Midgard, a fight with the defender of Yggdrasil commences. Up until this point, it is easily the hardest fight you’ll have in the game, no matter the difficulty level.

Phase #1

Nidhogg first starts off the fight with half of her body pouring out of a realm tear. She has a total of 10 health bars and can deal out some serious area of effect and melee attacks. The best way to deal damage against her during this phase is to get in close with the chaos blades and start swinging.

While here, you’re going to want to keep an eye on her hands, as she’ll swing her left then right in a sweeping motion to try and get Kratos. Simply roll out of the way with circle to dodge or press L1 to block if there is a yellow circle around the attacking hand.

Once you get the grey stagger bar full, you’ll be able to grab Nidhogg and pull it out of her realm tear by pressing R3. This starts phase two of the fight.

Phase #2

When pulled out, Nidhogg immediately uses its tale to try and deal a big AoE attack. To stop it, run up and shield break its tail by pressing L1 twice. There will then be a short window in which you can attack its face while stunned.

Dodge the bifrost stomp, while also avoiding the purple area that sticks around for a bit, and the bifrost swipes by rolling out of the way when you see the red circle indicator on Nidhogg’s hands. Pepper in some attacks to its face when possible and repeat this whole process until you get its health down four bars.

A small cinematic will play where you have to mash circle, and then Freya will be free to aid you in the fight. This is the start of phase three.

Phase #3

Nidhogg will wrap itself around a pillar and start executing various attacks with her tail that combine a melee swipe and a bifrost beam. You need to either roll out of the way of these attack or roll through them at the proper time to avoid getting bifrosted (is that a word?). After dodging, you’ll be able to lay in some attacks on her face for a small window of time.

Once she jumps off the pillar, Nidhogg sucks in some debris using a realm vortex power she has. When the red circle indicator pops up around her mouth, get ready to dodge the rock that is about to come flying out of it, as you can’t guard or parry it. This is where you and Freya can get a few attacks in before she slithers up a pillar again.

The second time on the pillar, Nidhogg is a bit higher up, and you need Freya to shoot her with her Sigil arrows by pressing square. Once the arrows are in place, throw the Axe with L2 + R1 to bring her off the pillar. Attack when she hits the ground, and her health should be about halfway.

Nidhogg starts to throw in a variation of all of her attacks before here, so just follow the same steps as mentioned before. At some point, she also adds realm tear melee attacks – that can only be dodged – and fires bifrost blasts that can be reflected back at her.

Phase #4

You’ll eventually get Nidhogg down to three health bars, and she starts to get super aggressive, introducing a new blast attack from her mouth that can only be dodged, a quicker version of her bifrost tail attack from phase one, and just overall quicker melee attacks.

When you finally get her down to her last health bar, press R3 to cue a cinematic, and then you’ll just need shoot a sigil arrow when she activates her vortex, throw the axe at it, and then get its health all the way down to finish the fight.

That is everything you need to know about how to beat Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok.