God of War: Best Skills to Learn First

Best Skills in God of War

God of War features a pretty extensive skill tree, and this is where you’ll unlock all of Kratos’ cool moves and abilities that can be used in combat. Here are the best skills we recommend picking up as soon as you can.

Leviathan Axe – Best Skills in God of War

Executioner’s Cleave: Hold R2 for a brutal cleaving axe attack that deals massive damage.

Frost Rush: While sprinting, press R1 to perform a leaping attack.

Permafrost: Perform attacks in quick succession without sustaining damage to power up the Leviathan Axe and inflict Frost damage on every hit.

These are pretty useful unlocks that came in handy during our early hours with the game, and we definitely recommend picking these up, especially if you’re a fan of rushing headfirst into a fight and getting up close and personal. Permafrost is particularly useful as Kratos now has the ability to freeze enemies upon contact after you build up a chain of attacks, opening them up to even more free hits.

Frost Rush, on the other hand, is a good unlock that allows you to quickly close the gap between you and an enemy with a leaping attack.

Guardian Shield – Best Skills in God of War

Block Break: Double tap L1 to break an enemy’s block.

Most of the unlocks under the Guardian Shield tree didn’t make much of an impact in our experience, but Block Break is definitely a skill that you should pick up near the start of the game. It won’t be long before you start encountering enemies with shields, and while you can use Spartan Rage to knock them around, the Block Break is perfect for stunning them for a second before you move in for the kill.

The rest of the skills after Block Break are also pretty nice, especially if you like making use of the shield and parrying enemies. But they’re not really a priority.

Talon Bow – Best Skills in God of War

Teamwork: Atreus will help Kratos when enemies are in certain vulnerable states, or when Kratos is attacked.

Acrobatics: While Atreus is choking an enemy, he can perform a combo move if Kratos launches or hits the enemy far away.

Ferocity: Atreus can perform a variety of high Stun damage attacks when enemies are near.

Right off the bat, you’ll want to grab all three of these abilities to make Atreus even more helpful in battle. He serves as a pretty good distraction in a fight, giving you plenty of space to focus on your target. Once you have all three, the rest of the skills are worth looking into as well. You’ll unlock more of his abilities and upgrades by strengthening the Talon Bow, and increase his effectiveness with his arrows. In fact, the Talon Bow tree is probably the first thing you should look at every time you gain enough XP to get another unlock in God of War.

And those are our tips for the best skills you need to unlock for Kratos in God of War. For more tips, tricks, and useful guides on God of War, be sure to check out our ever-expanding wiki.