How to Heal in God of War Ragnarok & Increase Max Health

As seasoned as Kratos is in the art of combat, there’s going to come the occasional time where you take some damage and need to restore health in God of War Ragnarok. The good news is that you have a few different means of doing so, but the option you pick will come down to the scenario you find yourself in. In this guide, we explain everything you need to know about how to heal in God of War Ragnarok, and how you can increase your max health.

While we’re not diving into any major story or gameplay spoilers in this guide, we do touch on a different mechanic that allows you to restore health quickly in battle that you only get access to a little bit further into the game. If you’d rather not have this spoiled, turn back now before it’s too late.

Healing in God of War Ragnarok

First off, you’ll actually heal automatically a tiny bit once you’ve finished a fight. If you return to Sindri’s House, as well, you’ll also be restored to max health. This isn’t helpful when you’re mid-way through a mission, but just something to consider as you’re playing through the game.

There are a few other ways you can heal, particularly when you’re in combat which can go a massive way towards making these fights feel more manageable.

Health Boosts

First off, there are the health boost. These are those little green glowing orbs you’ll see dropped from enemies or destroying crates and other parts of the environment around you.

The amount of health these restore varies. Some will only grant a small amount, while those dropped by tougher enemies or bosses will likely replenish massive chunks of your health bar or refill it entirely. When you’re running really low on health in a battle, keep an eye out for these, as they can literally save your bacon.

Healing with Spartan Rage (Valor & Fury)

You’ll automatically have Spartan Rage from the very beginning of your adventure, but you’ll only have the ‘Fury’ option available to begin with.

This works in the same way that it did in the first game. You’ll enter a stage of Rage where you can use all the shoulder and trigger buttons to unleash formidable attacks on your enemies. Each attack will heal a small amount of Kratos’ health. We found this can recover a good 20-25% of your health bar if you’ve enough enemies to land hits on for the duration of your Spartan Rage.

Then there’s the ‘Valor’ version of Spartan Rage which consumes a fairly large chunk of your Spartan Rage bar and grants you a moderate burst of Health. If you time it right before being hit, you can negate the incoming attack, gain an additional bar of healing, and net yourself a Melee Attack bonus, too.

Making clever use of your Spartan Rage, and selecting the right ‘type’ to choose can again make the difference in a fight and save you from having to use that Resurrection Stone or start the fight all over again.

Armor Perks & Amulet Enchantments

Something else you’ll unlock a little later on in Ragnarok is the ‘Amulet of Yggdrasil’ which allows you to slot in different ‘Enchantments’ which can provide a little buff to your build. One of these, called Eir’s Armament grants a ‘Very High Luck chance to grant a Health Burst on any successful Runic Attack kill.

Similarly, some armor that you can collect can grant a healing boost or a ‘healing mist’ when certain actions are taken in combat. These aren’t massive boosts, nor are they guaranteed to happen, but if you’re really struggling to survive skirmishes, this could be an option worth exploring.

Increasing Max Health in God of War Ragnarok

There are two ways you can increase your max health. The first is by finding Idunn Apples, which are obtained by opening the rune-locked chests scattered across the Nine Realms. Some of these will contain Idunn Apples, while others will contain Horn of Blood Mead used to increase your max rage.

The second way of increasing max health is to equip armor sets, weapon upgrades, and amulet enchantments that increase your ‘Vitality’ stat. The more you pour into your ‘Vitality’ stat, the more max health you’ll have. This also improves your stagger resistance, which can certainly make the difference in a particularly chaotic fight.

That’s everything you need to know on healing in God of War Ragnarok. For more on the game, be sure to check out our guides on how to get Hacksilver fast, how to solve that geyser and gate puzzles in Svartalfheim during the early hours of the game, and our explainer on things you should know before starting God of War Ragnarok.