Key Takeaway
Mobility is key in these trials, as you will need to move around a lot to beat each challenge. Use the grapple points and ledges of this arena to get around efficiently.
The R-Sword trials in God of War Ragnarök focus on killing enemies quickly and crowd control tactics. You need to think about positioning and how to prioritize targets to succeed. Thankfully, the gimmicks in these trials aren’t that obnoxious.
Table Of Contents
R-Sword Trial #1 – Population Control
This trial is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is kill the elite enemy (a Bergsra) while there are three other enemies or fewer in the arena. This comes down to being able to take out the weaker foes quickly.
Managing the Minor Enemies
To do so, you should go all out with your preferred combat tactics. Use your build to its full potential by unleashing runic attacks, using your relic, and getting Atreus to do the same while unloading volleys of arrows.
Focus on taking out the weak yet fast Grim enemies that spawn before the Bergsra appears. If you kill enemies quickly, the foe counter should stay low enough that you can pummel the elite enemy into dust before more minor threats show up.
Ideally, you want to beat this trial before ranged Einherjar foes spawn, as they are a pain to chase down and kill.
Beating Down the Bergsra
For the most part, you should also unleash your best offensive strategies on the Bergsra when it spawns. However, focus on dealing stun damage so that you can perform a grab attack or a grab execution on the large fellow. Taking advantage of stun-related tactics will let you kill the hefty adversary more quickly.
If you need a build that lets you pile on the stun damage more efficiently, check out the suggested best build for the Muspelheim challenges. Generally, unarmed attacks will apply stun damage more effectively than most weapon attacks. Combine this with sonic arrows from Atreus’ arsenal and you can immobilize foes swiftly.
When you complete the first of the R-Sword trials, you get the following rewards (repeatable):
- Petrified Bone (4-6)
- Glowing Embers (1)
- Divine Ashes (250)
- Kratos XP (100)
- Atreus XP (100)
- Hacksilver (2500)
R-Sword Trial #2 – King of the Hill
You won’t need any propane or propane accessories to complete this challenge, however, you will need to be fast on your feet! The timer of the King of the Hill trial counts down while the bar fills up—and it only fills when there are enemies within one or more of the rings.
You want to keep the bar as empty as possible by forcing foes out of these rings. If the bar fills up completely, you will lose the challenge and will have to start over. Keep foes out of the rings until the timer of each round counts down completely.
Also, this challenge has three rounds; the first round has one ring, the second has two rings, and the third has three rings. The first two rings are across from each other and are separated by the grapple point near the entrance to the arena. Although the third ring is on a lower area, so be sure not to neglect it!
What the Ring Colors Mean
When a ring is white, that means that there are no enemies within it. At this point, the timer will not count up if all rings are white. When a ring is yellow, that means that there is at least one enemy within it. Now, the timer will count up as long as one or more of the rings is yellow.
Lastly, when a ring is red, that means that there are multiple enemies within it. You want to prioritize clearing enemies out of red rings first, as they will take the longest to clear.
Red rings also fill the bar up more quickly, so don’t leave a ring in red status for too long. On top of all that, the bar does not reset between rounds, so you must do well in all three rounds to beat this trial.
Mobility Is the Key to Success
Throughout this trial, Grim, Einherjar, and Draugr enemies of all kinds will spawn. A few will even be elite enemies, such as a Bergsra. Some of these foes will make their way towards you while others will hang out in a ring that you are not within.
The first round is pretty easy, as you only have one ring to defend. On a similar note, the second round is also relatively simple, as there is a convenient grapple point between the first two rings that let you traverse the area quickly.
However, things get much trickier when you have to defend the third ring in round three. Pay attention to the grapple points and ledges in this arena so that you can move between the rings efficiently.
Tips for Taking Out Enemies Quickly
At every possible chance, you should use death from above attacks (press R1 while in the air) when entering a ring. This assault tactic will deal a lot of health damage and stun damage to enemies in a wide area around Kratos. As such, it’s a great maneuver to help you kill threats rapidly.
On a related note, be sure to use stun grabs whenever you can, as they will also help you take down foes efficiently. Use the R2 attack in unarmed mode to kick enemies off ledges for some instant kills as well. And, as always, be sure to get Atreus to pepper monsters with arrows for added assistance.
Like before, this challenge of the R-Sword trials will get you very similar rewards (repeatable):
- Petrified Bone (4-6)
- Glowing Embers (1)
- Divine Ashes (250)
- Kratos XP (100)
- Atreus XP (100)
- Hacksilver (2500)
R-Sword Trial #3 – Kill Fuse
Similar to the first challenge of the R-Sword trials, you should go all out with your offense for this one. As the description says, you want to kill enemies as rapidly as possible, so use your favorite tactics to lay waste to your foes!
Mobility Is Still the Key to Success
When this trial begins, you start with a 30-second timer. If the timer completely counts down, you fail the challenge. Whenever you kill an enemy, the timer gains 10 seconds. This means that you need to kill one enemy at least every 29 seconds, however, you want to do better than that to give yourself some room for error.
While some foes will chase you around, ranged threats also spawn. They tend to shoot you from afar, so you need to chase them down to kill these pesky foes. Atreus can help you in this regard by launching runic arrows at them as well. As such, moving around the arena is important for this trial.
Tips for Slaying Enemies Quickly
As usual, be sure to make use of stunning mechanics to impair and execute enemies. This will make things go quicker and can also help you take out foes with more health efficiently.
The beefiest baddy that will appear in this trial is a Wulver. Thankfully, only one shows up, so you can avoid them while targeting the weaker enemies if you feel that you can’t destroy the werewolf-like threat quickly enough. They will chase you, however, they aren’t that fast when they aren’t attacking.
Conversely, some very weak enemies will frequently spawn, such as Wisps and Wretches. Prioritize such foes, as they are quick to dispatch and grant the same amount of time as other kills.
Once you’ve completed the last of the R-Sword trials, you will get more of the same rewards as before (repeatable):
- Petrified Bone (4-6)
- Glowing Embers (1)
- Divine Ashes (250)
- Kratos XP (100)
- Atreus XP (100)
- Hacksilver (2500)
