God of War Niflheim - Quests, Maze, and Items Guide - God of War (2018) Guide - IGN (2024)

The realm of Niflheim is an optional realm in God of War that can only be accessed after you gain the 4 Niflheim Language Ciphers. Once they are collected, you can travel to the realm. The realm is covered in a poisonous mist that will deplete the pink bar that appears above you. If the bar empties completely, you'll rapidly lose health until death. From the entrance, avoid the fog by sticking to higher ground and look for chests that hold Mist Echoes.

Sindri will appear ahead of you and he'll give you the lowdown on the realm. The area ahead of him is part of a maze that will kill anybody who stays in there too long. Fortunately, Sindri can craft you armor so that your pink gauge is depleted slower which will allow you to stay in the maze longer. But Sindri first wants you to get 500 mist Echoes so that he can craft the keystone needed to get into Ivaldi's workshop inside the center of the maze.

Use the list below to jump to a particular section:

• How the Niflheim Maze Works
• Niflheim Ivaldi Favors
  • First Favor - Ivaldi's Workshop
  • Second Favor - Ivaldi's Protection
  • Third Favor - Ivaldi's Curse
• How to Grind in Niflheim
• How to Beat Valkyrie Hildr

How the Niflheim Maze Works

The Niflheim Maze is a very unique area in God of War, and thus takes some explaining to cover how it works. Here's everything you need to know about Ivaldi's Workshop maze!

• Niflheim Maze Rules:
  • The goal of the maze is to defeat enemies to unlock chests, which contain Mist Echoes and Hacksilver. The maze can be attempted and completed an unlimited amount of times. A complete sweep of the maze will earn you around 6-9,000 Mist Echoes.
  • Your time in the maze is limited, represented by a pink mist meter at the top of the screen. Once it runs out, Kratos' health will drain rapidly until you either leave the maze or die. The mist meter will deplete less quickly by using equipment found in the unlockable Central Chamber, and will also be restored a little bit by opening chests.
  • To keep your earnings, you must leave the maze by either returning to Sindri's Workshop or climbing up to the Central Chamber. If you die, you'll lose everything you collected during that attempt, including XP and Hacksilver.
  • You can check the amount of Mist Echoes you have by pausing the game, going to the Resources tab, and going to the very bottom of the list where the Common-ranked resources are.
• Maze Layout:
  • The layout of the maze is the same every time: there are four main areas arranged like a baseball diamond. Between them are smaller subareas. The Center Chamber is accessed from the first area, Area D, while Area X and Y are harder zones found branching from the sub-areas A-B and B-C. Connecting all of these are trap hallways with either crushing walls or sawblades.
  • While the maze's layout is the same, the enemy and chest placement will be procedurally randomized every time you enter it:
  • Each run of the maze will have a "theme" of enemies that appear in each of the main areas. These will be a minor and moderate enemy for all areas, and a major enemy that only appears in Areas X and Y. For example, a run may have Nightmares (Minor), Revenants (Moderate) and Trolls (Major).
• Maze Chests:
  • Each main Area will have chests, including a Legendary Chest, Coffins and Hacksilver Chests. You cannot open them until you've defeated all the enemies in the Area first.
  • Opening any chest or coffin will restore a little bit of the mist meter.
  • The three chest types can also be found in the trap hallways connecting all the Areas together. These can be collected at any time.
    • It's uncommon for a trap hallway to not have a Chest or Coffin in it somewhere. If you pass through an empty trap hallway, turn around to make sure there isn't a chest hidden behind you on the other side.
  • One of the four subareas may have a Nornir Chest in it: you must find and hit all three bells with the Leviathan Axe to unlock it. The bells will always be reachable from the subarea the chest is in.
  • After you complete your first run in the maze, a Nornir Chest will appear in Area D (where you start the maze). To unlock it, you need to turn three switches up on the walls of Areas A, B and C.
    • The switches are located in a set order: the first Rune's switch is always in Area A, the second Rune in Area B, and the third in Area C. For this reason, most runs of the maze go around it clockwise.
    • Taking a screenshot is a very good way to quickly remember what this Nornir Chest's runes are. If you're on PS5, you can then bring up the Create Menu and see the screenshot in the bottom-left corner of the screen!
  • In New Game +, no Chests or Coffins will have Skap Slag, even in the Center Chamber. The only one that will is the Coffin found on the Tyr's Temple bridge.

Niflheim Ivaldi Favors

First Favor - Ivaldi's Workshop

Just outside the entrance to the maze you'll find Sindri. Talk to him to learn of a workshop in the Central Chamber - located in the center of the maze just past Area D, the first real encounter room. Sindri will craft a Keystone to enter this room, but only after you obtain 500 Mist Echoes.

Mist Echoes can be earned from all the chests you can find in the maze, including a few found on the Tyr's Temple bridge (one is located behind a pillar to the right after exiting the shop, two are found next to the Lore Marker, and a chest and coffin are located near the end of the bridge). The safest way to begin this task is to run into the first area, kill the enemies and loot any and all chests in the area, and run back to the entrance if you're low on the meter.

If you have enough meter left, you should also check out both trap hallways from the first chamber - they are often filled with traps, but if you are careful you can run through them to find chests and coffins stashed on the side, then turn back before entering the next big chamber. Note that opening a chest will grant a small amount of poison meter back, allowing you to keep moving as long as you find enough chests to keep you going.

Once you have 500 Mist Echoes, return to Sindri's Workshop at the entrance of the maze. Head over to the Buy menu and craft the Niflheim Entry Stone. With the keystone crafted, return to Area D, defeat the enemies that show up, then use the Keystone on the central altar, and enter the Central Chamber.

Second Favor - Ivaldi's Protection

The second favor continues right where the first one left off. Climb up to the Central Chamber to find a relatively safe area from the mist, which can serve as a new place to rest between runs. It is also home to several chests and Realm Tears that will become something of a main goal here in Niflheim.

The Coffins and Hacksilver Chests here are unlocked, and hold around 1,500 Mist Echoes in total - as well as Ivaldi's Rusted Armor. There are also locked Legendary Chests and Realm Tears that can only be opened when you have enough resources, and opening them will grant you materials needed to craft and upgrade Ivaldi's Armor - which can help slow the effects of the poison fog, and will become crucial to surviving and grinding in this realm.

Also here is Ivaldi's Rusted Armor (pictured above). Pick up the item at its feet to recover the armor, then return to Sindri to learn about what is needed to craft the armor - and you'll find more ingredients randomly in the coffins and chests while you explore the maze.

The remaining locked chests in the Central Chamber can be opened with enough Mist Echoes to earn some fairly rewarding items, ranging from enchantments to weapon pommels.

Third Favor - Ivaldi's Curse

After completing Ivaldi's Protection by handing the Ivaldi materials to Sindri, you'll unlock the final Favor here: Ivaldi's Curse. Up in the Central Chamber are 3 Realm Tears, which contain vey high level enemies that hold great rewards for those daring enough to face them. However, they too need to be unlocked, and the Mist Echoes price is far greater.

In addition to a massive amount of Mist Echoes, each Realm Tear needs an Anchor of Fog to open. You can only find these in Legendary Chests tucked away in the two farthest chambers of the maze, Area X and Area Y. Even so, the chance for getting one is random, so you may not find an Anchor of Fog during a run of the maze even if you open all the Legendary Chests.

Be wary of entering Area X, since there's a Valkyrie waiting for you if you haven't killed her yet.

How to Grind in Niflheim

A large part of your time in Niflheim will be grinding - either to gain more Mist Echoes to open the treasure chests in the central chamber, to grind for materials to craft and upgrade the Ivaldi Armor Sets, or to grind for Hacksilver to spend on upgrades or upgrade materials.

To grind in the Niflheim maze, you'll need to know what your capabilities are: when you should continue exploring the Areas, and when you should turn back and bank your Mist Echoes. Because enemy levels range from 6-8, you'll already want to be strong going in.

• Beginner maze runners:
  • Early runs should consist of you staying in Area D, the very first room of the maze.
  • Upon surviving the fight, look for any chests in the area, then explore subareas A-D and C-D (the trap corridors leading to Area A and Area C). If you're not sure you can survive multiple fights, these corridors are only filled with traps, and you can dart through them to get additional chests.
  • You may also find the Nornir Chest with the bells in the subareas, giving you more resources.
  • Taking on the fights in the main Areas is actually completely optional: if you want to you can zip past them to the next set of trap corridors.
• Level 6-7:
  • Once you're at Level 6-7, you should be able to take on more fights without fear of dying.
  • This should expand your exploration from Area D to Area A or Area C - but you should always be keeping an eye on the pink meter.
  • Chests replenish the mist meter a bit, but it will be up to your judgement regarding whether you can take on another fight or dive back to the entrance.
  • Remember: fight lengths can vary wildly, so don't hold back on going all out with Runic Attacks. Loadouts that favor Cooldowns help a lot, of course.
• Experienced maze runners:
  • When exploration becomes limited only by your ability to remain in the poison fog, you'll want to start actually making some of Ivaldi's Armor.
  • Which armor you craft first will largely depend on your playing style - but since you'll eventually want to take out that Valkyrie, we recommend either the Strength or Runic-focused armor to maximize your offense.
  • With a good set of armor (and added enchantments or talismans) you should be able to last much longer in the mists, and do complete runs of all the main Areas: A, B, C, and D (of course, if you're playing on an easier difficulty you may be able to do this much earlier).
• Endgame maze runners:
  • Endgame exploration will take you to the outer chambers of Area X and Y. Area X contains the Valkyrie Hildr until you defeat her, and Area Y will contain truly impressive enemies.
  • Since these areas contain tougher enemies, you'll find better rewards in their chests, including resources to upgrade the Ivaldi's Armor pieces.
  • Legendary Chests in Areas X and Y may also contain an Anchor of Fog, which can appear in a random chest in these areas, and areneeded to open the Realm Tears in the Central Chamber.

Once you've gotten the hang of running through the maze and done everything else there is to do (including upgrading the Ivaldia armor and other mist-related gear), you'll want to use your Mist-based resources to get Hacksilver. You can then use to purchase resources like Svartalfheim Steel to upgrade your equipment. Here's how this process works:

1. Do a complete run of the maze, including both Nornir Chests. For maximum speed, set the difficulty to Give Me A Story.
2. Return to Sindri's Shop and Sell all of your Aesirbane, Haze Weave and Niflheim Alloy, which converts them into Mist Echoes.
3. Go to the Buy tab, and under Enchantments, buy as many Perfect Artefacts of the Blight as you can. This will take a while due to the length of the Item Popup animation.
4. Return to the Sell tab and sell all of your Perfect Artefacts of the Blight. Combined with your in-maze earnings, you should have gained about 40-60,000 Hacksilver.
   • New Game + only: Sell your spare XP under the Buy tab.

How to Beat Valkyrie Hildr

Hildr Fight Video Guide

Hildr Tips and Strategies

• Recommended Level: Level 6 for a fair fight (plus gear effects that lessen the deadliness of the poison mist!)

Hildr is actually a fairly weak Valkyrie with relatively easily blocked and countered moves, and a (relatively) small life bar. The catch of course is that she's in the Niflheim maze, meaning you must defeat her before succumbing to the deadly mist.

Fortunately there is one positive catch: once you bring her down, the mist meter will be fully restored! This then gives you ample time to either retreat back to the start of the maze, or continue exploring it for more loot and goodies. Another boon (sort of) is that Kratos doesn't die the instant the mist meter runs out: his health will drain rapidly first, giving you a small window to finish off Hildr and refill the mist meter.

Hildr is unique among the Valkyries in that she has by far the single largest arena, which will give you plenty of room to engage her with. One thing to keep in mind however is the trap hallway: this will be random every time you enter the arena, and if it has sawblades (like in the picture below), you need to be careful not to accidentally back yourself into them and get sliced up! A worse proposition are unguarded crushers: THESE WILL KILL KRATOS INSTANTLY!

The main new attack you need to watch out for is her ice attack: here, Hildr fires a barrage of ice chunks at Kratos, before pausing and firing an extra-large chunk as a Heavy Attack (indicated by a red ring). To survive this, block the initial barrage with the shield, then roll to the side when she pauses to avoid the larger chunk of ice. To give yourself the best shot, walk Kratos backwards away from Hildr as you block the ice barrage: the final chunk will take longer to get to you, giving you a larger window to dodge.

The rest of her moveset is similar to other Valkyries you've fought before her. She has Geirdiful's green scythe waves, and also likes to charge at you with a scythe like Gunnr did. She also uses the glide charge across the arena, but unlike Rota she only does this once before stopping, like Geirdiful did. Finally, she's one of the few Valkyries to use Eir's wing shields: use the Block Break skill by double-tapping L1 to knock her off-balance and open to a combo.