How to Defeat the Valkyrie Queen Sigrun in God of War
Learn how to kill the final Valkyrie in God of War, Sigrun the Valkyrie Queen.
The Valkyrie Queen, Sigrun, is the most challenging boss fight in God of War. This fight will put you through your paces, test the mettle of Kratos and Atreus, and see whether you’ve been learning the different movesets of all the Valkyries you’ve defeated along the way. Beating the Valkyrie Queen is no easy task, and should absolutely not be attempted with anything less than the best gear in the game, unless of course you’re some kind of God of War savant.
How to Defeat the Valkyrie Queen
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the Valkyrie Queen’s moveset, it’s important to make sure you understand the previous Valkyrie fights. Sigrun the Valkyrie Queen uses every single ability the previous Valkyries used, all except the ability to summon minions to fight for her. This means that if you weren’t paying attention to the previous eight fights, a lot of her moves are going to be unfamiliar to you.
The fight with Sigrun the Valkyrie Queen takes place in the Council of Valkyries after you have defeated all previous Valkyries and have placed their helms. To begin the fight, touch the realm tear in the middle of the arena, and after Sigrun grabs you, the fight will start.
Kratos and Atreus Build
Defeating the Valkyrie Queen requires you to come to the fight prepared. You will want to ensure you have the best gear possible, which is the set of Ivaldi armor that can be upgraded by unlocking Muspelheim and unlocking Niflheim. You will also want to ensure that you are using an entire set of Epic Enchantments and, preferably, an Epic Talisman. The idea is that you want to be level 8 for this fight, even Level 9 if you have the perfect setup and the time to grind for the necessary upgrade materials. Personally, I was only playing on Normal and managed to reach level 8 before defeating her.
Leviathan Axe:
- Light Runic Attack: Hel’s Touch
- Heavy Runic Attack: The River of Knives
- Axe Pommel: Mistbourne
Blades of Chaos:
- Light Runic Attack: Rampage of the Furies
- Heavy Runic Attack: Hyperion Slam
- Blades Pommel: Blightguard
Atreus’ Gear:
- Legendary Runic Vestment
- Runic Summon: Wrath of the Wolves
Talisman:
- Shattered Gauntlet of Ages
With a completely upgraded set of Ivaldi armor and the Shattered Gauntlet of Ages, you will be able to equip 12 enchantments. These should all be high-level, at least level 6, but ideally level 7. However, do not be afraid to supplement some that do not make sense for the fight or your playstyle. For instance, it would be better to take out a poison resist enchantment and swap it out for something like Tyr’s Shard or Ivaldi’s Corrupted Mind. The idea is to boost all of Kratos’ abilities without suffering a hit to the level.
As for the runic attacks mentioned above, this selection focuses on damage and stun, giving you precious moments to grab health gems or reposition. Hel’s Touch immediately interrupts her attacks, while The River of Knives pushes her away from you. Rampage of the Furies and Hyperion Slam are just for raw damage. If you don’t find these useful, use whatever you have grown comfortable using.
I would have preferred to use a talisman that gives Kratos health, but the drop in level isn’t worth it, and Shattered Gauntlet of Ages gives a nice spike in damage. It’s also one of the only talismans that allow you to insert three enchantments.
Atreus’ armor and runic summon are extremely important. The armor allows Atreus to find health gems on the ground for Kratos, this can sometimes save you at the last moment. The runic summon, Wrath of the Wolves, doesn’t deal as much damage as Murder of Crows, but it does stun Sigrun, allowing you to get in free hits without taking any damage.
Sigrun the Valkyrie Queen Moveset
The Valkyrie Queen utilizes all of the abilities of the Valkyries you’ve fought up to this point. If you’ve been paying attention, there should be a few you recognize, and a couple of new abilities. Most of these attacks are easy enough on their own, but when she strings them together in quick succession, it can be difficult to master the timing.
Spinning Attack – Spins in place, dealing constant damage and pulling Kratos towards her if not blocking. Simply have your shield raised to mitigate all the damage.
Wing Projectiles – Slashes with her wings, sending out four spikes – a two-hit move. Block to avoid all the damage, or roll out of the way.
Winged 2-Hit – Slash attack with her right wing, then left wing, and sometimes follows up with a third, unblockable, hit with her right wing or an over-head slam with the scythe. Block the first two swings, then dodge the unblockable hit and counterattack.
Wing Spear – A fast lunging attack that is unblockable. Roll to the right to avoid this hit.
Ice Blast – Fires out chunks of ice, followed by a large, unblockable chunk of ice. Simply run to the side to avoid all damage.
Light Rings – Fires four homing rings of light, followed by an unblockable larger ring of light. This final part can be used by itself. Roll or run to the side. Alternatively, throw the Leviathan axe just as she jumps into the air to prevent it from being used.
Fog Attack – Sigrun will jump into the air and send out a blast of mist, removing your lock-on. As above, throw the axe at her to stun her.
Wing Shield – Cocoons herself in her wings, then blasts them open. This cannot be broken by regular attacks. Either use a runic attack or move away and wait.
Poison Line – Scrapes the scythe along the ground and fires a line of poison toward Kratos. Roll out of the way to entirely avoid this attack.
Lava Attack – Calls down fire in an explosive line that leaves lasting damage rings on the ground. Move out of the way of the main attack and avoid standing in the fire while it lasts.
Scythe – A parryable 2-hit scythe attack. Begins by flying directly at Kratos and goes into a spin at close range. Parry this move to give Kratos a big openning or roll through the attack.
Barrel Roll – By far the easiest attack to exploit, she will go into the air, spin and then dive toward Kratos and try to grab him. This is repeated 2-3 times and cannot be blocked. As the red-ring flashes, roll to the right each time. On the third dive, get ready to hit her as she lands on the ground.
Light Slam – She will go into the air, raise her scythe, and prepare to slam it into the ground, dealing immense damage to you anywhere in the arena. Do not let this attack succeed. Throw the Leviathan axe as she flies into the air to prevent it from proccing.
Light Attack – She will swing a big mace and slam it into the ground, blinding you if hit, and follow it up with a scythe hit. Roll away backwards, and then to the right to avoid the follow-up attack.
Valhalla – Sigrun will jump straight into the air and slam down on Kratos, kicking him in the head and neck. Roll to the right as soon as she launches into the air or yells, "Valhalla!"
Fighting Sigrun the Valkyrie Queen
Putting all this together, and practicing the fight, is what will lead to your success. Learn how to recognize her moves. Look out for the telegraphed animations, whether it’s a spin, a shout, or how she positions before an attack. Ideally, you want to never get caught by the Valhalla attack, as this immediately means you’ll lose a large chunk of health. Similarly, she should never get off her Light Slam, as it is guaranteed to hit you.
The biggest piece of advice would be that whenever Sigrun jumps into the air (such as when doing the Light Slam), throw the Leviathan axe at her, and make sure you hit. Doing this will almost always knock her out of the air, stunning her and giving you precious seconds to heal, reposition, or get in some massive damage. Follow up the axe throw by running up to her and using the L2+R2 to summon the axe and slam it into her for huge damage.
The best strategy is to rely on your runic attacks, and whenever she’s stunned, swing like made with the Leviathan axe. Do not forget to use the Blades of Chaos when you can, though they don’t deal as much damage.
Throughout the entire fight, you should be remembering to get Atreus to use his Shock Arrows or Light Arrows – whichever you prefer. However, try to time the shots so as to fill up the status effect, which will stun her or make the Valkyrie Queen more susceptible to attacks. If you opt for Light Arrows, try and time your runic attacks for when the status has built up, this will make all your attacks deal more damage.
It’s also imperative you do not forget about using Spartan Rage. When active, every hit will give you back a small portion of health, but every time you get hit, a chunk of Spartan Rage will be consumed. Save this ability for when you are low on health and Sigrun hasn’t dropped a health gem for you to collect. Finally, purchase a resurrection stone before the fight to give you a second chance. If you die after using it, don’t worry, so long as you make sure to save before the fight starts you will get it back.
Valkyrie Queen Rewards
After defeating Sigrun the Valkyrie Queen, you will be able to collect the loot she drops on the ground. This consists of three Epic items and a Legendary resource, as well as her helmet. The Epic Axe Pommel is extremely impressive, and makes collecting all Eyes of Odin birds extremely easy as the Leviathan axe no longer has any "drop", meaning it flies straight and true, forever.
- Sigrun’s Helmet – Give to Brok
- Asgardian Steel – Legendary Resource
- Perfect Asgardian Steel – Epic Resource
- Retribution – Epic Axe Pommel
- Njord’s Temporal Stone – Epic Enchantment
The fight with Sigrun the Valkyrie Queen is exceptionally challenging, and arguably the most difficult boss fight in God of War. If you still can’t manage to dethrone the queen, it could be worth dropping the difficulty down to give you a fighting chance. Be sure to check out our God of War guide for more tips and walkthroughs.
