In the video game landscape, the personification of strength is attributed to the most powerful characters that have existed. While iconic characters like Mario and Sonic are ever present and popular, they don’t exactly scream powerful. The Sony console brand is the apex competitor in the market, and has been so for the last 24 years. What Sony lacks, however, is a permanent mascot. At one point it had seemed Crash Bandicoot would take that mantle, but with the popularity of franchises like God of War taking off, Kratos might fit the bill.
What makes Kratos so popular are his godlike abilities. He mixes this with style that makes his attacks so glorious to watch. The original God of War trilogy showcased this stylistic action to great effect. Although it was amazing to watch, the attacks packed a wallop. Kratos faced enemies like minotaurs, centaurs, and cyclops, all these being regular foes for him to combat.
To up the ante, the following games showed us Kratos battling the Greek Gods themselves. One might have thought he would face some difficulties in bringing down Olympus but Kratos steamrolled through the opposition and caused chaos all over Greece by the time he was done. He has these powers in abundance, and they allow him to finish off any enemy that might be in his way. For Kratos to dispatch his foes, he does make use of a number of weapons and magic. Then there are those powers that he possesses inherent to his nature.
Here are 25 things that make Kratos too powerful.
25 Kratos' Inherent Rage
It is this rage that drives Kratos forward in all of his quests. His anger over Ares’ betrayal in the original God of War was what drove him to conquer Pandora’s Temple. His rage over the Gods’ betrayal of not taking away his nightmares kickstarted God of War II and resulted in his ending of all of Olympus in God of War III.
Making Kratos angry is the worst mistake his foes could make as once he taps into this rage there is only his mission in his sights. This results in cataclysmic collateral damage as evidenced by the entire world being in ruin by the end of God of War III.
24 The Blades Of Athena/Exile/Chaos
The trademark weapon of Kratos always makes an appearance in whatever game he is a part of. 2018’s God of War ultimately featured Kratos’ favored blades as they were too iconic not to be featured.
The blades are synonymous with Kratos’ personality.
Whether it is the Blades of Chaos, Blades of Athena, or Blades of Exile, they burn bright and fierce when wielded by Kratos and using these blades is a guaranteed win for the demigod. Although the chains emblazoned along his arms are meant to signify Kratos’ imprisonment, they are tied to the very blades that have spelled the end of thousands of enemies. He has a variety of movements with these, which look gorgeous in-game.
23 Longevity And Experience
Kratos has lived for hundreds of years by the time of God of War II. His new status as the God of War ensured he had achieved true immortality. Even before that he had decades’ worth of experience that made him a skilled general for Sparta.
This experience, coupled with longevity, allows Kratos to be at his best both in combat and in intellectual situations. There might not be any puzzle he can’t solve or any physical threat he can’t destroy thanks to about centuries’ worth of experience in dealing with all kinds of trials and tribulations. It is also the reason why we never see him facing difficulties in seemingly impossible situations because he’s seen it all.
22 Super Strength
Being the son of Zeus would mean instant Super Strength, and Kratos is a supreme level one at that. His feats of strength are stuff of legend. He was able to withstand attacks from gargantuan titans and even overpower them. The King of the Gods always came up short when locking horns with Kratos as he never had an answer to his son’s brute strength.
In fact, Kratos ended Zeus by repeatedly clobbering his face.
For someone to destroy the most powerful God using only his bare hands indicates insane levels of strength. He could also contend with multiple beings at once due to them falling short to Kratos’ pure power.
21 Escaping The Underworld Every Time
In each of the original God of War games, Kratos somehow would find himself in the Underworld. It was something of a mandatory requirement for each game to feature this realm and it only added to Kratos’ impressive feats as the Spartan would escape the Underworld each and every time. In God of War III, Kratos himself openly boasts to Hades that his ates have never been able to hold him.
True to his word, he escaped even on that occasion by ending the life of the God of the Underworld. This effectively gives him Respawning abilities as if a foe might be successful in finishing off Kratos, the Spartan would inevitably escape the Underworld and return to fight.
20 His Immense Will
Although Kratos was shown to be a sad individual who had no control over the guilt he carried over the demons of his past, he has enormous amounts of willpower. His rage acts as the fuel for this will, and Kratos carries this with him in his missions.
Ultimately, it was this that enabled Kratos to finally forgive himself.
Deep down, he had it in him to forgive his past sins (pretty rich of him when considering he had ganked innocents left and right) and Zeus’ most powerful attack against Kratos–where he had Kratos relive all his guiltiest actions–proved ineffective. His will allowed him to escape the darkness of his soul and continue his path to redemption in 2018’s God of War.
19 The Advanced Durability
Going hand in hand with his Super Strength is Kratos’ durability. It’s a wonder Kratos had no idea he was the son of a God seeing as how he had been able withstand forces the levels of Gods and Titans without going splat. He can fight hordes of enemies at once due to his durability sustaining his body and allowing his strength to take advantage. Kratos has withstood blows from Zeus with no scratches left to show signs of defeat.
Most impressively, he survived being impaled by the Blade of Olympus–a weapon that brought about the end of the Titanomachy–and lived for several years after that with no long-term effects.
18 The Power Of Hope
At the end of God of War III, it turned out the reason why Kratos had been able to do away with the Gods without Pandora’s Box’s powers was because he had had the main power of hope within him since opening the box in the original God of War.
This allowed him to withstand the final tactic Zeus had.
Throwing Kratos deep into his psyche to break the Spartan’s spirits proved fruitless after Kratos tapped into the power of hope. This power was finally released to the survivors of the ruin from the Gods’ demise and is implied to have led to the reconstruction of the world we know today.
17 Taking Powers To New Heights
Between the events of God of War II and God of War III, Kratos had access to the powers of a God. Too bad we never got to see the extent of these abilities or play as Kratos while he made use of these powers. Had the option been there, we could have had the opportunity to be a megasized God of War laying waste to an entire city.
In the original God of War, the powers of a God were on display after opening Pandora’s box, but these were only a fragment of Kratos’ full potential. Like the other Gods, he too would have had reality changing powers.
16 Expert Archery Skills
One of Kratos’ lesser touted skills is his expert marksmanship. Of course, there are no guns in his timeline but had there been any there would be no doubt that Kratos would have made an excellent gunslinger or even a sniper. Every time we’ve seen Kratos hold a bow and an arrow (or arrows considering he never runs out of them) he’s always landed right on target.
In 2005’s God of War, Kratos had been bestowed with Zeus’ thunderbolts by the King of the Gods, and he used this power to wrest Pandora’s Box from Ares’ grasp in the climax. Later games had him take charge of bows, which he used with expert precision.
15 The Golden Fleece
When he had possession of the Golden Fleece, Kratos knew no apprehension toward projectiles. In-game, it became a whole lot easier to deal with enemies like the Gorgons–who were responsible for a number of Game Overs–as the Fleece would deflect their stone turning abilities.
The Fleece’s importance was such that it was one of the rarest possessions that had the honor of passing on to a follow up game from the previous instalment. First acquired in God of War II, it resurfaced in God of War III, remaining till the very end. The Fleece’s importance was never downplayed, with several instances of its use popping up in God of War III.
14 The Rage Of Gods/Titans/Sparta
In all of the original God of War trilogy games we saw Kratos acquire specific rage induced powers. These were physical manifestations of the rage fueling within Kratos coupled with the divine powers bestowed upon him by higher beings. In God of War, it was the Rage of the Gods. In God of War II, it was the Rage of the Titans, and in God of War III, we had the Rage of Sparta.
This kind of rage differs from Kratos’ inherent one as this gives him the power to annihilate hordes of enemies while no selling any of the attacks his opponents throw at him. There is losing once the Rage ability is accessed and Kratos bulldozes through whoever is in front of him.
13 The Gift Of Magic
He may be a Demigod, but Kratos has no inherent set of magical powers that he can access. His strength comprises of the majority of his abilities but Kratos is adept at gaining access to outside sources of magic. Through his adventures, the Spartan acquired a host of magical powers that he kept with him–most of the time until the end of the game, only to lose them at the beginning of the next.
Some magical powers ended up as fan favourites.
Poseidon's Rage will have a special place in every God of War gamer’s heart. It was the go-to magic of choice in the original game, and was the only one to carry forward in God of War II.
12 His Level Of Wit
He is perceived as a fool by most people due to being manipulated in every way in the original trilogy. Kratos was used by everyone to further their own agendas in those games and garnered this reputation because of it, but people overlook the fact that he is the only one to accomplish those goals that no mortal or Demigod could have dreamed of.
Kratos was the first and only person to solve all of Pandora’s Temple’s traps and mazes. He was also the only one to gain an audience with Sisters of Fate by overcoming all the trials set in the path. Hera was convinced he would not survive the maze she left him in but Kratos solved in mere minutes.
11 Favors And Powers From The Gods/Titans
Kratos’ missions would not have succeeded had he not had had some help from higher beings. In the original God of War, Kratos was aided in the quest for Pandora’s Box by almost all of the host of heaven. The powers were crucial toward his victor over Ares. In chronologically earlier games, Kratos was shown to have had assistance from Godly powers even then.
In God of War II, Kratos was aided by Titans who bestowed their powers onto him. This trend continued in God of War III where Kratos outright ripped the powers out of the Gods he had just ended. He may have hated them, but the favors from the Gods brought him to where he was by the end.
10 Travelling Through Time
This power was not used again after God of War II, but it was a shame to bid farewell to the ability to travel through time in God of War III. After ending the lives of the Sisters of Fate, Kratos took control of the loom chamber and used it to rewind back to his fight with Zeus at the start of the game. Once Zeus fled, after Athena’s passing, Kratos once again accessed the loom chamber for a grand rewind to the Titanomachy and retrieved the Titans into the future.
His revenge over Zeus was brought about once Olympus fell thanks to the Titans’ onslaught on Mount Olympus. Too bad this power didn’t stick around for longer, though.
9 Speed And Agility
Kratos doesn’t give off the impression that he might be a speedster but his feats would prove he is one. Of course, his true speedster days were those when he ended Hermes’ life and acquired his boots to blitz through his enemies, but Kratos was quick and agile in his own right before that.
Catching a Godly Speedster is by no means an easy task to accomplish.
To capture Hermes, Kratos made use of his agile abilities to dodge the fast paced attacks. He would then use his own quickness to slash at Hermes during the latter’s attempts to flee from Kratos. His battles against monsters demonstrate how Kratos can dodge attacks from enemies.
8 The Regenerative Abilities
Kratos’ durability is second to none, but even the highest levels of durability will be shattered under the power of Godly weapons like the Blade of Olympus. Kratos was healed by the blade’s impalement–although we do have to thank Gaia for that–with only a scar remaining on his stomach.
Without doubt, Kratos has seen his fair share of physical attacks.
These have given no signs of penetration, however, as the Spartan hardly has any leftover scars. Only two are distinct while the rest of the scratches and claw marks that should be there, aren’t at all. Kratos recovers from his injuries at an alarmingly fast rate also, contributing his regeneration.
7 Breathing Underwater
In the original God of War game, Kratos acquired Poseidon’s Trident. This artifact wasn’t used for combat purposes as one would believe. Instead, the trident was used by Kratos to gain the ability to breathe underwater. The trident was useful in Pandora’s temple, which housed hundreds of traps that required one to swim underwater for long spaces of time.
This power was only ever referenced in-game and not in cutscenes, but it was a factual ability gained by Kratos as the Trident was passed forward in every game following God of War. The power of it was such that Kratos retained the ability to breathe underwater even in Hades’ realm.
6 Immortality
When Kratos had the powers of a God, his abilities were tenfold. Along with that, he adopted the powers that were normal for a God. We saw him tower in Rhodes in God of War II while his other powers were on display during gameplay.
Had Zeus not intervened in Rhodes and duped Kratos, the latter may have lived for centuries.
The original God of War was kept as a self contained game upon release in 2005. This was evidenced by the ending narration stating that Kratos had lived out throughout the rest of time and acted as the God of War into present day. Although this wasn’t the case, Kratos did have the potential to live forever when he was a God.