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God of War Ragnarok's The Summoning is, essentially, a boss rush. While the Hunting For Solace chapter was extremely story-centric, The Summoning is just a long line of high-stakes battles. Even the "regular" fights come packing enemies that had previously acted as mid-bosses.
Unsurprisingly, exploration takes a backseat here. You will encounter a few chests, and take out a couple of ravens, but this isn't a stage where exploration is a key factor. But worry not, we will guide you to each collectible present nonetheless. And, naturally, we'll break down the many climatic battles you are set to encounter.
Your quest will begin in Muspelheim. You'll hand off Mimir, and set out to sort the whole summoning of Ragnarok thing. Right off the bat, you are going to see a chest across from where you begin. It is covered in those mysterious vines; so, fire a Sigil arrow at it to place down a hex, then ignite the hex with your Blades of Chaos. Once you loot the chest, you will hop over some lava, and find a coin purse on the corpse to your left. From here, hop down and face off against a few Wisps. Shoot them with Runic arrows, and then launch them into each other. You'll make short work of them.
In this room there is a Legendary chest. Clear it out, but don't leave yet. If you are facing the chest, there is a raven on your right. Once you take it out, burn the vines covering the crack in the wall, and then squeeze through. Once you come out the other side, you have a pretty devious little encounter waiting for you.
There are two of the beefier Draugrs and a Wight grouped together. The Wight isn't a big deal on their own, as an axe throw put them straight on their butts, but those Draugrs hit extremely hard, so if you aren't keeping an eye on them they will ambush you. On the other end of things, the slow-moving Draugrs are easy to parry and counter, but if you leave the Wight to their own devices they are going to bombard you with projectiles. So, what you want to do is keep your distance, throw your axe at the Wight, and reposition every time a Draugr closes in on you.
Use Atreus when possible to distract them. Whatever you do, don't let up on the Wight until they are dead (okay, it is already dead, but you know what we mean). If you keep your distance then you should be able to keep an eye on those Draugrs. Once the Wight is gone, they will burst into Wisps. Stun them with runic arrows and hit them at the Draugrs.
Remember that Nornir Chest that we left behind when we were here with Thor? Well, it is time to get it. You will see a fissure in the wall to your right; use your spear to blow it open. Once you do, you will be face first with the Nornir Chest. On your right, you will see the first brazier that needs lighting. Now, hook around so that you are facing the river of lava and the next Nornir Rune. Lay down a pathway of hexes with your Sigil Arrows leading to the closest Brazier and ignite them with your Blades of Chaos.
Those two are obvious, the third one may have you scratching your head, but it is actually remarkably simple. Lay down another line of hexes leading from the final brazier to the one you just lit. The lit brazier will ignite once it comes in contact with your hex, leading to a chain reaction. And just like that, you will have opened the chest! Now, head back on the main path and prepare for your first boss fight...
Boss Battle: Flame Phantom
The Flame Phantom is a variation of the Frost Phantom you fought back in The Word of Fate chapter. In fact, they have almost the exact same moveset. This includes the unblockable move where it bunches up—forming a wave of sorts—and collapses forward. It also has an unblockable vertical slam attack and a parryable horizontal whipping attack. Both are long-range. Though the Flame Phantom seems to favor the vertical slams more. Lastly, it will shoot a wave of fire, that is blockable (you will know this is coming when it takes the form of a giant ring).
The whole goal here is to hit the orb. One of the unique elements of this fight is that the orb will shine briefly. If you hit it as it shines, you will stagger the Phantom. One way to do this reliably is to hit the orb with your spears and then detonate them when the orb glows. Beyond that, distance will be your friend here. Many of the Flame Phantom's attacks are easily avoided at a distance. Your goal is to fill the Phantom's stun bar. Once you do so, the Obelisks around the arena will become vulnerable. There are three Obelisks in total. Two of them are out in the open, and the third is hidden behind a wall that needs to be destroyed with your spear.
If the Flame Phantom rushes forward, they are likely attempting to hit you with their unblockable attack. Just make sure you aren't standing on the glowing bit of ground, as it is about to erupt, and keep nailing that orb. In general, you should always be creating distance. If you aren't close enough for its slamming attacks to hit you, then you only need to worry about the fire wave, which you can block, and the fire summoning attack, which requires that you not be standing on the glowing sections of the ground. We are confident that if you stay on it, you will take care of this Phantom in no time.
Once you finish off the Flame Phantom, you will crawl through the hole in the wall, and slide down a rope into the next area. Now, talk to the stony gentleman hammering away on a sword. He will give you a shove, and you will begin another boss battle.
Boss Battle: The Soul Eaters
One glance at the Soul Eater and you will know what to expect; this is the fire version of the Forest Ancient and Frost Ancient. You want to attack when it opens up its chest. And, as far as movesets go, The Soul Eater is actually less potent. Instead of having a beam attack that sweeps across the battlefield, they go on all fours and act as a turret of sorts, firing off volleys of fiery rocks. Beyond that, they have the standard rock projectile that all the Ancients have. It will also drop the grenade-like stones you can toss at it to earn a stagger. On its own, The Soul Eater is not a big deal, but partway through flighting it, a second Soul Eater will join the fray alongside a number of Draugr.
You may think that the best strategy here is to finish off The Soul Eater you have already weakened, but we actually think you are better off letting it live. You see, fighting the Soul Eaters while having to deal with an army of Draugrs is, unsurprisingly, really rough. However, the Soul Eaters will use a slam attack whenever you are close-ish to them. And this move does wonders for clearing the Draugrs out. Their turret move, where they fire off a scattershot of flaming rocks, will also hit the Draugrs. We recommend you intentionally draw these attacks out of the Soul Eaters while landing the odd axe throw on the exposed cores of the Soul Eaters, and thin the Draugr horde out.
Once you have reduced the number of Draugrs, feel free to finish off the first Soul Eater which will, undoubtedly, be severely injured at this point in the battle. Now, just keep your distance from the Soul Eater, and toss your axe into their core whenever they reveal it to you. You know the drill at this point. You may have a Draugr or two left to finish off afterward.
Once you have finished off the last Draugr, talk to the discourteous smith again. This time he will engage you in a little more conversation. Eventually, you will sway him. He will tell you to follow him down to the underground. However, before you do, make sure to take out the raven up above. You will be able to see it from the ramp the leads up to the stone giant. You will proceed down a spiraling path. Once you reach the bottom, take a right and loot the red chest. Now, follow the giant and watch the cutscene this will lead directly into another boss battle.
Boss Battle: Hrist And Mist
This is a pretty unique battle. Both Hrist and Mist share a health bar. So, you don't have to worry about which one you are hitting and when. They will swap out throughout the battle. There will be instances in which Atreus will need your help fighting the other Valkyrie. If you don't hit the Valkyrie in these instances then Atreus will be downed, and you will need to revive him. Thankfully, you will be given plenty of time to act. While you will fight the Valkyrie one-on-one for the most part, they do have a swooping attack where they both fly at you. Just parry both of them just before they collide with you; the parry timing isn't particularly tight.
Not only do Hrist and Mist share a health bar, but they will share status effects as well. If you freeze one, you will freeze both.
Hrist uses her spear to land big attacks. When at a distance, Hrist will fly forward at an alarming speed and attack with a parryable, vertical spear swing. You will know the spear is coming as she telegraphs it with a giant windup animation before she flies forward. When up close she will attack with two slow swiped of her wings and then will fly up and bring her spear down on you. The wings are blockable, but you are seemingly incapable of parrying them. The spear slam attack is parryable, however. You will want to get the timing for this parry down; press the block button just as her spear is about to hit the ground.
Mist is the opposite of her sister; instead of landing big, wide attacks, she spins in place and locks you down with dozens of quick strikes from her blades. Mist also has the ability to launch projectiles at you from her wings. However, nearly all these attacks can simply be blocked. The lone exception to this rule is when Mist hovers briefly before throwing her two blades at you. Just roll to the side when you see the red circle surround her. She likes to take two swings at you with her knives before hopping backward and using her unblockable projectile, so be on the lookout for that.
With Hrist, you are looking to parry those big blows, and then land your own once you stagger her with a parry. With Mist, you are looking to block her big spinning attack and then hit her with a combo afterward. It will probably take a few attempts, but you will get a feel for both movesets and eventually take their health all the way down to zero.
Hrist And Mist's Second Phase: Projectile Pals
In the second phase of this fight, Hrist and Mist will get most of their health back. They will also gain two team-up attacks. One sees them fly to the side of the arena, and swoop in to deal damage. The danger zone for this attack will be very clearly marked, and you will have plenty of time to escape the danger zone. They will do this attack twice before Hrist lunges in with a parryable attack. You want to parry this one a little early; try pressing the block button when she is still a character length away from you.
The other team-up attack will see them both take to the other end of the arena; here, Mist will fire a long line of projectiles at you that you need to block, and then Hrist will throw a boulder at you that you need to dodge. Once you block Mist's final projectile: roll. Mist will then spin toward you. However, you can light her up with spears as she does so and stop her in her tracks.
Beyond the team-up attacks, Hrist will start to block using her wings, which is an easy shield bash. She will also gain an unblockable grab. If you see that red ring appear, and she flies toward you, roll to the side of her before she reaches you. She also says "Submit" before she does this attack, so if you hear that, get ready to roll. Needless to say, this move is quite telegraphed, but if you get caught by it, you will lose about half of your health. It is extremely damaging.
Hrist And Mist's Third Phase: Rocking You With Their New Attack
This is the final phase of the battle. Hrist and Mist get one more attack. They will both fly into the air, Mist will form a giant boulder, and Hrist will try to smash into you. Just roll to the side. You will have a ton of time to react. While they are floating around up there, feel free to pepper them with spears.
Beyond that one attack, which is really more of an opportunity for you to deal damage than anything else, they are just a touch faster and more aggressive in this form. Both Hrist and Mist will start using their unblock attacks multiple times in a row as well, so prepare yourself for that. Otherwise, you are looking for the same opportunities to land damage on both of them as you were in the first phase.
Travel Back To The Mystic Gateway
Once you have finished off the two Valkyries, it is time to head back. But don't expect it to be a calm and orderly hike. Once you get back to the surface, you will face off against a few Einherjar and a Wyvern. Thankfully, the Wyvern is much easier to deal with now that you have your spear. Just toss your spears into the winged horror until it is an oversized pincushion. Then, when it tries to take to the sky, just detonate all the spears. It will come crashing to the ground, leaving it open to followup attacks. The best strategy here is to toss spears into the bird in between killing Einherjar. Detonating your spears and bringing it to the ground will allow you to take out an Einherjar or two in peace. Atreus's summons will also help you with crowd control.
A section of the wall will now be able to be climbed. So, head back up to where you fought the Flame Phantom. Once you get here, you will now face off against another group of Einherjar, including a captain. Thankfully, you have a lot of space to work with, so you should be able to keep your distance while landing axe throws to the heads of your opponents. Moving forward, you will now encounter a group of Draugr and Nightmares. As is always the case when Nightmares are involved, take them out first. An axe throw or two should do it. Then polish off those Draugr.
Finally, after shimmying across the ledge, you will encounter your final baddie: an Einherjar riding a Gradungr. That's right, you are going to, essentially, repeat the first phase of the Heimdal boss battle. The Gradungr here has one new trick; it will come with a shield. However, this is easily dispelled with a shield bash. Once you remove the shield, you can knock the Einherjar off of its back. Though half-way through the fight, more Einherjar will flood the arena, and they will replace him.
The Gradungr isn't particularly tough; just evade its paw swipes, and get some distance when it starts to buck. A steady diet of axe throws is just what the doctor ordered. It doesn't have too much health, so it will fall in short order. After that, finish off the remaining Einherjar, and return to the Mystic Gateway from the beginning of this stage. You have officially finished The Summoning section of the game. Now all that is left is Ragnarok itself.