The Work, Part 3: Benevolence is the sixth Story Goal in God of War: Ragnarok’s free Valhalla DLC, and the last of three parts containing the full « Cycle » of Valhalla. In this « Roguelite » Mode that takes place after the main story, Kratos must reach Tyr to defeat him one final time so that he can be ready to face his own inner demons and come to terms with his bloody past.

Rewards: 75 Mastery Seals, 400 Spirit Seals, 3 Divine Triumph, Weapon Rank 5 Appearances, Classic Appearance, Armor of Sparta

Master the Lower Realms of Valhalla

You’ve beaten Tyr thrice now, and the full cycle is available to you. Your main priority should be focusing on bulking up your stats and abilities if you find it hard to reach Tyr again (not to mention Tyr himself, who will be even stronger on this final encounter). Be sure to consult this reference of how the full Cycle works now:

1. Perform the Ritual of Selection, choosing a Relic, Shield, and Spartan Rage
2. Pick a Weapon Path in the first room of Valgrind
3. Defeat Valhalla’s Chosen of the Lower Realms
4. Use the Ascending Sands
5. Defeat the Proving Grounds Boss
6. Reach the Greek Labyrinth
7. Defeat Valhalla’s Chosen of the Labyrinth
8. Use the Ascending Sands
9. Defeat Tyr

Depending on the difficulty you’ve selected, these attempts may take some time to master, especially depending on what skills, perks, and glyphs you get for a particular attempt. You won’t find any new additions to the Tablets, so focus on upgrading existing options (especially your stats) to prepare as best you can.

As you enter Valhalla for the next attempt, remember that the first Weapon Path Chest now includes a Glyph for all three weapons, meaning you now easily choose which weapon you want to prioritize upgrading for any particular attempt (and you can use Re-roll tokens now if you really want to pick one Weapon Path but don’t like the starting perk).

After grabbing the chests in the next room, the Mystic Gateway will take you to a room with another item from Kratos’ past – a manifestation of guilt over his past actions. This third and final item is the figure of Pandora, a symbol of Kratos letting the evils of the world out of Pandora’s Box and infecting the Gods in his quest to defeat Zeus.

As a quick reminder when reaching the Sanctuaries, there are more than a few recent changes to be aware of:

• The first Realm Sanctuary you appear in will feature a large pillar that offers you Burdens of Valhalla. These self-imposed challenges will reduce your abilities in certain ways for a set number of encounters, but completing the challenge will lift the burden and grant you a free Glyph (one that doesn’t take up the space of other Glyph slots)!

• Now that you can purchase Sanctuary Barrier Keys, you can start to unlock various barriers found in each of the Realm Sanctuaries. Doing so will permanently unlock access, though some chests are one-time use. These include Armor Chests, Mastery Seal Chests, and Relic Chests (which unlock a new Relic to equip at the Ritual of Selection). On the other hand, things like Stat Glyph Chests can be accessed each time you attempt a new cycle once you’ve unlocked its corresponding barrier.

• You may start to notice that a new Mystic Gateway will open in addition to the other potential paths. Marked with the Skull Icon, it will take you straight to the Valhalla’s Champion so you can bypass challenge rooms – but be aware, you’ll be potentially missing out on extra perks (and conversations too!)

• Another new Icon will appear in place of your potential Mystic Gateway choices, marked with a ?. Depending on the weapon path you’ve chosen, it will lead to one of three areas with a few enemies, several chests, and even a Nornir Chest Puzzle! You can see overviews of each Chamber by following these links:

The rest of Lower Valhalla should be more of the same that you’re used to, and hopefully Valhalla’s Chosen don’t give you too much trouble (if they do, it’s a good indicator to open up some Mastery Seal Chests in the Sanctuaries using Barrier Keys to upgrade your stats).

However, the one blocking your path to Upper Valhalla will be another very familiar face after the last Proving Ground boss, and you’ll need to be ready to face them when you enter the Proving Grounds.

Proving Ground Boss Fight – Magni

The second son of Thor is here to do battle, and he’s got his own fresh set of moves that differ from his brother Modi.

Magni will come at you with a large sword hitting you with several swings before following up with an unblockable overhead slam, but may sometimes use a slow strong attack over his shoulder you’ll need to block at just the right time.

Get your own hits in after dodging his strike, but be ready for him to raise his sword up and slam it down in a huge shockwave you can’t dodge, so soak the blow by shielding up instead.

If he uses his sword to block his front, you’ll have a moment to crash his defenses with a shield bash before he can start to counter you, so act quickly to keep the pressure on him and follow with Runic Attacks after stunning him.

If you spot him embedding his sword into the ground quickly, keep your guard up for when he rips the sword out to send a cone of electricity out as a shockwave you need to block.

Beyond his overhead slam, most of his other attacks can be easily blocked without much trouble, but his one annoying tactic is follow up a lot of his moves with a quick unblockable grab with a headbutt. It doesn’t do too much damage, but it’s hard to escape his lunging grab with little warning.

Once he’s out of health, he’ll explode in a thunderbolt similar to his brother, so be sure to step back and then heal yourself up before moving onto Upper Valhalla.

Also like Modi, you won’t have to fight him again after defeating him once, so on future attempts, you’ll find yourself against story bosses who are usually a lot weaker, like Vali the Oath Guard Traveler, Ormstunga the poisonous Grim from Svartalfheim, and Blatonn the dire Wolvar from Vanaheim.

Unlock the Path Through the Greek Labyrinth

Remember that when you arrive in the Upper Realms, the Tablet of Endeavor in each primordial realm has Crests you can buy from, or imbue your chosen weapon to become a bit more powerful.

Along the path to the Labyrinth, you should also remember to look out for one of Surtr’s giant sword tablets, like those used in the Muspelheim Crucible Challenges. Interact with this sword to give yourself optional challenges to defeat enemies in creative ways – similar to Burdens, but without the penalties. Plus, if you complete them, you’ll earn extra Spirit Seals and sometimes Crests.

When you reach the large chain that connects the realms, you’ll find an Object of Judgement – the key piece of Kratos’ guilt-ridden past that was hinted at earlier in your attempt. Collect it, and then head to the Greece area where the Ascending Sands and Labyrinth await.

Like last time, not much has changed since your last visit to the Labyrinth and defeating Tyr for the third time. However, you will find a final fifth Greek Chest has been added to the hub area, though it won’t offer any big bonuses for the run, it does hold a very cool piece of cosmetic Armor, if you can afford the whopping 15,000 Fleeting Echoes (which you’ll likely need to close every rift in the Labyrinth to reach that goal).

Speaking of the Labyrinth, there will be a new, slight twist on entering the maze. Like last time, interacting with the Ascending Sands will open up a circular arena where a Siren is singing, but the fight will be altered.

This time, you’ll face several Legionnaires to begin with while the Siren emerges a moment later, so focus on taking her down before she can summon unblockable orbs to blind you with.

Try to save your Runic Attacks, because after defeating the Siren and her cronies, a Centaur will appear to fight you. The good news is that they fight almost exactly like the Stalker enemies in the main story, using a mix of their bow and spear.

The bad news is they hit very hard, and can charge at long range with a strong spear thrust you need to parry at the right time, or beware of their ranged salvo of arrows that you can also deflect back at them.

When their spear turns red, prepare for them to also use a unblockable Siphoning attack to slam the ground in front of them, covering a large area that can trap you into a Rage Siphon. Be sure to swap weapons as needed to quickly break their shield, and then press the attack before they can try again.

Defeating the Centaur, you’ll find you now have to fight a total of six of Valhalla’s Chosen (including the Centaur), up from the five you needed last cycle. On the plus side, you’ll find that the difficulty timer is greatly increased each time you defeat a miniboss, and you’ll gain even more Fleeting Echoes for each one you claim.

An added bonus unlocked in this cycle, you’ll now find that some Rifts now shimmer with gold, and will have greater rewards for defeating the enemies within.

If you unlocked the Aegean Sea Boat Arena over in the east wing during The Work, Part 2, you can still enter that Skull Door by beating a few nearby Rifts, but there’s also a way to unlock a second arena – and both can be attempted to let you take down multiple of Valhalla’s Chosen outside of the general difficulty timer in the Labyrinth.

Unlocking the Desert of Lost Souls Arena

If you leave the circular arena where the Centaur was and immediately turn right before reaching the Ascending Sands Hub, you can pass through a tunnel to a Rift area where you should be able to spot a second Skull Icon Door on a high platform. There’s a platform to reach it up on the right, but the gate in front of the door may still be locked.

If that’s the case, we recommend taking on the Red Rift located to the left of the Skull Door in a large outdoor area with several large columns.

After defeating the Centaur and other enemies from this challenging Rift, we were given the notification that the Desert of Lost Souls Arena in the West Wing was now available.

If you don’t get the notification, you may need to complete more Rifts around the West Wing first, like the Blue Rift below the ledge to the skull door, and the Yellow Rift out along the cliffs. Once you do, return to the high ledge and go right, then up to a high platform and left to the door.

While in this arena, the timer for the Greek Labyrinth will not proceed, which is one less pressure to worry about. However, you’ll have a different timer to worry about. After interacting with the Red Realm Tear, enemies will continually appear, and you’ll need to defeat a certain amount to advance to the next tier:

• 5 Total Killed to Bronze
• 10 Total Killed to Silver
• 20 Total Killed to Gold

Inside the Desert Arena, you’ll find it a much smaller area to fight in than the boat, which is going to make things a lot more tricky — but the good news is you’ll have a lot more time to complete the challenge – 260 seconds in fact! However, killing enemies won’t extend the timer, so you’ll need to make use of all of your abilities to complete it (and stay alive!)

Things will start off simple enough with three Harpies (one of which is a Valhalla’s Chosen), and will then be aided by a Dragur and Legionnare Commander. Another Dragur will emerge next alongside a Wraith, followed shortly by two regular Legionnaires.

Your tenth opponent is another of Valhalla’s Chosen – a Cyclops that can deal a lot of damage, but can be stunned and ridden just like an Ogre, so try and utilize all of your stunning skills and Runic Attacks so you can use it to fight the three Midgardians that appear after it, and two more Legionnaires next on the list.

When the Cyclops falls, a Siren will emerge next, so waste no time charging them and pressing the attack before they have a chance to blind you or screech with their siphoning attack. Two Legionnaires will emerge as support, paving the way for the final group: two Minotaurs.

This final stretch can be incredibly tough to deal with, especially with one of them being a Valhalla’s Chosen with stronger power. If you don’t act quickly, the pair can quickly overpower you with their strong attacks and siphoning charges, which means you’ll need to overpower and isolate them by cycling through Runic Attacks, Spartan Rage, and your L1+Triangle moves to keep them off-balance.

If you don’t get destroyed in the process, you can come out the other side with three of Valhalla’s Chosen defeated with no extra time adding to the difficulty meter in the Labyrinth, which can help you reach the required 6 goal, and give you extra time to run around earning more rewards as needed.

You’ll need all the extra help you can get for the final fight with Tyr, as he’s likely at a higher power level than you compared to the last fight. To even the odds, you may want to spend several runs stocking up on Mastery and Spirit Seals to bulk up, and then try and get an ideal string of perks going for a build worthy of fighting a god with:

• Invest in re-roll tokens to make sure you have a good starting Weapon Path Perk, and build off of it by looking for other perks that can be used in tandem.
• Try to track down Perks that benefit you more against 1v1 fights than large group fights, increase your longevity, or give you survival options
• Finding a few Perks that activate Realm Shift is always a good bet, which you can combine with the Hilt of Hofud Relic.
• Try to use the Tablet of Endeavor sparingly early on, so you can save it for Upper Valhalla. Purchase the Weapon Imbuement when you reach the primordial realm, and then save up Fleeting Echoes so you can open all the Perk Chests in the hub area.
• Take on as many Rifts as you feel comfortable doing, prioritizing Red Rifts early to get the best rewards. Prioritize Perfect Perks and Runic Attacks for other weapons so you can cycle between all three weapons for the final boss.
• Any excess Fleeting Echoes should be spent upgrading all your Runic Attacks to Level 3, topping off Rage and Healing, and Buying a Resurrection Stone if you can.
• Remember the Labyrinth has several chests and Health Drops scattered about that don’t require you to open any rifts to get to just watch out for the few odd enemies that can appear nearby.

Boss Fight – Tyr (Katana)

In this final encounter, Tyr is pulling out all the stops, materializing a large katana sword from the region of Japan. Truthfully, this is only one of several weapons you need to worry about, because he’ll be pulling out his greatest hits before this battle is over.

Tyr attacks faster than ever before, and there’s a good chance his health bar may even be purple to you instead of orange or yellow, indicating he’s a lot tougher than the last time you faced him. This is a good indicator you may want to keep running attempts to bulk up on more Strength and Defense as well as Health and Rage to stand a fighting chance – but it’s still possible to beat him even if he’s a lot more powerful than you.

Tyr generally begins by charging up with two slashes from his katana, before swapping to either a strong backhand attack that will shoot him backward, or changing weapons to his two-handed mesoamerican weapon for an unblockable overhead. Always dodge this one to the side, as he sends a trail of fire straight out you can’t dodge backward to avoid.

Opportunities to get in counterattacks will be sparse, as he often wastes little time moving into his next attack phase. If he backhands you and leaps backward, Tyr will likely take this opportunity to try and trick you by shouting an incantation (« Um-huxan! ») and splitting into two images.

Don’t chase them, and instead watch closely as they leap into the air one after the other to perform strong crushing attacks from above. At the last moment, one will fade away, as the real Tyr lands the blow, and you’ll want to save your block for that attack (Mimir can help call out the real from the fake — it’s the one without a glowing imbued weapon).

His mirror image jumping attack usually swaps his weapon to the two-handed greatsword, which he often follows up with more large swings, or dashes back to perform an unblockable charging thrust much like the armored Travelers you’ve faced before. Dodge to the side, and then follow up with your own strikes.

If he comes at you with the katana once more, be ready for him to hold it defensively overhead before moving into an unblockable spinning attack. Dodge back, and stand your ground as he morphs into his spear weapon to stab — which you can parry and counter if its one attack, but if he does his ground stab, it’s time to back away and wait out the explosion.

If he begins to backpedal with his katana out, don’t pursue, but instead wait for him to take giant leaps back while tossing out quick tracking projectiles – similar to how some of the Berserker’s you’ve faced have done. Parrying them can send them right back at Tyr without exposing yourself.

At range (usually after tossing projectiles), Tyr will again swap to his spear to prepare and unblockable attack. Don’t panic, but instead watch his actions. If he leaps up into the sky, simply step back a few paces, and he’ll toss a spear in front of you that erupts in a V shape of light you don’t want to be stepping in.

He can also imbue his katana with ice at range, which means he’s about to send very fast ice bolts your way that can stagger you if you don’t time your parries perfectly. Again, don’t try and close the distance, just be patient in defending.

Once he starts to advance, that’s your cue to meet him, but be prepared to bait out one of his unblockable bifrost grabs, and then unleash your Runic Attacks until he can pull out a new weapon to fight with.

He can also end his mirror image jumping attacks with his two khopesh swords, which he often follows up with several combo swings that can be tough to time — but parrying them and stun him long enough to unleash more Runic Attacks.

At half health, he’ll flee and pull his usual trick of summoning other enemies to help. This time he’ll enlist a Centaur, which you absolutely want to be rid of as soon as possible, so don’t be afraid to unleash some Spartan Rage or Runic Attacks to stun it quickly.

You’ll want these enemies to be dealt with fast, because Tyr will keep interrupting you constantly by appearing in the middle of the fight, either to do a few weapon swings, or charge up to detonate an area with VERY little warning. Be ready to block if you see a weapon, or backpedal away if he’s unarmed.

Once the Centaur and company are gone, he’ll give you a moment to prepare for the last leg of the fight before jumping back down into the arena. This is a good spot to use your Relic to power up your next several moves and flood him with rapid Runic Attacks be swapping weapons quickly, before he can truly begin to fight again (if he wanted a fair fight he shouldn’t have summoned friends).

The last half of the battle will be just as fast-paced and brutal, requiring you to adapt at a moment’s notice. Most of his moves won’t change, but he will swap weapons quicker.

One big change is that he can raise his sword up to prepare and a gravity explosion while also forming two mirror images. Technically it’s okay if you don’t find the right copy, as he’ll simply pull you in for a grab which you can still dodge at the last second.

However, to find the real one, look for the only Tyr with a glowing aura and shield smash him. This should give you another huge opportunity to hit him with everything you have while he recovers from the shield smash.

Keep up the pressure when you find windows of opportunity, and don’t forget that hanging back and staying defensive and keep you alive when he starts coming at you with tricks and projectiles. Be sure to pick up any Health Stones he drops when you get a breather, and try to keep a little bit of Spartan Rage in reserve as a panic button if things get real dicey.

When you finally best him for this fourth and final time, he’ll consider you ready to open the door.

Kratos will finally open the door to the familar throne, and have a long and hard look at his past, before coming to a much needed realization about himself, and his future.

Congratulations, you’ve completed the last major cycle of Valhalla! You’ll now be able to use the Armor Pedestal to swap between Kratos’s original or current look, plus wear the old-fashioned Armor of Sparta. This old look can even be used in the New Game+ of the Main Story, along with your new Legacy Spartan Rage.

Of course, being a « Roguelite », this DLC isn’t exactly over yet. There are still Labors and Masteries to complete, more armor cosmetics to unlock, plenty of upgrades to purchase at the Tablets — and there are even more bits of story to hear between Kratos, Mimir, Sigrun, and Tyr, as well as finding more fragments of Kratos’ past when starting a new attempt.

Finally, there is one last arena to unlock in the Greek Labyrinth, pitting you against one last powerful enemy!