How to Beat Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok: Boss Fight Guide

By Jarren Navarreteon
How to Beat Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok featured

Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok is an ancient creature tasked by Odin to protect the roots of Yggdrasil. This boss fight has one of the highest health Kratos has faced considering he has to chop down ten bars in order to beat it. This guide will teach you how to beat Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok.

How to Defeat Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok?

The best way to beat Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok is to frequently target its head. Nidhogg is a rare stationary boss that can’t dodge your attacks which is probably why it has such a huge health bar to make up for it. Due to its sheer size, Nidhogg is hard to miss but avoiding its attacks which often hit a large area is the difficult part.

Here are tips to remember when fighting Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok:

Phase 1 Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok

Phase 1

  • Despite the large area of effect attacks that Nidhogg does, your best bet is to engage it up close. Many of its attacks can be blocked, parried, or dodged which gives you a large arsenal to avoid taking damage.
  • If you find yourself low on health, there are plenty of healthstones around the area that you can use to recover. We advise against using Vigor for regaining health unless it’s an emergency or if you’ve run out of healthstones.
  • Keep moving around when fighting Nidhogg because it loves to use attacks that swipe an entire area. Staying on a single area for too long while fighting this boss may leave you open.
  • Nidhogg’s claws will glow blue before they strike. You can watch out for this telltale sign and be ready to parry it or dodge it.
  • During the first quarter of his health, Nidhogg’s lower half will be behind a portal. Once you’ve damaged it enough, Freya will tell you to drag it out of its realm where you’ll have the prompt for R3. This will drag Nidhogg’s full body out of the portal where it’ll become more aggressive.
Phase 2 Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok

Phase 2

  • After damaging the Nidhogg enough, it will pin Kratos to the wall in a cutscene you can’t avoid. Freya will work on Yggdrasil’s roots and will damage Nidhogg after. Nidhogg will gain access to more attacks after this but Kratos will now have Freya at his side.
  • Once Freya joins your side in battle, Nidhogg will start using lasers from its tail and swallowing parts of the environment to spit at you. It can now move all around the boss arena. You need to watch out for when parts of its body glows purple. If its tail is glowing, it will do a laser attack. If its stomach is glowing, it will suck in some rocks and spit them at you. Using your shield here isn’t recommended and you’re better off dodging attacks.
  • During the fight, Freya will use her sigils to mark weak points that can be exploited by specific weapons to damage and stun Nidhogg. Use the weapons Freya tells you to and throw them at the sigil area.
  • You need to break Nidhogg’s charged attack with L1 + L1 in succession when you see those blue circles. It will do a high damaging attack which could spell death on higher difficulties.

When Nidhogg is on the last bar of his health, you will have the R3 prompt which won’t actually finish the boss fight. However it will take you to the last stretch of the boss fight. The boss fight will end when Nidhogg’s health is fully depleted where you’ll have the prompt to press R3 again to end it for good.

You’re better off using Spartan Rage to deal damage when Nidhogg is stunned rather than Valor. There are plenty of healthstones around the area which will recover your health.

That’s how to beat Nidhogg in God of War Ragnarok. We hope this article was informative. For more on God of War Ragnarok, check out our other content.

Check out theRadBrad who plays God of War Ragnarok trying his hand against the Nidhogg.