Trial of Archimedes giving you trouble?
God of War: Ascensionhas been giving a lot of people trouble over the past few days, but if you play your cards right, it doesn’t have to be a difficult experience — or, say, nearly as difficult asMetal Gear Rising.
LikeOnimushaandDevil May Crybefore it, a lot of the game’s edge can be taken off with careful planning of your weapon experience levels, and a few other tips along the way.
Tame non-story spoilers incoming. I’d recommend saving this article if you get stuck, and need a quick reference:
Single player:
25,000 experience for higher-level blades mayseemlike a lot, next to the temping 1,000 magic upgrade, but all of the red orbs you earn do add up. I was able to max out my blades far before the Trial of Archimedes (easily the hardest part of the game), so it is possible even though it may seem daunting.
Poseidon’s ice blades are great for earning more red orbs (more on this in a second), but don’t need to be upgraded, necessarily. After maxing out your blades, try going for Zeus, then Ares, then Hades, then Poseidon.
I used the ice blades through most of the game, only switching to other elements during particularly tough battles. Don’t underestimate the ability of Poseidon’s red orb distribution to power up everything else you have.
This is more of a general action game tip, as you’ll eventually develop a “sixth sense” as to where hidden paths are as opposed to story related paths that will lock you out of prior areas.
Don’t worry about missing some white chests — there are more Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feather chests than you need to fully upgrade your health and magic.
Trial of Archimedes:
This is the main reason why I wrote this guide, as it was highly requested. If you want to experience the full difficulty,do not patch the gamebefore you beat it, as developer Todd Papy has confirmed that the Trialwill be patched soon.
This is the hardest portion of the hardest area in the entire game, but this also your opportunity to liberally use your magic, as the Gorgons will allow you to replenish your magic orbs if you initiate the brutal kill minigame (R1 after the red icon appears over their heads).
Feel free to let Zeus’ lighting spell fly as you take down the Gorgons and the Sirens. Grapple the Sirens when the white icon appears above their heads to stun other enemies in their proximity — you can chain stun two Sirens like this.
Use your L2+Square and L2+Triangle powers liberally throughout this entire experience — it’s really easy to forget that you have them. If you keep rolling, use your combat items (L2+Square, L2+ Triangle), and burst magic and then earn it back with the Gorgons, you should be ok.
When the Talos appears, all you have to do is not get cornered and he will go down easily. ensure you keep track of the direction of the fire, and head to the top of the screen as often as possible.
Use any magic you have on the Centaur, as the other enemies will be far easier. Remember to pull the Liches out of the ground with R1, and that blocking works against all their attacks.
Multiplayer:
Faction: HadesRelic: Steal health with brutal killsWeapon: Sword (a great mix of speed and power, easy to learn)Spell: Life leechL2 ability: Health steal cloud
This build makes it extremely easy to keep your health topped off, while giving yourself decent attack capabilities. From what I’ve seen, most of the factions are fairly balanced, except for Poseidon, which feels underpowered in this current version.
You can easily change your faction with the Triangle button when customizing your champion, but all of them have different level tracks.
Likewise, use brutal kill grabs to avoid damage when you’re low on health.
