God of War Ragnarok Berserker Gravestones Guide: Preparation and Boss Order

Berserker Gravestones are God of War Ragnarok's answer to the Valkyries from 2018. Small grave markers sitting out in the open, each one holding a ghost with a serious grudge. Twelve souls spread across ten arenas, and a king waiting at the very end who borrows every trick his crew knows.

The whole chain is optional, and it's rough. It's also very beatable once you know which order to take the souls on and which gear smooths out the spikes. The short version: pull the hilt, fight smart, save the king for last.

Unlocking Gravestones

For most of the story, those gravestones are just set dressing. You'll walk right past a few, poke at them, and get nothing. The door doesn't open until Chapter 9, during the main quest The Word of Fate, when the story walks you to the King's Grave in the northeast corner of Midgard's Lake of Nine.

There's a broken gravestone there behind a barrier of ice, and it hands over the Inert Hilt of Skofnung, the sword handle that houses all twelve souls. That pickup starts the favor Fit for a King. From then on, every other gravestone gets a prompt: jam the hilt in, the soul stands up, a ring of ice walls off the arena, and the fight runs until one of you drops.

The fine print

• No checkpoints, ever. Die mid-fight and you restart the whole thing (right at the gravestone, so retries are fast at least). Berserkers don't do partial credit.
• Check the boss power level before you commit. These fights run from level 5 up to 9. If the health bar shows up orange or purple, you're underleveled for that one, and a dwarf shop visit fixes it faster than another ten attempts will.
• Watch for runic armor. Deal a burst of damage and a white shield icon appears next to the boss's bar. While it's up, runic attacks stop staggering them, so play defense and wait it out.
• The stun meter is your friend. Keep pressure on and pepper them with companion arrows; a full meter chops a straight chunk of health off, on every single one of these bosses.
• One gravestone hides behind the credits: Skjóthendi the Unerring sits in Niflheim's Mist Fields, an area you can't even reach until the post-game. So the hunt naturally carries into the endgame no matter how eager you are.

Clear all twelve and the King's Grave calls you back. Beating Hrolf pops the Grave Mistake trophy and closes the favor out.

Preparing Armor and Relics

So which build do you bring? Two main routes. Tank up and outlast them, or stack damage and end fights before they end you. Both work. The tank route is a lot kinder on a first run, and the damage route gets better the more of the movesets you have memorized.

The safe route: Steinbjörn

The Steinbjörn set is the classic answer for this content, and it's tucked behind a little side hunt most players never notice. Start in the Lake of Nine, southwest of Tyr's Temple, where there's a crack in the ice wall. Blow it open with a Draupnir spear detonation and grab the Mystical Heirloom relic inside.

That relic wakes up sleeping troll statues. There are four trolls across three spots: one at the Derelict Outpost in southwest Midgard, one in Alfheim's Forbidden Sands (clear the Song of the Sands favor there first so the area settles down), and two in Noatún's Garden out in Vanaheim's River Delta, one fire-resistant and one ice-resistant. Every kill drops a Slumber Stone. Four stones is exactly the crafting bill: two for the chest, one for the wrists, one for the waist.

The set comes out at rank 6 with some of the fattest defense numbers anywhere in the game, 123 on the chest alone and 255 across the set, and it upgrades to rank 9 from there. The chest perk is the star. Bloodthirsty Retaliation kicks in after you take a significant hit, making your attacks restore health for a stretch afterward. It tends to go off pretty often once you're under about three-quarters health, which is exactly when a berserker has you hurting. Gauntlets and waist carry Stunning Retaliation instead, a luck-based chance to stagger and stun whatever's nearby when you take a hit. Getting hit pays you back, which feels very on-brand for this crew.

Want it even better? A trick worth stealing from Polygon: keep the Steinbjörn Plackart but swap the hands and waist for the Bracers and Girdle of Raven Tears, which come out of the raven-hunting side content. Their Healing Efficacy perk boosts healing from healthstones, rage, and gear, and Bloodthirsty Retaliation rides right on top of that.

The aggressive route

Three gravestones hand you the Berserker armor set itself. Frækni drops the Waist Guard, the Barrens trio drops the Cuirass, and Skjóthendi drops the Gauntlets. The chest's Soulless Warrior perk turns you into a glass cannon every time you pop a relic, which is a fun kind of dangerous once you know the fights cold. If you'd rather buy than farm, guides also rate the Fallen Stars set for runic damage or the Dragon Scale set for parry-punish builds. Whatever you pick, wear a complete set so the set bonus actually comes along.

Relics, shields, and the small stuff

• Hilt of Gram is the workhorse. It grants a burst of rage, stuns everything around you, and comes out fast enough to interrupt red-ring windups you'd otherwise have to eat.
• Hilt of Hofud bends time and slows the whole fight down for a few seconds, great for escaping a bad corner or cashing in free hits. Talisman of Meign gives a quick melee damage spike after you dodge something big.
• Shields: Stone Wall for pure defense if you keep getting clipped, Dauntless if your parries are reliable. For attachments, the Rond of Deflection widens your parry windows, and the Rond of Restoration luck-heals you as you take damage.
• Enchantments: Celestial Panacea trims all status effects by 25%, and these bosses love their elements. Remedy of the Bifrost earns its slot against Skjóthendi and the King. The trio of Vanaheim stones adds damage against status-afflicted enemies, and the Jotunheim trio pads out your rage bar.
• Runic attacks should be fast and staggering: Winter's Bite or Leviathan's Roar on the axe, Hades Retribution on the blades, Thrust of a Thousand Soldiers on the spear. Skip the long-animation stuff, because berserkers will punish you out of the ending frames.

Choosing an Early Boss Order

Nothing hard-gates these fights beyond the hilt itself, so the power levels basically hand you the order. Start with the level 5 pair and climb the ladder. Here's the whole map of them:

| # | Berserker(s) | Gravestone location | Power level | Key reward | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Frækni the Zealous | Midgard, Lake of Nine | 5 | Berserker Waist Guard | | 2 | Harðrefill the Callous | Svartalfheim, Nidavellir Beach | 5 | Asgard's Fortitude | | 3 | Beigaðr the Feared | Svartalfheim, Alberich Island | 6 | Asgard's Might | | 4 | Hvítserkr the Bold | Vanaheim, Pilgrim's Landing | 6 | Pommels of the Nine Realms | | 5 | Hjalti the Stolid | Alfheim, The Forbidden Sands | 7 | Grip of the Nine Realms | | 6 | Svipdagr the Cold + Sisters of Illska | Alfheim, The Barrens | 7 | Berserker Cuirass, Frozen Flame | | 7 | Haklangr the Bearded | Vanaheim, The Sinkholes | 8 | Chaos Flame | | 8 | Bödvar the Fierce + Starólfr the Troublesome | Svartalfheim, Jarnsmida Pitmines | 8 | Gale Flame, Hind of the Nine Realms | | 9 | Skjóthendi the Unerring | Niflheim, Mist Fields (post-game) | 8 | Berserker Gauntlets | | 10 | King Hrolf Kraki | Midgard, King's Grave | 9 | Hilt of Skofnung, Helheim's Virtue |

Frækni is the natural first kill. Her gravestone sits in the Lake of Nine, a short trip from where you pulled the hilt in the first place, and at level 5 she's the gentlest of the twelve. She also drops the Berserker Waist Guard, so fight number one already pays gear. Harðrefill the Callous at Nidavellir Beach is the other level 5, an easy detour next time Svartalfheim's on your route.

From there it's a clean climb. Beigaðr and Hvítserkr at level 6, then Hjalti and the Barrens trio at 7, then the three level 8s: Haklangr in the Sinkholes, the Pitmines duo, and Skjóthendi once the post-game opens Niflheim up. The King comes last by design, since his grave won't even activate early.

The order isn't just about fairness either, because the fights fund your power curve. The Barrens trio drops a Frozen Flame, Haklangr drops a Chaos Flame, and the Pitmines duo drops a Gale Flame, which is one weapon level each for the axe, the blades, and the spear. Every gravestone also stacks Tempered Remnants, Bonded Leather, and Shattered Runes, which is exactly what those rank 8 and 9 upgrades eat. The earlier fights literally pay for the later ones.

So can you jump around anyway? Sure, nothing stops you from strolling into the Sinkholes underleveled. It goes about how you'd expect. One gear level is often the difference between a wall and a win, so if a bar shows up orange, go spend some hacksilver and come back.

Countering Group Encounters

Two of the ten arenas throw multiple souls at you, and they're where most of the wall-banging on this hunt happens. Single-target habits die hard in these two.

The Barrens trio (level 7)

Svipdagr the Cold shares this grave with the Sisters of Illska, Hrómundr the Cruel on ice duty and Vöttr the Prideful on fire. It's the nastiest fight of the twelve. Three enemies, two health bars, since the sisters share one bar and any damage to either counts against both.

The common advice is to delete the sisters first, and it holds up. They're the real threat. The sisters never even touch a weapon, it's all spells from across the arena while Svipdagr charges you with her axes. Her kit is simple by comparison.

• Chakrams come flying in pairs from both sisters. A quick side dodge handles them.
• Frost orbs drift toward you slowly and can't be rolled away from. Shoot them down with an axe or spear throw. Eat one and you take a real hit plus a frost slow.
• The fireball can't be blocked or parried, so move, and expect a burn to tick afterward.
• Ice rain telegraphs with red circles on the ground. There can be several at once, so keep moving.
• The sisters blink next to you for a yellow-ring explosive burst. Block it or roll clear, just don't stand in it.
• Svipdagr's dangers are a red-ring charge slam and axe combos that finish on a red-ring swing. Roll those. If your timing's off, the Hilt of Gram can slap her straight out of the charge.

Some no-damage runners flip the script and burn Svipdagr down first, dragging her away from the sisters so the ranged spam stays at the edge of the screen. That works if you can keep the sisters honest while you do it. Your call, but if the spells keep deleting you, sisters first is the safer plan.

The Jarnsmida Pitmines duo (level 8)

Bödvar the Fierce and Starólfr the Troublesome share the grave between the Pitmines and the Applecore. Two full melee berserkers at once, both teleporting, both combo-happy. Mimir sums Bödvar up as a man with all the brains of a hammer, and that's the fight in one line: relentless pressure, no gimmicks.

Keep them split. Kite one around the arena's edge and don't let them stack on you, because eating two overlapping combos is how this fight ends you. Lock-on helps you track whichever one you're killing, but it's also exactly how the other one blindsides you, so check your six between strings. Area runics earn their slots here: Mists of Helheim or Breath of Thamur on the axe, Vindsvalr's Windstorm on the spear, anything that clips both souls at once. Freya's arrows stagger whoever you're not hitting, so treat them as crowd control rather than chip damage.

The moment one of them drops, this turns back into a normal single fight, and a tired berserker alone is cake compared to the duo. Push whichever bar is lower and close it out.

Facing King Hrolf

The King's Grave only wakes up once the other twelve souls are down, and it wakes up angry. Hrolf Kraki is power level 9, with recommended gear sitting around level 8 or 9 to match him. Bring your best everything, because he's the actual final exam of Ragnarok's combat.

Here's the good news: he fights you one-on-one, and every move in his kit is something you've already seen. He lifts attacks from all twelve of his berserkers and runs every element, Bifrost included. No new tells, no adds, no tricks you haven't dodged already. You just have to prove it for a long stretch of time, because there's still no checkpoint.

The opening

Charge the axe before you insert the hilt, so permafrost is full when the fight starts. The first frost-charged hit knocks him out of whatever he opens with, and that's your cue to unload all six runic attacks while he's recovering. That burst also builds his stun bar; keep companion arrows flying whenever there's a break so the bar doesn't drain while you reposition. A full bar takes a chunk of his health off for free, and free damage is scarce in this fight.

The tells that matter

• The green-ring plunge: he raises his weapon, a large ring forms around him, and he slams it down. Long windup, so punish with a light runic mid-animation if you're feeling brave, or just roll clear and hit him during recovery.
• Two overhead punches with no ring at all: the easiest parries of the whole fight. Take them every time.
• The yellow-ring spin: it opens a combo where the next four swings carry no ring. Parry those four and watch his posture bar climb.
• The airborne Bifrost strike: red ring, undodgeable, unblockable. Throw the axe or a spear to knock him clean out of the air. Same answer for the slow fire and ice orbs he drifts at you.
• His basic strings won't be staggered by normal hits, but charged attacks and most runics will cut his ground attacks short. Trading a runic for canceling his big windup is usually a fair deal.

The second half

Just past the halfway mark he throws up an elemental shield, usually whichever one counters the weapon you've been leaning on. Fire shield, swap to the Leviathan Axe. Ice shield, go Blades of Chaos. Neutral shield, Draupnir spear. Break it with the counter element and punish while it's down.

Healthstones drop through the brawl, and the smart play is to leave them on the ground until you actually need one, since stepping to a stone at the wrong moment is a great way to die at half health. Spartan Rage is your panic button, so pop it to heal through a bad patch rather than to chase damage. Settle in: the fight runs long enough that your runic attacks come back off cooldown before the end.

Win, and the Grave Mistake trophy pops along with the haul: the Hilt of Skofnung powered up to its true relic form, the Helheim's Virtue enchantment, a mountain of XP, and a reported 250,000 hacksilver. That sword handle carried twelve souls and their king across the whole hunt. Now it works for you, and the payout settles every upgrade bill you've been putting off.