King Hrolf Kraki
King Hrolf Kraki is the leader of the twelve Berserkers you can fight as an optional boss in God of War Ragnarok. Though you'll find his grave in Midgard as part of the main story, he can only be challenged once you have defeated all of his Berserker minions across the Nine Realms. In this guide, you will learn everything you need to know about finding and defeating the Berserker King Hrolf Kraki.
Where to Find King Hrolf Kraki
King Hrolf Kraki's Berserker Gravestone is located in the aptly named King's Grave in Midgard, and is where you first find the Inert Hilt of Skofnung during Chapter 9 - The Word of Fate in the far northeast of the realm.
In order to face him, you must first defeat all twelve Berserkers as part of the Side Quest Favor, Fit for a King. This includes unlocking the following gravestones:
- Midgard, Lake of Nine (Fraekni)
- Svartalfheim, Nidavellir Beach (Hardrefill)
- Svartalfheim, Alberich's Island (Beigadr)
- Svartalfheim, Jarnsmida Pitmines (Bodvar and Starolfr)
- Alfheim, The Forbidden Sands (Hjalti)
- Alfheim, The Barrens (Svipdagr, Hromundr, Vottr)
- Vanaheim, Pilgrim's Landing (Hvitserkr)
- Vanaheim, The Sinkhole (Haklangr)
- Niflheim, The Mist Fields (Skjothendi)
Once each of these Berserker Gravestones has been cleared (some count for multiple Berserkers), you will be tasked to return back to Midgard and approach the King's Grave with your fully charged Hilt of Skofnung, and summon King Hrolf.
- Power Level: 9
- Recommended Level: 8-9
- Rewards: Powered Hilt of Skofnung Relic, Helheim's Virtue Enchantment, Bonded Leather, Shattered Runes
How to Defeat Berserker King Hrolf Kraki - Tips and Strategies
As the leader of the Berserkers you've faced, King Hrolf is indeed a fearsome foe. At power level 9, it's highly recommend you upgrade everything you possibly can to at least be level 8 (if not level 9). This includes finding every Frozen Flame, Chaos Flame, and Gale Flame to upgrade each of your weapons to their max level, and having one set of armor at or near level 9, and as many weapon attachments upgraded as well. You'll also want to be sure everything else is fully upgraded with available XP - including a good mix of fast and powerful Runic Attacks (most should focus on single-target or at least fast-acting), a fully upgraded Relic, Rage, and Companion Weapon. You should also ensure any skills you use against bosses have been enhanced with added bonuses from completing Skill Labors (mostly charging or evading skills and the Draupnir detonation).
We chose a mix of armor, utilizing the parry buff from the Dragon Scaled Breastplate alongside the Berserker Waist Guard's soul explosion perk, and the Gauntlets of Radiance to trigger Realm Shifting, which we extended by adding the Hilt of Hofud Relic and Grip of the Nine Realms. Our Realm Shifting was further bolstered by at least 3 Alfheim Enchantments and Emblem of the Nine Realms Enchantment, using the extra slots for Remedy of the Bifrost, Celestial Panacea, and Emblem of Elusion among others. For quick striking Runic Attacks we chose Winter's Bite, Hades Retribution, Nemean Crush, and Huldra Charge, alongside Leviathan's Roar for the shielding, and Artillery of the Ancients for interrupting at range. Finally, in case of status effect problems, we equipped the Rond of Purification on the Dauntless Shield, with Spartan Rage Valor for additional heals and cleansing.
Some good news about your fight with King Hrolf Kraki is that you've seen pretty much every move he's going to make before - as his moveset is directly pulled from that of his subordinates. The bad news is that he'll constantly be changing tactics, summoning the weapons or elements of each Berserker on a whim, which means you'll need to be ready for literally anything.
Almost any major move you've seen another Berserker do - King Hrolf can do it too. The only thing he won't do (thankfully) is summon additional minions to harass you with, so you can focus entirely on him and lock on target to keep track of his constant teleports and dashes.
Not content to use just one elemental magic from the other Berserkers, he'll change up which element he's infused with at random, meaning you'll need to be ready to deal with poison, frost, flame, shock, AND Bifrost during any of his moves. The upside to this is that your Draupnir Spear can routinely be used to siphon elements from him to be used against the King.
Expect him to move faster AND hit harder than any Berserker you've faced before, and his multitude of abilities means you will rarely catch a breather as he can be deadly up close or at range. You'll need to carefully plan out your counter attacks to when you're sure he's finished his move and can be hit back - but before he teleports away.
At range, he can use any element for many of these moves, starting with the standard "Daudahogg" two quick tracking projectiles that arc at you while he floats one direction and then the next. These can and should be parried if possible as the second one can hit him when he stops moving.
His ground tremor spell will track you fairly well, so sit tight and block the attack regularly while you wait for his next move.
The "Pyrping" spell sends out a group of tracking projectiles that moves fast and will require you to dodge only after they've launched, as evading too early will still get you hit.
King Hrolf can also summon ice or fire orbs to track you - but thankfully without additional enemies to blindside you, they will pop quickly with a ranged attack.
As for the more deadly moves, King Hrolf can invoke any of the elemental "Vengi" unblockable moves. This includes the fireball shower all around you - which you'll want to carefully strafe and backpedal using as much of the arena as possible to move around away from the incoming flames.
The frost Vengi comes down in three large radius effects, but their static positioning gives you more time to fill him with Draupnir Spears or charge a permafrost axe to throw and knock him out of it.
The shock Vengi will come out in a straight line, but quickly target your last known position, so keep moving and dodging but don't get trapped against a wall.
Finally, the Bifrost Vengi needs to be interrupted as soon as you see purple sparks, which can be done by any of your weapons ranged moves - so long as you make it quick before the explosion hits.
And if keeping an eye on the King wasn't bad enough, you'll need to be ready to reach him at any moment, as he can summon Hjalti's twin maces and prepare to slam them together yelling "Bow to me!" It will deal blinding damage across the entire arena unless you can shield strike his blue ring prompt! You've still got a second if you see him start to complete the animation, so run hard! Luckily, interrupting this attack will give you plenty of time to dish out some damage before he can recover.
When King Hrolf Kraki wants to start getting in close to use a variety of summoned weapons, he has many ways of doing so that you'll need to be ready to dodge and counter. The first is the standard leap into the sky while yelling "Kneel before me!", and slam down where the green aura appears under you. Given that the radius is small, you can begin to time it right and sidestep away when the shadows stops moving with you to avoid his slam, then unleash a Runic Attack while he's busy pulling his sword out of the ground. Be wary though, if he slams down and doesn't fully keel with a sword down, he might chain together two leaps in a row, or quickly teleport away.
Hey may also opt for a couple of quick leaping slams or charges used by other Berserkers. The most standard is usually using Hjalti's maces for a long jump that you'll need to dodge to the side.
If he slowly rises into the air wielding a his own sword, you can expect a staggering leap attack towards you, which can be parried if accurate to reverse into time spent unleashing some of your own damage.
At close range, expect the King to rapidly conjure many of the weapons you've come up against when dealing with the Barbarians. However, he can also forego weapons entirely, and instead try to imbue his fists with random elemental energy for a two-hit combo. These are great to parry, especially with the perk from the Dragon Armor to build up damage you can unleash after blocking both strikes.
When also unarmed, he may try for the familiar point-blank "Blastr" explosion of elemental energy. Thankfully by now you should have a good idea of delay to reliably parry it or dodge around behind - just be careful when countering as he sometimes will do the blast twice if not interrupted enough.
When he does summon weapons, be on the lookout for Fraekni's halberd, which he can quickly fly across the arena with to skewer you unless you perform a quick sidestep to avoid. At low health, he may even do this twice in a row!
He can also follow up several close range attacks with a quick lunge from the halberd, but it can be blocked as normal if you find it hard to time right for a parry.
If he summons Haklangr's giant hammer, be on guard, as you'll likely need to either roll to the side several times to avoid his overhand unblockable attacks, or dodge backwards if he holds the hammer upside down to slam into the ground with a yell of "Fall in line!", and send a shockwave where the green aura has gathered (It can usually be avoided in 1-2 rolls away). As with the slam from on high, he'll have to take time to pull the hammer up, giving you a great opportunity to unleash some damage, and keep it going with Realm Shift if possible.
He can also use Haklangr's signature spinning combo attack (to the tune of "Bend your knee!") with the staggering opener followed by several more swings and a unblockable finisher, so be ready to dodge out of the way if you're not sure on the timing.
Hrolf may invoke Svipdagr's twin axes to perform one of two familiar combo attacks - one that begins with a regular swipe and a staggered slow follow up (and another if you fail to parry it), or a staggered blow followed by several regular swings ending in an unblockable attack. If you've got the timing down perfectly you can shield strike his last hit before it lands, otherwise it may be better to dodge to the side first.
He may also grab his own sword for a slow staggering swing followed by a much faster one - but a well-timed parry and knock him off balance after the second swing.
Finally, if he's unarmed, he may launch into Skjothendi's flying staggering punch when at range that can be hard to spot coming, so don't be afraid to dodge if the timing feels off.
Expect him to also invoke Haklangr's shielding ability at around half health, requiring you to burn off his frost shield or vice-versa, or simply break apart his stun shield by using strong attacks when possible, so you can get back to shaving off his actual health bar.
You'll also need to be wary when he gets at low health, as more often than not he'll bring in Skjothendi's most annoying ability to the table, sapping the entire arena with Bifrost energy and slowly infecting your entire health bar. This is where your ability to cleanse with enchantments, shield ronds, or Spartan Rage can really come in handy, otherwise almost any attack he unleashes will kill you once your health is claimed by Bi-frost, and he has a lot of moves to surprise you with.
Adapting to his many attacks will be the key to this fight, as will be biding your time for the right moments to hit him and hit him hard. Be sure to chain together your best moves when you can - like enabling the Realm Shift relic to unleash multiple hits to charge up your weapon's L1+Triangle ability to trigger another Realm Shift if you have that weapon attachment ready, giving you even more time to unleash damage he can't run away from.
Expect his Runic Armor to appear briefly after every 2-3 bars you knock off his health - although it isn't exact. When you see the icon or his body flash white, try not to use Runic Attacks too haphazardly, or you may end up setting yourself up to be struck down as he powers through to hit you anyway.
Remember that there are few Health Stones scattered around the arena even before you begin, and dealing damage to him will drop more, so use them whenever you get a break in the fight or he teleports away for a moment.
In a pinch, use Spartan Rage Valor as a "In Case of Emergency" when you get staggered or otherwise are unable to avoid an incoming hit. It will even work against otherwise unblockable attacks, but you'll have to time it right to negate all the damage as well as healing you too.
Much of this fight can come down to recognizing patterns - or even getting lucky with him not using the attacks you hate the most, like the blue ring attack or the Bifrost explosion. Any time you manage to get him off balance, press your attack and swap between weapons to use Runic Attacks as needed - until he jumps away, then pivot to prepare to counter his next move.
When at last his health bar is fully depleted, bring Kratos in for the big finisher, and relieve King Hrolf Kraki of his crown -- and head. You'll be awarded the fully powered Hilt of Skofnung, which can summon three spectral blades to attack nearby enemies with awesome power - as well as a ton of Hacksilver and some more resources to top off any gear you haven't full upgraded by this point. Congratulations, Barbarian Killer!