Is it Worth Killing the Valkyries in God of War? An In-Depth Analysis

As a passionate God of War gamer and content creator, I am often asked by fellow fans – is taking on the optional Valkyrie boss fights really worth it?

My answer is a resounding yes! Here is a comprehensive, detailed guide on why defeating all 8 of the imprisoned Valkyries is hugely rewarding and an absolutely integral part of mastering God of War‘s complex combat system.

Table of Contents

• Powerful Gear & Upgrades
• Perfect Endgame Challenge
• Dozens of Extra Hours of Content
• Favorite Boss Fights
• Preparation for Valkyrie Queen
• Enhance Story & Lore

Powerful Gear & Upgrades

Killing all 8 Valkyries and the hidden 9th Valkyrie Queen is the only way to collect the materials needed to craft and upgrade the incredible Valkyrie Armor Set – one of the best looking and most powerful armor sets in the entire game.

With insane boosts to strength, defense, runic abilities and a handy constant health regeneration effect, the full Valkyrie set makes Kratos an absolute powerhouse. It can then be upgraded to max level with rare crafting materials that all Valkyries drop – like Asgardian Steel.

Killing these epic bosses also gives access to powerful enchantments, like the Eye of the Winged Chosen which gives a Gift of Apollo style area-of-effect blast on any axe throw.

These enhancements combined with the armor set bonuses enable incredibly strong Runic Summon focused builds that can melt most enemies and bosses in seconds.

Perfect Endgame Challenge

The Valkyries offer God of War‘s longest and most dynamic boss fights, with each of the 8 (plus the Queen) having unique mechanics and multiple phases.

They are the ultimate way to put your mastery of Kratos‘s Leviathan Axe, Blades of Chaos and Atreus‘s arrow abilities to the test. These hard-as-nails fights demand:

• Expert use of parries, dodges and blocks
• Managing crowd control against air and ground based enemies
• Prioritizing high damage combos and reactive play

With hyper aggressive movesets full of unblockable attacks, they are a satisfying but fair challenge for those seeking the hardest enemies in the game outside of Give Me God of War difficulty.

And ultimately, it all prepares you for the final challenge..

Preparation for Valkyrie Queen

The ultimate reward for defeating the 8 regular Valkyries is unlocking the hidden boss arena that contains Sigrun – the Valkyrie Queen.

After being soundly trounced by her my first playthrough, I can safely say Sigrun‘s moveset containing the most devastating attacks from all previous Valkyries makes her by far God of War‘s most difficult boss. Think King of Storms, Nameless King tier.

Some of her deadly combo highlights:

• Wing blitz + blinding flash into aerial juggle combo
• Summons meteors like Gondul and also uses Eir‘s tracking daggers
• Rota‘s rapid fire grapples intermixed with Kara‘s summon ally to keep pressure up
• Has the ice wall area denial attacks of Hildr

Beating this FPS dropping onslaught is deeply satisfying and fulfilling – doing so on harder difficulties like Give Me God Of War makes for an intense 15-20 minute endurance match of concentration. Not to mention preventing many, many smashed controllers.

But that‘s what makes finally landing the killing blow so rewarding. And finishing Sigrun prepares you skill-wise for taking on the toughest enemies in other top-tier action games like Nioh 2 or Elden Ring with similar dodge/parry based reactive combat systems.

Dozens of Extra Hours of Content

Clearing out the 8 regular Valkyries including finding their Hidden Chamber locations followed by taking out Queen Sigrun adds a good 15-20 hours of meaningful endgame content for players who have already finished God of War‘s 30 hour main campaign and side quests.

Not only are these climatic clashes themselves totally epic, you will also be spending those extra hours:

• Hunting down artifact treasure maps and solving environmental puzzles to reveal each Valkyrie prison
• Exploring realms like Muspelheim and Niflheim to gather the keys to unlock the hidden chambers
• Crafting and upgrading armor sets like the Ivaldi Deadly Mist set to give you a strong edge in the fights
• Experimenting with different runic attack combinations to counter each boss
• Refining reactions, timing and contingency plans against their successive attack phases

So in terms of extending epic large-scale battles and exploration outside the main story – the Valkyries deliver substantial and supremely polished content drops that normally you would expect paid DLC expansions to provide.

Favorite Boss Fights

For my money, the Valkyrie encounters are easily the best boss fights in the entire God of War reboot outside of mainline story showdowns like the Stranger. Here‘s why I love going toe-to-toe with these fallen angels as a gamer:

No Gimmicks – It‘s simply you versus them in spectacular arena settings. No quick time events, no specific puzzle weaknesses – just raw reactive kinetic combat, rapid decision making and grit to either come out standing or be stomped to red paste.

Balanced Challenge – Hard as platinum grade titanium dipped adamantium nails, but based completely on skill and mastery rather than getting one shot or combo locked. Every attack can be learned, dodged, parried – or if you‘re skilled enough, parried back in their smug faces.

Layers of Strategy – With 8 different Valkyries each having multiple health bars and 3 or more attack phases testing different combat aspects, you need to combine prep and adaptation with precise execution.

And the grand payoff? Seeing "VALKYRIE SLAIN" flash up on screen after 5 teeth gritting tries, screaming at the TV for Kratos to "Use the damn Spartan Rage already!" knowing it was your skill and strategy that got you there in the end.

So for those reasons and more, no other epic clashes, optional or story, give quite the same rush of victory against overwhelming odds – exactly what you want as a God of War fan!

Enhances Story & Lore

Defeating the Valkyrie bosses also makes a fitting capstone for Kratos and Atreus‘s character arcs of coming to terms with traumatic events from their pasts before bringing down the main threat of Baldur.

Throughout the game, Kratos must battle his guilt over deception and lost fatherhood while Atreus struggles with vulnerability, confusion and anger about his true nature.

The Valkyries thematically represent these themes as figures who violated Odin‘s orders due to their own hubris and emotions, which led to catastrophic events stripping their wings and imprisoning them in a state between life and death.

Much like Kratos breaking free of Ares and his blood oaths, or Atreus gaining confidence in who he is, triumphing over the Valkyries provides hope that past wounds can be healed. New life once shattered can be restored.

It makes for a fitting symbolic capstone before the final story arcs close out the current chapter of Kratos and Atreus‘s journey.

And that elevates defeating the Valkyries narratively from simply being superb optional content to being an integral part of our heroes‘ overall growth and redemption.

I hope this detailed guide gives you an idea of why I consider successfully defeating the 8 Valkyrie bosses plus their Queen Sigrun to be absolutely vital content for getting the most out of God of War‘s gameplay systems, challenge factor and depth of storytelling.

The incredible gear, visceral battles and hours of meaningful content they add cement the Valkyrie fights as the most rewarding side challenges I‘ve faced in a game since Sword Saint Isshin.

So while difficult, no other foes push you as far in skill growth or achieving that glorious rush of a hard won victory against the odds. And that‘s what being a God of War is ultimately all about!

Let me know which Valkyrie gave you the hardest time in the comments section below!