This page will detail how to defeat Bjorn in God of War Ragnarok.

How to Beat Bjorn in God of War Ragnarok¶

You will face a myriad of bosses in God of War Ragnarok, with Bjorn being the very first one. This will happen very soon from the beginning of the game, and kind of serves as a mini-tutorial on some of the basics of combat. However, don’t let it fool you, as Bjorn can be a little bit of a challenge. Bjorn is a large bear that moves quite quickly, so you will need to make sure that you don’t take it lightly.

All of Bjorn’s Attacks¶

Below, you’ll find a list of all of the attacks you will see during your fight with Bjorn.

Swipe Combo¶

Bjorn will do a quick swipe combo that consists of three to four hits. The first two will be normal attacks, with the third one consisting of a guard breaker. This one will be signified by a yellow circle, meaning if you’re just blocking, then your guard will be broken. Should this happen, then Bjorn will follow up with one more swipe. However, despite being early in the game, if you’ve play the previous God of War, then you know about parrying. Hitting the block button just before an attack connects will cause Kratos to parry the strike, allowing you a brief moment to get some of your own in on the enemy. While yellow attacks cannot be blocked, they can still be parried.

Lunge Grab¶

This is kind of similar to the previous attack, except that there will be a yellow circle and Bjorn will lunge forward. While you could block this and get your guard broken, should the attack hit you, Bjorn will quickly grab you, attack and toss you away. The attack does have a bit of a slow wind-up, too, should you be trying to parry it.

Ground Smash¶

The bear will rear up on its hind legs, standing up for a brief moment, then smash the ground in front of him. Similar to the yellow attack previously mentioned, this one will be shown with a red circle. However, you cannot block these red attacks at all, as they will go through your guard and cause damage. Whenever you see Bjorn stand up, quickly evade backwards to avoid the ground smash. If you’re really close to Bjorn, then it might be a better idea to dodge to the sides.

Lunge Attack¶

Bjorn will have a red circle appear around his head, which signifies that he will do a quick lunging attack towards you. If it hits, then Bjorn will bite your arm and you will have to quickly hit the button shown to get him off of you. This goes in a straight line, but it’s important to note the red circle means it’s unblockable. You shouldn’t really have a hard time dodging this, as he moves straight forward and the attack is telegraphed in advance.

Claw Swipe Flurry¶

Bjorn will do a little roar, then quickly start swiping at you with his claws, moving forward. After he finishes, he will move into a guard breaker attack that is a bit os a slow wind-up, so be careful if you’re trying to parry. Should you get your guard broken, he does tend to follow this up with the red lunging attack grab. You can block the initial flurry, then dodge the final attack.

How to Defeat Bjorn¶

Bjorn is more of a combat refresher, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s an easy win. The reason for this is that Bjorn is quite relentless in pursuing you with his attacks, so you won’t have a lot of breathing room. Unless you’re not good at action games or might be new to God of War with Ragnarok, it’s probably for the best to dodge all of the attacks with a yellow circle. While you generally get an opportunity to dodge the follow up attack after getting your guard broken, it’s a good idea to not let that happen. Of course, you will always be dodging the unblockable (red) attacks.

The important thing to remember with combat in the newer God of War games is that you don’t want to get greedy with your attacks. While an offensive playstyle is always a good idea, you can only get a few hits in before the bear will begin attacking you again. Three to four hits should be enough before you go back to waiting for the next opportunity. This will not only serve as a good idea for this boss fight, but also for the majority of the game. Don’t forget that you can hold down while you’re holding the Leviathan Axe to add Frost Awaken to it. The next attack from it will have an extra punch, in addition to applying Frost. You should be using this quite often, since it helps a lot.

Once you have hurt Bjorn enough, there will be a cinematic that plays out and you will have to trigger Spartan Rage mode ( + ). If you forgot what this is, it is basically an invincibility mode that basically allows you to get free hits on whichever enemy you’re fighting. The gauge for this will be under your health bar in the bottom left corner and as you stay in it/attack, the gauge will deplete. Also, as you strike opponents during Spartan Rage, you will recover some health, so you can also use it as an emergency in some situations. It will be forced here, though, so attack Bjorn until it wears off, then go back to the usual tactics outlined above. When his health gets low health, you will be able to press to trigger the ending sequence of the fight.

After battling Bjorn you will unlock the A Grizzly Encounter trophy.