This page details a guide for how to complete the Population Control Trial / Challenge of Muspelheim in God of War Ragnarok.

How to Complete the Population Control Muspelheim Trial in God of War Ragnarok¶

The Population Control Muspelheim Trial is essentially a test of your ability to manage the number of regular enemies alive by keeping it at or below 4/4. There is no real limit to the number of regular enemies that can be active in the arena at any given time, which means if you don’t kill regular enemies quickly they could end up overwhelming you with their numbers. For this reason it’s a good idea to kill them as soon as they spawn, and keep killing them as more and more spawn subsequently. The important thing to keep in mind here is that the Elite enemy counts towards the total in the maximum allowed population of 4/4, so if you kill the elite when there are more than three regular enemies in the arena, you will fail the trial. You must kill the elite when there are exactly four enemies (or fewer) in the arena at the same time.

To ensure that you don’t fail the trial by killing the elite enemy too soon, you need to take care not to inadvertently inflict AoE (Area of Effect) damage to it. Use single-target attacks where possible, and try to goad regular enemies towards you, preferably while the elite is distracted by your companion, allowing you to kill the regular enemies to thin their numbers before finishing off the elite once the population is at or below 4/4 again. You will have a few seconds near the beginning of the trial without the elite in the arena, so you have time to kill these regular enemies all at once with powerful Runic Attacks before the elite arrives if you want to.

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(1 of 2) You should kill all regular enemies as soon as they spawn.

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You should kill all regular enemies as soon as they spawn. (left), Be sure to kill the elite last, or at least when there are four or fewer enemies in the arena. (right)

If you’re playing on one of the higher difficulties, it’s unlikely that you will kill off an elite enemy by accident using a Runic Attack anyway, since they have more health and are generally tougher to bring down at the higher difficulties. It’s a good idea to reserve your most powerful Runic Attacks for when the elite only has a relatively small amount of health left, allowing you to finish it off quickly just after you take out some regular enemies to reduce the population count.