When battling foes in God of War: Ragnarok, you may be curious about the meaning of colored ring attacks.
God of War Ragnarok gets praised for many things, from the visuals to the story, but one thing that stands out with the newer games is the updated combat system.
With Ragnarok, the combat system has added some attack rings with different colors, which help signal to the player what kind of attack they can anticipate. Here’s a guide to the type of attack rings and the best way to tackle them during a fight.
Red Attack Rings
What many gamers love about the gameplay of Ragnarok is the balance between parrying and dodging. Since parrying is one of the more complicated skills, it’s best to look into the attack you can’t parry first.
Red rings indicate the unblockable attacks, and the moment you see them on an enemy, it’s an indicator that you should dodge immediately. You can double-tap the X button to do a dodge-roll or tap the X button once while moving.
Red attacks are usually seen as high-damage attacks, and should they land on Kratos, you should expect to earn significant damage.
You can only interrupt a red ring attack when you perfectly time Kratos’ Spartan Rage with the L3+R3 buttons.
Blue Attack Rings
When it comes to blue ring attacks, they also can’t just be blocked or parried. Instead, they are indicators that an attack can be interrupted. The moment you see double-blue rings on an enemy, that’s the time to attack them with Kratos’ Shield Bash.
Read: God of War Ragnarok: How To Activate Berserker Gravestones
To perform a Shield Bash, simply tap the L1 button before the enemy’s attack lands. This will then break the enemy’s guard, freeing Kratos up to cause all kinds of damage to an unsuspecting enemy.
Of course, dodging is also an option for this attack, but you will waste a good opportunity to attack if you don’t decide to capitalize on the blue ring chance for a guard break.
Yellow Attack Rings
The yellow rings are considered the most basic combat indicator in the game, but some admit that they find it confusing. You can parry yellow ring attacks by perfectly timing the shield to when the attack lands. This will grant you a guard break and allow Kratos to counter with punishing combos. If you simply block the yellow ring, though, this will result in the enemy breaking your guard and leaving Kratos free to be damaged.
What confuses some players about the yellow ring is that sometimes they pull up the shield right when the yellow circle appears. Though that works for some enemies, there are foes in the game where the yellow ring appears not during an attack but only moments before the strike.
This is apparent with Berserkers, who have a sort of fake-out when their yellow rings appear. They have a wind-up that you have to wait for before they eventually try to land a blow on you. It’s best to be aware of these moves and time the blocking to the actual strike.
Shields Up
With enough practice, players can get a good rhythm of each enemy and learn how to parry their strikes. What’s great is there is also equipment in the game that can help enhance your parrying ability.
If you want to focus on your parrying ability, it’s suggested that you go for the Dauntless Shield. The shield will stun enemies on impact and boost the damage of your next Shield Bash.
Players can also go for the Stone Wall Shield, which can block standard and yellow ring attacks (to a point). Kratos can perform a shield slam on the ground if the shield gets enough charge. This will inflict stun damage to surrounding enemies, even interrupting blue ring attacks.
Now that you know what colored ring attacks in God of War: Ragnarok is, get out there and show your foes why Kratos is the strongest!
