A video was recently posted that showcases a God of War Ragnarok player emulating Heimdall during a boss fight with Thor. In God of War Ragnarok, the boss fights against Thor are among the game's most iconic moments, and the first one specifically — as the second boss battle in the game overall — serves to establish what players will experience from that point forward. That being said, players who have sufficient experience with the game are capable of rendering this boss battle fairly simple.
In the game's story, Heimdall is known to be nearly undefeatable as a result of his ability to read his opponents' intentions and anticipate what they will do. This translates into his tactics of initially dodging any attacks thrown at him in the game which, combined with his other attacks and abilities, can make for a difficult fight. The boss battles against Thor in God of War Ragnarok, meanwhile, are somewhat challenging themselves due to the thunder god's great strength and speed. The first fight with him is made even more challenging by the absence of any of Kratos's weapons for the first portion of the battle.
A video shared by MeasurementNo22 on Reddit shows Kratos in the first boss fight against Thor in the game. During the battle, each time Thor attacks, the player dodges at the last second, very similarly to Heimdall's fighting style in God of War Ragnarok. The player then attacks when Thor is left open. MeasurementNo22 further adds to his emulation of Heimdall's fighting style by making use of Realm Shift, one of Heimdall's signature abilities, which allows the player to temporarily slow down time. As a result of this fighting style, they are able to land several hits on Thor while the latter fails to hit Kratos even once.
While it is possible for someone who has played God of War Ragnarok before to understand Heimdall's fighting style and Thor's attack patterns, the Realm Shift ability is only available long after the first boss fight with Thor. This indicates that MeasurementNo22's video occurs in God of War: Ragnarok's New Game+, which would allow Realm Shift to be carried over and used earlier in the game.
The use of this method to fight Thor serves to show that, despite the challenges present in the boss fight, it is possible to not only make it a simple and straightforward experience, but also add one's own creative touch to it. This is not the first time a God of War: Ragnarok player has posted a video of them defeating a boss in this way and raises the possibility of other such methods being developed eventually.
God of War Ragnarok is available now on PS4 and PS5.