God of War Ragnarök Runic Attacks Complete Guide — Runic Attack Lists for All Three Weapons, Cooldowns, and Acquisition Locations#
The Runic Attacks in God of War Ragnarök are a skill layer shared by all three weapons: each weapon has one Light and one Heavy Runic slot, the runes themselves come from Legendary Chests, boss loot, and side quest rewards across the Nine Realms, and once socketed they can be upgraded to level 3. Let us set the baseline first: the developer has never published the base damage, max-level values, or any “value rating” for any rune, so this page does not offer the old-style damage comparison table; it keeps only the cooldown seconds and acquisition locations verified across multiple sources. Any entry we could not verify is marked “—” rather than filled with a made-up number. For the weapons’ elemental differences and combo roles, see the Weapon Guide page; for the interrupt and stagger value of Runic Attacks in combat, see the Combat System page.
Rune System Rules: Two Slots, Three Levels, Independent Cooldowns#
Slots and Casting#
- Each weapon has exactly two rune slots: one Light Runic slot and one Heavy Runic slot, each holding a single rune at a time.
- Light Runic Attacks are cast with L1+R1 and Heavy Runic Attacks with L1+R2; see the Controls page for the full button list.
- The light/heavy division is consistent across axe, blades, and spear: Light Runes have short cooldowns and fast startups for interrupts and frequent supplemental damage; Heavy Runes have long cooldowns, higher multipliers, and wider coverage for bursts and crowd control.
Level Progression#
- Runic Attacks go up to level 3; once socketed they can be upgraded at the dwarven shop, with damage and effects improving each level; upgrading costs Hacksilver and a Shattered Rune.
- Upgrading only boosts that one rune’s damage and added effects; it never changes its cooldown or role, so judge a rune by whether its mechanic fits your playstyle before talking about levels.
- Runes are picked up in their base form; there is no rune that drops already at level 3. Old tables listing a “level 1-3 pickup tier” for runes were mislabeled.
Acquisition Sources#
| Source | Notes | Typical Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Legendary Chests | The primary rune source, found in caves, ruins, and along the main path across the Nine Realms | Njord’s Tempest, Skadi’s Edge |
| Boss loot | Dropped after defeating specific elites or bosses | The Huntress in The Upper Wilds drops Winter’s Bite |
| Side quest rewards | Granted directly upon completing a specified favor | The “Animal Instincts” favor rewards Crackle of Bilskirnir |
Cooldowns and Rune Stats#
- Every rune runs its own cooldown timer; switching weapons or doing anything else during the cooldown does not affect its recovery; rotating runes across the three weapons effectively stacks your burst windows.
- The “Runic” stat on gear and enchantments raises Runic Attack damage and shortens cooldowns at the same time, making it the first-priority affix for rune-focused builds.
- Most Runic Attacks come with hyper armor and stagger, and landing them builds the stun bar, a key way to set up executions; see the Enemy Compendium page for the thresholds.
Leviathan Axe: Complete Table of All Ten Runes#
The axe follows a frost crowd-control route, and all of its runes revolve around frost buildup and area suppression. The table below is the complete multi-source-verified list; cooldowns are the base in-game values, and in-game rune descriptions take precedence:
Light Runes:
| Rune | Cooldown | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Winter’s Bite | 74 seconds | Midgard, loot from The Huntress in The Upper Wilds |
| Njord’s Tempest | 99 seconds | Svartalfheim, Legendary Chest at Althjof’s Rig |
| Skadi’s Edge | 93 seconds | Alfheim, Legendary Chest in The Strond |
| Hel’s Touch | 62 seconds | Alfheim, Legendary Chest in The Burrows, tied to the “Song of the Sands” favor |
| Wrath of the Frost Ancient | 132 seconds | Vanaheim, Legendary Chest in the Southern Wilds |
Heavy Runes:
| Rune | Cooldown | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Fog of Fimbulwinter | 208 seconds | Legendary Chest in the Myrkr Tunnels |
| Mists of Helheim | 96 seconds | Vanaheim, Legendary Chest at the Cliffside Ruins |
| Leviathan’s Roar | 108 seconds | Vanaheim, Legendary Chest at Freyr’s Camp; requires the Draupnir Spear first |
| Ivaldi’s Anvil | — | Midgard, Legendary Chest at the Derelict Outpost |
| Breath of Thamur | 211 seconds | Niflheim, Legendary Chest at the Raven Tree; requires collecting 28 Odin’s Ravens first |
A few judgment notes:
- Hel’s Touch at 62 seconds is the shortest loop among the axe’s Light Runes; it carries both interrupt duty and frost buildup. Wrath of the Frost Ancient trades 132 seconds for a large-area frost blast, the “one decisive hammer” for clearing packs.
- Among Heavy Runes, Mists of Helheim has the fastest loop at 96 seconds, ideal for frequently laying persistent frost mist; Fog of Fimbulwinter and Breath of Thamur both exceed three and a half minutes — save them for packs or boss punish windows.
- Leviathan’s Roar is hidden at Freyr’s Camp; without the spear’s movement tool you cannot reach the mesa — a textbook case of “push the story to get the spear first, then backtrack for rune chests.”
- Breath of Thamur is tied to the Odin’s Ravens collection line: only with all 28 ravens collected does the Raven Tree’s Legendary Chest unlock, with follow-up rewards for all 48; see the Side Quests page for collection details.
- Ivaldi’s Anvil’s cooldown could not be confirmed in this round of verified sources and is marked “—”; in-game rune descriptions take precedence — no guesswork.
Blades of Chaos: Five Light and Five Heavy Runes#
The Blades of Chaos follow a fire-burning route, with runes built around spreading flames over an area and high-frequency combos. The table lists every rune verified across multiple sources; the specific cooldown seconds for each were never published by the developer and were not covered by this round of verified sources, so no numbers are filled in to avoid misleading readers — in-game rune descriptions take precedence. Except where this site already has established names, the names below are literal reference translations:
Light Runes:
| Rune | Role |
|---|---|
| Flames of Anguish | Gap-closing opener with sustained burning up close |
| Hades Retribution | Multi-hit forward dragging slash that pressures a single target’s guard |
| Helios Flare | Quick fiery flash burst for interrupts and finishing blows |
| Rampage of the Furies | Advancing chain sweeps that lay burning across group fights |
| Cyclone of Chaos | Spinning wide-arc fire blades for counterattacking out of a surround |
Heavy Runes:
| Rune | Role |
|---|---|
| Nemean Crush | Leaping ground slam for point-blank burst |
| Tartarus Rage | Chained ground fire eruptions, high damage on stationary targets |
| Atlas Eruption | Wide fire pillars for sustained suppression |
| Tame the Beast | Gap-closing grab, friendly against large enemies |
| Meteoric Slam | A falling fireball, an area finisher |
Read the Blades’ runes together with their burn status: in group fights, first lay fire with area runes, stack the burn, then cash in with Heavy Runes; against Einherjar shield walls, fire combos and runes are also the main tool for grinding down shields into staggers.
Draupnir Spear: Rune List#
The spear is this game’s new weapon, and its runes revolve around the “plant-detonate” mechanic: several runes directly plant spears or call down spear rains that stack with the Triangle-button elemental detonation. Cooldown data follows the same rule as the Blades — unverified numbers are not filled in:
Light Runes:
| Rune | Role |
|---|---|
| Huldra Charge | Lunging spear rush to close distance quickly |
| Mountain Splitter | Heavy chop that breaks guard, a stagger opener |
| Thrust of a Thousand Soldiers | Multi-hit chained thrusts, high single-target damage |
| Whisper of the World | Area wave, for clearing trash mobs |
| Crackle of Bilskirnir | Reward from the “Animal Instincts” favor; once socketed it can likewise be upgraded to level 3 |
Heavy Runes:
| Rune | Role |
|---|---|
| Artillery of the Ancients | Long-range spear-rain bombardment, safe-distance damage |
| Honour the Fallen | Area counter-blast to escape a siege |
| Vindsvalr’s Windstorm | Storm pull that gathers enemies, control-oriented |
| The Finger of Ruin | High-multiplier impale for finishing blows |
The spear runes’ greatest value is their synergy with the throw and detonate mechanics: spears laid by runes can also be detonated with the Triangle button. Lay the field with runes first, then detonate to cash in — that is the spear’s basic damage loop.
Enchantments and the Amulet: Supporting the Rune System#
A rune build’s strength depends not just on the runes themselves but also on the underlying stat systems:
- Amulet of Yggdrasil: the carrier of the enchantment system, unlocking enchantment slots one by one with Jewels of Yggdrasil.
- Enchantments: each enchantment grants stat bonuses and passive effects, and the “Runic” affix directly boosts Runic Attack damage while shortening cooldowns.
- Affix priority: the “Runic” and cooldown bonuses on weapons, armor, and enchantments all apply to the rune timers of all three weapons at once, so the stacking value is significant — build for the loop rather than dumping everything into raw stats.
- See the Gear and Items page for the full armor and upgrade material system; the old table of “Runic Mastery bonus, Cooldown secrets” style enchantment values had no source at all and has been removed in full.
Recommended Loadouts and Why#
The recommendations below rest only on verifiable mechanics (cooldown values, elemental routes, slot rules), never on invented set bonuses or stat numbers:
Leviathan Axe: Frost Control Loop#
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Light Rune | Hel’s Touch | 62 seconds, the shortest cooldown on the whole axe; the busiest interrupt and frost builder |
| Heavy Rune | Mists of Helheim | 96 seconds, the fastest Heavy Rune loop; persistent frost mist locks down the field |
Rationale: the axe’s core loop is frost buildup, freeze, execution. The Light Rune applies ice at high frequency, while the Heavy Rune drops wide control inside a freeze window or a crowd; the alternative is Breath of Thamur, with a bigger multiplier and coverage but a three-and-a-half-minute cooldown that demands stricter timing.
Blades of Chaos: Crowd Burn Loop#
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Light Rune | Cyclone of Chaos | Spinning area fire blades, the most efficient burn spreader when surrounded |
| Heavy Rune | Tartarus Rage | Chained ground eruptions with solid damage on rooted targets |
Rationale: the Blades have the highest attack frequency and area damage of any weapon, so runes pay off most when chosen for “spreading fire over a wider area”; against shield formations, grind the shield with fire first, then cash in with combos once a stagger opens. Meteoric Slam is the pack-clear alternative, trading cooldown for larger coverage.
Draupnir Spear: Safe-Distance Suppression#
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Light Rune | Thrust of a Thousand Soldiers | Multi-hit thrusts with high single-target scaling, conveniently planting spears for detonation setups |
| Heavy Rune | Artillery of the Ancients | Long-range bombardment to handle elites and summons from outside their reach |
Rationale: the spear’s throw and detonate mechanics are already ranged tools, so keep its runes ranged as well; this pulls apart scenes like “perched elites” or “phalanxed Einherjar” that are hard to face-tank, without disrupting the melee weapon loop.
General Principles#
- The three weapons’ rune cooldowns are fully independent; a rotation of axe control, blades clearing, and spear sniping yields far more burst windows than waiting on one weapon’s cooldown.
- “Runic” stat first: this affix buys both damage and loop speed; give the Amulet’s enchantment slots to runic- and cooldown-oriented passives first.
- Push the story until you have the spear, then backtrack through the Nine Realms’ Legendary Chests — chests like Leviathan’s Roar at Freyr’s Camp will not let you take them early.
- Most Runic Attacks come with hyper armor; when surrounded or pressured, trading with runes is safer than normal combos, and they stack stun toward executions as a bonus.
Revision Notes#
The previous version of this page mixed in many invented rune names and fabricated values; this rewrite corrects them point by point:
- Invented axe runes: “Glacial Surge”, “Mist Guardian”, “Ivaldi’s Hammer”, “White and Black”, “Snowstorm”, and “Leviathan’s Wrath” do not exist under any name; “Ivaldi’s Hammer” appears to be the real Ivaldi’s Anvil renamed with fabricated effects and a cooldown. The whole table was replaced with the verified list.
- Axe cooldowns all wrong: the old table’s entire row of 40-90 second cooldowns contradicted the verified values — Hel’s Touch is actually 62 seconds, Winter’s Bite 74, Breath of Thamur 211 — now rewritten to the verified values; Ivaldi’s Anvil, which could not be verified, is marked “—” with no number invented.
- Mislabeled “level” column: the old table’s “level 1-3 pickup tier” for runes was meaningless — runes drop in their base form and level 3 is the post-socket growth cap. The column was removed, and the progression mechanism moved into “System Rules”.
- Invented Blades runes: “Harvest”, “Whirl Slash”, “Atreus’ Star”, “Spartan Fire”, “Fire of Prometheus”, “Meteor”, and “Path of Flame” do not exist under any name; only Tartarus Rage’s name is real, and even its old cooldown and effect text had no source. The whole table was replaced with the real five-light-five-heavy list.
- Invented spear runes: “Armory”, “Spear of Ten Thousand Tons”, “Impale”, “Storm”, and “Wolf Hunter” do not exist under any name; they were replaced with the real list, plus the real favor-reward rune Crackle of Bilskirnir from “Animal Instincts”.
- Enchantment tables were fabricated: the old “Universal Enchantments” table (Asgard’s Guard, Runic Mastery, Cooldown secrets, etc.) with its stat values, and the “Rare Enchantments” table (Sigil of Despair, Sigil of Vengeance, etc.), have no source anywhere — enchantments in this game are not named these. The section was deleted and replaced with the real Amulet and enchantment system description.
- Amulet ability table was fabricated: the old list of active skills and cooldowns such as “Temporal Fracture (pauses nearby enemies for 5 seconds)” and “Ancient Sigil” does not exist in this game; the Amulet’s actual function is to carry enchantments. The table was deleted in full.
- DPS comparison table used fabricated values: the old “base damage, max-level damage, DPS per second, star-rated value” table had no source whatsoever — the developer has never published rune damage data. The table was deleted and replaced with mechanic-based criteria and qualitative roles.
- Build components that do not exist: components cited by the old “Infinite Rune build” and “Freeze Control build” — “rune set bonuses”, “3x Runic Mastery”, “Temporal Fracture”, etc. — either do not exist or came from the fabricated tables above; replaced with loadout advice based on real stats and cooldown mechanics.
- Acquisition table mismatched: entries like “Hel’s Touch: Midgard”, “Armory: story chapter 12”, and “Meteor: shop purchase after the credits” were all wrong because the rune names themselves were invented; the real acquisition locations are in the three reference tables.
- Unverifiable tips: claims such as “Spartan Rage does not consume rune cooldowns” could not be substantiated and were removed; the mechanic “switching weapons lets you use the other weapon’s runes” does hold and was kept, rephrased as the three weapons’ cooldowns being independent.
- Bilingual duplication and broken links: bilingual lines like “Temporal Fracture (safety) / Temporal Fracture (safety)” and the end-of-page “Back to Home” card with an empty link have been cleaned up, replaced with three valid on-site entries for weapons, side quests, and gear.