God of War Ragnarok: Gna the Valkyrie Queen Boss Fight Guide

God of War Ragnarok has plenty of tough fights and bosses for Kratos to battle in his journey across the Realms. Perhaps the toughest in all of God of War Ragnarok is Gna, the Valkyrie Queen. 

Gna is the newly crowned Valkyrie Queen after the defeat of Sigrun last game. In God of War Ragnarok, Gna sits at the pinnacle of difficulty as one of the game’s signature endgame bosses alongside King Hrolf. She is a very difficult fight, bringing in a lot of old mechanics from the Valkyries in God of War (2018) and giving them a new deadly edge. 

Here’s everything you need to know to beat Gna the Valkyrie Queen in God of War Ragnarok.

Want more God of War Ragnarok content and guides? You can find more here on KeenGamer:

1. God of War Ragnarok: How to Unlock Muspelheim and the Crucible
2. God of War Ragnarok: Where to Find All Draugr Holes
3. God of War Ragnarok: Across the Realms Quest Guide

How to Unlock Gna, the Valkyrie Queen

Gna cannot be fought until after you have completed the main story and gotten to Beyond Ragnarok. Even if you do everything necessary to unlock her boss fight, she will not appear unless you have completed the main story. 

Once the main story has concluded, you have to go to Muspelheim. Specifically, you have to go to The Crucible. This is the area of Muspelheim unlocked by finding the halves of the Yggdrasil Seed in the open world. You do unlock the Burning Cliffs portion of Muspelheim by playing The Path, but this does not connect to The Crucible and so Gna will be inaccessible. 

After getting to The Crucible you then need to complete its 15 combat Trials. Gna will only make herself known after all 15 have been completed. The process of completing each Trial can be a bit confusing and leave some feeling lost in how to unlock further Trials. If you want an in-depth guide on how to find both halves of the Muspelheim Seed, unlock the Crucible and even some advice on how to complete the Trials of Muspelheim, you can find our guide here. 

Once you have beaten all 15 of Muspelheim’s Trials (including the 6 Trials at the central sword) a new ‘Undiscovered’ marker will appear to the right of the central arena. Climb down using your chains and jump across several small handholds. 

Eventually, you’ll find yourself before a campfire with a pick-up on the floor. As you approach, you will be blindsided by the one and only Gna, the Valkyrie Queen.

Prepare

Gna Moveset

When you’re ready to begin your fight with Gna, approach and she will begin.

This fight is long and gruelling. Gna has a ton of HP and you will likely only be able to stagger her once throughout the entire fight. There isn’t a phase transition, either, so any of the following moves can come at any time. Prepare for one of the toughest fights in all of God of War Ragnrok. 

Close Range Attacks

Leaping Kick: Gna pulls back and flies briefly into the air before coming down with a single, powerful kick. This can be blocked or parried. Then, she goes into the air once more before coming down with an Unblockable attack that deals Freeze on hit. Both attacks can be dodged.

Chakram Combo: Gna will spawn two glowing blades in her hands before doing two quick slashes in front of her. Then she jumps and throws them in an Unblockable attack that must be dodged.

Close Range Sword Combo: Gna slashes once with her sword then she jumps, twirling, as she readies her spear for a downward smash. This is a defence-breaking attack so it can be parried.

Leaping Ground Smash: Gna jumps into the air, marked by a yellow defence break circle, before slamming into the ground for a line AoE. She will do this several times. You can parry her to stop the assault.

Chakram Combo

Gap Closers

Rush Forward: Gna readies her spear and dashes at you, spinning as she does. This attack can only be parried or dodged.

Dash Combos: Just like the Valkyries in God of War (2018), Gna has two separate attacks where she dashes to either the left or the right before charging. The direction that she dashes in changes the combo she is about to perform: 

• • If she dashes Left, she will charge Kratos with two forward thrusts before spinning in a circle like a Beyblade. All of these attacks can be blocked or parried and it is advisable that you do one or the other as opposed to dodging. Sometimes, instead of going into the Beyblade, Gna will go into an unblockable stab – dodge when you see it come up.
  • If she dashes Right, she will instead charge Kratos with a single unblockable stab. As soon as you see her dodge, get ready to dodge right away from her strike so you don’t get hit.

Beyblade Gna

Submit!: Gna readies herself for a brief moment before charging rapidly at the player, screaming ‘Submit!’ as she does. If you are too slow to dodge, she will grab you and fling you to the floor, dealing a sizable amount of damage.

For Asgard!: Gna leaps up into the air and out of sight. She will leap down onto Kratos’ current position three times: if he is caught, she will transition into a grab which the player must break out of. Wait a moment between each and you will eventually learn the dodge timing. 

Submit!

Elemental Attacks

Bifrost Sky Assault: Gna will often begin the fight with this move. She will lift her hands and wings into the sky before 4 beams of blue Bifrost shoot forward in a line. These are easy to dodge but be warned that they will inflict Bifrost if you step on the spots where they hit.

Chakram Ring: Gna will spawn two chakrams in her hands which can be a variety of elements (including fire, ice, poison and Bifrost). She will then fling them around her in a ring, dealing damage to you if you get hit. To avoid this, you can hit the chakram yourself to detonate it.

Projectile Wing Attacks: Gna has several variations of her Wing Projectile attack where she will fling a series of feathers at Kratos. These can be mixed up on the fly so be ready to dodge and block when appropriate:

• Unblockable Pink Feathers: A set of glowing pink feathers that must be dodged. 
• Blockable Bifrost Feathers: A set of glowing blue feathers that can be blocked and inflict Bifrost on hit. 

Freya Attacks

Meteor Summon Attack (Sound Arrows): This is one of two attacks which Freya can help stop. Gna flies into the air, shouting out ‘Rise!’ as she does. A massive meteor made of Sound Metal will materialise in her hands and if she is allowed to attack it will fling towards Kratos for a guaranteed knockback. If you command Freya to shoot her with a Sound Arrow, the attack will be cancelled and she will fall to the floor, helpless for some free damage.

Flaming Staff Attack (Runic Arrows): This is the second attack which Freya can help stop. Gna stomps on the ground, producing a staff tipped with fire and a glowing purple Rune. If she is allowed to finish her attack, she will spread a line of fire across the floor. If you command Freya to shoot her with a Runic Arrow, the attack backfires and inflicts Gna with Burn. 

Shield Break

Shield Break AoE: Gna has two different attacks where she can be Shield Broken. The first is a large AoE which deals massive damage if Kratos is in when the spell finishes. You can break her out of this attack using a Shield Bash. 

Shield Break Wings: Gna’s second Shield Break attack is simple. She brings her wings in front of her to block incoming damage: simply Shield Bash to break her out of it. 

Shield Break

General Advice

Here is some general advice for fighting Gna in God of War Ragnarok. This section will talk a bit about Runic Attacks, Freya and general mentality.

On the whole, Gna is a tough fight because of her high HP and resistance to Stun. You will likely only be able to get off a single full Stun during the course of the fight. Even then, that’s if you’re relentless enough to stop the Stun from dissipating. Fortunately, you can stagger Gna pretty often with basic attacks, allowing you to get in a full suite of combos and hits before her next move. 

Runic Attacks in particular are great for Stunning and staggering. These let you rack up a lot of hits and Elemental damage in a short space of time. Options like Artillery of the Ancients will keep Gna grounded and trapped, while the Mists of Helheim freeze Gna easily. Be warned, though, that some of her attacks make her immune to stagger, meaning that you will take a lot of damage if you trigger a Runic attack during these attacks. 

The End

Spartan Rage

All 3 versions of the Spartan Rage have a place in this fight. Each is best suited for a different playstyle and how difficult you are finding the fight. 

The standard Fury version of Rage is a good all-around pick. It can deal decent damage and get you out of a pinch with its small amount of healing. Although, that damage is pretty small compared to what you could output with Runic attacks and other methods of damage. Additionally, getting careless during the duration of Fury can leave you open to some devastating attacks if you aren’t careful. 

Valour is great if you often find yourself in low health. The additional healing is nice and will keep you topped up, especially considering that Healthstones are pretty rare. However, using this Rage leaves you very wide open and Gna can easily take that regenerated health apart if you aren’t careful. Try to only use this Rage when you have a good opening.

Lastly is Wrath. In my opinion, this is the strongest and most viable option if you are confident in your skill. Wrath can deal considerable damage to Gna and make the fight easier at the cost of survivability when compared to Fury or Valour. That doesn’t mean it has no survivability, though, as a Spartan Rage at the right time can interrupt Gna and stop her in her tracks. This is especially useful for some of her unblockable attacks or just when you get caught off guard. You cannot rely on Wrath as much as Valour or Fury but it will serve you the best if you are confident enough to avoid most of Gna’s attacks.

Wrath

Relic

There are two clear choices when it comes to the choice of Relic for this fight. The first is the Hilt of Hofud and the second is Motsognir’s Call.

The Hilt of Hofud is the Relic you obtain from killing Heimdall and it creates a Realm Tear on activation. This slows down time and staggers anyone in the nearby vicinity. On Gna, this is a super potent tool that can interrupt a lot of her biggest moves and leave her wide open. Do keep the nearly 3-minute- cooldown in mind, though, as you won’t be able to consistently rely on it during the fight. When it’s up, it will be a great boon indeed. 

Meanwhile, Motsognir’s Call is a good way of getting around Gna’s big Stun resistance. You can pilfer this from the Asgardian Prison in Niflheim after the end of the main story. On activation, it will create a high Stun shockwave in the surrounding area, dealing an okay amount of damage but a large amount of Stun. While this won’t make her instantly vulnerable to Stun, the large chunk it does give will make the fight easier. And, like the Hilt of Hofud, it will stagger Gna on activation.

There are a few other options that could work. The Hilt of Forsbrandr could be a good pick if you’re having trouble avoiding Gna’s attacks and need a bit more health. The Talisman of Meign could prove useful in many situations where you stagger Gna for long periods of time. This list can go on, but the Hilt of Hofud and the Motsognir’s Call are the easiest to make work in your fight against Gna. 

Freya

Freya is a very important part of the fight. Whether it be her chip damage or Runic attacks, she can turn the tide. This is especially true considering how she can interrupt and stop a few of Gna’s powerful attacks. 

The choice of Thrungva (the Stun sword) or Mardoll (the Bifrost sword) is largely down to personal preference and build. However, bringing Freya along with Thrungva can ease a bit of Gna’s Stun resistance. Thrungva makes that daunting Stun bar a little less terrifying when Freya can leave a pretty solid dent in it. 

As for her Runic Summon, Invoke the Storm is a powerful pick. This Runic Summon will not only deal decent damage but it will stagger Gna to no end while active. The main downside of Invoke the Storm is that Gna needs to be still for a certain length of time, something that can be annoying to find given her string of combos. However, compared to Sedr Exhale and Steel Harmony, Invoke the Storm will give you the most utility and openings for Kratos’ Runic Attacks and combos.

Most importantly, make sure to keep calm during the fight and take breaks if you need to. Once you finally vanquish the Valkyrie Queen, you’ll be rewarded with some fresh new armour for Freya as well as The Queen’s Roar Runic Summon. 

That is everything you need to beat Gna, the Valkyrie Queen, in God of War Ragnarok.