Shun the Gods - Valhalla Odin

Tips, strategies, and a demonstration video to assist in achieving victory against the Valhalla version of Odin without using any God powers.

Intro

Valhalla Odin is much harder than the normal version, primarily due to his greatly increased health and the fact that he is throwing three spears every time, right out of the gate. This difficulty is compounded when attempting to defeat him without any powers at all. So let's get right to it, first will be the video and then will be a description of various game mechanics and strategies that should make this fight much easier for you.

Video

https://youtu.be/OQAUryXqcbs

Maximizing time doing damage while minimizing time defending

Multiple factors go into this but it boils down to this: the shorter you can make the fight, the better. Odin doesn't make accumulating damage an easy task as he often changes positions and there is generally always a set of spears lurking off-screen or a summoned Jotun hurtling towards you. The key here is to always be moving towards Odin whenever you can be. This must be tempered with caution though as you can easily put yourself in a situation where you have no hope of avoiding damage. Thankfully, with a bit of observation, you can do much in eliminating those situations.

One thing I recommend is to try and position yourself so that every time he prepares to throw his spears you are in position to destroy one of them. This not only decreases the number of spears that will be coming from off screen by one but it also increases the amount of time that passes before they do, allowing you to set up for a heavy strike and accrue more damage than if he had gotten all three off. It IS possible to land a heavy strike if you don't destroy a spear but you have to be basically on top of him when he throws to do it.

The timing for this is pretty precise but once you have it down it allows you to increase your dps while decreasing the time spent defending. In the same vein, notice how I do everything I can to position myself in such a way so that when I do have to defend against spears, I am also striking Odin. It may seem like a small amount of damage but it really adds up so try to make every swing count.

Now the timing on when to keep swinging and when to hold your attack and wait for the spear TENDS to be tied to when the screen moves to show you an incoming spear but things can throw off the timing such as summoned Jotun and having to dodge a spear rather than destroy it. Patience is key here. I've found the most consistent way of not finding myself in the middle of an attack animation with a spear flying towards me is to simply wait for it if there is doubt. A little practice will have you striking Odin up to 8-10 times in the time it takes you to knock down 3 spears; not bad at all!

Enemy targeting

This is perhaps the single most important thing I can share about this fight: You have a VERY high degree of control over where the enemy strikes will land, specifically the summoned Jotun. This becomes more relevant the more that are summoned simultaneously. Almost every Jotun will target WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO BE a few frames from when the attack is launched. Look at the 2nd Jotun summon in the video, you will see it is the fire Jotun. See how I 'fake' him out by moving away from the direction I want to be going in the moment before he launches his attack then immediately move towards Odin after, making the attack miss entirely. This can be utilized throughout the entire fight with every enemy except Jera as her attack is not targeted( Fe and Isa lock your position in the moment they begin their windup, the principle is the same though).

You HAVE to use this to your advantage, otherwise you are depending on RNG to get you through and that is simply frustrating. It gets a little more complicated as you get to 3 and 4 Jotun at one time all being summoned slightly staggered so the attack timing varies. It helps tremendously to know the runes depicting each Jotun at a glance. That .5 seconds of knowing which direction to move before the Jotun appears makes a big difference when Jera appears right beside you.

Taking in who is appearing at a glance can make most of the attacks inconsequential. If Fe and Isa appear for example, often just moving in a single direction will easily avoid both attacks and you only need give the spears and Odin your attention.

A note on Fe: it helps to be aware of which side she is winding up her throw on. That will be the side her shield appears. The way you want to run is determined by how far to either side your position is relative to her shield windup, shortest distance being better. It takes a very small amount of movement to carry you out of range but other attacks may force you along a linear path. If this happens, it IS possible to use a heavy strike to knock the shield away, just like during her boss fight. You can even hit Odin with it for some decent (but not incredible) damage. It should only be attempted if you have no alternative or if there are no other threats. Rarely, everything aligns and it's some easy, free damage on Odin.

Positioning

This becomes more important as the fight continues. It is impossible to avoid all damage if you don't predict certain situations and stay out of them. One great example is chasing Odin into a corner and he summons Jera and Isa right behind you. There is no way to get out of that. The only way to avoid that is simply not to put yourself in that position. Don't chase Odin into a corner. If you do toss those dice, be running when the summon sequence begins, it should give you enough of a head start to get clear. This is where recognizing the runes gives you even more reaction time. It all helps. And again, this becomes more critical during the home stretch. With all five Jotun being summoned each time, it's very easy to find yourself in an unescapeable situation IF YOU DON'T PLAN FOR IT. The only damage I took was from flubbing the timing on a couple spears. That was the only mistakes I made and I only had 1/3 health left at the end. You can't afford to have bad positioning in this fight.

Also worth mentioning here that he seems to have the same two start-up patterns every time. Odin either moves immediately away and throws spears (generally up and left) at the start or he delays momentarily and flys below (generally without attacking but sometimes he will move away a second time immediately and attack) If he does the first pattern, you can get a quick hit at the start, destroy a spear then bounce back and heavy attack downward. He'll fly right into it. You'll have enough time to get two heavy attacks in before the first spear comes at you. If he does the 2nd sequence, you should be able to get a free heavy hit in before he flys off and attacks you. Once you do enough damage, he'll start summoning Jotun, it's the same amount every time that triggers it. If you are close it might be worth waiting till you knock all the spears down before landing the hit that sends him to the center so you can maximize the damage.

None of this is necessary but it makes the first half of the fight go by much quicker if you have his attack pattern memorized, it's pretty consistent.

Closing

That's basically it. There is a strategy that involves dodging repeatedly after every attack to minimize the time between attacks. I wasn't very good at that so I utilized the heavy strike much more often. Do whatever works best for you. Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll be happy to answer them. Good luck!