God of War Ragnarok: Alva boss battle guide

This boss battle is all about teaching you to use the L1 double tap, which interrupts enemy actions when there’s a blue ring. Here are some tips to make the fight easier:

• Whenever you see a blue ring around Alva, double tap L1 and you’ll interrupt whatever the boss is trying to do.
• Alva’s moves are generally well-telegraphed, with a big wind-up before she does a combo of two slashes. These can either be blocked, parried, or dodged.
• Later in the fight, she’ll switch to a much longer combo, once she attaches her two blades into a dual blade. This new combo ends with an unblockable ground slam — the fourth strike in the combo — so make sure to roll away from the area of effect damage.
• When she starts throwing blades at you, the easiest option is to roll under, though you can parry if you’re feeling confident. Just be mindful that these are different from the cross-energy blast she occasionally fires out instead, which must be dodged.

Once her health is critical, she will turtle up and begin to self-heal using the light of Alfheim.

The only way to stop this process is with a double tap of L1 and a shield strike. This will open her up to an execution finisher and end the fight.

If you're looking for more, we have a guide for finding all ravens in God of War Ragnarok, and a full God of War Ragnarok walkthrough.