Exploring the Lake of Nine

Discover secrets, Artefacts, Ravens, and Favors in the vast Lake of Nine. Upgrade gear, craft new equipment, and find valuable items in this God of War (2018) exploration guide.

You now have access to a large number of side content for the first time. The Lake of Nine is vast with many secrets to discover and now is a great time to begin exploring, much to Kratos’ dismay. You’ll find more Artefact sets, hidden Ravens, new Labors and the addition of Favors.

Tyr’s Temple

You should find yourself in Brok’s Shop after gaining access to the Mystic Gateway system. Speak to Brok to access his updated shop before we begin exploring the islands, let’s go over what’s new to acquire.

Brok now offers the Waist and Wrist pieces of the equipment set you first purchased in The River Pass, it’s best to craft the piece that matches the body you acquired back then. You can now craft Axe Pommels, these add an increase to your stats along with chances for certain Perk activations, this first set of Pommels only cost Hacksilver so be sure to get one (the Weighted War Handle is great). Finally, you can now craft Talismans, there’s only two for now but they’re both useful. Talisman of Resolute Protection grants you a barrier making Kratos invincible when near death, ideal for if you’re taking a lot of damage. Talisman of Resolute Might works in the same way but provides a strength boost instead, your current health one is probably better for now.

Try to upgrade Kratos’ gear and skills as much as possible before you begin exploring.

You can now upgrade Atreus’ Talon Quiver for 5000 Hacksilver, be sure to purchase these upgrades whenever you can to reduce the cooldown on his arrows. You can also upgrade any of your armor pieces to add an Enhancement Socket for that piece, you can buy four Enhancement symbols for 1000 Hacksilver each right now at this shop.

Aside from the Talon Quiver upgrade, try to get the other pieces of armor and a pommel. If you have any Hacksilver left over, upgrade this armor, thereby unlocking the Dwarven Ingenuity achievement, and get some Enhancements to increase your stats even further, remember you can sell any of your old Artefacts for more Hacksilver. If you do upgrade a piece of equipment, open the Journal and slot an Enchantment into it to unlock the Enchanted achievement.

Leave Brok’s Shop and take the left stairs down to a different boat dock where you’ll find a corpse and the first Artefact for the Abandon Ship quest. There’s nothing else to find in this temple for now so board the boat at the original dock.

Head to the dock opposite to the one you arrived on to find this Artefact.

While you’re sailing around this great lake, you may notice certain objects in the water. If you see barrels, be sure to manoeuvre the boat into it to find some Hacksilver. If you see a gold glimmer in the waters, row over it and press or to collect some Aegir’s Gold. Start by heading south from Týr’s Temple to find a boat dock that you can disembark on.

Lookout Tower

As soon as you get off the boat you’ll spot the Nornir Chest in front of you but before you can begin tackling the puzzle, you’ll be attacked by three Nightmares. Once they’re dead, look to the right and have Atreus look at the object on the floor to find your first Treasure Map. Climb the ledge to your left and look into the air to spot the next Raven and a container to knock down.

You can now set about unlock the next Nornir Chest situated here. You’ll notice the three bells with the runes on them all in rather close proximity however there’s a small problem, they’re shielded by spikes. Inbetween the left and middle rune bells is a spinning wooden board, toss the axe at it a few times to lower the spikes to the ground. You’ll now have to be quick and precise as you hit each bell before the spikes have risen again. With the chest unlocked, open it to find the next Iðunn Apple before checking to the right for an Artefact as part of the Abandon Ship quest.

There’s nothing left to do at this area for now, you can access the area beyond the debris by heading across the bridge at Týr’s Temple and hitting a bomb with the axe however all it provides is a shortcut.

Shores of Nine - Niflheim Tower

Return to the boat and continue you journey around the Lake of Nine. to the west of your location is the giant statue of Thor, if you wish to return to the Witch’s Cave, you can do so by passing through the legs of the statue. Ignore this for now and continue around to the west to come upon another dock, for Muspelheim Tower. You can’t access this just yet but you can snag yourself a sack of Hacksilver before returning to the boat.

As you continue to the west, you’ll chance upon a shipwreck at a tower, you can row the boat between the two parts of the ship to find a dock on the north side. This is the Niflheim Tower, an area we’ll visit in more detail later but for now take the elevator up. You’ll find up here a Mystic Gateway and another Artefact.

To either side of the tower sits two Braziers however when prompting Atreus to read them you’ll discover he doesn’t know the language and you’ll need to find a cipher. Finally, in the middle of the Brazier is a Realm Tear, interact with these to initiate a battle or receive valuable resources. This particular tear involves a battle with two Level 6 Heavy Draugrs, wel