CHALLENGE OF HADES

Challenge #1

In order to complete this challenge, all 50 soldiers that appear must be burned by using The Efreet's Demon Fury. A soldier must not be killed with a weapon, grabbed, killed by some other magic or killed by one of the Cyclops that will appear or this challenge will be failed automatically.

Here is the way the challenge is set up:

There will be two waves of soldiers (total of 10 soldiers) that will climb up the side of the arena platform. They will arrive in groups of five. Burn them all with The Efreet by allowing them to surround Kratos then unleash Demon Fury. Do this for both waves of soldiers.

After the second wave is burned, a Cyclops will appear on one of the sides of the room. Equip the Gauntlet of Zeus at that time then run up to the Cyclops and attack it with the Square, Square, Square combo until it is defeated. Don't grab it! Simply hit it with a Square punch to defeat it. Soldiers will begin to appear shortly after the Cyclops so the Cyclops must be taken down fast in order to make sure that he does not kill any of the soldiers.

The same pattern of two waves of soldiers then a Cyclops will occur during the rest of the battle. Focus on defeating the Cyclops as quickly as possible and this will ensure that he does not kill off any of the soldiers. If your magic gets low then open the blue chest on the left side of the room. Open the chest after defeating a Cyclops, as the soldiers enter the arena.

Challenge #2

This challenge takes much more practice than the first challenge. Kratos must defeat a total of 20 fire guards without getting hit in order to complete this one. Once you find the right move to help out then victory will be within your grasp, but it will take some work still.

The fire guards will spawn in the arena at the starting and there is a limit to five on the screen at a time. The best place to be for this battle is in the back of the arena so the camera angle shows the entire arena floor. You want to have every fire guard in view and make sure that you can see a fire guard as he spawns.

The main attack that Kratos needs to use to defeat the fire guards is Tartarus Rage with the Blades of Chaos. Both the air and the ground versions are useful for this challenge. At the start of the challenge, stand in the back of the arena and allow the fire guards to move toward Kratos. As they get next to him, perform a ground Tartarus Rage to knock down the first few. Perform another ground Tartarus Rage as the others approach and try to keep them grouped in one area. Once all five of them are fully grouped, run into the
middle of them and jump into the air then perform air Tartarus Rages to hit them and keep them grounded.

The problem with this challenge begins once the fire guards start to die off since more will spawn and they will run up and attack while Kratos tries to keep the rest grounded with Tartarus Rages.

You have two options once the additional fire guards begin to appear:

1) Keep performing air Tartarus Rages on the current group, but allow the new guard to get close to the grounded guards then perform a double jump as he attacks and then pound the ground with an air Tartarus Rage to ground him and keep the rest of the group grounded. Your basically tricking him into joining the group by luring him in with Kratos as bait.

2) Run away from the grounded group but stay near them and face the extra guard as he approaches the group. Perform a ground Tartarus Rage on the group of fallen fire guards as the extra guard gets near them. If timed right, this should ground him and keep the others together.

I recommend using the first method when there are still a bunch of surrounding grounded fire guards and use the second method when many of the fire guards around Kratos have been killed. The ground Tartarus Rage is better at keeping Kratos away from the guards and hitting them from a distance, while the air version is better at hitting the area around Kratos. There may be a time where you may have to run and allow the fire guards to pile up again then perform ground Tartarus Rages to pile them into a group again.

The main thing that Kratos needs to focus on while performing Tartarus Rage as a new fire guard appears is double jumping to avoid the attacks from the new guards. If Kratos hits the ground during the middle of a fire guard attack then he runs the chance of getting hit and if he performs an air Tartarus Rage to early then the recovery time from that move can cause him to get hit.

You can also use the Gauntlet of Zeus' Olympic Thunder during this challenge - charge it in the air. It kills the fire guards much quicker but it also knocks them away per ground pound. Jumping Triangle attacks with the blades of chaos don't work that well at all here - you'll get hit fairly easily with the sheer number of guards that charge Kratos.

Challenge #3

In this challenge, Kratos' life will be decreasing at a steady rate due to a wound (he'll spray blood from his body). If this challenge is approached aggressively then there will be no problems here. Prisoners are tied up along the sides of the arena walls and they must be killed in order to sustain life for this challenge - attack them whenever Kratos needs life.

Enemy Wave #1 - 1 Minotaur

At the start of the challenge, run up and use charge attacks from the Gauntlet of Zeus on the Minotaur to strip it of its armor. Stay next to the Minotaur and attack with Square attacks then finish it off with a grab when the Circle button icon appears above it to gain some green orbs.

Enemy Wave #2 - Harplings

Harplings will spawn in the arena after the Minotaur is defeated. Switch to the Blades of Chaos then jump into the air and continuously perform air Tartarus Rages to instantly kill them with the ground pound portion. Don't be afraid to use The Efreet for these enemies since the Demon Fury ability will help out a bunch for when Tartarus Rage misses a few. Attack the prisoners around this time since Kratos will most likely need the extra health.

Enemy Wave #3 - 3 Knight Wraiths

The third and final wave of enemies is three knight wraiths. When you see a knight wraith spawning, run up to him and charge an Olympic Strike with the Gauntlet of Zeus then release it once it has fully charged. The Olympic Strike attack will instantly weaken the knight enough to where a O button icon will appear over it so go ahead and grab it to start the special finish. Defeat all the rest of the knights with charged Olympic Strikes followed by a finishing grab and this challenge will be done!

Challenge #4

In this challenge, Kratos must destroy several breakable objects around the arena within the time limit. In order to accomplish this, make sure to have the Gauntlet of Zeus maxed out to make sure that each hit takes maximum damage. The Efreet's Demon Fury is also helpful in this challenge. The level of The Efreet really doesn't matter since you can only afford to use the beginning attack of Demon Fury and not use the extra Circle tapping at the end of the attack since that would take too long and is not needed.

The arena includes several pedestals, small statues and large statues along with stone gorgon heads that will gaze in sequence around the room. The gorgon heads are part of the objects that must be destroyed, but try not to step into their gaze while breaking them. There is also a big Zeus statue in the top middle portion of the room that will take several hits to break.

From the start of the challenge, use The Efreet immediately to break all the pedestals immediately around Kratos - this will help out for making sure that Kratos doesn't miss some of the center breakable objects while moving around the room on his rampage.

Where you go from here is up to you! Pick one section of the room then run into the middle of all the breakable objects and use The Efreet's Demon Fury to break all the smaller objects. Attack the large statues and gorgon heads on the sidewalls with the gauntlet of Zeus - try to get in between the gorgon head and the statues and use charged hits so that Kratos hits both of them with one attack from the gauntlet - this will help out a bunch for time but it can be a little tricky at times - basically you have to face the gorgon head just slightly more while hitting both the statue and the gorgon head. Work your way toward the statue of Zeus in the top middle, using The Efreet's Demon Fury and the gauntlet of Zeus to break all the object along the way then face the statue of Zeus and use constant charge punches to break it quickly. Finish up breaking the rest of the objects by using gauntlet charge strikes and The Efreets's Demon Fury.

If you have The Efreet up to level 3 then only use it once at the beginning then use the gauntlet for the rest of the breakable objects. One normal punch will destroy a pedestal and one charged punch will destroy a small statue - set this to memory. You may actually want to try using the gauntlet only if The Efreet is set to level 3. One major tip for destroying the middle objects is to use a charge punch to destroy both a small statue and a pedestal at time in one shot - this will help out quite a bit for time!

Challenge #5

This challenge appears to be the hardest challenge of them all but once you understand how to deal with each enemy wave it actually becomes one of the easier challenges!

Hades Soldiers - Use charge punches with the gauntlet to quickly dispose of these enemies. Be sure to block or deflect their attack when they run toward Kratos when they stretch their blades outward and run toward Kratos.

Harpies - Attack them once or twice with the gauntlet or blades of chaos then grab them. They always move close to Kratos after each hit which sets them up perfectly for a grab that will defeat them instantly.

Gorgons - Attack them with the gauntlet of Zeus (charged strikes or Olympic Strikes) and use The Efreet's Demon Fury to shield Kratos from their stone gazes - their stone gazes cannot hit Kratos during any part of the Demon Fury. Try to be close to a gorgon while using Demon Fury but don't stress about wasting magic since there is basically plenty available for this challenge. Kratos can also roll and actually grab a Hades soldier or weak gorgon (with button icon over its head) to shield himself from their gazes. If at all
possible, try to grab the gorgons while they are weak to gain more blue orbs upon their defeat but don't let this grab get you killed in your attempts.

Cyclops - Stay away from them (they will not attack together) and charge Olympic Strikes from a distance then unleash the attack upon them when they get close. Try to finish them off with a button sequence kill for more green orbs if possible.

Wave #1 - Harpies and Hade soldiers
Wave #2 - Gorgons and Hades soldiers
Wave #3 - Cyclops
Wave #4 - Gorgons and Hades soldiers
Wave #5 - Hades Soldiers and Harpies

As each wave of enemies begins to die down (ie. Only a few enemies spawn), use that time to open either the green or blue chest on the sides if needed.

Wave #1

Once the Hades soldiers start to enter the battle focus on defeating the remainder of the Harpies. Hit them a few times then grab them - grab a Hades soldiers if you have to maintain invincibility to avoid any attack.

Wave #2

Focus on defeating the gorgons as soon as they start to appear. If a gorgon gazes and you cannot get to her to knock her out of the attack immediately perform a Demon Fury with The Efreet. Right after the Demon Fury, run toward any gorgon and begin to charge punch it with the gauntlet. Don't let up on the gorgons at all. Grab them any time that a Circle button icon appears above one of them in order to gain some blue orbs.

Wave #3

Run away from the Cyclops then charge an Olympic Strike. Release the Olympic Strike whenever one of them gets near Kratos. It only takes two fully charged Olympic Strikes with a level 3 gauntlet.

Wave #4

Use the same strategy from Wave #2.

Wave #5

Use the same strategy from Wave #1 for the most part. Begin to use Charon's Wrath or The Efreet if the harpies start to overwhelm Kratos near the end of the fight. The harpies will be the final group of enemies.