God of War Walkthrough Chapter 5
You will have some ropes to swing across after the moving bridges and a short wall to climb. Finally there will be a platform with a lever in it that you can pull which will take you to the top of the cliff and to a new section. You're now entering into the Architect's Tomb - we're almost done with the game now!
Use this opportunity to save your game because the next part of this tomb is a bit of a doozy. For the time being you'll want to ignore the button in front of you and jump across the gap while avoiding the spinning saws. Once you're across the gap run around the area smashing all the wooden stuff for Red Orbs then go through the gate on the right hand side.
The gate leads you down a linear hallway and ontop of the roof of The Architect's Tomb; you'll fight some enemies along the way but nothing you can't handle by this point. There are two ladders that you can climb ontop of this tomb, one will lead you to a crane which we'll be using in a minute and the other ladder will lead you to 2 chests. One chest will have Red Orbs and the other is either Health or Magic, up to you.
After grabbing the two chests return to the crane and grab the lever at the base of it to operate it. Move it so that the stone at the end is hanging overtop the cracked ground below - just like what is shown in my screenshot below. Run to the end of the crane and you will be able to pull a second lever to lower the stone down smashing it through the ground.
Before you return to the crane make sure you use the lever a second time to pull the stone back up top. We still have to move the crane a little bit and lower the stone one more time.
Crane overtop crack in ground (left) and crane overtop button (right)
This time you'll want to swing the crane more to the right and place the stone overtop of a button that's below. Look at my screenshot above on the right to see where exactly the button is (if you can't see it yourself). Hover the stone box overtop of the button then go to the end of the crane and lower it just like we did last time. This will depress the button below and complete 1/3rd of the puzzle.
We're now done with the crane so head downstairs to the front entrance of The Architect's Tomb. You'll want to grab the statue to the left of the entrance and drag it over to the hole in the floor that we busted (pictured below). Drop the statue down into the hole and then push it ontop of the button inside the hole. Now we are 2/3rds done with the puzzle.
The last step of this puzzle will require us to run towards the screen back to the entrance of The Architect's Tomb. You'll have to jump across the ledges and avoid the saw blades to get back to the area with the save point where we first started. Next to this save point you will find a button that you can stand on and press down, this button will open the last part of the door leading into the tomb.
You probably already know what needs to be done for this next part, you will need to push the button down then jump across the platforms and get inside of the tomb before your time runs out. I recommend you save the game before doing this incase you mess up since the last checkpoint is too far behind.
When you make it inside of the door you'll want to rip the head off the skeleton sitting at the table and there will be a scene with Kratos putting it into the door automatically. Go through the door and you'll come to a big open area with a save point in the middle. Just before the save point and down a slope you'll find two chests with Red Orbs. Grab them and continue up the long stairs next to the save point.
The stairs will lead you into a room with some conveyor belts (pictured above). When you step onto the belts a bunch of Harpies and Undead Archers will spawn and attack you. You will have to move around a lot during this fight to avoid being crushed by the machines on either end of the arena.
My advice is to stay near the conveyor belts that move in opposite directions that way you can go back and forth between them. This will reduce how much time you spend dodge rolling around the arena since the conveyor belts will do most of the work taking you back and forth.
Note: Be careful jumping on the platforms that the Undead Archers are on -- or by standing on the final platform at the opposite end of the conveyor belt(s). There are fire jets which will instantly kill you if you're hit by them.
Once you've defeated all the enemies go through the door at the opposite end of the conveyor belts and interact with the object in the center of the room to reveal Pandora's Box (pictured below).
There will be a scene during which Pandora's Box will be revealed and you'll ride the platform you're on now down an elevator shaft to the entrance of this dungeon. Drag the box to over to the entrance of Pandora and you'll get a cutscene after which Kratos will wake up in a new location - the Path of Hades.
Climb up to the ledge and refill your Health/Magic then save your game.
For this next part you will be jumping from platform to platform grabbing Red Orb chests as you go. Eventually you will come across a larger platform with some Undead Legionnaire enemies (which are apparently now on fire). Defeat them and then climb up to the next level, defeat more enemies and rinse/repeat.
Eventually you will come to the area shown in my screenshot below. This puzzle will require you to walk across bloody cylinders while dodging the spinning blades. Along the way there are numerous chests that you can sidetrack to grab if you want to - you can see where a lot of them are in my screenshot below.
Click to enlarge and you can see the chest locations
Walking across these cylinders will be quite challenging - especially towards the end of this area. Really the only advice I can give you is to stay calm and try not to panic. Pay close attention to how fast the cylinder you're on is spinning and when it slows down enough make your way across dodging the knives in your way.
Towards the end of this area you'll get cylinders that don't stop spinning - for these you'll have to time your jumps very well to dodge the knives and/or walk between the knives during an opening. I recommend jumping across at the right time. When you finish this puzzle you'll be presented with another - this one has a bunch of floating platforms that dance around the area (pictured below).
For this next part the moment you jump onto one of the floating platforms a group of Undead Archers will spawn on the other side. You have two options, you can dodge their attacks as you keep jumping across this area or you can bust out Zeus' Fury and attack them with Lightning Bolts from a distance. I recommend you do a little bit of both.
What I did is stop on one of the faster platforms in the middle and fire away at the enemies using Zeus' Fury until about half of them were dead. This reduces how many arrows you gotta dodge by half and it makes the final jumps easier. Once you're across you can finish off the rest of the enemies.
Explore the few platforms in this area and defeat all of the enemies here so that you can proceed to the next part. This next part is one of the most frustrating parts of this game, you'll have to climb a column which has numerous knives placed all over it (pictured below).
This part was very difficult for me, you will have to jump upwards (hold up and press A) to climb up this pillar fast enough to avoid the knives in some parts. You'll have to also stop in the brief windows of opportunity you get to plan your next move. Contradictory, right? That's because there is no easy way to explain how to do a part like this in a game.
I think the best advice I can give you is to pay attention to where the columns rotate in opposite directions. Each column will start spinning in opposite directions as you climb them and this can mess you up really bad if you're not careful. You should slow down when you see that the columns switch directions and instead of jumping crawl from column to column.
My final piece of advice to you is pay attention and you'll notice that where the pillars connect and rotate in opposite directions there are usually no knives. This means if you want a location where you can stop - think and catch a breather it's in these areas.
Once you complete the bladed-spinning-columns of death you'll find yourself in an area with a bunch more platforms for you to hop across. Going left will lead you towards the exit of this place and to the right will take you over to a chest with Red Orbs inside. There will be a bunch of enemies you have to fight but all in all it's a linear path for the next few parts.
Eventually you will hit a dead end and there will be a scene during which a stone is lowered with a rope for Kratos to climb up. When you climb up the rope you'll find yourself back at the Temple of the Oracle from earlier in the game (pictured below).
When you regain control of Kratos head inside of the Temple of the Oracle and proceed along the linear path. Mostly everything will be destroyed now and you should be familiar with the route since we've gone through this area once before. If you remember from much earlier in the game where you saved the Oracle dangling from the rope in the courtyard - that's where we are heading right now.
Feel free to burn whatever Magic you wish for this part since we'll be getting chests that replenish all of that before the final boss. Also, you should spend any and all Red Orbs that you've collected at this point in time - because there's no point in having a ton of them in your inventory when you beat the game!
Once you're ready to proceed with the final boss fight save your game and follow the path forward. There will be a cutscene after which you'll be fighting Ares (pictured below).
During the first phase of this fight you'll want to use Fury of the Gods if it's available for you and you'll also want to use Army of Hades. Both of these abilities will allow you to deal solid damage to Ares. If you have upgraded Army of Hades enough then it'll deal so much damage to Ares that he'll drop enough Magic Orbs to replenish almost all the Magic you used on the ability.
The most important thing for you to keep in mind for the entire duration of this fight is to focus on your defenses more than offense. Learn Ares attacks and use your dodge roll to avoid as many of them as possible. Also, don't try to go for long combos because you'll give Ares an opportunity to attack you if you do.
When you see a Circle appear above Ares head you'll want to participate in that quick time event because it'll end Phase 1 and let you advance to the next part of this fight.
Your Fury of the Gods meter will be fulfilled and you'll also be given over 10,000 Red Orbs so make sure you spend them to upgrade whatever else you have left to upgrade. For this next part we need to protect Kratos' family from the specters of Kratos that appear from puffs of purple smoke.
If your family takes too much damage you can transfer your own health to them by pressing Circle next to them. Additionally, you'll want to use Magic as much as possible during this part - I recommend Army of Hades since it attacks on its own and is extremely powerful. You should use your Fury of the Gods too because once we're done this part of the game we can no longer use the power.
Though I recommend you save Fury of the Gods until the building you are in with Kratos starts to crumble away and you can see the "nothingness" surrounding you. You can roll off the edge during this time if you aren't careful so it's typically best to end the fight as fast as possible once you get this far.
Tip: Use Army of Hades and then hug your family to restore their health. Army of Hades will hit all of the enemies around you and keep them distracted while you heal your family.
As you could probably imagine the 3rd and final phase against this boss is quite challenging. You'll have to lower his green bar as much as possible while raising your own. Any damage you take decreases your green bar and any damage you deal increases it. It works the same way for Ares.
During this phase you'll want to dodge as much as humanly possible to avoid all of Ares' attacks because getting hit means you'll have to hit him more to win the fight. Essentially this fight is a battle of attrition, you have to hit him enough while not being hit to win. Pay attention to his animations and attacks and you should be able to take him down in a few tries.
Once the fight is over you'll get another scene after which you'll regain control of Kratos in a familiar place. Go into the portal and you'll find yourself on Mount Olympus - follow the linear path and eventually you will reach your throne. Sit in it for the final scene of the game, you're now the God of War!
Return to Walkthrough Chapter 4