God of War 1 General Discussion

> CoO and GoS
Don't own a handheld, dislike emulation and my PS3 catches fire I fear the second I turn it on. Praying for a re-release later down the line ... someday.

Don't own a handheld, dislike emulation and my PS3 catches fire I fear the second I turn it on. Praying for a re-release later down the line ... someday.

Have you tried Ps Now? I think you have the option of downloading the games. But yes, a port would be better.

>PS Now
Royboy!? Jests aside, what did you intend next. I know you did GoW1 VH NUR+ and PAIN. That's about all I recall from you, however. You done a thing with GoWII or GoWIII yet?

I haven't touched GoWII on their vanilla VH modes yet, which should be next honestly. Currently relaxing in JRPG land and Zoom Maternal though.

I'm doing PS2 emulation. I'm against the Minotaur right now, so I think I'll stubbornly try to finish the Hard mode. I've died quite a few times, but I don't mind, so far. I'll probably use magic against the clones.

I've never recorded any gameplay. Also, I would feel impolite to ask a question you would have already answered somewhere else. Is there a set of comments or posts you would particularly advise me to read first ?

I'm in a phase in which I think I'm using way too much the grabs, making fights unnecessary lengthy. I know that Artemis Blade's circle attack is quite powerful, but the weapon seems dangerous to me with its range and different block. I mostly use it when I want to throw enemies over a cliff, or into water. It works well on isolated enemies as well.
I'm also curious about collision damage, or more precisely, if there are some variations in the collision damage, depending on the enemies, the kind of walls or floor, the attack provoking the collision...
I vaguely remember seeing a post of yours about this, but I don't remember where (hence the impoliteness...)

Roy: >Zoom Maternal
I wonder if SBK is fucking around with the new content I've been seeing YT trying to recommend me.

>JRPG land
Well, when you come out of this slump, I'll be around to sober you up.

Tyr: >against the Minotaur
Which one?  Which entry? We talking about (Lower) Pandora's Guardian?  With talk of PS2 emulation and acting like it is a big deal, that seems likely.

>probably use MP against Clones
Not like you've got much choice.  You're not going to be doing the alternative approach in your first run.  Get that dream out of your head now.  You need to have lvl5 BoC and lvl2+ PR and AoH by the time you get to them.  If you need tips on exploiting for EXP (even if just at Ares1), I can help to that end.  I'll explain the approach if need be, but you should be allowed your chance to feel around in the dark a bit.

>never recorded
And thus never uploaded.  Not to say you can't, however?

>answered elsewhere
My advice isn't typically copypasta.  I do it fresh time and time again (even as others recommend and ask for a key/legend to be made to that end).  YT remove comments, videos, uploaders, etc. with time.  It can be a pain to search for things, too.  Even if you know where they are (by URL, no less), you may still not have access.  A real bother.  My comments are all over the higher (and older) runs.  I have a decent presence at GS/GFAQs, too.  Less so elsewhere (gow3forums is long gone among others).  The internet isn't so permanent as kids imagine.  Archives aren't much better.  No, just ask away.  Part of the process is learning the jargon which includes the names of attacks (and the naming system for those without something official).

>too many grabs
GoW1 is the only entry that does stats in the fashion it does.  While Enemy Power % is the same as ever, Power % on Hard is not normally touched (GoWII and beyond).  Here it is 75% (like VH elsewhere).  Not as bad as 50% (GoW1 VH), but still a small dip.  Power % does NOT affect everything.  Grabs are not subject to it.  Collisions don't scale with that to begin with (rather, Enemy Power %).  Spells tend not to scale with it (exceptions exist like AQ in GoWII).  Friendly fire is a thing (not in every entry), so enemies hitting harder helps them break statues for you.

Another major departure?  Orbs.  They are worth more at base and have more ways to be had (even destructibles can give them in a few places).  More than that, their worth (in percent) is NOT adjusted by setting at all (only costumes do that in GoW1).  This is a pretty notable boon for the arcane inclined.  Aggro does scale up, which is mostly a matter translating to how long you have to wait for them to try something (gaps in their attacks can be exploited, but frequency of attacks can also work against them *taunt provocation is effective as they can't defend during them, so bait them out though that is more for GoWII*).

As noted, your grabs will be as strong on VH as they were on Normal.  Makes them seem stronger relative to your nerfed self though the gap is smaller as you are on H.  On E, they would seem weaker (relative to your doubled Power) though 25% cheaper.  In GoW1, the focus on quick kills was especially strongly felt.  The basic minotaur jobs to a certain number of throws, but that number is equal no matter how advanced the version you face (takes the same percentage of their life away, thus they are much more powerful).  Also, many grabs are easy mode infinity friendly with bounces or even armorless wake-ups to punish (especially with cued up quick launchers).  Just get them in the sky and spam the throw until they die (very quickly).

Very few throws are weak, but they do exist.  Cerberus Breeders are controlled well by them, but the damage is atrocious (think it takes 20 to do them in).  Satyr OH is weak, the air OS does NOTHING (bug) and the ground OS is a lot of work for too little in this entry (better balanced in GoWII and actually strong like it should have been here in GoWIII *for a different type of these goat foes*).  Sometimes, even if the throws are strong enough, your output is strong enough (especially with upgrades to weapons and magic) that it still isn't the best idea to focus on them.  That much is true.  Why trouble yourself with the set-up when you can quickly freeze a few troubling foes and shatter them in a moment when you have MP to spare (and chests aplenty after getting MAX extensions)?

>Artemis Blade
It is tied for the objectively worst weapon (along with CoH in GoWIII), but is also tied for my favorite (along with SoD from GoWII).  It has serious problems you have to learn to deal with, work around, compensate for, etc.  You note the block.  It is delayed AND there is no parry.  Attacks you would have timed right to at least block can tag you with it, so you have to block earlier.  Against Ares1, you can get guard broken in away that doesn't happen to the Blades at all (unclear why this is).  You cannot air block with it at all.  That's a pretty big weakness even before not having access to air OS or OH.  Hell, regular OS is beyond you without dizzy/wander cases to strike (can cause problems if they die before the grab starts aside from the delayed death glitch).  If you switch the weapon, you're golden on getting those tools back, sure.  That you have to is the problem.

How to make-up for the defense issue?  That is an advanced solution not really meant for a first time runner.  Tricking and canceling are the solutions we'll be going over.  Roy brings up the R1 thrust (multi-hit) that can chain into light, medium or heavy enders.  It is solid (it's true).  Still have to have a sense for when and how to use it.  The thing has infinite loops in the strings, but it isn't like things beyond fodder will just stay locked.  Good for chopping down LPG from the sweet spot, but you only want to be doing that if the dps is better (and it probably won't be in vanilla).  BoC have stronger modifiers that lets it outpace the alternative pretty quickly, I'm afraid.  If talking NUR, that is another story.  For a vanilla run focused on Artemis for attacking, you would still have a reason to level the BoC to at least lvl2.  Why?  RotG.

RotG will double your Power % while active (taking the damage beyond the limits).  The other properties are nice, too (immune to petrification, activation breaks out of statue state/some grabs, armors through attacks, debuffs Enemy Power %, etc.).  Artemis will NOT get new moves.  It will NOT go through Magic Legionnaire shields nor even gain a way to break them.  Upgrading doesn't give a huge boost to the weapon (still okay), nor perks nor even new moves.  Mostly cosmetic, I'm afraid.  The strongest version of it is locked behind the Ares2 fight (BotG is it, with minor adjustments).  That is the strongest weapon in the series (ignoring the 0DMG air heavy and babby jump).

Artemis has 'Lifts' for some juggling utility, but also movement value (keeping over trouble and maybe getting over an obstacle).  This referring to stringing air light string (s1 into s2) to the heavy (o1).  Cute.  Homerun techniques are the other big boon.  Spike can be used for collisions, but then you don't need the launch for air t1 to do its thing as in the fight for Hades Shield in Challenge of Atlas.  It can bug out in a weird way that mostly happens in CotG10 (makes them skip like a rock across water).  Mainly Punt (bounce to launch) and Homerun (double launch) are in question here (bugged hit property stacking).  What should be a super launch becomes one with forward momentum.  It doesn't just make it great for RO, it is able to do the impossible/unintended like going over low invisible/visible walls that would otherwise deny that option.  Still won't let you (even with a super state like rage) send a cyclops flying, but we can't have it all.

But, yeah.  Range and block.  To overcome, you would need to make it safer to use.  Many cancels exist (some having higher priority and being more advantageous than others).  The top is spell canceling.  The draw animation for Zf and MG are the fastest and are free (except in the air *need lvl2 for MG to do it*).  Even some specials for Artemis can be canceled (unlike the case for BoC) this way, which makes them more usable (still not great).  So you can be safer with canceling, but more than that is exploiting Sword Summon.

The animation for calling in the weapon (not Sword Sheath *putting it away*) has i-frames throughout (pretty big window).  Use that in place of a block to negate attacks (even break the AI if rapidly spammed for non-boss, non-archers).  Canceling out of Artemis and back always goes through SS, thus the idea becomes (when using it) to pull out Zf/MG for an instant and release them to go back to Artemis (timed to neutralize the threat).  If using the BoC and wanting to exploit this, you just switch to Artemis.  Blades benefit from being able to render air threats harmless in the same fashion.  How nice for them.

NOTE: There is a time and place to learn the weapon.  This probably isn't it.  Even during VH NUR+, you won't have a big reason to learn all the tricks.  Just a few.  Artemis PAIN is when you'll want to get your act together with it.

>variation on collision
In GoW1, the rules are simple enough.  An AGENT (tossed party) never takes the bonus damage in question.  It is always the TARGET.  A collision can be either half (like all those caused by knockback) or full in value.  The former is 5 and the latter is 10 at base.  Enemy Power % adjusts this.  On Hard, enemies are at 250%, thus x2.5 (12.5/25 between half/full).  As for what a given instance will be, that is specific to the instance.  Was it 360 toss?  The leg toss of a bull?  OH?  No clear logic at play.  It is always what it is, but you have to test to know what the game consider that situation.  Rare are the times enemies can friendly fire each other even for hit properties, but one case comes to mind that has knockback (orbs of sirens).  If it hits one of their fellows (for instance), they can be sent flying.  If they impact another, that is a half collision (for you, a bonus 12.5DMG).  To note it, your lvl1 (1.0 at 75% Power for H) s1 (light starter) deals 1.5.  The trusty PoP ender (Plume *t0*)?  That is 4.5.  Anyway, damage values is its own discussion.

Finished this game last night - felt it was about time I gave such a high profile action series a shot. Overall, I found it a pretty enjoyable game. I went into it almostly completely blind, outside of playing the demo as a kid, so I wasn't aware of any strategies or tech going into it, just had to figure out what I could as I went.

Pros:
- I was pleasantly surprised by how big Kratos' toolkit gets by the end of the game. I didn't know Kratos had more than one weapon in this game, so I was pleasantly surprised to get the Blade of Artemis, which I used quite a lot. The 4 magic powers are fun toys to use, even if some were a bit situational (see cons). I feel the reputation of the "square square triangle" combo, and the game in general, is quite harsh. It did get a fair bit of use, but I found that most of my moves got used. The fact that animation cancelling between your different strings is quite liberal helps to make most moves more useful. Assuming the other games in the series are similarly designed, I think it's unfair that it has a reputation in some circles of being a thoughtless button masher. It's really not that dissimilar from other action games that have some moves being much better than others...it's very common across the genre.

- This is both a neutral and a pro - I was surprised how few real bosses this game has. There are quite a few enemies who are arguably mini-bosses, but there are only 3 genuine boss fights, with the traditional big health bars. The pro is that the game didn't really need any more than it had. There was enough enemy variety in the game to stop most of the encounters feeling repetetive.

- The pacing of the game is pretty good. There's a good balance/ratio of combat, exploration and puzzle solving. I liked how there were always alternate paths and hidden treasures not too far away, wherever you were. I enjoyed the puzzles but expect that on a repeat playthrough I'd wish I could skip them.

- I didn't know whether I should pick Normal or Hard for my first run. I'm glad I went for Normal, as some of the fights in this game are insane! There are plenty of fights that can be passed easily but there were times when they cranked shit right up to 11. I didn't have too many game overs, but I scraped my way through quite a few fights on low health and had to pull myself together. Good, healthy amount of challenge in this one. I bet the higher difficulties can get wild.

- In the final sequence, "Press O to hug your family" made me laugh way more than I imagine it was intended to. That was a tough fight, though. I passed it first time, but barely.


Cons:
- The game seemed a bit buggy in places. There were some oddities with hitboxes/collision detection (not sure if these are bugs or just badly programmed) and for some reason I lost the ability to grab the toughest variant of the Minotaur, even with the giant circle prompt on screen. I managed to do it once, I think, and then couldn't get his grabs to connect for the rest of the game. Also, after completing the game, I tried the Challenge of the Gods mode and couldn't get past the first challenge as I needed to kill 8 enemies, but I couldn't ever get more than 6 to spawn. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but it seemed to be a bug. Not sure if these bugs were present in the original PS2 version, or if they crept in during the porting process. I actually dug out my PS3 to play this (man, I really dislike the DS3 controller) so it wasn't an emulation issue. I noticed that the frame rate could quite easily tank when a lot of effects were on-screen, but generally the dips would happen when you didn't have direct control of Kratos, so this wasn't too big an issue.

- Some enemies were just not fun to fight. Maybe I didn't find the right strategies for them. I found it was pretty tough to be aggressive against the Cyclops, unless you wanted to sacrifice some magic. Chasing around Harpies wasn't exactly fun, and the kamikaze-style attack they can do made one of the lategame fights a real chore for me (the one just before you find Pandoras Box with the moving floor panels).

- This is probably not an issue on the higher difficulties, but on Normal, magic and the Rage of the Gods ability are way too strong. I only used ROTG twice after the first time you unlock it, as it just melts everything. Magic was more balanced, but some abilities were very situational. I found that Poseiden's Rage and Army of Hades were very strong for any general encounter. I only really used Zeus' Fury to get rid of archers from a distance (and there were a few encounters that fully expected you to do this), and I expected Medusa's Gaze to be good, but I found I was stood still for too long trying to use it. I'd imagine I probably just needed to pick my moments a little better with that one.

- Having to mash R2 to open doorways was a bit tiring. I started GoW2 this morning and noticed they changed it to mashing Circle. I'd prefer not to mash at all, but this is a definite improvement, especially on the PS3 controller.



Overall, pretty enjoyable game! Feels a bit rough around the edges, which is acceptable for the team's first action game, but it was a pretty ambitious title for it's time and there's a lot to enjoy and admire. It's definitely got that PS2 charm going for it too, with all the unlockable bonus content, the "you beat GoW - now try hard mode" message after the credits, and the general presentation. There were a few fights that would put me off doing a replay, but I probably just need to learn better strats. I've started GoW2 and heard that's considered by many to be the best of the series, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that one turns out!

Good notes, fun to read a fresh take on the game!

Some random replies haha:

- the higher difficulties are more about knowing how to tackle fights. The game really expects you to know how its grabs work (which deal % damage flat, so they scale with higher difficulties) and use the magic more smartly. There's some fights you can breeze through on Normal which are an absolute beast on Very Hard.

- Cyclopses are pretty dull, though a buffed Medusa can nuke them.

- Army of Hades, when fully leveled, is absolutely CRAZY and can (and will) mostly OHKO the final boss fight even on the hardest setting.

- you can cancel nearly every animation by doing Zeus Lightning, very strong.

- switching to the Artemis Blade is fully i.framed, should you ever replay this is a fantastic tool.

- the 'clones' fight is infamous for its difficulty and pretty near impossible on harder settings for some.

- about the hard parts, I really liked how on Normal the game still has bite for newcomers. There's fights that really test you and push you further, as well as some pretty devious puzzles (by action-standards).

Also can we talk about just how beautiful and epic looking this game is for PS2. Climbing on top of Cronos is just almost gen-defining.

> undeserved reputation

Honestly have no clue where it came from. The game is, as noted, pretty brutal in some places and mashing SST won't get you very far.

Which fights would you say are putting you off from a replay?

> GOW2
Everyone loves it, it's fantastic. I do prefer GOW1 and 3, but 2 is without a doubt the most polished.

Random replies to your random replies:

- I did use Army of Hades on the final boss, which almost completely trivialises him. Is AoH considered to be the best magic attack in the game?

- The clone fight was crazy! It was so crazy that I thought it was one of those scripted fights that I was meant to lose for story purposes (like the Halo Reach finale). I just kept on going, spamming ROTG and magic where I could and eventually noticed the clones weren't infinitely respawning anymore. At the end, I had the family health at around 30% and Kratos' was probably around 5%. Just scraped my way through. I was like "oh shit, I actually needed to beat that!"

- Didn't realise you could cancel more stuff using the Lightning stance. I'd imagine that's very helpful on the higher difficulties. I got caught stuck in the animations of my L1 attacks plenty of times

- It is a very good looking game for it's original hardware, very grand in terms of scale. Did the PS2 version target 60fps or was that a PS3 enhancement?

- The fights I can remember that put me off a replay were:
 . The section where you drag a caged soldier up a hill to sacrifice him, holding off undead soldiers (the attempt where I beat it seemed simple, but I had a few attempts before it where the enemy spawns were really unkind, couldn't find time to move the soldier)
 . The fight against multiple Cyclopses (think there might be a few of these but particularly the one outside the Architects tomb, after a platforming section with saw traps)
 . The fight outside the Pandora's Box room (moving floors, exploding harpies, archers, OHKO environmental hazards)

Be sure to experiment with grabs (ground to air, air to air) in GoW2 as it really is the meat of the game btw, forgot to mention that.

> medusa
It's especially powerful in GoW2 where it can just nuke entire sections if you're managing your meter correctly.

> Army of Hades
It's basically a win-button haha

> PS2 version
30FPS, but surprisingly stable. The game is pretty buggy though for sure.

> harder fights
Those are all the 'run killers' for a lot of people yeah, wasn't surprised by their inclusion. The other big nasty one is the Satyr-bridge, which sounds easy but on challenge runs becomes a nightmare. A lot of those fights have methods of handeling them though, but they are very tough.

I do like how GoW attempted (sometimes not so succesfully) to switch combat encounters up with these semi-puzzles in between or stage hazards.

Let me know how you end up liking GoW2!

@GodModeGOD

For the time being, I'll post my reply here (so as to not hijack Birdman's topic). As for your suggestion about serious runwork, I suppose I could make a separate topic in the future, either here or in GameFAQs.

I'll address your previous post, as I said.

>softlocking the game if you defeat Medusa
Must be why they gave her a high HP pool.

>later variant
Sirens?

>tactics for her
Sure, now that I finished the game, it should be okay.

>don't get surrounded during traversal combat
Yeah, this is definitely what you wouldn't want to happen.

>exploit like PR into HJ to invincibly attack and get back to the rope
HJ?

>using the ballista against the bulls
Can you make it in time to get the red orbs they drop before they disappear? But then again they might not make much of a difference (later on you get a lot of orbs from chests, and while a very late game fight, Ares 1 drops a ton).

>try fun things with Wulf's code
I'll save it for later.

>In this entry the 'armor' (Enemy Power % is actually being nerfed rather than our defense being buffed in reality, so collisions are weakened while in that state *get that perception adjusted*) scales with the weapon upgrade level.
In this entry? So that means GoW1 is the only game to do this? Also, does this mean that collisions get stronger in harder settings (assuming Enemy Power% gets buffed *and I don't see why it shouldn't*)?

If I got this correctly, the more you upgrade your weapon, the less damage you take?

>enemy attacks that don't scale with that stat are unaffected
Noted.

>false OS
?

>clearing and failing QTEs builds the Rage meter on another entry
Noted, and is that entry a good one?

>Sadly, this entry does NOT allow you to turn it back off once turned on.
This to say that future installments let you do this?

>no way to slow down the drain from RotG
Even in future games?

>NOTE: I'd be interested in seeing (maybe even doing) a run trying to use RotG for EVERY fight (seeing how frequently you can keep in that state and how far it can take you).
Assuming you would need cheats to pull this off? Or is there a way to fill it up all the way from one encounter to the other (assuming you used it in the first and gimped most of it with RotG)? Maybe instantly fill it up with the press of a button (so as to not make it infinite, which I suppose that's not what you want to see), and only use it at the start of the fights.

>Plume's and Spirit's AoE is lost while in Rage
It doesn't have the little 'explosion' that happens while using either of those normally, so I guess you're right (hadn't noticed to see if the AoE is truly lost).

>Plume is t3 (while in Rage)
>Spirit is t0
Yup.

>chain Plume right into Ascension
Think you could do this outside of Rage as well with Spirit.

>need to test for myself
Got it.

>can't break shields with RotG uniques
Another thing I hadn't seen for myself. Wonder why they made it as such. At least you can still do direct damage, as you said.

>hope this helps
All of this is a huge help, even when we chose to discuss some other details until after I finished the game (or after a VH run? Probably both, for different things). Thanks a lot for taking your time to teach me these things.

>invisible walls
Does the 'Homerun' lets you bypass some of these?

>friendly fire with DMG in statue form
I see, didn't know about that particular bit. Normal friendly fire is pretty apparent, on the other hand.

>Got some gripes with their design (one I'll hold off on until I confirm you're further in).
Tell me about them.

>MG isn't bad, it is just complex and tough to master effective use of (extremely solid).
I wish to know more about this.

>The PR equivalent (in CoO) is okay as a panic button, but you have to think more when trying to get the most of it (as it has the unfortunate attribute of pushing foes outside the AoE).
Oof.

>I'll post the concept art when that time comes.  Let you see what it was trying for (even the Blades were different).
The time has come.

>Very Easy
What you said about the combat does sound easy as is (especially if the gap between E and N is as big as you say), but yes, I could see children being frustrated at the platforming bits. I wonder if children from back then would've minded gore. Not sure if it happens a lot nowadays, at least relatively speaking.

>Zim's findings
Enlighten me.

>One is fine.  Just that it is advised you taste vanilla VH a second time with a better understanding of things to try for mastery (but also to dabble in alternative tools and strats overlooked).
Sounds reasonable. It took me a pretty long time to finish the game (but a large part of it was out of my control), but when knowing puzzle solutions, the bare basics, the enemies, etc., this should take a lot less time to complete. Most likely shorter than something like KH.

By the way, can you skip cutscenes on higher difficulties?

>No, he's stuck in a run on GoWII.  He hasn't really done much in some entries, either.  Hotel was most active in GoWIII.
I'm not sure if he does this on purpose, but he still keeps claiming that Blades' Plume is safe (in Ascension), after you told him otherwise. At this point, I believe he's just poking fun at SBK. All of this is happening recently, not even a month or a few weeks ago.

>Lots of jargon, shorthand, etc.  Good to ask questions.
SBK already explained what t0 is (not sure what the 'zero' meant, or why it would be denoted as such), and held inputs being written in capitals. s,s,s or t,t,t was pretty straightforward to understand without an explanation, but without context it was a bit hard to deduce what t0 was. The only other questions I have is what are the general rules for NUR, NUR+, PAIN, (as well as other stuff outside of the noted, like NBR *I think I know what that last one means, but don't know what's the name of the other restricted runs or what they'd stand for outside of NUR or PAIN*), etc. as well as elaborating a bit on Power%, such as what exactly it's tied to, and the inputs needed to do some of Artemis' attacks (specifically the ones not named in-game).

>happily pay 10K orbs to skip a rhythm minigame in GoWIII
Is it that bad?

>Ares passing through is just for show
Yeah, I thought he'd play a role (regardless of importance *or even if it'd be beneficial for us*) in these combat scenarios, but no. Felt a tad disappointed for it.

>talk of things betwixt
I'll try to recall what I did to the best of my ability, with the help of some things I noted as I played.

After defeating the Cyclops and the shadow-y enemies in the Rooftops of Athens, the barrier disappeared and I could progress, and that's when I saw that one memorable part I mentioned a long time ago (the one where an arrow knocked me into a pit), which had one pillar (that's the one element I recall pretty clearly). Think one gets Zf a bit further in.

As I mentioned earlier, the Oracle 'puzzle' (putting one statue on top of the other) was, for some reason, the one that took me the most time to figure out. That's not to say that others weren't relatively complex, but didn't take as much time to solve as this one. Saving the Oracle took me a couple of tries.

The Sewers, as I said earlier, was when I dropped the game the first time I played it. Can't recall why exactly I did so. Anyway, I recall that this part was a bit tricky, since there were archers on ledges, as well as some big enemies. Pretty sure that I realized that Cyclopses dropped more orbs if you succeeded at the QTE.

The desert took me 2-3 tries to clear, as the third Siren I found was accompanied by minotaurs, and I didn't understand her too fully (she attacked a bit fast for me to react to her attacks, and don't think I've fully learned her in later combat scenarios, so feel free to tell me about how she works, if you want). Most of the time, when I attacked her, she used some kind of magic to hurt me. And pre-emptively blocking after hitting her a couple of times wasn't very reliable. Further encounters with Sirens got somewhat easier, if only because I became a little familiar with them, but obviously not to the point of mastery.

Later in the Rings of Pandora, the encounter that stood out the most for me was when you took Hades' Shield, and you had to defeat a lot of enemies before a wall crushed you. I mostly used PR and 360 toss (when available), but I did die a few times before being able to clear it. Remember using RotG in one of those attempts, and couldn't clear it still.

What I remember about the Challenge of Poseidon is a new mob introductions (small and big dogs). Small dogs were annoying and didn't let me attack at a reasonable pace, so I took care of them first with bounces (to give myself a bit of breather room *and slam one into the ground, if I managed to stun all of them*). The big dogs were simple to deal once the smaller ones were out of the way. Not the best tactic, but since the arena was big, I could get far away from it, whiff some attacks as they were approaching, and hit them with Spirit. Then I grabbed them whenever I was able to. I never got hit by doing this, though certainly there should be a more faster tactic to beat them. Also, not sure if this was the part where a new mob was introduced (humanoid, red 'eyes', immediately counterattacks if you attempt to grab them by using a stab attack).

For what little it matters, I liked the cage push 'puzzle', if only because Kratos grinned at the exact same time as I did when I realized what was the goal. The underwater part where you have to swim quickly enough before a wall crushes you was tight in terms of timing.

As for the centaurs in the Challenge of Hades, they were the mobs I had the most trouble with (but only if they fought in groups). They often use ranged attacks, while one could use an unblockable attack. But PR was a really good option for them.

I spent a lot of time in the big room with the flaming boulders, because I hadn't noticed the doors on the sides (was too focused on not letting the boulders run over me to look at something else). But I have to say that GoW1 keeps a lot of things fresh by having you open a door normally, and then in this circumstance (to give one example). Wonder if underwater combat would've been well executed.

>Guessing we didn't go over damage values. Is that something you want to do now?
Yes.

>Relatively short string for a decent hit property on a safe and relatively strong move. Decent for crowd control, some set-ups and even stunlocking (with varying success).
Sounds good enough for lower settings (except maybe for some tougher fights like the Clones, but I didn't do that myself to see if it works *assuming it's just Plume spam and nothing else*).

>Ask Raeng about OLUT spam
I'm aware of it, most if not all of which comes from DMC combo fans. Same thing with mashing X and Triangle to win in KH2. Not sure if anyone would be able to beat CoR Nobody Wave 3 at any level (and I guess at lower settings, but don't quote me on that) if you do nothing but press these other buttons (as in, no healing, no dodging, no blocking), otherwise they'd be using more than what they claim it's all you need to reliably defeat anything.

>DRI
Or Faust (in 5), or items. But they don't matter because they're not cuhrayzee enough, and/or you won't get SSS ranks with them (except for Faust *but I believe SSS was removed from 5, only S remains*). Nevermind the fact that neither of those things have been a requisite to win the games. But we're supposed to roll around with it because DMC is DMC, right?

>not going to keep up with the Blades on the damage front
Guess it's mostly useful for Homeruns? Also, I accidentally discovered that summoning the sword has i-frames (but not sheath IIRC).

Either way, if you would (and if you think it's okay), tell me about Artemis' strengths (if there's something other than Homeruns worth discussing).

>Being blockable hurts the appeal in a big way.
True.

>Never understood the limitations here.
I don't know about these things, but is this a decision of the developer (how many slots could be available to the player) or does it depend on if the software allows for it? The numbered KH games (not sure about 3, but it probably works the same way) have 99 save slots, which is pretty handy if you want to redo a certain story boss. Don't remember about any other game having that much slots, even if it could be excessive (unless you reserve a third of those slots for three different kinds of runs *restricted and/or vanilla*, just to name one example).

>have answers provided about damage values
Fair point.

>explain the ins and outs of the giant minotaur
Please, go ahead.

>The CS mini-game completion is worth half the bar as I recall.
Yep.

>NOTE: If you ever do a Cheats run, you can see what AoH lvl3 does to him for laughs (maybe air PR spam on him while you're at it).
I will keep this in mind. Is it enough with Wulf's code, or is something like a Gameshark needed?

>Or just get high Power % and RotG lvl5 BoC TotF all over the bull after skipping to S4 (unless you want to slap away at the armor for kicks).
In other words, it's possible to do what you're hinting at without cheats?

>AoH
>alt lv3
Randomly selecting between the alt version and the original? Also, are you supposed to have max health at that point in the game (specifically in the room where you get AoH)?

>thoughts
Agree with these. Though do you think it would outperform PR, or would it still have some strengths to keep it relevant (panic button, i-frames)?

>Really, letting them get beat the fuck up is part of the plan if wanting to blow through the encounter.
You mean the NPCs? If so, guess you have a point (killing them means less time spent on dealing with them).

>Also, not knowing the boss
Yes, something I intend to fix on the next playthrough.

>Platforming takes some practice to feel out.
Even so, got any particular advice for the spiked columns?

>Minotaur Tormentors
I will also have to learn each mob's official name, instead of referring to some of them with a common name (like the dogs).

>petrification
Oh... d'oh.

>Catching them between attacks with light slaps can make them flinch. This is your cue to cancel into something like 's,t' where the latter (t1) has a second hit with bounce properties, which will open them up. 
Okay, will keep that in mind.

>Just doing it runs the risk of them saying 'no'.
Have to attack them in a specific point during a certain animation?

>When spawning or in the air, they lack this protection. Knockback works as you would expect.
Oh, this will surely come in handy.

>Between N and VH? There is a very noticeable difference there.
There is? I must have misunderstood something, then. Assuming this means more than just increased damage?

>CotG
>then vanilla VH
Got it.

>exploiting Ares for EXP
How? Deliberately failing the final part of the QTE, maybe? Wouldn't it be risky on VH?

>Could also focus on Artemis (suffering against gorgons *and to a lesser extent others* when so new) with MG.
Yes, I need to learn both of these things properly.

Finished CotG and unlocked the costumes. Some notes about each challenge:

Stage 1: Realized that using 360 toss doesn't 'kill' enemies by itself (only from Ringouts, which is the point of the challenge). Pretty simple to do after knowing this.

Stage 2: Used RotG to benefit from Athena's Blessing to get a free AoH use, and quickly killed everything as fast as I could with Spirit and Valor, and then used AoH again at the final big platform where the enemies were. Took me about 4 tries to complete this.

-Stage 3: Figured that using Hermes Rush after one use of L1+Circle proved to be effective. Still, this took me more tries than Stage 2 for some reason.

-Stage 4: Ran around the arena until a Minotaur was alone, so I launched it to slam it to the ground a couple of times to kill it off, did the same thing with the remaining three.

-Stage 5: This required some timing. When the mobs were on the top right corner of the arena, I'd move the left stick down to shoot an arrow at them. Took some tries to clear this challenge, because as I said, this required some timing.

-Stage 6: One of the most frustrating challenges, at least for me. After 10+ tries, I accidentally pressed R1 twice and jumped (don't ask, it just happened), which almost made Kratos fall, but he could get a hold of the floating platform. After getting up, I saw that the archers were no longer aiming their arrows at me (likely due to the camera resetting them), so I did this every other time afterwards. I ignored the first archer, just went past him and jumped to the next platform. Then I prepared myself to block the incoming attack from the second archer, but left him alone after that; the clock was ticking. I tossed the third archer, and anxiously waited the last two platforms to line up (this part was the most difficult one, as the four archers could just say 'no' and send me straight to the pit), and after a lot of tries, I managed to clear this. Curious that they made a challenge focused on the one aspect I recall the most about my first time playing the game (an arrow stopping me on my tracks and killing me).

-Stage 7: As with Stage 3, I ran around the arena to gain some distance, so I could use Spirit when enemies weren't near me. Got cocky against the final minotaur (which I wanted to launch and slam against the ground), but he blocked my first hit, and attacked me just as I was falling down. Repeated the same thing (running around) but this time I still used Spirit from a distance instead of launching the Minotaur.

-Stage 8: This was when I gave up last night, as I had no idea if I was doing something wrong or not, because the enemies just kept coming, there was seemingly no end to it. Took me a few tries, but only because I wasn't about to start it all over again. The Gorgons could petrify the soldiers, but I didn't take much advantage of this, as I was constantly on the move to avoid getting petrified myself. But when I could, I rushed to the soldiers and shattered them (as more often than not they'd petrify a group of soldiers instead of one or two). Felt a bit relieved after Gorgons were the only enemies appearing, but I still was focused to not screw it all up.

-Stage 9: Despite being one of the last challenges, this was really easy, beat it on my first try. Surprisingly, Satyrs weren't too much of a distraction, and I could kill all the Cyclopses with Spirit, and I think I had plenty of time left by the time I killed the fourth Cyclops.

-Stage 10: As expected of the last challenge, this was pretty brutal. Took me about 25 tries. Pretty sure that going back to the previous platform resets your current elevation. I used Spirit from the platform you start in to hit as much enemies as possible, so I could safely jump to the platform they were in to start knocking them out of said platform. Counterattacks weren't reliable, as 8 times out of 10 I'd eat an attack from a Satyr or a dog, which mostly meant falling to death. I focused on using the s,S attack to knock as much enemies as possible, and used RotG when I managed to kill a good amount of monsters. A Satyr almost impeded my way to climb to the bigger platform once it was within my reach, but I could make it. Again, this was pretty brutal.

Now that I finished that, I can start playing on VH.

^ Before that, I wanted to confirm what was actually the exploit mentioned for Ares 1 to drop red orbs. My thoughts were confirmed, you can indeed fail the QTE and get as many orbs as you want from him. Moreover, he also drops quite a lot of HP (and MP) orbs, so there shouldn't be a problem on VH if I'm careful. And I didn't max out the HP or MP bar in my previous playthrough (just short of one extension, I think), so with a maxed out health bar, I don't think he'd kill me in one hit if I fail the QTE, but that's just speculation on my part.

I want to do this because I want to upgrade and use the mechanics I neglected in my previous playthrough, namely MG and Zf (not expecting a lot from the latter, but I still want to have first-hand experience with it). With the Ares exploit, I should be able to max out the necessary stuff to reliably beat the Clones.

Started VH. 360 toss is still pretty effective for the initial fight. Beat the first Hydra battle without getting hit, as well as with the flying enemies (this surprised me, to be honest). Got hit once by a bite from the second Hydra that caught me off-guard. Another surprising thing was how the archers didn't hit me at all (but they destroyed the box thrice). Didn't think my first time getting critical health would be during traversal combat, so I used the HP chest located at the place where the archers were. Enjoyed the Hydra fight way more than my first attempt. Took no damage from the smaller Hydras, but the bigger one managed to hit me once. Didn't matter though, as I was able to not only recover the lost HP, but I could also beat it faster than what I could do on Normal. Used PR when it was about to bite me, and immediately attacked afterwards, which caused it to flinch. Repeated the same thing until it died, the fight was shorter than I had expected, but glad that you can beat it this quick on VH with the help of PR and melee. Saved the game in the Docks of Athens.

Played a bit more, but didn't progress too much. The soldiers near the ship weren't much of a threat, same as the basic minotaurs. However, I got too careless and died to one of the two Cyclopses. When I tried to kill one via the QTE (near a cliff), the Cyclops did not die. It shrugged what just happened off and continued fighting. Thought it was going to be immortal for some reason, but no, it was still able to be killed. Really weird. Besides that, I defeated the other Cyclopses this time. One of Medusa's (or should I say Gorgon?) counters is pretty fast, and I died thrice, since the attack can kill me in just two hits. But I just learned to adapt and defeated her. This time, I intend to use MG and probably Zf more, which means I'll upgrade them both soon enough.

Saved the game near the ballista.

Played some more.

I wasn't careful enough to not get surrounded during the wall climbing segment, and got surrounded. Died once as a result. Also, don't remember being able to smack an enemy onto the wall a few times before dropping it down, which can hit other enemies nearby.

Realized that you can continuously use OH on the Medusas (and most other things, I guess) if you use T, and not t1. Used this against the two Medusas near the rope.

Right after that, I got to fight a Medusa with a Minotaur, and she petrified the latter.  Shattered the Minotaur. Used OH on Medusa.

Petrified the soldiers and shattered them. But got carried away and got critical health.

Died 2 times owed to critical health in the rope segment. Remembered an HP chest where the 2 Medusas were. Got wounded, but eventually recovered most of it from grabs.

Killed the 4 Minotaurs with the Ballista. Ignored EXP loss.

For the Minotaur puzzle (the one where you have to Petrify him), since I was close to having enough orbs to upgrade BoC to Lv 2, I abused the MP chest to repeatedly petrify and shatter the Minotaur a few times. Now I have Lv 2 BoC and Lv 2 MG.

Not much to comment for the road to Athens Town Square. Went for the archers first so I could kill a Medusa with OH.

A Cyclops managed to kill me once, even though Athens' Square is filled with people to get HP orbs from. For this new variation, I paid close attention to what he did (he got a new quick attack) and made sure to not attack him with a non-cancelable attack (unless he used the swipe attack which he does a couple of times, this is when I used Spirit from a distance). Noticed that the soldiers with shields could be grabbed (after you destroy their shields, evidently) without having to deal a certain amount of damage, instead of the soldiers seen when you get off the ship in the Docks of Athens. Destroyed all of their shields, and then used 360 toss.

Really starting to appreciate OH usage to send enemies against other enemies. Cool stuff. I'm going to redo CotG 8 when I get the chance.

Saved the game in the tunnel passage.

On the Rooftops of Athens. Wraiths are a bit annoying to handle on VH now, but only if you let your guard down. Grabbed them, and used OH twice on one and nothing else, just to ensure that I wouldn't get hit while I was vulnerable. Repeated the same thing until everything was dead. Climbed up the stairs, and used MG on the Wraiths above. Proved to be really effective, was able to defeat all of the Wraiths before the Cyclops came in. For the Cyclopses themselves, same tactics, use non-cancelable attacks to be able to react to whatever they do by dodging.

Still hate arrows knocking me down into pits.

Got Zf. As noted, I'm going to try to use this more, along with MG.

For what little it matters, I noticed that there's a visual cue to let you know when those flying enemies are going to attack you (besides the obvious mini AoE dive).

In the Sewers, and those archers are more annoying in VH, in combination with the undead soldiers and Minotaurs (still nice when they hit their own allies with their arrows, but not sure if that deals notable damage). So I tried to dispose of them first with Zf. Then I focused on the soldiers since their spinning attack is too distracting, and can almost never use finishers with them around. For the Minotaurs, I launched them and grabbed them in the air to toss them to the ground repeatedly. I had enough orbs to upgrade both Zf and BoC, so now I have Lv 3 BoC, Lv 2 MG, Lv2 Zf, and Lv 1 PR. This place is sure filled with a lot of HP/MP restoring chests, at least in comparison to other areas, and not that far from each other. Petrified the Cyclopses and killed them, then used Zf on the Archers, and did the same thing to the Minotaurs and soldiers.

Saved the game in the Desert.

Note: Perhaps it would be a good idea to stop my updates temporarily to give you less to address. I'll still keep track of it via a .txt file.

^ Figured that it would be better for both of us if I just posted all of it, since I think it's going to take a while for me to respond to your future post. I already finished the game, and as I mentioned, I kept track my progress via a .txt file.

The Sirens were tricky to deal with, especially when paired with Minotaurs, if only because they have such a high tendency to evade attacks. Though when they went back to singing I'd use a charged Zf, which I'd say it dealt good damage, as it was somewhat faster than using melee (and at the time I had Zf leveled up but not PR *but I didn't see if Lv 1 PR is still more or less on par with Zf, not just in terms of damage*). Did the same to the other Sirens you see a bit further in.

For the Cyclopses, I used Spirit from a distance, and finished them off with a QTE to get orbs. Used the same tactics for the soldiers and Wraiths, use cancelable attacks and block whenever I see an attack coming my way, perhaps use OH or 360 toss if I was given the opportunity (which did happen).

In the fight against soldiers + Gorgons on the Challenge of Atlas, used 360 toss to get rid of the normal soldiers, and OH against the Gorgons and the armored soldiers that were nearby. I wanted to use Zf against the Gorgons while I was on the upper level, but the projectile collided with the floor beneath me and did nothing (as the Gorgons were directly below me). Won the fight against the soldiers when you get Hades' Shield on my first try, surprisingly. Mostly abused 360 toss, launched the soldiers to use OH, just to proceed to use 360 toss again. The pitfall trap did take a couple of tries (the one where you fight against soldiers and Sirens), I used OH as much as possible. The fight against the dogs was pretty tough. Not sure why the smaller dogs transformed just as I threw them to the floor. Fight was mostly out of my control once the arena was filled with big dogs, so I just decided to not let that happen, if possible. Fortunately, it was possible. I petrified the big dog at the start and shattered it to focus on the others, grabbed the smaller ones and redirected them at other small or big dogs. Surprisingly, I only faced two big dogs this time, and only had to throw small dogs against each other, the fight was significantly easier.

For the Cyplopses, I used Spirit from a distance, again. Archers, just advanced, the big rock didn't protect me from the exploding arrows. Against the smaller dogs and Archers, used 360 toss for the latter, and spammed circle for the dogs. The red-eye soldiers were easily dealt with via OH (if it wasn't already obvious, I love this move now), same as with the Minotaurs. Used the same antics for those soldiers in the cage push puzzle (the one where you have to sacrifice a soldier).

The fight against soldiers and Harpies (the one near the underwater section) was pretty tricky, but manageable. Wish I had Lv 2 PR by this point, because petrifying a horde of enemies frequently attacking wasn't an option, and Zf isn't good against crowds. So I used RotG for the first time in the run (as using only cancel-able attacks was taking too long).

Centaur sacrifice was a bit tough, used Spirit to bounce two or three of them inside the circle, launched one, and used an air grab until the circle prompt appeared, then launched it again, and repeated the same cycle for all 8. Upgraded Zf to Lv 3 and used it on the room where a Gorgon and Centaurs are in (where you have to kill all enemies to open a door), where their AI didn't allow them to come to where I was.

For the enemy arena after the rope section, I weakened the soldiers with Spirit and used 360 toss on them. Petrified Minotaurs and Centaurs. Used 360 toss on more Centaurs and Minotaurs when archers appeared.

I fought Pandora's Guardian in the upper level as that was more safe than on the lower level, as his attacks were really predictable. Just attacked immediately after parrying his attacks, and ran to the left when he was about to grab me.

Soldiers didn't stand a chance against AoH and a bit of melee usage. Satyrs were more durable, and can't be infinited with OH or an air grab. When two Satyrs came up, I used AoH twice while using OH as they bounced. Used AoH on the soldiers that are a bit further in from were the Satyrs were fought at, so the 'phantoms' could deal with the archers (and there was a MP chest nearby, so there was no problem with using AoH for that). In the cave, used OH multiple times against a Satyr, as well as the other one a bit further in. The advice about Minotaurs being able to be launched as they're spawning definitely helped to get rid of two, as they're now a bit too block happy to be dealt with normally. Watched as some Satyrs hit themselves near the place where you need to put two necklaces, but got bored, so I approached the archers and killed them, then knocked the Satyrs off a cliff.

On the Architect's Tomb, against the big dogs (couldn't kill them in time as the Cyclops was a threat), I launched them from behind the 'AI barrier' and they floated for a couple of seconds until they fell down. Made OH usage annoying. In the Conveyor belt fight, approached the archers and tossed them, did this to every archer, just to be able to focus on the Harpies via Spirit or air PR (somehow Kratos was carried away by the conveyor belt when using PR on the ground).

Blade column wasn't as hard this time around, got through it on my second try. The Satyrs were pretty tough. What I did to win was use s,t to make one of them bounce (managed to catch both sometimes), and use OH on them and repeated the same thing, while slamming one of the Satyrs onto the other. Used AoH thrice in the fight to make things easier, but what I did for the most part was s,t, and OH, while keeping an eye to block incoming attacks if need be.

Ares 1 was kind of tough, if only because I wasn't fast enough to react to him using the shockwave+axe combo (other than the start of the battle, as he always uses it). At the start, I used AoH and used s,t,t, then immediately rolled out of the way to evade the shockwave, then used Hermes Rush to approach him quickly again. If he flinched, I'd use t,t,s immediately after using Hermes Rush (Spirit is not cancelable, which is why I used Valor instead). If he blocked it, then I'd attack him for a few times until he let his guard down, or until he used a counterattack, which I'd parry, and block any further attacks, while being near him so he wouldn't use the shockwave attack too often. After a basic two hit attack, I'd attack him immediately, see if he'd flinch or block, and repeat. This was basically how the fight went down, every time he'd move in a way that was different from the flinching animation, I'd immediately hit the block button to parry his attacks. When he dropped more orbs than usual (changing phases), I'd use AoH. Every other time, I pressed right to switch to PR just in case I was caught in the shockwave and couldn't do anything to evade the deadly axe attack, other than use said spell.

The Clones were really tough. On Normal, AoH did basically most of the work, but on VH, that alone wasn't enough to win, far from it. Sometimes the clones would act like they weren't being hit at all and kill the family. Heck, Athena's Blessing + AoH + PR wasn't enough by itself, either. I had to use s,s,t to keep the clones from attacking, and I'd only use the mentioned spell combo after the clone with Zf appeared. Then once the Artemis clones appeared, I'd use AoH (without RotG) to (hopefully) keep them busy enough to heal the family and get a full Rage meter back, so I could spam AoH and PR again. This took me at least 12 tries.

Ares 2 was as tough as my first time, but eventually I figured to just roll away whenever he ran at me (as he'd most likely use the guard breaking thing he does, which is a guaranteed death), and if he did a normal attack instead, I'd use R1+square (though depending if he blocked R1 I'd just get away instead of keep pressing on) and get back to keep some distance from him. When he was about to use the four rock pillars attack, I'd once again use R1+square to deal some damage and then quickly get out of harm's way. Reversals helped me a good deal in this fight again, but I was more in control of the fight compared to my attempt on Normal.

And that is the end of my first VH run. Had a lot of fun with it, can't believe I dropped this game years ago.

I want to check a couple of videos (a speedrun, Raeng's, Taz's and your channel to see if I can learn any interesting tactics I may have missed) to apply that knowledge to a second VH run, and then proceed to do a NUR. Though I'll wait for you to clarify the rules for NUR, NUR+ and such (vaguely remember something about the former allowing health/MP extensions, which I found a bit odd since I'd imagine that counts as an upgrade, which is what I was expecting to be doing *playing without these*).

I saw your Artemis video, GMG (the one titled Homerun techniques). Really interesting stuff, I knew I was underestimating Artemis.

Currently watching Taz's run. Plan on watching your playlist about GoW1's exploits as well.

Completed a second VH run, as well as CotG twice (so that makes it three times that I've cleared it). Thanks to the videos I have seen, I learned plenty of good stuff to apply on my recent run, and as such I was able to minimize the amount of deaths compared to my first attempt, though not so much about certain platforming bits (though interestingly enough the blade tower at the end is no longer an issue for me, I was able to get through it on my first try). Beat Ares 1 and the Clones on my second try (the latter was due to a slip-up where I fell off the arena). Ares 2 is now easy for me to handle. It's good to know how much I was able to improve.

As for CotG, I was also able to minimize the amount of deaths, but not so much for CotG 10. Sure, I was able to beat it with fewer tries than in my first attempt, but it was still pretty tough. I'm able to correctly use a counter after parrying to knock out some foes off the arena, as well as make the s,S attack come out faster by using s,s,S instead, which does help.

My third try at clearing CotG was supposed to be an Artemis exclusive attempt, but I was not able to get past... CotG 2. The armored soldiers move away when I'm about to use L1+hold triangle+triangle, and if I wait for them to attack me so they become easier to hit, the Harpies or an arrow interrupt me, usually in the startup animation, or they simply send the soldiers back to the ground. Harpies are really annoying, as they interrupt a lot of things I'm about to do, which also includes pushing the soldiers with shields off the arena. I didn't want to use AoH, as I wanted to only use Artemis.

So I was only able to complete Challenge 1, 4, 7-10 (not sure if it's possible to beat the 3rd challenge with Artemis, and 5-6 aren't challenges where you need to use Artemis or BoC to complete them).

Think I'm ready to attempt my first no upgrade run in an action game. But I need to know the rules on what counts and what doesn't (exploiting enemy AI, skips, magic, extensions, etc).

Phoenix:
>exploiting enemy AI
You are obviously allowed to use boundaries/safe spots to your advantage. You can also use rapid tricking with Blade of Artemis to momentarily break the AI.

>skips
Don't perform any major exploits like the regenerating magic glitch at the Medusa's Gaze trial. Mandatory encounters shouldn't be skipped at all.To note it, the basic high jump was intended in this game (combat devs kek'd the level designers).

>magic
I take it you are referring to using it as efficiently as you can. In general, Medusa's Gaze should be your priority. Zf is there for animation cancelling (or damaging the desert sirens when you don't have enough MP to pull off the triple petrification trick). Poseidon's Rage isn't very good at LVL1. Army of Hades is another story, however. Already a potent tool at LVL1, works great on Ares 1 and can set enemies up for OH set-ups (a good example would be using it on the satyrs before the Cave of Madness for easy ring-outs). Should you wish to view visual examples, you can advise my ND NUR+ (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfcG9WBBP9x73OCp9o9QAS4Zvqu9tUgeK).

>extensions
For HP/MP bars? Only NUR allows them (while disallowing red orb spending). NUR+ and beyond is a more faithful 'No Upgrade' environment (No red orb spending and No bar extensions).

Welcome, Zimnas.

>what is allowed for NUR+
I have a better understanding of the rules ever since I typed that, but I still appreciate the information. I was going to ask if Artemis happened to be banned in NUR+, but one of your NUR+ videos gave me the answer.

Still, I'd also like to address these:

>breaking the AI with Artemis
I did not know about this. Thought 'Artemis tricking' referred to the i-frames you get from Sword Summon (not Sheath). How is this done? Got a video for this?

>Mandatory encounters shouldn't be skipped at all.
I'm planning to kill everything in my way, and ignore the mobs that aren't directly in my path, such as the hole in the wall in the lower docks of Athens, but I do plan to kill stuff which would make progressing through certain areas more difficult if they are ignored, such as the archers you see after clearing the area where you first meet the Wraiths.

>To note it, the basic high jump was intended in this game (combat devs kek'd the level designers).
News to me. That's hilarious.

So, what is one example of using this to my advantage, that doesn't obviously entail getting over barriers to skip mandatory fights?

>I take it you are referring to using it as efficiently as you can.
When I said that, I wasn't familiar with the rules of NUR, NUR+, and PAIN. For starters, I thought extensions were not allowed in NUR, as well as magic in general and chests being banned from NUR+ onwards (so my question was more along the lines of if magic was allowed in NUR+'s). But now I know what NUR+ entails.

>Medusa's Gaze should be your priority.
I figured. Your other Lv 1 options didn't seem all that great, except for AoH, of course.

>use AoH against the Satyrs before the Cave of Madness for easy ring-outs
Noted.

>your NUR+ ND playlist
Of course, I will watch it.

Zimnas, do you happen to have a GameFAQs account? I told GMG that I planned to post my run coverage on there, and not both places. But now, I suppose that if you don't have an account and still wish to comment on it, I could also respond to any suggestions/pointers you may have in this topic.

For anyone interested, I have started doing a NUR+. Here is the link to the topic:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/919864-god-of-war/80007388

>thought 'tricking' referred to Sword Summon I-frames
That's precisely what 'tricking' is. By "AI break", I meant utilising Zf spell cancelling to repeatedly Summon the Blade of Artemis (done by having BoA equipped and pushing (L) to any direction while spamming the hell out of L2) to make enemies passify (they will still follow you, so it's not really a case of complete de-agro).

>video showing AI breaking
Two good examples would be using it against the 11 Hades Satyrs for a specific strat (https://youtu.be/BVOc2Q-6ECA) and the Gorgons in Challenge of Atlas (https://youtu.be/4C1DxWyyjvw).

>way to use HJ to your advantage
Here are some:
https://youtu.be/rZu7NvZi0Eg

>will watch the run
Shall I take it we'll go over some things in greater detail?

>GFAQs
Would need to make an account (and I basically never visit it, so I find no reason to). I can post the notes here.

>tricking and AI breaking are different things
Oh, I get it.

>use Zf to repeatedly Summon Artemis in order to passify enemies
Noted. Will use this when I get Artemis.

>Satyrs video
I see you jump back to the previous platform and repeatedly Summon Artemis, but I'm afraid I don't see the purpose (at least when you use it on that platform). Could you please elaborate?

>Gorgons link
I can understand using it there. You used it to be able to safely use Artemis' Ascension followed by triangle, while surrounded by multiple Gorgons, right?

>High Jump applications
Thanks. Guess I'll use a few of them during my current run, such as during the conveyor belt part or to pick up that one shield.



>Shall I take it we'll go over some things in greater detail?
Yes, when the time comes, I will let you know.

>post the notes here
That works for me.

>could you please elaborate
To make this as clear as I can, I'll first explain how the GoW1 satyrs function. For starters, their moveset is rather varied and they can't be juggled forever (will perform a flip and land on their feet). In addition to that, they LOVE to block and parries are very common. Mind you, said parries will damage you unless you are poking them from max range with something like s1. Recovery from launch/bounce is an attack, air OS does 0 DMG and their OH is really weak (however, they are open to an advanced loop with it).

Now for the actual fight, using T from the previous platform tends to get blocked by them (it's a pain in the ass since you need to hit both for this strat to work). By doing the AI break, they either have a reduced chance of blocking or straight up never do. Hence it's much easier to hit both and capitalize. Also, trying to face them head on and punt them to another dimension is pretty luck-based owned to their parry (regarding 'No Damage').

>BoA air t after AI break
It's exactly as you said.

>parries damaging you
Now that you mention it, can you do this to other enemies? I noticed that there are blood splatters when I parry something (it probably
was a Minotaur).

>OH is weak
I did read about the air OS doing 0 damage (why though), but hadn't noticed this option was weak.

>AI break reduces the chances of them blocking your attacks
So that's the reason behind it. Good to know. Could this be used against certain variants of Minotaurs?

>can you do this to other enemies
Get damaged by a defensive option? No. The Minotaur's shove is cutting it close, but it doesn't damage you.

>why though
It's a bug.

>could this be used against certain Minotaurs
I take it you are referring to Minotaur tormentors (seen in Challenge of Hades and Cliffs of Madness). It isn't really useful for them (can't be launched with T if outside of the spawning animation **can only be bounced**) since s,t into air OS infinities is the way to go. You can also use MG since we are talking NUR+.

Note: AI break to avoid blocks is more effective when using single-hit launchers (multi-hit stuff like s,t can kek you).

>Minotaur Tormentors
Precisely.

>not useful for them
Shame.

>MG allows for MG usage
You're right, that also works.

>AI break to avoid blocks is more effective when using single-hit launchers
Makes sense.

I'm past this section in my current run, but just for future reference, what is the approach for Sirens in PAIN? Chip away at them with s,t? Both the Desert and Temple Sirens were the most tedious fights to tackle, owed to their high tendency to evade attacks. At least there's a way to survive the trap in the handle room (Challenge of Atlas) if said trap gets activated. I used PR to deal damage (since this draws them closer to me instead of pushing them out, and they can't dodge it), but not sure if there's some way to win this encounter without resorting to the alternate way to survive the trap.

>PAIN strat for the galls
Regarding the desert sirens, I prefer to hit them with t0 from a distance while they sing (won't agro). OH redirection collisions from Minotaur hammer grunts are very unlikely (though not impossible). For the third siren, I came up with a way to work half colissions with Valor by getting her stuck on the ruins (https://youtu.be/Jjsopcors7g starting at 3:18). I must note, there is a loop you can do with T, but I haven't figured it out (GMG might be able to elaborate on the matter).

Temple sirens aren't as tedius as the desert ones. 100HP. Redirects wreck them (https://youtu.be/iHp8KwUtupc). Just be careful not to get interrupted while going for OH.

>not sure if there is some way to beat the Atlas handle
It's more than possible for both NUR+ and PAIN. Weaponsing the legionaries and MG should be more than enough. BoA does have it's place for shredding the sirens in a 1v1. PAIN will see you focusing purely on collisions.

Run coverage:
>no solid tactics for the sirens
Already went over PAIN. In a NUR+ environment, MG should be your focus (as ever). They don't take long to petrify (nor break **1sHP**), but they break out in 0.5 second. You have to press square the moment you see the white flash when they get petrified.

>Not enough DMG to shatter Desert Kings
You absolutely can break them. 2 reps of s,t suffice.

>Challenge of Atlas hole room interior archers
To note it, you can kill them with PR from below.

>t0 from a distance
Will keep this in mind for future reference.

>getting the third Siren stuck on the ruins so half collisions can affect her
Very clever. Will do this myself when doing future runs.

>OH redirections wreck Temple Sirens
I clearly need more practice. Attempted to do this myself, but interruptions were pretty likely to happen.

>BoA against Sirens in a 1v1
Should have thought of using this.

>possible to shatter Sirens despite them breaking free almost immediately
Never would have imagined it. This is pretty valuable information.

>You absolutely can break them. 2 reps of s,t suffice.
Oh? Then I must have done something wrong. Do you need to cancel the first t1 with something so the next t to come out after the second 's' isn't Plume?

>To note it, you can kill them with PR from below.
Taking notes. Really appreciate your pointers. As I mentioned earlier, I need more practice. Hope I can iron out my shortcomings for my second challenge run and onwards.

Also, regarding the Centaurs, is there no way to prevent Kratos from facing the wrong way right after air OS? This kept happening to me in the Centaur sacrifice.

Going to fight the Satyrs next (but that will have to wait until Monday). Punt will most likely make short work of the first three that you encounter. Or MG. Maybe it is enough to petrify two of them.

>future runs will see the ruin strat used
Just know that it can be a little annoying to set up. However, I feel it's worth it.

>do you need to cancel the first t1 with something
I prefer using Zf. It's objectively better and faster (though you can still break them without using it).

>without chaining into t0
Make a slight pause after t1 (don't go for s2) while pointing the left stick to any direction.

>next GoW1 run
What will it be? PAIN? NUR+ v2 (with improved tactics)? Maybe NGR+ NUR+?

>OS on Centaur Archers
A pretty buggy interaction. Spamming the hell out of 'O' eliminates the issue.

>MG on the first satyr fight
Unnecessary, really (that, and trying to petrify a satyr with 2 of them around is a pain in the ass **too mobile and the other can interupt you**) . You should either use 'punt' (as you said) or the bridge for RO (be it Valor or OH redirection). MG will get a workout in the cave with 3 satyrs and trios of FL bros.

>worth setting up the ruin tactic
I think the same way.

>not necessary to use Zf for cancels to shatter the Desert Kings
>it is still objectively better and faster
Noted.

>what will my future run be
I was considering PAIN, but I would not be against NUR+ v2 to get back to it with improved tactics. Not sure if I'm prepared for NUR+ NGR+. I've been relying heavily on grabs. Will have to watch your videos to see what's the method to clear Hades' Shield trap without spamming 360 Toss.

But I am open to suggestions. What is the better route to take?

>Spamming the hell out of 'O' eliminates the issue.
Will have to try this the next time I fight Centaurs.

>petrifying one Satyrs with two around can be troublesome
Makes sense. Went for the ringout option.

>cave with 3 Satyrs and FL
I abused a 'sweet spot' on the lower and upper levels to make everyone stop attacking me. I tried petrifying the Satyr and FLs all at once, but the Satyr kept running around in circles, which made the noted pretty difficult to do. So I just settled to kill the FLs with collisions while still inside the 'sweet spot', and petrified two of the Saryrs, since ringouts weren't an option (had to reset the fight to get my MP back).

>what is the better route to take?
Usually, the route is N, VH, CotG, NUR+ and PAIN. It's up to you.

>centaurs
Too bad they aren't encountered anywhere else other than CoH. I feel some Satyr/Centaur encounters would be much more interesting than fighting CDK.

>cave sweet spot
Sensible choice.

>Usually, the route is N, VH, CotG, NUR+ and PAIN. It's up to you.
NUR+? And here I thought it would be weird to jump into NUR+ without having tried NUR first. But I guess it makes sense.

I have completed the run, but as I have mentioned, I want to play GoW2 next. I will leave PAIN and others for later.

Also, I have tried the Clones, but unfortunately couldn't do anything of note in the fight, even when I tried applying everything you have told me about the fight (and trying to somehow emulate what I see in videos). Definitely need more practice, but I'll leave that for later, as noted.

>I feel some Satyr/Centaur encounters would be much more interesting than fighting CDK.
Now that you mention it, yes, I'm curious about how combining these two would play out.

>NUR first
Unnecessary. I've never seen anyone do one.

>GoWII
Enjoy collisions scaling with settings.

>PAIN for later
Noted. Should you wish to check strategies, you know where to look.

>Clone War
It takes time and consistency to master the technique.

>combining these two
It could be a buffed variant of the Centaurs sniping you down while dealing with Satyrs, or managing both at once. Maybe throw some stage hazards to use (or get killed by). To not make things a walk in the park, I'd have saws that damage them heftily (50-60 damage) and insta-kill Kratos.

>collisions scaling with settings
Do they get stronger?

>check for strategies
Of course. If I have time this weekend, I'll finish watching Taz's NUR+ playlist, and yours as well (including PAIN, Artemis PAIN, and your recent NUR+ NGR+).

>buffing the Centaurs or managing them both at once
>throw some deadly hazards
Like these ideas. Are you thinking of something akin to the saws in the challenge of Atlas?

>do they get stronger
Only the case with GoW1 and GoWII. Base value on Normal is 10 for fulls and 5 for half collisions. VH sees enemy Power% at 500 (basically five times the base) so you get 50 for fulls and 25 for halfs. Numbers don't change for the aforementioned entries.

I forgot to mention this, but the Barbarian Hammer is the GOAT. Make sure to use it (can be combined with RotT for incredibly effective tanking strats). Animation cancelling is also a thing for GoWII (hold the analog stick in any direction and tap 'aim' with TB/EH momentarily and continue on with your rampage **hammer heavies are by far the best example**).

>saws in CoA
I was thinking about the saws at the Architect's Tomb. I much prefer their aesthetic compared to their ones in CoA.

Note: Thinking about it, a costume/mod that permanently buffs enemies (like an 'enraged' mechanic in MGR:R **Sam's DLC** or Bayonetta) would be pretty cool. Give even basic fodder the ability to armour through a few attacks before staggering. Increased Petrification resistance, statue HP and DMG dealt (probably double it). Archer's arrows would have a bigger explosion AOE (while the arrows themselves would become unblockable).

Note2: I'd LOVE having 'Dominus' (Blue tattoo Kratos) as a costume in GoW1 (with blue BoC **pretty sure I saw modding vids having them**). It could be a reward for completing VH. We should also be allowed to toggle skin perks on and off while selecting them in the main menu.

>5x collisions on Very Hard
Sweet.

>make sure to use Barbarian Hammer
Will do. Just unlocked Cronos' Rage. Don't know anything about the game besides what I have played (and what you have told me), so not sure at what point I'll be getting that hammer.

>animation cancelling is also a thing
Good to know.

>saws in Architect's Tomb
Ah, yes, these. Somehow didn't think of them when I typed that.

>mod that permanently buffs enemies
Kind of surprised they haven't done this. Some PS2 games have gotten mods (that go beyond simple aesthetic or number tweaking) prior to a PC port being released. That aside, I agree, definitely sounds cool and something worth playing around with.

>would love having blue tattoo Kratos as a costume
Forgot this was part of the character graveyard. Did they even finish making the model? Don't remember the details. If so, yeah, would have been good to play as this alternate version of Kratos.

>toggle skin perks on and off while selecting them in the pause menu
You mean in general, or just for 'Dominus'? Also, still baffled about costumes being unusable in VH.


Note: Regarding part 13 of your NGR+ NUR+ video (watching them out of order *for now*, just wanted to see how you'd tackle the arena with Minotaurs and Centaurs (and others), as well as Pandora's Guardian. I keep learning new stuff, didn't think of jumping back up to use the platform as a safe spot to use MG on the Centaur. Pretty clever way to avoid dealing with said Centaur and the Minotaur at the same time (and risk taking damage). Also, I thought you couldn't use the lever at any point prior to leaving Pandora's Guardian on critical health. Definitely worth keeping in mind.

One more thing, have you finished your Artemis CotG?

>PS2 games getting mods
I remember GoW1 and GoWII had big downloadable mods for emulators. Something among the lines of "infernal/vampire edition". Purely cosmetic mods, but I feel like it's a start. Maybe next time we'll get something that spices things up.

>finished model
It was in the game in "the making of" vid (and some other cut content vids in the treasure menu).

>in general, or just for 'Dominus'?
In general. I feel like it would be a nice addition. As for 'Dominus', I'm not sure what his perks would be. Probably something similar to General Kratos in GoWII (half DMG dealt, double DMG taken **buffed enemy power% so collisions would be doubled** and different orb values **red orbs being increased significantly while HP/MP orbs are garbage**). Maybe give him reduced MP cost for spells. Tycoon already covers the double DMG taken part (same with red orbs), but his damage is doubled as well (laughably overpowered).

>tormentors/centaur bout at CoH
Quite a few things you can do, actually. The thing that should remain the same is taking care of the bulls spawning at the bottom right of the plaza (I prefer MG or air OS as redirection/homerun can kek you in the specific spot).

Regarding the alternative approaches, you can either abuse 'funneling' near the chest for MG, homerun them anywhere other than the above-mentioned spot, 360 toss archers, redirection for RO or jump to the platform I did and use MG from there (would need to test if Gorgon Rage can reach them from there **would be swell when combined with Athena's Blessing**).

>LPG logs
Just don't pull off this trick immediately after reaching his final phase (doing it while he has too much HP will give him glitched invincibility).

>Blade of Artemis CotG
Uploaded the last part a few hours ago.

>Dominus' perks
Sounds good. While we're at it, make costumes available for VH. Assume that collisions would be buffed considerably, by stacking the 5x multiplier you get from said mode with the 2x modifier you'd get from a costume.

However, I wonder if this would hurt our ability to shatter enemies with relatively high statue HP.

>can approach the Tormentors/Centaurs in more than one way
Always great to hear this.

>test if Gorgon Rage can reach enemies from there
Since you're doing a No damage run where you allow for upgrades, it would be a good time to test this out (but I have yet to watch all of the videos, so not sure if you've even upgraded MG or if you're already past that section).

>don't use the lever trick too soon or the fight will be unable to end
Noted.

>last part of your Artemis CotG
Saw it. Great showing as usual.

>shattering enemies with high sHP
I'm really into the idea of reduced MP cost for Dominus (with trash HP recovery to embrace my No Damage obsession). Zf could get some shine here (not affected by Power%). PR could also work but it doesn't really have a wide AOE at lvl1 (where breaking multiple foes is concerned **Zf would be the better choice for 1v1s economically speaking**). Blade of Artemis R1 could also work.

>allowing upgrades
An understatement to be certain. Being a v2, I decided to grind the harpy puzzle for MAX BoC and Zf (to actually show what lvl3 Zf can do). Could have abused Athena's Blessing and my RP farming method (false OS off of objects) for infinite orb farming, but it would be incredibly slow.

>gorgon rage reaching from above at the CoH plaza
It doesn't work. However, I'll still use the platform for something else...

Not quite a perfect example of the "spicy" mod I mentioned, but I feel like an enemy randomiser for the entire game would be possible. Just imagine the fun we could have! The example in question:
https://youtu.be/rKCMUfBAtGQ

Here's another mod for the lulz https://youtu.be/hB4RW6gR1-A

>I'm really into the idea of reduced MP cost for Dominus
Same. This would let you use Magic more in a NUR+ and beyond, while still abiding by the no extension rule. Reduced HP recovery would also encourage people to play better. Basically a glass cannon, which is something I like in general.

>show what lvl3 Zf can do
Need to check it out, but first I need to finish watching your other playlists.

>an enemy randomiser for the entire game would be possible.
Well, if something like KH2 got a randomizer (via a PS2 emulator, prior to the PC release), why wouldn't this be possible? Granted, my knowledge about modding in general is really limited. But I still want to believe it is possible for old GoW.

>first link
Seeing tougher enemies at the beginning is something I'd really be into, but not sure if I like the spawn pools having such a high amount of mobs. The one who made the mod apparently wants to up the Clone count to 1000. But I wonder if it would be a huge problem on vanilla VH and most likely NER, given the absurd duration of RotG in that video (assuming Athena's Blessing will be a thing).

And I see GMG already commented on the video.

>everyone has Zf
Amusing.

>1000 clones
Curious if this would be possible in a NUR environment.

^ Assuming the fight works like the original (the only thing that would change is how long it would take to best the fight), then maybe? You mentioned that there's still some luck involved, so maybe the fight would be more dangerous if only because there's more room for things to go wrong.

Unless you mean vanilla NUR (allowing for extensions)? Either way, not sure. But that makes me wonder, how reliable is it to use AoH in the final stretch of the encounter (in an environment that would allow for magic usage like NUR/NUR+)? I've only really seen the fight being handled like usual, but never seen anyone use AoH (for good reason, I'd assume *screwing up setups, maybe*).

>the posted message is too long
Hilarious.

Greg: >played the demo as a kid
For GoW1?  I don't remember it being available publicly.

>used Arty a fair bit
That right?

>situational
Zf in particular.  MG is just hard for new people even when the targets aren't immune.

>unfair rep
/cgg/ers.  What can I say?

>expect repeats will make you want to skip puzzles
You already know.

>N first
For the best.

>can get wild
One way to find out, sailor.

>first time, but barely
A fine thing you didn't do this on H, then.  Could have had a bit of resistance before vanilla VH hammered you into the 'one true way' (dev intended solution).  Then VH NUR and higher leaves only the ONE TRUE WAY (vet intended solution).

>buggy at times
You bet.

>CotG1 issue
Never heard of it, but version differences can be a factor.

>tough to CQC a tank
You've got to get a lot better to pull that advanced feat off (that isn't even necessary).  Tricking helps.

>chasing harpies
They're too busy trying to murder you on VH to run away, so aggro will solve this.

>conveyor belt
Best strap yourself in for VH, then.  With tricking, evasion, camera abuse, etc. that can be pretty easily checked if they even get to try it (infinite MP during MAX BoC rage fueling a hellstorm of MAX soul and electric funeral).  They probaby didn't need so fucking many respawns (same for the Clone War, really).  Like half would have been fine.

>way too strong
No, they are still too strong on VH.  RotG doesn't last long, but does incredible DMG even if scaled down by the setting.  Spells do not scale, so they will be just like on N.

>Zf is left with just desperation against far away types
>setting up MG was too troublesome for a first timer
As ever.  Your experience is the normal one, then.

>mashing RT
It is a bit odd, ain't it?  I didn't mind on PS2, but these fucking triggers make it annoying.  Damned shooter cunts wrecking the default controller.  Get a third-party, assholes.

>prefer not to mash
You must have loved grappling a grounded Satyr.

>AoH is considered the best
The MAX version is for the end game.  PR dominates the rest.

>actually needed to beat that
Just you wait, friend.

>caught during block specials
And you will continue to as spell cancels only protect the light and jump special among block types...for Artemis.  The specials aren't all that generally speaking.  More flash than substance (though valid uses exist, of course).

>target 60fps
Not at all.

>cage push
You approached it wrong for sure.  Pretty common to make the mistake of not getting later waves all near enough dead before offing them nearly at once to create openings to advance ahead.  Just killing a few back to back with too wide a window is asking for trouble.  MG is one of those options that can pretty easily bypass trouble (MP chest abound).  PR lvl2+ trashes them.  Maybe beat a group up until you're confident they're all near enough dead before lazily unleashing the spell to finish them at once.  Simple stuff.

>CDK
Optional, by the way.  Can attack their toes from the hole (made by breaking it with the crane), can create a chokepoint with a statue (just chip away from the other side) in two places, lvl2+ MG pretty easily folds them, lvl2+ PR (even without Athena's Blessing) tears asunder, AoH lvl2+ as well, MP chests all over the shop and BoC is OP to begin with when upgrading (especially with rage as you well know *letting you tank with a 0.3 modifier on enemy hits at MAX*).  Had you not used the chests after the gate you can open in the hall leading to the crane?  Just open the gate again and go get them.  Left a chest across the trap platform bit before this?  Backtrack for it.  Zim shows such antics.  Sadly, my wish for dropping the crane block on them (at least one *should it break*) to insta-kill it?  No such luck.  A pity.

>conveyor
Ignoring the skip(s), there are a few approaches.  Aside from AB blasting the whole thing to death (as already noted), you can work the exit (rush it) to go on/off the platform (flirting with danger) while working the camera and spamming attacks towards the birbs.  Maybe not your style?  Rush the archers and kill them.  With vanilla DMG, you can do direct hits (rather than needing to land a grab kill and get off before repeating on respawns).  Best to mind the camera (keeping archers from cheesing you).  Could work the entrance and spam rolls where you won't get moved around until a bat gets near enough to you for an OS kill.  If the nearest archer pair are gone, the rest can't reach you.  You can fight between the first two conveyors so there is no trap risks at all.  Just deal with the pests before cleaning up with the Paris fanboys.  It is all in how you want to approach it.  If you've got no plan, it can get ugly.

Roy: >deal % damage
Not necessarily.  They choose an amount they felt was 'right'.  Often in GoW1 the foe will have higher variants where this value is scaled up with their life total proportionally.  If it took three to kill before, the new MAX doesn't matter.  It is still taking a third off each time.  Not all behave this way.  Some don't even work (air OS for Satyr).

>scale with higher settings
More that their lack of P% scaling makes them look better than normals by comparison (to something getting nerfed).

>pretty dull
If you can't handle CQC, yes.  It sucks to chip from afar until things die.  The first Enforcer encounter is delicious owing to ALL of them being open to RO.  Denying a stage hazard for these tanks is where things start to go sideways (artificially keeping them alive).  I get why the Sewers encounter lacks them.  That's fine.  They're OPTIONAL anyway.  Why the fuck can't I bust the wooden rails (something already in the game with Rooftops of Athens) to reveal the cliff...or just go over the exposed cliff with CDKs?  The first Brute bit without OP options (as in a PAIN run) means a bit of tickling is in order (even CQC is a little slow *that's if civvies and an RNG sweep don't make you hold your dick as you wait to play the game*).

>OHKO
An exaggeration, but not far from the truth.

>all the run killers
On VH a few others will catch those with bad builds, tactics, play, etc.  Atlas Handle, Centaur Sacrifice, Hades Bridge A, etc.

Zim: >kek'd
Their whinging got through in GoWII, but the boys had their (Derek and Eric's) backs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-L0Gs2whvc&t=2m

>still follow us
I think rapid spam for long enough can stop even that.

>will air control if juggled
After a launch, yes. I can't speak to a knockback, but after a bounce you get one free hit before they figure out what is going on (which is why Punt works, but not Homerun). Just amusing that Spike works at all without having to set it up with a bounce. The stone-skipping bug off it is odd. Never got a strong feel for it.

>Tormentors can't be launched once spawned in
Not while on their feet. If caught in the air (bounce or knockback), they're more receptive.

>able to elaborate
No more than with ancient notes, really. The most recent breakthrough was the set-up for the final siren (with collisions at the ruins). Even then, we already have t0/t3 chip (works fine). Let's see if the old notes have any reminders for us (me, included). *checks* Ah, yes. False OS interrupts all their options. Think it is saying we recoil, but they also get stuffed. Not sure if they RNG something else, deaggro or what. I note suggesting t1 as a punish of the shriek as if she won't evade out of the attack while trying for that 0DMG attack, but otherwise seem to prefer T to other options (probably not wanting to chase the girl with t0/t3 as she wanders over and over).

Rather than 42 t0 for "O", I could use 32 Ascensions with less waiting and dialing up. It says Siren 1 gets T as it wanders, turtle up while watching for wander or shriek (punish either with T). Presumably you just block a bolt. If and when you see a flinch, you may try for another T in a row. The trouble with the other broads is their fellas crowding the dance floor. Note says I didn't find a reliable way to keep up the loop infinitely, but I did get as many as 6 in a row without needing to wait (before having to deal with the usual while looking for another chance to go for loops to speed things up). Says I just block canceled (maybe Zf/MG cancel would be better, but perhaps it matters little) to small recovey after landing Ascension. Siren 2 would just be about attempting what you can get with the bulls kept at bay. Not sure there is a realistic hope for a set-up where they get stuck away from her on terrain. Siren 3 has more potential thanks to the ruin business (more recent thing), but the set-up time for that...Anyway, never got anyone else to really work it.

NOTE: Might be one of those things I need to retest in the modern era.

>Satyr/Centaur
x1 of each? x2 of one, but x1 of the other? Shall we have a light thought experiment on how that might go? Depends on the arena, so maybe pick a battle zone for us? The conditions count for a lot, too.

>saws in the room akin to crossing to Architect's Tomb
This rather than the pattern before using Atlas Handle? Hazards would probably fuck them up too easily. No skin off my back.

>GOAT
While your P% doesn't sink too far into the toilet. It starts to get competition when sufficiently nerfed (and losing ways to stave off the enfeeblement).

>enraged foes
I'd have to pull up the FP guide for what all that does. I don't recall MGR:R's particulars.

>various boons
How nice for the.

>bigger archer arrow explosion splash radius
>UB shots
t. Itagaki

>Dominus
As would I. The true version from the old concept art. Any particular stats, pros/cons, etc. you would want for it?

>toggle perks
Think that is something we touched on before.

>Vignesh's stuff
Lots of silliness, but little in the way of what I want to be seeing (even on a basic level compared to randomizers much less adding in foes from GoWII, making new modes *Arena, custom challenges, etc.* and so on).

>similar to GK
I wanted Captain Kratos to just be GK, but doubling the extremes. 1K EXP, but 25% on all other fields. If in an entry lacking scaling collisions, then it adds them back in (at least that needs to change). If in an entry with Power % scaling spells, take away that scaling. Maybe buff grabs to not take too many reps if in an entry like GoW:A (it just gets ridiculous and it isn't making things harder so much as stretching the process out).

If the core game is the same, I'd want more from the costume. Given my personal attachment to the boy in 'blue' (purple), I'd want it to focus gameplay in a different direction. Maybe it has targeted buffs/nerfs. PR and AoH? Halved. Zf? Doubled. MG MAX abilities? Double Flash. Halve cost for Nuke (without getting into more complicated balancing like I note to Wright). Double the base of Artemis. Halve BoC. Grabs are good other than a few stand-outs (Breeder and Satyr should see 1/6th and maybe as high as a third of life lost per instance depending on the case *just padding things out otherwise*). Arty should bust shields with lots of attacks (air medium, T, o3, heavy special, etc.). Mutilation could stand to generate HP orbs while hits with Arty just have a low chance for them on-hit.

It can get complicated. If keeping it simpler and working with GoW1's limits on availability to produce GK, it would need something like the following for H:

Power - 0.5
Enemy Power - 2.0
HP - 0.125
MP - 0.125
EXP - 5.0

Now to complicate things again:

Pro: RotG functions like RotT (not P%, but instead modifiers with lvl2 until reaching Upper Pandora where it is lvl4 *MAX for Artemis*). Maybe available at lvl1? No BoC blocking on the ground (maybe just does the parry animation on demand without a follow-up *increased AoE stagger of foes*). Perhaps scale it back to accomodate for differences not easily accounted for? Something I've discussed before (need 40% to activate, each activation uses 20% and drains from full to empty in 18s *drain would be slower than it sounds owing to the activation cost*). EP% would have to be 0.5 with lvl1 (0.25 at lvl2). No glitch hits through shields. Wouldn't dislodge when hit on walls. Lacking the RP orbs is a little troublesome for balancing. Starts with MAX'd bars. Would be 'rigged up', but a PR scaling with hit count released with a grounded block input (no i-frames) to imitate Prometheus' Inferno would be appropriate. Because the uniques of RotG have high bases, it would be necessary to chop them down just a bit. Maybe only 25%. They're just a bit strong and having the ability to upgrade to even the extent of the 3.0 version of them would be pretty crazy for NUR.

Con: Enemy Aggro increased by 1s (obviously to make it match VH). RP building off-grabs halved (though perhaps doubling RP building off normals)? PR scales with Power % (suffer the curse of AQ)? No Athena's Blessing.

Would be a lot to ask for parry to be invincible by a certain point (gaining GF *could do that with when we obtain lvl1 RotT, too...maybe upon reaching Desert of Lost Souls* later like when getting Zeus Shield) and even have a QTE for a free GR (even if just the shitty 'Nuke'). Probably won't help against gorgons who remain immune to their own meds, but it would let you weaponize them against others.

NOTE: RotG seemed like 48 tics (maybe it was 50 and I missed two, so it would be 2RP for each ignoring the activation being a small chunk beyond a single tic *nearly 7*). ~13s (though another video seemed like ~15s) versus 23s. Breakpoints seemed like 20, 40, 65, 85. Looked like it was 6 tics to the first breakpoint, 16 (total) for the second, 26 for the third, 38 for the fourth and 48 to empty. Such a pain in the ass without a way to display the numbers like Wulf has.

>reduced MP cost for spells
25% like E (and stacking)? That helps a bit, but I feel like it would also be good to have that variable chance for generating an MP orb we'd talked about elsewhere. Of course, with the nerfed value of these orbs for the costume, it might still be found wanting. With MP regen (even if only very slow and only in-combat)? That could work with delay strats to further encourage this means to work around Power %.

>test Nuke from above
I'd be surprised if it hit below (pretty sure it fails with verticality). I suppose we'll see with time. What is the cast time? Like 3s? With only as much as 15s, it would be impressive to get off (even with last second activation) five GR before having to pay the piper. Of course, it would only be necessary to spam it like that if it was destroying things on its own (like catching flyers, bouncing things itself, making PP into HP DMG, etc.). As is, you need to go in to finish the job yourself (which will waste the set-up and time spent on free GR). Zf could help a bit, perhaps. PR? I don't think AoH can hit statues even accidentally (won't target them).

>tested and doesn't work
Pity.

>trash HP recovery
Not going to make him just die in one hit? Or a crit life set-up like 'Zero' in Bayo? No life drain to crit? Disable HP recovery from death?

NOTE: There are tons of potential perks, gimmicks, etc. Chip DMG through guard? Blocking only in the direction faced? With AotF, it could easily be turned into a stamina meter (lots of work balancing, however). Parry timing tightened up. Same for evade (and maybe covering less ground). These just being a few with obvious enough Souls ties.

>incredibly slow
Likely worse than the time I had to spend just to get lvl2 BoC off Hall Hydra, yes.

>possible in NUR or higher
On H? Sure. Drop the family off the cliff and you're good. VH? Keeping up the dance tenfold longer? That's a long time with Agony pelting the family. You would definitely need to hug them during this a few times. Doable, but distasteful (like much of what the modder is going, sadly).

Wright: >high HP pool
Not sure why they didn't just make it infinite. A coding thing, maybe. Guess regen was too much to give her beyond "O", too?

>don't want to happen
Not in this entry. No i-frames on grabs, no quick slide, no rapid move down, definitely no i-frames on attacks, rarely able to leap away from the wall, etc. Even when our moveset on walls improves (GoWIII) it doesn't realize its potential (instead downgraded and then removed). The next small step would be to have the likes of a move that leaves the wall whiling moving us in a given direction (exists later) able to leap frog a foe.

>HJ
High Jump. In GoW1, it is an intended thing that you can go slightly higher than the limits of the normal DJ (Double Jump *Icarus Lift*). Pursue into an attack (air s1 being ideal) into IL is slightly better. Versions going even higher (like Higher Jump) are not intended (allowing even more bypassing of the game than the devs allowed for). It is known to be just so thanks to Derek Daniels (combat dev) speaking with me on the matter (twice).

>make it in time for bull orbs after ballista use
If doing all four in a row? No, you will lose out on some. You would need to go collect some, lead them away and rush back (rapid movement techniques would likely be needed to realize this).

>might not matter much
Early on such small amounts just account for a difference in how soon you get desirable improvements to QoL (quality of life). Higher modifiers, move unlocks, etc. You don't have to do extreme things like in my messing about with hit descriptors and HP regen of Hall Hydra to get lvl2 BoC for that point and beyond. If you bothered to learn the harder orb fountain set-up at Oracle's Temple you can lazily have enough EXP to MAX everything upon getting each thing. Zim shows a more honest way of being well off. With Ares1, you can work him to get topped off as needed before the Clone War (which is great so you can adjust to what you're pretty strongly encouraged to be for reasonably advancing to Ares2).

>only game
No, GoWII also does this. Beyond that, there isn't any scaling. CoO has no collisions at all. GoS doesn't have half cases (nothing from knockback). GoWIII adds some new instances (wall and object) along with variants on what we're used to (agent/target and agent only). Losing the scaling is obviously easily blamed on a particular move that would be out of control. Rather than make IT the exception, the whole system ate shit to elevate the newcomer (this sort of thing happens with nerfing the familiar *even when not OP* if only to make the 'new' look better by comparison). Ascension dumbs down the advancements of GoWIII while not correcting its mistake (despite limiting access to the OP attack *its purpose changes drastically between the two*).

>does this mean
Precisely. On Easy, Enemy Power % is halved. That means collisions are halved from their base. This while Power % is doubled, so it makes the spread wide (normals greatly outweigh this mechanic, so it is an afterthought *not worth trying for to the ends of bonus damage at all*). Our light starter (ground s1) is 4DMG at lvl1 (1.0) on E. A full collision is just 5DMG in that same situation. Which is more 'on tap', would you say? Kids using costumes to double their output would instantly outclass the sorry thing. Of course, maybe the thing also increases EP? Moving away from this, GoW1's VH sweeps the legs by going extra hard on P. Halved. EP? The usual (x5). Thus s1 is 1DMG. The collision? 50DMG. It can change your perception of what a good tactic to go for is when you've got considerations like this. Even if someone does a safe approach, should it be unnecessarily slow for not using to their advantage tidbits like this? NOT a good look.

>upgrading your weapon means taking less DMG
BoC doesn't adjust EP. However, something tied to it in GoW1 (RotG *super state*) is. Leveling BoC levels rage. The mechanic while active does work as such (limiting EP). Just remember that like how not all our attacks are affected by Power, the same goes for our foes. Got your aura on as you're defending the family? Great, EP nerfing means they are debuffed so it isn't just hitting YOU that is enfeebled, but their strikes upon the wife and kid. Unlike TRAN KNEE, they aren't open to collisions (don't need rage to help safeguard against killing them that way). However, if a Clone grabs YOU, know the Power % increase for non-uniques doesn't apply to the reversal and the EP nerfing doesn't apply to them winning the CS mini-game (it will deal the full DMG). Grabs (and projectiles) tend to be a thing meant to be felt stronger on the base setting, but fall to the wayside on the highest setting. For enemies, that is.

As for when used on them, our nerfed Power makes these non-power scaling moves look better by comparison (as if they generally need the help with how GoW1 handles it *often taking portions of HP scaled up with the MAX total in a fashion NOT done in later entries aside from liberal use of easy infinities*). Spells in this entry won't scale, so they look better for it (where on E the slight cost saving helps cover for how boosted melee is). CoO scales ALL of them (just just one odd ball). They suffer greatly for this. Great for fun runs on E with some heavy hitter attire. Sort of feels like GoW1 (PR and AoH really are a bit strong). Take it to VH? Pathetic. You'll see for yourself before long. GoWII has some melee that have quirks to them. SoD's Piercing Shards is a weird case. Much could be said, but for now know that it does not scale with P (nor even the actual weapon modifier *the rage of this entry adjusts that while active*, but instead its own logic tied into upgrades). BoO's Divine Retribution is an attack with a normal portion (working as all other melee), but fires a projectile that doesn't adjust under any circumstances. Much to know, indeed.

>false OS
Doing Orion's Snare against invalid things. Not everything gets a reaction (as with walls). Sometimes objects can be valid (like breakables tend to be). Enemies are obviously such a case if not 'general' (always open to being thrown). Many need to be worked over be it with DMG or stun (GoW:A). Temporary opening (dizzy) or lasting (wander). This aside from context-sensitive situations (air state, mutilated, etc.). The grapple attempt usually bounces off in a way that opens us up, but might cause a reaction in foes. The air version doesn't bounce off (other than GoW:A against a siren variant) and there are rarely cases it would come up in discussion. Often foes will no-sell and do whatever they were going to. Sometimes they have a proper defensive reaction to the shove (like a Captain grabbing you in GoWII). Sometimes the would-be punish works to our advantage (GoWII sneks using petrification). Sometimes...the false OS can interrupt most whatever the enemy was going for to force a specific action. Hades Minotaur was going to do the unblockable (UB)? Shut that down with a gentle push.

NOTE: I don't believe it is so, but maybe test air OS on the fatties to see if you can provoke this reaction without having to recoil. Would be neat if it worked (doubtful *rather, I expect it'll whiff even when properly timed/spaced*). Also, GoWII has a bugged case with another foe that will RNG between no reaction or doing the OS DMG (orb release, DMG and animation). Bizarre. Breeders were quite bugged in the sequel. "Shrinking" was a real bother. How the Hell did QA let that through?

>is that entry a good one
Did you enjoy GoW1? It is that entry.

>future installments allow turning off rage when started
GoWII does. CoO doesn't have one. GoS has something else in its place. GoWIII has a tertiary weapon fused with the mechanic. GoW:A...we'll get to that when the time comes.

>even in future games drain can't be slowed down
RotG is only GoW1. As for variants, RotT is the one that can have drain slowed down by way of another mechanic (limited by location). RoS didn't get such an option. Pretty sure even a boss specific situation didn't allow Ascension to pull a stunt like that. The drain is slowed in general on Easy for all cases, mind you.

>need cheats
GoWII, GoWIII and GoW:A have such a thing. GoW1? Didn't. Not even a Costume can do it, which is trash. No, this talk was in reference to what I now know to be a region-locked finding of Zim's working false OS on breakables to build RP (rage points). While such things are not present in ALL locations, they are pretty common throughout the venture you might recall. Some things beyond them also apply (along with just landing attacks, letting attacks land on us, doing QTEs, failing QTEs, etc.). Sadly, no 'rage orbs' in GoW1. We never did get just evade nor just guard RP building. You would think 'rage' would build with things that annoy Kratos (like his family getting beat up *the closest we get to that is him having to hug them in an HP transfer*). Modding isn't what was in question. I wanted to see how far false OS and taking DMG (while working HP orb chests and drops for such trades) with planning could take us while rushing to quickly kill things ONLY while in that very brief empowered form.

A mod to make RotG adjusted to be a bit more like RotT would be great even if adjusted to respect the fact the former is WAY stronger. Rather than activation being just 10%, maybe it is 20%? Instead of being able to turn it on at 20% or more, perhaps 40% (sticking with doubling). A few bugs to fix (dislodged from walls if struck, some CS grabs not working, allows enders as counters after reverse, evade into quick T just cancels, no shield shatters even with t0/t3, etc.). Without a way to slow drain, the duration needs at least a 50% boost (if only little by little with upgrading *maybe 10% longer than base with lvl2 BoC and add +10% with each level after that*). Getting 'god orbs' (instead of titan orbs) from some sources would be great even if not especially potent (wouldn't be scaled by settings, so they could afford to be half as potent as the base in GoWII *between H and VH*). Adjusting how much RP is built from certain things...well, we would be here a bit going on about all that. Really, just having the option to flare up....spark up (electric instead of fire this time) for a brief boost to an attack or sudden reversal/escape against a threat? Pretty valuable. Watching Zim, you will see A LOT of mileage from this technique to power-up Plume/Spirit.

NOTE: Ultimately, I don't feel the run has legs (just knobs) in NA. It would be up to Zim to represent what CAN be done with the tool afforded him. He would probably be the first to really master the moveset of that state (just hard to really get a feel for it given the circumstances *learning the values, stringing, etc. is trying, so deserving of data coverage*).

>can do quick T after Plume regardless
True.

NOTE: Accidentally said 'R1,s' for your CotG10 question. That can work (Grace), but I was more meaning R1,R1 (Valor) with the talk of breaking glass for the emergency (RotG).

>bypass them
It won't let you go through them, just over those low enough (as other things could do if high enough, just that this tool is special for making up for our starting point being too low). In CoO, invisible walls are stupid tall. Even if you had such a bug (like in the demo), it would be shut down by this fact (sad to say). I blame the level boys that got nervous seeing speedrun stuff in GoW1/GoWII. Still had options to defeat these measures, but it was a bit silly.

>normal friendly fire
Most things can't hit each other. The few that can hit each other...still don't deal damage outside the rarest of cases (usually enemy on NPC). Petrification tends to be the exception (not in CoO).

>about them
One is a visual thing. They are clearly CLs. They have their armor on. This makes the player think they have to be weakened for a dizzy "O". Wrong. They are glorified ULs. General type (open to throttling whenever). Should have had Magic Legionnaires, but also Cursed and Fallen variants. Pretty obvious stuff. Could even go further with increasing the number of blasts from t0 to break a shield (two for CL and three for FL). Spirit would be worth two, so it still one-shots CL. LotF at base would be two, but full charge would be three (so it one-shots FL). RH is such trash I'm tempted to say it should be three to give it something (otherwise it would be just two).

>know more about it
When you're ready to do a focused run, we can get to that (observing Zim will help show it in a good light). I'll probably just lazily post the guide's page for some info to prevent lots of typing.

>pushing outside the AoE
PR has this to a light extent, but is far better about keeping them in range (and expanding reach).

>the time has come
Has it? Zim's current YT avatar is a variant (in-between of the alpha and the concept art). This is where my SDA avatar comes from:

https://i.imgur.com/4paJnm9.jpeg

Left eye is replaced with a golden glow, scars are different (more a Frankenstein's monster with all the stitching), tattoo pattern is noticeably different on the face, goatee is bigger and more ragged (almost like badly cut wheat), not entirely bald (small bit of hair at the base of the skull *and tied up*), even more tattered 'skirt', spiked grieves, spiked chains, alternate BoC (very edgy in final design that wasn't quite so axe-like in some of the others), etc. It isn't just being blue (read: purple) with "Dominus" here. While we're at it, this is Cool Armor Kratos in the final concept that the Graveyard version presents (GoWIII has a costume that doesn't quite live up to this nor even Captain Kratos):

https://imgur.com/a/gPryzXu

It actually had two works that help give a good look at how it differs from normal Kratos (not just about having a chestpiece):

https://imgur.com/a/JcaaaJM

There was even a middle-ground between the two (like what Zim has in the transition between Dominus and Kratos):

https://imgur.com/a/E4dJW6e

It is...a bit odd when you examine it. While we're t it, this is Zim's choice:

https://imgur.com/a/i2YTisO

>enlighten
It is related to my talk from recent testing (timed strikes during collapse interrupting the animation).

NOTE: Apparently old Speedy stuff. I've forgotten more than casuals ever learn at this point.

>shorter than KH
Probably. SBK would be the me to go with there.

>skip cutscenes on higher settings
No. Not on repeat playthroughs either. I can't recall if NG+ (BP) allows it, either. Prompts/tutorials have limited tutorial disabling in Options. You have to see that shit. With Ares1, I like to watch the cutscene and restart immediately to before the fight. Save. Now I can skip it. Take a shit, get a snack, update your notes or whatever. Hell, you can just let it play out (die) and come back to it being ready for you. At least for the PS2 version, I think there was an exploit where you could eject the disc and put it back in during at least he pre-rendered cutscenes (the movies) to skip them on first viewing (though a bit of loading would still be had).

>Hotel takin' the piss
Who can say why he does it (as with taking sides with Skorp). Maybe Ridin' with Bidin' left him with regrets to cope through. Comfort him by telling him it was rigged anyway (and the puppet in charge doesn't actually matter). Also, tell him Detroit ain't shit compared to STL. Stats don't lie. That should cheer him up.

>t0
I forget if we went over it, but I'll go over just a bit. You know the uppercase and lowercase thing. Even numbers to a degree (though there are some arbitrary calls like calling air t1 what it is despite there being no air t2, so it should just be air t *looks dumb while we don't call T...T1*). With t0, it is owing to its place in the heavy path. It doesn't exist. It isn't in that chain at all. It is just a heavy follow-up (ender, but not super ender) to s2, s3 and s4 where normal dial-up is concerned (ignoring GoW:A, RotG, etc.). Yes, t0 is Plume. It is 'zero' for being a heavy that exists outside the numbered placement in a string. I'm able to get away with that owing to the simple nature of GoW (there aren't more cases like that to fret over).

>s,s,s,s,s,s or t,t,t
s1-s6 and t1-t3, yes. He explained that, I trust.

>general rules for runs
Think NUR, NER and NUR+ were covered. PAIN/PAIN+ varies. Back when it was made, it was arbitrary cobbling of lesser runs with bonus conditions to make things harder for us after VH NUR+ in CoO proved too easy (and vets wanted reasons to revisit the earlier games *especially GoWII*). It wouldn't be until GoW proper was done as a franchise that ME:SoM came out. I'd already applied the PAIN logic to other titles (like SWFU1), but the philosophy for what PAIN (and PAIN+) wasn't really solidified until that title. Had that lens been applied to GoW, it would be a slightly different run.

With GoW1, you already know there can be no PAIN+. There weren't enough things to take away using the legacy sensibilities for restriction (and certain tools were just tied to upgrading the BoC, so NUR already covered it). I've described NUR+ (truest version) as being guided by the notion of beating the game with things as they were when received. PAIN's idea takes this further in that you beat the game with what you START with as they were (as best it can be helped *probably not permitting them upon getting pity progression improvements ignoring exceptions that can happen*). The more extreme version of mastery of basics. The only tricky part is deciding when your 'base' kit is finalized in some games. When is the 'tutorial' (or stage 1) finished? The 'plus' in PAIN+ would be when you toss in the resource stuff about orb spending and all that jazz (still not about No Damage).

GoW1 PAIN redefined with this framing? Where do we call it? The moment we boot up is good candidate, but you can argue that upon reaching Athens you've gotten the genuine Kratos (which would allow PR use *pretty big departure*). In such a run, you would be permitted chests (another big change), too. PAIN+ could exist with the limitation on resource spending meaning no use of PR (no matter the prior ruling) and no chests would be the divide between the two in that entry. I'll cover one more since you've got some familiarity with it. GoWII, then. We'll start with what it is before what it would be re-imagined.

PAIN in GoWII is the full experience except one rule change made entirely owing to dislike for how obnoxious it was at times to contend with DQs from parries automatically becoming a disallowed thing (Argo's Return). Not so much losing the free GR though that is a lesser consideration. That is the whole reason for the divide being made. The condition change was downgrading "No Relics" (IW, GF, AotF and RotT *rage being classified as such in this entry*) to "No Rage" for non-plus. The run otherwise is a NUR+ where you have to use the starting weapon, can't spend units (should mean AotF is off the table even in PAIN *hard to remember lesser worked runs*), etc. NER and NRR together are essentially NCR already. So we've got NUR+ NCR. What else? The resource stuff also means 'No Magic' (MP spending *leaving ourselves loopholes*). As you know, we tend to allow some grey. The parry changes upon getting GF to have i-frames. We don't suddenly make that a problem even though it is a progression thing with an advantage that isn't DMG. Gliding? Didn't allow it. Arbitrary (mostly an oversight while not wanting to be annoyed by DQs).

What would it be instead? PAIN would call it upon finishing Rhodes. The game takes away PR, so enjoy it while it lasts, eh? The full moveset isn't really denied even with the legacy rules, so that's the same. Some pretend otherwise. BoO is something we gain before it is over, so arguably it is part of the basic kit (just that we don't get it back until the end...outside NG+ *where the run would be dominated by DR if not using a cheat to possibly have PR...except that is a boosted version*). Spending units is allowed, so casting PR is fine. Pegasus Flight spends MP on forward dashes (not sideways rams) like with TB shots (not allowed as you should expect given it is a later given thing). Fine for PAIN (we overlooked it in the originals). And PAIN+? Those dashes are suddenly not okay. Going to have to do without them. GF parry? A DQ now (annoying as it would be to mind even with the air block and evade). As you should expect, suddenly it is a problem using bars, so PR is no good again (were we to have AotF and statues at the start for PAIN it would be fine, but that's not how it is).

NOTE: Arguably, the PAIN philosophy of things should eliminate use of tools while not using resources just for them being on tools you shouldn't be having anyway (no TB/EH antics, no Artemis SS, etc.). That would be another departure with substance. Just a different way of defining things. Easier to apply to other titles than the mindset (tastes) that made the original GoW edition of PAIN/PAIN+.

>NBR
No Block Run. Don't block or air block to protect yourself. Parrying is allowed. I don't think I allowed just guard (Perfect Block) in GoW:A. You would have to check my run for it. Maybe I did (so there would be a 'plus' still). Speaking of NBR+, parrying is what gets cut next. This run means more in entries where we lack solid alternative defensive tools as you can imagine. A lot of the run will feel pretty normal with a few standout exceptions (having to suddenly pretend a game that favors guard is filled with unblockables). A lot more tanking (unless you add in ND). Typically, I advise doing the run with NUR/NUR+ (but not going so far as PAIN/PAIN+ *gets tasteless to pile too many conditions at once leaving you with just light chipping*).

>NGR
No Grab Run. Don't use OS, OH or air OS. Obvious enough. NGR+? Extends the rules to 'grab-likes'. Got grabbed? That's fine. Did you have the option to escape it? Does that escape harm the enemy? No? It is fine. Yes? It is not permitted. But what if it kills you? Die, then. Such grabs become scarier (having to accept greater punishment if not outright loss). This requires some knowledge that isn't always obvious. Moves like CG (Combat Grapple *dev name for the family of moves with actual dub names in the movelist changing between weapons*) of GoWIII? Not okay now despite NOT really being grabs per se (just grappling normals *not like they ignore Power %*). NGR+ is more complicated as it is entry dependent as some introduce things to be considered (like a weapon in GoWIII *upgraded move* with an on-hit that can be a grab on deep hit for some foes). Thus it varies with entries a bit like PAIN/PAIN+. Probably better able to stand on its own than NBR/NBR+, but still NUR/NUR+ are advised to spice it up (not so much PAIN/PAIN+). I should mention that false OS as a technique is not permitted in NGR+. This is another big divider.

NOTE: You could argue that grabbing is fine by the old thinking when it does 0DMG. Air OS on a GoW1 Pandoran Satyr? Fine. OH of a Satyr Grunt in Ascension (so long as it doesn't collide with something)? Pushing it given the way Tether works...probably not okay, actually. Not without releasing them for sure. Zaser has another run (No Weapons Run) that is basically just a GoWIII thing (thanks to 'Items' as a system). There are theme/meme runs, focus runs, etc., but no need to go over all that presently.

>Artemis strings
We can go over that when you do a focused run for it (if not Artemis NUR or higher).

>went over P%
Saves me some trouble.

>that bad
Insulting, but not difficult. I just hate that sort of thing. It isn't like it even has a pattern beyond the one (let alone being randomized *or having held notes, mashing bits, etc.*). I don't believe it asks for anything beyond single face button taps.

>memorable part
We talking about the platforming section with a sidepath of archers (and wraiths) who fire upon you as you manuever along vine covered pillars (warped walls not being a thing that comes up a lot in GoW) to leap between and off (to the next bit)? Not an absolute, but strongly encourages you to go kill them before progression. I forget if RotG can save you from mid-air dropping should a shot be set to hit you, but my recent testing of it on walls suggests a strong chance the tanking it is known for fails on walls (arrows may well dislodge you). It is odd as I remember rage during ropes letting you tank your way to safety (getting hit with it active won't make you fall). Might be a bug as the fall animation is the same hit reaction you get from touching a Hades Pillar blade. QA probably missed it (barely anybody able to use such a powerful, but brief and slow building *usually* mechanic...only to blow it during traversal).

>stacking puzzle
I don't think it gives visual cues hinting at the lift or drop point when enough time passes, either.

>couple tries to save the Oracle
Small sample of what I have in mind for an American Gladiator inspired CotG (along with Styx *and still more*).

>dropped at an optional bit
Sewer levels not doing it for you? Maybe doing the puzzle and platforming section had the playthrough on thin ice, so repeat foes in a filler bit was too much?

>tricky
Just use cover, work the camera or go up the ladders (sensibly) when not wanting to attack from below (maybe spending MP to do so as with Zf or PR *don't think MG can reach them up there outside lvl2+ air GF*).

>third has helped
Second does, too. Perhaps you spent your MP and had to go at it slow enough to notice the bulls?

>how Desert Sirens differ from Temple Sirens
I already went over the petrification side of things in your main topic. Like Medusa, the former have 10K HP, but reach wander with a much smaller amount of pain inflicted. I forget the amount, but not far above 100. Temple Sirens are traditional in their balancing here with the notable oddity of a mid-grab (half-life breakpoint dizzy opening to grab if you so wish). Dessy are (without in-game explanation) thicc gals. Too heavy to knock around (no hit property selling). Not so with Temps. Knockback, bounce and launch all apply. The aggro rules are radically different with the latter being normal. The strange ones are the sub-boss trio that will quickly lose focus on us in favor of singing and wandering off. In this entry, aside from the shared defensive reaction of evade into bolt, the only shared move between them would be a raw bolt. I don't recall going in for a slap. The normal mob (Major Grunt) has a full moveset with homing orbs and succ. This version instead has a full screen 0DMG stun (large AoE). This gets retooled in GoWII with the Siren Widow as a foe. Obviously the OS kill is different (and orb drops).

NOTE: Guide talks like you can bring DS2 and DS3 together to PR both at once, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that (don't remember their paths lining up like that). Anyway, Going too hard with normals (rapidly attacking *spamming as the case may be*) just sees the gals slipping you for a probable punish. They're an early taste of what Satyrs will do to new players (gentle ramping up of protections on foes against mindless play).

>Hades Shield
The rope didn't stand out? Maybe on VH. The onslaught of Minor Grunts overwhelmed a bit, did it? It enocurages certain strats. If you don't have crazy dps, you should probably avoid even RotG tanking as something to lean on (doesn't last long enough at all anyway). PR can help a bit by their spawn (camp 'em). Zf...isn't advised without lvl3 charged (even then you run the risk of a deflect cucking you). MG is pretty alright, but you need to safely set it up. With high EP% like with on VH, you should be working collisions if only through throws (360 toss of UL against their fellows before resorting to trying to dizzy the remainder for that same application). Much of the fight should probably occur not by the moving wall, but instead in the thick of their drop point (blowing through the pool rapidly). Sadly, no spikes on the wall to exploit (sending foes into them). Invisible wall prevents RO as an option. Individual based strats are not as advisable (OH and air OS). Still, a redirected Slam dunking for collisions CAN be good, just that it is unsafe practice (takes care).

>Seeds are aggressive ankle-biters
Not untrue. Lil' pibbles. Too bad Krate ain't carrying some chocolates for 'em.

>Captains
Like Temple Sirens, they have a mid-grab. Major Grunt tier. Sort of a shame they lack meaningful variants (these would be 'Cursed', but there could have been Undead *general* and Fallen *no "O"* versions possibly with the latter needing a QTE to do their grabs *if not also the OH and air OS*). Hades version could at least stand to go further with better protection against jobbing to infinities. Doesn't need to be the Tormentor gimmick protection against launch. Maybe they do that, but for bounce (rather than knockback)? Perhaps they go the Medusa route and need a 'forced lock' for OH infinite (and are protected from even air t1 keeping up the same for air OS *or maaybe it becomes doable when putting in more work*). The idea would be that back-up being around would make it harder to safely lock one down. Wouldn't need huge HP pool increases between variants like this. Maybe the Hades version would use the RAW grab more often (if you just stand around too long or block near them *taste of Ninja Gaiden*).

Sort of a pity other Legionnaires don't have a burning variant (just caps among the melee chaps). Then again, it is weird CoH had Centaurs as their rep, but they're not over the blood river. Really, they should be tied to Poseidon, but the concept art made for them was demonic (undead and flayed) like their Satanic vision of the eldest god king among Olympians (dialed back a little to be more like an executioner/torturer from Legend with GoWII). Where the FUCK are the Cerberus? Guardian of the gates isn't there at all? The Hell is that about? Couldn't even have working Super Cerberus Breeder after the final two Hades Archers (enjoying their upgrade with splintering shots *though still not able to do new melee, run around, defend themselves, etc.*). No ropes in Hades and the only walls lack Captains on them (would be funny to put them into an oversized remake of the infamous vertical column climb) let alone Hades Harpies to spam bomber (done better in GoWII).

>grinned
Not in NA (that out-of-character behavior more suiting me than him doesn't occur). It is an Athenian that somehow got this far in (begging for his life the whole time). I feel like the victim kicking the left and background side should be a 1DMG (or 0) dislodge to watch out for if gripping them at the time. Maybe needing to take care about catching the cage sliding as it would make the spikes on the side hurt too (more with momentum *usable on foes, too*). Lacking the ability to turn the cage means little here. No rapid push sucks (was cute for collisions and knockback), but it is to be expected with an uphill case. Stop points were nice. Sort of a pity there were no optional paths (even possible to make new routes), but overcomplicating the one-time scenario wouldn't fly with the mainstream thing they're going for. I'm pretty sure I would have tested it already to see if Artemis could Homerun/Punt them to higher ground at the start to get them stuck (making the bit easier if not a joke *with all of them unable to pursue/respawn*).

Don't believe you can bring them to the sacrifice room and get their pathing stuck, either. Obviously kick is crap for uphill, but it might have been funny if we had object collisions and they were amped. Like a downhill kick being a base of 5 (half collision), but fully charged? 50. Base. 250DMG on VH as such. Caps only have 200HP, so that would insta-kill. Neat NUR option to consider setting up (cage would lose momentum upon hitting something before slowing starting to slide down again). Might have been fun to have Hades Legionnaires appear here on a revisit (backtrack) or after doing the sacrifice, but sticking around to kill the now non-infinite Caps. Would have been neat for CotG to have a trial using this mechanic (same for moving a ballista). It would have conveyors, floor spikes, downhill and uphill aspects to the moving of the object probably under fire (archers and maybe lesser mob harassment).

Might have been fun to have a secret bonus for bringing a Cap to the pressure plate, have it recognize the foe and keep it on the thing long enough (probably only doable with a launch/bounce set-up into petrification *grounded*) to burn it alive as it comes out of the statue. Maybe a huge EXP boon? Maybe an early 'Gift' (extensions to MP and HP)? Even less eyes and feathers needed in a playthrough to get more chests changed into a replenishment source. Would annoy people, but maybe a formation or two (stop points) could be destructible. Use PR too close? Suddenly you dislodge the cage and need to move it to another spot. Also, could have different things spawn depending on the path taken. Again, making it a bit complex. Just seems a shame our bonus trials don't expand on these things at all. Can have the sampler 'baby' edition in the main game with the real deal reserved for testing our newly minted god self post-game (if you want to earn rewards for Bonus Play and other unlocks).

>tight timing in swim tunnel traps
It won't be so troubling with the rapid movement option learned. If willing to take damage, you can even ride the wall with a bug (travel in style).

>Centaur Archers
Enjoy them well. They only exist in GoW1. Shame. Could have had mounted versions and elite takes, but this is where their story ended. They were robbed of returning with their Character Graveyard appearance restored (Cerberus Mongrel in GoWIII has the Breeder avenged on that front *while the actual Breeder gets shit on with some generic crap shared with another version*). I guess we're just lucky the flaming thing wasn't done again (except this time having it be that while the fire aura is active we can't get too close, they do more damage on hits, we take damage on direct hits with melee and/or they are buffed in other ways like movement speed or aggro or whatever). Lazy lookin' reskin. I think I speak a bit on them in your proper run, so I'll relent here.

>boulder hall
This too probably got sufficient talk from me elsewhere.

>underwater combat
As much as I would love to see it happen, I know it would be WAY too much work for way too little (would be kept simple and a bit slow with few foes it applies to with maybe a single sub-boss to it). Pegasus Flight was a big pain in the ass for GoWII despite seeming like just a simple rip-off of Starfox types (Bayonetta did this, too). I imagine at least as much work while retooling controls and allowing some foes to live when knocked into water (aside from being able to spawn in water and leave it to face us on land). Would have been cool to figure it out by the time we get to GoS where there are foes that DEFINITELY should have been able to work this way. GoWII was actually supposed to visit Atlantis towards the start (with Kraken), but like so much else it was cut (some aspects of it make it into the game and even later entries). Were that to have been the case, underwater combat would have been obviously important.

I would be insisting on Poseidon's Trident working like originally intended with an air meter on our HUD. Would need to find (possibly open up) places to surface like Echo the Dolphin (you may remember a useless hall during the swim tubes before the spike trap where you could surface and hop around, but there was nothing there *this is a holdover from needing to refresh air*). Kissing our cousins? Should have refilled the meter. The bubble spots? Time to go full Sanic, baby (maybe mod in the 'drowning' OST taking over for he normal mood track playing *really rack those nerves*). At times you saw bits with boarded up tunnels going up. Could easily have been the case we could attack them to reach secrets, but also reaching another place to get some air (stopping points). I'd be willing to let the air meter NOT drain all that fast when staying still. Perhaps pausing with spell use (if applicable) or even resetting the bar upon turning on RotG (not just stopping it) just to get more utility out of the thing. Swim Dash...you would think such a thing would take a lot out of us in term of air supply. Could be a downside. Maybe taking hits is less serious for HP here, but does take a tiny bit of air, too (really bad would be getting grabbed and needing to struggle free *or even grabbing things*).

Should be die instantly upon reaching 0 units (Air Points, so AP might be appropriate)? For such a title as this, that is probably ill-advised. ND people can treat it that way. Others can take advantage of good play, HP orbs (underwater chests would be good for business), extensions (maybe save a final eye for such a stretch *strategic like the feather for the pony sacrifice*), not taking hits, efficient use of actions, etc. aside from just hanging near or bringing fights (where possible) to such places (if not out of the water completely). Might be funny if the game goes the route of having "Wall" enemies with different HP amounts (maybe less instead of more unless they are going to make our base hits underwater stronger, which I don't see a need for *the opposite is sensible so spells can be even more OP for not scaling*). This with respect to UL being insta-killed when knocked into water normally, but some among them are just 'built different' (able to go between the two worlds). If willing to be bothered, they could be reskinned (even if lazily with a water-logged look and vines or whatever on them *just don't make them blue and dripping*) so it is more obvious.

Getting back to running out of air, I feel like constant HP drain when out of air makes more sense. Maybe not even about AP cost becoming HP cost, just a slow drain that ignores other factors (on E it would be 25% slower along with the loss of air meter while refilling 25% faster *Bubbles would mean more if having infinite air for these bits aside from getting buffs in water more generally while maybe debuffing foes in water just to give the attire flavor*). I could go on if you like. Hell, we could have had a Tarzan-tos for Walls and Ropes. Give him full wall control, the down grab, down drop, slide, i-frames during grabs, buffed melee, armored melee, IJ after releasing from a rope, gripping the feet of hanging foes as a temporary rope swing source (for going around them *if hanging too long they will just suicide, so you can time it so they do that AND you escape to safety to be cheeky*), momentum builds faster and a bit stronger for leaping between rope swings, jumps slightly better (if not having charged leaps like Hulk/Alex Mercer), rapid climbs vertical ropes, has rapid rope movement with (R) for a small i-frame window since it isn't used otherwise (and X drops us), rapid climbs ladders with (R), etc. Mandatory hollering from TC Carson doing his best impression. Maybe also have this (for lack of Herc) be the attire with bonus grab DMG, too? Probably an overextension. Wrasslin' needs more love.

NOTE: So much potential for costumes. A Hulk could have charged air evades that punch, getting hit could build some serious RP, RP could last way longer, maybe the AB thing is switched out in favor of becoming unkillable during rage from HP reduction, DMG would increase in rage with damage taken, etc. Just A LOT of work to implement this sort of stuff treated as an afterthought by and large (thus a few stat adjustments with rarely any pros/cons beyond that). Only once do we get another character (not even usable outside an Arena, which was a huge waste of effort/resources).

>slander and libel from 'cuhrayzee'
DAS RITE

>DMC is DMC
DMC1 is pretty different for having high DMG tools (even guns to an extent) to kill things pretty quickly with more generally while needing less faffing about for style points. DMC2...is way different, but nerfs your melee in favor of guns (to a dumb degree). Lots of problems. Some good ideas, but a lot of bad execution. DaS2 of its franchise (except that game is good).

>mostly useful for the bugged hit property
For normal runs where you're more likely investing into the BoC already (and spells)? That and the defensive utility (SS). Not probable normal players will work Lifts for movement stuff.

>accidentally noticed SS tricking
I think MistryMan had in the past, but figured I already knew (so said nothing).

>enough with Wulf's code
Just need the PS2 version. Then you're set for the bash.

>blow through without cheats
With enough dps (and Armor/DEF), sure.

>MAX HP by LPG
I forget. I spend more time with NUR+ and higher than I do with vanilla. Part of why I forget where some replenishment chests are (much less collectibles). Given you can get the muse keys before visiting, I feel like that is a very real possibility.

>advice
Just obvious stuff. You can touch the sides. It won't punish you. You can backtrack as needed (some blade patterns will force this or you get dropped). Don't blind jump ahead unless you know the way is clear. Probably don't side hop at all. No point in attacking (sadly no hidden switches or breakable blades) or grabbing. RotG can't help (not even with the damage as traps tend to ignore EP%). It won't let you tank to push ahead, sadly. Just mind the generous hitbox making contact with our hurtbox. It all comes down to just getting a feel for the patterns on the thing. There aren't any context-clues giving away whether the way above is the way to go or not, so there isn't any protip to offer up. The strats are simple. Git gud (as you already learned and proceeded to do).

>learn official names
Though I know them, I often like to use other nicknames and descriptions in place of this (as I do with Goku). I know it confuses people, but it pleases me, so that's how it has to be.

>during a certain animation
It is more about them opting to defend if not working their armored moves. RNG factors, but you're aiming for their neutral state between actions. Making them flinch just prevents them from doing either for a moment.

>setting differences
E is doubled P%, halved EP%, MP costs are 25% cheaper, RotG drains 25% slower and enemies are passive to the tune of 4s or so (allowing you to just do a full orb milking of an OS'd zombie in the first fight in front of his fellows). H drops P% to 75, EP% ascends to 250% and aggro increases. VH drops P% further to 50, EP% increases to 500% and aggro goes up again. GoW1 only does this much. GoWII goes easier on P% (while not letting us be as OP in general), but instead reduces the commonality and quality of orbs in general (even before settings touch them). GoWII is the standard bearer for the rest of the series though I think CoO slightly strays. E should keep to the theme of doubling QoL (AotF might drain 25% slower). H does not touch P%. MP, HP and RP orbs are down to 75%. VH brings P% to 75, the orbs from before drop to 25% and EXP takes a hit (down to 75%). Things not noted are the same.

NOTE: GoWII didn't feel any need to make petrification work differently with settings. Usually that is how it goes, but GoS was another story. Don't think even GoW:A does this. The system is more doable without exploits on lesser settings, but becomes almost laughably ridiculous on VH (much less without upgrades).

>how
Seems you already know.

>risky
Not really. He isn't hard. Also, get him to 0HP, so you can roll cancel the recovery animation after failing the QTE into false OS pushing him back into "O" to repeat the process without needing to mess around with his HP regen.

>360 toss won't kill the Magic Legionnires directly
Yes, even if you hit them as they spawn for direct DMG, it is on N, so we're just talking 10DMG of their 80 or 160HP (guide never clarifies between normal and 'super' foes, but I feel like there was no such thing as a 'super' version for some foes *think this is one of those cases*). The main risk is if you toss someone and they hit an unshielded target or the agent's corpse lands on the arena. Causing the bugged state with knockback from a close 360 toss or striking as they spawn can work in your favor. Just need to be aware of it when going for false OS strats (could end up with a real grab with orb milking following the follow-up input from mashing circle aside from the neutral stance slowly pushing you back *potential RO aside from being opened up*).

>RotG for a bonus cast of AoH
Not an unreasonable time to work it. Building it back for CotG8 should be pretty doable. Perhaps even getting it back from CotG9 prior to use in CotG10. If and when you use Wulf's cheat, maybe test to see if you can enter it again to keep getting RotG back? Possibly try it in CotG to see if you can have MAX all in each trial? I'm still waiting on someone to do the things I would have long ago tested. What attacks did you usse while in RotG as AoH did its things? Presumably focus on Not-lvl6 BoC given the vastly superior dps and being on N (so even Homerun/Punt struggles to compete with such low level foes). Was it light mashing? Heavy mashing? PoP? Some sort of Hermes Thrust into ender stuff (R1 antics)? I think I spoke with Zim about the DMG values (listed somewhere in his stuff, but I just don't remember which video, which sucks) with respect to dps considerations for what might be the fastest use of it to kill the things present (in particular the Magic Legionnaires through their shields while it is active).

One of the issues is not having a strong grasp on how each move connects (string rules). Still, 's,s', t1, R1 into any ender (R1 perhaps being fastest and the output makes up for the thrust having bad hit detection here), T (shame about the evade into this option canceling), etc. should all be enough for Magic Legionnaires through their guard provided they are just 80HP. I don't list it typically with damage values, but like I said Athena's Blades are lvl6 BoC. They actually have a higher modifier. Rather than being 0.5 stronger like the gap between 1 and 2 or 2 and 3, it continues the trend of 3 to 4 and 4 to 5. This means it is a 5.0 modifier. Hermes Stomp should be 20DMG as a base, but it is a non-unique move during RotG, so it won't get a special value (just x2). Thus it becomes 40DMG while having no recovery (so a single hop right into it, hop on-landing into another should be exactly enough to kill a shield boy). Wouldn't likely be the best way to use the meter, but it is a thing you possibly could do (that would otherwise never be shown).

I can't recall if Achilles' Flip works with RotG active. I don't see why not. Wouldn't be enough DMG to one-shot the shield users, but perhaps into air s1 or even air t1? If LotF and RotG interact like I expect, it would just be 60DMG for the shockwave (not enough to one-shot). A pity. I think a direct hit of the charged version would add a bonus 20 (just enough) for what it is worth. Needs testing, too. Perhaps Falling Helios is a good idea? One use is 9 hits of what should be 5DMG each before doubling with RotG activation. A sample of GoW:A before getting to said finale? A bit overkill, which is good as perfectly lining it up and timing properly isn't super likely I'd guess. Perhaps the same can be said for CoC? The start of AO is hard to calculate, but I think even that might be just enough to take them out if you land all 9 hits (the finisher will definitely do the trick). Again, a sample of Ascension before getting to the earliest prequel.

>LotF to start
Better without the slow-down bug (amazing Zim never had it once, but perhaps it was just a PS2 issue *could even be regional*) while using the insta air MAX (though better still if you just know the pots to take out before finishing with the move so recovery isn't a factor *good luck with that*).

>Rush strats
Generally people do that into lights while turning to cover more ground with each. I wonder if having RotG for this would be worthwhile to get cute with TotF for wide area sweeping (maybe cancel after hitting things in that area, and do it again in another zone with as little overlap as possible). Don't think I've seen anyone try that (or even full LotF focus using the instant version). Sadly, RotG won't erase recovery for the shockwave maker like it does for Stomp (which could use a shockwave).

>bumbled into camera exploit to help make the archers behave
This in tandem with the N aggro speed, was it?

>they made a challenge focused on the thing you remember most
If I had my way, you would have had a much more severe version to face. Under fire from Hades Archer volleys with spots of other traps (darts, flames, etc.) and even a foe (Hades Harpy) harassing as you cross beams, horizontal ropes, swing ropes, walls, rotating columns, rotating beams, rolling crushes (maybe with a spike pattern to mind this time), etc. Straight from the foulest depths of Tartarus just before finding yourself falling into the abyssal void of nothingness below. One would need to make use of mobile cover, lead their shots, learn to leap into air block/air trick, wisely use stopping points (perhaps zap them with bolts), etc. Obstacle courses amuse me as noted previously.

>kept coming
Just a lot of 'em.

>on the move
Not just spamming LotF? I like to start with TotF, but speedrunners are probably right to work other options with the super state. Hell, if you build meter well, you can do RotG a second time before this bit is done, but that is sort of a waste (and doing the things for RP don't translate well to quickly clearing it). I believe these are Super Gorgon Assassins (270HP). Shattering when offered the chance is likely for the best. I don't remember being able to build RP off statues (I wonder if Zim's version of the game thinks of statues as breakables for that false OS bug for RP building *with someone else doing the freezing, that makes it exploitable so long as you aren't getting tagged during recoils*).

>goats weren't an issue as a distraction when going for the CDKs
I remember a speedrun going for RO on the the former and they didn't come back for the duration. I wonder what version of the game he had as in my own PS2 case I don't think that's how it goes (they come back pretty quickly, which encourages you to just sort of ignore them, tank them or bodyblock witih the actual marked-for-death chap). Stuff like that needs to be better understood as it shouldn't be considered the same game for the purposes of competitions. If they're playing the EU PS3 editition and it has a difference like that, it isn't the same as PS2 NA at all. Needs to be a different category if it is so.

>punished during counters
Why didn't you just parry their attempt to interrupt? There is a limit to this, but it isn't like GoW1 locks you into the follow-ups.

>Might
With flailing?

>short an extension
Did you miss out on the Muse Key Door, then?

>not expecting a lot
It can't compete with the others that well, but it can still be a decent contendor when used intelligently with respect to grouping, boundaries, refills, etc. Bit of set-up and planning, is all. Sort of like MG. Just takes more thought to get mileage from. Working the 'last drop' thing wouldn't hurt, either.

NOTE: I feel like it would be funny to jack up Hydra King when it tries to back away (or even roar). The cheat would allow the experiencing of this (or lazier stuff like AoH just raising Hell).

>Ares exploit
Really, you could play dirty to get MAX the moment you get things, but the method you note is the most honest way to handle it in timely fashion (versus making a harpy bug out and leaving the room for an hour or so).

>traversal still doing work on you
You'll get the 'hang' of it before long. A few playthroughs/repeats and you're in good shape (dozen or so more and you're going to be smooth sailing enough to do more advanced approaches to speed along those sections *maybe even going hard*).

>can still kill most things fast despite being so nerfed on VH
Just need to make smart use of options, is all. You can still get pretty OP to make-up for the halving of P%, but you've got some pretty potent non-P% options to work that should be taken advantage of (along with the EP% scaling stuff at least early on *means less with upgrading options and more when in NUR or higher*). Hazards? Environmental advantages? Got to work what you're given. GoW1 didn't hose 'quick kills' despite how that severe P% reduction reads. Rather, it gets worse about it down the line. You see a tiny dabbling of that in GoWII (here and there you might notice it when going beyond vanilla runs). It can get obnoxious as it becomes a design philosophy of stretching out duration by limiting ways around long chips. Handhelds can be really lazy about this. GoW:A did it owing to the primary focus being multiplayer (the SP was just there to justify calling it GoW, so they pad it out by making us weak and foes are tanky among other issues *tons of invisible walls and other fuckery*).

>Enforcer QTE fail by the cliff
You breakout or something?

>or should I say gorgons
Say that, snakes or whatever else. Don't call a group of foes by the proper name of an individual. Not-Medusa can be appropriate, but it is poor form to make the mistake of thinking that is the name of their species of monster. It would be like calling all minotaurs Asterion (specific famous case). Or all centaur are Chiron. Even harpies (finite) had names, but nobody gives a shit about the birbs. Same for sirens. Speaking of those sloots, it is a pity we never had a sea-faring bit (Aegean or otherwise) with them on rocks singing our sailors insane (killing themselves), us needing to fight through the stuns (possibly worse than usual with it trying to guide us into suicide by going overboard into a maelstrom or some such), avoid the AoEs, etc. Didn't get a proper Charbydis and Scylla situation (between a rock and a whirlpool). Robbed. Shitty redos of their weird take on a Basilisk. You'll see for yourself in time. RAD got the ball rolling there (not SSM). Mind you, that first encounter is the actual Medusa (just that she got short-changed in GoW).

>upgrade MG and Zf soon
The latter is cheap (especially lvl2), but the former at lvl2 will have that good Stare efficiency (aside from stacking Flash when you can go wild *chests abound*) to make your life easier when going for shatters (for EXP and quick kills).

>side grab on walls with repeat inputs for harming others
These are half collisions each, so 25 per instance in these settings. No i-frames, so take care. Think wall UL are 50HP. CL would be 80. FL are 160. It would take at least two slams for it to kill a UL and the range isn't great, so it isn't the best option, sadly. If we could use Tyco for this, the risk-reward would be there as he would one-shot. EP% is x4. Recall that H is 250%, so that becomes 1K. x10 the base, means the half collision goes from 5 to 50. Enough to one-shot the lads on the rope bridge in the tutorial's high seas. Not so much the CL (let alone FL) though it would two shot the former. IF they had allowed Tyco VH? 100 per slam means these CL job in one go. Still need two for the FL in later bits. Might still be worth trying to set-up for NUR and higher, of course.

I mention in testing that RotG on walls sees us dislodged when hit, which is trash. I've also noted how EP% is nerfed by it being active. To note it, if you were on a wall on E (halfing collisions) with Ares Armor (quartering that) with lvl5 BoC for RotG at its best (0.30). Again, base 5DMG. Set to E? 2.5DMG. AA? 0.625DMG. 0.1875DMG (would take just over five slams for 1HP *anything less than one unit won't store with checkpoints as I recall*). I don't KNOW it to be so, but I wonder if RotG while slamming would also lead to the grab animation being broken for us to free fall to our insta-death while otherwise being insulated from direct DMG. Would suck (but be pretty funny). Again, because we didn't have ready access to the form on tap, it didn't get the testing I would normally do for things (lots of things could still be found out about it).

>T rather than t1
They are open to the latter, it is just that you run the risk of the multi/rapid hit triggering defensive reactions. The speed of the evade and slap (especially for Medusa as she spams this in what I think was a multi-hit version) with a lingering hitbox can really get people into trouble (new Artemis users tend to get done up by these gals).

>OH for bulls
Did you mean air OS? OH on them even with cued up quick T wouldn't lock them as their wake-up has armor and the OH will not bounce even the starter version (not even with rage active or MAX BoC). It is also risky to OH infinite (much more so than air OS). Really need to take care doing that.

>just then getting lvl2 BoC
Probably felt nice to have Rush back, at least. RotG as an option can be solid, too. Pretty sure you could at least pull a stunt like using it to tank blows while going for a chest (wasteful as that sounds). Mind you, it is just lvl2 so RotG reduction is only taking a quarter off the bill (x0.75). If an attack was taking 25 off your 100 before, it is down to 18.75. Still pretty meaty. Even with the real deal (x.3) you're looking at 7.5 (if at critical you're probably covered, but it is pushing it). Again, not every attack EP% scales (projectiles tend to ignore this, so a bunch of arrows lighting you up could be trouble). Still, 3.0 probably means more with the reversals and t2 (along with the modifier starting to make it competitive with lvl1 Artemis).

>filled with civvies
Who are immune to petrification in GoW1. Not so in GoWII.

>got a new attack
A few as it is a new variant altogether. There isn't much overlap between Enforcers and Brutes (or even CDKs). They're all pretty different.

>does sweep a few times
Infinitely so long as he is hitting something (even the civvies they can't harm *rare that enemies can hit NPCs and NOT do DMG*). Have to really pay attention to this (sometimes GoW has enemies able to react to hits from each others like a fake-out Satyr being triggered by their fellows, Hades Centaurs reacted to strikes from their allies with their defensive bow slaps, etc. You can easily get caught by such things thinking you're good as YOU aren't attacking them.

>got killed despite infinite HP on tap
You let yourself get too beat up before refilling, then. Think Zim showed each OS kill on a civvie is worth 5RP of the 100 units for MAX. If you were at 0 at the start, grabbing 20 means you can whip out RotG to blow through One-Eyed Willy and the Testicle Hands (great band name for the trio). Your having lvl2 MG means you should have a pretty easy time doing Stare on one after the other if somewhat capable of catching them at tip range while they're recovering from a stagger or whiffed attack or something (no need to get two at once or anything fancy). Resorting to t0/t3 chip is pretty normal for control/zoning (lockdown). Bodyblocking for the x2 part, as well.

OS with the civvies around can easily go wrong (also their mid-grab is an OH in the truest sense so it can be redirected *looks dumb* and should lack i-frames *take care*). DMG isn't that great, so get free hits before using it if you can. Hell, if you're struggling (early on) with setting up shattering, you can beat them to that point pretty quick (especially with RotG) to get the dizzy and go for MG from tip range while they're stuck standing still. Resource heavy, but how often do you NEED to spark it up? Just a convenient tool if worked. Also, chests EVERYWHERE. Smoke 'em if you've gottem. No need to learn the CQC handling this early. You're not in PAIN yet.

>noticed the armor on the ML is a lie
See? This is what I'm talking about. They set it up to look like a foe you were trained to think you can't grab. I don't like that oversight in their appearance. Definitely should have just kept the model like a UL if they wanted it this way (otherwise they need a stronger variant to beat up into "O" be it CL or FL *or not grab at all*). Just don't make it look like it shouldn't be general, yet it is. Deceptive.

>redo CotG8 with OH
...Not sure you want to be doing that. Without really being on your A-game, I feel like that is a great way to get fucked up (also collisions are nowhere near as potent and the targets have far more HP than normal, so you should stick to getting lots of RO and/or shatters).

>bit annoying on VH
How so? Forgetting to mind their burrow or something? The only thing I dislike is the Temple Wraith (later) with break-out from the air OS (a bug). Can be surprising (and get you tagged). I still say they were too easy. At least the Temple version (that only appears in that one spot for no good reason) could have been such that you need to make them block or catch them coming out of burrow or something to land a ground OS (context-sensitive rather than truly general). Also, the burrow should have the grab from the cinematic at least for this version (make it scarier to contend with). They're a joke as is. GoWII introduces a much scarier version that is still not capable in 1v1, but in a group it can be horrifying (x9 is hilarious as it overloads the visuals so you start losing the visual flairs that make it easier to read their attacks).

>used OH
In the open, yes. Need more boundary abuse to make this safer as a practice when an option (three spots apply in the lower level arena with two for the upper level).

>proved effective
I imagine so. Zim likes to have just enough feathers to get the last needed to extend during this fight. A sensible choice like doing the same later for the sacrificial circles with Hellenic horsies. Having in-fight refills is pretty valuable (before and after is dandy, but doesn't really help in-the-moment). Being able to lean a bit harder on the arcane arts is nice for vanilla VH. Even NUR (not NUR+) can use this. Simple enough stunt to pull. Just get one-away and stop collecting the things (if you do, restart) until at the desired refill bit. Just have to be aware of their locations (plan accordingly). Frankly, I cannot recall if GoW:A gives full refills with extensions nor whether ANY encounter has an in-fight refill. Nothing comes to mind at all. Not that spells are worth a damn...

>hate arrows sending you into pits
I trust you're going over to them for the kill and not trying to brute force by them (still). For the record, it is a shame you can't air block into Icarus Lift (best I can remember). Would let you defend and cross the gap.

>visual cue for harpy swoops
The audio cue is what stands out the most for me.

>nice when arrows hit their allies
Less so with explosives. Great on statues. Fine when you're not right next to them. Terrible if you are as the explosion is UB. It is also not the type to blow you away with an invincible animation preventing dogpiling of damage (bursting you to death). If a mess of them hit at once? Tough shit, you're dead.

>with Zf
Didn't just close the gap, climb up and beat the life out of 'em directly? Definitely should watch Zim's showing. Still, Zf can technically be your solution. That's not wrong.

>lvl2 Zf and lvl3 BoC
With the latter, I expect more talk of counters (except with RotG as it doesnt allow for it some reason). Such a great option to have on-demand ender access off a parry. GoWIII had uniques for all weapons in the first demo, but the first demo of GoW:A went back to this approach. Would have been pretty neat. Should have had that other parry as a special move. It still angers me a bit they had it and pissed it away. What folly.

With the former? I went over the 'Stun' and 'Charge' variants and a bunch of other shit in your GFAQs topic. With lvl2, you should probably be looking for chances to land the charged version exclusively (for efficiency) when foes cannot defend (better still if hitting multiple via the small splash radius *and taken further beyond with the 'last drop' trick, which can help shortly against the Desert Sirens, but even more so with the Temple Sirens after them*).

Might have been fun if a Zf would make contact with other projectiles and deflect them casuallly (if only with charged variants *less desirable would be canceling out ours for hitting theirs*). Would be fun to stuff enemies trying to zone us as such. Counter-zoning while giving them a taste of their own medicine. Maybe it absorbs their shit to add to the attack? Probably a MAX perk. Too much work to program for something most won't use, so it would never get into the first edition, sadly.

>take awhile to respond to my eventual reply
And how. Ball is being knocked deep into your court.

>dealt good DMG
Notes say 125DMG is all you need for "O" on each gal here. 25DMG for 10MP with your lvl2 Zf. Not sure about your extensions, but I imagine you've got at least one for MP, so 125units to work with we'll say. Going in with full meter suggests you can fire it 12.5 times. 12 uses with the last exploiting the overburn for the 13th (sadly lvl2 isn't efficient enough to suggest a basic bolt for the 13th before a full charged finale).

You only need 5 'Stun' per Siren. That means the first can be taken out without even refilling with the chest. Better than than the MG option (possibly even with unexisting at lvl3). Of course, having Athena's Blessing already would allow RotG to give infinite MP during that state to fuel such things, but then the others are far away and you could just beat them to "O" so the magic isn't even important). You've essentially got 8 uses left. 5 more carefully landed (bait the little lady away from her escorts) will take another out. 3 remaining. Just using this reduces the damsel to 50HP before the wander state (white knights can only do so much). Your lvl3 t3 punishes can cover this reasonably quickly (as she sings a happy song on a stroll). Still, you've got a wealth of MP chests, so maybe just make use of the in-fight option?

Had you gotten lvl3 Zf, the situation is such that it is 70DMG for 20MP. Just two and they're at "O" (bit overkill). If using one and regular bolts it would take an additional 55DMG. Each bolt is still 8DMG, but costs 2.5MP. 7 bolts is slightly overkill, but only costs 17.5MP (saving a bit there). If you stop shy of the final bolt you can just land a melee or so to wrap things up. 35MP per siren with 125 units? You've got more than enough to blow through them. No need to even be efficient. Just land x2 'Charge' on each and be done with it. As before, it has a few places to shine. This is one of them. Zim gives a good view into what could be done here with a solid feel for the spell (as with MG before it). Classic lvl2+ PR is obviously good enough with the chest (even if the guide talk proves bullshit as I suspect it is *getting the last two together to blast at once for greater efficiency*).

>if lvl1 PR can match against this Zf
No. Not even close. PR lvl1 is good for groups, but isn't meant to be more than a panic button. That it hits infinitely vertically is a bonus. 32DMG for 32MP is what is noted (1:1 DMG to MP ratio). lvl1 Zf bolts were already better than 1:1 as it is 8DMG for 5MP (3.3MP with lvl2 as you are now *without getting into 'Stun'*). lvl2 PR? Purports to be (tough to say) 83 for 42 (almost a 2:1). That is BEFORE mashing takes it to 105 (comfortably beyond 2:1). Pretty sure it is MORE efficient at that point (if all hits land) than a Zf bolt (perhaps the same as the Stun), which is dumb (should only beat it for big groups in terms of efficiency as the thing already has a huge AoE and invincibility). PR? OP. lvl3 just takes this further 154 base (potential 215 with mashing) off 50MP. Over 3:1 (even 4:1). Lovely.

Zf? 'Charge' doesn't quite get to the level of mashing. It is easy to see why PR is so highly favored when it is just better. Needed a little tuning down to make things less brain-dead. No, for Zf to best it you need to be at the last drop while hitting multiple foes. Then you see crazy ratios. Landing something like 90DMG on x2 CDK (70 for one and 20 for the other)? For 2.5MP? 36:1 is hard to argue with. Then again, PR can hit multiple targets (evenly). Then there is MG with the HP pool ignoring solution, but you know the situation here (without getting into RES, MP cost, etc. *still need to share with you a page on the particulars along with helpful text on a per foe basis to give a better idea of how to weigh the worth of the thing versus direct DMG options*).

>did the same
Measured bolts? Bolt spam? Charged bolts? I'd like to think you were finding times to land 'Stun' (succ, homing, dizzy, downed, spawning, etc.) if not working MG (when you have more MP). Zf should probably take center stage when low on MP thanks to the overcharge thing (and MP drops especially from OS). Guide says you have a 100% chance from DMG kill to get 3MP (not enough for a bolt at lvl2 *it would be for lvl3, which would make favoring Zf up until this point even more solid as you could get a 'Charge' after every DMG kill from being totally empty just prior*). OS kill is worth 9MP, so enough for a regular bolt and then a 'Stun'. If you had lvl3, it would be two bolts and a 'Charge'. Not sure about other kills (shatters won't give any MP) as with OH or air OS.

They have 100HP. That means 4 'Stun' as you are now to outright kill. My notes say 51DMG puts them to the mid-grab (OS DMG) dizzy. Getting to 9HP or less is for OS kill. Just 2 'Stun' and a love tap will open her up to a bolt, then the grab and probably the OS kill. Let's check. *checks* So the OH, air OS and OS DMG are all 10DMG. If you fail to use the "O" it regens 20HP units. So in a scenario where you catch even just one with two 'Stun' (lvl2) before landing even a lvl1 BoC s1 (1DMG), it would be at dizzy (49HP). Time enough to land another bolt (down to 24) and the grab (now at 14) easily. Just need another 15DMG to get to OS kill. If wanting the most MP (not that it matters much), you would aim for it rather than going overboard with a 'Stun' (else you could probably get x2 during the dizzy earlier).

This bit has x9 Temple Sirens. Each takes four casts to finish off outright. With 125 units you can only cast 13 times before bottoming out (needing to exploit overburn/overcharge beyond that point). 36 casts would be needed to outright kill them all with Zf as you are now. Well short of the goal. Would be leaning on the exploiting of cost and even then still needing other things to get them to OS kill. What of lvl3's situation? Just one cast of 'Charge' will take them to dizzy. With your output, it wouldn't be hard to do something like 's,t,t' (at least) into the OS DMG into OS kill, I'd say (without doing the Math). Hell, might be overkill again (probably better to stop at 's,t').

You can get 7 'Charge' off. That covers all save two sirens, but you'll get enough MP from the OS kill of the seventh (if going for the enough for a bolt) to do another 'Charge' to set-up the eighth...which can fuel the ninth. It works out just barely. PR? Even lvl1 performs admirably when you get them in the eye of the storm (all three at once). With lvl2? It is a total joke already. One cast means all three die and respawn. You just spent 42MP. You can afford another cast easily plus you just got back 9MP from their deaths, so the cost is more like 33. You've got more than enough at 125MP to blitz each wave if catching all of them at once and mashing well. Again, even this early PR can really steal its thunder.

>just chipped the CDKs to death
Even with all those chests to work (and RotG)? You've got lvl3 now, so your reduction would be x0.6, I think. CDK have 350HP, but reach "O" (wander) at 59HP remaining. Effectively, you just need 291DMG. 'Stun' can easily do that to one. RotG into whatever (lights, heavies, etc.) should be able to jack up the next. You can then have 1v1 witih the remainder (before using chests to blow it away, too). Your lvl2 MG...25sHP with 3s. 25K RES. Flash lvl2 is listed as worth 8K PP for 20MP. Ignoring shake-out as a factor (especially if using Stare during x3 Flash so there is no recovery *might even be better to just use two and let Stare finish the job though obviously pure Stare is most cost efficient it would probably be tough for you to pull off without boundary abuse...which is an option*), that suggets three with change (bit of stare) if trying to force it quickly. So a bit over 60MP to set-up an individual for shattering (just under half your bar). Not bad on paper, eh?

NOTE: Not going to go full 'what-if' each time. You can sort of get the picture.

>tried Zf from the broken staircase
Would be tough to position such that you get to land it perhaps even with the air use (no charging there). Camera view limitations aside from the enemies gathering with an obstacle in the way. Could funnel at the bridge aside from working their boundary at the hall (leading to more GA). The block used for the pressure plate can also help to that end if you want to go that far. You have the right idea with leaning on the MP refills from sneks to keep going with magicka. Mana reserves may well hold out. GA are noted as 135HP, but reach "O" at 49HP. You just need 86DMG. So three 'Stun' and change per gal (doing a bit better if splash hits her pals). Need to find times to land it like spawn, Stare, etc. No good if they just evade. I think off-screen can work out just fine. 75DMG for 30MP with just 11DMG needed for the "O" that gives 41MP back. Right, so you can afford to splurge a bit more. A fourth stun goes right to "O". The total cost would be...+1MP. Ya love to see it, you know? So even lvl2 does work here if you're landing your shots and getting refills each time without botchin the QTEs.

>used OH a bunch during Atlas Handle
Should probably not have been focusing on it. With your options, it makes more sense to just go hard with BoC or even Artemis during their "O". Your PR is just lvl1, so maybe don't lean on it, but you've got MG lvl2 to quickly freeze and shatter each siren (leaving chumps behind shields to bust and 360 toss). To note it, the girlies RES to the tune of 8K. Exactly as much as x1 lvl2 GF. Hmmm, yes. Like it was meant to be, even. Just 20MP a pop means you can manage more than there are sirens no sweat. The only trouble is their break-out speed (need to be right on them with an s1 slap the moment you seem them flash *before seeing the statue*). I'm surprised you're not noting more upgrades by this point, but things are starting to get higher level, I suppose.

>Seeds maturing
It is bad enough they can sometimes negate the OS by landing on their feet, but stomping them to death just to have a Breeder pop out is pretty demoralizing. Not sure I've ever seen them pull that with shattering, mind you. To go over the magic focuses of the run as you report them (still not MAX apparently), Seeds here are 40HP with OS kill at 16HP or less. Your Stun deals 25, which leaves one at 15HP. Delicious, is it not? One blast. One grab. Not bad. What of MG? 3K RES. Overkill to use Flash. 1sHP and 5s to capitalize. Stare at lvl2...the guide isn't good about presenting the cost, which is a grand shame. Think it is something like...lvl1 Stare may be 6K PP for 12.5MP per second (8s with MIN bar). This efficiency would just barely account for Cyclops Brute (14K RES) being possible to back-to-back freeze and shatter with 100 units. If it isn't perfect, it is close, at least.

Using that same way of making sense of the data, lvl2 should be 6.9K PP for 10MP per second (10s with MIN bar). I feel like you should be at least at 150MP by now. The freeze potential off just lvl2 Stare should be 103.5K. Seeds are rocking 3K RES, so that means what? 0.5s to freeze for what may be just 5MP or so before shatterin them? Sounds great if that is how it goes. We can get to lvl3 MG when you report investing to that extent, I suppose. *glances* I'm not seeing it. Might as well do it now. Stare goes up to something like 7.5K PP for 8.3*MP (12s with MIN bar). Freeze potential when you get to MAX bar (200) should be something like 24s resulting in 180K PP. Enough to freeze several CDKs if that's correct. I sort of wonder about that. Less guess work with the rest, at least.

lvl3 Flash...suggests it doesn't change. 'Nuke' (Gorgon Rage) is gained. Claims 100MP without noting PP worth. Presumably IF it hits it is always 25K+. I feel like I remember it using the full bar no matter what. Might be the case you need at least 100 units to use it, mind you. If down to that, maybe it could be advised over the others for a priority group of targets? With Athena's Blessing you can obviously justify it (if direct DMG options aren't there for some reason). Likewise, if chests are abound. Not sure a free cast (opening one as you're about to use it) is in the cards. I feel like you didn't actually have to charge it ll the way (could let go a bit early to get the full effect). It is the sort of thing that would need more testing. Shame it couldn't be used for the cost of Flash (much less Stare), eh? Being down to 20MP and pulling that out each time might have been pretty alright, actually.

So, when you compare Nuke to Flash (and allow the former to only be 100MP rather than all of the damn thing) and ignore the start-up time difference (and air casting...and things just not being hit for some reason *Flash sort of has a bad hit box as well while Stare is godly*)...Flash with 200 units IF truly not improved would just be 80K PP (when only looking at a single target though it can hit multiple if lined up well). GR? The mileage value entirely depends on it landing and what all it lands on, doesn't it? Pretending we get two casts of it with MAX bar, doubles that potential (just that the 'overkill' nature could work against it as none of this turns PP build-up into direct DMG). You want high RES foes and multiple of them. Hades Legionnaires are 16K and appear 3 at a time. Catching two in a row isn't hard, but three? Tall order. Would still take a bit more than just x2 Flash (40MP) owing to shake-off between shots. The cost would climb close to that of GR for all three if failing to get all of them lined up perfectly. If going with each as inviduals it losing out on cost efficiency for sure. Not exactly looking good for the final unlock.

What of Hades Satyrs? 18K. Similar story, but more Stare has to cover the difference, but there are only two at a time to begin with. No reason to say Flash has to do x3 (60MP) for each pair let alone individually (wouldn't be very honest). GR is still too costly to use (even with the chest there). Let's skip to the most extreme case, then. x2 CDKs. You should need x3 Flash (60MP) and change for each. Lining up is doable, but improbable to really work out (sHP and break-out). GR is still too costly (and capitalizing remains an issue for such tough statues outside high dps runs *unless dumping more MP, I suppose*). This is why you really don't need to get lvl3 unless your focus is Stare (which it ought to be). GR mostly exists for AB to fuel, but even then it is depending on you not finding more value from infinite casting of lvl3 AoH with lvl3 air PR spam with mashing.

In GoWII, GF doubles in potency for the old cost. Mind you, it was 250PP for 25MP in a game where MAX RES was NOT 25K, but instead 1K. It was one-quarter of the limit as such. 8K build-up is just shy of one-third, so superior at lvl2 (even costs 5MP less). It loses at MAX plain and simple. EH's version is able to do HALF for that old cost. Asking for doubling as growth for something already so strong seems greedy. Just 50% better would be pleasing. Maybe reduce the cost by 25%, too (Zf got reductions, but no DMG increase *it also neglects the lvl2 option it made as it happens*)? Even with just a bit of a potency boost so it is 12K PP for that 20MP (preferably 15MP), it would have seen some progress to help it keep pace with Stare just a bit. 7.5K per second (8.3*MP) on a CDK means spending ~28MP (again, if the Stare stuff is accurate as this sounds pretty crazy). Flash with the old set-up would eat shit needing x3 casts with change (help Stare-sama) already costing 60MP (plus the extra to finish the job). The upgraded version from the proposal with booth the potency boost and cost reduction? 31.25MP. Still loses to Stare, but does its job of being competitive in a smaller time frame. Seems reasonable to me without stealing thunder from its partner in crime.

That still leaves GR. If just lazily reducing the cost to 40MP (more than 2.5x Flash, but less than 3x) it gets much more usable. 5 casts with MAX bar. Each with the old 'no limits' aspect on the AoE (even if still unreliable). If taken as just 25K worth each time, the potential goes up to 125K PP...just that no place exists to realize that (not enough CDKs). Catching multiple at once helps, but even then...And frankly, it should charge twice as fast for this version while going the full time would create an AoE reaching much further and higher while destroying statues. Having THAT use up 100 units (as Zim recommends) would be fine. No need to do clean-up that way. Really, I feel like that could stand to be just double the normal cost I'm proposing, so 80MP to SHATTER anything nearby. Would only be able to do it twice (just barely) at 175 units (just shy of true MAX), but that is all some tough bits would need to be softened up. Sort of a shame there is no way to do an AoE Stare (EH failed us by not having 'Blast' leave a lingering cloud of build-up to keep foes inside to somewhat simulate such a thing). To note it, GR in GoWII is a guaranteed freeze (full) for just twice the cost of Flash. That would be like Nuke costing 40MP to do its thing as it happens. Wouldn't that be something? Five of those per bar means a MAX bar during 11 burning goats (Hades Bridge A) would see ten cleared away leaving a lone faun (and MP chest refills around if you care to use more on a foe you can just grab to death among other things). Yeah, I think that would be pretty much the ideal to compete with what AoH and PR are able to pull.

Would it be a great choice for the Clone War? I'm not so sure. What is there? Like 6 at a time towards the start before it devolves to 4 at a time? I forget. Sticking with the latter to avoid overestimation, five doses for 4 kills is just 20 kills of the 101. That's...not enough. I don't think shatters can net MP orbs, either. With AB you could perhaps get another few waves like this. Would you be able to make the HP transfer for RP to do it a second time easily without AoH helping? I wonder. Just doesn't seem like even this improved GR would be a great solution (though in a much better solution). If more doppelgangers were around at once, sure. They each have 12K RES. Ah, each shatter is listed as 3MP returned. It would take 14 kills to get an extra cast, so we would get a sixth cast and the AB stuff could lead to another. Maybe 10 casts for 40 kills? Still not half. 1sHP and 5s for Agony for what it is worth (nothing). The others (Remorse/Supe Remorse *Despair* and Regret) are the same, it seems. Evil Kratos jobs in this field like we do. That number...12K. Familiar.

With my proposal, GF miraculously having them all lined up (good luck with that after each shatter) technically would mean the lvl3 version noted would spend 15MP to take out a quartet. What is it? Roughly 24 such waves to bottom them out (as not all pools are equal, there are a few extras at the start, etc.)? We can only do 13 casts (around half), but the shattering will help refill us along with AB fueling RotG sessions. Might actually be just enough. Tough to say. Stare as it already suggests itself to work? If you can get them neatly piled up, perhaps it can already do the job. I've never seen that before. Something like 1.6s of Stare for each Clone? Spending 13.3* per wave? 15 waves without factoring shatters for 180MP returns fueling still more (even without AB). No, this should be enough. The trouble becomes gathering them up for long enough without losing control. Impractical. Still, a fun thought. Worth going down the rabbit hole to this extent.

>Swim Tube bout
Using Zf or MG here would be troubling without good set-up (even Zim was pressed to perfectly execute on grouping them to that end), yes. To note it, were Trident to have a bar, I would want it balanced around normal movement underwater such that the time it takes to get between breathing spots leaves something like 5 units of 100 (AP). Take the distance from This fight location's closest point to the tube exit (spike trap tunnel) to the surfacing hall? That forces us to at least use dashes to explain the extreme distance. Should have enough from full to get there without using any HP by equal measure. Again, kissing the Naiads (full), gobbling bubbles (20AP per bubble cluster perhaps at a rate of one batch per 2s *worst option, but still something to work though losing a little of those gains while waiting*) and surfacing (25AP per second above water) should refill the bar. Movement canceling would make this easier along with being able to find refill points, surfacing zones and even uncover more hidden bubbling spots.

It also seems a pity we didn't have more hidden Naiads. Could have had one hidden in a blood pool/tunnel associated with Hades (Minthe), maybe the tunnel on the way to tons of Mega EXP chests in Upper Pandora could be tied with Pan for Syrinx (goats keep turning up in the zone, so go with it). Challenge of Poseidon's first pools...one leads to the Grotto, but the other hides nothing (just a swim to a ladder for whatever). Could have had a hidden compartment for Salamis. Maybe Aigina would be in the pool by the Zeus Lift (to Upper Pandora) and missable if draining it? Just chilling below the surface waiting for us to learn to dive, but not right by the tube we use to travel to CoH. Pretty sure we already got Daphne, Sinope and Kyrene (three in CoP proper). What would the extras be for aside from air refills or feathers? Another Muse Key for one? An upgrade to the Trident itself (more air time *perhaps up from 100AP to 125AP*, slightly faster swimming, slightly more coverage from a dash in a shorter span, higher DMG from swim dash (10 to 15) and reduced HP drain rate when out of air (rather than 5HP per second, maybe reduced to 2.5HP per second *halved*). Another Gift of EXP case (half the value)? Perhaps a Gorgon Eye or so? With more to be found, more potential exists.

>RotG used
To do what? Just go in with melee (if so, what specifically) or to tank while working spells more easily? Going to the upper platform would have helped with taking out the birbs. Zim shows a bit of working the out-croppings while looking down upon hopping FLs. Maybe you could blast them from above with either spell? This aside from the antics I noted with dunking into the water or working spawn pools by sending them all above save one foe (killing all that respawn, going above *if not working Zf from below, I suppose* to kill or drop one and doing the same *until done*).

>basic strats working air OS infinite during Centaur Sacrifice
That would make it a little more challenging. PR lvl2+ wrecks this. Most effective getting three sacrifices on one side, letting them all respawn and doing it again in the other. After that, using other means to finish each point. With lvl2 for Zf and MG...Right, so Centaurs (165HP) reach mid-grab at 89HP or less with OS kill at 19HP or less (only needing 146DMG as such). 20HP regen if "O" is not used. OS DMG is 15 as with air OS while OH is just 10. As ever, you want to catch them slipping. When not working the blood pool that can be tougher (especially with a group on your ass). Taken to 'darkness' (hall where boulders appear later) gives a boundary to work. Can false OS to force their bow slaps pulling them in deeper. If not having time to punish it with 'Stun', then certainly launch into air OS infinite. When at "O", should have enough time for a Stun into the grab (25DMG for 10MP along with the 15DMG throw). Doesn't really seem worth it to me (could get dps like that without MP using Artemis or lvl3+ BoC, frankly). What of MG, then?

Their RES is 11.5K. Your lvl2 Flash being 8K...leaves something to be desired (20MP per cast). Almost 4K leftover for Stare to handle (almost 1s for about another 10MP *so probably 30MP needed at this point*). Stare should take just under 2s for 17MP of your 150 or so in stock (feel like you should be 175 or knocking on 200). Anyway, with getting two at a time (let alone three) it should really trash this encounter. Flash will cost you efficiency for sure. If rushing it with that, you would want the mid-fight refill. Then you should be easily able to go one-by-one for four with one bar on a given circle prior to the refill letting you do the same to the other. Again, pure Stare focus is more efficient, but the trouble is grouping in the right position. Without learning to abuse the blood pool, it would be tough to keep up the effort for sure. Obviously your lot improves had you possessed lvl3 MG for the BLUE GAZE of DEATH (too bad the 'Nuke' is never upgraded to blue for a true 'Stop Error' reference). Then ~1.5s for ~13MP would handle each stallion (possibly multiple). Not hard to see how this cleans house. Their sHP is 10 with 5s to capitalize.

>have lvl3 Zf now
A room too late for it to get some shine. Had you possessed it before, the situation changes a little for it. Even if just focusing on individuals, 'Charge' landing once is just 6DMG away from the OS DMG. Land a 'Charge' before the OS DMG and it might not live to reach "O" if going too far beyond the limit. Just give a love tap to nudge it after the first bolt. It should recover from the toss into OS kill (just get into position to finish it off without wasting the thing *missing the killzone*). This is for 20MP per cast. 40MP per centaur. A bit too high without a mid-fight refill. Still, pretty alright. PR is better, but the investment looks a bit less silly now.

>Petrified bulls and ponies before LPG
You had lvl3 Zf. 'Charge' could RO, but then so can Arty and other free means. Still, it isn't like shattering is a bad call (EXP helps, too). Tormentors are 12K RES, 20sHP and 5s (guide says 5K, but that is an obvious typo) Not much worse than their back-up here in this way. Their actual HP is 600, but if you're using RO, infinite air OS, etc. to getting around it...who cares?

>ran left
Can i-frame it and even hop over (or just not stand in a place that baits the grab).

>goats can't be loop'd so freely
Have to put in a little more work, yes. Air OS does 0DMG, so it wouldn't help if it did infinite. Their OH is not balanced for their HP, so it is a joke. Just 10DMG for a 350HP foe. Terrible. Still, if you're in NUR or higher and lacking an insta-kill...Their RES is 12K with 25sHP and 4s break-out. Similar to Tormentors (just a bit tougher to finish off). lvl2 MG should handle this pretty easily, but you need to have it faking out, taunting, waking up, launched, whiffing some move, etc. for Stare (much less without Flash rushing it). If stacking it goes from ~1.5s to ~0.5s. The latter is much easier to squeeze in, obviously. If you can set-up two at once, it is easier to justify to expenditure. Hell, x2 Flash'm. Whatever. Chests ahead.

>used AoH
Without Arty sending them to their doom?

>couldn't kill them in time
Super Seeds are healthy little shits. Super Breeders...think they have brain problems (and their birthed Super Seeds might be brain dead). I forget, but the affair is bugged for sure. Working the boundary in the future will make this easier for you. 200HP means Zf eats shit. Even lvl3 Zf's 'Charge' is lacking for the punch needed to kill them all quickly enough in reasonable fashion, I'd wager. PR lvl3 easily trashes it. Same for AoH lvl3. Obviously their powers combined do the trick without issue (even without working the blessing of our dear sister). MG isn't kek'd in the same way as their petrification stats are NOT adjusted. They still job to it.

>bugged fall
Shame they can't Souls-style long fall insta-die.

>PR on the ground
Got to air cast it. Though he looks like he is off the ground, he's not (as far as the game is concerned).

>dabbled in OH redirect for collisions
A bit early for that.

>Hammertime was catching you
You'll get used to it.

>AoH only during stage transitions
You could probably afford to use it a bit more frequently (like punishing flamethrower). I'm not hearing any talk of RotG. Did you not get enough orbs for MAX BoC by this point? Was it up to big bro to boost you?

>Clone War was really tough
When you don't know the method intended it is, yes. Undoubtedly. When you've got the idea, execution isn't heard. Not quite so true for the means needed to avoid their intended rage-fueled MP spam (of the best pair). That is rough even when you have an idea of how it goes.

>act like they weren't being hit
Armor on some animations that different level attacks can or cannot deal with. Frustrating stuff.

>not enough on its own
No, they want you to hug it out (to do it again *an encore jam session to end this concert*).

>guaranteed death
Not necessarily, but it is bad for business (especially if he picks his 'Army of Ares' to hold you still and do another loop *then you're dead for sure*).

>used thrust into light ender
Sensible. To note it, most don't use specials (from block). They're not a great idea, but if you use my method for keeping him only doing blockables, it is fine to pull such stunts. You just lose out on doing the 'clash' (or big punishes of his warp). Pretty standard strats by the sounds of it.

>a speedrun
Depends on the category you pick. Easy Tyco will mostly be spell spam and skips. VH Glitchless might be more interesting. Could see CotG done quick (though still having room to improve if my decade old shit is better), too.

>Roy's
See his struggle, eh? Better after you've done the same run as the one you're watching.

>Taz
A fine choice, but these days Zim makes more sense.

>my channel
I have almost no GoW1 videos. Just old LPG and Hydra King strats aside from CotG (itself incomplete). Beyond that, some bugs. I did more with GoWII where videos are concerned. Even then, it isn't a lot. The CotG stuff might have some value, but I feel like you're better served just watching Zim, still. Save some time. With GoWII, you can see me work SoD (as you noted having done to some extent), which is worthwhile. No, for me it is the case you need to READ at LENGTH. That is part of why I try I seek capable chaps to show what I report (that people have a place to turn to for just seeing what I'm noting *especially if ESL*).

>saw Artemis vid for the triumverant
That right? I only had limited footage from Shin to use there. Not exactly the best demonstrations other than Punt. I could probably find stuff from Zim to better show off Spike and Homerun both. A fuller video would include other things about the weapon (tricking, loops, lifts, etc.). Being about the pros, it would be weird to cover the cons (bringing down the mood) in that vid (another could cover them).

>my playlists
That will keep you busy for a bit.

>fell off the arena
Didn't get bean'd with a purple bolt now did you?

>good to see such large bounds in progress
Feeling more capable, I take it.

>Artemis
Going to take some work to learn that lackluster weapon. It has charms, but I keep saying it. It is my tied for my two favorites, but it is also tied for the two worst weapons in the franchise (among secondaries). Zim puts on a show for it and my comments mention more still that can be done (if only as alternatives).

>did not know about this
Bathing in i-frames pacifies foes. SS happens to have lots of i-frames with little recovery between uses. It is more exploitable than even quick rolling to this end. Harpies are already hesitant to use bomber when evading about. Archers don't give a shit (same for bosses).

>not both places
Yet here we are at the interstice of that outcome.

>why though
Likely incorrect value entered. Should be at least 10 (though that would also be weak, it would match OH). I prefer the GoWIII balancing on this front. The ground OS here is harder than all other entries yet just does 25DMG. You need 14 of them to kill the thing. GoWIII makes the foe easier in general, but the OS DMG takes a third of its life away (less strenuous mashing, too). Not a fan of this aspect of their balancing (as with Breeder handling).

>the approach for VH PAIN Desert Sirens
Believe we went over this in the other topic. To note it, I'd like to see someone do my old method of paced T to compare with t0/t3 chip as they wander off. Then there are those new strats I pulled from thin air from the testing session (on the Aegean).

>Atlas Handle
Depends on the run, doesn't it? If we're still talking MP, MG should handle sirens. Think we went over this, too.

>don't feel ready for NGR+ NUR+
>owing to reliance on grabs
Isn't that why you would be doing the run? To see how it goes without them? Likewise, if you went from blocking to suddenly not being allowed them (NBR+ NUR+). Tricking becomes pretty helpful to learn.

>it makes sense to go from vanilla VH and CotG to VH NUR+
I'd say so. I just made NUR a distinct thing to clarify differing conditions (leaving something smaller for lesser players as with allowing non-VH runs back in the day).

>list of runs to view
Busy, busy, busy. And all that reading (in the comments), too.

>thought you couldn't use the lever until it is dizzy
Not in intended fashion, anyway. It is obviously a glitch being exploited, but I ruled it allowed as the fight is a joke (just wastes time).

The following is a list of values and notes I've gathered in a recent testing run. Excuse the formatting, or any spelling mistakes you may find. Haven't bothered to correct these. Oh, and don't mind some of the terrible enemy attack names. I came up with most of these. But I only named them in a way only I could understand (so as to be able to identify which attack is which). With some help, I'll be correcting these as well. Sometimes I've copied and pasted GMG's notes for enemy throws here and there, but out of laziness, I left some others out. Need to correct that as well (unless, SOMEHOW, the information is outdated with the new data presented here).

------------------------------------------------------------------
Spell cost:
- Poseidon's Rage Lv 1: 33MP
- Poseidon's Rage Lv 2: 42MP
- Poseidon's Rage Lv 3: 50MP

- Gorgon Flash: 20MP (applies for both Lv 2 and Lv 3 Medusa's Gaze)
- Gorgon Rage: 200MP (can still be used if you have at least 100MP left)

- Zeus' Fury Lv 1: 5MP
- Zeus' Fury Lv 2: 3.33333588MP
- Zeus' Fury Lv 2 (charge): 10MP (can still be used if you have at least 3.33333588MP left)
- Zeus' Fury Lv 3: 2.5MP
- Zeus' Fury Lv 3 (mid charge): 10MP (can still be used if you have at least 2.5MP left)
- Zeus' Fury Lv 3 (full charge): 20MP (can still be used if you have at least 2.5MP left)

- Army of Hades: 75MP for all levels

Note: Not sure what to do with Stare's values, since it can wildly vary depending on how long you keep holding the button down, and the exact values use 6 decimals or so (which doesn't help for the type of spell MG is). What I can say, however, is that it gets more cost efficient the more you upgrade it. For instance, a very quick tap with Lv 3 Stare costs you 0.158889MP to use, whereas with Lv 1, the value was roughly 0.2084365 (may not seem like much, but it adds up *and while it is possible that I may have held the button for slightly longer, as you're using Stare, it becomes obvious that it is indeed more efficient).

*Update: Testing on a Minofraud, using Lv 1 Stare until total petrification left me with 183MP. Lv 3? 191MP. The difference is clear. For the curious, the remaining value for Lv 2 was 187MP. So yeah, it gets definitely more efficient as you upgrade it.

Note 2: For what it's worth, it looks like Stare can still be used if you have at least 0.5MP left (the icon will 'turn off' if you have less than 0.5MP, so you can use it for cancels before that happens, since Zf is not an option by this point).

Note 3: Stare will no longer be usable if you have 0.3MP or less, or if you let go of L2 when you have less than 0.5MP (which is when the icon will turn off).

Note 4: Let's use a metronome to get the MP cost values for Stare (note that those are a rough approximation, it could be slightly off by 1MP or 1.5MP, but I assure you it's no more than that):

Set at 120BPM (Beats Per Minute, basically a beat per 0.5 seconds, which in turn means MP consumption per 0.5 seconds):
- Stare Lv 1: 6.8784637
- Stare Lv 2: 5.3370667
- Stare Lv 3: 4.72435

Set at 60BPM (a beat per second, i.e. MP consumption per second):
- Stare Lv 1: 12.5059814
- Stare Lv 2: 9.5058746
- Stare Lv 3: 8.7545013

Set at 30BPM (a beat per 2 seconds, so MP consumption per 2 seconds):
- Stare Lv 1: 25.8476715
- Stare Lv 2: 19.8447418
- Stare Lv 3: 17.0913086

Set at 20BPM (a beat per 3 seconds, so MP consumption per 3 seconds):
- Stare Lv 1: 37.3105927
- Stare Lv 2: 30.8497925
- Stare Lv 3: 25.9855042

Set at 15BPM (a beat per 4 seconds, so MP consumption per 4 seconds):
- Stare Lv 1: 50.8584442
- Stare Lv 2: 39.0209503
- Stare Lv 3: 33.6301575

Set at 12BPM (a beat per 5 seconds, so MP consumption per 5 seconds):
- Stare Lv 1: 63.3663483
- Stare Lv 2: 51.1949463
- Stare Lv 3: 42.5221558

Set at 10BPM (a beat per 6 seconds, so MP consumption per 6 seconds):
- Stare Lv 1: 75.6637039
- Stare Lv 2: 60.8645782
- Stare Lv 3: 50.3023682

I triple checked all of those. The largest difference for the noted was by 1.1MP, so that's your margin.

--------------------------

Spell damage:
             
- Poseidon's Rage Lv 1: 2.5 per hit
- Poseidon's Rage Lv 2 (no Wrath): 3.3333435 per hit
- Poseidon's Rage Lv 2 (Wrath): Varies (something between the non-Wrath value and 5,100061 *the highest I've seen thus far, though it might deal SLIGHTLY more damage from there*). In other words, gets increasingly damaging the more you keep mashing.
- Poseidon's Rage Lv 3 (no Wrath): 4.1666565 per hit
- Poseidon's Rage Lv 3 (Wrath): Varies (something between the non-Wrath value and 6,4479065 *the highest I've seen thus far*). In other words, gets increasingly damaging the more you keep mashing.

Note: I haven't seen a higher number for PR Lv 2 (Wrath) in a while, so perhaps that's the limit. It is NOT anything definitive, that's just what I think (and I've used the move at least 40 times by now).

Note 2: I've seen the highest noted value for PR Lv 3 twice thus far (the exact same one, down to the last digit). Perhaps that's the maximum? Maybe. Probably. What I can say is that, as noted, I have seen no higher number, and I've tried using the spell 20 times ever since I saw it, so I'll leave it at that.

Note 3: Decided to compare the difference between the total damage dealt from the non-Wrath version of PR Lv 3, and the Wrath one. For the former, the maximum damage I could deal was 154,1662903. With Wrath? 221,5926361. There's a clear difference. Obviously, the latter can vary. Depends on how fast you are in regards to mashing buttons.

- Zeus' Fury (all levels, basic shot): 8
- Zeus' Fury (this applies to the charged attack of the Lv 2 variant, and the mid charge level of the Lv 3 variant): 20/12.5 (Apparently the secondary damage is what causes the knockback)
- Zeus' Fury (full charge, Lv 3 only): 65

Note: If the next charged projectile would get a Minotaur to 'O', chances are that the charge will get the bonus secondary damage (12.5).

Note 2: If you hit a nearby wall, or a nearby enemy (other than your primary target), it's likely that said enemy will receive the secondary damage, and not the primary.

Note 3: Under certain circumstances (unable to pinpoint them), the fully charged projectile may hit for 20 damage. From testing, if you want to make sure, see if Zf sends enemies up and away. If it does, it dealt 65 damage. Otherwise, the projectile may have dealt 20 or 12.5 damage (the latter is more likely, at least from my experiences).

It is also probable that the primary damage from the full charge may benefit from the other lesser values (except 8 *at least, that I've seen*).

- Army of Hades Lv 1: 10 per hit
- Army of Hades Lv 2: 15 per hit
- Army of Hades Lv 3: 20 per hit

Note: Often, you may notice how it's taking more hits than normal to kill a certain enemy, especially if you use the hit counter to determine how much damage you've dealt to a single enemy (otherwise the hit counter wouldn't be reliable *not that it is in most cases where AoH is concerned*). The truth is, the souls DO make contact with the enemy, but they hit said enemy in an instance where they can't receive damage (don't ask me why this happens), even if the hit counter says otherwise.

In other words, those ARE the real values, but owed to that oddity, it may take more hits than expected to kill an enemy, especially in 1v1 encounters, or likely encounters with a low enemy count.

For this reason, the most effective way to harm an enemy in 1v1 with AoH (if you want to use it in such circumstances for some reason) is if they're in an 'armored state', for example, when Minotaurs are attacking you (using it when a Tormentor or a Hades Minotaur is preparing to charge at you is the most effective instance to use AoH against them).

--------------------------------

Correction for GMG's notes about BoC's values on GFAQs (Lv 1 BoC *unless specified*, Normal):

-Spirit's secondary damage deals 3 damage. So, for each upgrade, the damage for that attack increases as follows:

Lv 2: 4,5
Lv 3: 6
Lv 4: 9
Lv 5: 12
AB: 15

- Apollo's Offensive can deal up to 10 hits. Every single hit deals 1.5 damage (obviously, this was tested with Lv 2 BoC). Here's each increase:

- Lv 3: 2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2
- Lv 4: 3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3
- Lv 5: 4/4/4/4/4/4/4/4/4/4
- AB: 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5

- GMG's old note about getting the quad stab early at Level 3 off reversals (R1,R1,R1 move) was NOT mistaken. It deals 2 damage per hit (2/2/2/2). Its other values are the following:

- Lv 4: 3/3/3/3
- Lv 5: 4/4/4/4
- AB: 5/5/5/5

- R1,R1:

Lv 4: 6
Lv 5: 8
AB: 10

- (R),x:

Lv 4: 15/6
Lv 5: 20/8
AB: 25/10

Note: ...I'm unsure of the order of these values. Had instances where I would get the least damaging portion prior to the stronger, and vice-versa (...then there were cases where I'd get only ONE of the two). Also witnessed a weird instance where the launcher part did 0 damage, but wasn't able to replicate it. What I know is that I did it at medium range (definitely not very close range). So try to use it at very close range.

- Charged LotF deals 28 damage (both the air and ground version *the actual shockwave*). Its lesser damage (when Kratos is about to stick the Blades to the ground, before the actual shockwave, whether it is charged or uncharged) deals 12 damage (only applies to the aerial version). GMG's other value (24) corresponds to the uncharged version.

The AB values are the following:

Uncharged (ground): 30
Uncharged (air): 15/30
Charged (ground): 35
Charged (air): 15/35

Note: Testing reveals that the lesser damage value can score two hits if you're lucky enough.

- To have a full representation on how much damage Might deals, I'll include s1 onwards.

Lv 5: 8/8/8/28/8/8/20 (that last hit can hit multiple times, depending on how big the enemy is)
AB: 10/10/10/35/10/10/25

And just to be thorough, here's the fast version:

Lv 5: 8/8/8/12/12/20
AB: 10/10/10/15/15/25

GMG's other values are all correct, including wall attacks (9 for lights and heavies), and rope attacks (12 for Kick and 20 for Slash).

Note: Fast versions of Slash and Grab for rope sections can come out if you use Kick first (you have to let go of the analog stick). Well, it's more like their animations start in the middle of Kick's recovery. Kind of reminds me of fast swimming out of a grab.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Artemis:

Base values:
s1: 5
s2: 5
s3: 5
s4: 5/5/10
t1: 5*/5
t2: 10
o1: 10
o2: 10
o3: 15
T: 10
(air) s1: 5
(air) s2: 5
(air) t1: 10
(air) o1: 10
L1,s: 5/5/5/10/10
L1,t: 10
L1,o: 10/10/10
L1,x: 5/5*/5/10  
R1: 4/4/4/4/4
R1,s: 4/4/4/4/4, 5/5/10
R1,t: 4/4/4/4/4, 10
R1,o: 4/4/4/4/4/15

Note: The modifiers for each level are 1.75, 2.25, and 3.0. The numbers above are just a hypothetical 1.0 situation (which you can realistically see in-game if you hit a petrified enemy with Artemis).

Note 2: The asterisk beside some numbers means that the specific hit can score a double hit, but I guess it depends on the size of the enemy, and/or how close you are to it.

-----------------------------------------------------
Blade of the Gods:

s1: 50
s2: 50
s3: 50
s4: 25/100/100
t1: 50
t2: 25
t3: 100
o1: 50
o2: 50
o3: 75/75/75
T: 50/100
(air) s1: 25
(air) s2: 25
(air) t1: 25
(air) o1: 25
L1,s (Poseidon's Gift): 50/50/50/50/50/50
L1,t: (Athena's Gift) 100/100
L1,o (Hades' Gift): 100/100/100/100
L1,x (Zeus' Gift): 25/25/25/25/25/25/25/25/25/25/100
R1: 25/25/25/25/25
R1,s: 25/25/25/25/25, 25/100/100
R1,t: 25/25/25/25/25, 100
R1,o: 25/25/25/25/25, 75/75/75

Note: You must charge Hades' Gift to the MAX in order to land all 4 hits. Otherwise, you'd land only one hit (testing made it seem that you either get 4 hits or just one, there is no in-between), though that lone hit will still deal 100 damage regardless of charge time.
-----------------------------------------------------
Rage of the Gods:

Note: As before, an asterisk beside a number means that it's possible that you can score a double hit with that particular attack (depending on some *unknown to me* factors *perhaps the size or the enemy, or how close you are to it*).

Note 2: Only counting the repeat hits from s,S, not the hits leading to it, or the hits followed by it.

Note 3: It's possible that any of the repeat hits from s,S can connect more than once, but I've only seen the penultimate one scoring a double hit.

[Input(s)] [Level 2] [Level 3] [Level 4] [Level 5] [Level 6/AB]
[s1]: [21] [28] [42] [56] [70]
[s2]: [6/6*] [8/8] [12/12] [16/16] [20/20]
[s3]: [18] [24] [36] [48] [60]
[s4]: [15/15] [20/20] [30/30] [40/40] [50/50]
[t1]: [12/12/12] [16/16/16] [24/24/24] [32/32/32] [40/40/40]
[t2]: [15/15/15] [20/20/20] [30/30/30] [40/40/40] [50/50/50]
[t3]: [75] [100] [150] [200] [250]
[t0]: [6/75] [8/100] [12/150] [16/200] [20/250]
[T]: [42] [56] [84] [112] [140]
[s,s,s,t]: [45] [60] [90] [120] [150]
[R1]: [12] [16] [24] [32] [40]
[air R1]: [12] [16] [24] [32] [40]
[R1,R1]: [30] [40] [60] [80] [100]
[R1,s]: [15/15] [20/20] [30/30] [40/40] [50/50]
[R1,t]: [45] [60] [90] [120] [150]
[R1,T]: [42] [56] [84] [112] [140]
[air s1]: [6] [8] [12] [16] [20]
[air s2]: [6] [8] [12] [16] [20]
[air s3]: [12] [16] [24] [32] [40]
[air t1]: [6/6] [8/8] [12/12] [16/16] [20/20]
[s,S]: [N/A] [N/A] [24/24/24/24*/24] [32/32/32/32*/32] [40/40/40/40*/40]

Additional RotG data:

- In order for RotG to be usable at all, the meter needs to be completely full. Or, in a numerical sense, it must reach 100.

- There's no way to deactivate the state during use. You must wait until the meter becomes empty.

- Most strikes build up the meter by a certain amount (more on that below).

- Your upgrades or the current difficulty setting do not affect how much RP you get. If you get, hypothetically speaking, +1 RP for every successfully landed s1 on Easy with Lv 1 BoC, you will get the same amount on Very Hard with MAX BoC (or even AB). The same goes for costumes.

- Now, the moment you've been waiting for. Here's the RP returns you get from strikes:

1. Blades of Chaos:

- s1: 0.1499023438
- s2: 0.1499023438
- s3: 0.1499023438
- s4: 0.07495117188 / 0.07495117188
- s5: 0.07495117188 / 0.07495117188
- s6: 0.07495117188
- t1: 0.1499023438 / 0.1499023438
- t2: 0.07495117188 / 0.07495117188
- t3: 0.1499023438
- t0: 0.1499023438
- T: 0.1499023438
- R1: 0.1499023438
- R1,R1: 0.1499023438 (can score an additional hit, even if the hit counter doesn't show it)
- R1,R1,R1: 0.04998779297 per hit
- (R),x: 0.04998779297 / 0.04998779297
- air R1: 0.09997558594
- air s1: 0.1499023438
- air s2: 0.1499023438
- air s3: 0.1499023438
- air t1: 0.07495117188 / 0.07495117188
- L1,x: 0.09997558594
- air L1,x: 0.009994506836 per hit
- L1,s: 0.009994506836 per hit
- air L1,s: 0.009994506836 per hit
- L1,t: 0.009994506836 per hit
- air L1,t: 0.009994506836 per hit
- L1,o (uncharged or charged): 0
- air L1,o (uncharged or charged): 0.09997558594 / 0
- s,s,S:
*Everything but the ender: 0.1499023438
*The actual ender: 0.04998779297
- (Wall only) Light attack: 0.1499023438
- (Wall only) Heavy attack: 0.1499023438
- (Rope only) Kick: 0.1499023438
- (Rope only) Slash: 1

2. Blade of Artemis:

- s1: 0.1499023438
- s2: 0.1499023438
- s3: 0.1499023438
- s4: 0.1499023438 per hit
- t1: 0.1499023438 / 0.1499023438 (the occasional double hit from the first hit also counts)
- t2: 0.1499023438
- o1: 0.1499023438
- o2: 0.1499023438
- o3: 0.1499023438
- air s1: 0.1499023438
- air s2: 0.1499023438
- air t1: 0.1499023438 (sometimes you get nothing from this)
- air o1: 0.1499023438
- R1: 0.1499023438 per hit
- R1,s: 0.1499023438 per hit
- R1,t: 0.1499023438
- R1,o: 0.1499023438
- L1,s: 0.1499023438 / 0 / 0.1499023438 / 0.1499023438 / 0.1499023438
- L1,t: 0.1499023438
- L1,o: 0.1499023438 per hit
- L1,x: 0.1499023438 per hit (the occasional double hit from the second hit also counts)

3. Grabs:

Note: Unless specified, if there's any grab that requires you to initiate a CS minigame, these values assume that you win said minigames. Refer to enemy specific entries for enemy reversals (and our own reversals for their grabs where applicable).

- Grab select:
* "Orb Milk Punch" (UL, SUL, ML, SML): 0.09997558594
* "Takedown Stab" (Any Legionnaire, except Captains): 0.5
* "Chest Rip" (Any Legionnaire, except Captains): 0.25
* "360 Toss" (Any Legionnaire, except Captains): 0.25
- Wing Rip (any Harpy): 0.25
- OH (Applicable for everything open to it *including Cyclops Brute*): 0.25
- (Wall) Upgrab: 5
- (Wall) Sidegrab: 0.25 per slam, up to 0.75
- (Rope) Grab: 0.5
- air OS (Any Legionnaire): 0.1499023438
- air OS (Harpies): 0.25
- air OS (Minotaur *any type*): 0.25
- air OS (Medusa/Gorgons): 0
- air OS (Wraiths): 0.25
- air OS (Temple Sirens): 0.25
- air OS (Breeders): 0.25
- air OS (Centaurs): 0.25
- air OS (Satyrs): 0.25
- air OS (Clones): 5
- "Throat Stab" (Minotaurs): 2
- "Head Rip" (Medusa, Gorgons): 2
- "Eye Impale" (Cyclops Enforcer): 5
- "Stuck Uppercut" (Wraiths): 0.5
- "Beheading" (Wraiths): 1
- "Soul Release" (Desert Siren): 0
- “Head Dash” (Temple Sirens): 0.5
- “Chest Impale Toss” (Temple Sirens): 1
- "Chest Impale" (Cyclops Desert King): 5 (you don't need to win or lose, initiating the CS minigame is enough)
- "Toss" (Seeds, Offsprings, Super Seeds): 0.25
- "Stomp" (Seeds, Offsprings, Super Seeds): 1
- "Jaw Slice" (Breeders): 0.5
- "Head Impale" (Breeders): 1
- "Shoulder Throw" (Legionnaire Captain): 0.5
- "Back Stab Impale" (Legionnaire Captain): 1
- "Shoulder Toss" (Centaurs): 0.5
- "Leg Chop Impale" (Centaurs): 1
- "Head Slam" (Pandora's Guardian): 50
- "Bloody Uppercut" (Satyrs): 0.5
- "Staff Impale" (Satyrs): 1
- "Limb Impale" (Ares 1): 100
- "Ground Breaker" (Kratos' Doppelgangers): 0

Note: Spells do not build up RP at all.

Note 2: The game has an inconsistent rule for rounding values up or down. For example, let's take the BoC's R1,R1,R1's value (0.04998779297), and let's multiply it by 4 (the total number of hits). A calculator might tell you that the result is 0.19995117188, but the actual value in-game is 0.1999511719. But what if you use s1 and s2? A calculator says the resulting number is 0.2998046876, but in-game, the last digit is different (5 instead of 6). Same with Artemis' R1 (multply its value by 5 *the total number of hits* and you get 0.749511719 in a calculator, but the game treats that as 0.7495117188 *notice how the last three digits are the same as the R1,R1,R1 case, so it's the opposite in this case*). Oh well, it's not like many people will care about so many decimals.

Note 3: You get RP from hitting the statues. The actual values are unchanged.

Note 4: As expected, if you turn something into a statue while they're in the air, and they break, this will not give you any RP.

Note 5: Sometimes, if you hit an enemy with the weaker portion of t3 (the arcing back), the stronger portion will not count towards RP gained, but sometimes, this isn't the case. Not sure why this happens.

Note 6: If you use t0 and t3 from very far away, you will not get any RP, even if you hit your target.

Note 7: Double hits off air LotF (the physical portion, not the shockwave) provides additional RP (twice the original amount). Same goes for Might's ender, which can score more than two hits against certain targets. However, double hits off t0/t3 aren't like this (you only get their original values only once).

Note 8: Luckily, hitting multiple targets with the same attack seems to build RP for each target struck by your attack.

Note 9: It seems that hitting objects builds up your RP.

Note 10: ...You can hit the women whom you have sex with in a minigame, and build RP this way. Succeeding or failing the minigame does not build the meter.

Note 11: If you draw out MG while being hit (in the same manner as you would in GoWII to avoid damage, except you can't do that here) will prevent you from getting any RP. Same goes for Zf (although it is more complicated to see this for Zf since the window for success is much tighter; in order to not get any RP at all, Kratos must not do his flinching animation).

Note 12: It seems there are times where, if you hit more than one target, rope slashes don't give their intended RP (I'd say it's 50/50, distance didn't seem to matter, as is the case with t0 or t3). But you'd at least get 1 RP anyway (just not always 2 or more if there's more than one target to hit).

Note 13: In order for the meter to be visible to the player, it needs to have at least 1RP.

Note 14: RotG will stop being usable when it hits 0.94633919 (or something along these lines, this is not a constant). It will never truly reach zero.

Note 15: Getting hit in the air will prevent you from getting any RP. At least until you touch the ground again.

Note 16: Hitting the family yourself builds RP.

Note 17: There is no way to get RP if you're currently using RotG. Not even via healing the family.

Note 18: Not that it matters, but you do not get any RP when using BotG. But even if it secretly did, it would amount to nothing.

-----------------------------------------

Enemy related data

Note: "Scales with settings" is in relation to the attack in question, and nothing else. Don't go thinking that the enemy will gain more HP or more Defense the higher the setting is.

Note 2: RP build-up does not scale with Enemy Power%, even if the damage from the attack itself does.

Note 3: Refer to the damage values below if you want to know how much an enemy deals to a statue. It does not matter which setting or costume you're using, these values will be the exact same across settings (again, this only applies to statues).

Note 4: All of this testing was done for the US PS2 version of the game. So far, I can say that the only difference when it comes to RP build-up is that you can build up the meter if you try to grab objects, which is only applicable for the PAL version of the game (reported to work on the PS3 version as well), whereas that does not work for the US version.

Note 5: Unless otherwise specified, if I don't say whether all the parts of an attack can be blocked/parried or not (just denoting it with 'Y' or 'N'), it means ALL the parts can be blocked/parried (or not).

Note 6: Unless otherwise specified, you can negate nearly every attack with i-frames (rolling, Sword Summon), but you shouldn't use that option for long-lasting attacks. That said, every hazard ignores these.

Note 7: As with the two notes above, if I don't specify every hit reaction (Effect) for a multi-hitting attack, it means that Kratos reacts the same way for every hit.

Note 8: Damage values, RP building, and hit reactions are all listed in order depending on what the hit does. For example, hypothetically speaking, if the first UL's double slash dealt 4/2 damage, built up Rage by 2/1, and generated the Knelt/Push reactions from Kratos, it means that the 4 damage hit builds up rage by 2, and it has a 'Knelt' effect, while the 2 damage attack builds rage by 1, and has a 'Push' effect on Kratos. Again, everything will be listed in order.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Undead Legionnaire (35HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – “Orb Milk Punch” - 7 damage
(fixed) per punch (14HP or less for takedown)
Grab Reversal – N/A
Grab Kill –
“360 toss” – instant kill (collision and 3 damage knockback)
“Chest Rip” – instant kill *No EXP*
“Takedown Stab” – instant kill
Condition - General
OH - 10 damage *collision*
Air grab - 10 damage *collision*

Note: You have a few seconds before the UL breaks out of your grip. You don't take any damage, however. He will simply taunt you afterwards.

Double Slash: See name
Position: (location *close, far, left, right, etc.*)
Cue – Begins slowly turning
Interrupt – Y
Damage - 3/3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125
Effect – Hit
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Rising Attack: Quick rises into a spinning attack (the enemy needs to be attacked while on the ground first)
Position: As long as you attack it with melee, it doesn't matter.
Cue – Quick rise
Interrupt – N
Damage - 6
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect – Spin
Block – Y
Parry – Y
--------------------------------------------------------
Super Undead Legionnaire (50HP)

See Undead Legionnaire.

Note: For wall (net) combat, side grab deals 25 damage to them, and up grab is an instant kill. Also, despite being on Normal and not using any costume, wall collisions were stronger. They varied from 20 to 25 (the former being mostly tied to side grabs, whereas upgrabs could deal the latter, but there were cases where it dealt 20 damage instead *in all cases, it was owed to an UL trying to jump back into the net, only for his ally to collide with him, sending him flying, one instance in particular when adjusting the difficulty was especially comical*). Adjusting the difficulty seemed to have an effect (read: instant kill), so they definitely scale with settings.

For wall specifics:

Side Kick: See name
Position: Close, left, right
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Side Slash: See name
Position: Close, left, right
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Downwards Kick: See name
Position: Close, up
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Upwards Slash: See name
Position: Close, up
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...
--------------------------------------------------------
Hall Hydra (325HP)
Type: Heavy

Grab Damage - N/A
Grab Kill -
"Eye Impale" (triggers a CS minigame) - Instant Kill
Grab Reversal – N/A
Condition - Dizzy (must deal 125 damage to get it to "O")
OH - N/A
Air grab - N/A

Note: Regenerates to having 260HP left if you don't grab it during the dizzy state.

Note 2: You do not get any RP for failing or succeeding the CS minigame.

Note 3: Pressing the wrong button during the CS minigame causes Kratos to take 10 damage (fixed). This applies for all prompts.

Surprise Attack: Bite
Position: Close
Cue – Sudden Appearance at fight’s start
Interrupt – N
Damage – 1
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect – Hit
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Head Swipe: Pounds head to our left then swipes into a bite at the right
Position: Close
Cue – Fin rattling and retreat
Interrupt – N
Damage – 5 (can hit again if you're on the right side)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect – Hit
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Double Bite: Lunging bites
Position: close, mid, long
Cue – see ‘Head Swipe’
Interrupt – N
Damage – 4/4 (each bite can hit you twice)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 for each successful hit landed on you
Effect – Push (both)
Block – Y
Parry – Y

NOTE: First hit always misses when you are on the far left side

Taunt: Roar *hit for HP/EXP orbs*
Taunt: Roar 2 *hit for HP/EXP orbs*

HP orbs are worth 10HP a piece.

Defeating it will yield 80HP and 70EXP.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Harpy (15HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Wing Rip” – Instant Kill
Grab Reversal – N/A
Condition - General
OH - 10 damage *collision*
air grab – Turn Slam - 5 damage

Swoop: Diving claw swipe
Position: close, mid
Cue – Screech as it pulls back before swoop
Interrupt – Y
Damage - 3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect – Hit
Block – Y
Parry – Y

NOTE: It appears able to hit multiple times in one swoop (up to 3) if you get stuck on something

Note 2: If you parry the swoop, chances are that the Harpy willl be knocked back and onto the ground. If, during this time, there's an enemy near the harpy, said enemy will take collision damage (specifically, it counts as a half collision).

---------------------------------------------------------------

Deck Hydra (400HP)
Type: Heavy

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – N/A
Grab Reversal – 75 Damage
Condition - ...
OH - N/A
Air grab - N/A

Surprise Attack: Breaks through the deck
Position: close
Cue – deck breaking
Interrupt – N
Damage – 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect – Bounce
Block – N
Parry – N

Suction: Draws Kratos in by inhaling
Position: mid, long
Cue – …
Interrupt – N
Damage - 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect – Draws Kratos in then goes into ‘Taunt’
Block – N
Parry – N

Bite: Tries to bite you
Position: Close
Cue – Quickly archs back
Interrupt – N
Damage - 10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.5
Effect – Push
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Sweep: Swiping headbutt
Position: Close, Mid
Cue – arches back, tilts head and roars as it begins to sweep
Interrupt – N
Damage - 10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.5
Effect – Knelt
Block – Y
Parry – Y

NOTE: Safe between 1 and 2 o’clock positions
Note 2: If you're in the air as you're about to get hit by this, you get no RP returns at all.

Triple Head Pound: See note below.
Position: close, mid
Cue –
Interrupt – N
Damage – 10/10/10
Scales with settings: Y
RP build-up rate: 0/ (0.25 or 0.125)/ (0.25 or 0)
Effect – Bounce
Block – N
Parry – N

NOTE: Hits on the left, center and right. You’re safe at 1,2,5 and 11 o’clock positions. If you stick close between 4 and 5 o’clock, you’ll be fine.
NOTE2: It can hit without dealing damage just a bit outside the shockwave. The chance for getting hit with 2 of the 3 exists
Note 3: If you're hit by the second slam, the third slam apparently offers no RP build-up at all. Though that might be owed to where you bounce at (a position where you get no RP, as described below).
Note 4: From testing, the second slam's RP returns are variable. It seems you're more likely to get 0.25 the closer you are to the foreground (by the fence). As for the third one, it seems that you always get 0.25 if you're close to that gap between the two broken fences.

Grab: Devour
Position: close
Cue: Fins rattle as it preps for a quick swooping grab
Interruptible: N
CS – Y
WIN – 75 damage (to foe)
RP buildup - 0
LOSE – Fixed 10/10 damage to Kratos
RP buildup - 0
Effect – Down
Block – N
Parry – N

NOTE: After Kratos loses, it taunts
NOTE2: Safe between 1 and 3 o’clock positions

Taunt1: Arch Back and roar
Taunt2: Variation of Taunt1

NOTE: There is an opening between attacks where ‘stuns’ or even a false grab can cause an orb drops (usually an HP orb but I’ve seen 2EXP orbs before as well). ‘Taunt’ can be interrupted.

Defeating it will yield a full HP refill and 105EXP.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Undead Archer (10HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill –
“360 toss” – instant kill (collision and 2 damage knockback)
“Chest Rip” – instant kill *No EXP*
“Takedown Stab” – instant kill
Grab Reversal – N/A
Condition - General
OH – 3 damage *collision*
Air grab – 3 damage *collision*

Arrow: Shoots an arrow at you
Position: mid and long (starting archers also use this up close)
Cue – Brings up and aims bow
Interrupt – Y
Damage - 2
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect – Hit
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Punch + Arrow: See description
Position: Close
Cue - Stretches arm backwards
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.125
Effect - Push/Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: Initial archers cannot use this attack.

-------------------------------------------------
Hydra Twins (250HP each)
Type: Heavy

Grab Damage - N/A
Grab Kill - N/A
Condition - ...
OH - N/A
Air grab - N/A

Sweep: Sweeping headbutt
Position: Close, mid, long (even if you're out of range)
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 5 (It is very likely to hit you twice)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Knelt
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Bite: Tries to bite you
Position: Close, sides, down
Cue - Quickly archs back
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 5 (It is very likely to hit you twice)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Suction: Draws Kratos in by inhaling
Position: long
Cue – …
Interrupt – N
Damage - 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect – Draws Kratos in then goes into ‘Taunt2’
Block – N
Parry – N

Mast Headbutt: Twins use a headbutt toward the mast to prevent you from going further
Position: Attempting to climb up the mast while the twins are alive will trigger this
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect: Down
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Taunt1: Arch Back and roar
Taunt2: Variation of Taunt1 (mostly happens after suction)

Note: You must deal 160 damage to down either of them. Though testing reveals that as long as its HP is in the range of 90-90.9, they will still go down (no need to get them to a flat 90).
Note 2: Regenerates HP to 187.5HP if not killed in time with the trap above its head. Further regeneration can leave it with marginally more HP (second regeneration left it with 187.9850464HP).
Note 3: For killing either of them, you get a full HP refill (at least for the HP you should be having at this point), and 105EXP.
-------------------------------------------------

Hydra King
Type: Heavy

Grab Damage - N/A
Grab Kill - "Impale"
CS - Y
*Part 1*
WIN - Proceed to Part 2
LOSE - 10 damage to Kratos (fixed)
*Part 2*
WIN - Enemy dies
LOSE - 10 damage to Kratos (fixed)
*Neither scenario builds RP*
Condition - Dizzy
OH - N/A
Air grab - N/A

Central Bite: Bite aimed at the center of the mast
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Opens mouth, arch back, and slowly lunges at you
Interrupt - N
Damage - 15
Scales with settings -  Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - N
Parry - N

Side Bite: Bite aimed at either side of the mast
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Opens mouth at first, lets out fog from its nose. Which side it will pick depends on where it leans to during the first part of the cue.
Interrupt - N
Damage - 10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect - Bounce
Block - N
Parry - N

Roar: See name
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Closes mouth, arches back
Interrupt - N
Damage - ...
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: ...
Effect - Push
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Note: You can use quick rolls towards its direction or hold L1 to avoid being thrown off the mast.

1-3. 151 damage until “O”. (249HP remaining) Regenerates to having 320HP left. *71 HP regained during regeneration*
NOTE 2: 254HP total with exploit; 5 damage until “O”. That’s about 66 damage less needed for these stages.
4. 171 damage until “O”. (149HP remaining).
Note 3: Failing or succeeding at the initial CS minigames yields no RP.
Note 4: When he falls into the mast, you can be hit by this, albeit you take no damage. You also get no RP build-up from this.

Taunt 1: Arch back and roars
-------------------------------------------------

Cursed Legionnaire (80HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage - "Orb Milk Punch" 15 Damage (fixed)
Grab Kill -
*Takedown Stab*
*Chest Rip*
*360 Toss*
Condition - Dizzy - Regenerates 10HP over time
OH - 22 Damage
Air grab - 22 Damage

Note: It is not possible to use the punch against CLs via normal means, only with cheats. Just pointing out that damage values for the grab still exist. Either way, he must have 15HP left for Takedown.

Vertical Rotating Slash: See description
Position: Close
Cue - Makes a sound while doing a small jump
Interrupt - N
Damage - 3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Rising Slash: Counterattack from downed state
Position: So long as you attack him with something, it doesn't matter (even with a spell *but multi-hitting spells like AoH and PR will just promptly interrupt the attack*)
Cue - Suddenly stands up after being hit
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 6
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Spin
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Grab: Y
Position: Close
Cue:
Interruptible - Y
CS – Y
WIN – Enemy is thrown and receives 10 damage (fixed).
RP build-up rate: 5
LOSE – 10 damage to Kratos, followed by an additional 5
Scales with settings - First value is fixed, second hit scales
RP build-up rate: First hit has no returns, second one gives you 0.125RP
Effect – Down/Hit
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Note: Second hit CAN be parried or evaded. For the former, you need to move the analog stick, so Kratos can get out of the downed animation earlier.

Wall combat specifics:

Side Kick: See name
Position: Close, left, right
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Side Slash: See name
Position: Close, left, right
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Downwards Kick: See name
Position: Close, up
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Upwards Slash: See name
Position: Close, up
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Grab:
Position: Up (above you)
Cue: Detaches from wall (although it is pretty fast to see coming)
Interruptible - Y/N (you basically have to know he's going to use it)
CS – Y - Deals 1 damage to Kratos upon triggering (you get no RP from this). This damage scales with settings.
WIN – Enemy is killed *you get not orbs from this*
RP build-up rate: 5
LOSE – Instant death to Kratos (it does not matter if there is a platform beneath you)
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: ...
Effect – ...
Block – ...
Parry – ...

Note: As usual, upgrab kills them instantly. Side grab deals a whopping fixed 70 damage to them. Collisions are the same from SUL (20 for sidegrab, 25 for upgrab). Adjusting to Hard, the collision for sidegrabs deals 50 damage, and the upgrab collision deals 62,5 damage. Going further to Very Hard, it seems that both collision types insta-kill the target. Since the given data is consistent with how collisions scale, we can safely assume that the sidegrab collision would deal 100 damage per slam, and the upgrab collision would deal 125 damage. Check the FL entry for confirmation. And for those curious about the Easy values, it's what you would expect (10 for sidegrab collision, 12.5 for upgrab collision).

Also, RP build-ups are the same (0.25 for sidegrab, 5 for upgrab).

Rope specifics:

Slash: See name
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Grab:
Position: Close
Cue: ...
Interruptible - N
CS – Y - Unlike the wall grab, you take no damage upon the CL intitiating the CS minigame
WIN – Enemy is killed
RP build-up rate: 0
LOSE – Instant death to Kratos (it does not matter if there is a platform beneath him)
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: ...
Effect – ...
Block – ...
Parry – ...

-------------------------------------------------
Minotaur (90HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage - N/A
Grab Kill -
"Throat Stab" - Yields HP orbs
Condition - Wander (66 damage until 'O' *24HP remaining*)
CS - Y
WIN - Minotaur is killed, and you're rewarded with 3 HP orbs, each orb is worth 10HP (therefore, this grab kill nets you with a 30HP heal)
RP build-up rate: 2
Lose - 10 Damage to Kratos (fixed)
RP build-up rate: 0
OH - 10 Damage (half collision)
Air grab - 30 Damage (half collision)

Axe push: Pushes you with the axe after blocking a few hits or using a grab before the Wander state.
Position: Can vary
Cue - Hunches back while in his blocking stance
Interrupt - N
Damage - 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0.5
Effect - Knelt
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Overhead Chop: Uses his axe to do a cleaving attack
Position: Close
Cue - Raises axe
Interrupt - Y (T, t0, and damaging spells can do the trick *including Zf, even though you don't have it yet*)
Damage - 10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect - Bounce
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: If successful, he will taunt you afterwards.

Triple Axe Attack: Uses two side by side slashes, and finishes off with a downwards slash
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (Just about anything can interrupt him, parrying can sometimes prevent him from attacking any further)
Damage - 6/6/8
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125 / 0
Effect - Hit/Hit/Bounce
Block - Y
Parry - Y
-------------------------------------------------
Cyclops Enforcer (130HP)
Type: Heavy

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Eye Impale” – Instant Kill
Condition - Wander (91 Damage until 'O' *39HP remaining*) *HP orb drop (can be one or two, each worth 10HP)*
OH (Slam) – N/A
Air grab – N/A
CS - Y
WIN - Enemy is killed, and you're rewarded with 150EXP and 10, 20, or 30HP
RP build-up rate: 5
Lose -
*Part 1*
15 Damage to Kratos (fixed)
*Part 2*
5/10 Damage to Kratos (fixed)
*Part 3*
15 Damage to Kratos (fixed)
*Part 4*
15 Damage to Kratos (fixed)
RP build-up rate (for all parts): 0

Spiked Mace:
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Holds mace back, while making a sound, clenches left hand as he does this
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 1 (can hit a lot of times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit (all but the last hit) / Spin
Block - N
Parry - N

Mace Charge: Charges at you with the mace
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Stops in place for a while, and raises mace
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 10 (rarely it can do 0 damage)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect - Bounce
Block - N
Parry - N

Mace Slam:
Position: Mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 8/2 (If you stay just a little outside of where the mace is going to fall, you will only receive 2 damage instead *although it's easier said than done*)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 (0 if hit with the secondary damage, or if you're in midair while being hit)
Effect - Bounce
Block - N
Parry - N
-------------------------------------------------

Medusa (10000HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage - N/A
Grab Kill - "Beheading"
Condition - Wander (201 Damage until 'O' *9899HP remaining*)
OH - 10 Damage
Air grab - 20 Damage
CS - Y
WIN - Enemy is killed, and you're rewarded with 50HP, 340EXP, 2RP, and Medusa's Gaze
LOSE - 5 Damage to Kratos (fixed) - You get no RP from this

Tail Swipe: See description
Position: ...
Cue - ...
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 8
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Lunge: See description
Position: ...
Cue - ...
Interrupt - N
Damage - 4 (can hit multiple times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Stare: Beam comes out from her eyes, and tries to petrify you
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Raises head
Interrupt - Y
Damage - N/A
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: See note below
Effect - Lowers RES
Block - N
Parry - N

Note: Being turned into a statue by itself doesn't build RP, but breaking free is another story. You get 1RP for doing this.
-------------------------------------------------
Gorgon (80HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage - N/A
Grab Kill - "Beheading"
Condition - Wander (61 Damage until 'O' *19 remaining*)
OH - 10 Damage
Air grab - 20 Damage
CS - Y
WIN - Enemy is killed, and you're rewarded with 25MP and 2RP
LOSE - 5 Damage to Kratos (fixed) - You get no RP from this

Tail Swipe: See description
Position: ...
Cue - ...
Interrupt - Technically Yes, if she evades your next attack, or if you use PR
Damage - 4
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Lunge: See description
Position: ...
Cue - ...
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 4 (can hit multiple times), followed by 2 (if it hits you again)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 for all hits
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double Slap:
Position: ...
Cue - ...
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 2/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Stare: Beam comes out from her eyes, and tries to petrify you
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Raises head
Interrupt - Y
Damage - N/A
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: See note below
Effect - Lowers RES
Block - N
Parry - N

Note: Being turned into a statue by itself doesn't build RP, but breaking free is another story. You get 1RP for doing this.

Note 2: Whether she succeeds in petrifying you or not, she will follow that up with a slow version of 'Lunge'.
-------------------------------------------------
Minotaur Hammer Grunt (160HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage - N/A
Grab Kill -
"Throat Stab" - Yields HP orbs *30HP plus a possible 7HP orb if you're on Critical status*
Condition - Wander (66 damage until 'O' *24HP remaining*)
CS - Y
WIN - Minotaur is killed, and you're rewarded with 37HP
RP build-up rate: 2
Lose - 10 Damage to Kratos (fixed)
RP build-up rate: 0
OH - 18 Damage (half collision)
Air grab - 53 Damage (half collision)

Hammer push: Pushes you with the axe after blocking a few hits or using a grab before the Wander state.
Position: Can vary
Cue - Hunches back while in his blocking stance
Interrupt - N
Damage - 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0.5
Effect - Knelt
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Hammer Shockwave: Generates a shockwave moving forwards
Position: Close, mid, long
Cue - Roars, raises his hammer and does a small hop
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 8 (hammer) / 5 (shockwave)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect - Bounce
Block - Y (hammer) / N (shockwave)
Parry - Y (hammer) / N (shockwave)

Note: If successful, he will taunt you afterwards.

Triple hit combo: Uses hammer to attack, then two side-by-side slashes
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 4/3/3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Hammer Crush:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 3/5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0
Effect - Hit / Bounce
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: If successful, he will taunt you afterwards.
-------------------------------------------------

Cyclops Brute (300HP)
Type: Heavy

Grab Damage - OH (25 Damage)
Grab Kill - N/A
Condition - Dizzy (101 damage until the first 'OH' *199HP remaining*, 201 damage until the second 'OH' *100 Damage from the first case, 99HP remaining*, and 281 damage until the third 'OH *80 Damage from the second case, 19HP remaining*, yields 25EXP for each 'O')
OH - ...
Air grab - N/A

Stomp: Generates a small shockwave
Position: Close
Cue - Raises his leg
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 6
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Knelt
Block - N
Parry - N

Club smash: Attacks with club
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect - Bounce
Block - N
Parry - N

Note: Always uses this after using Stomp.

Club swipe: Uses his club to sweep the area in front of him horizontally
Position: Close (though I've seen him using it from long range, possibly due to the civilians?)
Cue - Reaches out club with his empty hand
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 4
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - N
Parry - N

Note: Seems to do this indefinitely for as long as you're within range, or if you grab a civilian.

Grab:
Position: Close
Cue:
Interruptible - Y (PR)
CS – N
Damage: 15
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect – Down
Block – N
Parry – N
-------------------------------------------------
Civilian (3HP)
Type: Heavy

If killed normally, they can give you 10-20HP. If killed with a grab, they can give you 20-30HP, and 3RP.
------------------------------------------------

Magic Legionnaire (80HP)
Type: Light

Shield moveset:

Grab Damage - "Orb Milk Punch" - 16 Damage (23HP remaining or less for Takedown)
Grab Kill -
“360 toss” – instant kill
“Chest Rip” – instant kill *No EXP*
“Takedown Stab” – instant kill
Condition - General (need to destroy his shield or hit him during spawn-in)
OH - 22 Damage
Air grab - 22 Damage

Double Slash: See description
Position: Close
Cue - Shared between other attacks (and taunt), but hits shield with sword
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1
Scales with settings - Y  
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Shield Push: See description
Position: Depends
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (seen Valor being able to interrupt this)
Damage - 2
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Shield Tackle: See description
Position: Close
Cue - Shared between other attacks (and taunt), but hits shield with sword
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5 (can hit you twice)
Scales with settings - Y  
RP build-up rate: 0.25 for any successful hit
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: Usually follows it up with Double Slash

Jumping Slash(?): Does a small jump, and uses his sword to hit you from above
Position: Close
Cue - See description
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1
Scales with settings - Y  
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0
Effect - Bounce
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Shield-less moveset:

See "Cursed Legionnaire"

Note: Destroying the shield damages him, but Kratos does not get RP from this.

Note 2: Save for Double Slash, it isn't necessary for him to hit his shield to perform his other attacks.

------------------------------------------------
Super Magic Legionnaire (85HP)

See: Magic Legionnaire
------------------------------------------------

Wraith (40HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – “Stuck Uppercut” - 10 damage per use (15HP or less for finisher)
RP build-up rate: 0.5
Grab Kill – “Beheading” – Instant Kill
Condition - General
OH (Slam) - 10 damage *knockback collision*
air grab – Backbreaker - 8 damage *knockback collision*

Rising attack: Goes into the ground in what appears to be a black hole of some sort, and comes out to slash you
Position: Close, mid
Cue - See description above
Interrupt - Y/N (even PR can't make it 'pop' out of the 'hole', but it can interrupt his attacks immediately as it comes out)
Damage - 1 (when it goes into the ground) /3/3/6
Scales with settings -  Y
RP build-up rate:  0.125/0.5/0.25/0.25
Effect - Knelt/Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

This attack can hit you multiple times, even the first attack can do that.

Horizontal Rotating Slash: See name
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1 (can hit multiple times)
Scales with settings -  Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit (all but the last hit) / Spin
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Triple Slash: See name
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1/2
Scales with settings -  Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 /0.125 / 0.5
Effect - Hit /Hit / Knelt
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: "Stuck Uppercut" is tied to Kratos' Power% and BoC modifiers. At base (Normal, no costumes, Lv 1 BoC), the move deals the noted value.
------------------------------------------------

Fire Harpy (20HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage - N/A
Grab Kill - "Wing Rip"
Condition - General
OH - 16 Damage
Air grab - 7 Damage

Bomber: Engulfs itself in a fiery 'aura' and dive-bombs into you
Position: Close, mid, long
Cue - Rises up above with a fiery body
Interrupt - Y (even normals can interrupt it, same as air OS)
Damage - 1/7
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125/0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - N
Parry - Y/N (first hit can be parried, the second one is unblockable)

Note: Air block is capable of blocking the first attack, and if you have enough altitude, you can land right after the hitbox of the AoE goes away.

Grab:
Cue: Flies back a bit
Interruptible - Y (even Rush can interrupt it safely, at least as far as I've observed)
CS – Y
WIN – Harpy is killed
RP build-up rate: 5
LOSE – Kratos gets downed
Damage - 1/2/2/2/2/2/2
Scales with settings - Y/N (first hit *activation damage* scales, every other is fixed)
RP build-up rate: 0 for every hit
Effect – Down
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Note: As with other grabs in the game, Sword Summon is able to 'trick' this (even though you don't have this *the only real way to have it at this point in the game outside of third party cheats is with the built-in cheat code that's exclusive to the PS2 version*), same as rolling, or even Meduza's Gaze and Zeus' Fury, but since the grab has activation damage, the latter two are pretty useless, unless you want to escape the CS minigame and not the activation damage itself, for some reason. You're infinitely better off blocking or parrying.

Note 2: Air OS has the same effect as MG or Zf (cancelling the CS minigame, at the cost of taking the initial damage anyway).

Note 3: Ground OS can cancel the initial attack and kill the Harpy in the process. The timing isn't as strict as one would think (certainly nowhere near in the same ballpark as Zf's timing to 'trick' grabs)
------------------------------------------------

Cursed Archer (20HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – “Orb Milk Punch” - 5 damage per punch (12HP or less for takedown)
Grab Kill –
“360 toss” – instant kill (collision and 2 damage knockback)
“Chest Rip” – instant kill *No EXP*
“Takedown Stab” – instant kill
Condition - General
OH - 7 damage *collision*
air grab – 7 damage *collision*

Explosive arrow: Shoots an exploding arrow at you
Position: Mid, long
Cue - ...
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5 (if the arrow hits you directly) or 4 (if it explodes over time when stuck into some surface)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.5 or 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - ...

Punch + Arrow: Punches you and immediately shoots an arrow at you
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5/2
Scales with settings - Y/N (punch scales, arrow does not)
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.125
Effect - Push/Hit
Block - Y
Parry - ...
------------------------------------------------

Desert Siren (10,000HP)
Type: Heavy

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Soul Release” – Instant Kill
Condition - Wander (126 Damage until 'O' *9874HP remaining*)
OH (Slam) – N/A
air grab – N/A

Electric sphere: Shoots a magical electric sphere at you
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Spins once while her hand glows
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 6
Scales with settings -  N
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - ...

Flash: A flashing move that stuns you temporarily
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Starts spinning in place
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect - Knelt
Block - N
Parry - N

Note: Perhaps the only place where MG 'tricking' can come in handy, as it will prevent the stun effect, and since the attack does no damage, it's pretty safe to use it... but that's if you're too far away to interrupt her with normals, which is... admittedly pretty improbable for it to happen.

Note 2: She can heal back to full HP (healing 2500HP every 0.5 seconds or so) during her taunt. It seemingly only happens during 'Wander', though. Also, said state does not go away even after healing. So, if you ever feel bored enough to try to beat her with damage kills, you must use t0 or t3 from a long range, taking care to not provoke her. If you do, you basically have to start all over again.
------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Rotating Spiked Wheels
This deals 33 damage to Kratos. Which can scale with settings.
It can be destroyed. Destroying it also stops the conveyor belt.
You get no RP if you get hit by this. Hitting it with normals will yield the same RP as hitting enemies (refer to the BoC RP list for values). Though using t0/t3 from a long distance still prevents you from getting any RP.
------------------------------------------------

Temple Siren (100HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – “Head Dash” – 10 damage
Grab Kill – “Chest Impale Toss” – Instant Kill
Condition – Dizzy (49HP and 9HP remaining) *Regenerate 20HP; 69HP and 29HP*
OH - 10 damage *collision*
Air grab - 10 damage

Electric Sphere: Shoots a magical electric sphere at you
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Spins once while her hand glows
Interrupt - N
Damage - 5 (yeah, double checked, it's indeed weaker than Desert Siren's variation)
Scales with settings -  N
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - ...

Suction: Tries to draw you in to her position
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Stops in place, raises her arms, then holds both of her arms in front of her
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 0
Scales with settings -  ...
RP build-up rate: 0.25 (if she's successful and brings you close enough to stun you)
Effect - Spin
Block - Y
Parry - ...

Note: Always follows this up with Electric Sphere if she succeeds in bringing you close enough to her.

Triple Electric Sphere: Shoots three magical spheres at you
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Moves both of her arms around while her hands glow. Also makes a sound while doing this
Interrupt - N (not even PR can interrupt this)
Damage - 6/6/6
Scales with settings -  N
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - ...

NOTE: Petrification of a “Dizzy” creates a “Wander” and also prevents regeneration as “O” doesn’t go naturally. Curiously, OH and air grabs would not connect so long as the “O” was glitched as such though the mid-grab worked whenever I so wished it to. If done at 20HP remaining, she would skip her final “O” and be left with 10HP. If done at 18HP-11HP she glitch dies. If done at 10HP or less she just goes into her finisher rather than the mid-grab. Juggles appeared to cease working on her *I’d been using these to aid in landing “s1” hits without evasion difficulties*

Note 2: I've had the 18-11 glitch death happen at 19HP (and in other instances, it works as noted). Otherwise, I was successfully able to reproduce all of the above, though.

Note 3: Grab kill gives you 9MP.

Note 4: Grab damage gives you 20HP
------------------------------------------------

Cyclops Desert King (350HP)
Type: Heavy

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Chest Impale Slide” – Instant Kill
Condition - Wander (291 Damage until "O" *59HP remaining*) *HP orb drop, specifically, it can be either 10 or 20HP*
Note: Initiating the CS minigame gives you 5RP. This happens before you're even able to win or lose the minigame itself.
CS - Y
WIN - Enemy is killed, and you're rewarded with 30HP, and 210EXP (yeah, you get no RP from winning). Also, it seems you're more likely to gain an extra 7HP if you're in Critical status.
LOSE -
*Part 1*
15 Damage to Kratos (fixed)
*Part 2*
5/10 Damage to Kratos (fixed)
*Part 3*
5/10 Damage to Kratos (fixed)
You get no RP from either scenario.
OH – N/A
Air grab – N/A
NOTE: No change when petrified with “O”.
NOTE2: With Zf drawn, a tap of the left analog (alter direction) will cause Kratos feet to keep shuffling though he is stationary.

Swipe + Takedown:
Position: Close
Cue - Raises his left arm
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 4/4
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0
Effect - Knelt / Bounce
Block - N
Parry - N

Triple Swipe:
Position: Close
Cue - Shares the same cue as the above attack
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 4/4/4
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.125 / 0.25
Effect - Spin / Hit / Push
Block - N
Parry - N

Tackle: See name
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 6
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - N
Parry - N
------------------------------------------------

Desert Wraiths (120HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – “Stuck Uppercut” - 10 damage per use (15HP or less for finisher)
Grab Kill – “Beheading” – Instant Kill
Condition - General
OH - 30 damage *knockback collision*
Air grab – Backbreaker - 32/4 Damage *knockback collision*

NOTE: Some petrifications caused ‘unexisting’ of the Wraiths. I typically saw it only after petrifying 3 Wraiths. My guess is that the lingering remains (via s***ter or breakout) plus 2 other petrified wraiths *or more* causes the next wraith petrified as such to unexist. The ‘stacking’ issue only appears to work with these Wraiths.

NOTE2: Upon finally landing it, an ‘uppercut’ hitting a nearby foe will deal that grabs damage to them and, in the case I saw, send them sailing away like with Zf’s Stun/Charged bolts (the effect is like that of Homerun/Punt but without the extra height due to a previous launcher).

Note 3: As with the other Wraiths, the uppercut scales with Kratos' Power% (and modifiers). The damage noted above assumes you're playing on Normal (100 Power%) and your Blades are at Level 1. Adjust the damage based on your current stats to get the desired damage.

Note 4: Not sure what's up with the air grab having two separate values, but the enemy HP decreased once, and then again (32 and 4, respectively *it wasn't a single decrease*). This didn't happen with the normal Wraiths. Odd.

Note 5: If your air grab bugs out (Wraith escapes before the full animation plays out), the Wraith will receive the initial 32 damage, but not the rest (4). You also get no RP if this happens.

Rising attack: Goes into the ground in what appears to be a black hole of some sort, and comes out to slash you
Position: Close, mid
Cue - See description above
Interrupt - Y/N (even PR can't make it 'pop' out of the 'hole', but it can interrupt his attacks immediately as it comes out)
Damage - 1 (when it goes into the ground) 1 (when it comes out, can hit multiple times)/7/6
Scales with settings -  Y
RP build-up rate:  0.125/0.25/0.75/0.25
Effect - Hit/Knelt/Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: It was pretty difficult to get those values (moreso than the original Wraiths for some weird reason). Had to pause each time in hopes that the next attack wouldn't hit me (so I could extract the damage value and the RP value properly).

Lunging Stab:
Position: Mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 2 (can hit multiple times) / 2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rage: 0.125 per hit / 0.25
Effect - Hit / Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y
------------------------------------------------

Enviro-hazard: Spiked walls
Can be deactivated (and never be reactivated *though it is necessary to do so in order to progress*). They cannot be destroyed with attacks.
They deal 10 damage to Kratos. This damage scales with settings.
You get no RP if you get hit by these.
Note: Their hitboxes only seem active when they close up. So after a small delay, you can apparently run up to them as they're opening without receiving damage.

------------------------------------------------
Gorgon Assassin (135HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Head Rip” – Instant Kill
CS - Y
WIN - Enemy dies, and you're rewarded with 41MP and 2RP
LOSE - 5 Damage to Kratos. This damage is fixed. You get no RP from this.
Condition – Wander (49HP left)
OH (Slam) - 17 damage *collision*
air grab - 34 damage

Tail Swipe: See description
Position: ...
Cue - ...
Interrupt - Technically Yes, if she evades your next attack, or if you use PR
Damage - 8
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Lunge: See description
Position: ...
Cue - ...
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 4 (can hit multiple times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 for all hits
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double Slap: Close, Mid
Position: ...
Cue - ...
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 4/4
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Stare: Beam comes out from her eyes, and tries to petrify you
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Raises head
Interrupt - Y
Damage - N/A
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: See note below
Effect - Lowers RES
Block - N
Parry - N

Note: Being turned into a statue by itself doesn't build RP, but breaking free is another story. You get 1RP for doing this.

Note 2: Whether she succeeds in petrifying you or not, she will follow that up with a slow version of 'Lunge'.

Super Gorgon Assassin (270HP)
Type: Light

See "Gorgon Assassin". Yeah, this variation just has more HP, not even her OH or air OS are any different from GA. Hell, she must have the exact same HP remaining in order to enter the 'Wander' state (which is 49HP remaining). She doesn't even deal more damage.
------------------------------------------------

Fallen Legionnaires (160HP) *With "O"*

Grab Damage – "Orb Milk Punch" - 30 Damage, 30HP or less for Takedown
Grab Kill –
“360 toss” – instant kill (collision and 3 damage knockback)
“Chest Rip” – instant kill *misc orbs*
“Takedown Stab” – instant kill
Condition – Dizzy (14HP remaining) *Regenerate 10HP; 24HP total*
OH - 52 damage *collision*
air grab –  52 damage *collision*

Note: As before, Fallen Legionnaires do not normally have a Grab Damage case. The above can only be experienced with cheats.

Vertical Rotating Slash: See description
Position: Close
Cue - Makes a sound while doing a small jump
Interrupt - N
Damage - 6
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Rising Slash: Counterattack from downed state
Position: So long as you attack him with something, it doesn't matter (even with a spell *but multi-hitting spells like AoH and PR will just promptly interrupt the attack*)
Cue - Suddenly stands up after being hit
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 6
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Spin
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Triple Slash
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 2/2/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Hit / Knelt / Spin
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Grab:
Position: Close
Cue: Hunches back and extends both arms towards you
Interruptible - Y
CS – Y
WIN – Enemy is thrown and receives 10 damage (fixed).
RP build-up rate: 5
LOSE – 10 damage to Kratos (fixed), followed by an additional 5 (scales)
RP build-up rate: First hit has no returns, second one gives you 0.125RP
Effect – Down/hit
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Rope specifics:

Slash: See name
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Grab:
Position: Close
Cue: ...
Interruptible - N
CS – Y - Unlike the wall grab, you take no damage upon the FL initiating the CS minigame
WIN – Enemy is killed
RP build-up rate: 0
LOSE – Instant death to Kratos (it does not matter if there is a platform beneath him)
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: ...
Effect – ...
Block – ...
Parry – ...

Wall combat specifics:

Side Kick: See name
Position: Close, left, right
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 7
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Side Slash: See name
Position: Close, left, right
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 7
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Downwards Kick: See name
Position: Close, up
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 7
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Upwards Slash: See name
Position: Close, up
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 7
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - hit
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Grab:
Position: Down
Cue: Detaches from wall (although it is pretty fast to see coming)
Interruptible - N
CS – Y - Deals 1 damage to Kratos upon triggering (you get no RP from this). This damage scales with settings.
WIN – Enemy is killed *you get not orbs from this*
RP build-up rate: 5
LOSE – Instant death to Kratos (it does not matter if there is a platform beneath him)
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: ...
Effect – ...
Block – ...
Parry – ...

Note: As usual, upgrab kills them instantly. Side grab deals a whopping fixed 150 damage to them.

Note 2: I had the upgrab deal side-grab collision damage. Guess it depends on which angle you hit the target from. But I still saw the upgrab collision damage come out when trying again.

NOTE: While whoring the rapid petrification I saw the unexisting glitch against these foes. I’ll have to look into this glitch further it would seem.

NOTE2: While on the rope, I found that “Mutilation” still counts as long as we aren’t using rope specific attacks.

NOTE3: I was able to skip the rope in the Underground without the old long jump tactic (or PR) two ways. In one I just used a paced double jump to Artemis lifts to reach the far side (where the chests are). In the other I leapt around the invisible wall on the first foreground pillar with an Undead Legionnaire killing a Human soldier and used Artemis Lifts to just barely get on it…where I could then leap from pillar to pillar (to the right) until I leap to the area at the end of the rope.

Fallen Legionnaires (160HP) *Without "O"*

See Fallen Legionnaires, except these have no Grab Kill cases.

------------------------------------------------

Enviro-hazard: Circular Sawblades
They deal 10 damage to Kratos. This damage scales with settings.
They can be used against enemies (FLs in particular), and they deal 15 damage to them. And, as with our case, this damage scales with settings (in the same way as collisions or enemy attacks do in general).
They don't give you any RP.
They cannot be destroyed or otherwise deactivated.

------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Spiked walls (2)
They deal 10 damage to Kratos. As with the other hazards, this scales with settings.
They can also be used against enemies (again, FLs). They can instantly kill them (despite dealing the same damage as the circular sawblades to Kratos) on Normal. On Easy, they deal 80 damage to them. So, we can conclude that they deal exactly 160 damage to FLs (which is their HP total).
As with the other hazards, they give you no RP at all.
Cannot be destroyed or otherwise deactivated.
------------------------------------------------
Minotaur Warrior (275HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Throat Stab Struggle” – Instant Kill *30HP orbs*
Condition – Wander (251 damage until 'O' *24HP remaining*)
OH - 31 damage *knockback collision*
Air grab – 91 damage *knockback collision*

Triple Hammer Attack: Uses two side by side... bashes, and finishes off by slamming his hammer down
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (Just about anything can interrupt him, parrying can sometimes prevent him from attacking any further)
Damage - 6/6/8
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125 / 0
Effect - Hit/Hit/Bounce
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Hammer push: Pushes you with the axe after blocking a few hits or using a grab before the Wander state.
Position: Can vary
Cue - Hunches back while in his blocking stance
Interrupt - N
Damage - 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0.5
Effect - Knelt
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Hammer Shockwave: Generates a shockwave moving forwards
Position: Close, mid, long
Cue - Roars, raises his hammer and does a small hop
Interrupt - Y (PR and Zf)
Damage - 8 (hammer) / 5 (shockwave)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect - Bounce
Block - Y (hammer) / N (shockwave)
Parry - Y (hammer) / N (shockwave)

Note: If successful, he will taunt you afterwards.

Hammer Crush: Uses hammer to crush you.
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0
Effect - Bounce
Block - Y
Parry - Y
------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Crusher
This deals 50 damage to Kratos. As usual, you get no RP from getting hit by this. It also scales with settings.
It cannot be destroyed, but it can be removed permanently (it is required to do so in order to progress *at least normally*).
There are no enemies to use this against, so for now (randomizer? Mod?) it is not possible to know how much damage it can deal to enemies.
------------------------------------------------
Cerberus Seed (40HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – ‘toss’ – 10 damage *knockback collision* (16HP or less for stomp)
Grab Kill – ‘stomp’ – Instant Kill
Condition – General
OH- 10 damage *knockback collision*
Air grab – 10 damage *knockback collision*

Bite: Tries to bite you
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (PR)
Damage - 2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Jumping Bite: Jumps and bites you
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Fiery Tackle: Engulfs itself in a fiery aura and jumps while spinning
Position: Close
Cue - Makes a very distinct sound, and it engulfs its body while doing so
Interrupt - Y (until a certain point, you can do so with normals, otherwise, PR)
Damage - 7
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y
------------------------------------------------

Cerberus Breeder (400HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – “Jaw Slice” – 10 damage
Grab Kill – “Head Impale” – Instant Kill, 60EXP
Condition – Wander (201 damage until 'O' *199HP remaining* to enable "Jaw Slice", and 386 damage *14HP remaining* for "Head Impale")
OH - 10 damage
Air grab – Blade Club - 10 damage *knockback collision*

Note: You can use "Head Impale" 1HP earlier if you don't use Jaw Slice.

Double Claw: Uses claws to attack you twice
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 3/3 (the latter can hit you twice)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25 (though it's commonly 0.5 since the latter attack hits you twice most of the time)
Effect - Knelt/Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Triple Fireball:
Position: Mid, Long
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (PR and Zf)
Damage - 6/6/6
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - ...

Grab: (1DMG activation damage *scales*, 0RP)
Position: Close, mid
Cue:
Interruptible - Y (Zf *although it seems you can no longer interrupt the animation if he leaves the ground*)
CS – Y
WIN – Kratos breaks free, and the enemy takes 10 damage
RP build-up rate: 5
LOSE – If you let the animation play out, Kratos will die. He will take 10 (fixed) damage over time.
Effect – ...
Block – N
Parry – N

Spit Seed: Creates a Seed
Cue -
Interrupt: Y (PR and Zf)

Note: Besides MG and Zf (and SS *the superior choice as you take no damage*), you can jump to avoid the CS minigame.
------------------------------------------------
Legionnaire Captain (200HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – “Shoulder Throw” – 5/15 damage *collision*
Grab Kill – “Back Stab Impale” – Instant Kill
Condition – Dizzy (99HP and 19HP remaining) *Regenerate 10HP; 109HP and 29HP*
OH - 66 damage *collision*
Air grab - 66 damage *collision*

5-hit combo:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 2/2/2/2/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.25
Effect - Hit (first 4 hits) / Push (Stab)
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double Rotating Slashes:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 3/3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.25
Effect - Hit/Spin
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Stab: Counterattack
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 6
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Grab:
Position: Close
Cue:
Interruptible - N
CS – N
Damage - 2/6
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect – Down
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Note: MG and Zf can also negate this grab as well.
------------------------------------------------
Cerberus Offspring (80HP)

See “Cerberus Seed”.
------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Underwater shredder
If you touch this from above, it will deal 1 damage to Kratos (fixed). If you let this touch you from the front, aside from the normal damage, it will instantly kill Kratos over time. There is apparently a way to avoid this, but I don't know how to do it.
Cannot be destroyed or used against enemies.
This gives you no RP.
------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: ???
Located in the hallway with the spiked walls before the crystal eye room in the Rings of Pandora. It's seemingly on the ceiling, but from testing, it only ever seems to harm Kratos (for 10HP *scaling type*) if he uses air OS. It ignores i-frames. Kratos' enemies seem to take damage from this as well, whether the hazard itself cancels out Kratos' air OS animation or not (though the probability of Kratos being the only one to take damage from this is definitely a thing). It deals 10 damage to enemies as well.
------------------------------------------------
Centaur (165HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – “Shoulder Toss” – 15 damage *knockback*
Grab Kill – “Leg Chop Impale” – Instant Kill, 70EXP
Condition – Dizzy (76 Damage until 'O' *89HP remaining* and 146 damage until finisher *19HP remaining*) *Regenerate 20HP; 109HP and 39HP*
OH (Slam) - 10 damage *knockback collision*
air grab – Full-Turn Slam - 15 damage *knockback collision*

Kick + Bow Strike:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 2 (can hit multiple times) /4/8
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.25 / 0.5
Effect - Hit/Spin/Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Energy Arrows: Shoots arrows at you (the amount can vary, sometimes it can be 3, others, 1)
Position: Mid, long
Cue - Brings out a light blue bow and aims at you while running around
Interrupt - N (unless you count getting in the blood pool as a way to do so, but that's applicable for only one area)
Damage - 3 per arrow
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per arrow
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - ...

Shockwave: Produces a light blue shockwave
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Slowly raises his front lews
Interrupt - N (PR can't interrupt the actual shockwave, but it can stop the shockwave from getting bigger)
Damage - 2(from the kick)/3/3/3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 (from the kick) 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - N
Parry - N
-----------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Spike Darts
As with all the other hazards, these give you no RP. They deal 20 damage to Kratos. Unfortunately, you can't use them against any enemy. Of course, this damage is of the scaling type.
------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Crushing Block
Despite its looks, this hazard does not kill Kratos, at least not in lower settings. This deals 40 damage to Kratos, which means you're not safe on Very Hard, even with a maxed out health bar.
------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Flaming Boulders
These deal 20 damage to Kratos, and obviously, the damage scales with settings, too. Unlike other hazards, you CAN use i-frames to pass through them safely. These are yet another case where you can't see enemies getting killed by those (even though there are some Cursed Legionnaires that are basically next to those hazards, but a boundary keeps them protected from an otherwise guaranteed death).
-------------------------------------------------
Minotaur Tormentor (600HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Throat Stab Struggle” – Instant Kill *50HP orbs, possibly 57 if you're in Critical status*
Condition – Wander (556 damage until 'O' *44HP remaining*)
OH - 67 damage *knockback collision*
Air grab – 200 damage *knockback collision*

Axe push: Pushes you with the axe after blocking a few hits or using a grab before the Wander state.
Position: Depends
Cue - Hunches back while in his blocking stance
Interrupt - N
Damage - 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0.5
Effect - Knelt
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double Slash:
Position:
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 2/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.25
Effect - Hit/Spin
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Rising Slash:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 6
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Charge:
Position:
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 3 (can hit multiple times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Tackle:
Position:
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 2 (can hit multiple times, but it is more common to receive 2/2/2, while receiving 2 is extremely rare)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 per hit
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

-------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Rotating Sawblade Machine
Yet another enviro-hazard that can't be used against enemies. These deal 10 Damage (scales) to Kratos, though if you're hit by one of those as you're crossing the beams, it's basically game over.
-------------------------------------------------
Pandora’s Guardian (1,500HP)

1-2. 100 damage per valve (5 total) for “O”. Regenerates to having 100HP left. (1 valve)
3. 150 damage per piece (5 total).
4. 1,402 damage until “Dizzy”. (98HP remaining) Regenerates to having 349HP left. (251HP regenerated)

Stage 1 moveset:

Multi-Slam: Punches the ground multiple times, generating shockwaves for each punch
Position: Close, front
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 5 (punch) / 5 (shockwave)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 (punch) / 0.25 (shockwave)
Effect - Hit (punch) / Knelt (shockwave)
Block - Y (The shockwaves are unblockable, but there's a chance that you may get pushed back just outside their AoE)
Parry - Y (See above)

Note: He will always follow this up with a fast version of 'Headbutt'.

Headbutt: Uses horns to attack you
Position: Close, front
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 5/5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25/0.25
Effect - Knelt/Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Ground Slam: Punches the ground, generating a bigger shockwave compared to the multi-punches
Position: Close, front
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 10/10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0
Effect - Bounce (hard to tell the effect of the first hit)
Block - Y/N (first hit can be negated, but not the second one)
Parry - Y/N (see above)

Ground Punch: Punches the ground (does not generate a shockwave)
Position: Close, front
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 15
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect - Bounce
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: He can do this with either of his hands (obviously not both), but the effects are identical.

(Side) Fire Breath: Breathes fire to the right side
Position: Close, right (his left)
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 2 (if you get hit by his right hand) / 5/5/5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25 or 0.5 / 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Push (hand) / Hit (fire)
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: It seems that the second value is variable. I ended up with 83HP in two different occasions, once with 0.75RP, and the other with 1RP.

Claw: Attacks with claws on one of the sides
Position: Close, left (his right)
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - Variable:
If you stick to the far left: 1/1
If you run close to his left hand: 5
If you stay in-between those locations: 1/5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate:
If you stick to the far left: 0.25 / 0.25
If you run close to his left hand: 0.25
If you stay in-between those locations: 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Fiery Charge: Uses this attack once two of his valves have been destroyed (and if you're in the upper platform and get down)
Position: Fixed (always uses it when you destroy one of his valves)
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 2 (can hit you at least twice) / 20
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 (if it hits you again, that's another 0.25) / 0.5
Effect - Knelt/Push
Block - N
Parry - N

Note: If you manage to end up very close to Pandora's Guardian after he hits you with his hands (but before the fire), there's a chance that you may be hit again (apparently by the fire), but it will do no damage to you. It will, however, build your Rage meter by 0.25RP. The best way to explain the exact position is if you use his right shoulder as a reference (our left), and position yourself in-between his fingers (the rightmost one and the one beside it *at least, you must have an idea of where he'll place them, as you can't really do so after the fact*). Sometimes this 0 damage hit has no effect on Kratos (in terms of hit reaction), but otherwise, it causes a 'Push' effect on him.

Not really an attack, but when you try to get behind him, he will jump back near the door. If you're hit by this as he's landing, it will deal 10 damage (scales) to you. This does not build Rage.

Fire Breath (front): Breathes fire
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 5 (hands) / 20 (fire)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Knelt/Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: The fire has 0 damage portions, and those build up Rage by the same rate (0.25), so, about half the time, you're looking at a 0.5 increase.

Stage 2 moveset:

Ground Break: Uses left hand to break the ground, then moves it in an inverted 'C' movement to break even more parts of the ground, causing it to 'erupt'.
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 6 (when he hits the ground) / 4 (as he moves his hand) / 1 (as he keeps moving his hand *can hit multiple times*) / 2 (shockwaves * can hit multiple times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25 per hit / 0
Effect - Knelt/Push
Block - N
Parry - N

He can also use the following:

Multi-Slam, Headbutt, Ground Slam, (Side) Fire Breath, (front) Fire Breath, Claw, and Fiery Charge.

Stage 3 moveset:

Ground Eruption: Slams the ground once to generate various shockwaves.
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 5 (hand) / 5/5/5 (shockwaves)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0/0/0
Effect - Knelt/Bounce
Block - N
Parry - N

He can use all of S2's moves.

Stage 4 moveset:

See Stage 3 moveset, except he can use Fiery Charge even if you're not on the upper platform.

Upper platform (applicable for all stages):

Note: Placing his hands on the platform has an effect on Kratos if he's too close, but it does no damage. It does build Rage, however. By 0.25RP. This can be blocked and parried.

Fist Slam: Uses his left fist to crush you
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Hand Clap: Brings both hands together to attack you
Position:
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 10 (can hit you at least twice)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 per hit, plus 0.125 (I can only imagine that the source of this comes from the little 'ring' special effect that comes out), but I can confidently say that the other 10 damage hit is not the source of this.
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: The special 'effect' can build up RP even if you blocked the attack itself.

Platform Punch: Punches the platform you're standing on, causing it to 'erupt'
Position: Close, left (his right), or mid, front (towards the foreground)
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 10
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Bounce
Block - N
Parry - N

Note: This can ignore Roll/Sword Summon's i-frames. The only way to avoid it is to jump.

Note 2: Whether he punches or charges at the platform (with Fiery Charge), the damage and RP gain is the game.

Stair Attack: Attempts to attack the area next to the stairs
Position: Close, right (his left
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 5/5 (it seems that you can only get hit by the second hit if you're pushed into the stairs)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Knelt/Spin
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Grab:
Position: Close
Cue:
Interruptible - N
CS – N
Damage - 15
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect – Down
Block – N
Parry – N
-------------------------------------------------
Satyr (350HP)
Type: Light

Grab Damage – “Bloody Uppercut” – 25 damage (19HP or less for Staff Impale)
Grab Kill – “Staff Impale” – Instant Kill
Condition – General
OH (Slam) - 10 damage *collision*
air grab – Twisting Chokeslam - 0 damage

Staff Toss: Tosses you to the other side with his stab
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5/5
Scales with settings - First hit does, second one doesn't
RP build-up rate: 0/0
Effect - Down
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Kip Up:
Position: ...
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5/5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Plant: Counter attack (fake-out) stance. Prepares to counter your next hit.
Position: Close
Cue - Stands on his staff. Attacking him triggers Front Flip
Interrupt - Y
Damage - See 'Advancing Twirl'
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: See 'Advancing Twirl'
Effect - ...
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Advancing Twirl : Uses his staff to do a Hand Roll as a counterattack. Does a front flip while doing this
Position: Can vary (depends on where you are when you attack him)
Cue - See 'Plant'
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1 (can hit multiple times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y


Left Carthwheel Kick: Uses staff to perform two acrobatic kicks. This can link into most other attacks.
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Staff Twirl:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1 per hit (according to tests, you can be hit up to 16 times from this)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double Kali Overhead : Breaks staff in half, and uses both hands to attack you with both halves of said staff.
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1/1/1
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Flurry B (upwards):
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1/1/1
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double Weaving : Attacks you various times. Usually uses it after meeting Flurry B's requirements
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 2/2/2/2 (it looks like you can be hit more times, but I've never been hit more than 4 times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Hand Wrap Pierrot Thrust: Interrupts and breaks out of your combo
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 2/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Low Sweep into Two-handed Floor Thrust : Does a low sweep and finishes it off with a... floor thrust
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25/0.25
Effect - Spin/Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Low Sweep into Uppercut : Does a low attack and finishes it off with an uppercut using his staff
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 2/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.25
Effect - Hit/Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

NOTE: With 20-25HP remaining, the Satyr is killed by the ‘Uppercut’.
-------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Spike Room
Located in the cavern where you find Aphrodite's Necklace. Deals a whopping 200 damage to Kratos on Normal. The only way to survive this is to play on Easy, or use Ares Armor (so yeah, the damage scales). And unlike other hazards, this one actually builds up Kratos' Rage meter! By how much?... A pitiful 0.125RP.
-------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Circular sawblades
Located in the Architect's Tomb. Touching them is pretty much a guaranteed death, but by themselves, they deal 25 Damage to Kratos. You get no RP from this (and even if you did, it would be meaningless, as you'd lose those points upon dying).
-------------------------------------------------
Super Breeder (400HP)

See “Cerberus Breeder”.

NOTE: It’s ‘spawn’ are Seeds without AI that can grow into Breeders without AI. Lovely. There are rare instances where the AI will kick-in though.

--------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Big Rollers
They appear right before you can claim Pandora's Box, in the encounter against Harpies and Archers.
They deal 10 Damage to Kratos, but much like almost all the other hazards, these do not give him any RP.
They can be used against enemies. This deals 20 damage against them. And this also scales with settings.
--------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Flamethrowers
They appear in the exact same area as the Big Rollers. Using them against the Archers in the room apparently causes them to unexist. Their damage output against Kratos? Instant kill, it does not matter if you're playing on Easy, WITH Ares Armor AND a maxed out health bar on top of that. Just try your best to avoid them (and any other hazard, for that matter).
--------------------------------------------------
Hades Legionnaire (200HP)

See “Legionnaire Captain”.  

--------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Blade Beams
They're found throughout the first part of Hades, and they deal 10 damage to Kratos. You get no RP from these. They deal the same amount to enemies.
--------------------------------------------------

Hades Archer (50HP)

Grab Damage – “Orb Milk Punch” - 10 damage per punch (17HP or less for takedown)
Grab Kill – “360 toss” – instant kill (collision and 2 damage knockback)
“Chest Rip” – instant kill *No EXP*
“Takedown Stab” – instant kill
Condition - General
OH - 16 damage *collision*
Air grab – 16 damage *collision*

Explosive arrows: Shoots multiple explosive arrows at you
Position: Mid, long
Cue - ...
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5 (if an arrow hits you directly, and more than one arrow can hit you) or 4 (if they explode over time while they're stuck in some surface)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.5 per arrow, or 0.25 per explosion
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - ...

Punch + Arrow: Punches you and immediately shoots an arrow at you
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5/2
Scales with settings - Y/N (punch scales, arrow does not)
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.125
Effect - Push/Hit
Block - Y
Parry - ...

-------------------------------------------------

Hades Harpy (70HP)

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Wing Rip” – Instant Kill
Condition - General
OH (Slam) - 60 damage *collision*
air grab – Turn Slam - 24 damage

Swoop: Diving claw swipe
Position: close, mid
Cue –
Interrupt – Y
Damage - 2 (can hit you multiple times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect – Hit
Block – Y
Parry – Y

Bomber: Engulfs itself in a fiery 'aura' and dive-bombs into you
Position: Close, mid, long
Cue - Rises up into the sky with a fiery body
Interrupt - Y (even normals can interrupt it, same as air OS)
Damage - 1/7
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - N
Parry - Y/N (first hit can be parried, the second one is unblockable)

Grab - Y
Position: Long, air
Cue: Flies back a bit
Interruptible - Y (even Rush can interrupt it safely, at least as far as I've observed)
CS – Y
WIN – Harpy is killed
RP build-up rate: 5
LOSE – Kratos gets downed
Damage - 1/2/2/2/2/2/2
Scales with settings - Y/N (first hit *activation damage* scales, every other is fixed)
RP build-up rate: 0 for every hit
Effect – Down
Block – Y
Parry – Y

---------------------------------------------------

Hades Minotaur (425HP)

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Throat Stab Struggle” – Instant Kill *40HP orbs, possibly 47 if you're in critical status*
Condition – Wander (49HP remaining)
OH - 47 damage *knockback collision*
air grab – Turn Slam - 141 damage *knockback collision*

Axe push: Pushes you with the axe after blocking a few hits or using a grab before the Wander state.
Position: Depends
Cue - Hunches back while in his blocking stance
Interrupt - N
Damage - 0
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: 0.5
Effect - Knelt
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double Slash:
Position:
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 2 (can hit at least twice) / 2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.25
Effect - Hit/Spin
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Rising Slash:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 6
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Charge:
Position:
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 3 (can hit multiple times, up to 2, according to testing)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Tackle:
Position:
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 2 (can hit multiple times, but it is more common to receive 2/2/2, while receiving 2 is extremely rare)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 per hit
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enviro-hazard: Blade Columns
Those infamous (for the wrong reasons, I'd say) columns need no introduction. Everyone who has played the game and beat it should know about these. The last hazards in the game, and probably the hardest ones to clear (in comparison to everything else). Either way, they deal 10 damage to Kratos. You get no RP from these. Archers (the only enemies who are open to being harmed by these) take 10 damage as well.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hades Satyr (300HP)

Grab Damage – “Bloody Uppercut” – 25 damage (19HP or less for Staff Impale)
Grab Kill – “Staff Impale” – Instant Kill
Condition – General
OH - 10 damage *collision*
Air grab – Twisting Chokeslam - 0 damage

Thrusting Hand Wrap:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1 (can hit multiple times, apparently up to 6 times)
Scales with settings - First hit does, second one doesn't
RP build-up rate: 0.125 (the first 4 hits) / 0.25 (the last two hits)
Effect - Hit (the first 4 hits) / Spin (last two hits)
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Staff Toss: Tosses you to the other side with his stab
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5/5
Scales with settings - First hit does, second one doesn't
RP build-up rate: 0/0
Effect - Down
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Kip Up:
Position:
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5/5
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Left Carthwheel Kick: Uses staff to perform two acrobatic kicks
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Staff Twirl:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1 per hit (according to tests, you can be hit up to 16 times from this)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Plant: Counter attack (fake-out) stance. Prepares to counter your next hit.
Position: Close
Cue - Stands on his staff. Attacking him triggers Front Flip
Interrupt - Y
Damage - See 'Advancing Twirl'
Scales with settings - ...
RP build-up rate: See 'Advancing Twirl'
Effect - ...
Block - ...
Parry - ...

Advancing Twirl : Uses his staff to do a Hand Roll as a counterattack. Does a front flip while doing this
Position: Can vary (depends on where you are when you attack him)
Cue - See 'Plant'
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1 (can hit multiple times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double Kali Overhead: Breaks staff in half, and uses both hands to attack you with both halves of said staff.
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1/1/1
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double Weaving: Attacks you various times. Usually uses it after blocking certain attacks or as a follow up to 'Plant'/'Advancint Twirl'
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 2/2/2/2 (it looks like you can be hit more times, but I've never been hit more than 4 times)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Hand Wrap Pierrot Thrust: Interrupts and breaks out of your combo
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 2/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Low Sweep into Uppercut: Does a sweep and finishes it off with an uppercut using his staff
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 3/3
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.25
Effect - Hit/Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Low Sweep into Two-handed Floor Thrust: Does a sweep and finishes it off with a... floor thrust
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 1/1
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25/0.25
Effect - Spin/Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

---------------------------------------------------------

Ares 1 (4,000HP)

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – ‘Limb Impale’ – Instant Kill - Initiates CS minigame
WIN – Ares is defeated
RP build-up rate: 100
LOSE –
(First part *circle mashing sequence*)
2/3/40 damage to Kratos
RP build-up rate: 0/0/0.25
Scales with settings - Y/N (first two hits are fixed, the last hit scales)
(Second part *matching on-screen prompts*)
0 damage to Kratos
Scales with settings: ...
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect – Down
Condition – Dizzy (499HP remaining) *Regenerate 270HP; 769HP total*

Hammertime:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 2 (hammer portion) / 2 (shockwave **if you get really close to Ares, you can be hit by this thrice*) / 10 (can hit you up to three times)
Scales with settings -  
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.25 (excluding the triple hit) / 0.25
Effect - Knelt (hard to tell the effect of the first hit) / Push (after the AoE)
Block - Y/N (apparently the first hit can be blocked, since I went from having 196HP left in one save state *without blocking*, to having 198HP *by blocking*). Either way, the shockwave is unblockable.
Parry - Y/N (seems to work best when you're not in the very center of the shockwave *and I did just that when I tried to block, and you know the results*, otherwise, it would be the exact same as if you hadn't pressed L1 at all). Again, parrying jobs to the shockwave.

Note: Had Ares do raw Hammertime IMMEDIATELY after doing the first one. I thought that was exclusive to S3 and beyond. Either way, raw Hammertime has no difference compared to the fast version.

Axe Uppercut: Slashes you once, and launches you with a finishing axe uppercut
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 10/10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Knelt/Bounce
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Double axe slash: Performs two slashes with axe
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 10/10
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Knelt/Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: He can immediately follow this up with "Axe Uppercut"

All-in: Uses tentacles to pierce you
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 10/10 (May seem like one attack, but that's not the case)
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: He can use a fast variation of the above with an extra 'attack' (meant as a counterattack). More often than not, said extra attack does nothing (not even damage), but when it does, it opens you up for the following hits (the extra hit still does no damage, though).

Note 2: Only now I'm noticing that if Kratos doesn't do his full parry animation, it's because he blocked another attack (even if it isn't visually apparent). So, I guess we can say that the PAIN strat works like it does because of that extra hit.

Tackle:  
Position: Close, mid
Cue - Raises both arms
Interrupt - N
Damage - 2/2/2/4/15
Scales with settings - Y (all but the special attack at the end)
RP build-up rate: 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.5 / 0
Effect - Hit (first three hits) / Push ('last' hit of the tackle *without counting the special animation that's only seen if you're hit by this*) / Down
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Flamethrower:
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - (physical portions): 2/2/2/10 (actual flamethrower): 4/2/2/2/2/2/2/14
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.25 / 0.5 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Hit (first three hits) / Knelt (the last hit before the actual flamethrower) / Push (every hit afterwards)
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Tentacle Counter:
Position: Close, mid
Cue -
Interrupt - Y/N (PR can interrupt the second part, and I managed to interrupt said part with normals once)
Damage - (first part): 2/2/2/2/2/2/4/4/0 (second part): 2/2/2/2/2/2/4/4/0
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: (first part) 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.5 - If you notice something weird by now, I'm just as surprised as you are - (second part): 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.125 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25
Effect - Push (all hits)
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Note: I know it seems weird, but I was closely checking the CE the entire time. For the last attack, Kratos' health remained at 180HP even when he took the last hit, but the RotG value went up all the same. Just for the sake of being thorough, I tried blocking all but the last hits of both parts, and sure enough, one tentacle went through Kratos (blood splatter and all), but Kratos did not flinch at all (nor did the RotG value go up, and he did not take damage). Your guess as for why this happens is as good as mine.

Meteors: Tosses 'meteors' (not actual meteors) at you  
Position: Fixed (teleports to a fixed area in the map to perform this attack)
Cue - Tentacles gain an orange glow, and teleports near the bottom of the map
Interrupt - Y (Zf)
Damage - 4 per hit
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 per hit
Effect - Hit
Block - N
Parry - N

Note: I got the impression that Kratos was able to deflect a meteor like when he deflects a Siren's electric sphere, but I wasn't able to replicate this anymore. Must have been a case of 'leading shots'.

--------------------------------------------------------

Super Remorse (100HP) *Despair*

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Ground Breaker” – Instant Kill
Condition – General
OH (Slam) - 35 damage
Air grab – 35 damage

NOTE: These are the type that START the fight.

Double Slash:  
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (T, spells, ground OS)
Damage - 2/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Downwards Slash:  
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (T, spells, ground OS)
Damage - 4
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Upwards Slash:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (T, spells, ground OS)
Damage - 4
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Grab:
Position: Close
Cue:
Interruptible - Y (T, spells, ground OS)
CS – Y
WIN – Enemy takes 5/15 damage (fixed)
RP build-up rate: 0
LOSE – 10 damage to Kratos (fixed)
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect – Down
Block – N
Parry – N
---------------------------------------------------------

Remorse (80HP)

See ‘Despair’ for grab data (OH, air OS, grab kill)

Double Slash (2): A variation of the double slash used by Despair
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (T, spells, ground OS)
Damage - 2/2
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.125
Effect - Hit
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Overhead Slash:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (T, spells, ground OS)
Damage - 4
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.5
Effect - Knelt
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Grab - Y
Position: Close
Cue:
Interruptible - Y (T, spells, ground OS)
CS – Y
WIN – Enemy takes 5/15 damage (fixed)
RP build-up rate: 0
LOSE – 10 damage to Kratos (fixed)
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0
Effect – Down
Block – N
Parry – N

NOTE: These are the ‘belly-draggers’

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Agony (20HP)

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – “Ground Breaker” – Instant Kill
Condition – General
OH – Instant Kill
Air grab – Instant Kill

Zeus' Fury:
Position: Close, mid, long
Cue - Raises arm as he's about to shoot at you
Interrupt - Y
Damage - 5
Scales with settings - N
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Push
Block - Y
Parry - ...

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Regret (60HP)

See ‘Despair’ for grab data (OH, air OS, grab kill)

Light Attack:
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (T, spells, grab)
Damage - 8
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Spin
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Heavy attack: An attack that looks visually similar to Kratos' t1 input when using Artemis
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - Y (T, spells, grab)
Damage - 4/4
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.125 / 0.25
Effect - Hit/Knelt
Block - Y
Parry - Y

Hades' Gift:
Position: Close
Cue - Raises his Blade of Artemis up with both arms, and brings it down upon his target
Interrupt - Y (T, spells, grab)
Damage - 16
Scales with settings - Y
RP build-up rate: 0.25
Effect - Knelt
Block - N
Parry - N

NOTE2: I’d found out one could hold “O” for a half second to use Gorgon Rage which has a smaller range versus the fully charged (about 2-3 seconds). So I opted to dick around with the idea of MAX rape with the earlier ‘unexisting’ glitch in tandem with AoH hurting petrified foes in a strange way. Thus when I used AoH, I activated Rage and began going to town with Gorgon Rages over and over causing massive damage with stone parts all over…it was really hard to tell what was going on…during this the Rage Meter’s drain “flash” wouldn’t go away even after Rage ended…which is new to me. In fact, it still makes that f***ing noise even now (against Ares2). Irritating. It ended after a restart.

NOTE3: I don’t know that I’ll be able to test the “Blade of the Gods”…

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Family (100HP)
Cannot be damaged by us. The damage they receive from a clone is the exact same as when the attack is directed at us. In other words, they have the exact same resistance for attacks as Kratos does.

Grab: Hug
This is more like us grabbing the family, but we're healing them instead of hurting them with this grab. The amount of HP healed depends on how long you keep the 'O' button pressed, but a single tap gives them 24HP back (and we lose the same amount of HP), and we get 10RP back.

Note: The clones cannot grab the family.

Note 2: Sometimes, the family's HP can't go over 99. I suspected that the cause was that their HP ended in an odd number (1,3,5,7,9), since I was able to get them to 100HP when their HP ended in an even number. But further testing revealed that this wasn't the case.

Using a metronome to determine HP trades and RP gains:

Note: Those tests were done by grabbing the family from the sides, since this immediately makes him to hug his family, without having to wait for a large part of his grab animation to play out (which happens mostly if you grab them from the front).

Note 2: Consider the margin for error to be 2HP.

Set at 30BPM (holding circle for two seconds):
- Kratos: Loses 40HP
- Family: Gains 41HP
- RP gains: 27

Set at 20BPM (holding circle for three seconds):
- Kratos: Loses 55HP
- Family: Gains 56HP
- RP gains: 42

Set at 15BPM (holding circle for four seconds):
- Kratos: Loses 69HP
- Family: Gains 71HP
- RP gains: 57

Set at 12BPM (holding circle for five seconds):
- Kratos: Loses 83HP
- Family: Gains 86HP
- RP gains: 72

Set at 10BPM (holding circle for six seconds):
- Kratos: Loses 94HP
- Family: Gains 98HP
- RP gains: 84
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ares 2 (1,500) *Splits 3,000 with Kratos; Tug-of-War*

Grab Damage – N/A
Grab Kill – N/A
Condition – ...
OH – N/A
Air grab – N/A

Rock Pillar Summon: Ares sticks his sword in the ground, and summons four rock pillars in an attempt to crush you with them
Position: Fixed (teleports to one fixed place in the map to do it)
Cue - Ares starts to glow, and he teleports to the top part of the map
Interrupt - N
Damage - 200 (can hit you at least twice depending on the distance)/200
Scales with settings - Y
Effect - Knelt/Bounce
Block - Y

Note: You're apparently safe if you stick to the bridge (towards the foreground)

Slash: Does a horizontal slash with his sword
Position: Close
Cue - Runs towards you (shared with other attack)
Interrupt - N
Damage - 100
Scales with settings - Y
Effect - Push
Block - Y

Guard Break + Tentacle: Ares uses some sort of force to break your guard, and then attacks you with his tentacles
Position: Close
Cue - Runs towards you (shared with other attack)
Interrupt - N
Damage - 200 (guard breaking move) /20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/100
Scales with settings - Y
Effect - Knelt (guard breaking move) / Push (hard to tell the effect of anything but the last attack
Block - N/Y (You obviously can't block the guard breaking move, but the tentacles can be blocked *but they have a chance of breaking your guard*)

Note: It was even more difficult to get the values for the tentacle portion, I just know that said portion deals 300 damage in total.

Army of Hades: Casts AoH
Position: Close, mid, long
Cue - Raises his left hand, which becomes engulfed in flames
Interrupt - N
Damage - 25 per hit, up to a total of 300 (once again a case of hits being too fast to keep track of)
Scales with settings - Y
Effect - Knelt
Block - Y

Parry: Breaks out of your combo
Position: Close
Cue - Camera zooms in
Interrupt - ...
Damage - 4
Scales with settings - Y
Effect - Stun (?)
Block - ...

4 hit combo: Slashes you three times and finishes with an uppercut
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 100/100/100/100
Scales with settings - Y
Effect - Hit/Stun(?)/Knelt/Bounce(knockback?)
Block - Y

4 hit combo (2): Slashes you three times and finishes with an horizontal slash
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - N
Damage - 100/100/100/100
Scales with settings - Y
Effect - Hit/Stun(?)/Knelt/Push
Block - Y

Slash + Tentacle: Uses two slashes and follows it up with a continuous tentacle attack
Position: Close
Cue -
Interrupt - ...
Damage - 100/100/40/40/40/40/40/100/100
Scales with settings - Y
Effect - Hit/Stun(?)/Knelt/Push
Block - Y

Note: And again... another attack too fast for me to keep track of the number of the attacks and their individual values. What I know for certain is that the tentacle portion of the attack deals 400 damage in total.

CS minigame: Sword Struggle
Trigger: Must land a few attacks on Ares, and then he must block your following hits. If he blocks your initial attacks, he will use Parry instead.
WIN -
50/50/400 damage to Ares (fixed)
LOSE -
20/20/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/380 damage to Kratos (fixed)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

General notes:

The MP chest at the pressure plate puzzle restores 49MP. Same for the chest where you get Zf.

The fiery rubble that falls as you're going to face the Cyclops Brutes deals 1 damage, but yields no RP.

If you somehow make it across to where the person who refuses to move the lever (the one where you need to use Zf on) and hit him in a way that collides with you as he breaks the wall beside him, Kratos will take 100 damage. This damage scales with Enemy Power%.

Besides OH, you can weaponize Harpies with Valor and Rush (gives them the same state when you parry their attacks, and if an enemy touches them during this state, said enemy will take 1/2 collision damage). That said, it is honestly much better to just stick to OH.

You can 'trick' grabs with MG and Zf, but if the grab has activation damage, you will still take damage (you will only avoid the CS minigame or the animation itself).

Managed to grab a Minofraud in the air JUST as he died (I know because he dropped red orbs), and when he hit the ground, he dropped orbs again.