God of War Challenge Run Rules

To prevent any confusion about these challenge runs for God of War, i've decided to write down the rules here on Stinger for anyone who might be interested in doing them. Let me know if i got something wrong and i will correct it in no time. I hope everything is clear and straighforward.

This will be covering God of War 1, 2, 3, Ascension, Ghost of Sparta, and Chains of Olympus. In that order.

God of War 1:

Read the last sentence of this portion to understand where the run ends.
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No Upgrade Run+ (NUR+):
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health & Magic meter)
.
No Grab Run+ (NGR+):
This one is mostly tied up with NUR+ for a more challenging and fun experience.

Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Grabs of any sort (Yes, Orion's Harpoon included)
-No False Grabs (grabbing an enemy that can't be grabbed)
-No Grab Reversing (escaping an enemy that grabbed you)

Some segments FORCE you to grab. It's fine to grab the enemy to proceed.
.
No Block Run+ (NBR+):
This one is also tied up to NUR+ for it to be more fun and challenging.

Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Blocking

'Tricking' (Blade of Artemis i frames) is fine.
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PAIN.
God of War 1 only has 'PAIN', no PAIN+.
That's becuz it doesn't have more resource that can be taken away with the '+' variant of PAIN. Rage unlocks by you upgrading the blades to level 2, something that is not allowed in the first place.

Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health & Magic meters)
-No Magic
-You can't open chests
-No Secondary weapons (Blade of Artemis i frames [Tricking] is allowed).

Some segments FORCE magic usage. It's fine to use it to proceed.

Also, God of War 1's NUR+ and PAIN runs end the moment you beat Ares' first phase. Clone War and what come after is not mandatory, it's bonus credit. You don't HAVE to do those.
.
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God of War 2:

Read the end portion of this one becuz there are some notes at the end.
.
No Upgrade Run+ (NUR+):
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health & Magic meter)
.
No Grab Run+ (NGR+):
This one is mostly tied up with NUR+ for a more challenging, and fun experience. Here's how the rules go:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Grabs of any sort (Yes, Orion's Harpoon included)
-No False Grabs (grabbing an enemy that can't be grabbed)
-No Grab Reversing (escaping an enemy that grabbed you)

Some segments FORCE you to grab. It's fine to grab the enemy to proceed.
.
No Block Run+ (NBR+):
This one is also tied up to NUR+ for it to be more fun and challenging. Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Blocking

'Tricking' (Typhon' Bane and Euryale's Head i frames) is fine.
.
PAIN+.
Not covering PAIN for any of the games other than GoW1 and Ascension. Since the former ONLY has PAIN, and the latter has a huge gap between PAIN and PAIN+.

Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health & Magic meters)
-No Magic
-No Rage
-No Amulet of the Fates
-No gliding with Icarus' Wings in combat
-No Golden Fleece Returns or Revenge (perfect blocking is fine, pressing square to slam the ground is a disqualification. Projectiles? They get returned automatically. Instant DQ. Gorgon Petrification? Perfect blocking it is fine, pressing the right QTE button to petrify surroundings is NOT allowed.)
-You can't open chests
-No Secondary weapons

Some segments FORCE magic usage. It's fine to use it to proceed.
.
As for GoW2, we have an infamous section. The translator protection mission. This is NOT a bonus credit. You have to do it with the rules given. I only mention it here becuz there's a checkpoint glitch that you can do for the section that helps save some time for the third wave. It is allowed in any challenge run for God of War 2. Here's the glitch:
https://youtu.be/RzJk6p-xv6g
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We also have some segments that DEMAND your tools that are not allowed in the run. It's perfectly fine to use them.

-Against the Kraken, it's of course fine to use Icarus Wings.
-In the Sisters of Fate's last phase, it's fine to use the Amulet to slow down time to beat up Atropos while she's exposed.
-In the Clotho boss fight, it's fine to use the Amulet to slow down time and to whale on her armpits.
-Against Zeus at the end, you are OBLIGATED to use Rage mode to take away his Fire Ninpo bs. It's fine to use it.
.
.

God of War 3:

There are special cases at the end of this portion.
.
No Upgrade Run+ (NUR+):
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health, Magic & Items meter)
.
No Grab Run+ (NGR+):
This one is mostly tied up with NUR+ for a more challenging, and fun experience. Here's how the rules go:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Grabs of any sort (Yes, Orion's Harpoon included)
-No False Grabs (grabbing an enemy that can't be grabbed)
-No Grab Reversing (escaping an enemy that grabbed you)

God of War 3 introduced the Combat Grapple (L1 + O). This is NOT allowed in NGR+.

Some segments FORCE you to grab. It's fine to grab the enemy to proceed.
.
No Block Run+ (NBR+):
This one is also tied up to NUR+ for it to be more fun and challenging. Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Blocking
.
PAIN+.
Not covering PAIN for any of the games other than GoW1 and Ascension. Since the former ONLY has PAIN, and the latter has a huge gap between PAIN and PAIN+.

Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health, Magic & Items meters)
-No Magic
-No Rage
-No Items (Bow, Helios' Head, Hermes Boots) in combat
-Gliding with Icarus Wings is allowed in combat. Not a DQ. However, air dashing is a DQ (aiming right analog to somewhere in the air)
-No Golden Fleece Returns or Revenge (perfect blocking is fine, pressing square to slam the ground is a disqualification. Projectiles? They get returned automatically. Instant DQ. Gorgon Petrification? Perfect blocking it is fine, pressing the right QTE button to petrify surroundings is NOT allowed.)
-You can't open chests
-No Secondary weapons, unless necessary to progress

God of War 3 has some cases that require using an item or a weapon to open up the enemy.
First, we have the Sirens going 'Ghost mode' and the only way to expose them is by flashing them with Helios' Head. In that case, it is allowed but if it blinds or hits any other enemy other than the Siren, it's a DQ.

The second case is with the shieldy bros. For those, you can use the Cestus to break their shields but if you hit an enemy with it (deshielded enemy or ANY other enemy), it's a DQ. You can only break the shields with it and nothing more.

God of War 3 has another... special case with the boss fight: Skorpius
For this boss, don't even TRY to pretend it's PAIN+. Cestus is fine throughout the fight (even if you hit other little scorpions with it as well). Hell, use anything against the peace of shit.
.
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God of War Ascension:

We'll cover both PAIN and PAIN+ runs for Ascension, as there is a big gap between the two, unlike other entries. Also, PAIN+ is the most complicated here. Make SURE to read the latter part of this portion to completely understand.
.
No Upgrade Run+ (NUR+):
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health & Magic meter)
.
No Grab Run+ (NGR+):
This one is mostly tied up with NUR+ for a more challenging, and fun experience. Here's how the rules go:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Grabs of any sort
-No False Grabs (grabbing an enemy that can't be grabbed)
-No Grab Reversing (escaping an enemy that grabbed you)

Some segments FORCE you to grab. It's fine to grab the enemy to proceed.
.
No Block Run+ (NBR+):
This one is also tied up to NUR+ for it to be more fun and challenging. Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Blocking
-No parrying (if you're doing this without NUR+)
.
PAIN Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health & Magic meters)
-No Magic (unless required to progress)
-Barehanded attacks are fine, but World Weapons are not
-No Item usage
-All elements are allowed
-No opening of chests
.
PAIN+

First of all, the Trials of Archemedes Wave 1 is a bonus credit in PAIN+ and you can do it in NUR+ rules.

Rules for PAIN+:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health & Magic meters)
-No Magic
-No Items
-No barehanded or World Weapon attacks
-Fire of Ares element only
-No opening of chests
-No Rage

No Rage is very complicated. One of the many reasons why starting with PAIN is better, and a big contributor on why PAIN and PAIN+ have such a big gap between them.

God of War Ascension introduced a new type of Rage mode. It fills up the more you hit enemies and when it fills up, you can either dump a rage bomb with the fire of ares (L3 + R3) or keep on attacking but you gain new attacks when entering the rage mode. Using ANY attack that gets unlocked is a DQ.

That, and some attacks gain special attributes with Rage. For example, the plume leaves a bomb while in rage mode, and that's an instant DQ. It's fine to use plume when rage is NOT activated.

Or another obscure attribute for a specific attack would be the air heavy. We all know it to be a double swing with the blades, correct? Yes, but it gets a special attribute when rage is activated and it's that it gains the 'bounce' effect on SOME enemies. It IS allowed to be used while rage is activated but ONLY on enemies that don't get bounced. Meaning if you use it on a normal Satyr, and he bounces to the air, it's a DQ.
Using it on a Hooded Gorgon? She doesn't get bounced or anything, so it's fine.

Entering Rage Mode does not BUFF your damage output or anything. It just unlocks stuff and adds attributes to some moves.

Let's go over what's allowed and what's not allowed:

-The normal light string is allowed all up until the third hit. You're not allowed to do the fourth hit if you were in rage mode. If you are NOT in rage mode, it's fine to do the ender.

-Heavy? It's fine both with and without rage.

-Plume? Not allowed in rage mode. There's a little bomb that Kratos leaves while in rage mode. DQ.

-Launcher (holding T)? It's allowed.

-Air light combo? It's all good.

-Air heavy? Again, on enemies that don't bounce, it's allowed. Use it and an enemy bounces to the air? Restart from last checkpoint, baby.
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Be careful with the Rage activation in Ascension. Let's say you'e one attack away from activating it, if you do a plume (without rage) and that plume ACTIVATES the rage, Kratos leaves a bomb and you're instantly better off restarting. So be careful. It's the same thing with the air heavies.
.
.

God of War Ghost of Sparta:
.
No Upgrade Run+ (NUR+):
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health, Magic & Bane meter)
.
No Grab Run+ (NGR+):
This one is mostly tied up with NUR+ for a more challenging, and fun experience. Here's how the rules go:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Grabs of any sort
-No False Grabs (grabbing an enemy that can't be grabbed)
-No Grab Reversing (escaping an enemy that grabbed you)

God of War Ghost of Sparta introduced the 'Tackle' (L1 + O). This is NOT allowed in NGR+.

Some segments FORCE you to grab. It's fine to grab the enemy to proceed.
.
No Block Run+ (NBR+):
This one is also tied up to NUR+ for it to be more fun and challenging. Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Blocking
-No parrying or sending back projectiles
.
PAIN+.
Not covering PAIN for any of the games other than GoW1 and Ascension. Since the former ONLY has PAIN, and the latter has a huge gap between PAIN and PAIN+.

Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health, Magic & Bane meters)
-No Magic
-No Thera's Bane, unless it's necessary to break armor. Damaging surrounding foes with it is a DQ. Be careful and only use it to break an enemy's armor when safe.
-No opening of chests
-No Secondary weapons
.
.

God of War Chains of Olympus:

Notes at the end, again.
.
No Upgrade Run+ (NUR+):
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health & Magic meters)
.
No Grab Run+ (NGR+):
This one is mostly tied up with NUR+ for a more challenging, and fun experience. Here's how the rules go:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Grabs of any sort
-No False Grabs (grabbing an enemy that can't be grabbed)
-No Grab Reversing (escaping an enemy that grabbed you)

Some segments FORCE you to grab. It's fine to grab the enemy to proceed.
.
No Block Run+ (NBR+):
This one is also tied up to NUR+ for it to be more fun and challenging. Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Blocking
-No parrying or sending back projectiles
.
PAIN+.
Not covering PAIN for any of the games other than GoW1 and Ascension. Since the former ONLY has PAIN, and the latter has a huge gap between PAIN and PAIN+.

PAIN+ Rules:
-Hardest Difficulty
-No Upgrades
-No meter extension (Health & Magic meters)
-No Magic
-No opening of chests
-No Secondary weapons

God of War Chains of Olympus has a bonus credit for PAIN+, and it's Persephone's second phase. You can do it with NUR+ if you like, since it takes WAY too long to do under PAIN+ conditions.
.

End. If i got anything wrong or forgot to mention anything, let me know with your replies. Enjoy. It is one helluva ride to try out these challenges and to aim for refining them as best as you can.

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Should be clean now.

EDIT: wasn't there also a list somewhere on the old GoW forums that GMG kept edited about run completion? Does that still exist?

>Clean
Thanks.

>List
I'm not aware of that. Another list i know is on Xristos Zimnas' community post tab on his channel.

Well zesty, might as well upload the no upgrade run plus rule for gow 2018 haha.

I mean, i guess it's pretty obvious.
-Give Me GodModeGOD
-No upgrades to the arsenal
-No Upgrades to armor but buying new ones is fine
-No meter extension

Pretty straight forward. I guess not allowing enchantments would also spice things up a bit.

Still confused why they never added a system for us to decide our level and enemy’s levels. Like why?!?!?!?? “It’s a basic fucking concept”-Odin

The question is why did they go with the RPG mechanics in the first place. This whole... 'tweaking' of an RPG game you're asking for is too much to do. They were lazy and didn't want to balance a game like they used to before. It's what the entire industry is doing. Keeping you busy with menus and builds.

Still, i'm giving it one last chance to see if i can call it a GoW game. This one in particular, not Ragnarok.

>see if gow game
I’d agrue raggy is more of one tbh.
Dunno if you can go into the game expecting it to be a god of war game by your logic of one(not making fun of you or anything, it’s just that you judge the games based of gameplay and gow 4 ain’t a gow game at all in that regard). I dunno. This is how it usually goes for me, I have a lot of fun in the beginning, but as the game goes on(around 1 hour in) it just gets so…. Boring. Yo I also have to keep in mind gow 4 has ALOT of boat sections, which are arguably as bad as walky talkys due to being more janky. And the world gets very boring after a while, which gives me a headache. Atleast raggy has a good chunk of variation and a colorful artstyle akin to gow 2, which is far better for a game imo since it keeps my head in action still. But that’s my take, I’m not you, so I’m not sure how it will turn out.

>forgot to mention anything
I think everyone here knows about this, but in any case, GoW1's NUR and beyond end at Ares 1.

Raeng:
>run completion
You mean TUGOWU? Yes, it's still there. I think I'm still the latest 'addition', as Zesty still hasn't joined yet (or so I've heard). I only have 'PAIN*' listed. NUR+ is a lesser run compared to PAIN, and Tyco NUR+ is a meme/hacked run, so it's only PAIN for me.

>topic for run rules
This place didn't have that already? Wasn't looking. TUGOWU did it long ago, but that was before GoW:A where it could use clarifying. Obviously nothing for Nu-GoW as a whole. Don't have to time to look over all this just yet. Taking a page from Zim (Community), I see. Sort of a shame I can't properly update the old sticky (making new one carries much risk).

>give me [me]
REEEEEEEEEE-

Wright:
>Ends with Ares 1
Yes, thank you for reminding me. I edited the text.

>Haven't joined TUGOWU
Wait i haven't? Hole up. *checks*
I did join a hot minute ago. I go by TafZ (for further confusion, for some fucking reason).

I never visited the forum again tho. I'll make sure to get busy with it again in time. It's just that Stinger is easier for me to navigate (Saiyan brain problems).

>Update
It do be alright tho. What would you add? 'No photo mode exploit for GoW3' ?

>REEEEEEE
A game's hardest difficulty is called after you. You must be a really nice guy to the team.

>thanks for the REMINDER
Gokeks? Would never.

>did join
GameSpot. You can't "join" TUGOWU as "unions" (with 'joining') are not a thing. To post (once) is to 'join' as such.

>TafZ
Ya joined GS two months ago, but never posted (least of all at TUGOWU). Did you not actually use the hyperlink to the board?

>what to add
New members, updated run rules, updated runs completed, new categories, etc. The usual.

>highest setting for an insult to vets is named after a vet among vets
Imagine how (dis)honored I must feel.

>really nice guy
Barlog better hope that "dark alley" scenario he spoke of nearly two decades ago does not come to pass.

>The hyperlink
I got to the site through THAT link. Just never posted as i'm afraid i might post in the wrong place or something. Or, what to start and where to post first (as a new member).

>post in the wrong place
It ain't that complicated. Just post run history (saving me the trouble of remembering it) and you're good to go. Again, it isn't a proper 'joining'. You're not a 'member' in the old sense. It isn't a "union" anymore. It is a sub-board of GS (hidden away even more than the past).

>Just post run history
So there's a special page called 'run history'? Like this one being called 'GoW challenge run rules'?
I'll check it out in a minute.

came up with a new challenge run for both gow proper and nu-gow, and I’m calling it no environmental run(NER for short). There will also be a plus variant. General rules for the regular one for gow proper will be this:
Can’t use stage hazards against other enemy’s such as traps,petrification hazard, spikes, etc.
Can’t use grapple points.
Cannot use boundary exploits.
Can use ring outs and OH harpoon wall in gow 2.
NER+ will get rid of ring outs and walls as a whole. You also can’t use magic chests, like any, AND cannot get a checkpoint during translator. You can only use stuff such as let’s say, AotF when it’s forced.

For nu-gow it’s:
Can’t use health/rage stones during combat(afterwards you can on regular NER).
Can’t use bombs or other such stage hazards.

NER+ will be:
Can’t use ring outs
Can’t use walls at all
Can’t use gap camping
Can’t use any context sensitive stuff. Will post this on stinger if you come up with more suggestions and like the idea.

So remove all creative ways that speed things up, and reduce it to tedious chipping.
There are reasons why no one is doing PAIN+ NGR+... it's no fun. That would be like doing a wings only but in GoW3.

No. You will still have collisions and such as well as grabs and for new games you have other ways of dealing massive damage.

https://youtu.be/JyX8zqBPsKg
Incredibly hard challenge run.