Blades of Athena

“	Powerful blades given to you by the goddess Athena.	”
–A description of the weapon.

The Blades of Athena were chained weapons bestowed by Athena that function similar to the Blades of Chaos. They are the second pair of blades Kratos wields in the God of War series.

History

The Blades of Athena, during God of War III.

Also known as "Athena's Blades", these weapons are seemingly identical to the Blades of Chaos when Kratos first receives them. At the very end of God of War, they have the same abilities as the Blades of Chaos, though in both Ghost of Sparta and God of War II, their in-game attacks are changed. Given to Kratos by Athena after he killed the former God of War, Ares, these are Kratos' main weapons during (and even after) his reign as a God.

While Kratos is a god, Athena's Blades give off a yellow aura and are gold in colour with Blue-colored Glyphs due to the godly magic emanating from them. After Kratos drains the remainder of his godly powers into the Blade of Olympus, they revert to their basic form with a steel color and a faint yellow aura. They are then leveled up much like the Blades of Chaos and gradually regain their gold color. At level 5, they emit a red flaming glow and the glyphs become red in colour. One can obtain this gold aura and blue skin again when they use the God of War Armour or the General Kratos (Costume).

Kratos still has these weapons at the beginning of God of War III. When available to him, they maintain the same combos from God of War II. However, when Kratos falls into the River Styx, the blades are destroyed and rusted by the souls that attack Kratos and drain him of his power. Afterward, the spirit of Athena takes the ruined blades and transforms them into the Blades of Exile.

During Bonus playthrough, if Aphrodite's Garter is activated, the Blades of Athena are kept for use throughout God of War III. The most drastic change is that the Blades of Athena do less damage than fully upgraded Blades of Exile (ex: Olympus Sentry-Blades of Athena 5 to 7 hits, level 5 Blades of Exile 2 to 4 hits), but more obvious is that Kratos cannot use the grapple move, and instead of Army of Sparta, uses Divine Reckoning as his magic.

In the PSP game Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, Kratos uses the Blades of Athena, although they are known as the Blades of Chaos there. The Blades of Athena also reappear as the main weapon of Kratos in Ghost of Sparta, maintaining the godly design from God of War II. However, its moveset are a combination from the Blades of Athena in God of War II and the Blades of Exile of God of War III. The recent trailer of Mortal Kombat reveals Kratos as a playable character, using the Blades of Athena.

Orb Costs

Betrayal

• Level 1 - n/a
• Level 2 - 1,000 Orbs
• Level 3 - 2,000 Orbs
• Level 4 - 3,000 Orbs
• Level 5 - 4,000 Orbs

Ghost of Sparta

• Level 1 - n/a
• Level 2 - 2,950 Orbs
• Level 3 - 8,550 Orbs
• Level 4 - 17,500 Orbs

God of War II

• Level 1 - n/a
• Level 2 - 2,750 Orbs
• Level 3 - 5,250 Orbs
• Level 4 - 9,500 Orbs
• Level 5 - 13,500 Orbs

Attacks

Betrayal

• Level 1 - Simple Attacks (OK, Tap OK)
• Level 2 - Bigger Hit Combo (OK, tap OK), Damage Increase Lev.2
• Level 3 - Bigger Hit Combo (OK, tap OK), Damage Increase Lev.3
• Level 4 - Bigger Hit Combo (OK, tap OK), Damage Increase Lev.4
• Level 5 - Bigger Hit Combo (OK, tap OK), Damage Increase Lev.5

Ghost of Sparta

Level 1

• Icarus Lift (Air) - While in the air, press X to gain more height. X
• Olympic Ascension - Hold triangle to launch enemies and jump into the air. Hold triangle
• Olympic Slash - Hold square to perform an explosive strike that drives your enemies back. Hold square
• Orion's Harpoon - Press circle while enemy is airborne to slam them back to the ground. O
• Athena's Reverse - Tap L just before an enemy attack connects to parry. L
• Plume of Prometheus - A quick and powerful combo ending in a fiery finish. Square, square, triangle
• Hyperion Charge - Initiate a running charge and grab enemies by colliding with them. L + O
• Hyperion Charge (Air) - When airborne, throw yourself toward enemies and grab them on contact. L + O

Level 2

• Increased Damage
• Cyclone of Chaos - Rapidly swing your blades, hitting all surrounding enemies multiple times. L + square
• Cyclone of Chaos (Air) - While airborne, rapidly swing your blades, hitting all surrounding enemies multiple times. L + square
• Athena's Revenge (Parry) - After a successful parry, press square or triangle to do a powerful counterattack. Square or triangle

Level 3

• Increased Damage
• Spirit of Hercules - A powerful but slow combo with an explosive finish that launches enemies into the air. Triangle, triangle, triangle
• Valor of Hercules - A powerful but slow combo that sends enemies flying back. Triangle, triangle, square
• Hyperion Rush (Running) - During a Hyperion Charge, press square to slam your shoulder into an enemy. Square
• Hyperion Rise (Running) - During a Hyperion Charge, press triangle to deliver an uppercut to launch enemies. - Triangle
• Hyperion Rush (Evading) - While evading, hold square to slam your shoulder into an enemy. Square
• Hyperion Rise (Evading) - While evading, hold triangle to deliver an uppercut to launch enemies. Triangle

Level 4

• Increased Damage
• Tartarus Retribution - A focused attack that hits rapidly ending in an explosive finish, launching enemies. L + triangle
• Tartarus Retribution (Air) - While airborne, rain down multiple attacks, with an explosive finish, launching enemies. L + triangle

God of War II and III

Level 1

• Icarus Lift (Air) - While in the air, press X to gain more height. X
• Olympic Ascension - Hold triangle to launch enemies and jump into the air. Hold triangle
• Orion's Harpoon - Press circle while enemy is airborne to slam them back to the ground. O
• Athena's Reverse - Tap L1 just before an enemy's attack connects to parry. L1
• Plume of Prometheus - A quick and powerful combo ending in a fiery finish. Square, square, triangle

Level 2

• Increased Damage
• Rampage of the Furies - Focus your rage on one enemy with this multiple hit attack. L1 + O
• Rampage of the Furies (Air) - Quickly swing your blades in this multiple hit aerial attack. L1 + O

Level 3

• Increased Damage
• Cyclone of Chaos - Rapidly swing your blades, hitting all surrounding enemies multiple times. L1 + square
• Cyclone of Chaos (Air) - While airborne, rapidly swing your blades, hitting all surrounding enemies multiple times. L1 + square
• Spirit of Hercules - A powerful but slow multiple hit combo with an explosive finish that launches enemies into the air. Triangle, triangle, triangle
• Valor of Hercules - A powerful but slow multiple hit combo that sends enemies flying back. Triangle, triangle, square

Level 4

• Increased Damage
• Hyperion Charge (Run) - Hold square to slash your blades in an arc, continue to hold square to initiate a running charge. Hold square
• Hyperion Rush (Running) - During a Hyperion Charge press square to slam your shoulder into an enemy. Square
• Hyperion Rise (Running) - During a Hyperion Charge press triangle to deliver an uppercut to launch enemies. Triangle
• Athena's Wrath (Evading) - While Evading (R3), press triangle to create a explosive wave along the ground, launching enemies in front of you into the air. R3, triangle
• Prometheus' Torment unlocked, (on God of War II) see Rage of the Titans.

Level 5

• Increased Damage
• Tartarus Rage - Swing your blades down onto multiple enemies, launching them into the air. L1 + triangle
• Tartarus Rage (Air) - While airborne, rain down multiple attacks and land with an explosive finish, launching enemies into the air. L1 + triangle
• Prometheus' Inferno 'unlocked, (on God of War II) see Rage of the Titans.'

Divine Reckoning

As every weapon in God of War III has a special magic ability, the Blades of Athena have one as well, being named Divine Reckoning. Upon activation of this ability, Kratos would stab the Blade of Olympus to the ground, creating a massive tornado to form around him, damaging any enemy who dared to come close.

This attack, is similar to the one that Zeus used against the titans to end the Great War (after he created the Blade of Olympus), though minimized.

Gallery

• Divine Reckoning, their magic ability
• Earlier concepts

1/8

Trivia

• During Kratos' reign as God of War, the Blades were golden and have a blue glyph. After Kratos lost his godly powers, and levels up the Blades to Level 5, they became a worn and tarnished gold, and the glyphs were now red. They temporary turned blue when Kratos battled Zeus in God Of War II
• In the God of War III demo, the Blades are used and are fully upgraded, although when you attack, the blades have a yellow fiery skin as if at Level 1, and use the same moveset as the Blades of Exile.
• During the time travel sequence, after having fought Zeus, Athena's Blades have their original blue skin instead of the standard red skin. This could hint that the red skin they had in game after reaching level five was introduced later in development, and so this sequence was made before this change was made.
• In the cutscene where Kratos releases the Phoenix in God of War II, he is seen holding the Blades of Chaos, instead of the Blades of Athena. Since this is a pre-rendered cutscene, it can be assumed that the blades were a placeholder during production and never got replaced, either by neglect or accident.
• In God of War III, in the Challenge of Exile's challenge "Fear Itself", Fear Kratos appears to use the Blades of Athena as his weapons, while Kratos himself arms the Blades of Exile .
• Ghost of Sparta is the only game to have Level 4 as the maximum level for the Blades of Athena. Every other game has them upgradeable to Level 5. It is also the only game where the Blades of Athena retain their blue glyph all throughout the story.
• The combo used in Betrayal, when the blades are in Level 5, is the "Spirit of Hercules", with a "Plume of Prometheus" ending.
• The Blades of Athena are the only main weapons Kratos has equipped in five of the six games (excluding Chains of Olympus). They are the most prominent of weapons that Kratos has used in the series with the second being the Blades Of Chaos, and the only pair of blades that appear on the 3 main games of the series.
• In God of War II, if the player holds the O button while executing a "Orion's Harpoon" on certain enemies, Kratos will perform a different attack rather than just slam the enemy back to the ground. For example, when it's done on Undead Legionnaires, Kratos proceeds to grab them; and on Harpies, he swings them away, and throws them to another enemy.
• The Blades of Athena appear in the new Mortal Kombat but only in the cutscene when you finish the ladder with Kratos. There is a short video of Kratos striking Shao Kahn, and .you can clearly see the Blades of Athena instead of the Blades of Exile. The Blades of Athena also appear in Kratos' Mortal Kombat trailer as Kratos' main weapons.
• Any attack starting with triangle can be made faster by pressing square first.
• The Blades of Athena are the most recurring weapon in the God of War Series, appearing in God of War, Ghost of Sparta, Betrayal, God of War II and God of War III.
• When Kratos tries to pull the Blade of Olympus in God of War II when battling the Colossus of Rhodes for the first time (draining his red orbs to the blade) you can see that the Blades of Athena suddenly disappear for a second then return but no longer the Blades of Athena but it is the Blades of Chaos . This could be the result of Kratos being severely weakened by draining his power into the Blade of Olympus.
• In every God of War game, the Health/Magic/Red Orb Indicator are shown in front of a blade model. In God of War: Ghost of Sparta, it is most likely to be one of the Blades of Athena, but in God of War III, it seems to be a non-specified blade.