10 tips and tricks for playing VALKYRIE ELYSIUM

Starting your adventures in VALKYRIE ELYSIUM? Purify souls with style by following these 10 top tips.
By Duncan Heaney

VALKYRIE ELYSIUM is out in just a few short days, but you can try it for yourselves… right now!

A free demo is available to play and download for PS5 and PS4 consoles! It lets you play through the early stages of the game, so you can see how the story begins, and get a taste of the exciting, fast-paced combat. Even better, all your progress carries over to the full game!

The demo sees a Valkyrie descend to a ruined world in the throes of Ragnorok. Her mission: purify souls, recruit warriors known as Einherjar and do what she can to save this troubled land.

It’s a big ask and a challenging task, so to help you out we’ve put together 10 starter tips to help you hit the ground running. With this advice, you’ll be purifying souls like a pro in no time!

The Valkyrie using the Lightning Bolt Divine Art

1. Exploit weaknesses to Crush your foes

Every enemy in VALKYRIE ELYSIUM has at least two weaknesses - one elemental and one for weapons.

For example, Violet Dracos are weak against fire and your Alfodr sword. By using this weapon and the Fire Lance Divine Skill, you can deal massive amounts of damage and take down the enemy much faster.

Elemental attacks have another advantage too. Attacking foes with their elemental weakness will fill up a gauge on the left side of their health bar. Once this gauge is full, they will go into the Elemental Crush state.

This will stun them and make them completely defenseless - easy pickings for the Valkyrie.

All enemies can be crushed, but it’s particularly important against bosses, who can move fast and hit hard. What’s more, if you use an elemental Divine Skill on a boss while it’s in a Crushed state, you’ll immobilize them even longer. Just bear in mind that once it recovers you won’t be able to refill its elemental gauge for a while.

The Valkyrie performing an aerial combo

2. Learn weapon combos

By chaining together different combinations of light and heavy attacks, you can dish out different combos - everything from quick hits to sustained assaults. Knowing what they are, and when to use them, will give you a massive edge in battle. Plus the better you know the combos, the more stylish you’ll look in battle.

For example, with the Alfodr sword, a light attack followed immediately by a heavy attack launches an enemy into the air. That’s great for interrupting their attacks, and even opens the door for a follow-up aerial attack if you’re fast enough.

Alternatively, you can whale on the enemy with a series of four light attacks and finish off with a heavy for a long combo that deals tons of damage.

If you want to see the combos available, you can choose ‘Action Display’ in the Equip menu to see a selected weapon’s combos. Bear in mind that every weapon type has its own combos, and new ones will unlock as you level up these armaments, so make sure to try out these new techniques and work them into your combat strategy.

The Valkyrie using Hail Shot on a distant foe

3. Focus on ranged enemies first

There are many different enemy types in VALKYRIE ELYSIUM, but perhaps the most disruptive are those with ranged attacks.

Sure, foes like the bow-wielding Hollow Hunters may not be the biggest threat on the field damage-wise, but they can interrupt your attacks, break your flow, knock you down and generally be a nuisance.

We recommend taking these foes out first if you can. Close in fast and take them down and you’ll be able to give the rest of the enemies your undivided attention - without worrying about dodging pot-shots from afar.

The Valkrie attacking a large monster and exploiting its weapon weakness

4. Watch out for unpurified souls

Sometimes, when you kill an enemy, their soul will linger in the area. If another enemy absorbs these souls, their abilities will be boosted significantly. You don’t want to get hit by one of these soul-fueled foes because it’s going to really hurt.

To avoid this pain, try to purify these souls before they reach another monster. How do you do that? By attacking them of course!

A simple stab from your weapon, and the soul will vanish from the battlefield, freeing you from the stress and danger of amped-up enemies.

The Valkyrie using Soul Chain

5. Use the Soul Chain… but do so carefully

The Soul Chain lets the Valkyrie pull herself towards objects and enemies with a magical tether. It’s a fantastic way to close distance and get up close and personal with foes - it’s great for getting to flying enemies, for example.

Soul Chain is fast, accurate and looks really freakin’ cool too. But be careful - there is an art to using it well. For example, make sure you’re locked onto your target, otherwise you may zip towards a closer opponent instead.

More importantly, time your Soul Chain carefully. You’re vulnerable while using it - if a nearby enemy attacks while you’re activating it, or an archer shoots you with an arrow mid-flight, it’ll interrupt your tether and bring you back to earth with a disappointing bump.

The Valkyrie using Heal

6. Experiment with different Divine Arts

Equipping Divine Arts lets Valkyrie use all kinds of awesome skills, from shocking bolts of lighting and searing lances of flame, to healing balms and charged strikes.

You can equip up to four of these attacks at time, and it’s worth experimenting with different configurations to see what works best for each scenario you find yourself in.

For example, the Convergence Divine Skill sucks in enemies towards and is perfect if you want to deal a lot of damage to a group of weak foes quickly. On the other hand, Grave Edge is fantastic for charging in close yourself - and doing damage in the process.

Of course, you want to make sure you have elemental attacks to Crush enemies in your area too. In short, there’s tons of scope for different builds and combos, and it’s a lot of fun trying them all out.

The Valkyrie standing by an entrance to a castle

7. Go off the beaten path

VALKYRIE ELYSIUM will guide you where you need to go, but you don’t have to blindly follow that marker.

In classic videogame style, going the other way can lead you to find items and secrets - including Hollow Blossoms that reveal lore, hidden Divine Skills and more.

Be’elze Castle, for example, is packed with chests with magic gems, fascinating information about the world, and Divine Skills that are extremely useful against the stronger foes in the area.

So, go poke around in all the nooks and crannies of the map!

The Valkyrie using precision guard

8. Break everything you see

As you poke around the world, you’ll see crates, barrels and more strewn around the environment - the remnants of a once-thriving civilization.

Cut ‘em. Smash ‘em. Break everything you see. Inside, you’ll often find magic gems, which can be used to buy new skills for the Valkyrie and upgrade her weapons. In other words, rampant acts of vandalism make you stronger - and they feel really satisfying too.

The skill tree in VALKYRIE ELYSIUM

9. Upgrade Valkyrie often

When you collect magic gems, you’ll see the quantity collected pop up at the side of the screen. However, there is a limit to how much the Valkyrie can carry - if you’re collecting gems and not seeing that pop-up, you’re at capacity.

There’s no point in hording them - so use them to upgrade your character. The Valkyrie tab in the main menu contains three skill trees: Attack, Defense and Support, and you can choose to invest your gems in any category.

This flexible system means you can decide your own upgrade path - there’s no ‘correct’ choices or ‘must-have first’ abilities. However, I can share some of my personal favorites:

  • Support tree: Double Jump - VALKYRIE ELYSIUM has a really great-feeling double jump. It’s not essential for getting around, but it does make things a little easier.

  • Defend tree: Precision Guard - The Valkyrie is so agile that it can be tempting to rely on dodging - darting round the battlefield feels responsive and fun. However, don’t sleep on the block because it’s very effective - particularly with this upgrade. Block just before an enemy attack hits and you’ll trigger slow-motion and get the opportunity for a follow-up attack. It looks and feels really powerful!

  • Attack tree: Ranged Attack - You know how earlier I said that using Soul Chain could be risky? This is a great alternative. It allows you to dash forward to attack an enemy from a distance, blocking any attacks along the way. It doesn’t have quite the utility of Soul Chain, but it’s good at getting safety into the heart of the action.

The Valkyrie traversing an open field

10. The Collection screen is your best friend

Head over to the Collection tab on the main menu and you’ll find a wealth of information about almost every aspect of VALKYRIE ELYSIUM.

All the tutorials you’ve activated are viewable here, so if you have a question about the mechanics of the game, or just need a refresher on a particular thing, it’s right there for you to look at.

But that’s not all - you can also view information about important characters, revisit lore from Hollow Blossoms, and see a full bestiary of defeated enemies - including their weaknesses. In some cases, Valkyrie will have also left a note on how to deal with them.

Finally, you can see a full glossary of terms. VALKYRIE ELYSIUM does a great job of explaining its Norse myth-inspired world, but if you’re still struggling to tell your Asgard from your Einherjar, then you can get clarity here.


We hope these tips help you get to grips with the many trials ahead in VALKYRIE ELYSIUM. The demo is out now and available to download - so give it a go:

If you like what you played, you can upgrade to the full game! VALKYRIE ELYSIUM releases September 29, 2022 for PS5 and PS4, and November 11, 2022 on Steam.

For news and updates on VALKYRIE ELYSIUM and other Square Enix titles, make sure to follow us on social media:

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