How to fully upgrade the Draupnir Spear in God of War Ragnarok

It’s always good to have options. In God of War Ragnarok, protagonist Kratos wields multiple weapons that let him handle any combat situation — and he can learn a variety of abilities to make them more powerful. While both the Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos from 2018’s God of War make a return, there’s also a brand new armament that Kratos wields on this adventure.

Warning: Mid-game story and sidequest spoilers ahead for God of War Ragnarok.

The Draupnir Spear is a handy ranged weapon if you’re looking to get a more precise shot than the Leviathan Axe. The material needed to upgrade the Draupnir Spear is the Gale Flame. Since this weapon comes relatively late in the game during the main quest, “The Path: Forging Destiny,” it starts at level 5. This means that there are only four Gale Flames for you to collect. Here’s how to get each of them.

Gale Flame 1 Location

Only one Gale Flame is given to Kratos as part of the story, and it is dropped by the boss pair Hrist and Mist after defeating them in Muspelheim. This is where Kratos and Atreus ask Surtr to become Ragnarok in order to take on Odin.

As for the other three Gale Flames, you’ll need to find them in other realms.

Gale Flame 2 Location

You can get a Gale Flame from the Favor called “Nocturnal Predator,” which you can unlock in the Crater area in Vanaheim. This Favor can only be unlocked after completing the Favor “Scent of Survival,” which is also a prerequisite for getting one of the Frozen Flames to upgrade the Leviathan Axe.

In order to start “Nocturnal Predator,” it must be nighttime. If you’ve already done the “For Vanaheim!” Favor, then you should have come across a Celestial Altar along the way to switch the time of day.

Once it’s nighttime, head to the middle of The Plains and you should see a Sigil with two flames alight. You must light up the other three by finding and capturing wisps, and capturing the first one automatically starts the Favor. They can be easily spotted as they are glowing purple and eating animals. To capture them, you must use Kratos’s Blades of Chaos by holding down the L2 trigger and then pressing R2 to purge the animals. Their exact locations are below.

After the remaining three wisps, go back to the Sigil, and you should now see all five flames alight. At this point, a Flame Phantom boss will jump out. To damage the enemy, you must strike its core, which will build up a meter and once it's filled, it will stagger. After that, five different pillars will pop up around the area, and you must destroy them in order to properly defeat the Flame Phantom. They should be easy to spot as it’s night time and they glow purple. However, they are out of range of melee attacks so you must throw the Leviathan Axe or chuck Draupnir Spears at them.

You have a limited amount of time before the Flame Phantom regains its composure and the pillars disappear, and you’ll have to attack its core again. Rinse and repeat until all five pillars are destroyed, then you can go in and press R3 to have Kratos perform a finishing move on the enemy. Upon victory, the Flame Phantom drops a Gale Flame.

Gale Flame 3 Location

Another Gale Flame is dropped by a pair of Berserkers, Bodvar The Fierce and Starolfr the Troublesome. Their Berserker Gravestone can be found in the Jarnsmida Pitmines in the Applecore area in Svartalfheim.

These two are pretty tough to beat, but the general strategy here is to take down Bodvar first, the one carrying two shields. Bodvar seems to have less HP and is far less aggressive than Starolfr, so once Bodvar is out of the way, Starolfr becomes much easier to deal with.

During most of the fight, your companion will draw the other Berserker’s attention, so use that opportunity to focus on the one you’re defeating first.

As for Starolfr, the main attack you want to avoid is the winged feather barrage one. She will say “the end is near!” and fly up into the air to rain down a blast of feathers at you. This attack does tremendous damage and you want to simply dodge out of the way if you can. Even trying to block this attack will do a number on your HP.

After defeating the pair, they will drop a Gale Flame.

Gale Flame 4: How to find all 6 Gale Sparks

The last Gale Flame can be obtained by collecting the six Gale Sparks. These are found as part of the “Lost Lindwyrms” Favor you receive from Ratatoskr where he asks you to find and capture six of these little creatures. The Favor will appear after finishing The Path: The World of Fate and receiving the Draupnir Spear. Just talk to Ratatoskr at Sindri’s house.

During the “Lost Lindwyrms” Favor, you can find them hiding in the smaller Yggdrasil Rifts. Two of them are in Vanaheim and four of them are in Svartalfheim. Remember to examine the rift TWICE. Once for capturing the Lindwyrm and then a second time to get the Gale Spark. Their locations are below:

• The Plains area in Vanaheim - The arena where you fought Crimson Dread during the “For Vanaheim!” Favor, the Yggdrasil rift is in the far corner.

• The Crater area in Vanaheim - Travel to the Eastern Plains Mystic Gateway and the rift near the Celestial Altar.

• The Forge area in Svartalfheim - Once you receive the Draupnir Spear, you’ll have to navigate throughout the area using the spear as a bar to hang on to. You’ll come across the rift eventually.

• Alberich Hollow area in Svartalfheim - After defeating the Ormstunga mini-boss fight, look to your left and the rift should be up the ledge.

• Alberich Island area in Svartalfheim - You will see a damaged boat in the middle of the water and the rift is right on it.

• The Applecore area in Svartalfheim - This is right next to the Applecore Mystic Gateway. Just turn around and you should see the rift. This will be on your way to the Jarnsmida Pitmines area.

God of War Ragnarok is out now for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.