Assassin's Creed Valhalla players complete the quest Rude Awakening on the shores of Norway and looking to strike a blow against Kjotve the Cruel. This leads right into A Cruel Destiny, a quest that requires the player to conquer an entire fortress and confront Eivor's father's killer.
For those just getting used to Assassin's Creed Valhalla's controls, these challenges can be a bit daunting, especially if they are on the game's highest difficulty setting. For those players looking to complete A Cruel Destiny, this guide is here to help.
How to Defeat Kjotve the Cruel in Assassin's Creed Valhalla?
The mission begins again in Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Norway with Eivor needing to find Sigurd, who is located at a map table in the nearby tower. Players can just climb the cliffside or work their way through the encampment and climb up the tower and begin their dialogue. This conversation prompts the player with the option to pursue the invasion or wait until later, and, with Eivor's agreement, the mission continues.
The invasion begins with a duel against Kjotve the Cruel; the first challenging boss fight in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The fight starts with Kjotve attacking with just his hands.
His attacks are limited to unblockable grabs, kicks, and punches (telegraphed by a red glyph above his head), and players need to rely on dodging these and attacking while Kjotve misses. After this boss has had his health drained by about a third, he will retreat back to retrieve his duel axes.
This next phase of this fight features new attacks that are equally unblockable: a lunging attack and a twisting attack. The best time to deal damage is just after Kjotve's swings. Once he has been knocked down to half health, he will carry Eivor into a new arena.
In this location, the moves are basically the same, except that Kjotve will attempt to throw a nearby body at Eivor that needs to be dodged. Kjotve's death prompts an important cutscene that lays some important groundwork for the rest of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. His defeat, however, doesn't end the mission.
How to Take Kjotve's Fortress
Players will rejoin Eivor at the front gate of Kjotve's Fortress, looking to somehow climb the walls and open the gate from the interior. The key to this first wall is to wait for your Viking allies to place ladders. These are the best way into the fortress, but players should expect fierce resistance. The goal is to get to the opposite side of the main gate and destroy the wooden blocks preventing it from opening.
Players will find quite a few enemies as well as a mini-boss, Woe-Bringer, guarding the final gate in this portion of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. To get into this final section, players need to walk around and use one of the several spots that can get them across to the top of the wall. These can be identified by the burning lamps hung from wooden poles. Once inside the walls, players need to just destroy the same type of wooden block to open the gate.
The next task is to locate one of Assassin's Creed Valhalla's more annoying characters, Gorm, inside the Temple at the far back of the fortress. There are plenty of enemies between Eivor and Gorm, but players need only enter that large structure at the top of the hill in order to trigger the final moments of this mission. After a brief conversation with this character, players are left to work their way out of the now-burning Temple.
Aim right and climb up the stone debris and onto the wooden structure. Turn left and continue to climb up the scaffolding until the top of the building has been reached. With that, players need only exit through the open window and speak with Sigurd to conclude this mission. Gorm will play an important part in an upcoming mission in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, however, and is incapable of being caught here.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.