God of War's action-adventure franchise has transitioned away from hack-and-slash and toward thoughtful combat in a third-person perspective for its latest entry. But alongside God of War's remarkable improvements to combat is the RPG-like stats and abilities that come with craftable armor sets.
Resource materials are required to craft certain armor pieces in God of War that may then supply the player with enchantment sockets, ability perks, and associable stats. Smoldering Ember, for example, is a mandatory resource needed to craft and upgrade armor pieces, such as the Smoldering Brimstone Pauldron. But locating this rare resource in particular may be difficult if players are unsure of where to look, though the descriptor in its name gives a clear hint at where they may start their search.
Where and How to Earn Smoldering Ember in God of War
Speaking of God of War's in-depth combat, Smoldering Ember is only found in a fiery biome that tests players' combat expertise. Kratos and Atreus are able to journey outside of Midgard to Muspelheim, a volcanic and lava-laden realm. Smoldering Ember is found exclusively within Muspelheim, but specifically while advancing through God of War's numerous and intense Muspelheim Trials.
To initiate these trials, players must simply reach the different arena stages that appear as they ascend the volcano's cliffsides, where players can find chests that also have Smoldering Ember inside. Here, players interact with giant sword-like structures embedded in the ground to begin. Muspelheim Trials present tiered arena tests with various difficulty modifiers for each, such as having to avoid taking any damage, kill enemies within an allotted time period, kill enemies to increase the time allotted, or defeat enemies who quickly regenerate health.
Once an individual trial is completed, players can interact with the same trial sword again to compete in it at a harder difficulty. Difficulties for each trial are Normal, Hard, and Impossible, with each difficulty offering a new intensity modifier that varies the combat objective that players strive for in order to accomplish it. Muspelheim Trials are not replayable in God of War, but there is a particular way to farm Smoldering Ember once all trials have been completed and another prerequisite has been achieved.
Surtr's Hidden Trials Allow for Smoldering Ember Farming
Once three Impossible-difficulty trials have been completed, as well as having three keys earned from previous trial completion, players will have unlocked Surtr's Hidden Trials. Surtr's Hidden Trials, which is technically Trial 6, are fully replayable and thus grant a way to continuously farm the rare resource while at the steepest difficulty.
Gondul, one of God of War's Valkyrie bosses, is reached on the volcano's summit and must be defeated before Surtr's Hidden Trials can appear. This means that Surtr's Hidden Trials are not easily accessible and only become available after completing nearly all of the previous challenges in Muspelheim. However, players can farm this trial endlessly, with rating scores instead of objectives that earn players differing amounts of Smoldering Ember based upon their score of either Bronze, Silver, or Gold.
God of War is available now on PS4 and comes to PC on January 14, 2022.
