God of War - Ringed Temple Trench puzzle and how to defeat the Stone Ancient boss

A walkthrough for the second part of the Alfheim God of War story mission, a The Light of Alheim.

Guide by Chris Tapsell Deputy Editor

Updated on 14 Jan 2022

Ringed Temple Trench is the name of your next stop on the Light of Alfheim mission in God of War PS4, and how to defeat the Stone Ancient boss is probably the toughest challenge you'll find along the way.

Here on this page, we'll take you through everything you need to know about this section of your quest, including how to solve any puzzles, take down any bosses and find any useful loot along the way. For guides to specific collectibles we also have pages on Valkyrie locations and how to open Hidden Chambers, Lost and Found locations and Faces of Magic locations, too.

This page follows on from God of War - Alfheim, The Light of Alfheim, Lake of Light, and how to enter the Temple.

Cover image for YouTube video — 8 Things We Wished We Knew Before Playing God of WarWatch on YouTube

Otherwise, you can always cycle back to our main God of War walkthrough and guide hub, or our guide to God of War Valkyrie locations and how to open Hidden Chambers, too.

Ringed Temple Trench

Descend into the Temple Trench to be met by a very angry, senior-looking Dark Elf.

Despite initially looking like one though, the first battle here isn't a boss fight - just a tussle with some more Dark Elf minions in your way.

Clear them out, and then turn behind you for a couple rooms with treasure to collect. In the one on the left, turn the central spoke to open a door to your right with a Draugr in it. Wipe that out first.

Head into that room and lob your axe at the glowing vine there. Then go back round to the central room with the spoke you turned and recall the axe, getting it to hit both vines together.

Inside that newly opened chamber is a chest containing Thiazi's Talon, a new Heavy Runic Attack that does a kind of area of effect freezing damage cone in front of you.

In the other room is some hacksilver - there's another set of three chambers next to this one, with a Draugr behind some bars and a healing orb, but nothing else for now.

Ringed Temple Trench puzzle

Continue onwards after your waypoint to the North East then, where a few more enemies appear by another Nornir rune chest. Take them out, then get to solving that chest puzzle.

This one requires you to destroy the little runes rather than hit bells, so there's no time limit, but it's one of the trickiest ones we've found. First, go to the cog towards the south and turn it, lowing your platform down to a lower level. When you turn the wheel you'll notice that the middle section of the floor drops first, then the end parts like the one you're stood on.

Lower it all the way down and freeze the cog ahead of you with an axe throw. Then turn around and climb up onto the ledge there. Recall the axe and, as you've probably noticed, you're stood next to the first rune. Smash it, and as you recalled your axe from freezing the cog it'll also take you up to the original height, next to a chest containing Runic Forearm Bracers.

As we mentioned, the middle section of the floor is the first to lower, with the two end sections then lowering after. Likewise when you unfreeze the cog, the end sections raise up, then the middle section. The next two runes are lodged into the walls of those two end parts of the floor which raise up first.

So, first lower the floor all the way down and freeze the cog.

Then run to roughly parallel with the cog, facing towards the rune chest and slightly to the right, and recall your axe. The end section just in front of you will raise up, and a rune will be lodged into the side of it right in front of you. Keep swinging your axe as that wall goes up and you'll smash it.

We'll update with some better screens soon, but for now look at the cog in this picture, then look left and slightly below it to see that glowing blue dot - that's one Rune. The other is in a similar spot on the platform Kratos is standing on in this image.

Then, rinse and repeat the same but this time facing away from the rune chest, towards the end section that has the cog on top - the third rune is lodged in a similar spot on the face of that wall, too.

When you're done, lower the floor all the way down again, freeze the cog, and run to the tunnel at the far end under the rune chest to a room with another wheel and cog to freeze.

Pull the cog down, but keep your eye on the end of the tunnel you just came from - there's another chest built into the wall there which is in reach when the platform's about half way down. Wheel it down to the right height, and freeze the cog in this room.

Run to collect the loot from the chest - a Rare Enchantment called the Fragmented Heart of Alfheim that reduces Dark Elf damage against you (very handy here), then return to that little room at the far end of that corridor once more.

Follow the waypont from that room to the east, where there's another pair of vines for you to hit simultaneously.

Boost the boy up onto the ledge and follow him.

And you're attacked! Pop your Spartan Rage - Kratos does not like it when people attack his son - and hang right to smash some wall down and make your way over to Atreus, who's doing pretty well holding his own.

Clear out the last few enemies and follow the waypoint to a nearby door to continue into a gilded room with little for you to do in now, so continue again through another door, and the space will open out into a large chamber of multiple bridges and walkways.

Drop down to the walkway below and head to the far end, then turn to the right to line up another shot at two glowing vines which, when cleared, alow the light bridge nearby to reform and let you cross.

Turn left at the end and climb up the wall to the level above, and battle a few more Dark Elves. Freezing them then kicking them off ledges works a treat to deal with them quickly, by the way.

There'll likely still be a flying one left over, which attemps to pick you off from range. Get into throwing axe distance to take it out, and do watch out for its ranged attacks - if they hit you you'll be partially blinded for a moment.

When all those enemies are beaten, a new one will appear, and it's a biggun - a Stone Ancient!

Looking for more help? Our God of War walkthrough and guide helps with the main story progress, including The Witch's Cave puzzle solutions. We also have articles on God of War Valkyrie locations and how to open Hidden Chambers, plus collectables including God of War Faces of Magic locations,God of War Lost and Found locations, God of War Treasure Map locations and God of War Nornir chest locations.

Stone Ancient boss fight

The Stone Ancient is a tad harder than some of the other boss fights you've had so far, but it's also far from impossible.

The main thing you have to do here is hit the right spot, at the right time, with ranged attacks whilst avoiding damage yourself - be particularly wary of the Stone Ancient's ranged ice attack - getting caught in it will slow you and cause some heafty damage-over-time, but it can at least be blocked if you're unable to dodge.

Start by trying to land a hit with a throw of your axe on the glowing part of its chest - if you can get ahead of its ice beam attack that's a good time to do it, as it'll stay largely still while firing at you.

Once you've landed a good hit, some chunks of stone will have been knocked loose from the monster - normally in sets of two at a time. Run and pick one up and throw it back at the Ancient's glowing heart again, just as you did with your axe.

This will weaken the Ancient and cause a prompt to appear for you to hop on and start punching the hell out of it by mashing R1 and R2 - go for it!

You'll need to go through that cycle again one more time, and after that first go some more Dark Elves will spawn, which it might be worth focusing down quickly (whilst staying on the move) in order to give yourself some space.

And that, essentially, is all there is to it. Once the Stone Ancient goes down it'll start a new Labour called Last of the Anicents, and drop some nice loot of course - including an Ancient's Heart, five pieces of Soft Svartalfheim Steel, a load of Hacksilver and a Rare Enchantment called Fragmented Heart of Alfheim, which again reduces Dark Elven attacks.

Nearby there's also a chest, in the northern corner of the platform, which contains a Light Runic Attack called Njord's Tempest, which has you spinning round in circles towards enemies like Crash Bandicoot.

Finally, to progress, head to the red pulsing thing with some tendrils shielding it. Chuck your axe or hack away at it, and then mash Circle to interact with it (freezing the weird pulsing plant stem and allowing you to shatter it.