A Bout with Kristoffer

For this Training Ground Subquest, you’ll have to face the stalwart and noble Einherjar, Kristoffer. She’s a very formidable opponent and so far, the hardest of the four einherjars that you have to spar with. In our A Bout with Kristoffer guide, we will provide an overview and general strategy on how to clear this Training Ground subquest.

Valkyrie Elysium is the latest title of the renowned Valkyrie series. Play as the Valkyrie as she purifies the land from evil in a collapsing world as Ragnarok looms. Summon the souls of chosen warriors called Einherjars to assist you in combat and unleash the power of Divine Arts to smite your foes.

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Kristoffer is probably the hardest to deal with, of all the einherjars you’ll face. She has quick, nasty long-ranged attacks and she aggressively closes the distance to perform combos. She can charge up her lance and release a powerful beam of light as she thrusts it forward. She’s highly resistant to invulnerability when she assumes the pose to charge up for this attack so if you just started your combo at the moment she starts charging up, you won’t have enough time to avoid this attack. However, for some reason, if you’re performing an aerial attack (soul chain combo) with Valkyrie elevated just a few inches on the ground, this attack won’t hit you even if you’re doing the combo in front of Kristoffer.

Kristoffer can backstep while slashing her lance outward, as well as perform an aerial dive with her weapon. Additionally, she can also perform a rapid-thrust combo with her lance and even produce a tornado that can trap and damage you in mid-air. When she starts to stand still and summon a magical circle, wait for her to change her pose (where she raises her lance up) then quickly approach her to try to disrupt her chant by attacking her with continuous combo. The magical circle will track you so there’s really no use trying to outrun it until the last second where she’s ready to unleash it.

Her unblockable attack is somewhat hard to avoid as well since she can dash quickly so unless you’re prepared for it, that attack will most likely connect. She also has a flashy spear thrust or a slash that sends out a wide light wave - both are somewhat hard to avoid. If you have faced Eygon before challenging Kristoffer, you should notice that it’s a bad idea to just focus on aggression when facing her; you have to be on the defensive as well. Kristoffer has the right balance of these approaches so you have to properly match your strategy with her so you can execute very effective reversal moves and counters. Once you have unlocked Valkyrie’s skills that enhance your parry or counter window, you can also let her come at you and just rely on your counterattacks until you whittle down her HP. Aerial combos are still effect but launching her into the air can be a bit challenging since she’s very quick on her toes as well.

When Kristoffer is down to around 30% HP, she’ll activate a self-buff that covers herself in light and seems to increase her defense significantly. She’ll be tankier and will have access to new attacks, including light-infused aerial dives and thrusts combos with her lance. This buff seems to last for the remainder of the battle as well so don’t let your guard down.

Kristoffer is weak against the lightning element so use like we suggest in earlier training ground fights, equip tier 1 or tier 2 divine arts for this type since charging up your divine art gauge will be somewhat difficult in this battle. You’re not after the raw damage of these divine arts; you just want access to emergency invulnerability when casting and chip damage that will count towards the opponent’s crush gauge.

Due to Kristoffer’s apparent difficulty, don’t hesitate to use healing items, even potions. This will affect your post-battle rating but so does the damage you receive for the entire battle so unless you’re after perfection (rank S on all Subquests), there’s really no reason not to burn through your items that you wouldn’t be using in the main story normally.

That concludes our A Bout with Kristoffer guide for Valkyrie Elysium. Please check out our online guide for the game and other articles for more Valkyrie Elysium content!