Just like in the previous game we have 6 stats that mostly work the same. If you're wondering where the limits lie, this might be just what you're looking for.
| Stat | Minimum | Max bar | Maximum enchantment requirement | Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 240 | 498 | 600 | 859 |
| Defence | 341 | 498 | 650 | 977 |
| Runic | 190 | 446 | 689 | |
| Vitality | 0 | 347 | 663 | |
| Cooldown | 0 | 347 | 599 | |
| Luck | 90 | 347 | 400 | 5338 or higher |
Minimums:
If you have everything maxed out, you should always have a minimum of:
240 Strength:
- Steinbjörn Gauntles provides the minimum STR boost of all wrist pieces (50). You can always equip the dummy Spartan set or the Dark Odyssey set, but those are only useful for transmog or self nerf, so I'm not going to count that.
- Leviathan Axe provides 190 STR.
341 Defence:
- Berserker Cuirass provides 40 DEF.
- Hunter's Belt provides 94 DEF.
- Any shield provides 190 DEF.
- Rönd of Obliteration provides 17 DEF.
190 Runic provided by the Blades of Chaos.
Draupnir provides 90 Luck.
Max bars:
Just like in GoW 4, filling up a bar doesn't mean you can't go beyond and benefit from it. Too bad. It only makes sense to have somethig truly maxed out when the game tells you that.
Enchantments:
There are 3 enchantments that require stats beyond max bars.
- Dragon Engraving requires 600 STR.
- Steinbjörn Engraving requires 650 DEF.
- Lúnda's Engraving requires 400 LCK.
The caps are tested manually. Unless someone decides to datamine the game and find out where the true caps are, I think my findings are as accurate as any.
Strength is pretty straightforward.
Defence is suprisingly high in this game, that's for sure.
Runic is still bad, just like in the previous one. At least you get more than 1 dew per playthrough.
Vitality is interesting. At 598 HP the game makes Kratos' health bar as long as possible. Much longer than in GoW 4. But unlike the previous game, this one doesn't offer absolute stagger resistance. Some attacks, like stalker's kick will always interrupt Kratos. Another interesting bit is that they never fixed the red health bar bug. And the Mystic Gateways don't heal you fully, by the way.
Cooldown is certain. The Hilt of Skofnung takes 108 second to recharge at 599, and it's the longest cooldown in the game. Too bad it doesn't affect companions here. The only way to have shorter cooldowns is Niflheim.
Luck is not capped from what I can tell. I don't know the formula, but my testing showed 100/100 activation of 3 low luck chance effects at 5338. Of course, this doesn't mean it's exactly 5338, but I had some misfires at 5337, so...
Yeah, it's just dumb. You only get 1 dew per playthrough and it's also on the lower side of Nornir chests.
Feel free to AMA, I guess.