This article is part of a directory: AC Valhalla: Complete Guide and Walkthrough
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In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, players will always have something to do. Whether that's raiding the English countryside, gathering resources to build up their settlement, or completing quests and searching for rare gear, there's no shortage of activities in the game. Despite this, every now and then players may feel the urge to take a break from all that and instead choose to roll the dice in a good old game of Orlog. There aren't any significant rewards for doing so other than unlocking more things to do within Orlog itself, but there is a trophy attached to it as well, incentivizing platinum trophy hunters to take a shot at it.

For those that may have missed the introductory game, Orlog is a simple game played with a set of dice and some stones in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. If that sounds boring, the developers must have thought it would too, as they've added in cool animations and sound effects to keep things more interesting. Essentially, players must deal damage to their opponent while defending themselves from harm. The first person to lose all of their health loses the game, but it can actually be rather complicated at first.

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Orlog - The Basics

hands on preview

In order to excel at Orlog, it's vital that players understand the basics of Assassin's Creed Valhalla's premiere mini game. Each game is played in three sets, with the starting player rolling all six of their dice. From here, players are left to choose which dice they'd like to keep and which they'd like to reroll. The player will then roll again, choosing to keep specific dice and reroll the rest, and then roll one more time to determine their final hand. The player and their opponent alternate throughout this process and can react to each other accordingly.

There are five main symbols that players will need to understand on the dice: an axe, arrow, helmet, shield, and hand. The axe and arrow dice indicate melee and ranged damage respectively, while the helmet and shield block the corresponding damage type. The hand allows players to steal tokens from the opponent, which can then be used to activate powerful God Favors. Finally, any die face that has a dotted line border around it also awards the player with one token, so these should be prioritized by the player whenever possible. The basic gist of the game is to block damage using helmets and shields and deal damage using axes and arrows while using God Favors to aid in that endeavor. Despite its simplicity, Orlog is surprisingly addicting.

Orlog - God Favors

God Favors take a variety of forms, but the one players start with is called Thor's Strike. In order to use this ability, players must collect a certain number of Tokens and then activate them after the rolling phase is over. In the case of Thor's Strike, it deals additional, unblockable damage to the opponent, with varying degrees of power depending on how many tokens are spent. Since players only have fifteen hit points (indicated by the small stones on the table), using 12 tokens to deal eight damage automatically can be devastating at times.

In order to get new God Favors, players have to beat opponents in a game of Orlog. The Orlog player that introduces players to the game rewards the Vidar's Might favor, which removes helmets from the opponent's hand, but there are a wide variety of God Favors the player can collect. Knowing when and how to use these will be vital to obtaining victory against some of the more talented Orlog players that Eivor and the player will come across on their journeys. Players should prioritize playing with lots of NPCs in order to obtain powerful God Favors.

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Orlog Strategy 1 - Careful Defense and Attrition

There are two major strategies players should use when playing Orlog, and the first and most intuitive involves carefully planning out defenses and winning in a battle of attrition. Essentially, be sure to always try and keep enough shields and helmets to block incoming damage from opponents, all while chipping away at their own health with axes and arrows. This is a somewhat slow process, but it does feel good when done correctly. The strategic approach here will work with most enemies, though opponents with powerful God Favors can prove challenging as they can punch through defenses.

With that in mind, players will need to use their own God Favors in conjunction with this strategy. Whenever possible, prioritize dice with dotted lines in order to gain tokens, and if the player's defense is strong enough, it never hurts to throw in a few hand dice as well. These may not directly damage the opponent or bolster the player's defense, but it will prevent them from using their God Favors as frequently and enable the player to do so more. The Heimdall's Watch God Favor works especially well with this playstyle, as it heals the player for each point of damage they block. This can be obtained from Ravensthorpe settlement after building the barracks.

Orlog Strategy 2 - Wrath of the Gods

The second strategy in Orlog may seem counterintuitive at first, but players won't be able to argue with the results. The crux of this is to simply ignore the faces on the player's dice and the opponents, instead simply aiming for the maximum number of god tokens possible. With this strategy, most of the damage the player deals will come from their God Favors, and the dice act merely as a means of getting more tokens. Players need to only keep dice with dotted line borders around them, as these are the ones that grant tokens. Furthermore, hand dice that steal tokens from the opponent should always be prioritized over all other dice, especially if they also grant tokens.

Using a God Favor like Freyr's Gift which adds to the total value of whichever die face is the majority is another great way to stack up on tokens or prevent the opponent from using theirs. The Freyr's Gift God Favor can be obtained by beating the Orlog players in Lunden, and it may be wise to head straight their to get this powerful item in Assassin's Creed Valhalla early. The ultimate goal is to use the highest tier of Thor's Strike twice in order to win the game. There are certainly other strategies that players could employ to win Orlog, but these two should carry players far into the minigame.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, and releases on PS5 on November 12th.

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