God of War: Kratos Key Addition and Revision + Superhuman Precision for Ares

[Ser_Hakim_Dayne]

Some may find this unnecessary, but I suggest adding another key for Kratos.

Before the games event, Kratos was only 9-C: he easily killed a warrior with his bare hands (4:22) and he demonstrated unmatched strength in countless battles until he was ultimately overpowered by Alrik (a barbarian king that Kratos had already faced in the 2010 comics but had only been badly wounded by giant eagles, then later healed by Hades so he can try to kill Kratos in the GoW 1 flashback) (0:57). It was only after receiving help from Ares that Kratos was able to one-shot Alrik (2:40-3:00), which is when he became 4-A.
So I also propose changing the name of his 4-A Key to "Post-Oath" (or something like that) instead of "Demi-God Kratos", because 9-C Kratos is also a demi-god, what changes his AP is the oath he made with Ares.
For the Lifting/Grip strength of 9-C Kratos I just found this.
Note: Also, The 9-C key also corresponds to Kratos from the 2010 comics, which takes place before Kratos swears an oath to Ares.

Superhuman Precision for Ares (0:33)

 

[Planck69]

Not only is this new key completely pointless, but Kratos wasn't ever a normal human warrior. Long before he ever swore himself to Ares, he could fight and kill godly champions like Cerion handily. And in that same comic book, he wrestles a sea monster and outlasts veteran Spartans in stamina and endurance.

Ares didn't grant him some immensely powerful boost in power, beyond just the Blades. I dunno why you treat the oath as something increasing his innate power. So while he's definitely weaker and less experienced than he is at his peak as a Demigod, this new key implies that Ares somehow chose a warrior exponentially less powerful than Redeemed Warriors to be his weapon.

I'm neutral to the Ares feat addition. He already has vastly enhanced senses so I'm not sure how well that meshes with precision like this.

 

[Pepsimanslover_69]

I don't think there's much point of adding a key like that. That Kratos would scale above you're regular champions to begin with, who are at minimum High-6A if not higher with Relativistic level of speeds (with Kratos likely scaling to the higher levels, which would just be FTL and 4-A)

The biggest change tbh would be hax and resistance.

Superhuman Precision would depend on how it's standards deal with enhanced senses.

 

[Ser_Hakim_Dayne]

Long before he ever swore himself to Ares, he could fight and kill godly champions like Cerion handily. And in that same comic book, he wrestles a sea monster and outlasts veteran Spartans in stamina and endurance.

None of these feats are 4-A tbh. Also, Kratos didn't wrestle the Snake Sea, he just hit him with swords.

I dunno why you treat the oath as something increasing his innate power.

Because he had no feats above 9-C before that and he got beaten by a character who didn't have any either. It was only after Ares' help that Kratos one-shot Alrik.

Not only is this new key completely pointless

I don't think there's much point of adding a key like that.

I expected this reaction, but if it's just 9-C or High 6-A, I don't see why it would be useless.

 

[Planck69]

None of these feats are 4-A tbh. Also, Kratos didn't wrestle the Snake Sea, he just hit him with swords.

Because he had no feats above 9-C before that and he got beaten by a character who didn't have any either. It was only after Ares' help that Kratos one-shot Alrik.


I expected this reaction, but if it's just 9-C or High 6-A, I don't see why it would be useless.

The killing of the various champions would at least be High 6-A, and that is assuming that Poseidon and the others somehow made the champions in this wager only as strong as their average champions and not the stronger Redeemed Warriors, who are 4-A. The Sea Snake part was to show that he's not restricted to normal human physicality, its tier in itself is not that relevant.

So unless him scaling to his opponents somehow isn't counted, he's significantly above 9-C during the wager, his earliest appearance. Alrik isn't even a counter to that. Not only is the latter a champion of Hades, but it just says more about Alrik that he can beak Kratos not less for the latter.

And frankly, there's just not much of a point to this. A lot of his innate abilities would carry over and it'd just be a needless addition in my eyes.

 

[Aetheric Pariah]

Since there was a good amount of effort made to reduce the overall amount of keys Kratos had due to clutter (used to be a key for legit every single game) there is no reason to add a key that isn't meaningful or has any major tier changes beyond just being weaker. Just goes against the current presentation of the profile and adds needless clutter.

 

[MarcusTCicero]

Ares didn't grant him some immensely powerful boost in power, beyond just the Blades. I dunno why you treat the oath as something increasing his innate power. So while he's definitely weaker and less experienced than he is at his peak as a Demigod, this new key implies that Ares somehow chose a warrior exponentially less powerful than Redeemed Warriors to be his weapon.

Didn't Ares' deal grant him 'ultimate power' which granted his mortal subject 'near-Olympian strength and toughness' which were stats already above his own 'considerable natural gifts'?

 

[Planck69]

Didn't Ares' deal grant him 'ultimate power' which granted his mortal subject 'near-Olympian strength and toughness' which were stats already above his own 'considerable natural gifts'?

Kratos's near-Olympian toughness is a descriptor was given by Athena long after he left Ares's service. At no point is that credited to Ares, if anything most of the conversations about that are the gods mocking him for messing up with his "greatest weapon". Between that and even the Sisters of Fate and Gaia considering his birth exceptional, there's no real reason to credit Ares anything beyond the Blades of Chaos and saving his life.

Really, the only an elite few rise to be champions of the gods among the Redeemed Warriors, and said champions were killed by Kratos years before he becomes Ares's servant. His power was still on that level before the pact.

 

[MarcusTCicero]

Kratos's near-Olympian toughness is a descriptor was given by Athena long after he left Ares's service. At no point is that credited to Ares, if anything most of the conversations about that are the gods mocking him for messing up with his "greatest weapon".

"Why give his mortal subject near-Olympian strength and toughness? Why would he affix to Blades of Chaos to Kratos' wrists?"

Really, the only an elite few rise to be champions of the gods among the Redeemed Warriors, and said champions were killed by Kratos years before he becomes Ares's servant. His power was still on that level before the pact.

I see. I would argue that this upscales and puts Ares' service Kratos >>>> Spartan Kratos > Champions of the gods.

I view the very nature of the deal as this deal with the devil (as Cory iirc puts it) which grants him limitless power far beyond what he already had (not actually limitless but you get the idea) but in return costs him everything.

 

[Planck69]

"Why give his mortal subject near-Olympian strength and toughness? Why would he affix to Blades of Chaos to Kratos' wrists?"

Fair point, I misremembered, though that he is on par with the champions would still mean he's on the level of demigods before the deal, making the new key pointless.