God of War III/Items

You have the items you acquired in previous games, which act passively and are used with normal controls, and then there a new feature in God of War III—the item system. There are three items you'll collect throughout the game that will help with both puzzles and combat and are used differently than the passive items. Like weapons, these items are received through normal story progression and can be upgraded. Like magic, they have their own power bar which is depleted through use. Unlike magic, however, your item power refills quickly without needing to collect orbs. The item power gauge is located on the HUD right below the health and magic meters in yellow. This bar can be permanently lengthened by acquiring ../Minotaur Horns/. The three items that use the item gauge are activated by pressing the corresponding face button while holding psx: L2, and you can change targets with psx: Neutral Rstick.

Each item can be upgraded once in the status screen by spending red orbs, the same way weapons are upgraded. When you upgrade an item it will increase the item's damage, though only the Boots of Hermes gain a new move. Although items are required to solve puzzle elements in the game and can be helpful in fights, it's not necessary to upgrade the items, and your main weapons should have a higher priority.

Bow of Apollo
The Bow is your long-range attack much like Zeus' Fury in God of War or Typhon's Bane in God of War II. The Bow shoots arrows laced with fire very quickly, or you can charge a shot to make enemies burst into flame. In combat, this is your weapon of choice for archer enemies you want to take out from a distance or if you want to whittle away at a strong enemy's health while staying out of range. At various times you may see large, movable cauldrons, and these will explode when shot, dealing a lot of damage to nearby enemies.
 * Upgrade cost: 2,500 orbs

Outside of combat you'll need the Bow to burn dead brambles and entice harpies to leave their perches and attack you. The brambles block either something you want to interact with or further progressions, and you'll need to send a charged shot into them to light them up. The harpies help you across long-distance gaps that you can't glide over, by grabbing them and using them to move you in the direction you want to go. In some cases, however, you'll have to shoot the harpy to gain its attention so it comes over, allowing you to grab it.

Head of Helios
The Head of Helios gives off light which can blind enemies, reveal secrets or be used as a lantern in dark places. Tapping the item button will give you a brief flash, while charging the item releases a huge flare that is an area-of-effect attack and will temporarily raise the light level in the area. In combat you can use the Head to stun enemies, giving you a momentary pause in which to attack or escape. This attack is necessary against the Siren Seductress, which can turn into an incorporeal, blue light that you can't hurt until you make it tangible against with a blast from the Head.
 * Upgrade cost: 2,500 orbs

As a tool for exploring, you'll probably use this item more than any of the others because it can reveal hidden chests and passages. Whenever you see a large amount of floating, golden motes and the air gets slightly hazy, this indicates there is something hidden there. Shine the Head on it to reveal a chest, or, if it's a wall, move the light over it with psx: Neutral Rstick, leaving large swaths of yellow until you've covered enough and the wall disappears.

Boots of Hermes
This is the last item you get, and it allows you to run very quickly for a short period of time along the ground, on walls or in the air. This isn't a very effective way to make traveling through the game faster, as there is a significant slow-motion moment at the end of the ability, but it is required to advance at some points and can be very helpful against certain enemies. In combat, you will run at a targeted enemy and maybe knock them up into the air, depending on how big they are. The nice thing about it is you can't be damaged while you're in mid-stride. This technique is especially useful against enemies that are normally hard to attack, like Satyrs.
 * Upgrade cost: 2,500 orbs

When not fighting, you'll need to use the Boots to get up walls or run along them over large gaps. When this is the case, you'll see shiny, golden footprints fading away along the path you need to take. As such, it's always very obvious where you need to go. On the other hand, you can't run on walls where there isn't a path of footprints, which means you won't get much use out of them in any other circumstance.

Passive items
These items were all acquired in God of War II and carry over into this game. In the context of God of War III, "passive" just means these items are not on the item system and don't use the item meters power. While some of the weapons truly are passive, meaning you don't have to press anything for them to work, others are activated by using the standard controls.

Ripped off of Icarus' body, these allow you to glide around through the air. There's no set duration, so as long as you're falling, you can glide by holding psx: X. Rising hot air will allow you to fly upwards and extend your flight, so be on the lookout for steam rising from grates.
 * Icarus Wings

Acquired from Jason and invaluable during fights, the Fleece allows you to block almost anything. On Titan and Chaos modes, you will need to master blocking with psx: L1 and timing it correctly to counter will make fights much easier. The basic block can be used right away with any weapon, but the ability to counter only comes with upgrades to the weapons. To counter, you'll need to time the block to coincide with the enemy's strike. If you are successful, you'll get a brief moment of slowed time and you'll see a yellow-white flash and the same power gathering around you. Attacking during this moment will return your enemy's energy in a devastating blow.
 * Golden Fleece


 * Argo's Return: Press psx: L1 to block an attack.
 * Argo's Ram: Press psx: L1 as an enemy attacks, then hit psx: S to counter.
 * Argo's Rise: Press psx: L1 as an enemy attacks, then hit psx: T to counter with a more powerful attack.

Allows you to breathe underwater and is activated automatically.
 * Poseidon's Trident

By pressing psx: L3psx: R3, you can activate Rage of Sparta, which drastically increases your power and lets you dish out punishment with the Blade of Olympus. You can attack with psx: S for a lighter attack that dashes you all around or with the strong psx: T which keeps you more in place as you spin. You can deactivate Rage by pressing psx: L3psx: R3 again, or by hitting psx: C near an enemy with the prompt on them.
 * Rage of Sparta

Your Rage meter is shown in the bottom right corner, and will burst into flames when it fills completely. You can activate Rage before the meter is full, but it must be at least a quarter of the way filled. You can increase your Rage meter by killing enemies or by receiving white Rage of Sparta orbs from chests or enemies.