Here are some tips and strategies that will help you take down the first Elden Lord.
Towards the end of your journey in Elden Ring, you'll come across several bosses that stand in your way and hope to stop you from entering the Erdtree and become an Elden Lord. One of these bosses is Godfrey, a fierce warrior who was the first to claim the title of Elden Lord and one of the strongest opponents in all of Elden Ring. With his high physical damage and ability to whittle down your health with shockwave after shockwave, Godfrey is extremely dangerous.
With that said, taking him down is much easier once you know how to exploit his weaknesses and avoid his most dangerous attacks. Here's our full guide on the Godfrey, the First Elden Lord boss fight, complete with tips, tricks, strategies, and a full overview of the fight that will help you defeat him.
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Elden Ring: Godfrey general tips
These general tips will help you prepare and plan for your battle with Godfrey in Elden Ring, as well as give you an idea of what to expect from the encounter.
- All of Godfrey's attacks are physical, so boost your physical damage resistances for this fight. Wearing heavy armor and using the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman are good options for this. Just make sure your armor isn't giving you a Heavy Load, which will make your dodges slow and useless.
- Godfrey is weak to Scarlet Rot, so use weapons, items, or spells that inflict it if you can. This will allow you to deal plenty of bonus damage during the fight, making it go faster.
- The Latenna the Albinauric Spirit Ash Summon is excellent in this fight, as long as you hold Godfrey's aggro. She will constantly pelt him with arrows from a safe range as long as you spawn her in right after entering the boss arena.
- Having a good shield is useful in Phase 1, as most of Godfrey's axe attacks can be blocked. By blocking the final attack in Godfrey's attack chains and then landing a guard counter, you can also do big stance damage to Godfrey. The shield stops being useful in Phase 2, though.
- It's possible to stagger Godfrey in both phases of the fight, provided you hit him enough in rapid succession. This allows you to land a critical hit and do massive bonus damage, so if he gets staggered, don't miss your opportunity to riposte him.
Elden Ring: Godfrey Phase 1
In Phase 1, Godfrey has a relatively simple moveset that involves lots of stomps and attacks with his battle axe. Here's how to complete the initial phase of the battle.
- When the fight begins, Godfrey will leap into the air, throw his axe at you, then crash into you. Make sure you're ready to dodge both attacks. This combo does a lot of damage, so make sure you don't get hit by it. It's never good to take a lot of damage so early in a boss fight, after all.
- Godfrey's axe swings are well telegraphed, but hit hard. Make sure you dodge or block them, then hit him several times. You'll have a few seconds to attack him if you manage to avoid his melee combos, so don't hesitate to go on offense after some successful defense.
- Whenever Godfrey stomps, he will create a shockwave that goes towards you and can damage you. To avoid this, either roll towards Godfrey as the shockwave is created or jump over it.
- If Godfrey smashes his axe into the ground, move away from him. Soon after, he will rip it out of the ground, performing an earthquake-style attack horizontally across the arena that does heavy damage and sends you flying. Dodging the move is possible, but you have to dodge at the last possible moment or you'll still get hit. It's better to simply run away.
- When you get Godfrey to 70% health, he'll raise his leg into the air and prepare a massive stomp. When he brings his foot down, jump over the shockwave the stomp creates. This shockwave covers the entire arena, so you have to jump over it.
- Following this attack, a red aura will surround Godfrey and all of his stomp attacks will send out an arena-wide shockwave you have to jump over. Make sure you're always keeping an eye on his legs so you know when a stomp is coming.
Once you get Godfrey to about 40% health, a cutscene will play in which he discards his armor and battle axe and reveals his true identity: Hoarah Loux, Warrior.
Elden Ring: Godfrey Phase 2
In this phase, Godfrey's attacks are more erratic, as he uses his fists and feet as his weapons, berserker-style. Here's how to survive Godfrey's frenzied onslaught of attacks and take him down.
- As the second phase starts, Godfrey will immediately launch himself at you and attempt to grab you. Be ready to dodge. If this attack lands, Godfrey will throw you into the air and then slam you into the ground, one-shotting all but the beefiest of Tarnished warriors.
- Don't get greedy in this phase; you'll only have time to land one or two attacks of your own between Godfrey's moves. Patience is key here; getting overconfident and greedy will likely result in your quick death.
- When Godfrey begins swiping his fists at you in a combo, move away from him and dodge what you can. This combo is very difficult to avoid, but putting some distance between you and him can help make several of the strikes miss and will force you to dodge fewer of them.
- If Godfrey begins "winding up" his arm, be ready to dodge a grab. If he lands this grab, he will slam you into the ground and punch you, likely killing you in one hit if you're already injured.
- Watch out for Godfrey's kicks, as they'll do moderate damage and knock you down. If you get knocked down, you'll likely be forced to try to dodge out of the entirety of one of Godfrey's melee combos. Note that Godfrey's roars will also knock you down as well.
- Once Godfrey reaches 20% health, his stomps will create the same arena-wide shockwave that they did towards the end of Phase 1. Make sure you jump over these to avoid taking unnecessary damage.
- Godfrey will occasionally pound the ground with his hands, creating more massive shockwaves. He'll then create a large area of effect explosion. Jump over the former, and run away before the latter occurs. Note that the explosion will likely one-shot you if you're not full health, so getting away from it is a top priority.
The second phase of Godfrey's boss fight is incredibly tough, and you won't have much time to land attacks of your own, but if you remain patient and focus on dodging or jumping over as many attacks as possible, you'll emerge victorious.
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Elden Ring ... oh, Elden Ring!
Elden Ring is FromSoftware's latest fantasy epic, featuring a focus on open-ended design in a universe created by both FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin.