ELDEN RING

This is a written guide for how to deal with each attack from this boss, and therefore isn't focusing on weapons or stats as you can do it with anything. Obvious spoilers ahead, and fair warning, learning the attacks yourself is half the fun but if you need some advice here we go:

Quick Note: If you talked to an NPC named Nepheli Loux near the Secluded Cell cite of grace earlier she will be an available summon for this fight. Using summons increase boss health and won't allow spirits but at least you get more breathing room. Just for reference I beat him solo at lvl 36 with a +3 greataxe and he felt just about right.

[Phase 1]

Basic attacks

Nothing special, just swinging and slamming his axe around. Rolling or blocking is all you need to worry about. However be aware that some swings have follow-ups with his arm. Sometimes he charge attacks causing delays. Don't roll too early!

Jump

Godrick leaps into the air, two handing his axe and slams it down onto you. As long as you're locked on, the camera will follow him and after you see his decent start, roll towards his direction, resulting in him landing behind you with an opportunity to attack.

I command thee kneel!

His most threatening phase 1 attack will have him slam his axe into the ground twice. The first time will be a small aoe, the 2nd time a large one. Make enough distance to be at about the end range of a fireball incantation - which if you have it, it's a good time to cast it. Most builds may survive one aoe hit, but not both. Although you can roll or block through it, it's best to make distance when his animation starts. It looks just like when he did it in the cutscene, and he will begin laughing.

"Windy Spinney"

Godrick will spin his axe around causing a large wind aoe around him. This will do minimal damage and can be blocked but create distance asap as he will do it two more times with the 3rd blow doing more damage. One of two follow-up attacks will occur:

1. Pew Pew: if his axe drags across the ground after, he's going to shoot wind at you twice. Rolling is best as blocking drains a lot of stamina.
2. Jump Jump: if instead he dashes across the ground he's going to jump and slam down on you. Everything is the same as the regular jump notes, except he makes it look more cool now.

Wombo Combo!

When he grips both his axes, charging them up he will unleash a long combo attack of slashes ending with two slams. Don't forget the 2nd slam! You would need a ton of stamina to block through the entire thing so roll through as much as you can using your shield for the end of the combo if needed. If you see it coming in time you can get behind him and just stay behind him through the entire combo. After his 2nd slam, he is done and you can get free hits without using any recourses. He will say: "Bow down to me" before activating this as well.

Stagger

If you do enough damage quick enough, Godrick will stagger. A sound effect will trigger and he will kneel down. Get very close to him and you can perform a critical hit from either his front or back by using a normal attack (). You have a short window of time to do this so do not miss it! Btw coop people...he can't take outside damage when in a critical hit animation so stop wasting your spells on him while someone else is doing it xD

[Phase 2]

Free Hits

Godrick enters a 2nd phase at about 50-60% health with an epic cutscene but quite uniquely, the fight continues from his current health bar progress. However he gives an animation before this happens of kneeling down similar to when he gets staggered. The difference is his harm will be down and he will be in pain. His axe will swing into his arm soon after so don't stand directly in front of him.

Fire Arc

This attack can be repeated but always starts phase 2. He slowly arcs his new dragon arm around blowing long range fire. Normally you can hug him, but you can also side roll through the fire unharmed so at the start, I recommend doing this.

Fire balls

Godrick will swing his arm around as if picking up power from the ground then throw his arm up to have fireballs rain down on you. To completely avoid them, just run towards him (and get behind if can) when you see him doing this.

Fire Walk

Flames build from the dragon arm and the head points at the ground blowing a fire aoe that spreads out additional crawling fire on the ground. Godrick will walk towards you when he is doing this making it that much harder to avoid the already difficult aoe. If you are far enough away it is easier to dance through the fire, and jumping helps however, if you can get behind him and don't let him face you, the fire will never crawl behind him.

Grab Attack

Dragon head will open it's mouth on the ground then swing at you. Omm nom nom. This is an un-blockable grab attack that will not only make for an awesome animation, but also lose much of your health. You're unlikely to survive with low health. Rolling back is required.

I am the lord of all that is golden! (final notes)

Godrick still has most attacks from phase 1 but some have gotten buffed. His "kneel" slam still occurs but is only one handed now, making it harder to telegraph. It also now creates a 3rd, even larger shockwave.
His "windy spinney" attack now adds fire damage so blocking will still deal chip damage. This fire damage is also included if he follow ups with a "pew pew."


After 48 deaths and 1 victory, you will obtain your first great rune. Don't forget to travel to the "Limgrave Tower Bridge" site of grace and follow the path to a tower in order to make it usable for a really nice buff. Congrats!

You’ll find this bastard at the heart of Stormveil Castle. Past all the barricades with flamethrowers and archers and past one of the giants with a sword on its back. There’s a checkpoint in the small room before fog wall so make sure you take the time to touch some Grace before challenging him.

This guy loves his sweeping area of effect axe swings and halfway through will unlock fire powers to use against you. Fortunately, halfway through he’s scripted to do an animation which lasts a while and will leave him completely vulnerable to all attacks until the cutscene kicks in, any damage he receives during this animation will carry over to phase 2 of the fight.

I found using the mace most effective since the bleed effect on it will take out a large chunk off of his health bar once it takes effect.

If you need backup or just want to engage in Jolly Co-Operation, the small statue to enable co-op is nearby his fog wall as well. From the checkpoint room, head straight across toward the small valley room with the glitter bug pushing a rock away from you. This is the room with the sentient pots at the far end. The statue is at the base of the hill going up.

If in doubt, you can always return to this boss later once you level up and get better gear, there’s plenty of other areas to explore, it’s not a linear game after all.

Location:

In this video guide I will show you how to defeat Shardbearer Godrick. If you take the Northwestern path up and find Margit, you know you are on the right path. After defeating him make your way through the castle and eventually you will find the pathway to Godrick.

How strong to be:

Depending on your class and technique, these will vary. I have high health and stamina mostly with some upgraded FP. Both my main weapons are level 5.

Enemy attacks to be aware of:

He has a variety of flurry attacks ranging from one swing up to four swings. Use the AI to distract him for some blows from behind before he notices you. He has a close encounter whirlwind move that he uses, so be at medium range to avoid that. He has this move where he takes his axe overhead and charges up for a big attack, so make sure to get some distance from that. Watch out for any wined up moves where he uses wind charge up for a multi shot move, so be sure to get distance. Once you get him halfway dead he will use the dragon head with a fire breathing ability. Head over to the right side to take some cover behind some tombstones. Once in awhile he will twirl his axe around causing a firenado around him so make sure not to attack while this is going on. Watch out for when he goes in the air for slam moves, these cause high damage as well. One of the worst moves to watch out of is when he scoops you up in the degrons head, all while you can't move to slam you down for a lot of damage. Once in awhile he will use some roll attacks and fire attack. Just make sure to remain at a medium distance and close the gap for an attack and the return to medium distance.

What moves or abilities to use:

Always use a bell summoning of your choice. I use ones with more AI to distract the boss. Plus mix in your preferred ability with your preferred weapon. You could also use a ranged class and use a lot of spells here to avoid high damage. The achievement will pop once the rewards screen comes up.

Okay I found Godrick quite tricky at first, but eventally I think I figured it out. I did this at level 50'ish using the Grafted Greatsword and Lone Wolf Spirit Ashes.