How to beat the Elden Ring Godfrey boss fights

The Elden Ring Godfrey boss fight against the First Elden Lord - or rather, both boss fights against Godfrey and his alter ego, Hoarah Loux, Warrior - are a couple of real mythical moments in Elden Ring. Godfrey has two boss fights, both in Leyndell. Once as a Golden Shade, a ghostly spirit made of light, and once where he shows up properly as himself, switching to Hoarah Loux in Phase 2 so he can literally beat you to death with his bare hands. No matter what fight and what phase you're in, Godfrey's a big challenge, so we've put together a guide on the Elden Ring Godfrey boss fights and Hoarah Loux boss fights below.

Obviously this page contains spoilers for certain mid-game and late-game sections of Elden Ring, but only addresses the information relevant to these boss fights and how to beat them.

First Godfrey boss fight (Golden Shade)

How to beat the first Godfrey, First Elden Lord boss fight (golden shade)

The first time you encounter Godfrey in the Erdtree Sanctuary of Leyndell, he'll manifest as a golden shade of himself that's less powerful than the original (but still tough nonetheless). Godfrey in this form is a large, relatively slow bulk of an enemy, using wide axe swings and short-range AOE attacks, occasionally charging forward or using a ranged attack out of nowhere to try and catch players off-guard. He shouldn't prove too much of a problem in this first encounter, but here's some useful tidbits to carry you through this encounter.

• Players for this fight should be at least level 75, ideally higher, and have +13 weapons or up.
• In this form, Godfrey is weak to Lightning and Thrusting damage, but heavily resistant to Holy power, which isn't surprising considering he appears to be made out of it. He's also hard to inflict Bleed on, though it can be done. Plan your weapon choices accordingly.
• The first thing Godfrey tends to do when you enter is throw his axe at you, then leap forward to get it again. This offers you a very small window to summon Spirits to help, or risk taking two hundred pounds of divine iron to the head. If you're going to summon or cast spells, do it the moment you enter, or after the axe is thrown and Godfrey is retrieving it.
• Whenever Godfrey stomps his foot, it creates a short-range earthquake in front of him. Roll to the side as it comes down, not backwards or forwards.
• Godfrey's long-range axe sweeps mean that if he's doing melee attacks, your best hope is to roll towards him, under the blade. This also sets you up nicely for follow-up strikes.
• Godfrey likes to chain various combos together, causing a certain amount of unpredictability. If you've seen him string a chain of attacks together before, don't expect it to end the same way next time.

Slay this echo of a great king and you'll be rewarded with 80000 Runes, not to mention a Talisman Pouch, a permanent upgrade to your equipment that allows you to wear another Talisman. It's definitely worth making use of that, as there's some game-changing talismans out there. You'll also want to level up at the new Site of Grace that's appeared, as you're about to go have another boss fight immediately after this.

You won't see Godfrey again for a long time, but he will be back. Read on to discover what he's capable of and how you can defeat him the second time round.

Second Godfrey Fight (First Elden Lord and Hoarah Loux, Warrior)

How to beat the second Godfrey boss fight

Godfrey returns in his true physical form much closer to the end of the game, after visiting Crumbling Farum Azula and beating the boss there. Now he's back to reclaim the Elden Ring for a second time and beat you to the punch of becoming Elden Lord - but you haven't come all this way for somebody to steal it at the end, have you? Be warned, this form of Godfrey is much more powerful than he was previously, and will be a real challenge for even experienced players. We'll split discussion of how to beat him into two sections, as Godfrey has two phases that both work very differently - as himself, the First Elden Lord, and then as Hoarah Loux, Warrior. Click on the links below to find what you need.

• Phase 1: Godfrey, First Elden Lord
• Phase 2: Hoarah Loux, Warrior
• Boss fight rewards

Phase 1 - Godfrey, First Elden Lord

Godfrey in Phase 1 acts like some hyper-powered version of the Golden Shade you fought the first time around, albeit with much larger, stronger variations of his attacks, not to mention some new moves (including a shockwave power you'll quickly learn to hate). We'll discuss some basics on how you can work through this first section here.

• Players for this fight should aim to be around level 110 or up. You'll also want weapons that are almost fully upgraded, +20 or more.
• Like the first time around, Godfrey is vulnerable to Lightning and Thrusting damage, while Holy does very little to him. This won't change when he hits Phase 2, thankfully.
• If you've done Nepheli's questline (which was filled out in a recent patch), she'll be available as a summonable NPC outside the arena.
• That being said, there's an argument to be made that Godfrey might actually be a little easier to fight one-on-one (though it depends on your strengths as a player). When encountering multiple enemies, Godfrey's AI seems to push him to use more AOE attacks - and these are generally very hard to dodge. Fighting him alone means he uses less of these and focuses on axe swings, which are much more manageable and easier to avoid.
• In Phase 1, Godfrey is slow but powerful, and the impacts of his attacks are far-reaching. Shields can only stop the axe, and you'll need to focus on well-timed rolling and evasion for everything else.
• Like before, Godfrey's stomps create short-range earthquakes ahead of him, but side-dodging these shouldn't be too much trouble after practising with the Golden Shade.
• If Godfrey slams his axe into the ground and creates a volcanic fissure across the ground, get off it! It's about to explode for very high damage.
• At about 75% health Godfrey will get a temporary white aura about him. This adds a shockwave effect to all his stomp attacks, or even when he lands after leaping across the arena. These shockwaves reach across the whole battlezone - they have unlimited range - and stagger those they hit, interrupting whatever they're doing. You need to roll the moment you see one coming, as they're deceptively fast, have very little wind-up, and Godfrey has a nasty habit of using them multiple times in rapid succession. While they don't do massive damage, being hit by four in a row (not to mention having them interrupt your attempt to drink Flasks), can end a confused player horrifyingly quickly, or just drain their Flasks.

Bring Godfrey down to half health and a cinematic will trigger that begins Phase 2. Things are about to seriously change, as the former Lord takes a strange attitude of "less is more."

Phase 2 - Hoarah Loux, Warrior

In this second phase, Godfrey sheds his axe, his identity, most of his armour, and even the ghost lion that's been hanging over his shoulder this entire time. His name is now Hoarah Loux, Warrior, with an entirely new set of moves and skills. 

We'd actually say Hoarah Loux is slightly easier than his previous form, but he's still a challenge, and you're likely running low on Flasks and resources after that first part. Not to mention that if you die now, you'll have to deal with Phase 1 all over again. Read through these tips to help you handle a character who's suddenly switched classes from Paladin to Barbarian. 

• Whereas before Godfrey was slower and used his AOE attacks to hit players from a distance, Hoarah Loux is a very different beast, aggressively charging head-first at the player and using bare-handed grapples that lock the victim into highly-damaging animations where he power-bombs or kicks you to death.
• Again, shields don't help here, as they can't stop a grapple attack. Don't try using them, just keep rolling whenever you see those giant hands coming. 
• Loux's aggressive behaviour means you'll basically have no choice but to take the occasional potshot at him between long combos and charging strikes, and probably won't get to do any long combos of your own. Likewise, those who use spells with long casting times might have a lot of trouble here.
• Hoarah Loux still likes earthquake stomps, and also tends to perform high jumps where he lands and creates explosions. You also need to watch for if he grabs hold of the ground and causes it to glow around him - that glowing area is about to explode.
• At times he'll slam his fists into the ground to create those bloody arena-wide shockwaves (even if he's not glowing white). If he does it once, he's always about to follow it up with a second one!
• Hoarah Loux has a frustrating habit of throwing his head back and roaring, creating a short-range pulse of energy that knocks players back. It's hard to predict with little wind-up, but if you see him straighten up with fists behind his head, get away!
  

Get him down to zero health and it'll finally be over, ending the battle with this brawny powerhouse. You're very near the end of the game now, so maybe use this chance to go and explore some optional areas to train for the final battles? They definitely won't be easy.

Boss Fight Rewards

Godfrey and Hoarah Loux boss fight rewards

Godfrey doesn't have a Great Rune to give you - he wasn't around when the Elden Ring was shattered, so there's no reason why he would have one - but you'll get a delicious 300000 Runes, as well as the Remembrance of Hoarah Loux. This can be redeemed with Enia either for the Axe of Godfrey, a Colossal Axe that scales to Strength and Dexterity, or the Hoarah Loux's Earthshaker Ash of War, which can be used to give any melee weapon the Heavy affinity and a replication of Godfrey's earthquake causing abilities (after a bit of a windup animation).

Of these two, we'd have to say that the Earthshaker is the better choice, even though it's only average. The Axe of Godfrey is weirdly, oddly poor by the standards of a legendary weapon, maxing out at a C scaling for strength when fully upgraded. It has a unique Ash of War that boosts your attack power while performing a short-range roar that knocks foes over, but that only raises it up to the level that most other high-tier weapons are already at.

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