The lord of Stormveil Castle, and likely your first Lord faced in Elden Ring, can pose a serious challenge if you are unprepared. If his unpredictable attacks and enormous strength aren’t bad enough, his second phase sees him end with a dragon head on his arm!
Don’t panic, because Godrick the Grafted is not only beatable but can actually be quite straightforward once you know what you’re doing. And we’ve got it all covered here.
Here’s our full boss guide of how to beat Godrick in Elden Ring.
- RELATED: Elden Ring Review (spoiler-free)
How to beat Godrick: General Tips
We’ll start with general advice of how to beat Godrick. Our specific strategy can be found further below.
Counter his telegraphed attacks – not his basic combos
Godrick, like Margit before him, has a semi-dynamic attack pattern. When he starts unloading combos, these don’t always have a specific number of hits. Instead, he can mix them up depending on your movements along with pure luck of the draw.
Thankfully, he still has a few attacks that follow a specific pattern and leave openings. The key to this battle is to learn how to dodge these attacks and capitalise on them when he uses them. As for the more unpredictable attacks, the safest method is to simply get out of there and keep your distance when he is using them. We’ll cover the specifics during the phase strategies below.
Attack him between phases
After you’ve reduced about 40% of his health bar, Godrick will cry out and collapse, signalling his intention to move onto his second, more dangerous phase. When he falls to the floor, he will be immobilised until the cutscene begins.
He can still be damaged for another 5 seconds or so after his yell, and if you can get behind him this is a risk-free opportunity to rail on him, hopefully getting him below half-health. Be careful of attacking him from the front, as he can deal some needless damage to you when he chops off his arm. The best bet is to keep a close eye on his health bar and try and get behind him when you are near the damage threshold so you are ready to pounce.
Summoning can make this battle straightforward
Certain bosses, particularly solo ones, can be easily dispatched when you have a bit of help. Godrick is one of the easiest to defeat with this method, because you can actually summon two helpers simultaneously.
Along with your usual Spirit Ashes, there’s also a NPC called Nepheli Loux who can be found near the boss arena. If you talk to her a few times, you’ll be able to bring her into the fray where she can deal some solid damage whilst more importantly attracting his aggro and leaving him open.
Summoning isn’t for everyone, but if you intend on using this method, I would suggest relying on Nepheli Loux during Phase 1 and using your Spirit Ashes towards the end of this phase or the start of the second phase, ensuring you’ve always got a helping hand to drag his attention away from you.
Where to find Nepheli Loux?
If you didn’t bump into her already, Nepheli is close by. From the boss entrance, go in the exact opposite direction and you’ll find a path containing a giant and some soldiers. Either beat them or run past them and find the entrance to a chamber against the wall. Nepheli is within, standing over a corpse.
Keep talking to her until she asks to help you against Godrick, and there’ll then be a marker on floor just before you traverse the mist. Examine it to bring Nepheli into the battle.
Even if you don’t want to summon her, you should still find her because she is relevant to some sidequests later on.
Use Bleed and Poison if possible
Bleed is an incredibly useful tool in Elden Ring, and can deal significant damage to bosses. If you have a weapon that causes blood loss buildup, then landing repeated hits will eventually cause a huge bonus chunk of damage to be dealt. Godrick is susceptible to this, so it’s worth equipping a blood loss weapon if you have one.
Godrick can also be inflicted with poison, and I’ve seen cheese methods involving an early infliction of poison before simply running away from him for the rest of the battle whilst his health slowly depletes.
Neither of these are strictly necessary, but can provide some welcome assistance to get over the line.
Godrick Boss Guide: Phase 1
The most important element of the fight is learning which attacks to counter and which to ignore. Below are his main phase 1 attacks.
Attack Pattern
Single Drag-Swing – Godrick drags the axe along the floor first, before one big swipe. This is easy to read and you can dodge towards it and land two light attacks before getting out of there.
Two-Handed Combo – This one causes white slice effects in the air and is a massive opportunity. There are five attacks (be careful, it looks like he’s finished after four) and you can either retreat back from him and easily avoid the first four attacks before dodging towards him on the fifth one or you can actually dodge through the first one and get behind him. The rest of the attacks will miss you and you can rail on him repeatedly.
Wind Attack – A series of unblockable whirlwinds, either ending with a roll and jump attack or two wind projectiles. Stay out of range of the whirlwinds and get ready to dodge. When he jumps at you, roll under him and strike back quickly. The projectiles are a bit harder to dodge, and don’t bring such a good opportunity. Try and dodge these, or even block them if you are desperate (though it won’t completely nullify the damage).
Double Quake Stomp – Godrick’s AOE attack where he will raise his foot and his axe before stomping the ground twice. You can dodge or jump over these and get a couple of hits in after the second one before retreating
Standard Combos – When Godrick starts swinging without any of the above attacks triggering, these are his basic combos. He’ll use these quite a lot, but unfortunately they are unpredictable as he doesn’t always strike with the same number of attacks. If you’re not sure what he’s doing, the best approach is to get back and wait for a move you are more comfortable with.
Leap Attack – Sometimes Godrick will simply leap at you without the wind attack, striking you upon landing. This one can be dodged and countered briefly, but has a small window before he attacks again. This is probably one to dodge or block without trying to counter.
How to beat Godrick: Phase 1 Strategy
Godrick can be beaten by biding your time for a handful of specific attacks that open him up for a counterattack. These are the key attacks to learn as best you can:
- The single swipe that drags along the floor
- The two-handed combo with five hits
- His wind attack, provided he ends it with a roll and a jump
- The double quake stomp
Stay on the edge of his range and wait for one of these attacks (see his Attack Pattern for specific methods to dodge). If he initiates anything different, then retreat until he has finished and wait for his next move. You can usually get out of his range without even having to dodge. Each of these attack opportunities can usually get you at least two light hits, and sometimes more. The phase doesn’t take that long so don’t get greedy and try to whittle him down without consuming many flasks.
If you have summoned Nepheli Loux, you can be more aggressive. Get yourself on the other side of Godrick so he has to expose his back when he targets Nepheli Loux. Keep a medium distance away and wait for your chance before rushing in to pummel him from behind with as many hits as possible.
When he’s targeting you, continue to wait for the attacks above or even just play defensively and keep more distance whilst waiting for him to shift his aggro towards Nepheli. Ranged builds can obviously keep blasting him with attacks from a safe distance, and there’s generally enough room to keep away from him without even having to dodge very much.
You should be able to get through comfortably here, and remember to hit him from behind as much as possible once you have heard his yell.
Godrick Boss Guide: Phase 2
After a cutscene, Godrick now has some new fire attacks that can deal serious damage, but the positive side of this is that they generally represent decent opportunities to counterattack, provided you are not too far away.
Attack Pattern
As well as his first phase moveset, there are four new attacks to watch out for:
Static Flamethrower – Godrick remains still and blasts a stream of fire from one side to the other. This is one of your best chances – if you’re relatively close by, sprint forwards and reach him before the flames reach you. If you get close, the attack will miss and you can land a series of hits from his front.
Fire Breath – Godrick walks around whilst the dragon arm breaths fire. Get behind him but stay clear. Whilst you can attack here, the fire can sometimes spill over and damage you from behind. Therefore I wouldn’t recommend countering this attack.
Projectile Firestorm – this attack starts with Godrick plunging his hand into the ground before spinning around and shooting repeatedly. Stay away until he starts to spin, then run or dodge behind him and you’ll have another great opportunity to safely hit him multiple times whilst he is firing in the opposite direction.
Bite attack – Arguably the most troublesome attack of the whole battle. The dragon arm will quickly bite and bind you, dealing huge damage. He uses this when you’re close, and its speed makes it hard to read, making it all the more important to keep a medium range and not overindulge on your counterattacks.
How to beat Godrick: Phase 2 Strategy
Godrick will start the phase with his flamethrower. Sprint towards him and reach him before the flames come around. Land about three hits before retreating. When it’s safe, summon your Spirit Ashes if you wish. The Lone Wolf Ashes or the Jellyfish are perfectly solid options here, and if you’ve done well on the first phase then Nepheli may still be around.
Once again, stay at a medium distance just on the edge of his melee range and wait for Godrick to make the first move. The wind attack now has fire added, but the tactic is still the same and can be used to counter. However, the stomp attack now has a third stomp that covers a bigger area. You can either learn this attack to counter on the third stomp or simply get back when you see him using this – it’s a harder one to read now.
The best new opportunities here are the static flamethrower and the projectile firestorm (see above). The former will present a chance from the front, whilst the latter is an opportunity to strike from behind. Don’t indulge more than two or three hits before dodging away and letting him make his next move. Otherwise, look out for the same attacks as the first phase and keep chipping away until he is defeated. Unless you are healing, try to never be too far away or the fire attacks will need to be dodged and you won’t get the opportunities to hit him back.
Rewards
Beating Godrick will reward you with Godrick’s Great Rune and Remembrance of the Grafted. The latter can be exchanged at Roundtable Hold, whilst the former will be discussed further below.
You’ll also acquire a whopping 20,000 runes and the Shardbearer Godrick trophy.
How to use Godrick’s Great Rune?
Great Runes are one of the many things Elden Ring omits to elaborate on in any great detail. However, these are actually of great use, particularly in the latter part of the game.
Whenever you acquire a Great Rune, generally you must climb the corresponding tower and restore its power by reaching the top and examining the Two Fingers sigil.
Once you have done this, you can equip one of your Great Runes at a Site of Grace, and use a Rune Arc to temporarily boost it with more power such as significantly increasing your HP or increasing your attributes.
As for Godrick’s Great Rune, head to Limgrave Tower Bridge in Stormveil Castle and make your way across the bridge as far as possible, before you find a teleporter that’ll take you to the Divine Tower of Limgrave. Scale it to bestow the Great Rune with its power.
Recap
Here is the most important advice of how to beat Godrick, recapped as briefly as possible:
- Stay on the edge of Godrick’s range and bide your time for certain attacks
- If he uses his stomp, wind attack, five-hit combo or scraping swipe, these are your best chances to dodge and counter him
- If he uses something else, retreat and let him finish his attack before awaiting his next one
- Chip away until he collapses and yells – get behind him and attack before his next phase
- Continue the same strategy by staying on the edge of his attack range but also await his static flamethrower and projectile firestorm
- If he uses the flamethrower, sprint close and attack from the front; if he uses the projectiles, get behind him while he spins around and strike him from behind
- Bleed and poison weapons can assist considerably in this battle
- Summoning tactics: Find Nepheli and summon her outside the boss door, and then save your Spirit Ashes until the second phase
That’s all we’ve got. Hopefully this Godrick boss guide of how to beat Godrick the Grafted in Elden Ring will help you finally conquer Stormveil Castle.
Check out some of our other Elden Ring boss guides below:
