The Lands Between is laden with bosses and min-bosses, and it’s no cakewalk to defeat them. In a world where beating even frailly and timid boss like Endtree Burial Watchdog requires considerable patience and strategy, you can expect fights with demigods like Godrick the Grafted to be excruciatingly difficult. While you can still beat everyone and everything in this game with sheer skill, it’s best if you’re better equipped for these grandiose encounters.
While you brace yourself for a grueling fight ahead, take these tips and tricks into consideration.
Godrick the Grafted Overview
Godrick is one of the first demigods you’ll encounter in the Lands Between — a boss you need to beat to venture beyond Limgrave (well, not really. More on that later). While its multi-arm appearance might intimidate you, the boss should be reasonably easy to best if you follow the right approach.
Elden Ring Godrick the Grafted Location
Here is how to get to Godrick the Grafted. Once you’ve defeated Magrit, head north until you get to the Secluded Cell Site of Grace. Godrick will be waiting with his famed ax.
Pre-fight Strategy
Level up to at least 30
While Godrick is perhaps the weakest of all the Shardbeares, your encounter with him will be relatively early in the game, and you’ll still be a bit underleveled for him, especially if you’ve not explored every nook and cranny of Limgrave.
Before going for Godrick, we’d recommend waiting till you’re level 30. Until then, explore Limgrave. The area has plenty to offer, including optional bosses like Cemetary Shade, which should help you level up.
Upgrade your HP and FP bar
Unless you’re an expert, expect your HP and FP bar to deplete time and again during the fight. Wait for him to take breathers in-between and take advantage of the brief respite by replenishing your HP and FP.
It’s highly recommended that you explore all the nooks and crannies of Limgrave and upgrade your flasks before going toe to toe with the ruler of Stormveil Castle.
Get the Flamedrake Talisman
The second phase is where Godrick starts dishing out his fire attacks without much respite. To somewhat shield yourself from its blistering attacks, you need to obtain Flamedrake Talisman — an essential item for negating fire damage.
Thankfully, you can get this talisman early on in the game by besting Beastman of Farum Azula in Groveside Cave, Limgrave.
Fight Strategy
First phase
Roll and dodge often
Given that you’d still be a bit early in your playthrough, it’s safe to assume that you won’t have much invested in stamina. On top of that, Godrick can be relentless with his attacks, making rolling and dodging the only two viable options. Besides, you run the risk of being staggered, even after a successful block.
At least +3 your weapon of choice
There comes a time when you have to consider investing in your weapon of choice. Explore around and, stash Smithing Stone and Somber Smithing Stones, and upgrade your weapon to at least +3 before going toe to toe with Godrick.
While you’ll find Smithing Stones all across Limgrave, Limgrave Tunnels is the best place to stock up on these stones.
Keep your distance
Since most of his attacks, at least in the first phase, are melee attacks, it’s best to keep your distance from Godrick. You don’t want to be caught in his crosshairs, especially with his wind storms. Just toll away. If you’re too close to him, it’s best to make a dash for the opposite direction of the storm attack.
Summon Spirit Ashes as soon as you’re in the arena with him
As soon as you enter the arena, summon a spirit like Lone Wolves or Jelly Fish. You should do it before he closes the distance. Slow as he may be, once he starts taking swings at you, it’ll be incredibly difficult to summon the spirits.
Roll through his jump attacks
All his jump attacks can be rolled through. Just wait until he’s about to land, and roll towards him. Just remember not to be too hasty. If you time it wrong, it can be fatal.
Second Phase
The second phase is where Godrick goes batshit crazy, chopping off his own arm and grafting it with a Dragon’s head. You need to be more careful now as he’s got a whole new range of attacks. Even though Godrick goes for more long-ranged attacks in the second phase, most of his attacks will still be melee.
Follow these tips to make it through to the second half of the fight.
Be wary of his fire attacks
Godrick had got a Grafted arm now, and he sure flaunts it in the second phase. The fire attacks will be relentless, but thankfully, the buildup to this attack should give you enough time to run away from him.
If you’re in front of him, however, it will be very difficult to escape unscathed. The best cover, in that case, is his rear.
Besides his signature attack, he has a few other fire attacks up his sleeve. Avoid those at all costs. While it might be tempting to roll at him to take advantage of his sluggishness, he can surprise you with his close-ranged follow-ups. Remember; melee is his forte.
Chip away at his HP in-between transaction
The fight is about to get more gruesome in the second phase, so why not cheat a little bit? Be ready to pounce on him as soon as his HP approaches the halfway mark. As soon as he starts chopping off his arm, you’ll have a small window of opportunity to land a few clean hits before the cutscene kicks in and the second phase begins.
Be very patient
While patience will always save you a lot of frustration that stems from frequent death, it’s a must in the second phase of the fight. In true Dark Souls fashion, once you’ve committed to an attack, the animation can’t be canceled. Your character will follow through, even if he’s being pummeled. You don’t want to risk taking chunky hits here.
It’s always best to wait for an opening, land a few hits, and take a step back.
Use whatever help you can
Want to summon another player to help you out? Maybe you just obtained a new Spirit Ash and want to unleash it on Godrick?
If all that doesn’t suffice, you can summon an NPC as well, to aid you in defeating Godrick. Just outside the fog wall that leads to Godrick, you’ll find a giant troll prowling around the yard. Run past him and head towards the Golden Seed Tree. Head inside the nearby cellar and you should find Nepheli, an NPC who’d readily join the good fight once you exhaust all her dialogues.
How to cheese Godrick the Grafted?
Elden Ring might be one of the most difficult games to ever come out, but its open-ended design has inevitably led to cheese tactics for almost all of its bosses.
Let’s be honest. Soulsborne titles have a penchant for cramming the world with excruciatingly difficult bosses, so it’s only fair that we come up with shortcuts of our own to beat some of its overpowered bosses.
While the notorious and ever-enthusiastic fanbase has come up with a lot of ways to cheese Godrick, the best and the easiest is obtaining Rotten Stray Ashes and letting it do the job for you. Head towards the ruins near Sellia, Town of Sorcery where you should find the Rotten Stray Ashes on a corpse.
Come back to Stormviel Castle and head to the fight. Summon the spirit as soon as you’re up against Godrick and watch him slowly succumb to poisoning.
How do I skip Godrick?
It seems as if there is no way to bypass Margit the Fell and Godrick, as beating them is a prerequisite to opening up the rest of the Lands Between. We get it. These bullies can be a little too hot to handle early on. So, how about we skip them?
Of course, you’ll be fighting both of them later on to beat the game, but if you want to explore the expansive Lands Between, there is a way around it.
Go to Stormveil Shack and take the road going north. Keep heading north until you get to a small collapsed bridge. If you’re wondering, you’re not meant to cross that bridge, ever. Instead, take a left and drop down to the rubble. Keep going straight until you reach a narrow path, which should lead you to “Liurnia of the Lakes”, another region of Elden Ring.
Congrats! You just skipped both the bosses, for now. Explore the area, get stronger, then head back to give Margrit and Godrick a taste of their own medicine.
Is Margrit Harder Than Godrick?
Margit seems to be the gatekeeper of sorts to keep all the casual players away from Elden Ring as he’s the first seemingly insurmountable challenge the game throws at you.
His fast and erratic attacks are hard to predict, with the narrow cliffs making survival more difficult. Any slight misstep and you run the risk of falling over.
Godrick, on the other hand, is slower and more predictable, sticking to his patterns and giving you more opportunities to strike back.
Now, there is a reason why Margit seems to be more lethal than Godrick, but we won’t spoil the lore for you. Why not explore the game and find out yourself?
