Throughout your playthrough of Elden Ring, you’ll rarely experience a moment of dullness, as you’ll be met with enemies and bosses, trying to do you harm, every which way you go.
The Valiant Gargoyles are an evolution of their smaller and less capable mini-boss variants, which you might have already faced and possibly thought were a bit arduous to beat. Well, expect more of the same, only now, it’s two stronger and bigger versions of them. Don’t fret, though, as long as you keep a cool head and follow our strategies, you’ll breeze right past the duo.
Valiant Gargoyles Overview
Imagine a giant real-life gargoyle came to life, that’s exactly what the Valiant Gargoyles look like. They’re two imposing stone statues, wielding twinblades, straightswords, and axes. Valiant Gargoyles are said to be guarding sacred areas.
Weaknesses: The duo Valiant Gargoyles are weak to Strike damage.
Elden Ring Valiant Gargoyles Location: Valiant Gargoyles can be found in the lowest level of Siofra Aqueduct in Nokron, Eternal City.
From the Fort Haight West site of grace, head west and descend the cliffs until you reach a cave. Traverse the cave and drop down the hole on the other side. Descend two more times and stick to the left-hand side.
Keep on the ledge on the left and exit through the window, and into Nokron, Eternal City. Head northeast while jumping from building to building until you reach a toppled-down tower. Run across the tower and jump onto the building it’s leaning on.
Descend to the balcony and take the big window on your left. Descend down the cliff and enter the big door then exit from the door on the right.
Keep going east until you find a set of stairs. Descend the stairs and go right. Follow the pathway into the abandoned structure, then head up the stairs on the left and into another similar structure. Once you reach the other side and exit the structure, jump off the broken bridge from the left side.
Follow the pathway until you reach a raised platform. Head to the right of the platform, towards the giant pillar, and jump through the crack to the left of it.
Keep going uphill, then descend down the cliff to the left of the three jellyfish spirits. Make your way through the cave, then carefully jump onto the building on the other side of the cave.
Go through the door on your left and take the stairs that follow, then enter the first door on your right. Head right, towards the water source, then go right, through the pillars and ascend the stairs, leading to the entrance to the boss fight.
Is valiant gargoyle optional?
The Valiant Gargoyle duo are two great enemy optional bosses. Defeating them is not required, as it doesn’t unlock any main locations or advance the story in any way.
Pre-fight Preparation
Some alterations to your armaments and general loadout might be needed for this boss fight. Here are some tips to help you better prepare for your boss fight with the Valiant Gargoyles.
What level should I be to fight valiant gargoyle?
Ideally, you should level up your character to at least level 70 before embarking on this boss fight. Beyond your character level, good defensive strength and a large health bar can go a long way towards increasing your chances of defeating the bosses.
Summon ranged spirit ashes
Ranged spirit ashes will be of most help to you during this boss fight, as they’ll attract the duo Gargoyles away from you and tank their aggro.
Other spirit ashes can also help but they’ll only distract the bosses, which in a multi-boss boss fight is frankly not enough.
The Spirit Jellyfish Ashes and the Ancestral Follower Ashes are ideal for this boss fight. The Spirit Jellyfish Ashes can be obtained from Roderika in Stormhill Shack in Limgrave. The Ancestral Follower Ashes can be obtained after defeating the Ancestral Follower.
Alternatively, if you’re a ranged player, you can simply use the Mimic Tear Ashes, which will summon a clone of your character, equipped with your armaments and spells. Mimic Tear Ashes can be found in a chest locked behind an imp statue door in Night’s Sacred Ground
Equip items that negate or cure poison build-up
Throughout the boss fight, the Valiant Gargoyles will perform several poison breath attacks, which are relatively difficult to evade and can easily catch you napping.
The Flame, cleanse me incantation is perfect for this boss fight, as it will reduce your poison buildup. Neutralizing Boluses is also a good choice for when you’re infected with poison. You can also use your poison infection as an opportunity to heal using some Raw Meat Dumplings, as you can’t be infected twice.
Alternatively, you can do without any of the above-mentioned items and use the Immunizing Horn Charm, which will raise your immunity to both poison and rot by 90.
Equip a decent shield
In an ideal scenario, you’d dodge through most of the bosses’ attacks in order to place yourself in a prime striking position.
At times when you might not know what attack to expect or which way to dodge, it would be much better to pull up your shield and block. It may not be 100% effective but it is much safer than dodging randomly and hoping for the best.
We recommend that you use the Barricade Shield Ash of War for the best effect. The Barricade Shield Ash of War can be obtained after defeating Night’s Cavalry at Weeping Peninsula.
Melee should equip fast weapons
During the second phase of this boss fight, you’ll have limited striking opportunities and even shorter striking windows. The only way you can fully capitalize on those short windows is by performing quick attacks using fast weapons, such as katanas, short swords, daggers, and so on; the choice is yours.
You can equip a fast weapon alongside your heavy weapon, and switch to it once the second Valiant Gargoyle shows up.
Magic users should use the Carian Slicer spell
If you’re sporting a mage build, you’d be much better off using melee spells as opposed to ranged ones. This boss fight is much easier for melee players, as both Valiant Gargoyles will constantly rush your character and leave you no room whatsoever.
Our pick for this boss fight is the Carian Slicer spell, which can be purchased from Miriel Pastor of Vows, Sorceress Sellen, or Preceptor Seluvis for 1,500 Runes after giving either of them the Royal House Scroll.
Fight Strategy
Like any boss fight, be it solo or duo, a concise plan of action is a must to succeed. The tips below should provide you with an effective strategy to dispose of the duo Valiant Gargoyles with relative ease.
Focus your efforts on one target at a time
The sooner you dispose of the first Valiant Gargoyle, the easier the fight will become. As soon as the second Gargoyle joins the fight, try to evade it and focus on the first boss, as it will have a much lower HP at that point.
Stay in freecam
You can lock onto the first Valiant Gargoyle while it’s on its own. Although, we advise that you stick to freecam, as that will allow you to compensate for the boss’ erratic movement by aiming your attacks towards where you think it will move.
When dealing with both Valiant Gargoyles, however, you must refrain from locking onto either of them, as you won’t be able to see both of them at the same time. It’s imperative that you keep an eye and an ear out for one boss while you fight the other.
A “disengaged” boss can easily ambush you and inflict major damage or infect you with poison if you’re not careful and unaware of its positioning.
Try to stay under the Valiant Gargoyle
The Gargoyle’s only response to positioning yourself between its feet is leaping or backing away while swiping its straight sword or twinblade.
It’s a relatively safe offensive position that allows you to mount consecutive melee attacks before the boss can retaliate.
This tactic is not viable for ranged builds. However, mage builds should certainly deploy it, assuming they’re using the Carian Slicer spell.
Watch out for certain attacks
A number of the Valiant Gargoyle’s attacks are quite deceptive, making them harder to read and avoid.
The first one you’ll encounter is the beam attack, where the boss raises its weapon above its head, emitting a shine from it, then slams it down on the ground, launching a beam of light across the floor.
Dodging it seems rather straightforward at first glance but you can easily get caught in its path if you dodge to the wrong side. You see, the path of the beam deviates to the right as it scurries across the floor, limiting you to only dodging to the left side.
Unless you’re close to the boss, dodging to the right will result in you getting hit and knocked down.
The second deceitful attack is the poison breath, which has a considerable reach and can occur in an instant, with no sign or prior warning. You must look out for it and back away from the boss as soon as you notice it.
The final attack that you must watch out for is the earthquake, where the Gargoyle roars, then spins and slams its weapon down on the ground, creating an earthquake.
Look out for the roar, make your way behind the boss as soon as you see or hear it, and create distance between the pair of you.
Capitalize on the bosses’ moments of stillness
After certain attacks, the boss will be immobile for a few seconds, allowing you to strike freely and deal significant damage in a short period of time.
Be on the lookout for any such moments and capitalize on them.
Tone down your aggression when fighting the twinblade boss
Unlike the first Valiant Gargoyle, the twinblade equivalent can and will punish you for lingering close to it for too long. It can spew poison, do a whirlwind attack, or do any number of other close and long-range attacks.
Try to stick to a few hits between attacks, then retreat back to safety. And don’t use any heavy or lengthy attacks.
Properly time your dodges and blocks
Once you’re face-to-face with the twinblade Valiant Gargoyle, you’ll notice that it often delays its attacks by dragging its weapon on the ground or holding it still for an extra second before striking.
Instead of focusing on the boss’ movement as a whole, focus your attention on its hands and track their movement, so as to know exactly when to dodge or block.
Can you cheese valiant gargoyle Elden Ring?
Yes, you sure can! This cheese was actually discovered due to a bug that caused many players to leap off the cliff on the right-hand side of the arena to restart the boss fight.
You can simply ignore the boss and stand on the cliff’s edge and wait for the boss to attack you. Dodge to the side once it does attack and, if you’re lucky, it’ll drop down to its death on the first try. If you’re not quite as fortuitous, you can just try again.
The same can then be repeated for the twinblade Valiant Gargoyles, albeit you must be a lot more careful in your approach. Or, if you want to play it safe, you can just fight the second boss as you normally would.
Rewards
The Valiant Gargoyles will drop the following items, upon defeating them:
- 32,000 Runes
- Gargoyle’s Greatsword; comes with the Vacuum Slice skill.
- Gargoyle’s Twinblade; comes with the Spinning Slash skill.
That spells the end of this guide. We implore you to take on the knowledge you now have of the Valiant Gargoyles and use it to perfectly execute the strategies detailed in this guide in order to defeat the duo Valiant Gargoyles with great poise and grace.
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