Godfrey is one of the most imposing main bosses in Elden Ring. Guarding the entrance to the Erdtree and Queen Marika, the first Elden Lord proves to be an extremely challenging battle that will make you utilize every move in your character’s arsenal, from jumping over AoE stomps to dodging rapid fire combos. If interested, you should also read through our extensive Elden Ring tier lists and build guides.
Godfrey serves as the penultimate challenge right before the final boss, so it makes sense that beating him is going to be very difficult and it definitely is. Godfrey is a monster in terms of both his damage and his relentless pursuit in power bombing you into the ground like a meteor. So if you’re one of the poor souls stuck at Godfrey in Elden Ring, this guide will cover all the essentials you need to know in order beat this noble warrior. We have also ranked the hardest Elden Ring bosses in the game.
How to Beat Godfrey, the First Elden Lord:
Phase 1:
Godfrey, like almost every other boss in Elden Ring, has 2 phases. Phase 1 is a much more standard fight akin to what you’d find from many of the bosses in Dark Souls 3. Its a much more plain and honorable fight against a hardened warrior with an Axe.
Moveset:
Godfrey’s first phase is much more manageable once you get accustomed to it after a few deaths. He has easy to read sweeps and strikes coupled with one or two delayed attacks that are meant to catch you off-guard. He has a 3-hit axe swipe combo that always gives you an opening to land a few attacks. Godfrey can also multiple vertical axe strikes that he can hit you with if you think you’re safe if you’re facing his back. This attack can also be punished for a few hits.
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Godfrey’s main gimmick are his stomp AoE attacks that he can either do from a combo or after a dash, the stomp attack causes an AoE blast that has a lot of range but gives you an opening to attack if you dodge it, we highly recommend jumping over his stomps and punishing it with an R2 Jumping attack. And then there’s his most threatening attack in Phase 1, Godfrey throws out a charged vertical axe strike and then kicks the axe further into the ground to cause a Volcanic eruption (Seriously.). Beware of this attack as this will almost one shot you if it lands. This entire combo will have you dodge 3 AoE attacks back to back so be warned. To dodge this attack:
- Dodge through the first AoE axe strike from either rolling behind him or perfectly timing the dodge.
- Perfectly time the dodge for his second AoE stomp. Its always delayed and lands later than you would expect.
- Run away from the massive line of volcano or dodge it.
Partway through Phase 1 Godfrey buffs himself with an extremely delayed stomp attack. Godfrey holds this attack for almost 4 seconds before causing a shockwave that travels nearly the entire arena. This causes all of his AoE attacks to be buffed to an insane degree for the rest of Phase 1 where all of his stomps now carry a large shockwave, making crucial dodges/jumps even more important than before.
General Strategy:
Make sure you jump over all of his stomps except the three-in-a-row Volcano special. And punish all of the rest with a jumping R2. Put a lot of pressure on him by abusing all of his openings and stagger him. You can even end up skipping his buffed phase if you do get him to half health before he can even finish his buffing animation.
Once you get a hang of all of his moves in Phase 1 and bring him down to half health, then its time for Phase 2.
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Phase 2: Hoarah Loux, Warrior:
After a deceptive cutscene that makes you think you’ll have to fight yet another 1v2, this time with with Godfrey and his lion, Godfrey instead kills his lion with his bare hands and embraces his old name and warrior spirit, “Hoarah Loux”. This phase is absolutely ruthless as Hoarah Loux throws caution to the wind and aggressively pursues you at every moment of the fight.
Moveset:
Hoarah Loux is one of the most aggressive bosses in Elden Ring making him an excessively intimidating boss fight. A lot of his moves and his aggression feels somewhat familiar if you’ve fought Father Gascoigne in Bloodborne. His combos are wild and hyper fast while also giving him strong forward momentum. On top of that Hoarah Loux has a loud roar that does no damage but pushes you to the ground, he will usually follow this up with a leap into the air and land at you with a crushing blow, which he will then follow up with a strong punch that will cause a volcano eruption on almost half the arena. To avoid that attack:
- Hoarah Loux will roar, this is easy to see coming. Make sure you dodge backwards because you can’t time through his roar for an opening
- He will then leap into the air and quickly land into the ground with a powerful AoE. Once again, as usual time your dodge at the right moment to avoid that attack.
- He will then immediately follow this up by punching the ground hard enough to cause a volcano eruption in a huge radius. Make sure you start dodging as fast as possible to outside his blast radius as you can’t dodge through it as far as I’ve experienced.
On top of all that Hoarah Loux has 2 extremely strong grabs that can (again) nearly one-shot you. One is a downward grab where he propels you into the air and then powerbombs you into the air. Watch out for this attack as he will ALWAYS do this attack at the beginning of Phase 2. Dodge as soon as you see his arms bend towards the ground. This attack also leaves him open to a few hits. His second grab involves him crossing his arms over his face and charging at you. Dodge this attack as soon as he gets close to you, this is one of those attacks that you have to instinctively react to but can leave him open to an attack if you dodge backwards.
Partway through Phase 2, Hoarah Loux can once again buff himself similar to how he did in Phase 1. The tell is the same but you’ll have to dodge TWO shockwaves instead of one. This buff also gives him a few new moves like a slow grab where he swings his right arm around for a delayed grab. This can be hard to dodge despite how obvious it may look, make sure you time the dodge as he finishes swinging his arm around. He also has a lot more random kicks and stomps that players would have to instinctively avoid.
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General Strategy:
Again as usual, make sure you’re taking advantage of all the openings and punishing accordingly. A bleed weapon also works wonders in Phase 2 as Godfrey isn’t wearing armor anymore and takes more damage to make up for his insane aggression. The key to winning this fight is to avoid panicking which is easier said than done but being calm and reading his tells instead of being intimidated by his attacks is the key to beating Hoarah Loux.
Godfrey/Hoarah Loux is an excellent fight that guards the entrance to the final challenge in Elden Ring. For years fans of the series have been wondering what it would be like to fight a warrior in this series at his prime instead of when they’re all old and near death. From Software responded to that thought by delivering one of the best bosses you could ever ask for in the form of Godfrey, first Elden Lord.
Once you’ve beaten Hoarah Loux, congratulations! The final boss awaits now!
We hope you found this guide helpful, for more guides on Elden Ring, check out our Guides Section! In case you enjoyed this guide, we have some very helpful weapon tier lists you should check out:
