How to beat Godrick the Grafted in Elden Ring: Boss stats, weaknesses & tips

The first demigod you’ll encounter in The Lands Between is Godrick the Grafted, and even though he’s an optional boss, it’s worth taking a moment to practice your new Tarnished skills and earn some extra runes. Here are Godrick’s weaknesses so you can easily beat this shard bearer in Elden Ring.

The aim of the Tarnished in Elden Ring is to hunt down the demigod descendants of the goddess Marika, destroy them, and take their Elden Ring shards. Godrick the Grafted (who prefers to be called Godrick the Golden, despite that honor going to Godfrey and the deceased Godwyn) is the first of these, but he’s not going to go down without a fight or hand over his shard willingly.

Godrick is the Lord of Stormveil Castle and will need to be defeated to continue the story. Once he is, the game’s world opens up in several ways and Elden Ring’s adventure truly begins.

Here’s where to find Godrick the Grafted in Elden Ring, and how to exploit its weaknesses to defeat him.

---

Contents

• How to defeat Godrick the Grafted in Elden Ring
  • Phase 1
  • Phase 2
• Where to find Godrick the Grafted in Elden Ring
• Godrick the Grafted stats
  • Godrick the Grafted weaknesses
• Useful tips to defeat Godrick the Grafted
  • NPC summons
  • Spirit Ashes
  • Items
  • Magic
• All Godrick the Grafted attacks
• Godrick the Grafted drops
• Evergaol encounter: Godefroy

---

How to defeat Godrick the Grafted

Fortunately, Godrick isn’t as difficult as Margit the Fell because he doesn’t have that character’s speed. However, he’s still incredibly aggressive and powerful and can kill even the most skilled player in just a couple of hits.

If you’ve not upgraded your weapon to at least +3 at the Roundtable Hold, then we advise you to do this now. Although, most players will have done so before facing Margit.

Phase 1

In the first phase of the fight, Godrick will wildly swing his axe around leaving little openings for him to be hit before you’ll need to dodge. After his combo, he’ll swing his axe down vertically into the ground and this will take him a few seconds to recover. So hit him with everything you’ve got, then get out of there.

His axe swings are deadly and cover a lot of ground, so melee fighters will need to stay on their toes. Ranged fighters simply need to keep their distance and attack him from afar. Don’t let him get close, as getting caught in his combo will likely mean death.

Blocking can be an effective strategy for tanky melee, builds, but his combos are fast, powerful, and come in waves. So, it’s often more advisable to dodge and let his animations play out. Be careful though, he can launch into another in a split second.

Phase 2

In the second phase of the boss fight, Godrick will grab a dead dragon and inherit the ability to breathe fire. These attacks do major AOE fire damage, so, if you have any gear that provides buffs against fire, now is the time to equip them. Or before the fight begins ideally.

It’s imperative to avoid this dragon fire, as it can insta-kill weaker players and has a ridiculous range. So, stay mobile and take potshots when you can. When you do enough damage to Godrick, he’ll stagger, and you can move in for a critical attack.

Godrick will now rely more on fire damage than just physical attacks, so be sure to have purchased the Cookbooks from the various merchants to learn how to craft items that cast protective buffs. You can also loot the Flamedrake Talisman from the mini-boss in Groveside Cave in Limgrave.

This will help keep you slightly safer from Godrick’s fire damage. It’s also helpful against the Dragon Agheel when it comes to battling him.

Where to find Godrick the Grafted

Godrick is relatively easy to find if you follow the game’s main story campaign. Simply progress through Stormveil Castle until you reach the fog gate that’s guarded by a giant troll and two Exile Knights.

There’s a Site of Grace in a secluded cell to the right, outside of Godrick’s arena. So, make sure you heal and tool up before you head in to face him.

Godrick the Grafted stats

This scary Boss has the following stats:

• Health: 6080 HP
• Defense: 105
• Stance: 105
• Parryable: No
• Immunities: Madness
• Deals: Fire, Strike, and Standard physical damage

Godrick the Grafted weaknesses

This demigod is weaker to physical damage than elemental, so focus on dealing standard, slash, striker, and pierce damage to break his stance and nail a critical hit.

He also happens to be vulnerable to both Poison and Hemorrhage, so you can take advantage of how slow he is to build up the bleed meter with fast weapons such as Katanas and Daggers.

Useful tips to defeat Godrick the Grafted

NPC summons

It’s possible to summon the friendly NPC Nepheli to fight Godrick at your side. Her summon sign can be found right outside the fog gate and she can be a useful ally.

Her damage output isn’t great, but she’ll draw half of Godrick’s attention, allowing you to score some shots against him. You can also bring your Spirit Summons into the battle for more allies.

To summon Nepheli, you’ll first need to find her and exhaust her dialogue. She can be found in a room off the road outside Godrick’s arena, where the path curves towards him.

Summoning Nepheli is completely optional, but we’d recommend speaking to her even if you don’t summon her to continue her very rewarding questline.

Spirit Ashes

Godrick will likely kill your Spirit Summon if left alone with it, but once Godrick is poisoned or suffering from Scarlet Rot then its work is done. After this, its main use is as a distraction. If you have a magic or ranged build, bring in the tankiest Spirt Ash you have.

Your Spirit Summons and Nepheli can be vital allies in this battle. If you’re a melee build, consider bringing the Jellyfish Spirit Ash with you. This way you and Nepheli can tank Godrick while your jellied ally poisons him from afar.

If you’ve managed to complete the Frindgefolk Hero’s Grave dungeon from the start of the game and beaten the boss there, you’ll have unlocked Banished Knight Oleg. This is a powerful unique NPC summon that can tank a lot of Godrick’s attacks along with Nepheli while you damage him from a distance.

If you’ve fallen for one of Patches traps and discovered the Rotten Stray Ashes in Caelid, then this too is a helpful spirit summon as it can infect Godrick with Scarlet Rot which depletes his health quickly.

Nepheli will also more than likely fall if the fight goes on too long, but her main value is to draw Godrick’s attention away from you.

Items

Due to Godrick’s Stormcaller attack, which deflects throwable items like arrows and pots, there are no particular items recommended for this fight. Instead, focus on a melee build and on having the proper Spells and Incantations.

Magic

As mentioned above, Godrick is particularly weak to physical damage, so you can use Rock Sling, which is a Gravity Sorcery that costs 18 FPS and raises rocks from the earth to send them flying toward your enemy.

Its only requirement is 18 Intelligence and can be found in a chest in an underground cellar on the north side of the Street of Sages Ruins. Additionally, it can be boosted by the Meteorite Staff.

You can also use the Bestial Sling Incantation to throw a buckshot of sharp stones towards Godrick. It costs 7 FPS and requires just 10 Faith. You can acquire it by giving a second Deathroot to the Beast Clergyman Gurranq in the Bestial Sanctum.

All Godrick the Grafted Attacks

Here are all the attacks this Boss can perform during your battle:

• Axe and Arm Swing
• Axe Lunge
• Roll
• Dragging Slash
• Jumping Slam
• Lesser Command
• Fury Swings
• Stormcaller
• Storm Assault and Storm Blade
• Severed Arm
• Sweeping and Striding Flame
• Grab
• I Command Thee, Kneel!
• Bear Witness!

Godrick the Grafted drops

Once Godrick falls, you’ll be rewarded with 20,000 runes and also your first Great Rune, a powerful item that can be used to buff yourself once you’ve unlocked its power.

You’ll also get the Remembrance of the Grafted, a consumable item with many effects. You can hand it to Enia in the Roundtable Hold to unlock its power, which supplies the player with the Axe of Godrick or the Grafted Dragon armaments.

Evergaol encounter: Godefroy

Elden Ring has a habit of recycling its main bosses as field or Evergaol bosses. So, many hours after defeating Godrick, you can take him down a second time. However, this is an identical copy known as Godefroy the Grafted which uses the exact same move-set.

To reach Godefroy, you’ll need to travel to the Golden Lineage Evergaol in the Altus Plateau, very close to the Grand Lift of Dectus. Here, you’ll then need to spend one Stone Sword Key to enter the Evergaol and challenge Godefroy.

As you’ll likely meet Godefroy sometime after Godrick, he’s a much higher level this time around, but you will be too. Therefore don’t be intimidated, you may even be overleveled by this point. He also only has one phase this time, making the fight much simpler.

However, as this is an Evergaol boss, you’ll have no access to Spirit Ash, NPC support, or co-op partners this time. This battle is you versus Godefroy, one on one. Repeat the strategy above to bring him down, you’ll also earn the Godfrey Icon talisman for your trouble.

---

For more Elden Ring content, check our guides below: 

Elden Ring Stonedigger Troll | Elden Ring Margit the Fell Omen | Elden Ring Flying Dragon Agheel | Elden Ring Tree Sentinel | Elden Ring Grave Warden | Elden Ring Pumpkin Head | Elden Ring Soldier of Godrick