Commander Gaius is an optional Legendary boss in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. While you don’t need to fight him to progress the story, he is one of the main bosses in Remembrance that you can take on if you are looking for powerful and rare weapons or spells.
Gaius fights you while riding an armored wild boar in what appears to be an open field, except you will actually discover that you are trapped by fog gates and will not be able to escape or advance any further until ‘he is defeated. Bosses on mounts are one of the most difficult types of bosses you will encounter and Gaius is no exception, being fast, brutal and also a user of gravity spells. This guide will provide information on how to defeat commander Gaius in your quest to defeat the expansion’s toughest bosses.
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How to Prepare for the Commander Gaius Boss Fight
Commander Gaius can be found just outside the back gate of Shadow Keep, by far the most labyrinthine of Elden Ring’s Shadow Legacy Dungeons, with multiple routes leading you to different sections of the Realm shadows that otherwise seem inaccessible. The closest grace site is called “Shadowguard, Back Gate.”
As a very hard-hitting boss, you’ll want to have your Scadutree Shard Blessings upgraded as much as possible before the fight so that your damage output and damage received are greatly improved (ironically, defeating him will also open the door to grabbing plenty of these valuable items from the Scaduview Chalice).
It is possible to summon Torrent for this fight as it is technically an open area in Scaduview, which would theoretically put you in balance against another mounted boss. However, we recommend that you stay on the ground And summon an ash spirit in place. If your spirit stat is high enough, Summoning Black Knife Tiche is ideal for this fightotherwise Mimic Tear is always reliable.
How to beat Commander Gaius
The first time you enter the back door of Shadow Keep, Commander Gaius will approach a structure on the other side of Scaduview Field from a distance. In all likelihood, the boss music will play for several seconds before you even notice him approaching on his boar, and if you turn around you’ll find that the door you came out of is now blocked by a wall resourceful.
Although he seems to be taking his time approaching you, don’t let that fool you. Once the fight begins correctly and his HP is displayed at the bottom center of the screen, his boar will raise its front legs, indicating that it is about to chargeand you will also see charging visual effects in front of the boar to help you better anticipate it. With good timing, it can be dodged by rolling to the side.
The wild boar is probably the biggest problem if you are a melee fighter trying to get close to attack him, as you risk getting hit by his unpredictable movements. His long burst tusks can be damaging from the front when he slams your head, but if you attack from behind he can also just let out a kick with its hind legsThese same back legs can also allow him to quickly get up and turn towards you before crushing your front legs.
Of course, you shouldn’t ignore Gaius himself because he can attack you with his spear. He will usually charge it with purple lightning energy and after attacking with a thrust, it will follow with an elemental storm that will also descend on that area.
But apart from this spear attack, most of these attacks are physical, which a shield with 100 physical blocks can protect against
Second phase
Once you’ve taken half of his health, Gaius’ second phase begins with him squeezing his body, charging more of that gravitational energy into him for a few seconds before it explodes, the force of gravity hitting anyone in range. The boar’s feet are charged with purple electricity that runs through them. In other words, his previous attacks will also deal gravity damage even if you block.
Gaius has even more gravitational attacks to face. On the ground it will create a black hole that can pull you in, so you’ll want to try doing that. get out of there every timebecause after the third time he exerts this gravitational pull, he will explode and you will take serious damage if you are still in his AoE.
He also has two gravity attacks where his boar flies away. The first, he simply charges downwards, hitting anything in his path. For the second, he flies even higher, then begins to do a slow corkscrew descent while charging up that purple gravity energy until he quickly plummets downwards and also releases a damaging swirling gravity AoE on impact. You can actually roll forward when it makes its descent to avoid getting hit by both it and the AoE, but also be in punishing range with your own attacks immediately afterwards.
Magic users can opt for a longer battle by summoning Torrent and try to keep your distance on horseback while using ranged spells, like Gaius is weak to holy spells. This can be risky though, as from a distance Gaius can also attack with ranged gravity spells, summoning and then throwing glowing purple rocks at you, and if he does enough damage to knock you off your spectral mount, you’ll also be vulnerable to the ground where he can potentially finish you off if you fail to get back up quickly enough.
Commander Gaius’ Rewards
In case of defeat, Commander Gaius abandons 230,000 runeswhile you will also be notified with Memory of the wild boar riderwhich can be consumed to obtain even more runes or given to Finger Reader Enia at Roundtable Hold in order to obtain a powerful weapon or spell.
Most importantly, the way is cleared to explore the rest of Scaduview, which, truth be told, is actually a fairly small portion of the map. But if you keep going, you’ll reach the Scadutree Chalice, where you can find a bounty of Scadutree Fragments (five of them!) to further upgrade your Blessings level. And that’s apparently all there is to this part of the Shadow Realm. But there are still more secrets to discover, like the hidden path near the “Shadow Keep, Back Gate” blessing site, or what lies beneath Scaduview.
Next boss: Avatar Scadutree
Need help ? Return to our list of Shadow of The Erdtree bosses or our Shadow of The Erdtree tips and tricks.
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