There is a lot of new things to discover in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Earth Treethe massive new DLC from FromSoftware. But aside from the very pretty Gravesite Plains and one of those annoying Chakram ninja things, the very first thing you notice when you enter the Realm of Shadow is a giant, walking, burning Wicker Man and a village reduced to ash. It makes you wonder if the two things are related.
Like most things you do in Fire ringif it moves, it’s definitely bound to die, but if you just go up and try to ram a sword into these guys, you’ll quickly end up extra crispy in your own armor. Just ask any of the poor guys whose charred corpses actually stick out of these things as they walk around. There are also a ton of these guys roaming the land, and some of them block your way to the critical path very badly, so knowing how to deal with them is especially important. As a famous bear once said, only you can prevent forest fires, so here’s everything you need to know to make this bear proud.
Smelting Furnace Golem Abilities
The problems with these guys start when you’re within a football field of them, as they can kick up a ton of burning dust that can be fatal in one hit early in the DLC. The ones that don’t kick up a firestorm basically spit it out of the basket on their heads, which is even worse because those flames will actually follow you for a bit. By the time you get to these guys, you should at least have a few Scadutree fragments, and there’s a chance you’ll actually survive the barrage. There are only a few that do this – most notably the Golem on the broken bridge by the Ancient Ruins of Rauh – but there’s also a rare attack where the Golem becomes Godzilla and attacks you with heat breath that can travel an absurd distance across the map.
In fact, it gets a little easier when you get really close to these creatures, because then they just try to stomp on you. The problem with this is that every kick creates a wave of fire across the ground. When they jump and stomp, it creates an explosion that you can’t jump over. They can also kneel down and try to grab you. If they catch you, they throw you into their head basket and that’s an instant kill. If you’re in an elevated position, they’ll try to punch you instead.
Some tips for defeating furn ace golems
These guys are often in wide open areas, practically alone, and if not, they’ll usually trample or burn any other enemies nearby for you. This is especially helpful for the golem at the front door of Shadow Keep, as there’s a whole camp of soldiers at his feet that will be literally overrun as he goes down the hill. Take advantage of the space in the open areas.
The other good news is that you can summon Spirit Ashes once you’re within a certain range of a Golem’s territory. Unfortunately, Spirit Ashes are mostly more bait than anything else. They’ll have even more trouble getting to these things than you do, but having them there to draw aggro will buy you a few minutes.
As you might have guessed, your very first move with those in the fields is to approach Torrent, circle around the golem, and increase speed when you see its leg lift back to kick the dirt or when its head starts to explode. Once you’re close enough, you’ll want to stay on Torrent to be more agile and stay as far behind the golem as possible. If you aren’t already, you’ll get good at staying on turns. Turning on the spot becomes crucial. The double jump is the real game changer, though, as it turns the fight into a deadly game of double dutch for the most part. The jumping stomp can be a bit of a problem, as you can’t jump over the explosion it causes at close range, but it’s extremely well announced, and being on Torrent means you can quickly catapult yourself out of the blast radius.
Now, the real target of these guys is the bearded face in front of his basket. As you may have noticed, it’s a bit high up. If you want to make it harder, you can try firing projectiles directly at the face from your horse, but the real strategy of most of these guys is to aim for the golem’s legs. At first, it will look like you’re only doing minor damage to this thing, since the health bar on the legs doesn’t move much, but we assure you: hang in there. You’re not trying to dismember this guy, you’re trying to build up enough stagger to make the golem drop to one knee.
To this end, we recommend working on one leg at a time, but if you have the chance to get a clear hit, take it. We recommend using your strongest and/or longest sword for this, but timing is everything, and some of the best swords for immobilizing the golem’s stance are also the ones that lock you in a swing animation right when the golem is about to stomp. Plan accordingly before throwing a punch.
What you ultimately want though is to stagger one leg and then work the other. When the golem gets back up, breaking the same leg won’t have the direct effect you want, which is that if both legs stagger, the golem will fall face down into the dirt. Once he’s down, ride to his face and give him a riposte, taking about half his health. Don’t worry if you have to ride around him a bit to find where the face landed, the stagger time on this guy is pretty generous. The worst case scenario is when you’re fighting on uneven terrain and the riposte can’t trigger. In these cases, don’t miss the opportunity, hit the face with your bigger attack, as you can still do some serious damage even if he’s down. If you’re ambitious and have used the Starscourge Greatsword (it deals the most stagger damage, but the swings are slow), you can wipe out almost half of his health with both hits from Starcaller Cry.
The Furnace Pot Solution
“Oh crap,” you say, “that furnace golem has armor on its legs! Now what?!” That, friends, is your cue to take the high road. The armored golems are always near a headland that puts you above their heads. It’s never an easy path, as these golems tend to spam the eruption attacks in particular, but once you make it to the top, you’ll actually want to throw fire or furnace pots into the golem’s head basket while avoiding the golem’s flame attacks and big swing punches. Why does fire do the most damage to something that’s already burning? One of life’s little mysteries, I guess.
Your reward for all your hard work is always a brand new Crystal Tear – some of which are absolutely game-changing with the right builds – and a Furnace Visage, which, once you have the recipe, you can use to craft another Furnace Pot to defeat the next Golem.
