Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Guide – How To Defeat The Furnace Golems (Giant Wicker Man)

Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Guide – How To Defeat The Furnace Golems – As expected, the new expansion for Elden Ring titled Shadow Of The Erdtree is brimming with new enemies to take down, though there’s one that literally stands about them all.

It stands above them because it’s the tallest, biggest thing you’ll have had to take down in the entire game. The Furnace Golems, which many have pointed out look like a giant walking “Wicker Man” are not just the biggest enemies you’ll have to face in the DLC, but they are also the toughest in the sense that it is very difficult to actually get some damage in on them.

This guide will explain what you need to do to take them down, though be warned – the best reward you’ll get from taking the time to bring these giants of fire down is just being able to say you did it.

You do get in-game rewards, but your mileage may vary as to whether or not you find those rewards worth the effort.

Regardless, let’s get into how to defeat the Furnace Golems, if you’re psychotic enough to try.

Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Guide – How To Defeat The Furnace Golems (Giant Wicker Man)

Get Some Fire Pot(s)

It definitely sounds and feels counter-intuitive, but arguably the best way to take down these giant walking towers of wood, metal and fire is in fact with more fire.

Hefty Pots are a new kind of throwable you can craft in the Realm of Shadow, and as with pots in the base game these larger, hefty ones can be infused with different kinds of elemental damage.

Hefty Fire Pots and Hefty Furnace Pots are the two you’ll want to be crafting to help you take down the Furnace Golems.

Their biggest weak point is its face, and you’ll take a chunk of its health if you can get a furnace pot to hit it square on. You’ll actually do even more damage if you can throw the pot into the giant opening at the top of the Golem.

It’s impossible to do that from the ground though, so aiming for the face is the more reliable point to try and hit. There will also be some Furnace Golem’s walking in an area where you can be at eye-level with them, so throwing pots into their heads essentially is a much more viable strategy.

The Bigger They Are, The Harder It Is To Get Them To Fall

Hefty pots are a key way to take down Furnace Golem’s but they are not the only way. You can do a fair amount of damage if you have a means of reliably hitting its face, and you can also knock it down for a critical hit if you break down its poise enough.

A steady stream of charged-up R2 attacks will eventually take it down, though this puts you in consistently precarious and dangerous positions.

The Golem’s have a stomp attack that spreads fire across the ground and creates an impact that’ll damage you on top of the fire should you miss-time your dodge. It’ll also reach down and grab you if you’re spending too much time at its feet, and toss you into its head to be swirled around like you’ve been thrown in a fire-y toilet before being spit out.

It’ll also jump in the air and land with a giant explosion of fire that can’t be dodged, and slam its arms on the ground. When you try to get some distance from it, the Golem will kick up the ground to throw flaming rocks in your direction. If you try to go very far from it, the Golem will lay down on the ground and send a swirling blast of fire that has far more reach than you’d think.

Also at medium to long range, it’ll send out giant balls of fire raining down from its head. All these attacks can be devastating to your health or simply one-shot kills depending on your Vigor stat.

So while it’s possible to simply whack at the Golem’s legs, it is the more dangerous route. The way to do it though is to try and stay directly under it as to not trigger any of the stronger medium to long-ranged attacks.

You can jump over the fire spread that comes when it stomps its feet, and when it jumps in the air you’ll have just enough time to hop on Torrent and double jump to avoid the spread of fire – so long as you’re already far enough away from the blast.

Sticking close to its legs and breaking its poise three times will knock it fully down to the ground. From there you can get a critical hit on its face which does huge damage, or throw a hefty pot into the top of its head to also do some serious damage.

You’ll need to repeat this process a few times to fully deplete its health bar, so be prepared that these fights are by no means short. It all comes down to how quickly you can break its poise and if you can land some solid hefty pot throws.

A Mixture Of Strategies Is Required

While bashing the legs of the Furnace Golem’s is reliable, it’s not possible for all the Golem’s you’ll face. A few of them have large metal spikes on their legs that stop them from being weak points and stop you from bashing them in the same way.

Which means you’ll need to rely on focusing your attacks on its face and throwing hefty pots to do any significant damage. Otherwise most attacks are only going to take a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of its health out.

Either way, be prepared for a long fight and don’t expect to easily avoid all its attacks. If you can smash at its legs, then you should note that there’s no exact pattern to how many times in a row it’ll try to stomp down on you.

Like other enemies in the DLC, Furnace Golem’s are much more reactive to your actions and will work to counter them more often than not. So if you’re prepared with Hefty Pots, ranged weapons like the Smithscript weapons and something strong enough to bash in those giant wooden legs, you’ll have a fighting chance.