How to Beat Furnace Golems in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

I hate Furnace Golems. They suck, and I hate them. But if you want access to some of the coolest and most powerful buffs in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, you need to know how to beat them. Thankfully, they don’t have many attacks, and actually taking them down is very straightforward, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

How to Beat Furnace Golems in Shadow of the Erdtree

Furnace Golems are the giant wicker basket automatons that wander the Realm of Shadow. The first time I actually encountered one, I admit, with no small amount of shame, I ran away with all the speed Torrent could muster. These things deal a frankly absurd amount of damage, even after numerous Scadutree Fragment upgrades. Worse, they grow in difficulty as you progress through the DLC, meaning the ones you fight at the beginning of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree are puppy dogs relative to the later-game area versions.

As I said, though, Furnace Golems don’t have the longest attack list, and actually dealing damage takes three simple steps. Simple does not mean easy, of course, because one wrong move and you’ll watch 60 Vigor worth of health — buffed by Morgott’s Rune — disappear in a blaze of firey death. Here are the basics:

• Hit one of a Furnace Golem’s legs with the strongest attacks you have. The only way to deal real damage to a Furnace Golem is by making a critical hit on its face while it’s staggered. To stagger them, you need to hit their legs with jump attacks, charged heavy attacks, and high-stagger Ashes of War. Such ashes include Giant Hunt, the Coded Sword’s Unblockable Blade, Unsheath on a standard katana or Moonveil’s Transient Moonlight heavy attack, and other similar moves. Depending on the attack, it will take two or three powerful hits to trigger a partial stagger.
• Stagger the Furnace Golem’s leg three times to topple it. The first two times you stagger a Furnace Golem, it will only pause and catch its balance, forcing you to continue the assault until it finally falls. Only attack one leg at a time, as splitting your damage between both legs not only forces you to reposition at odd or inopportune times but also seems to reduce the amount of stagger you can build up. Maybe that’s a placebo thing for me, but hitting one leg made staggering these enemies much faster and easier.

• Take the critical hit on the Furnace Golem’s face. Twice. Furnace Golems have a staggering 100,000+ HP, and the best critical I’ve been able to pull off has only done about 68,000 damage. Unless you’ve got one of those crazy one-shot builds (I know you’re out there).

In practice, the third stagger takes significantly longer than the first two, sometimes double or even triple the number of hits. You’re liable to be dodging a lot of attacks in between actual hits, so let’s go over those next.

All Furnace Golem Attacks in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

Furnace Golems have two modes: ranged and melee, though they sometimes use one of their ranged attacks when you’re tickling their toes, as well. They don’t have phases (which is nice), so you only need to worry about one set of moves.

Fireball Spray

The first of two ranged attacks, the Furnace Golem expels several dozen fireballs from the furnace, which is its “head.” These fireballs slowly move toward you with powerful tracking. In addition to exploding when they hit, they also leave fire on the ground, which causes an absurd amount of damage over time. Your best bet, no matter when the attack happens, as it can occur occasionally while you’re hitting the Golem, is to hop on Torrent and ride away or perpendicular to the fireballs.

Spiral Flame

The second ranged attack Furnace Golems use sees them kneel down and aim their “head-furnace” at you and shoot out a huge spiral of flame. Said spiral has no tracking and travels in a straight line, but its sheer size necessitates you get on Torrent and run to either side to avoid it.

Fire Rock Kick

Technically, it is both a melee and ranged attack. The Furnace Golem pulls back one of its feet and kicks the ground in front of it, throwing up a number of superheated rocks that expand like birdshot. Each one deals moderate stagger damage and quite a bit of actual damage, but rolling directly into the attack is a good way to avoid it, provided you don’t roll into the Golem’s foot.

Single Stomp

The most common of the Furnace Golem’s attacks has it lift one of its feet up, hold it there for about a second, and then slam it down, sending out a wave of fire along the ground as well as an AoE immediately around the foot. You will take extra damage if the Golem manages to stomp on your head as well. Avoiding the attack is all about jumping just before the Golem’s foot lands on the ground. That opens up an opportunity for a jump attack as well. You can also roll the fire wave, but I don’t recommend it.

Triple Stomp

Like the single stomp, but three times. Two times with the Golem’s right foot and once with the left. You’ll avoid the stomps the same way, just alternate between which foot sends out the fire wave.

Two-Foot Stomp

As the name suggests, the Furnace Golem uses both feet for this attack, and I’ll be honest, I haven’t found a consistent way to deal with it. The one method for taking no damage I’ve found is to run a short distance away from the Golem as it hangs in the air, then roll away from the larger fire wave right as it’s about to hit you. It’s not consistent, and because there’s also a wall of fire atop the wave, jumping gives no joy. If I find a better way to deal with this attack, I’ll update this section.

And with that, you have all you need to know to beat Furnace Golems in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. It’s ultimately a matter of patience and persistence. The rewards are more than worth it: brand new Crystal Tears for your Wondrous Physick, some of which are downright busted.

For more on Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree and the game, check out our dedicated Elden Ring guides hub, which includes pieces on where to find the Prayer Room Key and how to get to the Scadu Altus early.