Godfrey the First Elden Lord is one of several main bosses you’ll need to defeat in Elden Ring.

You’ll need to head deep into Leyndell, Royal Capital, to face off against this iteration of Godfrey the First Elden Lord.

Godfrey puts up one hell of a fight, and so we’d advise using some co-operation for the tough fight ahead, or even a a spirit ash summon to help you on your way to slaying the boss.

On this page:

  • How to prepare for Godfrey the First Elden Lord
  • Godfrey the First Elden Lord tips: How to beat Godfrey the First Elden Lord
  • Godfrey the First Elden Lord reward

How to prepare for Godfrey the First Elden Lord

Firstly, one important detail: this is the Golden Shade version of Godfrey the First Elden Lord. We won’t spoil anything for you, but as plenty of Elden Ring players might have suspected, this isn’t the true form of Godfrey.

Now that that’s out of the way, you’ll want to take a heavy weapon infused with Bleed damage for this fight.

Godfrey the First Elden Lord tips: How to beat Godfrey the First Elden Lord

Godfrey looks like an absolute tank, but he moves surprisingly quickly.

A lot of this fight revolves around dodging through Godfrey’s massive swing attacks with his axe. The boss generally pulls off one, two, or three big swings in a row, and it’s important not to get greedy and run in for an attack, only to get caught out with a follow-up attack from the boss.

A really good rule to stay by is that if Godfrey the First Elden Lord’s attack ends with his axe on the floor in front of him, he won’t chain together another strike.

Godfrey’s also fond of rising up into the air and throwing his axe down at you from above, followed by a large sweeping attack when he zooms in to grab the weapon.

Other than this, one strike to watch out for is when Godfrey lifts up a leg. When his foot comes down to the floor, a wave of spikes will erupt from the ground in a small cone immediately in front of him, and this can be a little tricky to dodge if you’re caught in the blast.

Once you have settled on a starting class and starting Keepsake item,

you should first work out how to level up, how to respec and use Ashes of War.

Need some direction from there? Our Elden Ring walkthrough and Elden Ring boss order can help with where to go next, but we also recommend hunting down Golden Seeds, Sacred Tears, Crystal Tears, Talismans and some of our best weapon and best armor choices.

If you are approaching the end game, we can help with the Volcano Manor quest and Rykard, Haligtree Secret Medallion locations, solving the Ordina, Liturgical Town puzzle, the Millicent quest, Commander Niall, Morgott, Godskin Duo, Maliketh and Malenia.

Godfrey the First Elden Lord reward

Once the fight with Godfrey the First Elden Lord (Golden Shade version) is done, you’ll be rewarded with 60,000 Runes for your efforts, which should be worth at least two levels for you.

You’ll also bag yourself a Talisman Pouch, which increases the number of Talisman slots.

Godfrey the First Elden Lord might be down, but you’ve got the rest of Leyndell, Royal Capital to venture through. The climax of this entire area brings you face to face with one of the tougher bosses in the entire game: Morgott, the Omen King.