Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, is one of the shardbearers you’ll encounter while exploring Elden Ring’s setting of The Lands Between. You’ll fight him inside of a volcano, and as one might suspect, he’s got a lot of fire-based moves. Here’s how to take down this demi-god and earn yourself a healthy helping of Runes.
Where to find Rykard
There are two ways to get to Rykard. The first involves simply exploring Volcano Manor until you reach a teleporter that will transport you to a boss arena. However, this is a route involving several strong minibosses and foes.
The other way to access this boss is by completing the Volcano Manor sidequest. If you fulfill all four bounties given to you, then the group’s leader, Tanith, will offer to teleport you to Rykard from the Volcano Manor Site of Grace. We recommend choosing this method, as you’ll unlock some pretty valuable equipment items as well.
Once you step through the Mist-Gate, you’ll be confronted with the God-Devouring Serpent boss. This is the first phase of Rykard’s boss fight.
Phase 1: The God-Devouring Serpent
This boss is gigantic, and surrounded by a pool of lava that will hurt you if you step in it. Luckily, this boss fight is unique in that you’re given a specific weapon to use against the boss. As you enter the Mist Gate, you’ll be able to pick up the Serpent-Hunter spear. Equip this immediately, and do not use any other weapon in this boss fight. The spear has no stat requirements, deals a ton of damage to the boss, and also has some incredible range. You’ll be able to hit the boss without ever stepping foot into its pool of lava.
The Serpent’s attacks are pretty basic. It will try to bite you, grab you, and hurl magma at you. Occasionally, it will also attempt to spit poison your way. Luckily, the spear is capable of interrupting many of its attack animations. Even if it’s able to get one off, its attacks can all be evaded by rolling.
You should position yourself near where the boss’ magma pool begins, and proceed to poke it repeatedly with the spear. We found that bringing an upgraded Mimic Tear into battle — which will also be equipped with its own Serpent-Hunter spear — helps make this battle go by quite quickly. Once you deplete the Serpent’s life bar completely, the second phase will begin.
Phase 2: Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy
Rykard’s fight plays out similarly to the fight against the Serpent. Your primary mode of attack will be poking him from afar with your spear. However, he has some extra moves that are liable to give you some grief. We’ve listed his moves, and how you should react to them, below:
- Sword swipes: Unlike the Serpent, Rykard has arms, as well as a sword. Rykard has a four-hit combo that can be quite devastating if you’re caught in it. He’ll start with two sweeping strikes, before stabbing his sword into the ground. The final hit of this combo sees Rykard ripping his sword out of the ground, damaging anyone around his blade. The first two hits can be avoided by dodging in the direction that the attack is coming from; if it’s coming from your left, then dodge left. The stab can be avoided by dodging to the side. Finally, run away from the in-ground blade to avoid the final hit.
- Jump: Rykard will occasionally jump away from you, causing magma projectiles to fly out around him. Fortunately, the projectiles have poor range, meaning just being far enough away from them is enough to avoid them.
- Lava geyser: Spots of lava will sometimes appear below you during this fight. This means a lava geyser is about to erupt beneath you. Run/roll away immediately to avoid taking a lot of damage from this attack.
- Rykard’s Rancor: This attack only appears when the boss’ HP has been reduced by roughly half. Rykard will summon a ton of flaming skulls that will chase you; they don’t damage you upon impact, but rather explode after a short delay upon touching you. Don’t try to fight the boss during this attack. Simply run away until the skulls stop coming down. At the end of this attack, Rykard will raise his blade into the air and deliver a powerful two-handed strike. If you dodge as he brings the blade down, your invincibility frames should prevent you from taking damage.
- Serpent attacks: Because Rykard is a part of the Serpent, he’ll use a few of the same moves. The bite and grab moves present in the previous phase are also in this one, and can be avoided by simply timing your rolls as they’re about to hit.
After dodging Rykard’s sword combo, his bite/grab moves, or the final hit of Rykard’s Rancor, you should profusely poke him with your spear until you see him winding up for another attack. The spear makes this fight more of a setpiece than a skill-check, provided you’re able to dodge Rykard’s moves.
Like the previous phase, we highly advise using a Mimic Tear summon in this fight. It will distract Rykard, and also deal out a heavy amount of damage due to it also having a spear. Once defeated, Rykard will drop his Great Rune, the Remembrance of the Blasphemous, as well as 130,000 Runes.
