As you progress through the Mountaintop of the Giants in Elden Ring, you’ll meet the Fire Giant, a towering foe with some devastatingly powerful attacks to boot. If you can topple the giant, you’ll walk away with a ton of Runes, as well as the precious Remembrance of the Fire Giant.
The Fire Giant is located to the east of the Church of Repose Site of Grace. You’ll cross over a bridge made of chains, and then walk through a Mist Gate leading to the boss. This boss is fought in two phases.
Phase 1
In the first phase, the Fire Giant will walk around with a shield, which he will commonly try to hit you with. You’ll want to stay on your horse most of the time, but there is one attack you will only be able to dodge while on foot. We beat this boss by circling under him while riding the horse; you should try to either stay directly under him (between his legs) or behind him at all times.
Your main objective here is to hit the Fire Giant’s left foot, which has a rope tied around it. After you’ve hit it enough, the rope will break, revealing the giant’s weak spot, which you should continue to hammer on.
Below is a list of every attack the Fire Giant has in its first phase, and how you should react to them:
- Snow wave: The giant will dig its shield into the ground and shove it forward to shoot a large wave of snow at you. You cannot dodge this attack while on your horse. If you see the giant shove its shield in the snow, dismount your horse and get ready to dodge. You can roll right through this move by dodging as the wave nears. The Fire Giant only does this move when you’re positioned far away from him.
- Double stomp: The giant stomps his feet one at a time. Simply move out behind the giant to avoid this move.
- Shield attacks: The Fire Giant will often try to hit you with his shield. It may slam the face of his shield flat on the ground, or dig its side into the snow. He may also try to hit you with a two-hit combo. All of these can be avoided by either staying under the giant, or behind him. If you find yourself in front of the giant, roll through any of these attacks as they’re about to land. You won’t take any damage thanks to invincibility frames.
- Roll: The giant will occasionally sway its shield to one side, before launching itself forward in a roll. If you’re caught in the roll’s path, you’ll take a decent bit of damage. If riding your horse, do your best to dash out of this move’s trajectory. We’ve found that staying behind the giant is usually a safe bet.
- Jump slam: Similar to the shield slam move, the giant takes a leap before slamming its shield on the ground. If you’re behind the giant, you should be safe from this attack.
- Dash attack: The giant will position the shield behind him before charging forward and attempting to hit you by extending his shield out in front of him. If you’re on the horse, dashing towards him during his windup should allow you to get behind him, rendering you safe.
After cutting the rope around the Fire Giant’s left foot, he will obtain a few new moves:
- Fireball: The giant uses his left hand to send a fire projectile your way. Just run/dodge to the side to avoid it.
- Homing fireball: The giant creates a floating, slow-moving fireball that follows you until it hits something, whether that be you or an obstacle. It also explodes if it doesn’t hit anything for a while. When it explodes, it will set the ground ablaze for a few seconds; the on-fire ground will damage you if you walk on it. Simply keep moving to avoid this attack.
- Fire pillars: The giant will kneel and summon many pillars of fire around him. If you see small spots of fire under you as the boss kneels, dash far away from him. This fire attack has a large AOE and will deal a massive amount of damage to you.
Once you get the Giant down to half of its HP, a cutscene will play showing the giant’s left leg breaking in a gruesome way. Once the cutscene ends, the second phase of the fight will start.
Phase 2
The Fire Giant is a lot more stationary in this phase, but your strategy will remain mostly the same. You’ll want to stay close to him, and primarily attack him from the back. He no longer has a weak point, so don’t worry about going exclusively for his ankle. The strategy for this phase amounts to wailing on his back while being sure to avoid his AOE attacks. Do not ever approach this boss from the front; his front-facing attacks are dangerous, and can easily one-shot you.
Below is every move this boss has in his second phase, and how you should react to them:
- Punches and slams: The giant tends to throw out punches in front of him. Stay to the side or behind the giant to avoid them, or roll through these attacks if you find yourself in from of the giant. He will also sometimes slam his fists on the ground. Avoid this attack in a similar manner.
- Roll: Similar to the previous phase, the Fire Giant will roll around to create distance between you and him. If you stay behind the giant, he will not hit you with this move. He tends to roll to the right or left, never backwards.
- Multiple homing fireballs: Same concept as the homing fireball attack from the previous phase, but now the boss spawns two of them. If you get hit by one, you’ll probably get hit by the second one too, which will usually spell death. Avoid this attack by running away from the fireballs.
- Fire pillars: Functions the exact same as it did in the previous phase. Run away to avoid damage.
- Fireball: Functions the exact same way as it did in the previous phase. Dodge/run to the right or left to avoid them.
- Fire rain: This is a new move. The boss will recline his back so that his chest is facing up, and then shoot multiple fiery projectiles out of his chest. The projectiles will fall around the boss. Funnily enough, if you stick to the boss’ back, you’ll avoid virtually every projectile.
Once you defeat the Fire Giant, you’ll obtain a whopping 180,000 Runes, as well as the Remembrance of the Fire Giant.
