How to defeat the Furnace Golem - Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

The Furnace Golems in Shadow of the Erdtree are daunting threats, but with a little know-how, you can chop them down to size.

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The moment you step into the Land of Shadow in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, you’ll probably notice the giant with the torch for a head walking around the fields of the Gravesite Plain. That’s a Furnace Golem. The second thing you probably notice if you try to approach it is it will kill you very fast if you’re not prepared. Much like the Tree Sentinel in the base game, the Furnace Giant is a foe that acts as deterrent to you chasing after every encounter you see, lest you be burnt to cinder. It can be killed though, and all it takes is a little knowledge going into the fight.

How to defeat the Furnace Golem

A Tarnished throwing a Hefty Fire Pot into a downed Furnace Golem's open torch head.
Throwing Fire Pots into the Furnace Golems open torch head is a good way to do damage to it.

If you’re going to take on the Furnace Golem, especially with melee, you’re going to need to use Torrent, the Spectral Steed, and use it well. Most of the Furnace Golem’s attacks are wide-reaching and Torrent is fast enough to maneuver around its melee, jump and dodge its fire, and keep you in range to hit your target. You’re also going to want to get close to the Furnace Golem as soon as you can or it will spam attacks that are much harder to evade, so Torrent is great for getting in close, fast.

Attacking

A Tarnished slashing at a Furnace Golem's ankles while on horseback.
Hitting the Furnace Golem's ankles enough will let you topple it with enough persistence.

What are your targets? That depends on if you’re melee or ranged. Ranged casters and archers will probably want to aim for its face plate. It can be hard to hit, but it’s the creature’s weakest point. Melee fights will want to ferociously attack its ankles. Much like other giants, it will topple if you hit its legs enough. If you can get it to topple, you can land a Critical Hit on its faceplate that, depending on your Scadutree Blessing, can do massive damage in one shot. Just be mindful of it stumbling instead of actually toppling. It may stumble about two to three times before falling over, but then it will expose its faceplate to the right or left of its body with a glow indicating you can strike it for a crit.

We used the Dragonscale Blade for fast slashing on Torrent’s back to get the best results. Heavier weapons made it a bit hard to time with Torrent’s double jump, which is very important in this fight. If you're going to use a heavy weapon, do one strike at a time and don't get overzealous or you won't be able to jump with Torrent when you need to. As an aside, if you can get elevation on the Furnace Golem, you can throw a Hefty Fire Pot or Hefty Furnace Pot into the basket of its torch head. That will also do massive damage to it. In fact, there are some Furnace Golems that have armor on their legs and there's an obvious spot nearby to throw pots into its head. To kill it this way, you'll need about five Hefty Fire Pots. You can get the Hefty Cracked Pots needed to make these throwables with the help of our guide.

Defending

A Tarnished jumping on horseback as a Furnace Golem stomps the ground with fire in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
Double-jumping on Torrent is the best way to avoid taking damage from one of the Furnace Golem's most frequent attacks at close-range.

The biggest issue with the Furnace Golem is that it has a lot of attacks that can wreck you quick while you try to topple it, but only a handful are really hard to avoid. If you’re at long distance, the Golem will do one of two things: swirl its torch head around to launch fireballs out of the top that will track you or kick fiery rocks in a wave at you. The first is easily avoided by sprinting on Torrent and strafing the Golem at range. The rock wave is a bit harder to evade. It’s got a wide range and is very hard to strafe or jump over. Unfortunately, once aggroed, the Furnace Golem will spam these moves unless you get close, so it’s best to hurry in to remove these from play.

Underneath the Furnace Golem, it will try a few different things. If you’re anywhere in front of it, it may try a four-hit combo where it will sweep the ground with its left arm, then right arm, then left, then right. It may also try a single fiery punch that explodes when it hits the ground. If you’re casting at it, simply back away quickly or go under it to its backside if you see it start to sway its arms. Beware its sides when it's punching because it will still likely hit you if you are beside it instead of behind it or at distance.

A toppled Furnace Golem with its faceplate glowing in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
If you topple the Furnace Golem, it will fall with its face vulnerable to the right or left of its body. Run to that side and strike it for a Critical Hit.

The much more important attacks to take stock of are its fire stomps. Once close, you will often see one or both of its feet catch fire. This is your cue to get ready to double jump with Torrent. If it does a single stomp, you can stay pretty close to it and jump over the fire wave that launches out underneath you. Keep an eye on its other foot because sometimes it will do repetitive fire stomps, alternating between its feet up to three times. If both feet catch fire, back away. It will jump and not only launch a fire wave, but explode when it hits the ground. To dodge this one, you need distance of about 20 to 30 feet from it. When you see both legs catch fire, move away, wait for it to jump and time your double jump just before it hits the ground to completely dodge the fire and explosion.

If you can stay close and make it do either of the stomps, you can easily keep pressure on the Furnace Golem’s face or legs. Just be persistent. It may not look like you’re doing damage in the short run, but when you crit its face, you’ll nearly kill it instantly. They will always drop a Crystal Tear for your Flask of Wondrous Physick and a Furnace Visage, which can be used to make Hefty Furnace Pots to kill other Furnace Golems, so these encounters can be well worth your time.


With this strategy on how to kill the Furnace Golem, you’ll have one more leg up on the challenges of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. Be sure to follow our Elden Ring topic for the latest guides to help you along your adventures!

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.

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