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Godfrey, the First Elden Lord is the first main boss of Leyndell, Royal Capital, and is located at the beginning of the Erdtree Sanctuary high atop the capital on the way to the Erdtree.
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Godfrey, First Elden Lord Boss Fight Tips and Strategy
Godfrey is a fairly classic humanoid boss. His moveset is made up of a variety of slow powerful axe swings, most of which are easily blocked with a 100% physical block shield, or simply rolled through before impact. He has almost no tricks save for a few deceptive combos, so of course we are going to adopt a similarly classic strategy to whup him.
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First thing, avoid his leaping axe throw attack that he opens the battle with my rolling in as he executes the throw. Get control of the center of the room to get yourself some space. Our game plan here is to stand just out of his normal range in an attempt to bait out one of his long range overhead slams or jump attacks. These are some of his most obvious swings and the most punishable, in particular the attack where he leaps into the air then jabs the ground with the point of his axe. If you see this attack be ready to punish with 2-3 attacks.
When it comes to his weaker attacks you want to be more wary. His quick axe swipes and horizontal slashes are usually followed up by another quick attack or a slightly delayed heavier slam. I would not recommend trying to punish these unless you are using a very quick weapon. It is better to just wait for a familiar attack than to try and punish during a combo just because you are antsy. However the stomp, one of his more frequent attacks, does seem to be punishable if you can roll to his side and strike him from behind.
Because his combos are so delayed, you can even fit in a Guard Counter between most of his attacks. If you are feeling confident in your stamina and defense stand right in front of him and simply tank the swings (especially easy if you have the Barricade Shield ability) then Counter repeatedly until you get the stagger. Just be aware of your stamina at all times or he may open you up and get a kill off one of his powerful combos.
Godfrey doesn't seem to have a second phase change, so simply follow the game plan and he will eventually fall to your combination of safe punishes and Guard Counters. He is very slow moving, so if you need a moment of rest you can simply roll back or run away to create some distance. Defeat him to get another Talisman Pouch and get access to the Erdtree Sanctuary Site of Grace.
