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One of the most memorable main story bosses in Elden Ring is the final hurdle that the Tarnished must face in the Mountaintops of the Giants before setting the Erdtree aflame. To reach the Fire Giant, the player must travel along the frozen lake into the higher plateaus in the southern area of the mountaintops.
The Fire Giant will be in a massive valley right next to the Forge of the Giants. This massive creature has been cursed by Queen Marika herself and is likely very angry about it, defeating him will require the Tarnished to be constantly moving and use his massive size against him.
Fire Giant's Move Set
The Fire Giant has many advantages that usually contribute to him eventually crushing any Tarnished who tries to get too close. A lot of his attacks put distance between himself and the player, similarly to the Elden Beast, which puts him in a position to use his ranged attacks that deal a lot of punishment. These are all the attacks to watch out for in his first and second phases.
Phase One
- Stomp- The Fire Giant will stomp the ground when the Tarnished are close and will crush them if they are not careful. The player simply needs to either dodge as the Giant's foot comes down or ride away on Torrent when the Giant raises his leg to stomp
- Plate Swing- The Fire Giant will swing the massive plate he carries which will catch any Tarnished at a mid-long range distance from the Giant, he may also go for a second swing. This attack makes using Torrent in the first phase a risky move as it will completely knock the player off if he is hit once. It is a better counter to rely on invincibility frames and dodge through the swing.
- Avalanche- The Fire Giant will use his massive plate to launch snow at the player in an AOE attack. A very simple way to counter this is to simply get behind the Giant as he digs his plate into the snow. However, if the Tarnished are too far away to do this, they can use Torrent to move outside the area where the snow is going to fall.
- Jump Smash- The Fire Giant will jump into the air and smash his plate down in an attempt to crush the Tarnished. This is essentially a much deadlier version of the Stomp attack, and the player can use the same method of riding away or dodging through the attack to avoid damage.
- Flame Blast- This is an attack that the Fire Giant can use in the first or second phase. The Giant will launch a fast-moving fire projectile at the player which can be dodged. The player can reduce the number of times the Giant uses this attack by staying in close range to him as much as possible.
- Flame of the Fell God- This is another attack that the Fire Giant can use in the first or second phase (although in the second phase two are spawned). A slow-moving fireball will move towards the player and will explode when in range, coating the area in the fire. The player can force the fireball away from where the Giant can deal extra damage and make it explode so that the field of fire is away from where the player is attacking the Giant.
Phase Two
In phase two the Fire Giant will remove his own leg and awaken the Fell God inside of him, gaining an intimidating third eye, this phase sacrifices mobility for extra damage and devastating AOE attacks. The player should therefore use Torrent for extra speed in avoiding as many of these attacks as possible.
- Swipe- The Fire Giant will be able to swipe in front of him, this attack is the easiest to avoid because as long as the Tarnished is behind the Giant he will not be able to hit them with the attack.
- Volcano- The most powerful attack that the Giant can do involves him leaning back and spewing volcanic rocks into the air, mimicking the behavior of a volcano. The only option to make sure this attack does no damage is to use Torrent to ride out of harm's way and ride back as soon as possible to prevent more ranged attacks.
- Burning Field- The other problematic AOE attack in phase two is when the Fire Giant slams his hands into the ground around him creating a burning field. Running away with Torrent and baiting him into an area where the ground is not on fire is the best way around this move.
- Roll- The most mobile attack in phase two has the Fire Giant rolling around the battle arena to squash the Tarnished. The player must make sure that they are either in front or behind the Giant when he rolls to avoid being crushed, Torrent can help with the extra speed for getting out of the way.
Melee Strategies
For Melee builds centered around Strength or Dexterity, The Tarnished will want to focus on using Torrent to get in close and then dismount and rely on invincibility frames when attacking him at close range. Staying behind the Fire Giant and whacking his legs will minimize the number of attacks he can effectively use to hit the Tarnished.
In the first phase, the player simply needs to continue attacking his ankles similar to many giant enemies in the game, and not give him a chance to use some of his more devastating ranged attacks. In his second phase many of the Giant's AOE attacks will make staying in close range extremely difficult, so riding Torrent and waiting for a window to ride in and attack before running away is key.
Ranged Strategies
For spellcasters, the strategy is essentially a more lenient version of the melee strategy using spells like Azur Comet to allow the Tarnished to attack the Giant's weak points from a greater range. This will give the Tarnished more breathing room in the battle arena and will give more opportunity for them to get out of the way of some of the close-range AOE attacks.
Using these spells in conjunction with a powerful summon like the Mimic Tear or Black Knife Tiche will make short work of the giant. Arguably he is at his most unpredictable in phase one due to his larger move set but once he moves into phase two the player will have a much better chance of taking him down.
Elden Ring is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.