The Valiant Gargoyle is a recurring boss in Elden Ring. You can fight this boss around 6 times in the game. We will be focusing on the Siofra River dual Gargoyle fight in this article. How to defeat the boss? What is the boss weak to? What strategies can you use to beat it? Are there ways to cheese the boss? All will be answered in this ultimate boss guide to beating Valiant Gargoyle in Elden Ring.
The Siofra River Valiant Gargoyle features two of these rocky abominations at the same time. They both are extremely aggressive and leave little windows to attack. Take the aid from your Spirit Ashes and D, Beholder of Death NPC to make it a somewhat level playing field.
Let’s take a look at the best strategies and builds in this boss guide that can help us easily defeat Valiant Gargoyle in Elden Ring.
Is Valiant Gargoyle Optional?
The Valiant Gargoyles found in Siofra River, and all the other variants are optional bosses in Elden Ring. Although, either these bosses or Mohg, the Omen must be defeated to access the Deeproot Depths for the Age of the Duskborn ending.
Strategies for Defeating Valiant Gargoyle
Below are some strategies for defeating Valiant Gargoyle’s boss in Elden Ring. The build you selected will determine the approach you should go for. We will cover the basic melee/magic caster strategies here:
Melee Strategy
The fight begins with you facing a lone Valiant Gargoyle (the sword variant). It’s a lot easier to attack the boss when he has his axe out rather than his swords. His sword attacks are very erratic and fast compared to the slower and more predictable ones with the axe.
Also, you can stay under his feet easily when the axe is out since most of his attacks will ignore you when you are here. This is not possible with the sword in his hands.
As for the sword, a lot of times when his sword is out, you’re going to have to dodge roll forward and stay as close to him as you can so that the attacks go over your head.
Even as a melee build, you should come into this fight with some sort of a ranged option. This will be beneficial for instances when he has his sword out. You can also bring a good shield with Barricade Shield to block these attacks.
A good opening is when his axe is out, he executes an attack where he raises up in the air and then plummets down. This is a very easy one to read and roll through at the last second in order to get some damage in.
What you want to look out for is when he changes weapons. Anytime you see him reach for his back and sparks fly out, he’s changing weapons. Memorize this transition and try to react accordingly.
The transition is usually accompanied by a hard-hitting swipe which you can dodge and get some shots in of your own. Recognizing and reacting to this change will benefit you greatly in the second phase with two gargoyles.
He sprays poison mist under him every now and then and you need to get out of dodge in this case. Staying close to him can either poison you, or if you are just outside the mist radius, he might snap out of the breath animation and go crazy on you. Stay as far from his as possible.
At around half health another Gargoyle (the twinblade variant) will join the fight.
The general strategy for this phase is to finish off the weaker of the two Valiant Gargoyles. This is where your ranged attacks will come in handy. Melee characters will have a hard time managing both bosses when close to one. If you are melee only, then high DPS is the way to go.
Keeping the other Gargoyle out of your FOV can result in an early grave, He might poison mist you to death or fly in with a devastating attack that can one/two-shot you.
Additionally, dodging multiple attacks from two bosses at the same time is a recipe for disaster. Take this time to kite the weaker one with your preferred ranged option.
This can be an ordinary spell or using a bow. The weapon-switching animation is a good window to lob some ranged damage on the weaker gargoyle.
A spirit summon will take the load off you during this fight. It needs to be a tanky one to withstand the heavy damage, and you should only summon them when the second gargoyles enters the fight. This will allow you to focus on one gargoyle while the other one is distracted by the spirit. Upgrade the Spirit Ash before the fight.
Once the sword gargoyle is out of the picture, the twinblade will be the next target, and this one is no slouch. His attacks are more unpredictable, and it makes it hard to stay close to him.
Again just like the gargoyle before, you either want to be directly under his feet rolling forward through his attacks and getting in some attacks, or you want to be as far away as you can.
Likewise, the weapon-switching window is the perfect time to lay into him.
If you’re close to him when he swaps his axe from his twin blade, you can get under his feet quickly and get in some shots easily as he does two overhead attacks in a row.
You need to be careful after that because sometimes he’ll do an attack where he drags his axe behind him for a second and if you’re behind him or in his feet it may hit you while he’s dragging it. This attack can even clip under your shield.
When he starts twirling his blade, and there’s a wind build up around him, he will jump at you with a heavy blow. What you ought to do is unlock from him real quick and then run and dive forward when he jumps at you.
If you’re locked onto him, and you hit dodge after your camera angle spins around, you’ll actually roll into his attack, and you’ll take damage, but if you roll forward he’ll jump past you. So make sure you unlock and then re-lock after the attack.
Sometimes he will roar, and a white aura engulfs him. During this phase, he will go berserk for a short while. He’ll slam his axe down causing a huge AOE damage so you don’t want to be anywhere near that.
If possible either be directly under his legs so that it goes over you or you want to be as far away as possible. Rolling through this attack will end up costing you your HP.
Magic/Faith Strategy
Magic damage works in a sorcerer’s favor owing to the gargoyles’ relative weaknesses. Faith build will have a difficult encounter since he is strong against many of the elemental damage types.
Maintaining distance is the key to this fight, and it is harder than it sounds like. Luckily, the arena is large enough to put some space between.
The switching weapon animation as mentioned before is the right time to fire what you got. The only attack that will allow them to cover distances is the ranged wind charge. Anticipate its landing spot and either run towards him or away from it quickly. Most of his attacks will be close range so you will be much safer if the distance is just right.
The second phase is where you will appreciate your ranged choices. Any kind of spell would suffice, preferably fast spells.
Try to keep them both in your FOV to minimize any sudden surprise attacks. Keep your attention on one gargoyle at any given point and take him out first to make the fight somewhat manageable.
Again, a tanky summon will allow you to cast freely while they take the brunt of the attacks. Just be aware of the summon’s health since the gargoyles hit hard and there are few spirits who can take that kind of punishment for long.
What is Valiant Gargoyle Weak To?
Valiant Gargoyle is weak to the following damage types:
- Strike Damage
- Magic
What is Valiant Gargoyle Strong Against?
Valiant Gargoyle is strong or resistant to the following damage types:
- Strong
- Slash Damage
- Pierce Damage
- Fire
- Lightning
- Holy
- Immune
- Poison
- Scarlet Rot
- Hemorrhage
- Frostbite
- Sleep
- Madness
Can You Parry Valiant Gargoyle?
You can not parry any of the Valiant Gargoyles. However, they can be stance broken which gives you an opening to perform a critical strike.
Can You Cheese Valiant Gargoyle?
For this cheese for the Valiant Gargoyle you will need the following items:
- A good Spirit Ash (preferably Mimic Tear)
- Golden Slam Weapon Skill/Ash of War
- A long-range attack, preferably Loretta’s Mastery due to its incredibly long reach which will come in handy if this cheese is about to backfire.
As soon as you enter the arena, summon the Mimic Tear. The spirit will hold the boss in place while you run for the other end of the arena. Go to the right-most corner near the waterfall and locate the rock protruding out of the cliff, seen in the picture above.
Stand in front of the rock and execute the Golden Slam Ash of War. If you do it right, you will land on top of the rock. From here, start jumping on the other rocks leading up. Most of these will feel like you can’t jump on them but it is possible.
When you approach the last rock near the waterfall, turn around and jump on the ones going further up. Soon you will reach a long platform where you can freely move. Stand on this location and lock on to the gargoyle who should be underneath you and fire the fully charged Loretta’s Mastery spell.
None of the gargoyle’s attacks will reach you over here except from maybe a roar blast but even that gets blocked by the rocks. Keep hitting the boss until the second one joins. Take the first one out and then move on to the second.
Sometimes the other boss will lose aggro and try to move to the center of the arena. Do not let this happen cause then you will have to drop down and bring him and do the earlier platforming all over again.
Luckily, Loretta’s Mastery has enough range to hit him from a long distance so keep him engaged by firing at him.
Needless to say, you will be needing a lot of Cerulean Flasks to restore your FP for this cheese. Bows and other spells work fine too, but Loretta’s Mastery has the magic damage, the range is unparalleled, and it doesn’t require a huge stock of arrows. The bosses will evaporate without you having to worry about anything.
Valiant Gargoyles are already a tough opponent and two at the same time seems unfair. You shouldn’t feel bad to bring some help of your own during this fight. Even cheesing them is fair!