How to beat furnace golems in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Furnace golems are a big and scary new enemy in Shadow of the Erdtree, but they're easy to take down if you know what you're doing

FromSoftware

Furnace golems are a new enemy in Elden Ring: SoTE – giant, living pagan torches stomping around the open world, raining fire down on friend and foe alike, they’re intimidating to witness. Luckily, taking them down isn’t as tough as it seems. 

My preferred method is the old-fashioned way: with a sword. Using Torrent, stick next to the furnace golem’s legs and hack away, but be mindful to stay at the back or side of the beast so it can’t reach down and grab you. 

As you hack away, you’ll notice you do very little damage but don’t worry – hurt both legs enough and the giant will topple, at which point you can jump off your horse and do a critical hit on its head, dealing massive damage. 

Furnace golems go down if you hack at their legs enough, opening them up for a critical hit. / FromSoftware

While hacking at the legs, it will rarely use its fire rain attack. If it does, just sprint away on horseback and return to the legs when it’s over. Usually, you’ll mostly just have to watch for the stomps. 

If the golem does a one-legged stomp, simply double-jump in the air while on horseback and you won’t take any damage. If it jumps up with both legs, run away and double-jump as it lands. Watch out for flame jets if you do end up retreating, as these are hard to avoid and will topple you from Torrent if they clip you. If that happens, you need to summon Torrent again immediately and ride hard. 

Of course, not everyone is specced out to be able to deal with furnace golems in this more direct fashion. Luckily for you, there’s another way, but you need to find a vantage point. 

If you can find a spot above a furnace golem, hefty fire pots and hefty furnace pots thrown directly into their basket heads take off a huge amount of health. You can also fire arrows and spells at the golem’s face plate. Just keep in mind that they’re more dangerous when they’re using abilities that aren’t stomp. 

It’s worth keeping in mind that furnace golems drop new types of Crystal Tears for your Flask of Wondrous Physic.

For more help, head over to our Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree guides hub, where you'll find tips for finding every Shadow of the Erdtree map fragment location fast and recommendations for the best early weapons and armor in Shadow of the Erdtree.

And if you're still on the fence about the DLC, check out our Elden Ring: SoTE review to see why we think it's worth your time.