How to defeat Iron Golem in Dark Souls: Remastered

The Iron Golem is a mandatory boss fight in Dark Souls: Remastered, located at the top of Sen’s Fortress, a deadly, trap-filled building you need to make your way through. The Iron Golem blocks the entryway to the second half of the main game, and he can be a deadly foe. If you’re having trouble fighting the boss, take a look at our guide on how to defeat him right here.

How To Get To Iron Golem

Some of you may find that getting to the Iron Golem at the top of Sen’s Fortress is harder than the actual boss fight. Once you eventually reach the top of Sen’s Fortress, you can walk through a fog door to emerge on its roofs. A giant in the area will throw exploding bombs onto designated areas – you can identify them by the black scorch marks on the floor – which can easily kill you. Luckily, a bonfire is nearby.

After emerging through the fog door, follow the stairs up and take a left to climb another set of stairs. Ahead is the first bomb scorch mark, so run over it to the next set of stairs, causing a giant to throw a bomb.

Climb the stairs to reach another landing with a second scorch mark and an item in its centre. Ignore it, and instead run across the landing to your right, where you should be able to see broken fencing. You should spot a bonfire on a balcony under you. Quickly drop down to avoid one of the giant’s bombs, and then rest.

From the bonfire, you can easily make it back to the fortress’ roofs by following the hallway to an opening and dropping down onto the stairs where the fog door was. Follow your path back up, and instead of taking a right to drop down to the bonfire, continue up the nearby staircase.

You’ll reach another scorch mark with an item. Again, ignore it and instead take a left turn to climb the nearby staircase. You’ll see an L-shaped walkway. Follow it carefully, but make note of the scorch mark on the turning point, so be careful. Head into the nearby building, and you’ll have two options; take a left to face a Knight and reach a dead end (Great for the souls if needed) or take a right to continue towards the boss.

A right turn will take you into a room with cages. If you had picked up the Cage Key, you’d be able to take the cage on the right down to the bottom of the fortress, creating a shortcut back to Andre.

Exit the room ahead and then follow the nearby stairs up. You’re on another pillared walkway, this one shaped like a U. Follow it around but make note of the scorch mark on the second bend, as well as the crossbow-wielding Hollow on an elevated platform ahead of you.

Climb the stairs onto the elevated platform and then take out the Hollow. Enter the room and you’ll have three options; you can take a left and enter the fog door to start the fight against the Iron Golem, go straight ahead and cross the bridge for a summon sign to help you fight the boss, or you can climb the staircase to your right to reach the bomb-throwing giant.

We suggest you climb the staircase and slowly take out the bomb-throwing giant, as it’ll make future boss runs easier and will allow you to pick up all missed loot. Once you’ve defeated him, either head back to the bonfire to level up and grab all of your previously-missed loot, or head into the boss arena.

How To Defeat The Iron Golem

The fight against the Iron Golem isn’t too difficult, as the boss is rather slow. However, he can inflict a lot of damage when he does hit you.

The biggest danger is the arena itself since you can easily fall off the edge or get thrown or knocked off, killing you. The same can happen to the Golem, instantly ending the fight but this rarely happens.

When you enter the arena, the Iron Golem will be at the far side. You’ll want to bait the boss into the middle of the arena, which provides you with a larger playing ground with just enough room to evade his attacks.

During the fight, you’ll want to continually attack his ankles. When you inflict enough damage to one foot within a short enough time span, the Golem will begin to lose his balance.

If you continue to attack the same foot, you’ll stagger the Golem and he’ll fall to the floor, giving you a great opportunity to attack and deal a huge amount of damage. Do this a few times, and you’ll have defeated the Iron Golem.

The Iron Golem isn’t weak to anything, but if you’re having trouble, you can summon Iron Tarkus in the tower to the right of the boss’ fog door.

While doing the above, you’ll have to avoid the Iron Golem’s attacks, which include:

• Grab: The Iron Golem will grab you and throw you across the arena, sometimes causing you to fall to your death. You can dodge this, but note that he always pulls his right hand back before going in for a grab
• Sweep: The Iron Golem will sweep at the ground around his feet with his axe, which you can dodge by rolling under him or can block
• Slam and Stomp: The Iron Golem will slam his fists or axe or stamp his feet into the ground. It can be dodged by circling to his back

His attacks are slow and easily telegraphed, but the fight can take a long time due to his tough armour – you’ll chip away at his health slowly, unless you can stagger him on any of the tight walkways or at the edges of the arena to cause him to fall.

Once you’ve defeated the Iron Golem, a ring will appear at the centre of the arena. Interacting with it will take you to Anor Londo, where you’ll need to fight some tough enemies before reaching a bonfire.

We suggest you run back down to the Sen’s Fortress bonfire or use a Homeward Bone, level up, and then return to the arena to continue the game.