How to beat the Godskin Duo in Elden Ring without losing your mind
The Godskin Duo might be Elden Ring's worst boss fight, but you can make it manageable.
Update: Elden Ring has had plenty of updates, so we've updated this Elden Ring Godskin Duo boss fight guide to reflect any changes made to the game. There's also some new tips and tricks for taking on this pair of ghastly enemies.
Elden Ring is not shy about making your life miserable as you approach the end of its main story. The entire area of Crumbling Farum Azula will test your combat skills, patience, and your ability to deal with groups of tough enemies.
It’s honestly a bit of a nightmare, and you shouldn’t expect the bosses there to be any different. The big target of Farum Azula is Maliketh, the Black Blade, but before you actually make your way to him, you must first defeat the Godskin Duo.
Depending on how much Elden Ring you played up to that point, you may have already run into one of these two (or both) before. The bad news is that you’ll have to fight both of them again, at the same time.
When should you fight the Godskin Duo in Elden Ring?
The Godskin Duo is a fight that takes place in one of Elden Ring’s toughest endgame areas: Crumbling Farum Azula. It’s not an optional fight, and though the bosses aren’t Shardbearer demigods, you’ll need to defeat them if you want to progress the game’s story.
Basically, the Godskin Duo is an obstacle on the way to Maliketh. Considering where this fight lies, you should be at around character level 120-130 before attempting it. Your weapon should be at maximum upgrade level, or +22 at the lowest.
How to make the Godskin Duo boss fight easier in Elden Ring
The Godskin Duo boss fight is easily one of the most challenging – bordering on aggravating – fights in Elden Ring. Because you’ll be going against two of them at the same time - with varying move sets to boot – so you should absolutely consider bringing in some help.
We always recommend summoning a Spirit Ash in our boss guides, and this one is no different. You may also be able to summon NPCs, such as Recusant Bernahl, depending on your quest progress elsewhere, and the area you approach the boss arena from.
While any Spirit Ash will work, even the post-nerf Mimic Tear, you ideally want something tanky, or one that can quickly proc a status effect.
The good news is that the Godskin Duo are weak to multiple forms of elemental damage. Poison, Scarlet Rot, and Frostbite will all affect them. They’re also susceptible to Sleep and Bleed damage. If you play your cards right, you can inflict the Sleep status on one of them to take it out of the fight for a period of time while you focus on the other one (more on that below).
It's also worth noting that the Godskin Duo is strong against Fire and Holy damage, so you'll want to avoid using either of those damage types against the pair.
How to beat the Godskin Duo in Elden Ring
The main thing to note with the Godskin Duo is how the boss’ health actually works. Both the Godskin Noble, and the Godskin Apostle have their own health bars, as well as a shared health bar (the one you see at the bottom).
If you deplete either of their individual health bars, they can still come back to life thanks to the collective health bar. This is also why making them both one hit away from death and dealing the final blow to both at once won’t work. Both of Godskins will, unfortunately, come back to life – since the shared health bar is still relevant.
If you kill one before the other, the remaining Godskin will cast a Blackflame spell a few seconds later and bring their buddy back to life – hence why this fight is a nightmare.
Keeping all of that in mind during the fight will make your life a lot easier, at least when it comes to surprises.
If you intend to summon (NPCs or human players), beware that a number of tough enemies patrol the area just outside the entrance to the boss arena. In other words, you’ll have to kill them to clear the area as you wait for your summons to show up.
Godskin Duo boss fight patience strat
Both the Godskin Noble (big one) and the Godskin Apostle (slim one), don’t get any new attacks in this fight. If you fought either (or both) of them before, you should have no problem anticipating their attacks in this fight.
The easiest way to navigate this fight is to focus on the Godskin Apostle (slim, agile one). Though his attacks are faster, you’re generally going to have an easier time against him compared to the Noble. The reason is that the Noble is the slower and less aggressive of the two, and he’s generally going to be less of a threat if he detects you duking it out with the Apostle.
This is not a foolproof plan, but you can up your chances of getting it to work if you kite the Apostle to a different area while putting some distance between you and the Noble as soon as you spot the big fella getting closer. Once the Apostle is dead, you’ll have a few seconds to either collect yourself or land a hit or two on the Noble. He’s going to summon another Apostle a few seconds later, and you’ll have to repeat this process. You’re essentially trying to avoid the Noble and make the fight entirely about the Apostle.
After you’ve killed the Apostle enough times to deplete the collective health bar, the Noble will simply vanish and the fight will be over. The same is true for the Apostle, if you intend to focus on the Noble (for some reason). No matter what you do, try to keep both in view at all times. If either of them sneaks up on you, it’s going to be bad.
Godskin Duo boss fight Sleep strat
The other major strategy to nullify the effect of one of the Godskins and focus on their buddy involves the Sleep status element. Because the Godskin Duo can easily take Sleep damage, you can put one of them to sleep fairly quickly.
This can be achieved using any item that inflicts Sleep, whether that be arrows, pots, or the Soporific Grease weapon buff. Do not put both of them to sleep, simply take one of them out of the equation and focus on the other. We recommend focusing on the Godskin Apostle (slim one) and putting the big fella to sleep.
Every time the Apostle dies, you’ll need to wake up the Noble so he can summon the Apostle again, and repeat the process until the shared health bar has been depleted.
Pillar pillar on the floor
Your greatest ally in this fight are the six pillars dotted around both sides of the arena. Use them for cover, to heal, or buy yourself time to buff your weapon etc. The pillars are destructible, however, particularly as the Godskin Duo start getting into their AoE attack routines. Nevertheless, they can prove helpful early on in the fight.
The pillars can also be a major hindrance. Even after they’re destroyed, the bases will remain, and you’ll more than likely back into them accidentally when you try to roll away from attacks, which you want to be careful not to do.
If you found this helpful, we have other, just as detailed guides for all the other big baddies in our Elden Ring boss walkthrough. For even more tips and tricks for FromSoftware’s latest, our popular Elden Ring guide is not going anywhere.