How to Beat Furnace Golems

Messmer's gigantic weapons of war wander the Lands Between, to beat these Furnace Golems you need to use a variety of tactics. The early golems you encounter are easy to take down with melee. However, the later golems have leg armor requiring you to defeat them from range or by using specific items. Should you rise to the occasion, the Furnace Golems drop special tears for you to mix into your Wonderous Physick.

You can tackle the regular Furnace Golems either with ranged or melee combat depending on your preference. Ranged combat is a matter of finding a ledge or staying on Torrent then locking onto its weak point and firing from a distance. Melee combat involves chopping at its ankles to break the Furnace Golem's poise and then striking the weak point for critical damage.

Jumping is a key part of avoiding damage when engaging in Melee combat with a Furnace Golem. You can fight them on foot or while riding Torrent for additional mobility. Only unarmored Furnace Golems are vulnerable to melee attacks, against an Armored Furnace Golem you need to use ranged combat or special throwable items.

The Golems use 2 primary attacks when you're this close.

After you hear the Poise Break sound, the Furnace Golem staggers, but does not fall. You need to repeat this 2 more times (for a total of 3 Poise Breaks) to bring it crashing to the ground. After that mount up and ride to the head of the Golem to deal critical damage to its exposed faceplate. This does massive damage, taking out around 50% of its total health regardless of your weapon or scaling.

Now you know how to beat most Furnace Golems, you chop at their ankles while avoiding the stomp attacks until you poise break them 3 times. Then deal critical damage to the faceplate, rinse and repeat until the Furnace Golem is defeated and collect your Tears.

Many of the Furnace Golems you encounter during your exploration of the later zones have spiked armor preventing you from damaging their legs. If you're wondering how to beat Armored Furnace Golems, this requires ranged combat or a higher vantage point. Look for a climbable cliff face, a nearby structure, or a Spiritspring.

When you attack them from a distance the Furnace Golems begin using a powerful new ranged attack by igniting their basket to unleash a torrent of fire. Dodge the barrage of projectiles as they fly towards you. If you're struggling, consider wearing a Flamedrake Talisman to reduce the damage further. If you get too close to the cliff edge, the Furnace Golem sometimes jumps into the air and sweeps its arm across the cliff dealing heavy damage if you're caught in the strike.

The Furnace Golems have one fatal flaw, exploding a Hefty Fire Pot in their basket deals massive damage, taking off around 1/6th of their total health. Stand near the cliff face then throw the Hefty Fire Pot directly into the basket. If you have 6 Hefty Cracked Pots you can craft enough to take the golem down immediately. Otherwise, you need to temporarily escape the fight and craft more Hefty Fire Pots before re-engaging and defeating the Furnace Golem.

When taking the melee approach, multi-hit weapons are extremely efficient at poise breaking golems. Sometimes you're able to find a safe spot where you can snipe the Furnace Golem from range without them fighting back, but most of the time you need to do some dodging. You can use summons like Black Knife Tiche or Mimic Tear for extra damage, but beware this makes their attacks much more erratic.

The recipe for Hefty Fire Pots is obtained via the Greater Potentate's Cookbook [1] which is available almost immediately upon entering the Lands of Shadow. The recipe is found in the Scorched Ruins near where you enter the Lands of Shadow. You also find your first Hefty Cracked Pot nearby [Map Link]. You need 1 Hefty Cracked Pot, 3 Redflesh Mushroom, and 2 Black Pyreflies to craft a Hefty Fire Pot. The Hefty Cracked Pots are re-usable but the rest of the materials are lost each time.

To do even more damage to a Furnace Golem you need the Hefty Furnace Pot, the upgraded version of the Fire Pot. The recipe for this is obtained by heading to Run-Down Traveler's rest. Find it by following the road north from Three-Path Cross until you find a path down the cliff face. Then loop back hugging the base of the cliff until you find some ruined buildings and the Greater Potentate's Cookbook [2] on a corpse [Map Link].

Crafting a Hefty Furnace Pot requires a Hefty Cracked Pot, 2 Redflesh Mushrooms, 2 Embers of Messmer and 1 Furnace Visage. Most of the materials are easy to get, but the Furnace Visages are quite rare so only use these when you really need to.

There are 8 total Furnace Golems located in the Land of Shadow, each of which rewards you with Runes, a Tear for your Physick, and a Furnace Visage.

Check out this video by Tenkiei taking down both a regular and an Armored Furnace Golem.

Now you know how to beat Furnace Golems and Armored Furnace Golems in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. They are defeated via Poise Breaks, ranged combat or tossing Hefty Fire Pots into their basket. Look for cliffs or structures which you can use to gain an advantage in the fight. When engaging with the golems in melee combat, remember to stay close then dodge their stomp or jump attacks. There are 8 Furnace Golems to defeat each of which drops a unique Tear for your Wonderous Physick.