One of the first thing you are likely to encounter in the Realm of Shadows is one of these massive Furnace Golems. Larger than almost anything else, these fiery foes boast a massive healthbar and similarly massive damage. We’re here to help make sure you don’t get smelted.
General Tips
If you use melee, stay on Torrent. Not only is Torrent’s mobility essential for this fight, but he can also tank damage for you. If you are ranged, prepare to switch between torrent and on-foot often.
Stay near Furnace Golems’ feet. This means that their only real attacks will be their stomps and their jumps, which are easy to dodge.
While closing the distance, get ready to jump of Torrent and dodge Golems’ Molten Kicks on foot.
Hefty Fire Pots and Hefty Furnace Pots can make short work of Furnace Golems, if you can throw them into a Golem’s brazier.
Strategy
Melee
When you approach a Furnace Golem on horseback (and you should be on Torrent at almost all times in this fight), you should be wary of Furnace Golem’s Fire-Rock Kick. If you see the Golem pull back its leg for the kick, immediately jump off Torrent and prepare to roll through the rocks. After the rocks have passed, see if the Golem is about to do it again, and if not, then remount Torrent. This process is the same if you find yourself far from the Furnace Golem at any point.
Once you are close to the Golem, things get pretty easy (though the Golem’s high health means it might take a bit). Now, all you need to do is simply attack the Golem’s feet. Light attacks do fine here with most weapons. While you attack the feet, the Golem has a few real defenses.
His Stomps and Jump are the most common: for both of these, retreat some distance (longer for the Jump than the Stomp) and then prepare to jump over the fire wave that comes from them after it passes, moving back in to deal more damage. The next most common attacks will be its Claw attacks, both the swipes and the grab. These have low enough range and only attack in front of the Golem, so simply moving away from or behind him during these should be fine.
Do keep in mind that Torrent’s health is healed whenever you drink a Crimson Flask. Remember, Torrent will be the one taking damage if you get hit by any of the ground-based fire attacks (such as its Fire Stomp and Jump)! Because of this, it can be useful to heal after Torrent gets hit (even if you are at full health)., rather than wait for him to die and have to spend a charge to resummon him anyway.
Ranged
Using ranged attacks against the Golem is a mixed bag. On one hand, you can target the Golem’s face, which takes increased stagger damage. On the other, you open yourself up to the Golem’s deadliest attacks: its Fire-Rock Kick and Tornado Mortar, both of which require precise dodging and use of Torrent to avoid. When using ranged attacks, expect to switch between Torrent and being on foot often, and keep your aim locked onto the Golem’s faceplate to deal that increased damage to make it worthwhile.
Staggers
Occassionally, as you attack the golem, it will do a mini-stagger, where it doesn’t fully fall over but is delayed. Use this to stack damage onto its feet, hopefully eventually causing him to completely fall over in a full stagger.
These full staggers last a long time, and you can take full advantage of that fact. When the Furnace Golem falls over, you can make your way over to the Furnace Golem’s visage, which will be on the ground to the left, attached to its brazier, to get a critical strike. These are so effective that just two critical strikes will usually take out a furnace golem.
Armoured Golems
There are some Furnace Golems throughout the Shadow Realm that you won’t be able to damage through your normal methods, as they will never stagger. You’ll know you’ve run into one of these when you hear the stagger sound, but they don’t actually fall down. For these Furnace Golems, you will need either Hefty Fire Pots or Hefty Furnace Pots (with the latter being more effective), both of which you can craft using materials found around the Shadow Realm (with the Furnace Pots requiring a resource most easily acquired from the Golems themselves: Furnace Visages.
When you approach these Golems, some will offer a path to higher ground or a Spiritspring for Torrent to use to get you to an elevated position. From this elevated position, you can then toss your Hefty Pots into the Golem’s brazier from above. You will need to actually land the pots in the Golem’s brazier, not the ornamentation around it, so you might need to wait for a good shot. Also worth noting: if the Golem you are trying to destroy this way moves away from the cliff’s edge you need to throw the fire pot at, then simply quit and reload the game: the Furnace Golem will now be in the perfect position to hit.
Others will not have high ground you can use — in these instances, stay a decent distance away from the golem and they will sometimes use a ranged attack that causes them to lower their heads. When they do this, you can ride towards them and then sideways out of the way of the attack, then throw a Hefty Furnace pot into their brazier. Note that you have to get pretty close before they fire this attack off, or you’ll be dead pretty quickly.
Moveset
Fire Stomp: The Golem will lift one of its feet, and then bring it down in a stomp, sending a wave of fire a long distance. As soon as you see the Golem’s foot rise, get some distance away, then prepare to use Torrent’s double-jump to leap over it.
Fire Jump: The Golem will leap into the air. When it lands, it will send a gigantic wave of fire in all directions. Similar to its stomp attacks, get quite a distance away from the Golem and leap over the fire wave with Torrent’s double-jump.
Fire-Rock Kick: The Golem will pull back its foot, then kick forward, lobbing tons of rocks at you. You should jump off Torrent and run through the rocks.
Claw Swipes: The Golem will kneel down, swiping its hand along the ground. It usually does this 3 times. If you are on the same side as it is sweeping (the opposite side of the knee that goes down), dodge when the swipe comes.
Fire Claw Smash: The Golem will smash down its right claw, filled with fire. Run away or to the Golem’s opposite side or back when you see this attack coming.
Furnace-Roast Grab: The Furnace Golem will pull its left arm back and make a long sweep right in front of it. If the Tarnished gets grabbed and isn’t on Torrent, the Golem will put them in its brazier. Run away from the Golem if you see this. If you are too close, dodge as soon as the claw will hit you.
Fire Tornado Mortar: The Golem will waver several times, generating a fire tornado in its Brazier. When it is finished, it will fire a mortar of slightly-homing fireballs. To avoid this attack, get on Torrent and run away from the fireballs, waiting for them to land behind you or fizzle out. The Golem will spam this attack if you do not approach it.
Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he'll try. When he isn't working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.
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