Jori, Elder Inquisitor Boss Guide – Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

  • Rewards: Barbed Staff-Spear, rune v2 elden ring currency260,000
  • Summons Available: Yes
  • Boss Location: Darklight Catacombs

After braving the Darklight Catacombs, you’ll take your first steps into the Abyssal Woods, where you’re met with a powerful spell-user: Jori, Elder Inquisitor. Jori is still technically the boss of the catacombs, and he has several tricks up his sleeve. Side-stepping his trickery is the easiest way to victory; let’s go over dealing with his sorcery with tips and strategy.


  • Jori will bombard you with holy damage attacks from a range. To combat this, you will want to:
    • Use forward dodges to close the distance and attack (melee users)
    • Have ways to protect against holy damage, i.e, Lord’s Divine Fortification (incantation), Pearldrake Talisman +3 (or best available), Haligdrake Talisman +3, and Armor with high holy damage protection.
  • As his health depletes, the boss will summon more and more fellow inquisitors to attack you. It’s best to avoid their attacks and focus on the boss.
  • If you’re having a hard time focusing on the boss (with melee attacks), try not using auto-lock, as it can get locked onto the summons.
  • Use a Spirit Ash that is a melee attacker. This will not only be effective against the boss, but also divert the attention of enemy summons.
  • If you have a way to afflict the boss with Scarlet Rot, it will keep doing damage to him as he teleports around the area.

This is one fight that will be much easier for players that have strong melee builds. However, we will provide strategy analysis for both ranged and melee users. When you enter the boss’s area, you will immediately be attacked by various holy spells. The most frequent ones he uses are the holy crescents, both big and small. These can usually be dodged easily by rolling in forward or to the side.

  • For Melee – You want to roll and run towards the boss and do damage while he is attacking at range. He will use melee attacks that are easy to dodge, but still do damage, so be careful.
  • For Ranged – Roll sideways and use the cover in the area to block his crescent attacks. In between his spells is the time to attack. Of course, when he’s distracted by your summons is another good time to attack.

elden ring jori elder inquisitor boss guide dodging opening salvo gif
Summon your companion, then close the gap, or get into position

You should have a few precious moments when you enter the arena to summon your Spirit Ashes. However, you’ll want to be ready to dodge, because a golden crescent will probably be hurling towards you . Here are a few strong melee summons that we recommend for this fight:

  • Jolan and Anna – Twice the fun
  • Black Knife Tiche – Powerful and incessant attacks
  • Fire Knight Queelign – Does fire attacks, to which this boss has a weakness.
  • Cleanrot Knight Finlay – Can provide player with fire negation from the enemy summons’ attacks, and can buiild up Scarlet Rot on the boss.

The start of the fight is pretty simple, but the fight becomes vastly more difficult as his summons start to enter the picture. Usually after teleporting, the boss will summon his friends into a group in front of him, and this is purposeful, since they make it harder to attack the caster. If you’re having a hard time locking onto the boss because of the summons, then try to attack without auto-lock.

All of his summons will do both physical and fire attacks. Out of the two types of enemies helping him, the Plump Inquisitor is the more dangerous; it spins its big body in twirling melee attacks, and has a wide fire breath attack. It is really not helpful to target the enemy summons. They often disappear after they attack, only to return to fight shortly after. Your attention and resources should be focused on doing damage to the main boss.

elden ring jori elder inquisitor boss guide ignoring summons gif
Ignore the summons, and focus on hitting the boss

A strong Ash of War that can do area-of-effect damage is a good way to do damage to the boss, while also keeping the summons at bay. Likewise, if you’re using spells or incantations, then try using spells that do damage to the whole area. Also, the boss is weak to fire damage, so you can do some extra damage with that, whether it comes from spells or weapons.

Due to the boss teleporting pretty frequently — and the chaos the summons bring to the fight — we found that afflicting the boss with Scarlet Rot was effective. You spend a lot of time running away from spells, or to the boss after he’s teleported, and if he’s taking tick damage from Scarlet Rot that entire time, then the fight is much easier.

  • Physical Attacks:
    • Holy Swipe – You’ll see the boss reach his staff to the left, then swipe it to the right. There’s a slight pause before he actually swings, so dodge accordingly.
    • One-Two Combo – He wings his spear down at you, then thrusts. Classic.
  • Spells:
    • Big Crescent – He’ll swing his staff and shoot out a large crescent. Dodging forward is the easiest to dodge this.
    • Crescent Flurry – The boss holds up his staff with two hands, and it glows gold. Then a hail of little gold crescents fly at you. Continually dodge sideways, or sideways / forward to dodge these.
    • Ground Circles – The boss holds his staff up with two hands, and it glows (except this one has a double-helix shaped energy around the staff). Little circles will form at your feet to do damage. They keep forming for about six seconds. Running or dodging away from the circles will avoid damage.
    • Tri-Crescent Cast – The boss does a slight casting gesture with his staff, which sends out three small crescents to attack. Dodging forwards is the best way to avoid.
    • Teleport – The boss holds his staff at his chest with two hands, then teleports way. This move does a little shockwave of holy damage. He usually teleports after being hit a couple of times. When he holds his staff at his chest, back roll away.
  • Summons:
    • Inquisitors:
      • Candle Swipe – The summon swipes at you with its candle to do fire damage. Roll away to avoid.
      • Candle Breath – Holds up the candle and blows fire at you. Side roll twice to avoid this attack.
      • Dagger Slash – Slashes with dagger, roll to avoid.
    • Plump Inquisitor
      • Jumping Slam – Jumps high into the air and tries to slam you with its rump. Wait for the summon to descend before rolling away.
      • Spin Attack – The plump sort spins its body while moving at towards you. Difficult to dodge, try rolling perpendicular to the attack.
      • Candle Flame Thrower – The summon does a fire breath attack, but swivels the flame to attack a wide area.
      • Belly Bounce – The fiend thrusts its belly out at you, knocking you back. dodge backwards to avoid.


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Kelson H.
Kelson H.

Kelson is a spud head from out west. He is most happy when holding a milky tea with too much honey and playing a sprawling role playing game or reading a fantasy novel. His video game tastes vary but his main genres are looter shooters, RPGs, and real time strategy games.

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