Golden Hippopotamus |
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| Location | Shadow Keep |
| Drops | 200,000  RunesAspects of the Crucible: Thorns x2 Scadutree Fragments |
| HP | 33866 (Great Enemy Boss) |
| Strong VS
A
B |
Weak to
A
B |
Golden Hippopotamus is a Great Enemy Boss in Elden Ring. Golden Hippopotamus can be found resting near the foot of the giant Marika Statue in Shadow Keep. Once you enter the arena, the boss will charge toward you and start the fight. The Golden Hippopotamus is an optional boss. Defeating the Golden Hippopotamus will reward players with Aspects of the Crucible: Thorns and x2 Scadutree Fragments, and allow further exploration of Shadow Keep.
Elden Ring Golden Hippopotamus Boss
Golden Hippopotamus is a Great Enemy Boss found in Shadow Keep.
- This is an optional boss
- Closest Site of Grace: Shadow Keep Main Gate
- Redmane Freya can be summoned as an NPC Co-operator when approaching from the main gate site of grace.
- Hornsent can be summoned under some circumstances
- You can summon Spirit Ashes for this boss.
Elden Ring Golden Hippopotamus Location
- Golden Hippopotamus can be found by going up the elevator in the Shadow Keep Main Gate. You will find the Golden Hippopotamus resting near the base of the giant Statue of Marika. See the Golden Hippopotamus on the [Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Map]
- Ancient Ruins of Rauh: Face the southwest direction and exit through the small hole. Go to the right side and go past the bloodfiend. There's a corpse near the edge and you can pick up 8x Thin Beast Bones from it. Now look behind you; you should be facing southeast here and go towards the edge and jump down on the steps below you. Look to your right and fight the lesser Golden Hippopotamus. [Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Map] [Video Link]
Golden Hippopotamus Combat Information
- Health: NG (33866), NG+ (36475), NG++ (40122), NG+3 (41946), NG+4 (43770), NG+5 (47417), NG+6 (49241), NG+7 (51065)
- Absorptions: ??
- The boss generates golden thorns when its health drops to 50% or below.
- Deals
Standard - Parry-able: Yes / No
- Poise can be broken by repeatedly hitting it with heavy attacks.
- Weak to ??
- Resistant to ??
- Immune to ??
Elden Ring Golden Hippopotamus Boss Guide
Golden Hippopotamus Boss Video Guide
Golden Hippopotamus Fight Strategy
The Best Tips for Golden Hippopotamus:
- Use the Mimic Tear Ash Summons
- Use the ?? Spell
- Bring ?? Item
Melee Users
Just like a Hippopotamus, this boss relies on the might of its bite and fights with its head. At the start, the boss will rush towards you to close the gap by charging forward with its mouth wide open. As the boss gets near you, it will try to devour you and slam its head on the ground multiple times. You can dodge this attack by rolling away from its head. Dodge earlier than you would usually for attacks because the AoE is larger than it looks. If you get caught, you will be unable to move and you will be stuck inside its mouth. If you happen to have remaining HP after this move, the boss will throw you up.
Aside from the aggressive bites, this boss will also slam its head which can throw you off balance and because of the size of this boss, it is better to dodge toward its body and away from the head. This creates more distance from the head compared to rolling backward. The Golden Hippopotamus is weak to heavy attacks and you need to keep an eye out for openings. The boss takes a few seconds of rest after a move. If you happen to break its poise, be patient and walk towards the head, and press R1 to deal additional damage.
When the boss' health drops to 50%, it will create golden thorns on its head and body. One of the changes that this will do is that, whenever the boss will do the Belly Slam, it will create thorns from the ground up. This will affect a small area around the boss and will deal damage if you stay there. Make sure to roll backward to keep out of the AoE. The thorns will also go away after a few seconds so be patient and wait for the thorns to vanish and you can continue attacking the boss.
Magic and Ranged Users
Strategy Writeup for Magic Users. This is a work in progress. Feel free to add helpful information here.
Golden Hippopotamus Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Description | Counter |
| Belly Slam | The boss stands up on both of its hind legs and then drops its belly to the ground damaging an area beneath him. | Roll out of the way to avoid getting damaged. Don't underestimate the AoE of this attack; roll backward for safety. |
| Fanged Charge | The boss opens its mouth wide as it charges towards you. As it gets near you, the boss bites at you and proceeds to slam the ground while the player is inside its mouth. After the slam, the boss will throw you up. | Roll to either side. Anticipate this attack and dodge earlier than usual because of the range. |
| Golden Thorns | At about 50% HP, the boss will generate golden thorns on its back and head. During the second phase, which happens after the boss generates the golden thorns, the Belly Slam will create thorns from the ground that can damage a small area around the boss. | Roll out of the way to avoid getting damaged. Don't underestimate the AoE of this attack; roll backward for safety. |
| Hippo Bite | The boss opens up its mouth to bite aggressively. | Roll toward its body or away from the head. |
| Hippo Rush | The boss pulls back its head for a few frames, then rushes forward to slam with its head. | Roll toward its body or away from the head. |
Golden Hippopotamus Lore, Notes & Other Trivia
- Voice Actor: ??
- Other Notes and Trivia Go Here
Dialogue
Introduction:
Add dialogue here
During Fight:
Defeating player: Add dialogue here
After Fight:
Add dialogue here
Golden Hippopotamus Image Gallery
[screenshots and artwork go here]
AnonymousThis thing gets hyperarmor when it’s in the air or performing a lunge during the golden rolls/spins. The spikes appear to greatly reduce damage taken. This means attacks are only effective when it is on the ground during second phase.
- Anonymous
Camera boss at this stage, wonky hitboxes and a lot of clipping. I usually don't summon, but after a few frustrating solo attempts I used mimic tear... but that made it too easy and the fight was over in no time.
Hopefully this boss will be pat shed and better balanced. Magma Wyrm/Vordt/Sulyvahn's Beast hybrid, could be a fun fight in the future. Today, not so much.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
genuinely horrible boss, second to the dancing lion, only because this one's slightly easier. got to ng7 right before this dlc came out, and majority of it has been torture so far. i loved fighting rellana, as it's a well designed boss that's enjoyable to fight. the rest of the bosses i've fought are pretty dogshit. the weapons and armor are really cool though
- Anonymous
Pretty sure he's weak to lighting. Used the knights lighting spear incantation and smashed him easy
- Anonymous
the key for ez kill of this boss is using ash of war Aspects the Crucible :Wing and put scaling on light dmg ,use 3 or 4 time skill on Great katana stance will break and finish him ez pz
- Anonymous
This is the most nonsensical souls boss i've ever seen. It starts as a hippo then turns into a porcupine.
- Anonymous
fight is very easy as guard counter build. for charging grab attack just sprint left or right, no need to roll
- Anonymous
Solo i used a straight sword with Square Off as my ash of war. I stayed towards his backside and hit a square off after each dodge. Hippo would get stunned every 2-3 hits of the Square Off, making it easy to get criticals many times in the fight.
- Anonymous
I want for Christmas is a Hippopotamus...
Only a Hippopotamus will dooo
- Anonymous
this boss is weak to fire and has atleast 61 poise . resists holy damage and resists thrust damage as far as i know
- Anonymous
I had some trouble procing rot on this guy with the scorpion dagger.
He died before it ever proced so it could he high resistance or immunity.
- Anonymous
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it's so awesome that the boss can do its grab attack directly next to you, and the hitbox is the size of an elephant so you literally have no way of getting away from it, even with light rolls
Was helping someone with this boss and couldn’t get frost to proc after a few chilling mists and multiple hits landed. Immune or just high resist?
- Anonymous
pathetic design. Would FromSoftware believe a player wants to see something other than glitched insides of oversized boss?
- Anonymous
is there another way to get into his boss room? i may have gone the wrong way intended and now i cant enter through his fog gates :(
- Anonymous
man i come here to look for advice on how to dodge an ability and some mf is just like 'just summon broooo'. Like idc how you play the game but pls give better advice than just borderline cheesing
- Anonymous
This thing is so ugly it's making me mess up. I really hate looking at this thing even tho I'll have to several times.
- Anonymous
I think there’s a glitch, when I first enter to the arena I got killed instantly and now every time I try to enter the arena the button just doesn’t appears
- Anonymous
Weak to lightning cause he’s in water most of the time. Just beat him with Death Knight’s Longshaft Axe
- Anonymous
If anyone, like me, is just trying to get to the abandoned church / abyss woods and is willing to spend hours taking alternate paths just to avoid this one boss, you CAN backtrack through the castle's back entrance. Start from the moorth ruins, jump down the giant hole (its a really tight jump.) You'll come out in bonny village. Work your way north following the road until you hit the castles back entrance. From there, simply work your way through Shadow Keep. Unfortunately I don't have a recording setup, but I promise you, getting to the coffin without dealing with this boss is possible.
And honestly, backtracking hours and exploring things in reverse order was a really great experience. Highly recommend.
- Anonymous
who made this fight
its not even the fight its the ****ing camera
i literally cant see
- Anonymous
i can't even get out of the fing doorway.
this is a terrible boss.
- Anonymous
Not sure if it's been mentioned here yet, but several of it's attacks have been recycled from Sulyvahn's Beast (the huge dog outside of Irithyll) in Dark Souls 3.
- Anonymous
and then he turned himself into a porcupine. funniest **** i've ever seen
- Anonymous
i hate how when he does the leap attack he can immediately punish you for trying to punish him by biting backwards. I don't like this boss it's really boring and has too fast of a recoverability. Im level 120 with maxed moonveil and uchigatana and it takes ages to take him down. im gonna use mimic tear f*** this boss
- Anonymous
The critical strike indicator is off, every time you try it on the glowing spot it does a regular attack. The real spot is closer or right on top of his teeth.
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i think i entered this guy's arena from the wrong side or something, he shredded me instantly and now i can't even go back through the fog wall to get them back
- Anonymous
i don't like how mimic tear is a recommendation for everything. this game isn't palworld.
- Anonymous
I was struggling with this boss until I discovered: pest threads or the new pest threads spears will shred him.
- Anonymous
Duo bosses like Golden Hippopotamus and Camera are my favorite!
- Anonymous
Another boss with insane recovery on massive attacks where the real enemy is the walls and camera.
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If Sonic was a dark souls boss he would be Golden Hippopotamus.
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You can shred this guy with full nagoc build. Cast dark moon when entering the portal then immediately dodge his first attack. Use his recovery time to cast glintstone icecrag till it proceeds frostbite, then shred his health with shattering crystal. Kills him without needing a mana pot.
Hardest part is the camera and lame hit boxes.
- Anonymous
tried putting it to sleep, it's not affected by sleep as far as I can tell
- Anonymous
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Besides the moments when the camera does a 360° for the fun of it, this guy is quite alright. When I saw the quill rain I got Dancing Lion flashblacks with that thing covering every opening with lightning but mr. hippo here doesn't do that so that is ok.
- Anonymous
Why does that weak point seem so hard to hit for the critical. I'm sure it's my positioning but I swear I'm right on it
- Anonymous
Rolling horizontally from the grab with timing works, it's a bit awkward when hippo does it close though.
- Anonymous
Finally downed him by using an old tactic: Magma Wyrm's Scalesword + Mimic
Leaving those magma pools really made up for the chasing to get a solid hit and defensive retreats
- Anonymous
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This must be a bug, i can't get him to aggro anything else besides me. I am even using a Shabriri's Woe on my mimic tear and he keeps attacking me. There's no way that this is working as intended.
- Anonymous
He bleeds pretty good, a blood fingerprint stone shield and the RoB were enough to make short work of him.
- Anonymous
I agree that this boss has awful hit boxes/dodge timings, but if you're able to shed the armor and light roll the extra roll range makes it so much easier to dodge his grab and the porcupine needles. I was banging my head against a wall, and then only took 2-3 times trying with light load
- Anonymous
This boss has 34262 HP on new game. I know it cause I inflicted him Scarlet Rot right off the bat and this is how much his health bar showed by the end of the battle.
- Anonymous
For those who struggled dodging the grab, trying dodging sideways, it is so much easier
- Anonymous
I agree that the hitboxes on this boss are trash, but if you are able to go without armor I would highly recommend it. Light rolling makes dodging the grab and a lot of his BS moves a lot easier. Took me a bunch of tries with armor, but I got it on my second time with light rolls
- Anonymous
Easy strat for solo mages:
Open with Ranni’s moon, as he approaches, dash with Blind Spot ash of war (cold infused) twice so you are behind his ass, start walking back and charging Ice storm, dash twice again as soon as he’s close. That’s -30% of his hp at 72int, lvl9 shadow realm blessing. At this point you should break his stance, launch new double moon spell instead of crit.
That leaves him with less than half hp. Keep dodging his attacks with backhand blade skill and try to charge ice storm when behind.
Ez pz
- Anonymous
Tip for those who struggle riposting the fatty, try riposting with lock-on, it made it much much more consistent for me
I died with two summons and my spirit summons and they killed it. I missed out on the 200K when I picked up my soul remains. Feels bad.
- Anonymous
Bloody Helice's weapon skill works really well against the fanged charge -attack.
- Anonymous
Ok. So, this boss.
Cool in concept, and provides the very fun aspect of the crucible invocation.
HOWEVER.
This thing is monstrous, and difficult.
My first dozen attempts relied on the pulley crossbow and trying to get it to bleed as soon as possible, while my spirit summons did some extra work in distracting it. That did not go well.
I tried to swap to the throwing dagger weapon, but that didn't work too well for me either? There's something about this hippo's hotboxes that make the arc of the new throwing dagger look like it'll hit, but it doesn't. Also tried that new Meteoric Iron greatsword, thinking the speed and heft of that thing would help with such a big target (it did not).
After that, I tried to use a few different summons: Mausoleum Knights worked for a bit in confusing the hippo, but only for so long, and were absolutely annihilated once the AOE quill attack came out.
Then came Tiche, which worked out alright for a bit. I'd swapped by now to using my invocations instead of my weapons: black flame and lightning bolt in particular. I'd try to set up with the flame of the fell god, but this 3-ton sonuva so and so is faster than a freight train and hits twice as hard, so that backfired quick.
Finally went to using the mimic tear, and focusing on invocations entirely: Black Flame and the Ice Lightning Spear were all I had... And I got to magic-pixel health, only to miss that weird-frame running chomp attack, and getting pummeled.
So my husband out on Lady in a Black Dress', I went in solo just with Black Flame, Ice Lightning and Lightning Bolt, and beat it all by myself.
It sounds like bull, but seriously: find a song that gets you into a good rhythm with a boss, it manages to clear whatever rage or frustration you've got and ends up fixing your timing. Similarly, Fancy by Reba McIntyre was what helped me beat the Glintstone Dragon, Morgott, the Elden Beast, and Malenia. So take that for what you will. ^_^ keep fighting, tarnished.
-Slight Confusion
- Anonymous
This is currently listed as a mandatory boss, but you can skip it if you enter the Shadow Keep through the church district. From the Storehouse, Back site of grace, you can jump down to the first floor and completely bypass the front section of the Shadow Keep.
- Anonymous
Lightning Perfume Bottle +25, Rolling Sparks AoW, Lightning Tear, Golden Vow, 80 Dex 25 Faith, Blessing level 10, Shard of Alexander + Perfumer's Talisman.
If the AoW line up perfectly does up to 10k damage which can kill the boss in 3-4 casts.
- Anonymous
Going from Rellana to this, boy that's tough
it's like going from Fume Knight Raime/Alonne then next fight is Giant Lord
- Anonymous
Much easier than the other dlc bosses but considerably less enjoyable imo. Camera sucks, small room gets you cornered a lot, and weird hitboxes on his grab and thorn moves. Did it solo but summoning is justifiable to get through this 4/10 boss quicker.
- Anonymous
Vow of the Indomitable can nullify his grab, was suprised that worked.
- Anonymous
Please tell me more about how having a summon take all the aggro makes this a good boss.
- Anonymous
Hitboxes are HORRIBLE to play against, this grab detections doesnt make any sence. And its the only area where i have frequently massive FPS drops which makes a fight nearly impossible.
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Just tossing it out there, when the hippo is charging, its horizontal movement is limited. You can just "run" out of the way and the hippo charges past you.
- Anonymous
For anyone who can't take the riposte stand on the other side of its head and try again :) Even though the riposte golden smoke thing is on the left side of its face I could only trigger the riposte from the right side.
- Anonymous
To be entirely honest after Rennala both this Hippo and Ralva the Bear gave me that glimmer of hope and enjoyment again. This Hippo was one of the best fights for me so far. I used the Fingerprint Stone Shield and Marikas Hammer in my Deathbed Dress/Heavy Armor/Blue Mana Hood. 150 Str/Fth/60 Vigor Build with Favor/Jar/Old Lord Talisman/Turtle Talisman. Buff outside Blessing of Erdtree/Golden Vow/Flame Grant Me Strength. Walk in, Spirit Summon the Legless Bow Lady. Target Boss, walk right and easily Dodge right. Punish with a jump attack or two. Then just hold up shield, jump attack between his attacks, standing directly inside him is pretty safe. Managed to kill him in like 3 trys. My third attempt was so clean I only used 1 Estus. Unlike Rennala this boss felt learnable and fair and I enjoyed it. I didn't really have an issue with the hit boxes like other comments. Although to be fair I played Dark Souls 2 the most recently and I get the comparison. Jokingly I wished for this I wanted to see stuff like that again but for people with more face damage builds I can understand the frustration.
- Anonymous
If you struggling, use Greatshield Solider spirit ashes (+9 or 10) and they will keep him busy for a very very long amount of time and you can do whatever you want. I used the same spirit + pulley crossbow with bleed arrows.
- Anonymous
Beat him on my 3rd go with Firespark Perfume + Tiche. Used bloodhound step to avoid his attacks, and then charge R2 to douse him with fire. I won't say I enjoyed this boss, but unlike most of the other bosses in this DLC, he at least has some big, exploitable windows to do damage and his attacks are mostly well telegraphed.
- Anonymous
Don't pull and Asmongold and quit. We will pull through this, tarnished! Burn with the flame of ambition!!
- Anonymous
Mimic tear with ancient dragon lightning strike and shibiri talisman for the aggro, with the 2 NPC summons make this boss a bit easier. Let them keep the aggro and cast ancient dragon strike whenever you have the chance.
Bloodhound step is crucial for spacing. This boss has some crazy hitboxes
- Anonymous
guys I figured out how to almost perfectly dodge that **** ass grab bite attack...
when he charges at you, wait till HIS left foot is close to you before he's about to grab you and dodge towards that same side (your left side) you'll almost always clear it.
I also have really good luck with blackflame incantations in this dlc
- Anonymous
blood flies don't work on him too well, at least not with my unoptimized build
- Anonymous
Ancient dragon lightening strike is a gamble. Either it hits like a wet noodle or a ton a bricks. But it still won it for me in the end. Because the multiple lightening strikes are random somewhat, I have to hope the boss moves in the same pattern as the attack spell.
- Anonymous
Piercing Fang AoW Stance breaks in 3 hits (said by a previous comment) Used it with Lightning Claymore and Stonebarb Tear to increase poise damage so it stuns in 2 hits
You can basically infinite combo the boss after the riposte while the tear is active
- Anonymous
People shaming others for using summon... why do you guys upgrade your weapons or put stats up?
To make your characters more powerful and kill enemies faster.
What do summons do? same thing, helps you die less so you beat the enemy quicker and move on.
From Soft enabled summoning for a reason.
if you want greater challenge then remove your gear and your fists.
- Anonymous
Faith 90 Ancient Dragon lightening strike full buff lvl 175 + Mimic Tear absolutely destroyed him
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This was the least enjoyable boss since the divine dancing lion
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I'm a bit confused, wiki says G. Hippo drops 200k runes + 2 scadutree frags but I got 165k (NG+2) and 1 fragment. Am I missing smth? Do spawned npcs reduce reward, especially the fragment?
- Anonymous
This ****ing boss sucks really hard, absolutely ****ing terrible hitboxes. Dark Souls 2 level annoying boss. Skipped him after dying to camera.
- Anonymous
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He doesn't just grab you, it also seems to grab the camera and leave it with a concussion
- Anonymous
easy cheese: fingerprint shield + cross naginata = hide & poke, don't even have to dodge except when the needles come down and you have enough guard boost to tank almost all his hits without taking damage
- Anonymous
Can someone tell me how you're supposed to dodge his grab attack?
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Idk, it's like they didn't test this one before release or something. Hitboxes are inexcusable really. Not even truly hard like Rellana, just poorly made at this point after release.
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real enemy is the bullshit target lock position which is IN HIS NECK, this guy really needs a target lock for torso and for head.
- Anonymous
I know From has had this problem with the camera for a long time.... But for God's sake, if you know that you have a camera, with which you can't see **** when you stick to walls, don't put this type of boss in such narrow places knowing about this problem.
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