Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy |
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|---|---|
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| Location | Volcano Manor |
| Drops | |
 130.000Rykard's Great Rune Remembrance of the Blasphemous |
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| HP | 89,613 |
| Stronger VS |
Weaker to |
SlashGod-Devouring Serpent and Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy is a two-phase Demigod Boss in Elden Ring. The God-Devouring Serpent is a massive coiled serpent found at the Volcano Manor in Mt. Gelmir, and Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy is its true form that's revealed after the first phase is defeated. When Rykard offered himself up to the serpent in a pursuit of immortality, most of his followers turned on him and sought to bring him down with the Serpent-Hunter.
Rykard is an optional boss, and doesn't need to be defeated in order to advance in Elden Ring. However, Rykard is a shardbearer, and two of the five available shardbearers must be defeated before entering Leyndell, Royal Capital.
Join the Serpent King, as family... Together, we will devour the very gods!
Elden Ring God-Devouring Serpent / Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy Boss
- This is an optional boss
- This boss fight has two phases with the same stats but different names. You must kill God-Devouring Serpent and then Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy to win the fight, and if you die you'll start over with God-Devouring Serpent.
- Closest Site of Grace: Audience Pathway
- Multiplayer is allowed for this boss
- Coopeartors can enter the arena only when boss HP bar is visible.
- You can summon Spirit Ashes for this boss
Elden Ring God-Devouring Serpent / Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy Location
From the Audience Pathway Site of Grace, head through the gateway immediately to the south. Make sure you grab the Serpent Hunter on your left as you enter, then proceed towards the center of the room until the God-Devouring Serpent attacks. [Map Link]
There are two ways to reach the Audience Pathway Site of Grace:
- Progress to the end of the Volcano Manor legacy dungeon and take the waygate after the room with the Man-Serpent Ashes.
- Complete all three of Tanith's contracts, then agree to see him and she'll teleport you to the Audience Pathway Site of Grace. Note that if you choose this option, you won't be able to use Rykard as one of the shardbearers needed to enter Leyndell, Royal Capital, since the last contract is only available after Leyndell.
God-Devouring Serpent / Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy Combat information
- Health: 30,493 HP (Serpent), 59,174 HP (Rykard)
- Defense: 115
- Stance: 120
- Parryable: No
- Immune to critical attacks. Breaking its stance will only stun it briefly
- Weak spot: head
- Damage:
Standard, 
Fire (God-Devouring Serpent) Standard, 
Pierce, Fire (Rykard) - Inflicts:
Poison (God-Devouring Serpent) - Drops 130,000, Rykard's Great Rune, Remembrance of the Blasphemous
Negations (or Absorptions) - both phases are identical
Strike
Magic
Lightning
HolyThe negation numbers are the % of your damage that gets blocked. For example, if a negation is 60, 40% of that damage by that type will go through and 60% will be negated. Bigger number = less damage. A negation of 100 means no damage goes through, and a negation of -100 mean the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is.
Resistances
- Poison: 556 / 846 / 1303
Scarlet Rot: 556 / 846 / 1303
Hemorrhage: 556 / 846 / 1303
Frostbite: 247 / 289 / 387 / 677
The resistance numbers are the buildup amount to trigger it. For example, if a resistance is 100 you must deal 100 points of the given buildup to trigger it. Note that these go down over time, and increase each time the effect procs. The values after the "/"s indicate the increased resistances after each successive proc.
NG+ and Beyond (click to reveal)
| NG | NG+ | NG+2 | NG+3 | NG+4 | NG+5 | NG+6 | NG+7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP (Serpent) | 30,439 | 38,474 | 42,321 | 44,245 | 46,168 | 50,016 | 51,939 | 53,863 |
| HP (Rykard) | 59,174 | 74,795 | 82,274 | 86,014 | 89,754 | 97,233 | 100,973 | 104,713 |
| Defense | 115 | 118 | 121 | 124 | 130 | 136 | 142 | 153 |
| Runes |
130,000 | 260,000 | 286,000 | 292,500 | 312,000 | 318,500 | 325,000 | 331,500 |
Resistances |
||||||||
| Poison |
556 / 846 / 1303 | 270 / 560 / 1017 | 274 / 564 / 1021 | 278 / 568 / 1025 | 282 / 572 / 1029 | 286 / 576 / 1033 | 290 / 580 / 1037 | 294 / 584 / 1041 |
| Scarlet Rot |
556 / 846 / 1303 | 270 / 560 / 1017 | 274 / 564 / 1021 | 278 / 568 / 1025 | 282 / 572 / 1029 | 286 / 576 / 1033 | 290 / 580 / 1037 | 294 / 584 / 1041 |
| Hemorrhage |
556 / 846 / 1303 | 270 / 560 / 1017 | 274 / 564 / 1021 | 278 / 568 / 1025 | 282 / 572 / 1029 | 286 / 576 / 1033 | 290 / 580 / 1037 | 294 / 584 / 1041 |
| Frostbite |
247 / 289 / 387 / 677 | 120 / 162 / 260 / 550 | 121 / 163 / 261 / 551 | 123 / 165 / 263 / 553 | 125 / 167 / 265 / 555 | 127 / 169 / 267 / 557 | 129 / 171 / 269 / 559 | 130 / 172 / 270 / 560 |
 Sleep |
556 / 846 / 1303 | 270 / 560 / 1017 | 274 / 564 / 1021 | 278 / 568 / 1025 | 282 / 572 / 1029 | 286 / 576 / 1033 | 290 / 580 / 1037 | 294 / 584 / 1041 |
 Madness |
Immune | |||||||
Elden Ring God-Devouring Serpent / Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy Boss Guide
God-Devouring Serpent Boss Video Guide
[video coming soon]
God-Devouring Serpent Fight Strategy
The Best Tips for God-Devouring Serpent:
- Use the Serpent-Hunter Great Spear found at the beginning of the boss' chamber.
- Check your equipment load (to avoid fat-rolling) after equipping the spear; it's heavy!
- Use the Mimic Tear Spirit Summon while equipped with the Serpent-Hunter to significantly reduce the boss' difficulty.
General Strategy
Be sure to pick up the Serpent-Hunter Great Spear held by a corpse at the beginning of the boss' chamber. It has a special interaction with this boss fight in which it manifests a blade of light with every attack, significantly increasing its range and allowing players to damage both phases of the boss from outside of the magma pool he stands in.
The Serpent's attacks primarily consist of lunging strikes and bites. It can also perform a special grab animation with its jaws in which it slams you down twice. However, this move only deals damage once. The Serpent will sometimes raises its head up high and then slam its chin on the ground, sending magma flying outward in a very wide arc. This attack can be dodged through or blocked to reduce damage.
If you opted to use the Serpent-Hunter, you should constantly be poking him between his attacks. Enough hits on the head will cause the Serpent to go down briefly, allowing you a much needed window of uninterrupted attacks.
Once the Serpent is defeated, Phase Two begins with Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy. See Rykard's page for relevant information.
Cheese Strategy
The God-Devouring Serpent and by extension, Rykard can be made significantly more easy by summoning the Mimic Tear Spirit while equipped with the Serpent-Hunter. The Mimic copies your current equipment and this extends to the blade of light functionality of the Serpent-Hunter. The Mimic will attack of its own volition and you will still need to dodge the boss' attacks properly but having what is essentially a second player firing blades of light at him will massively cut down the amount of time and effort required to defeat the boss.
Melee Users
Strategy Writeup for Melee Users
If player wants to beat the boss without Serpent-Hunter as a melee, he should focus on inflicting Status-Effects (Frostbite and Blood loss). Frozen Antspur Rapier will be the best tool for it, even at +0,
Magic and Ranged Users
Strategy Writeup for Magic Users
If the player wants to beat God-Devouring Serpent without Serpent-Hunter, the optimal spells would be Borealis's Mist & Ekzykes's Decay (Incantation) or Rock Sling (Sorcery) combined with source of Frostbite like Freezing Pots. Beginning of fight gives a good opportunity to apply Status Effect.
God-Devouring Serpent Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Description | Counter |
| Snake Bite | The Serpent lunges from one side towards you. It will sometimes follow up with a second lunge from the opposite direction. | Dodge towards the direction the lunge is coming from. |
| Grab Attack | The Serpent raises its head up high and lunges forward. If the attack connects, the snake will grab the player, slamming them twice but dealing damage only once. | Requires precise timing to prevent the grab. |
| Poison Spit | The Serpent spits several globs of poison that spread out in various directions, leaving a pool of poison on the ground momentarily. | Stay within medium range to prevent it from using this move. Do not stand in poison puddles. |
| Magma Slam | The Serpent raises its head up high, tilting it to the back. It then slams its chin on the ground, sending magma flying outwards in a very wide arc in front of it. | Dodge through the magma or block it to reduce damage. |
| Magma Upheaval | The Serpent raises and coils its head on its left and then plunges its face into the ground. After a short delay, it pulls its head from the ground, causing a wide magma eruption that travels forward in front of it. | This move is very difficult to dodge but can be blocked with a shield to significantly reduce damage. |
| Magma Thrash | The Serpent raises its head up high, looking to the side with its jaws wide open. It then begins thrashing about the magma as it spins around 360 degrees, sweeping with its head and tail, sending magma splashing about in random directions. | Maintain your distance and avoid any flying magma. |
Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy Boss Video Guide
[video coming soon]
Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy Fight Strategy
The Best Tips for Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy:
- Rykard is very weak to Frostbite, therefore inflict it at the beginning of the fight to increase damage.
- Use the Serpent-Hunter Great Spear found at the beginning of the boss' chamber.
- The Great-Serpent Hunt weapon skill stuns Rykard for a brief period of time, opening him up to a weapon skill combo or a charged heavy attack. This stun occurs regardless of poise damage, and provides an opening for casting/combo attacks.
- Use the Great-Serpent Hunt skill in the 2nd phase to interrupt Rykard's Rancorcall (the one that releases dozens of homing skulls). This will stagger him and prevent the rancor skulls being released.
- Carian Filigreed Crest can help by lowering the FP consumption of skill.
- Use the Mimic Tear Spirit Summon while equipped with Serpent-Hunter to significantly reduce the boss' difficulty.
- Because the fight does not begin until the player gets close enough to Rykard to activate him, a player can fast travel out of the boss arena immediately after picking up the Serpent-Hunter. Visiting a blacksmith to upgrade the Serpent-Hunter before fighting Rykard will make the fight easier.
- If a Starlight Shard is used once at the beginning of the fight and once more during the transition from God Devouring Serpent to Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy the Serpent-Hunters ash of war Great-Serpent Hunt can be used repeatedly to stun both phases of the boss, typically preventing him from attacking. Of note is that you should step back between attacks to prevent yourself from stepping into the lava pool.
- Avoid trying to walk directly up to Rykard, since he's surrounded by lava that will continuously damage you and stagger you out of attacks.
General Strategy
Rykard is first fought in his first phase as the God-Devouring Serpent. See the serpent's page for relevant details. This section pertains to Rykard in his second phase as Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy. Be sure to pick up the Serpent-Hunter Great Spear held by a corpse at the beginning of the boss's chamber. It has a special interaction with this boss fight that manifests a blade of light with every attack, significantly increasing its range and allowing players to damage both phases of the boss from outside of the magma pool he stands in. The spear has a three-stab light combo with escalating damage, a two-move heavy slashing combo with slightly increasing damage on the second hit, and a two-attack special move that has a long wind-up and costs FP.
Success in the Rykard boss encounter hinges on your ability to manage the multiple area effects as well as the boss's wide-arcing swings with his blade. In general, you should always dodge towards the side his sword is coming from because Rykard is a large boss with very slow swings. Dodging in the same direction that his weapon swings towards will increase the time his sword's hitbox overlaps with yours, causing a hit and each hit from Rykard is extremely painful. There is also a lot happening in the background, with debris falling all over the place. While these will not always deal damage, they can obscure your vision as Rykard is about to attack. Remain vigilant and always keep vision on the boss.
Rykard is a very slow boss and has plenty of openings in between his attacks for at least one poke with the Serpent-Hunter. There is no need to be greedy and you should prioritize being on the move, learning his patterns and dodging. Once you have his patterns down, you can consistently poke him in between almost every movement. Furthermore, being hit in the head with the Serpent-Hunter enough times will cause him to go down briefly, giving you an even bigger opportunity to deal damage.
While in his second phase, he will sometimes raise his sword up high to his side, appearing to empower himself. Dozens of large flaming skulls will then come raining down from the sky, with the bulk of them homing in on you. At this point use the Great-Serpent Hunt skill in order to stagger him and interrupt the casting, as it takes a good 3-4 seconds before going off. These skulls explode after a short delay upon reaching their target or impacting with the ground. Time your dodges or sprints properly to avoid damage. This phase persists for a long time and Rykard will continue with his regular moveset as the skulls rain down. If not killed after a while, he will end this phase by raising his sword up high with both hands, channeling the flames in the sky into the blade, culminating in a giant overhead cleave.
Cheese Strategy
Rykard can be made significantly more easy by summoning the Mimic Tear Spirit while equipped with the Serpent-Hunter. The Mimic copies your current equipment and this extends to the blade of light functionality of the Serpent-Hunter. The Mimic will attack of its own volition and you will still need to dodge the boss' attacks properly but having what is essentially a second player firing blades of light at him will massively cut down the amount of time and effort required to defeat the boss.
Melee Users
Though there is a weapon provided at the entrance of the arena, you can still fight Rykard with other weapons if you want. With melee weapons, it's best to use frost weapons since that's a weakness of his, but using bleed works too. The magma under him doesn't deal much damage so with a bunch of health flasks and health you can easily tank through it (provided your armor and/or resistances are high enough). Get right up close and hit his body. The only downside to this is that you will take constant chip damage due to the magma you're standing on (sometimes cancelling your attack mid animation), and it'll be hard to see what attack he's doing. He also will keep sliding away, especially in phase two. A plus is that he won't be able to hit you much when you're there.
Magic and Ranged Users
Due to the special weapon used, HP flask charges are more useful than FP flask charges.
If the player wants to beat Rykard without Serpent-Hunter, it is crucial to use main weakness (Frostbite) and boss large size. This makes Borealis's Mist, Pest Threads and Ancient Dragons' Lightning Spear (Incantations) a good choice. In case of sorceries, Ranni's Dark Moon paired with Rock Sling is a good call.
Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Description | Counter |
| Sword Combo | Rykard's most common combo involves swinging his sword from the left to the right, then right to left, ending in a stab in front of him. Note that the second swing has a slight feint where he first slams the blade's side on the ground before swinging it across to throw you off your dodge timing. Sometimes, he will not perform the stab and other times, he will perform a fourth attack by pulling the sword upwards directly after the stab, causing the ground to erupt in the area. | Dodge towards the direction his sword is coming from during the swings. His stab travels more to your right side so dodge to the left. |
| Stab Combo | Rykard holds his sword to his side in preparation for a stab. He then proceeds to quickly stab at the ground in near his target three times. He will sometimes perform a fourth upheaval attack, pulling his sword from the ground and causing the ground to erupt. | Sprint or dodge far to the side. |
| Sword & Snake Bite Combo | Rykard swings his sword from the left and follows up with bash with the serpent's head from the right. He finishes off with a lunge from the serpent head coming from the left. | Same as his sword combo, dodge towards the direction each attack comes from. |
| Magma Leap | Rykard leaps either forward or backwards, sending out volleys of magma in random directions upon impact. | Maintain distance from the magma pool and move as the magma flies out. |
| Groundshock | 1st phase only. Rykard plunges his serpent head into the ground, then after a moment pulls it up to send a magma shockwave AoE attack forward in a cone shape over the earth. | Very difficult to dodge, can't be rolled through or jumped over. Possible to avoid by sprinting sideways if timed immediately as the animation begins. Use weapon guard (L1) to reduce damage taken if you miss sprint timing. Using Vow of the Indomitable or Raptors of the Mist will allow you to dodge it. |
| Rykard's Rancor | Rykard extends his head forward and releases a small flaming skull from his mouth that creates a fire trail along its trajectory. After a short delay, explosions are released in a cascading fashion along the trail. Note that these skulls also appear from the ground periodically, with varying trajectories. | Simply avoid being anywhere near the trail. |
| Snake Bite | Rykard flips his head to the left, revealing the serpent which subsequently lunges forward to bite you. | Time your dodge to the left side. |
| Rancor Storm | Rykard raises his sword high above to his side, appearing to empower himself. Many large flaming skulls will then rain down from the sky with the bulk of them flying towards you and exploding after a short delay as they reach their target or impact with the ground. This rain of skulls will continue for quite a while and Rykard will continue on with his standard moveset as the skulls rain down. | Dodge or sprint away from the skulls before they explode. When Rykard is charging, take the time to get as many free hits in as possible before he resumes attacking. Using Great-Serpent Hunt in the beginning can interrupt his cast and will cancel the effects entirely. |
| Taker's Flames | If not stunned or killed during the Rancor Storm, Rykard will begin the attack by raising his sword high above with both hands, channeling the fire into the blade. After a long moment, he will then cleave the ground directly in front of him, culminating in a fiery explosion that travels forward. | If Rykard is within 3-4 hits of dying, just finish him off before he finishes charging. Otherwise, sprint far to the side or time your dodge precisely as the blade lands. |
Dialogue
Introduction:
Hmm... Very well.
You...
Join the Serpent King, as family... Together, we will devour the very gods!
Defeating player:
Now, we can devour the gods, together!
After Fight:
No one will hold me captive.
A serpent never dies.
Ha ha ha...
God-Devouring Serpent / Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy Lore, Notes & Other Trivia
- Voice Actor: Simon Gregor
- He is the son of Rennala and Radagon but chose to go against the Erdtree, and eventually gave himself to the serpent.
- Before "uniting" with a serpent, he was a Praetor - this was a status in Ancient Rome that either ment a commander of army or someone, who assigned various duties to other.
- WARNING! Defeating Rykard will lock players out of completing any incomplete Volcano Manor invasion requests.
- Was formerly called Rykard, Recusant Shardbearer in the 1.00 version of the game.
World Changes after Defeat:
- After the encounter with Rykard, you receive the Remembrance of the Blasphemous and you should have Rykard's Great Rune. This can now be activated at the Divine Tower of West Altus.
- After defeating him, you can return to the main chambers of Volcano Manor and speak to the NPCs. After reloading the area, the NPCs will leave the area, with Bernahl leaving a sword at his seat that you can continue buying his wares off of.
- At this point, if you teleport back to Rykard's boss arena, you'll find Tanith feasting upon his remains. If you choose to attack Tanith at this time, you will be invaded by Tanith's Knight. Upon its defeat, it will drop the Aspect of the Crucible: Breath Incantation, and Tanith's clothing set consisting of the Consort's Mask, Consort's Robe, and Consort's Trousers. With this, the Volcano Manor is complete.
- Patches' quest will progress beyond the ability to receive the Magma Whip Candlestick assassination reward.
God-Devouring Serpent / Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy Image Gallery
Anonymoustwinblade talisman and spear talisman work with the serpent hunter. use golden vow and any other damage buffs to win.
i managed to cheese him by getting stuck between him and a wall in the final phase but ignore that part
- Anonymous
There is a common misconception that Serpent-Hunter is only good on melee user.
Nope, if you're a caster and have large FP pool, you can just spam it's ash of war. It deal incredible damage even if your STR and DEX are really low. It also can stun Rykard which is extremely helpful in phase 2.
rock sling alternating snake hunter worked, the timing is hard to get down- you will die a few times till you get it. i wore all my fire talismans and just attacked mid range while my mimic was trying to distract. the more aggressive i was the better. good luck
- Anonymous
I died an embarrassing number of times against ol’ boy solo. Did a co-op summon, got two randoms to help me jump this fool, and we stomped him first try. Strength in numbers!
Hate him as a sunbro. Hosts who know this is a gimmick boss/hosts who don't "insert the traumatized mister Incredible meme"
- Anonymous
How in the Erdtree I died to him more than Margit, Morgott, Fortisax, Astel, and many other bosses?
- Anonymous
mohgs has an invasion covenant leader with a rune that does stuff in invasions, really wish rykards rune did too.
- Anonymous
bruh my ****ing fps tanks on this boss in phase 2. I tried running on max settings on my i7 13700k and rtx 4070 ti and 1440p yet it tanks to below 30 during some of his attacks.
- Anonymous
The "Magma upheaval" attack seems impossible to avoid.
Any tips?
- Anonymous
This had to be the ugliest, cringiest, lamest looking fight I have ever seen
Christ
- Anonymous
bad voice acting. it sounds so inauthentic, like it's so obvious it's a guy in a studio (not immersive at all). also the mixing is just bad, why is he so loud when he's like 30 meters away. it just sounds overlayed with no depth to it. and the animations for him talking look so forced
- Anonymous
Rykard has probably my favorite sleep animation in the game, my man hits his head on the floor and goes "aw **** that hurts" lmfao
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
thx for the info to do the dungeon before finish the last contract at house vulcano ;)
- Anonymous
Holy HP Batman! Seems like he's a big fan of leveling Vigor.
- Anonymous
Does not lock you out of the last assassination, so long as hoslow is marked on your map, you can go kill him and get the reward in Tanith’s usual spot, even if she’s eating Rykard.
Can’t confirm whether or not you’ll get the reward if Tanith is dead tho.
- Anonymous
Oddly, he's the only child of Radagon and Marika that appears not to have had red hair, judging by his portraits. The manga also depicts him with blonde hair.
- Anonymous
Lv1 advice: ... summon dung eater puppet. Dude actually fxcks him up very well, and is hardly phased by the lava. You'll be doing fair damage with the spear, and dung eater will be nerfing his defense while bleeding him. I recommend having a shield so certain attacks don't one-shot you, along with bubble hardtear and ritual shield talisman. Keep your health at max so you don't get one-shot, most of his attacks will do so.
- Anonymous
tumbnail looks too much like French president E. Macron ngl
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Ohh, I'll probably get chewed up and spit out for this, but whatever. I can live with that.
This is Yhorm if he was actually a good boss and wasn't hard carried by being tied to an NPC questline.
Yhorm is just not good as a boss. You either kill him in five hits with Storm Ruler or fight him normally while struggling to not fall asleep because of how boring and repetitive his moveset is. The only good thing about this fight is Siegward. Literally, just imagine how much more **** Yhorm would get from the community if he wasn't tied to the questline of a fan-favorite NPC. Yhorm has good lore and bad everything else.
Rykard not only has great visuals, but he is fun to fight. Shunter does not turns him into an unfunny joke like sruler does with Yhorm. He is still a threat. His moveset, sans one or two moves, is fun to fight against. Not to mention that his gimmick stick not only has much more depth to what you can do with it compared to Yhorm's WA spam, but is also a perfectly viable weapon outside of Rykard's bossfight.
Rykard is, in my opinion, a contender for the best gimmick fight in FS games. I already explained my problem with Yhorm, and the Divine Dragon, for all it's grandeur and my love for it, is a glorified QTE. Meanwhile Rykard strikes a good balance between visuals and gameplay, and has interesting lore behind him. I really don't have anything bad to say about him, aside from a certain attack that I really ****ing hate.
If you know what to do and use the serpent hunter at the right time, this boss can be the easiest out of the storm ruler bosses
- Anonymous
I'm running a dex build, with probably not a good amount of Vigor.
I am regretting the build. This fight absolutely sucks out every ounce of fun I may have had in this gaming session. I'd ask you to kill me, but he'd get it done before I finished the sentence.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Ah, the infamous 'player versus camera' boss fight of this installation of the soul series. 10/10 would love to get hit by out of frame delayed attacks on more fights.
- Anonymous
use the weapon art to interupt the aerial skull bombardment bs. He likes to try it attack if you interupt it....
and if you fail and he casts it... just run!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I disagree with the advice to stay away from the lava. It deals very little damage, especially if you equip fire-mitigating talismans. More importantly, he won't spew poison at you, and all his biting attacks will miss. So you can just lock-on to his head and spam attacks with the Serpent-Hunter spear while pretty much only worrying about dodging his spinning move (and skulls if he survives long enough).
- Anonymous
I always put some runes into leveling the spear and mimic tear just for a laugh
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
You can stun lock him with the serpent hunters ash of war while he tyres to use his skull rain
- Anonymous
Candidate for worst boss in the game. I don't want to use some BS gimmick weapon I want to use the character build I've put hours into.
This whole fight was a mess primarily because of the obnoxious stagger lava around him and the fact that it extends to his limbs, so if you make a dodge in a direction where he was, you'll still get staggered and take a little damage anyway. First phase is honestly harder than second. It loves to move forward, has no moves that move it back, attacks faster, and the attack where it slams its head into the ground and creates a shockwave is damn hard to dodge. I'm assuming it's possible, but I wasn't able to dodge it any time it used it. If you roll the ground coming up, you'll still take damage from the lava that comes up after. I tried sprinting to the left and right; no dice. It also seems to just...do more damage for reasons I can't discern. Second phase is honestly pretty easy. Attacks are slower and easier to read, he'll actually hop back giving you some space to move, your openings are much easier to take advantage of, and some of his attacks put him in a vulnerable enough position that you can attack him during them. In general, my strategy was exactly as follows; attack with R2 twice, use skill. Attack with R2 twice, use skill. Your next two R2s should stance break. Repeat. I would assume how viable this is for you would depend on your stats, but this worked perfectly for me. You *can* interrupt his casting of Rancor Storm, but I found this difficult to do on reaction since the wind up for the skill is so long, I was never able to hit him with it in time to interrupt it; it honestly felt like you just needed to somehow predict when he was going to cast it, so I decided to just cast the skill often to keep him stunned enough to not give him a chance to even start casting it.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This boss is stupid, I come to her easily and shoot her, she can't kill her flame fortfitication-fire preplate-Fingerprint stone shield + 25 (95 phy-100 fire-guard boost 77) fire-pearl drake+1-+2 dragon crest +1 and greatshield chest. I fought this boss by taking stupid damage, it was very easy.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
He doesn't seem to switch aggro as aggressively as some other bosses. So using a durable spirit to distract him makes him pretty manageable - just run up to him (the lava does not deal that much damage) and most of his attacks won't hit, unless they're aimed directly at you - and if he's focusing on your spirit they generally won't. Just remember that while the lava doesn't do a ton of damage, it CAN stagger and interrupt you.
Also you won't be able to see **** from that close, so keep that flask handy, because if he DOES decide to attack you, you won't be able to tell.
- Anonymous
Was able to block his takers flame with serpent hunter with max stamina. Had just enough to where I didn't get guard broken. It's honestly way cooler to do that than run like btch everytime.
- Anonymous
Bring a 100% Phys Shield and the only thing you can't block is the grab attack, which can be reliably dodged with practice.
Phase 2, you can block everything but the skulls, and you can burn through this phase before he starts summoning the shitstorm.
- Anonymous
Ez Pz once you get to second phase. First phase you can do a charged R2 after every attack, sometimes 2. In the second phase simply wait until he starts the bullshit move to summon the exploding skulls and use the Ash of War to repeatedly stun lock him. Ash of War, charged heavy, Ash of war, charged heavy. My Char has 9 Mind and un upgraded Serpent Hunter and managed. If you need a flask sippy break, take it in replace of a charged heavy :)
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
OMG, was bumping my head against this fight. I was trying to follow a quick NG+ run video, and couldn't quite get over the hurdle. I started trying anything at all.
The effing Spirit Jellyfish Ashes+0 completely bodied Rykard in both phases, while I crouch L1'ed wielding the Serpent-Hunter and Lance. Friggin Jellyfish!!!!!!
- Anonymous
I found it easier to get close and get dps from lava than his massive damage attack. Just get close spamm attack. Heal if low repeat
- Anonymous
Fighting this guy with a low vigor build is kind of rough ngl
- Anonymous
Meh, not a big fan of fights designed to be done with a special weapon.
- Anonymous
dont try to tank the p1 snake groundslam in melee range. killed me with crimson tearbubble through guard with 37 vig 11 absorption
- Anonymous
mimic tear + 2hand serpent hunter +4-5 makes the fight extremely easy
- Anonymous
If the reason a boss fight is hard is because you literally can’t see what the **** is going on it’s not a good boss fight.
- Anonymous
flamedrake talisman +2 stand in the lava and spam heavy attacks
- Anonymous
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i think the best second phase Cutscene for every souls games is for raykard
- Anonymous
Anyone having trouble with this guy: put him off till you get the mimic tear summon and go upgrade the Serpent Hunter a few times by leaving the fight. It trivializes it. Do the fight though because the Blasphemous Blade is god tier and is 1000% worth the trouble. The spell he has is also pretty funny and very potent against bigger targets if you can get it off. Worth a dupe.
- Anonymous
Upgrading the serpent hunter to +5-8 halves the difficulty, even if you aren't str based.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Hate this boss like I do and want a solid strat on a build with low HP?
Grab the Serpent Hunter, your preferred Sorcery Catalyst, and any Greatshield. (I used Lordsworn's Greatshield, the wooden one in Stormveil). Use Talismans to reach the stat requirements for whatever you need. Slap Scholar's Shield on to practically negate all damage and never get shield broken. Spam Guard Pokes over and over. He has ONE attack in Phase 1 where the snake rears back, makes a specific sound, and grabs you. If you're on low vigor like me, this WILL kill you. Thankfully, it isn't hard to roll.
In Phase 2, fighting Rykard himself, you have two options.
One: Fight him 1 on 1. Make sure you reapply Scholar's Shield as you get chances. Patience is a virtue. Remember to use Great Serpent Hunt to interrupt his big attacks, and play defensively whenever he releases the Rancor skulls. They often come from off angles.
Two: Spirit Summons. Save it for Phase 2. Use one with ranged attacks to take aggro off of you, and go behind him. Great Serpent Hunt, block and play safe until he turns back around on your Summon. I personally used Latenna for this, but any will do.
Three: Git Gud and just don't get hit.
- Anonymous
Died once. Upgraded the weapon all the way to +7 and vaporized him second try lol
- Anonymous
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For as powerful as he is the game really does not know what to do with you if you just... ignore the lava and run right up to him. So many of his attacks just whiff without you having to do anything to dodge, and even the lava wave from his movement jump is trivial to dodge.
And if using melee and not the spear for some reason he is super weak to frost in both phases. It's kinda hilarious how quickly it worse him down.
- Anonymous
EZ Cheezey Tips
- Flakedrake Talisman
- Upgrade the Serpent Hunter weapon with Somber Smithing Stones
- Use the Mimic Tear to summon a copy of yourself
- Initiate the boss fight from behind (run all the way around and then run in and go for the crit spots where flesh is exposed)
- Anonymous
Every time he uses the skull storm I can't even run away cause he ends up grabbing me while the skulls are in the way.
- Anonymous
If your having trouble with this boss this is how i managed to do it:
Equip the green turtle talisman, flamedrake talisman, pearldrake talisman, use fireproof dried liver and opaline hardtear/crimsonburst hard tear physick (you can also eat boiled crab/prawn but this is overkill). This is so the lava attacks the boss does just tickle you.
Grab the serpent-hunter spear in the arena, run and stand next to the side or rear of the boss and poke away, watch out when he jumps away and the lava wave. Make sure to stay very very close to him as it stops him using most of his more annoying attacks.
- Anonymous
"Let us devour the PVP gods togetha"!
*Rykard's ghost sees people spamming L2 of Blasphemous Blade in PVP*
Rykard: My cause goes on!
- Anonymous
YOOUUUUUU. JOIN THE SERPENT KING AS FAMILLYYYY. TOGETHAAAA WE WILL DEVOURRR THE VERY GODSSSSSS!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I absolutely love rykard’s design since he looks like he came straight out a of a medieval painting depicting Satan or the snake who tricked Adam and Eve
- Anonymous
So the erdtree is a specific "great tree", the GDS is a "great serpent", and it seems that it can absorb bodies+souls like the erdtree...
I think Miquella at least had an easier PR sell with his usurper plan than Rykard lol. "Hey guys let's burn down the erdtree and replace it with this giant snake!" no freaking wonder they don't tell people what the plan is before sending them to "meet" Rykard!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
We need a Rykard ending. How cool would it be to go back to his head and feed him all the great runes or remembrances or something?
Not because a giant snake eating the world would make sense but because then we would all really be TOGETHAaaaa
- Anonymous
I don't know what happened but somehow in my run I could just hug his body due to high fire resist or whatever and wail on him without much issue for minutes at a time. I am not sure if just my run was bugged or if this is generally possible. If so, the greatest cheese strategy seems to be walk onto the lava and slap him all day long. Maybe I was way overleveled and overequipped for the area?
- Anonymous
Fighting the Family Guy without the Serpent hunter is hella fun. Every Elden Ring veteran should do it at least once.
- Anonymous
Running a strength build on my first playthrough has never felt so convenient. I'm doing at least 800 damage per hit with 60 strength. Really cool gimmick boss.
- Anonymous
The weirdest part about him, as a character, is that his men actually admired and were loyal to him. But not in a fanatic sort of way, as they sought for ways to defeat him after he succumbed to gluttony. Rykard also has a loving wife, or consort, whose adoptive daughter is pure of heart and looks up to her mother despite all the atrocities Volcano Manor commits. It seems to me that Rykard was both a good husband and ruler, which is pretty ironic to think about. Maybe he inherited some of his mother's gentle temperament, alongside his clear sadistic and megalomaniac tendencies.
- Anonymous
Only ever fought this dude with summons; rough as hell solo. Took me like 8 tries.
- Anonymous
Lava does not eat that much health and when you are close to him, most of his attacks do not hit you. I am playing armorless, so I only had a fire talisman and the physique that increases resistances. And I was comfortably just standing in the lava smacking him.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
players with years of fromsoft experience forgetting the most elementary concepts of gameplay as soon as they walk into a gimmick boss's arena (I am players)
- Anonymous
NPC's don't actually leave the manor after defeating rykard, only after reporting rykard's death to tanith
- Anonymous
HmMmMmmmmMmm…
*INHALE* Very wellmmm…
mMmmyoouuuuu
*INHALE* Joinn tha serpent kinng as famileeee…
TOGETHAAAAA WE WILL DEVOUAAAA THA VERY GODZZ
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I got summoned by a host to help fight him only for me to realize I didn’t have the serpent hunter (I had an optimized inventory for swapping but forgot it) on my character so I just put on the godskin swaddling cloth and used cold straight swords and it worked quite well. The swaddling cloth healing outpaced the lava damage and since I was so close to him none of his attacks could hit me. So that is another way to beat Rykard fairly easily without even needing the serpent hunter thought the easiest way is still just upgrading the serpent hunter.
- Anonymous
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This was super easy for me, might have been that I upgraded the weapon they give you before my second attempt ;)
- Anonymous
I loved the part when Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy said "it's serpent time" and serped all over the place
- Anonymous
Lance + Serpent Hunter and crouch + L1 melted him extremely easily. And I have a sorcerer build lol
Is it just me or you cant stun-lock him anymore? few patches ago i could easily do it, now i just stun after like 12 seconds.
- Anonymous
If Rykard was a real person he'd be a millionaire complaining about capitalism on Twitter.
- Anonymous
Tried him once, couldn't figure out how to hit him without going in the lava. Decided to finish some other stuff first.
Come back a few days later, spend an hour running at him with a sword just tanking the lava, constantly get him down to half health on phase 2, but I just do so little damage. Check this page, realize I had completely forgotten about the weapon at the start, first try him with it.
- Anonymous
A curious thing: I had on Scaled Gauntlets and Greaves, and managed to survive Groundshock with 1 HP left. I thought wearing the full Scaled set would give me better protection, but I ended up dying to the same move. Yes I need to come back after I leveled up my vigor, but the damage from that move never made any sense.
Constantly falls through the ground in phase 1, then never phases to 2. Have to quit the game, andreload to escape the boss arena.
- Anonymous
Honestly I don't mind the concept of a gimmick boss, but part of me wishes the special weapon was found somewhere more interesting. Imagine how fun it would be if, in line with the theme of the manor, you had to invade and defeat someone to get it. Maybe make it part of Bernahl's quest and bro it up with him in the process. Just spitballing here, ANYthing seems better than just plopping it down in the boss arena like that.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Him having lightning defense as lowest amongst elemental defense is as ironic as his every creation also having problems against lightning (man serpents and fingercreepers being neutral to lightning and abductor virgins being outright weak to it) while trying to go up against Lyendell which is filled with dragon cult lightning enthusiasts and is guarded by an ancient ighting dragon...
- Anonymous
This dude made me go from straight to *** in a fraction of a second
The absolute best cheese is to use a larval tear to respec, put nearly everything in health, the rest in stamina, allocate flasks to crimson, equip the best gear/talismans you have(scaled armor set and twinblade/spear talismans work well), then use serpent hunter. If you have a mimic tear, it will basically do all the work for you.
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