Thankfully, this snake charmer isn’t Shadow of the Erdtree‘s final boss; otherwise, they would’ve made him harder. Messer the Impaler of Elden Ring is the game’s most popular story boss for the DLC and one that’s also related to the game lore’s convoluted royal family tree of gods. Sure enough, Messmer the Impaler is one of the toughest bosses in the game. So if you’re stuck, here’s how to beat Messmer the Impaler in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
Where To Find Messmer the Impaler’s Location
Finding Messmer the Impaler requires a bit of lateral thinking on your part and some perilous curiosity. It begins by asking yourself, “What if I could jump around on those taxidermied monsters in the library?” However, if you’re playing online, you’ve probably seen dozens of messages from players telling you to do something mad like that.
Along with the images above, which you can click for directions, here’s how to find Messmer the Impaler, assuming you’re already deep inside the Shadow Keep and have defeated the Golden Hippopotamus.
- Find and touch the Storehouse, First Floor.
- From here, go northeast and find a staircase hidden among those tall shelves.
- Keep going up, and once you reach a balcony with a lone Fire Knight looking at the hanging taxidermied monsters, that’s your clue to jump on the hanging monsters.
- Keep going higher as long as there are monster corpses to jump to.
- You will have to activate a lever on the floor below Storehouse, Seventh Floor (Grace) to elevate these monster corpses so you have more platforms to jump to.
- After that, it’s a matter of jumping on the hanging monsters until you reach another balcony which will lead to Messmer’s boss arena, just outside the Dark Chamber Entrance (Grace).
Before you go in, it’s time to steel yourself for one of the most intense boss fights you will encounter in Elden Ring.
Best Boss Strategies for Messmer the Impaler
As always, preparation is key, and this boss is no slouch. His moveset is similar to Malenia, and some notable attacks require precise timing and specific reactions. He also has a couple of one-shot kill moves that are thankfully easy to avoid.
But before we get to the phases of the fight, you might want to heed these tips and pointers to help in the fight against Messmer the Impaler.
- Make sure your Scadutree Blessing is at 10+.
- Max out your weapon or your Spirit Ashes (if you want to use one).
- Equip Stamina recovery boosts.
- I highly recommend a Greatshield with high physical and fire block and at least 40 Endurance.
- If you use the Greatshield, pair it with a Thrusting Weapon so you can attack while blocking.
- Messmer can Bleed and is weak to Blood Loss.
- Wear fire-resistant armor.
- Use a fast weapon so you don’t have to trade HP (sorry, Colossal Weapon users).
- For stubborn Colossal Weapon users, Messmer is quite easy to stagger and Poise-break.
How To Cheese Messmer the Impaler (Without any Summons)
With the setup and tips I will recommend below, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Phase 1 or Phase 2; you can and will cheese Messmer the Impaler with it.
Try this setup if you’ve had enough of being snake chow.
- Haligtree Greatshield / Fingerprint Stone Shield
- Thrusting Sword/Heavy Thrusting Sword/Spear with Bleed infusion
- Greatshield Talisman
- Spear Talisman
- Curved Sword Talisman
- Two-Headed Turtle Talisman
Block and poke, simple as that. You can even attack mid-combo. The Great Epee Heavy Thrusting Sword with a Bleed infusion, for example, can make Messmer bleed in just 3-4 quick thrusts. The Sword Lance (from Commander Gaius) is even better.
You’ll get Messmer down to 50 percent in no time. You will need to take note of a couple of unblockable attacks. For these attacks, you will need to roll away:
- Grab attack
- AoE spear ground thrust (which summons multiple spears from the ground)
If you can masterfully avoid those two, this fight is easy with the cheese setup I recommended. Just make sure to manage your Stamina well by lowering your block in split-second intervals (assuming you’re safe while doing so).
Now, on to Messmer the Impaler’s phases. There are two of them, and he starts both of them with quite a bang. You’ll get to the second phase at 50 percent of Messmer’s HP.
Phase 1 Tips for the Messmer the Impaler Boss Fight
Here are some tips for Phase 1.
- Upon entering, he will immediately perform an explosive dive attack similar to Malenia’s Scarlet Rot dive. Roll into it to avoid it or block it with a Greatshield (easier option). Then roll again or keep blocking to avoid the second explosion.
- Practice rolling through his long combos before you attack or heal or just use a Greatshield to block most of them while still attacking.
- Avoid the grab attack, it will kill you in one hit.
- Whenever he thrusts his spear into the ground after a spear barrage, that’s your cue that he will use an AoE ground spear attack afterward. This move is unblockable.
Once you get him down to 50 percent HP, Messmer will initiate Phase 2.
Phase 2 Tips for the Messmer the Impaler Boss Fight
- At the start of Phase 2, he will perform a more devastating variant of his explosive dive attack. The best thing you can do is run back to the entrance of the boss arena to avoid it.
- Greatshields will easily block ALL his snake attacks unless you want to dodge them all, which is much harder and exhausting.
- Again, avoid the grab attack and roll away from the AoE ground spears.
Thankfully, Messmer the Impaler doesn’t have a Phase 3. FromSoftware devs might be sadists, but they’re not cruel– sort of.
