In Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, there is an important boss you must defeat, and that is Messmer the Impaler. He can be persistent, but if you consider his weaknesses and know what to pay attention to, this fight will become child’s play.
Who is Messmer? Messmer is an important key figure in the new DLC of Elden Ring. The boss must be defeated, to progress to the final boss. He is thus a mandatory boss that you will have to face sooner or later.
However, the secret son of Marika is a tough guy, as in his second boss phase, he unleashes nasty strikes upon you that want to engulf and burn you. We will show you below how to defeat him, but first, here are the most important details:
- Boss type: God
- Optional: No
- Health: 38,981 HP
- Weaknesses: Bleeding, Scarlet Rot, Poison, Strike, Frost
- Strengths: Fire
- NPC Summons: Yes. The Horn Herald and Jolan.
- Spirit Ashes: Yes
- Online Multiplayer: Yes
- Rewards: 400,000 runes, Echo of the Impaler, Messmer’s Ashes
With the help of the table of contents, you can jump directly to a desired point in the article. If you are looking for combat tips against Messmer, we have the best tactics for you here.
Finding Messmer
Where can I find Messmer? Messmer is located in the Shadow Mountain Keep in Messmer’s dark chamber. You will get there by climbing higher and higher in the storage room until a path to the outside leads you to the southwestern corner, almost at the highest point of the room.
Follow the path past a fire knight to the place of grace “Entrance to the Dark Chamber.” Once there, you now need to prepare.
Defeating Messmer: How to Fight the Impaler Most Easily
These tips you should know: Messmer is a swift boss. He has combos that allow him to fly through the arena with his spear, engulfing you in fire. It is therefore important to wear equipment and consume items that reduce fire and thrust damage. We recommend the following:
- Lionel’s Armor (Armor with the highest defense against thrust damage)
- Flame Drake Talisman +3 (Increases fire defense)
- Dragon Greatshield Talisman (Increases physical defense)
- Cooked Crab (Increases physical defense)
Additionally, it might be a good idea to use the fingerprint shield. The shield offers you great stats for balance, which ensures that you lose less stamina when blocking attacks.
However, when using this kind of tactic, make sure to play with the turtle, great shield talisman, and increased stamina regeneration, or you will quickly lose your posture from Messmer’s wild attacks.
Finally, it is advisable to summon your Spirit Ash only after reaching the second phase of the boss fight. In this phase, Messmer becomes even wilder and summons vicious snakes that will attack you. It is therefore good to have a strong Spirit Ash ready that can take many hits.
Messmer’s Weaknesses
What are Messmer’s weaknesses? Despite his status as a god, Messmer also has weaknesses. He can be afflicted by poison, Scarlet Rot, bleeding, and frost like almost every other of his kind. Additionally, he is susceptible to losing his balance, which you can exploit to land heavy critical hits frequently.
We will now individually address the phases of Messmer and explain how you should react to his attacks.
Phase 1: Attacks and Tactics
In the first phase, the boss is called “Messmer the Impaler”.
- When Messmer jumps up and charges his fireball, you should dodge as soon as he hits you and then again after waiting 1 second, otherwise you will be hit by the detonation of his ball.
- Sometimes Messmer will perform light combos like a double slash. You can easily dodge this by rolling away from Messmer.
- He also summons homing fireballs. These are usually created before a combo. Be careful not to dodge too early, as these balls will follow you with a delay.
- When Messmer winds up for his most powerful combo, he will ignite his spear, throw fire at you, and then retreat to rain a barrage of thrusts onto you, before slamming his spear into the ground to summon more spears from the ground. It is important to maintain distance. Try to roll away from him during his thrust attack and not block. When he wants to summon his spears, you should wait one second after his action before dodging, as his spears do not shoot out of the ground immediately.
- Sometimes Messmer will also throw a spear at you when he jumps up. You can easily avoid this with a roll to the right or left.
- Messmer also has a light four-hit combo, where he slowly spins with his spear and then stabs three times. During the spin, dodge towards Messmer while dodging to the right or left during the stabs.
- A lethal attack is his grab. When he charges his hand with fire, you should not run away but wait until the last moment to roll towards him. This way, you can avoid his attack.
Phase 2: Attacks and Tactics
The second phase starts when Messmer has lost over 50% of his health. Now, the boss transforms. His eye is shattered, and thus Messmer becomes the Evil Snake Messmer. Now, you must expect more aggressive attacks that will hit the entire area of your arena.
- When the second phase begins, Messmer will transform into a snake that throws a fireball at you. Wait until the snake lands on you and then dodge after 2 seconds to escape the explosion.
- When Messmer has transformed back, he can send large snakes towards you that want to bite you. Block these or dodge to the right or left.
- In a powerful combo, he will scream and summon many snakes around him that want to bite you one after another. Try to gain distance when he screams to better see which snake will attack you next. It is important to remain calm and dodge one snake after another. Blocking would be deadly. Once the snakes stop, Messmer will attempt another attack by summoning his spears from the ground. Here, you must dodge again with a delay, or you will be hit by the attack.
- With his wild attack, he charges his spear with fire and then whirls towards you to stab you down with a final thrust. Dodge first when he is whirling towards you. In this case, you should dodge towards him and keep dodging until he stops. For his ground stab, you should dodge away from him.
- An attack comes unexpectedly from the ground. When you notice dark liquids forming beneath you, you should immediately seek distance, as Messmer will summon a snake that wants to surprise you.
- In the second phase, there is also a grab attack. Wait until the last moment to roll towards him just before his grab. If you run away, he will be able to grab you.
- The Evil Snake Messmer also throws spears, and again you will need to dodge either to the right or left as soon as you see him throw.
That was everything you should know to easily defeat Messmer. Have you been able to defeat him already, or are you still trying? What do you think of the fight? Let us know in the comments! How you can defeat Rellana, you can find out here: Elden Ring: Finding and Defeating Rellana – Her Weaknesses and Best Tactics
