After Patch 1.13, the 
Golem Fist has become a destructive force of nature in Elden Ring. The patch gave this weapon a second hitbox to its heavy attack. Now, at the right range, your heavy attacks will strike twice instead of once. This allows you to do far more damage at close range, even for builds that want to just run up and pummel enemies with this weapon's light attacks.
Elden Ring: Best Obtainable Early Incantations
Incantations are a powerful kind of magic in Elden Ring, and these are the best ones that can be acquired early on in the game.
However, not everything is perfect just yet. There are still a few glitches and weaknesses to take into account when you're planning out your build. To help navigate the best ways to use the Golem Fist, let's take a look at what you need to know to make your build the best it can be.
Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Golem Fist
|
Pros |
Cons |
|---|---|
|
+ Big Damage when both hits of the heavy attack connect |
- Light attacks have small range |
|
+ Fast light attacks |
- Extremely bugged |
|
+ Charged and uncharged heavy attacks fire a projectile |
- Long heavy attack animation |
|
+ Great Strength and Faith scaling |
- Projectiles have finicky tracking |
|
+ Good sprint attacks |
|
|
+ Best used when two-handed |
The Golem Fist is a fist-type weapon added in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, and can only be found in Taylew's Ruined Forge. While it has a fairly normal punching-oriented moveset, what makes the Golem Fists unique is how it fires projectiles with its standing heavy attacks (both charged and uncharged). These projectiles don't use FP and their damage is on the lower side, but they're great for hitting large enemies from a medium distance, disrupting mages as they attempt to cast something, or adding on more status effect applications.
After Patch 1.13, the Golem Fist can now deal enough damage to vaporize anything unfortunate enough to look at your Tarnished funny. While it'll be a challenge to use in PvP because of how poorly the projectiles track enemies, the heavy attack's high damage still makes it a threat in close range against hostile Tarnished. When used against bosses, these fists will rip off chunks of the boss' health bar as long as you can finish charging your heavy attacks. Alternatively, if you don't have time for a heavy attack, this weapon's light attacks and sprint attacks are fast enough to catch enemies in both PvP and PvE fairly well.
Bugs
Despite its strengths, the biggest weakness facing this weapon right now is the number of bugs dragging down its overall performance. While Patch 1.13 fixed many of the problems plaguing this weapon, there are still a few issues left over. Here's a small list of bugs that are still giving the weapon some trouble:
- Golem Fist does not benefit from the following Talismans:
-
These fists are also not buffed by the
Spiked Cracked Tear
- According to a video by Syrobe, the first hit of the heavy attack does not deal any status effects
Best Ashes of War And Infusions For Golem Fists
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Ash of War: Endure
-
Ash of War: Quickstep
/
Ash of War: Bloodhound's Step
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Ash of War: Shriek of Sorrow
-
Ash of War: The Poison Flower Blooms Twice
The best Ashes of War for this weapon will either buff its damage, make it tough for opponents to interrupt your attacks, or offer a way for your Tarnished to suddenly teleport into the Golem Fist's effective range.
As far as infusions go, there are two ways to build this weapon - status build-up, or buffing its powerful charged heavy attack (credit to Syrobe for the original ideas for the builds).
Status Effects
Even though the first hit of the charged heavy attack is currently bugged and doesn't apply any status effects, the second punch and the projectiles themselves will still apply status build-up. Since its heavy attack hits so quickly and its light attack strings are so snappy, the Golem Fist can still build up status effects at an incredibly fast rate. A Blood infusion or Frost infusion are the most common options, with Blood being the better of the two since you can use effects like 
White Mask and 
Lord of Blood's Exultation to further increase the damage of your fists. Poison is also an alternative option because of the 
Kindred of Rot's Exultation talisman and the 
Mushroom Crown helmet.
For a status effect build, the Ashes of War you'll want to use are fairly flexible. Endure, The Poison Flower Blooms Twice, and Lifesteal Fist are all good options. Ash of War: Endure is great since you have a long charged heavy animation and a higher poise means you can continue swinging even if your opponent attacks you. The Ash of War: The Poison Flower Blooms Twice is a useful way to apply Scarlet Rot, deal extra damage to poisoned enemies, and close the gap on enemies that don't want to be close to you. 
Ash of War: Lifesteal Fist is more useful if you intend to trade blows with a boss in PvE and you have heavy armor or a shield to help you.
Heavy Attack Focus
In comparison, a build focused more on maximizing the heavy attack's already gargantuan damage will want to use a Flame-Art infusion for its excellent Faith damage scaling. A heavier focus on Faith also allows you to use buffs like 
Flame, Grant me Strength, and 
Golden Vow to make up for the weaker Talisman/Physick options. After that, give the weapon an Ash of War that can help you close the distance or grant you more poise so you can keep swinging.
Endure with heavy armor is always a good option here, but Bloodhound Step and Quickstep are also great choices. Being able to teleport into the Golem Fist's effective range and then unload a full-charged heavy attack can catch plenty of enemies off guard. It's an especially effective tactic if you're chasing after a weakened foe who isn't expecting you to shoot your fists at them. Ash of War: Shriek of Sorrow is another option to use if you're looking for even more buffs to your damage. Since you're already building high poise to make your charged heavy attacks practically uninterruptible, Shriek of Sorrow will synergize well with your build since it grants you a stronger damage buff based on how low your HP is.
If you heal yourself after activating Shriek of Sorrow's weapon buff, you'll keep the increased damage buff despite no longer being at low health.
Best Stats For Golem Fists
|
Vigor |
55 - 60 |
|---|---|
|
Mind |
X |
|
Endurance |
20+ |
|
Strength |
40–80 |
|
Dexterity |
8 |
|
Intelligence |
11 |
|
Faith |
11–70 |
|
Arcane |
40-50 if you're using status effects |
Depending on which version of the build you go with, you'll either want to lean harder into Faith/Strength or Strength/Arcane.
For status effect builds, you'll want to invest ~70 - 80 points into Strength and 40-50 points into Arcane. This is done so you can get the hardest-hitting attacks in your light and heavy attack strings, and you'll be able to build up status fairly quickly thanks to the high Arcane.
Alternatively, if you're aiming to increase your Heavy attacks at all costs, you'll want 70-80 Faith and 40 Strength. This will allow you to cast buffs, and get sky-high damage numbers from the Flame Art infusion.
Best Talismans For Golem Fists
Millicent's Prosthesis/Rotten Winged Talisman
Millicent's Prosthesis and the 
Rotten Winged Sword Insignia are both common staples in a majority of builds, and for good reason. These talismans increase your damage with each successive hit, which makes it perfect for most of the builds involving the Golem's Fist. The damage buff caps out at three successive hits, which lines up with your full charge heavy attack's 4 hits. Otherwise, you could also activate these talismans with just a fast series of light attacks.
Bull-Goat's Talisman
Building Poise is necessary with this weapon to make sure your light and heavy attacks don't get interrupted. The 
Bull-Goat's Talisman will increase your poise by 33% and is best used with some heavier armor to reach over 75 Poise.
.
Two-Headed Turtle Talisman
Whether you're mashing out light attacks, or just repeatedly blasting enemies with your fully charged heavy attacks, the Golem Fist is an extremely stamina-hungry weapon. The 
Two-Headed Turtle Talisman will help you regenerate your stamina much faster, making stamina management a much easier chore to handle.
Defensive Talisman Slot
Keeping 1 of your 4 slots for a defensive talisman is a good idea for a build like this. The Golem Fist is already dealing fairly high damage, and since you'll be relying on high poise to let you continue your offensive onslaught unimpeded, a defensive talisman will let you trade blows more comfortably with enemies.
Some good choices in this slot are 
Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman if you're up against a boss like Gaius who relies primarily on dealing physical damage, or the 
Haligdrake Talisman +2 to resist attacks from enemies that rely on holy damage.
Lord of Blood's Exultation/Kindred of Rot's Exultation
These two talismans will increase your damage by 20% based on whether you successfully inflict Bleed on an enemy ( Lord of Blood's Exultation) or Scarlet Rot/Poison ( Kindred of Rot's Exultation). If you're building for status effects, these two talismans are necessary for your build to deal enough damage.
Fire Scorpion Charm
If you're running the Flame-Art build and want to lean more into being a glass cannon, equip the 
Fire Scorpion Charm. This will increase your fire damage by 12% (8% in PvP) but also increase the amount of physical damage you take by 10% (15% in PvP).
Axe Talisman/Smithing Talisman
As of patch 1.13, the Golem Fist is still bugged and doesn't gain a damage buff from the 
Smithing Talisman or the 
Axe Talisman. However, keep an eye on these two talismans in the future. If the Golem Fist gets another fix in a later patch then these two talismans will become amazing damage buffs for every build.
Best Cracked Tear For The Golem Fists
Since the Spiked Cracked Tear doesn't currently work with the Golem Fist, the next best Cracked Tears to use are the following:
-
Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear
- Increases the power of flames by 20%. Best used with the Flame-art infusion.
- Bloodsucking Cracked Tear - Slowly drains HP but increases damage by 20%
-
Thorny Cracked Tear
- Increases each successive attack by 9%, 13%, then 20%.
- Released
- June 21, 2024
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Base Game
- Elden Ring
- Developer(s)
- FromSoftware
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment, FromSoftware
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
- Engine
- Proprietary
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
