Margit is the first main boss you’ll run into in Elden Ring. With a bit of dedication, anyone can make it through the first major challenge.
After a couple of hours of exploring Elden Ring, you may have stumbled into the depths of Stormveil Castle and found Margit. This would typically be your first ‘real’ boss you’ve faced at this point. There is a path that completely skips Stormveil Castle, but your chance of finding it without a guide is minimal. Chances are, your first few encounters with him will result in a loss. Especially if this is your first time facing a boss in a souls-like.
If you’re particularly stuck on this boss, this guide should help out no matter what build you are running. Moreover, Margit is one of many bosses you’ll find in Elden Ring. These strategies can be more broadly thought of as general boss fight techniques based on what build you are running. Specifically, we’ll go over a few strategies to beating Margit including:
Probably the most common build players will be running, a melee build relies highly on dexterity/strength to do massive damage with a melee weapon. For the Margit fight, this means you’ll be right up in the action and be forced to learn the boss’s combos to be able to dodge them.
The main time frame you’ll be able to get some guaranteed damage in is following his jump attack. He’ll jump up into the air, and after a second or two, slam down on top of you. Simply time the roll and get in two or three attacks for some good damage. For the most part, the only time frames you’ll be able to get damage in are when he slams his cane into the ground. This commonly happens at the end of his combos or following his air slam. Outside of those time frames, you should be focusing on preparing to roll to dodge his attacks.
The most frustrating attack from Margit that catches people are the ranged golden daggers he throws out nearly instantly. The only timing you’ll have is when he pulls out the dagger, so as soon as you see a flash of gold be ready to dodge twice if you’re at range. If you’re up close, you should roll almost instantly as his melee golden dagger comes out super fast.
While he doesn’t really have a true ‘phase two,’ Margit will pull out a massive golden hammer that will probably one shot you if you don’t have a lot of vigor. Thankfully, these attacks are extremely slow and give you some time to get damage in between the attacks. Melee users don’t have much in terms of cheesing the boss, you’ll just have to outskill him. The game only gets harder so it’s great practice to get used to fighting bosses.
While ranged setups (specifically the bow) are not super strong in Elden Ring, at least not at this point of the game, it is a perfectly valid strategy for taking down bosses if you have enough arrows. To make your build even stronger, you’re going to want to find the Arrow’s Reach Talisman which enhances your range with bows. This talisman can be found in a chest in one of the towers of Stormveil. You can simply google a guide to finding it!
Ranged builds, as you’d expect, focus on whittling down the enemy from a safe distance. There are a number of different arrow types you could use to damage the enemy. Mainly, the best arrows include ones that inflict either poison or scarlet rot. While they aren’t usually found until later in the game, they do a ton of damage over time which makes them perfect for fighting bosses with large health pools. Once you apply whatever dot you are running, simply play safe and allow it to do all the work. This works wonders against some bosses and not so well against others. It is particularly effective against Starscourge Radahn which you’ll run into later in your playthrough.
Magic users will probably have the easiest time with Margit as there are some really powerful early game spells and staffs available before the fight. Namely, these include the Meteorite Staff and the Rock Sling spell. These work together beautifully as the passive damage buff to gravity spells from the staff buffs the spell, along with having S tier scaling with intelligence. Both of these items are found in Caelid and can be easily acquired by following a guide online.
Once you have acquired the staff and spell, simply enter the boss fight and start spamming. There is a hefty cast time on Rock Sling, so you’ll have to get used to finding when you can cast a spell and when you should just roll and wait for an opening. The best part about Rock Sling is that it is great at staggering. After a few casts, you’ll stagger Margit and that is when you should spam as many spells as possible until he gets up. With a couple of tries, I am confident just about any player could beat Margit using this strategy.
Likely the hardest strategy for newer players, parrying is a concept many do not even know exists. It is only available for shields with the ‘Parry’ skill. This is most commonly found on the Bandit’s starting shield, but can be found on a number of different shields found throughout the world. The timing for the parry is extremely short and the parry animation itself has a bit of a cast time.
You’ll want to start the parry animation right before Margit swings his sword to time the shield contacting his sword right in front of you. This will likely take a lot of practice, but thankfully you will respawn directly outside the boss fight anyway. If you land one successfully, you’ll be rewarded with the ability to perform a critical strike that does a ton of damage. Combine this with a dagger that has blood loss like the one found by fighting the invader in the river and you’ll melt through his health in no time.
Not every attack can be parried, however. I do not believe his golden dagger can be parried but maybe I am just bad. Many bosses in Elden Ring will have some attacks that can be parried and others that cannot. It is worth trying some attempts at parrying attacks that do not even look like they could be, as you’ll be surprised at just how large of an attack you can parry with a shield the size of a dinner plate.
If you have tried the strategy above that corresponds with your build and still cannot beat the boss, you have a few options left. I’ll list out these options in terms of increasing desperation. Essentially, they’ll break the game a bit more and more until the boss fight becomes trivial. Thus, I’d recommend that you only use as much as needed as the boss fight is supposed to be difficult. That is a major aspect to a souls-like!
The most obvious choice is to use a spirit summon such as the three ghost wolves. These help to do some damage to the boss, but more importantly, will take aggro from the boss and allow you some room to breathe. For newer players, I’d recommend using the spirit summons if you feel the need. They are intended to help inexperienced players and can be really fun!
After that, you could summon Sorcerer Rogier, a friendly NPC that will help you fight Margit. He’ll tank the boss for a considerable amount of time and this makes the fight much easier.
If you still can’t beat the boss, you could use a Furlcalling Finger Remedy to summon other players to help you. These could be complete strangers or friends if you set up a multiplayer code. This will make the fight much easier as you’ll have more damage and people to take aggro. However, the boss will have much more health to counteract the increased players.
Finally, you could get Margit’s Shackle from Patches to quite literally stagger the boss whenever you want. This makes the boss fight extremely easy, but if you are truly stuck there is no shame in just beating this boss to experience more of the game.
If you’ve managed to fell Margit, you have officially progressed further than 32% of players. You’re well on your way to becoming Elden Lord, but there are still a ton of enemies left to best. Try using some of the strategies mentioned above to aid you on your journey!
Heading image courtesy of rockpapershotgun.com
