Our roundup of bosses from Dark Souls, a title that has managed to carve out an evergreen corner in the world of modern gaming, continues with a special boss: the Iron Golem. Why special? Why is the favorite of Hidetaka Miyazaki, creator of the series.
The Iron Golem is a watershed: it has theimportant function of watching over the entry of Anor Londo and to "judge" who manages to venture within the walls of the Fortress of Sen, Lordran's test bed. His task, therefore, is to anticipate the "phase two" of Dark Souls, universally considered less inspired than the first.
It will be possible to enter the fortress - and therefore try to reach the City of the Gods - only after having rung the two Bells of Awakening: one above the Church of the Undead, strongly defended by Gargoyle del Campanile and another "far, far below" in the lower part of the Infamous City, protected (unwittingly) by a daughter of chaos, Quelaag. Both bosses were promptly covered by EpicTrick, so go back and defeat the two bosses if the Fortress is still closed.
You can get a glimpse of the statuesque and inactive Iron Golem before the fog. The one-handed ax is all he needs to make the unfortunate fly. Before entering the fog, let's make sure we go up the stairs behind us and take care of a giant: if left alive, similar to the case of the Hungry Dragon, would participate in the fight by throwing explosive bombs in the center of the arena. If we want help, to the right of the fog it is possible to summon (in human form) an NPC, one of the few or perhaps the only one who has managed to get to Anor Londo: Tarkas Iron Black. Tarkas is a bull in heavy armor that makes the Golem easier than it actually already is.
The most “charismatic” aspect of the arena is certainly that of being one overhang. The battlefield is in fact a kind of bridge with an unsafe platform in the center. Bringing the Golem to either bridge will facilitate our future work, as we will explain shortly.
Moving past the fog, the Golem will activate and welcome us with a powerful gust of wind thrown from his ax. We offer you three alternatives: raise the shield, dodge or use the semi-destroyed columns as a shelter. The shield will not do much against the giant's Herculean strength, also because it absorbs stamina as if there was no tomorrow: it is therefore advisable to hold the weapon in two hands and play its own game of strength. Stay close (below) to the giant Golem, so as to cripple his moveset, not allow him to use wind powers. The Golem's weak point is in the legs, to be hit to make him lose his balance: Is hit repeatedly, it will go out of balance. Depending on where you are, two scenarios can happen: one, seeing him fall noisily to the ground and remain helpless to blows; two, (certainly the most enjoyable) see him fall down and automatically win the battle. Yep, even the boss of Sen's Fortress can't do anything against Dark Souls' most relentless threat: gravity..
By following him, it won't be too difficult to avoid his attacks. Sometimes just walking will be enough. Let's see how the Iron Golem defends Anor Londo:
Attacks:
- Multiple ram: obviously Miyazaki & Co. have equipped the Golem with an artificial intelligence to react if you buzz between his legs for too long. It will try to trample you multiple times in a very ferocious attack. Stay as far away from him as possible during the execution.
- Horizontal slash: the boss will try to hit you with the ax with a horizontal slash from the minimum shock wave. It is advisable to avoid this without trying to be a hero, because it can also make you fall.
- Vertical slash: vigorous like the previous attack, only vertically, from top to bottom and to be dodged then to the sides or with a somersault towards him to return under his legs.
- Shock wave: The blow with the ax that generates a shock wave perfect to avoid with a somersault and use as a window to get to his legs and attack him.
- Presa: The Golem may very well grab you and forcefully knock you to the ground ... but if you are even more unlucky, it can grab you and throw you down.
In short, its greatness is its greatest weakness.
Drop:
- Core of the Iron Golem ("Soul" that with a one-handed ax +10 can be transformed into the Ax of the Golem, with which you can imitate him, or Dragon Bone Fists, which can be created with caestus +10, with an exhilarating upscale);
- 40.000 souls;
- x1 Humanity;
- Iron Golem Armor for sale from Domhnall of Zena (on the bridge between the Firebound Sanctuary and the Undead Hamlet).
Surely the lore of the Iron Golem is not tear-jerking like that of the Butterfly of the Moon, but it is bloody since, having the function of guardian, very few have managed to overcome it and get to the City of the Gods. The Golem is a construct: it was artificially created by the Gods and its core uses as a driving force the bones of dragons, vanquished by Lord Gwyn's lightning, together with the "power of the soul", somehow fused together generating "life", or rather, an instinctive and mechanical function. Without the core, the Iron Golem is just a pile of scrap metal. Despite this, Miyazaki has elevated him to his favorite boss.
As they say in Naples: every roach is beautiful to mamma soja.
► Dark Souls: Remastered is an Action-RPG type game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 25/05/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 19/10/2018
Dark Souls: Remastered is a great game that cannot be missing from your collection: we have decided to evaluate it with a 80%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Dark Souls: Remastered review
