Elden Ring Rykard boss fight: how to beat the God-Devouring Serpent and Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy

Want to know how to beat the God-Devouring Serpent and Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy in Elden Ring? Lord Rykard is the leader of Volcano Manor in Mount Gelmir, far to the north-west of the Lands Between. He is also one of the five shardbearers, which means defeating him nets you the coveted prize of Rykard's Great Rune - a shard of the Elden Ring itself. Quite the incentive!

The two-phase fight against the God-Devouring Serpent and Lord Rykard is a tough one, make no mistake. But if you come prepared, and follow the tips laid out in this Rykard boss fight walkthrough, then you may find you actually have an easier time fighting him than the other demigods you've faced so far. Read on to find out!

Elden Ring Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy boss fight walkthrough

There are two paths that you can take in order to reach Rykard, the lord of Volcano Manor in Elden Ring's Mount Gelmir region. The obvious path is to complete several contract killings for Lady Tanith at the Volcano Manor, after which she will grant you an audience with the serpentine lord. However, you can also reach Rykard on your lonesome by following along with the Mount Gelmir section of Hayden's Elden Ring walkthrough.

Rykard himself at first takes the form of a gigantic God-Devouring Serpent, coiled up in a moving lake of lava in the heart of Mount Gelmir. It's a dangerous enemy, but not nearly as dangerous as the second phase, where Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy himself awakens and starts using all his power to defeat you.

However, with the right tools at hand, you can give yourself a far greater chance of victory against this powerful shardbearer boss. First you can check out the video below to see how I managed the fight against Rykard. After that, keep scrolling to read our top tips for defeating the God-Devouring Serpent himself.

Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy boss fight video walkthrough:

How to beat Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy: top tips for success

Here are our top tips for succeeding in your fight against the God-Devouring Serpent and Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy:

1. Use the Serpent-Hunter Great Spear and its Great-Serpent Hunt skill
2. Stay out of range of the God-Devouring Serpent's poison
3. Use a skill to avoid damage against the Serpent's shockwave attack
4. Use the Mimic Tear for a much easier time against Rykard
5. Don't get too close to the lava or it'll interrupt your attacks

1. Use the Serpent-Hunter Great Spear and its Great-Serpent Hunt skill

The fight against the God-Devouring Serpent and Rykard himself is an unusual one, because you're all but required to use a specific weapon to beat them. That weapon can be found on your left as you enter the boss arena for the first time. It is the Serpent-Hunter - a great spear which fires off massive long-range lances of light when used against the Serpent and Rykard.

The Serpent-Hunter is a slow and cumbersome weapon, but it deals an awful lot of damage - particularly if you power up its colossal two-stage Great-Serpent Hunt skill. You can deal thousands of points of damage to both the Serpent and Rykard with just this one combo, so use it liberally throughout the fight.

2. Stay out of range of the God-Devouring Serpent's poison

The God-Devouring Serpent phase is actually very straightforward. It has few bite attacks which you can easily dodge, and a shockwave attack, which we'll get to shortly. The only other danger in this phase is the Serpent's poison spit attack, which can really ruin your day if it reaches you.

Fortunately, the poison doesn't travel terribly far. In fact, if you stay right on the edge of the Serpent-Hunter's range, and back off just a few feet whenever it spits, you'll completely avoid all damage from this otherwise devastating attack.

3. Use a skill to avoid damage against the Serpent's shockwave attack

The Serpent's most annoying attack is the shockwave, triggered when it buries its head deep into the ground before throwing its head back up again, sending a shockwave through the rocks towards you. This attack is very hard to avoid and deals an incredible amount of damage. Fortunately, you can completely negate this powerful attack with the right Ash of War skill.

In the above video, you'll see that just before the shockwave attack landed, I switched to my shield and used the Barricade Shield skill to negate almost all the attack's damage. This also allowed me to get in a couple of quick attacks while the Serpent was recovering. But you could also switch to another weapon quickly and use a skill like Raptor Of The Mist, or Bloodhound's Step, either of which give you some i-frames with which to completely avoid damage.

4. Use the Mimic Tear for a much easier time against Rykard

Even after the recent patch nerfing the Mimic Tear's effectiveness, this is one fight where you really want the Mimic Tear on your side. I prefer to wait until I've beaten the Serpent and Rykard himself emerges before summoning the Mimic Tear, so it sticks around for as long as possible to distract and deal damage against the more formidable of the two halves of this mighty opponent.

Why is the Mimic Tear so good? Apart from the fact that it draws Rykard's attention away from you, the Mimic Tear is an exact copy of you, including equipment and weapons. That means the Mimic Tear has a Serpent-Hunter Great Spear of its own. Whereas most Spirit Ashes will have a hard time even getting close to Rykard, the Mimic Tear can deal quite a bit of damage while it's alive.

Of course, the Mimic Tear is not nearly as effective with the weapon as you are, but every little helps. And even if it deals no damage at all to Rykard, if you back off and let Rykard focus on the Mimic, you'll be safe to unleash a couple of Great-Serpent Hunt attacks on him for massive damage.

5. Don't get too close to the lava or it'll interrupt your attacks

The one thing that tripped me up more than anything else in the fight against Rykard, as you'll see from the video at the start of this guide, is that I occasionally got a bit too close to the lava surrounding him. The lava follows Rykard wherever he goes, so as he moves around, so does the lava. So it's best to steer clear of the lava altogether, because while you're winding up a massive attack, the lava may move and hit you, interrupting your attack and making it all for naught.

That's everything you need to know in order to make the fight against the God-Devouring Serpent and Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy much, much easier. If you want to find out where all the other nearby bosses reside, be sure to check out our Elden Ring boss locations maps. Alternatively, if you're not sure what to do after defeating Rykard, you can check out our Elden Ring walkthrough to see how to progress towards the end of the game from here.