The fight against Messmer the Impaler in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is nothing less than a cinematic masterpiece. With moves that will knock your soul into oblivion and tarnish the already Tarnished, the battle is going to be Mesmerizing, to say the least.
Related: 12 Things You Need To Do Before Shadow of the Erdtree
If you want to stand a chance and not get scorched against this non-optional boss in the Elden Ring DLC then you have stumbled across the right guide. Here we will discuss extensively about Messmer the Impaler and how you can knock this fight out the park without breaking a sweat.
Fighting Messmer The Impaler
Messmer the Impaler is not an easy boss by any means. His moveset is complex and he constantly adapts to the changing circ*mstances and how you counter his attacks. That is why we need to arm ourselves with the right knowledge. Here goes nothing.
Moveset
Messmer the Impaler has a very complex moveset as compared to most other bosses. Throughout the fight and especially during the second phase of the battle, his attack will evolve and become even deadlier. Here is what you should expect:
- Spear Thrust: This is one of the most common attacks by Messmer. He will thrust his spear toward you and will follow it up with another attack or combo that includes slashes and swipes. The boss can sometimes end this attack with a flame spell.
- Counter: For most of Messmer’s attacks, you can dodge by rolling into the attack. This works the majority of the time but you have to time it right. You should roll when he is mid-animation because if you roll too early, he will quickly adjust and attack another way.
- Double Spear Swing: For this attack, the boss will swing his spear in both directions; left and right, multiple times like a maniac.
- Counter: Roll backward twice to dodge this attack. Roll back the first time as soon as he comes towards you but give a slight pause between your second roll because there is also a slight delay in Messmer’s attack.
- Flaming Spear Thrust: This attack is never used on its own, and will always be paired with another combo. For this one, Messmer will wrap his spear in flame and then will try to do a poke attack with it.
- Counter: You can predict this attack because Messmer will pause briefly and pull back his spear arm. Once it is lit up, you can roll back several times and be safe from any damage.
- Flaming Spear Lunge: This is a variation of the Flaming Spear Thrust attack. This time the boss will wrap his weapon in flame, jump into the air, and try to thrust his spear on your head.
- Counter: Roll forward to not only dodge this attack but you will come up behind him after he lands. You can land a few hits before he recovers from his attack.
- Leaping Fire Spear Throw: If you are constantly running away and at a distance from Messmer, then he will jump into the air, light his spear on fire, and launch it toward you. He will then launch towards the spear, allowing him to quickly close the gap between you and him.
- Counter: Roll to either side just before he throws the spear to avoid the attack.
- Flaming Assault: This is a series of flame attacks that are paired with physical combos. For the first part, he will charge his right arm with fire and then do a swipe that will send out a wave of fire in front of him. This attack is followed up by a spear thrust engulfed in fire and then finally ends the series of combos by spinning his spear and creating a fire tornado affecting everything around him.
- Counter: His right arm will swipe toward the left so you have to roll toward the right then give a little pause, and wait for him to do his spear thrust that you can avoid by rolling forwards. Now wait for him to reposition. While he is doing that, get back as much as possible to avoid getting caught in his fire tornado.
- Airborne Sweep Combo: This is yet another multi-hit combo but for this attack, Messmer will be in the air for the most part. This combo starts with a spinning spear sweep followed by a heavy swing. The second part of this attack starts with Messmer doing an upward thrust leading to a jump and ending it with a downward strike with his spear.
- Counter: When the combo starts, wait for him to start spinning, then roll towards the right and immediately roll towards him to avoid taking any damage. You will have to roll towards him again when he does the upward thrust. Stop for a bit then again roll forward just before the lands to end up behind him and deal some damage from the back.
- Messmer’s Assault: This is easily the deadliest, longest, and the hardest combo to dodge. It starts with a spinning spear attack in the air that leads to multiple quick spear swings. The Messmer will jump towards you and try to get behind you from where he will do 8-10 spear thrusts.
Finally, the attack ends with him jumping in the air and doing a downward thrust. To top it all off, he will summon multiple spears that will appear from the ground right below you.
- Counter: There is no one way to counter this attack. Since it is a combination of different types of attacks, which Messmer can change the order of, you will have to notice the signs and anticipate the type that is going to come your way. A lot of the attacks are the same as the previous combo and can be dodged in the same way.
As for the 8-10 spear thrusts, you can roll forward to dodge under them. The spears that he summons have a smaller AoE and only appear around the area you are standing on. You can roll to either side two to three times to get out of the AoE. This combo has the longest recovery so you better be ready to punish him.
- Counter: There is no one way to counter this attack. Since it is a combination of different types of attacks, which Messmer can change the order of, you will have to notice the signs and anticipate the type that is going to come your way. A lot of the attacks are the same as the previous combo and can be dodged in the same way.
- Fire Grab: This is the only attack that can one-shot you even if you are in full health. For this one, Messmer will charge his other hand with fire and lunge towards you to grab you. If he manages to grab you, he will burn you with his flame for an extended period. It will either instantly kill you or leave you near death.
- Counter: You will be able to notice his hand glow and he takes a lower stance before he lunges toward you. If you roll forward at that moment, you will be able to avoid his grab attack.
- Messmer’s Orb: The boss will jump into the air, charge a fireball in his hand, and throw it toward you.
- Counter: It takes a bit to charge up the fireball. Roll to either side the moment the fireball leaves his hand.
- Leaping Fire Ball: This is a variation of the Messmer’s Orb that comes only during the second phase. He will not throw the ball this time but will lunge toward you and will try to hit you with the ball point blank.
- Counter: You can dodge this attack in the same way as the previous one; by rolling to either side the moment he starts coming towards you.
- Serpent Fire Ball: This attack again comes only when Messmer takes the form of Base Serpent. The boss will turn red, summon a fireball, and will launch it towards you.
- Counter: Roll to either side multiple times to dodge this attack.
- Triple Serpent Bite: There are two variations of this attack. The first is where the Base Serpent will try to bite you three times ending the attack with a slam on the ground. The second variation is where three serpent heads will appear, all of which will try to bite you one by one and after the third try, Messmer will turn into this smaller form, jump into the air, and slam his spear on the ground that will create an AoE typ fire attack.
- Counter: The first variation is easier to dodge. Every time the snake opens his mouth, it is a sign that he is about to bite you, roll forward. For the second variation, you will have to put some distance between him and you. Roll forward for the first snake attack and then roll to the right for each of the next one. Roll back multiple times to avoid the AoE Fire Spear Slam.
Weakness
Messmer The Imapler is weak against Bleed, Holy, and Frostbite attacks.
There are tons of good weapons to use against Messmer. We suggest going with your highest-scaled weapon that deals with either of the above three damage types. You will be dodging a lot through the fight so anything that hampers your ability to move around swiftly should be avoided.
Strategy
This is going to be a long battle so gear up, gather all the flasks you can carry, and grab your best weapons because things are going to get messy. Here is how the battle will go down.
Phase 1
As soon as the battle starts, we suggest you summon your Mimic, and if you have been following Hornsent’s quest, you will be able to summon him as well. Two summons will allow you to move around more freely and give you additional opportunities to attack.
Messmer will start with the same Leaping Fireball Attack which you can easily dodge by rolling out of the way when he is about to come down from the air. You can quickly punish this by attacking him from the back.
Throughout the first phase, Messmer’s attacks are well-telegraphed and mostly consist of combos that he can adjust based on how you counter them so don’t expect the same patterns of attack repeatedly. Since Messmer is weak to bleed, magic, and frostbite, we highly recommend you incorporate these into your arsenal.
In our experience, we found Frostbite to be the most effective against this boss, but you can use the other two status effects as well. He will use long chains of attacks but between each attack, there will be a slight delay.
You will need to factor in that delay when you are dodging. If you are dodging too early, he will adjust his attack and target you at your new position.
If you dodge too late, you will take damage. This fight is all about how efficiently you can avoid his attacks. Don’t get caught in his grab attack. When he starts to engulf his hand in fire and take a crouched stance, he is getting ready to do a grab attack.
Dodge this attack at all costs because if he manages to grab you, he will suck most of your health if not all of it. If you are anywhere near 50-60% health, you are done for. After every combo, especially after the Airborne Sweep Combo and Messmer’s Assault, he will take some time to recover. Don’t waste this opportunity and deal as much damage as possible.
It is possible to break his stance with heavy attacks so also keep trying for that as well. If you can, grab the Miséricorde for additional damage on critical attacks.
Keep an eye on your Stamina bar. If you run out of stamina at any critical moment, it could prove to be fatal. Dodge timely and attack on every opening, you should be able to breeze through the first phase.
Phase 2
As soon as the Messmer’s Health drops to 50%, the second phase will start where he will turn in Base Serpent Messmer. Throughout the second phase, he will be able to turn into a giant serpent which will give him an extensive range throughout the arena and the damage dealt will also be significantly more.
He will add a couple of new attacks in the second phase but most of the attacks and combos will remain the same. The deadliest attack in this phase is his Triple Serpent Bite. You have to anticipate the variation of the attack based on the approach he takes.
You will not be able to tank the damage from this one so it is best to dodge it. We do suggest a heavy shield, if you have the capacity, for this fight because it will be helpful in cases when you are not able to dodge the attacks.
Things will pick up the pace in this phase as well because Messmer’s attack speed will get a slight boost. The attacks will be less telegraphed. Dodge a moment earlier than you previously used to because of the increased agility.
Every time Base-Serpent Messmer turns into a giant Serpent, he will take a while to recover once he turns back to his smaller form. Hit him with everything you have got and deal as much damage as possible before he gets back on his feet.
If you are able to stagger him, deal damage when he is down and if you are quick enough, you can sneak in another hit before he fully regains his posture. Exploit all of these loopholes and keep your health bar topped up. Messmer The Imapler will taste dirt eventually.
How to Cheese Messmer The Impaler
Cheesing a boss of this caliber isn’t going to be a walk in the park. There will be a lot of preparation that goes into this strategy just so we have an easier time taking Messmer down. Before we get into the specifics, you should know that for this strategy to work, you will need a tanky build as we will be trying to tank most of the attacks rather than dodging them.
Here are all of the items that you will need:
- Fingerprint Stone Shield
- Pike
- Greenburst Crystal Tear
- Opaline Hardtear
- Green Turtle Talisman
- Greatshield Taliman
- Bloodboil Aromatic
- Mimic Tear
- Flamedrake Talisman
- Scholar’s Shield
Once you have gathered all of the stuff, let’s get right into the action. Put on your tankiest armor, we used Fire Prelate Armor as it has good fire protection, and we suggest you also put some points towards strength as well if you haven’t already.
Before the battle starts, consume Greenburst Crystal Tear and Opaline Hardtear which will improve your stamina recovery and damage negation respectively. Now chug one of your Bloodboil Aromatics to increase your damage output and apply Scholar’s Shield spell to the shield. This spell will reduce the stamina it takes to block an attack.
Now we are all ready, let’s jump right into the battle. As soon you get past the fog gate, Messmer will be ready to use his Leaping Fireball Attack. Before he lands on your head, summon your Mimic and get ready to tank this attack.
With all the preparation you have done, the damage you will take from any of the boss’s attacks will be negligible. If you have done Hornsent’s quest, you will be able to summon him as well. With the Mimic and Hornsent, the overall aggro should be divided and you will be able to attack him with ease.
Just keep your shield up at all times and use Pike to attack him. Only get back to heal if your health drops below 50%. Other than that, you should be able to take him down without any problem.
Rewards For Defeating Messmer The Impaler
Defeating this mind-melting behemoth a.k.a Messmer the Impaler will net you the following rewards in Elden Ring:
- 1x Remembrance of the Implaer, Messmer’s Kindling
- 400,000x Runes
With this, it is a wrap on how you can take down Messmer. Gather as many Scadutree Blessings as you can before you take on this one. Prepare properly and you will slay this humanoid beast eventually.
