How to Beat Grave Warden Duelist: Boss Fight Guide

This is a guide on how to beat Grave Warden Duelist, an optional boss in Elden Ring. Read on to learn more about Grave Warden Duelist's strengths, weaknesses, attack patterns, and lore!

Grave Warden Duelist General Info

Stats and Rewards

Grave Warden Duelist
Weakness	Resistance	Immune
Slash	Fire Holy Lightning	Madness
Affected By	Poison, Scarlet Rot, Bleed, Frost, Sleep
Spirit Ashes Available?	Yes
Rune Rewards	1700 (NG)
Summonable NPCs	None
Location	・Auriza Side Tomb, Altus Plateau ・Murkwater Catacombs, Limgrave
Item Drops	・Battle Hammer ・Banished Knight Engvall

Grave Warden Duelist Location

Where to Find

Map Location
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Recommended Level	Lv.20

You can find the Grave Warden Duelist in the Murkwater Catacombs at Limgrave. After entering through the doors, go down the stairs and you will see a Site of Grace. After 2 sets of stairs, turn right and go down the corridor. Traverse the mist and you will see Grave Warden Duelist waiting for you.

Murkwater Catacombs Walkthrough and Location

How to Beat Grave Warden Duelist

Tips for Beating Grave Warden Duelist
Try to get behind it as much as possible
Dodge diagonally into it to easily avoid attacks
Bait out its attacks for easier dodges
Summon Spirit Ashes

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Ranged Build Strategy

Grave Warden Duelist Boss Tips
Summon spirit ashes before fighting
Keep your distance

Summon Spirit Ashes before fighting

Summoning Spirit Ashes before you fight Grave Warden Duelist can help keep you safe while casting spells. For instance, you can summon Lhutel the Headless tor Banished Knight Oleg to tank for you.

All Spirit Ash Locations: How to Summon Spirits

Keep your distance

As a Sorcerer, utilize the spells in your kit to keep a distance while dealing damage. Although Grave Warden Duelist primarily uses close attacks, Hammer Spin Strike lets it close the gap between the two of you so make sure keep this in mind.

When you traverse the mist to get to Grave Warden Duelist, it will be waiting for you in the middle of the room. You can use this distance to cast a spell without the risk of taking damage.

Melee Build Strategy

Grave Warden Duelist Boss Tips
Attack during Hammer Spin Strike
Dodge to attack
Summon Spirit Ashes for more damage

Attack during Hammer Spin

After dodging both hammer swings, you can dodge the last strike by waiting for Grave Warden Duelist to jump then roll either behind or to the side as it will strike what is in front of it. There is a window where you can strike while it stands up.

Dodge to attack

Grave Warden Duelist mainly attacks what is directly in front of it. When you see it is about to attack a direction, try to dodge into it (landing behind it) to get quick strikes. Your best choice is to dodge diagonally into Grave Warden Duelist.

Summon Spirit Ashes for more damage

By summoning Spirit Ashes, you can use them as a distraction for Grave Warden Duelist. Grave Warden Duelist's short ranged attacks focuses on the target in front of it, so you can time your attacks then.

Northern Mercenary is a great Spirit Ash to tank hits as well as dish out good amounts of damage. By playing together, it can serve as a distraction while you attack Grave Warden Duelist safely. Another option is to summon the Lone Wolf Spirit Ashes. This summon has a high damage output that can help you defeat Grave Warden Duelist faster.

All Spirit Ash Locations: How to Summon Spirits

Grave Warden Duelist Attack Patterns

Hammer Quadruple Swing

Grave Warden Duelist swings its hammer up to four times. The range of the strikes increases after the first two strikes. It takes a step forward with each swing so be mindful of this. This attack can be easily avoided by dodging backwards.

Hammer Spin

Grave Warden Duelist swings its hammer 360 degrees twice and ends with a jumping strike that knocks back enemies in front of it. It starts in a smaller radius and gets bigger by the second swing. The hammer starts behind it so make sure to dodge away before the first swing.

When it jumps for the last strike, wait for it to be at the apex of the jump then dodge either to the side or between its legs.

Charging Strike

Grave Warden Duelist takes two steps then strikes. After doing this twice, it will do two quick swings followed by a double hammer slam. You can time your dodge while it steps before striking.

Scream

Grave Warden Duelist lets out a battle cry and turns red for 30 seconds. For its duration, Grave Warden Duelist's attacks will deal more damage. You can avoid this by letting it time out.

Lunge

Grave Warden Duelist lunges and strikes. This can be chained up to five times. This move can follow your direction so make sure to dodge backwards instead of to the side.

Triple Strike Attack

Grave Warden Duelist swings once with each hand then slams both hammers. Dodge to the side as the third strike is slower than the first two.

Choke Grab

Grave Warden Duelist lunges forward and grabs you by the neck. Easily avoided by dodging backward or to the side once you see Grave Warden Duelist take a step back.

Elden Ring Related Guides

List of All Bosses

DLC Bosses

Main Bosses

Optional Bosses

Mini-Bosses

Hostile NPCs and Invaders