Commander Gaius Location and Guide - Elden Ring Guide - IGN (2024)

Commander Gaius is an optional Boss in the Shadow Keep Legacy Dungeon. You can battle him either on foot or while riding Torrent, and defeating him earns you a large number of Scadutree Fragments.

Check out our boss strategy below to learn how to beat this great foe:

Commander Gaius Boss Fight Strategy Guide

Of the recent bosses we have battled, Commander Gaius is most similar to the Golden Hippopotamus. His attacks are slow, but deal massive damage. His combos are short, but have big range. He dashes around the battlefield, rarely giving you a chance to heal or rest. Stagger and bleed are both highly effective, I recommend a weapon that specializes in one or both of these effects.

Gaius always opens the battle with his long range charge. This attack can be a little weird to dodge due to its wide hitbox, you need to wait until the very last second before the boars tusk is about to hit you, then dodge diagonally forward and away from the boar. If done correctly you can immediately turn around and do a jump attack on Gaius as he turns around.

Next up are his various boar attacks. The boar has three: head slam, body slam, and kick. The head slam and body slam are just like the Golden Hippo’s. The boar will raise its head/body, wait out the delay, then dodge roll into the attack as the boar brings its body down. The head slam is usually a two hit combo, wait for the boar to shake its head before attacking.

The kick will only happen when you stand behind the boar. When it raises its rump, get ready to dodge toward the kick to avoid it, then get in some more attacks.

The safest place to attack Gaius from is usually the side. This avoids some of the forward facing boar attacks, and leads him to use some of his easier to dodge spear attacks. Almost all of them are telegraphed by him raising his spear and looking down at you. Dodge toward Gaius as he swings downward to dodge these attacks.

What makes this tricky is sometimes Gaius likes to combo off of the boars attacks. He will frequently follow one of his side stabs with a boar headbutt, then body slam. Use quick attacks to punish these swings unless you are sure the combo is over. As I said before, the body slam or the boar head shake are both clear signs the current combo has finished.

Another combo is the double side slash, where Gaius does sort of a drive by slash, turns around, then comes back to do another. The swings are slow, so as long as you watch him closely you can simply dodge roll through them, then get an attack in after the second slash.

When you see the boar raise its head and Gaius raise his spear he is about to execute his long, seven hit combo. This is a series of alternating headbutts and spear slashes, you can either dodge roll them all, throw up your shield, or simply run away. Just make sure you react quickly if you are going to run, because this combo has huge range.

When the boar head kicks up a cloud of dust, that is the second to last attack. Gaius will end with one final spear slam, and after that you have a 2-3 second opening to attack him.

Another tricky attack is the tackle. Gaius will dash around you in a circle, but then stop and execute a side tackle with the boar. Keep a close eye on his movements to predict this one, you can see him stop abruptly and the boar rears its head back before the tackle happens.

Gaius also has two charged spear attacks, telegraphed by his spear glowing purple. One is a melee stab, which creates a melee blast on the ground. You can avoid this by dodge rolling through it just as the spear is about to connect with you.

The second is a ranged spear blast. This one usually happens when you are a short range away from Gaius. He will jab the spear toward you, sending a blast of electricity your way. You can avoid this by simply dodging to the side as it approaches.

The final gravity magic is the easiest to avoid. Gaius will summon a volley of rocks from the ground, which whip around his head then fly toward you. He usually does this when he is out of melee range, so run toward him, then dodge roll through the rocks, and you might be able to close the gap and attack.

At about 60% health Gaius will enter phase two, charging himself up with gravity magic and unleashing a blast of energy. You need to run away from him as soon as you see his body begin sparking or else you will get caught in the blast. From there, just keep running because he is going to do a long flying slam attack. You just want to get as far away from it as possible, use the opening to buff or heal yourself.

In phase two he has some new attacks. First is his flying dash attack, where he lifts off the ground for a few seconds before dashing toward you at ridiculous speed. The dash is fast, but as long as you see it coming it is easy to dodge. Roll toward him as he flies toward you to avoid it.

Second is the earth spikes. Gaius raises his spear above his head, causing the ground around him to glow, summoning earth spikes from the ground. You need to start running and strafing around him in a circle to avoid the spikes that burst up from under you. If you slow down at all you will be caught and possibly instantly killed.

The final new attack is the gravity well. Gaius raises his sword, then places a gravity orb on the battle field which pulls you toward it and deals damage in intervals. To avoid this simply run away from it until you are out of its range. Getting caught in the well makes it nearly impossible to avoid his attacks, and is likely to result in a stun lock death.

Beyond that, the fight remains exactly the same. Keep an eye out for those new super attacks, and keep up the same strategy from phase one. Generally, staying as close to Gaius as possible is good because his melee attacks are more predictable than the ranged ones (and of course more punishable as well).

Commander Gaius Rewards

Defeating Gaius gets you the Remembrance of the Wild Boar Rider and 230,000 runes.

It also gets you access to the Scadutree Chalice behind Shadow Keep, where you will find five Scadutree Fragments. Give yourself another 1 - 2 Scadutree Blessing levels and get ready to take on the final boss of the Keep, Messmer the Impaler.