Shadow of the Erdtree is packed with tough bosses, and the Golden Hippopotamus, while optional, can be a really tricky one. He hangs out in the Shadow Keep, in Scadu Altus, where has cultivated a seriously negative attitude. If you are going after all of the Scadutree Fragments in Scadu Altus, then you will need to beat this guy, because he guards two of them. He is big and bulky, but also very fast – like a real hippo, really. And there are a couple of tricks that make the fight a lot easier.
How to easily beat the Golden Hippopotamus in Shadow of the Erdtree
First, head to two Sites of Grace and speak to two NPCs, Redmane Freyja and Hornsent. You will find Redmane Freyja at the Highroad Cross Site of Grace here:
And you will find Hornsent at the Three-Path Cross Site of Grace here:
You need to exhaust all of your dialogue options with both of these NPCs, and once you have they will be both be available to summon for your fight with the Golden Hippopotamus. You will see the two gold summoning pools to the left and right of the entrance to the boss arena, at the Shadow Keep Main Gate Site of Grace.
Once you have got them both with you, you will find this fight much easier. It’s still not actually easy, just easier. Your best strategy with this one is to keep your distance. Use the other two allies to distract the beast, and keep an eye out for his big ground pound attack.
Its moves deal a lot of damage, and he moves quickly, but because of his size you can learn to dodge these pretty easily. All of his moves have big galumphing wind-ups, and dodge rolling is very effective. While your allies deal some nice passive damage, you will want to head in after each big body slam attack, and get in a good two or three slashes.
Eventually, you will reach the second phase of the fight, in which the hippo sports a rack of golden quills – earning his name, I suppose – and starts to get even more angry. What you have to watch out for here are its projectile quills and its roll attack.
Neither of these attacks is particularly difficult to avoid, and actually just blocking is a really valid tactic in this fight. If you have a nice big stamina bar, which you probably do by this point, having gone far enough into the main game, then you can block even some of its larger attacks. This tactic is all the more useful when you have these allies to distract the beast.
After a while, your two allies will die, and you will be left with a monster of greatly depleted health. At this point, you need to worry about your defence a whole lot more, using effective dodge rolling and blocking. Keep dealing the odd hits here and there, as you find openings between its large attacks, and eventually the beast will go down. It’s also a good plan to try and get behind it with your dodge rolls and deal damage to its arse. It may not be the most glamorous tactic, but it’s effective.
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Shadow of the Erdtree is packed with tough bosses, and the Golden Hippopotamus, while optional, can be a really tricky one. He hangs out in the Shadow Keep, in Scadu Altus, where has cultivated a seriously negative attitude. If you are going after all of the Scadutree Fragments in Scadu Altus, then you will need to beat this guy, because he guards two of them. He is big and bulky, but also very fast – like a real hippo, really. And there are a couple of tricks that make the fight a lot easier.
How to easily beat the Golden Hippopotamus in Shadow of the Erdtree
First, head to two Sites of Grace and speak to two NPCs, Redmane Freyja and Hornsent. You will find Redmane Freyja at the Highroad Cross Site of Grace here:
And you will find Hornsent at the Three-Path Cross Site of Grace here:
You need to exhaust all of your dialogue options with both of these NPCs, and once you have they will be both be available to summon for your fight with the Golden Hippopotamus. You will see the two gold summoning pools to the left and right of the entrance to the boss arena, at the Shadow Keep Main Gate Site of Grace.
Once you have got them both with you, you will find this fight much easier. It’s still not actually easy, just easier. Your best strategy with this one is to keep your distance. Use the other two allies to distract the beast, and keep an eye out for his big ground pound attack.
Its moves deal a lot of damage, and he moves quickly, but because of his size you can learn to dodge these pretty easily. All of his moves have big galumphing wind-ups, and dodge rolling is very effective. While your allies deal some nice passive damage, you will want to head in after each big body slam attack, and get in a good two or three slashes.
Eventually, you will reach the second phase of the fight, in which the hippo sports a rack of golden quills – earning his name, I suppose – and starts to get even more angry. What you have to watch out for here are its projectile quills and its roll attack.
Neither of these attacks is particularly difficult to avoid, and actually just blocking is a really valid tactic in this fight. If you have a nice big stamina bar, which you probably do by this point, having gone far enough into the main game, then you can block even some of its larger attacks. This tactic is all the more useful when you have these allies to distract the beast.
After a while, your two allies will die, and you will be left with a monster of greatly depleted health. At this point, you need to worry about your defence a whole lot more, using effective dodge rolling and blocking. Keep dealing the odd hits here and there, as you find openings between its large attacks, and eventually the beast will go down. It’s also a good plan to try and get behind it with your dodge rolls and deal damage to its arse. It may not be the most glamorous tactic, but it’s effective.