The Blackgaol Knight is an optional boss in Elden Ring that many wandering Tarnished might stumble upon in their playthrough of Shadow of the Erdtree. He is also one of the first of many new bosses who might catch you off guard with the massively scaled difficulty.
So here, we’ll go over where he is, how to beat him, and what he drops upon defeating him.
Blackgaol Knight location
From the beginning of the DLC, just head northwest. Hug the cliffside area of the starting point of the Shadow Realm until you come across an area with a lot of transparent tendrils coming out of the ground. If you find an area called the Western Nameless Mausoleum, you’re in the right place.
How to beat the Blackgaol Knight in Elden Ring
When the fight starts, he’s most likely going to load up his crossbow and fire at you with a barrage of fire bolts. Run in a right diagonal direction towards him so that upon him needing to reload or put his bow away, you can go in for one to two hits.
The crossbow barrage is the easiest attack to anticipate and avoid if you keep your distance. However, if you keep too much distance from the Blackgaol Knight, he’ll keep doing it. Then he has three other moves when in range.
The Blackgaol Knight has a jumping vertical attack that can easily be dodged and interrupted. If your weapon can’t reach him when he’s airborne, just wait to either dodge sideways or parry it to follow up with one or two hits.
He also has a simple combo that either does two slashes or four. If you dodge the first attack or parry it, you can interrupt his combo chain. Interrupting the Knight will reset his stance and he may resort to other moves.
This is another ranged attack. The Blackgaol Knight will begin to charge his sword in a vertical stance with white wind energy coming from it. You have to time your dodge because if you block this move, your Poise will break. Also, getting hit from this may be fatal.
After his projectile, he may follow up with a horizontal slash if you’re close enough. Dodge towards him to get a free hit from behind. Note that if you block this attack, your Poise will also break. This move is also fatal.
Once you get these four attacks down along with his Crossbow barrage, the Blackgaol Knight will be a walk in the park.
Blackgaol Knight drops
Upon defeating the Blackgaol Knight, you’ll receive his entire armor set and his greatsword. These are the following items:
- Greatsword of Solitude
- Helm of Solitude
- Armor of Solitude
- Gauntlets of Solitude
- Greaves of Solitude
This is perhaps one of the heaviest sets in the game found so far, so it’s perfect for Strength and stamina builds that utilize these types of armor.
