One of the first bosses you’ll come across in the Land of Shadow will probably be the Ghostflame Dragon. This cold creature breathes ice instead of fire but is still as deadly as a normal dragon. I’ll help you figure out how to defeat the Ghostflame Dragon in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree in this boss guide and we’ll uncover if it has a cheese strategy.
How to defeat the Ghostflame Dragon boss in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
You’ll find the Ghostflame Dragon sleeping on a small lake, west of the Greatbridge, North Site of Grace and northwest of the Scorched Ruins. This is also where you’ll find the Great Katana, so keep an eye out for that on the lake as well. For now, we don’t have a cheese strategy, but we do know some tips on how to take the Ghostflame Dragon down.
First off, I’d recommend having an Ash of War with you to incite aggro against the dragon which takes its attention off of you. I always bring out my Mimic Tear for these types of fights, and you should too. Now, this dragon is huge and sometimes annoying when trying to aim at it.
I’d avoid locking your aim on the Ghostflame Dragon, as I had a difficult time aiming for spots that would damage it with the lock-on. Turn it off, and aim most often for the legs or head.
The dragon will know where you’re attacking it and will retaliate. If you’re at its feet, it’ll try to stomp down and cause you to get knocked over. As soon as you see it lift its leg, stop attacking and get ready to dodge at the right time.
When you’re in front of it, it’ll curl backward and prepare to launch some slash attacks at you with its winged arms. You can easily avoid these by dodging backward; it should only swipe twice in one go.
Another attack it likes to do is flying up in the air, waiting a few seconds, then diving straight towards you and hitting you with a deadly attack. This is all about dodge timing, so sit patiently and wait until you’re sure it’s above to make its dive before dodging out of the way.
Frostbite attacks
Now for the tough part, which is its frost attacks. The Ghostflame Dragon will often shoot out an ice breath which causes you to build Frostbite. Other than Frostbite, you’ll take a good chunk of damage just from being in the blast radius.
As soon as you see it ready to launch its ice attack, run backward and to the side. Better yet, if it plans to breathe in an arc from left to right (or vice versa), run in the same direction it’s heading towards since you can avoid it just by running. It won’t be faster than you, so you’ll be safe.
You should also avoid staying underneath its belly since it can also prepare an ice attack from there. You’ll see white-blue frost energy collect in the belly, and as soon as you see that, run away from it. It’ll launch an AoE frost attack from underneath its belly which can hurt you pretty badly.
If you get afflicted with Frostbite, it’ll slowly damage you and lower your damage absorption by 20%. To mitigate Frostbite, you can use certain items or skills to get rid of it like Flame Cleanse Me (Incantation), Bestial Consitution (Incantation), or even Thawfrost Boluses (consumable). Otherwise, certain equipment can protect you from Frostbite like the Mottled Necklace, the Eclipse Crest Greatshield, the Stalwart Horn Charm, or anything that increases your Robustness.
After defeating the Ghostflame Dragon, it’ll drop a Dragon Heart and a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone. While Smithing Stones can upgrade weapons, the Dragon Heart is a consumable you can use to trade at the Church of Dragon Communion for dragon-based Incantations.
Now that you’ve defeated the dragon and picked up a Great Katana, there are many other early-game weapons and armor you should look out for in Shadow of the Erdtree.
