How to Beat Magma Wyrm Makar - Elden Ring

Rewards: Magma Wyrm’s Scalesword, Dragon Heart, 24,000
Summons Available: Yes

This boss is found at the end of the Ruin-Strewn Precipice, on the “Coward’s path” to the Altus Peninsula. You may have faced the unnamed Magma Wyrm in Caelid — this is the same boss, only with more HP and with a second phase in which he stands up on his hind legs, which is pretty weird for a lizard (but maybe not weird for Wyrms?). Fortunately, Makar’s second phase isn’t too much tougher than phase one; in this guide, we’ll give general tips and specific strategies for how to defeat this boss.

General Tips

If you kill Patches and then progressed the Volcano Manor questline to the point where you get the red envelope, Great Horned Tragoth is available as a summon for this fight.
Acquire and equip the Flamedrake Talisman before this fight.
Attacking Makar’s head deals bonus damage.
That being said, standing in between the side legs will make it easier to dodge most of the boss’s attacks.
If you use jumping attacks near the front legs, you can sometimes hit the boss in its head and its leg, dealing double damage.
You can jump to avoid all of the boss’s sweeping attacks as well as its belly-slam. This is also helpful because jumping attacks will make it easier to stagger the boss.
Use a ranged summon to avoid it dying immediately to fire and other forms of AOE — the Jellyfish is probably the optimal choice.
This boss can be staggered — run to its right eye if it collapses to deliver a critical strike.
If you take damage from an attack, you should have time to immediately heal if you roll to get up quickly.

Phase 1

The boss starts the fight by charging forward and breathing flames — run sideways and around the boss to avoid. (This attack can be seen again if you don’t stick close to the boss). Then stand in between the front and back legs and attack until you see the boss begin an attack of its own. If it isn’t Ideally, you’ll roll once the boss’s attack actually begins (not as it’s winding up). If you struggle to dodge the boss’s attacks, a 100% physical defense shield will work as well (as always, we recommend the Beast Crest Heater as the easiest to acquire). After each attack, there’s plenty of time for you to get damage in before you have to prepare to dodge again.

Sometimes the boss will stand up on its hind legs and then slam its sword down — run behind it, and if you’re still fairly close, roll or block as the sword hits the ground. If you’re confident in your timing, you can also jump as the boss’s weapon hits the ground and begin a jumping attack.

The hardest attack to dodge is probably the belly slam — you’ll know it’s coming when the boss rises up on its front legs. You can roll away from the boss when you see this attack begin, as the AOE is pretty small (or you can be brave and jump/attack to dodge it if you’re near its tail).

magma wyrm makar belly slam gif elden ring — *Don’t be like me — roll away when you see his front legs come up to avoid this attack*

One of the easiest windows in which to damage the boss is during its fire attacks. When you see its mouth begin to spill flame, get behind it and start attacking. Note that sometimes, the boss will start its flame attack while you’re behind it, in which case it may do a backwards fire spray — it will spray fire on only one side (whatever side has the boss’s current target) so just roll/run to the other side of the boss and continue attacking. If you’re close to the front of the boss when it leans its head over its shoulder, run in front of his face instead of trying to run around the back of him.

Ranged characters should take advantage of summons (melee characters can as well, but it’s not as essential), and try to target the boss’s head whenever possible. Since Makar has a lot of AOE and high damage, the best choice is probably the Spirit Jellyfish, who can avoid sitting in lava more than most summons.

It’s generally easier to fight next to/behind the boss, but the boss’s attacks are all slow and telegraphed, so if you’re more comfortable playing far away, it’s a viable option. Keep in mind that while standing at range, the boss will occasionally do a quick leap forward, which is one reason why standing next to or behind it is the safest choice.

Phase 2

Once you get the boss to about 50% HP, phase 2 will begin. It starts with Makar slowly standing up and barfing fire all over their sword. This is actually a great time to get a lot of free damage in — just make sure you aren’t standing directly below his mouth.

This phase adds an attack where the boss slowly walks forward and breathes magma onto the ground; you can follow the boss from behind and attack it, but make sure not to step in the magma (you might have to settle for whacking its tail if you’re melee — unlock the camera if you aren’t able to attack the tail). The sword slam attack remains but is modified to create puddles of magma, so its best to unlock your camera and focus on avoiding the magma after you roll to dodge the sword slam.

The boss adds a spinning sweep with its sword, where it spins in a circle on its tail and then swings its blade in a horizontal arc — stick far to the boss’s left side (the one without the sword) and this will often miss even if you fail to roll at the right time. Phase 2 also has a very delayed sword slam, and a two-swing combo in this phase, but if you’re rolling behind him/through his legs, both should be be fairly easy to avoid. Unlike the sword swings in phase 1, you can’t safely jump over any of them — you have to roll through these or get behind the boss to avoid them.