How to beat Commander Gaius in Shadow of the Erdtree

✓ at a glance

• Gaius fights from the back of a large boar, but you should not use Torrent for this fight.
• Fighting Gaius on the ground makes all of his attacks easier to dodge.
• Stay close, but always get away from his Gravity magic.

Commander Gaius is another optional boss in Shadow of the Erdtree, meaning you don’t need to mess with him if you don’t want to. He is guarding a slightly small area with many Scadutree Fragments, but otherwise, the area is unremarkable. Keep this in mind if you struggle to beat him after Messmer. Either way, here’s our Commander Gaius boss guide and how we beat him, so you can too.

Commander Gaius location

Commander Gaius is found at the Shadow Keep, Back Gate Site of Grace. You can reach this area by following one of the several branching paths through the Shadow Keep. One leads to the Scadutree Avatar, while another takes you to Messmer, and a third will take you to Commander Gaius. As with the Scadutree, you can come back to fight this boss later. We beat Gaius after Messmer and the Scadutree Avatar, but you can do these in any order you want.

Recommended gear and our build

After trying to beat Gaius on horseback, we forgot to change our Lance Talisman out. Feel free to slot in anything you want here, preferably something that will up your damage. We chose to wear heavy armour for this fight to see if the damage negation helped at all, but we didn’t notice anything drastic. The back kick from the boar will knock you into next year no matter what you wear.

Commander Gaius boss guide

Don’t be like us. We tried to fight Gaius on horseback to match his energy, but we quickly realised the error of our ways after stubbornly trying that method at least six times. Again, don’t be like us. What you want to do in this fight is leave Torrent in the stables and fight this jerk on foot. Gaius has so much movement and so many swinging attacks that hit a wide radius, meaning even the jingling double jump from Torrent is no match for the range. On foot, you’ll find it much easier to avoid attacks and the obscenely large hitboxes. Yes, Gaius is another boss with a powered-up phase, because that’s so fun to deal with, isn’t it?

Don’t use Torrent. Don’t be like us. Image taken by VideoGamer

Attacking behind and to the side is good. Watch out for retalliation. Image taken by VideoGamer

While rare to see, this stabbing attack can be lethal. Image taken by VideoGamer

Watch out for Gravity magic. Image taken by VideoGamer

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As soon as the fight begins, Gaius will start pressuring you. Be careful if you try to summon your Spirit Ash as soon as you go into the arena because the steps don’t count as an area you can summon. You must move in the open more and then summon, but Gaius will be on you by then. Due to this, slowly move forward to Gaius and roll to the side to dodge his charging forward attack. While he recovers, summon your Spirit Ash if you want to or heal if you got hit.

✓ Command the room

Fight Gaius near the boss fog. This area is slightly closed off, meaning Gaius can get caught by running into the walls instead of getting distance away from you.

As is seemingly the theme with all of these boss fights, you want to stay close to Gaius during the fight. He can use Gravity magic to give you a hard time and he will create distance to close it himself, which makes it very difficult to get the upper hand here. The attack where he charges forward with his lance can be chained multiple times, so you want to get close to him to stop him or dodge the final hit of his lance. When you see him charge away, sprint to him and this might get him to stop.

Gaius has a lot of lance attacks that cover his right side and these are much easier to exploit than the attacks from his boar. Due to this, you should try and stay on his right side. Specifically, he has a side stab you can exploit and a double swing with his lance that takes time for him to recover from.

✓ Talk about a horse kick

Try not to stay behind him too long, his boar has a backkick attack that will blast your health down so much. If you’re feeling fancy, you can circle around the back to bait this attack and move away in time to exploit the animation lock after this attack.

Staying close to Gaius and having your Spirit Ash take the heat will be your best bet in this fight. While this first phase is going on, he doesn’t have a lot of attacks that can give you grief, unless you are on Torrent. One attack, in particular, is a gravity-magic-infused stab that has a small AoE and a ton of range on it. If you try and roll away from it, you’ll get hit. If you’re on torrent, you’ll get hit. To dodge this, roll to the side and circle around him, the attack will miss and you’ll completely shut down one of his strongest attacks.

For us, triggering bleed with the Rivers of Blood helped take him out pretty easily. The first phase is simple enough and you won’t have much to worry about. When you get Gaius to half HP, he will power up and start using more Gravity magic, which can trick you out and get you killed. You will know when he does this because he will gather Gravity magic towards him and it will explode. He will now slightly glow purple for the rest of the fight.

After the AoE explosion, he might try and ride away from you to start charging around the arena. Again, just close the distance and try to dodge to the side if he’s coming towards you. Using a shield or just blocking his attacks, in general, will help mitigate damage, especially little jabs that might catch you off guard.

The next attack is extremely nasty. Gaius will turn around and charge away and then leap into the air. He will hang there for a moment, gathering up magic and then come spinning down on your position. The impact will send out a shockwave of AoE magic, but if you are directly on Gaius’ position, these won’t hurt you.

✓ Don’t walk that way

This means you must time your dodge well for the first hit and then stay close to him. Hit him when he lands to get in plenty of free damage.

If you’re unlucky, you’ll see him use the black hole and this spinning move a few times in the fight. For us, he never used them again and we only had to deal with short sweeps, that bone-breaking back-kick, and his magically-infused stabs. Being in this phase changes nothing in terms of strategy. Keep close to him, chase him down if he runs away, and do not mount Torrent. It took us a few tries to get this guy, but in the end, he’s not hard to learn.

Commander Gaius move list

Gaius doesn’t actually have many attacks, which is a nice break from the multi-hitting bosses we’ve come up against so far. He also has the most straightforward attacks to dodge and most of them can be blocked easily with a sturdy enough shield. We’ve noted down all the attacks he used against us, so let’s take a look; if Gaius has a grab attack, we never saw it used.

Move	Description	Strategy
Side Stab	Gaius will stab to his right side if you are positioned there.	Bait the attack by approaching and then back up, try to circle around the back and get in some hits.
Boar Tusk Head Slam	While in front of Gaius, he can use the boar’s head to slam into the ground.	This attack is good to exploit since there will be a short pause after the move. Attack from the side to avoid him chaining it into a back-kick.
Gravity Protjectiles	At range, Gaius can summon homing magic missiles. He will create four of them.	You can shut this attack down completely if you stay close. If it comes out, keep moving to the side to avoid it.
Charging Attack	Gaius will put his lance forward and charge towards you. The entire boss becomes a hitbox here and he can chain it into several move charges.	Dodge to the side and get close. If you close the distance, he might not charge you again. If he charges past you, he will circle around to do it again.
Back Kick	When behind the boss, Gaius will get the boar to boot you right in the face, dealing worryingly high damage.	If you try and attack from the back, this attack will keep coming out. You can bait it by approaching, hitting once, and rolling to the side. Repeat this for free damage.
Body Slam	The boar will rear up and hold the attack before slamming down. There is a small AoE splash on this, so try and get away.	Hit the boat while it’s rearing up, but don’t get greedy. If the boss is in front of you, it’s better to roll forward and get behind it.
Gravity-Infused Stab	Gaius will charge up a stab with Gravity magic and lunge at you from the side. The reach on this is huge and it causes splash damage when it lands.	Always roll to the side to avoid this, trying to get in front of him or behind him. The attack will always miss if you do this. Don’t roll backwards, and don’t try and jump it while on Torrent.
Double Sweeping Slash	Gaius will sweep twice with his lance on his right side.	This is a standard attack and there is nothing special about it. Hit him after the second swing.
Goring Tusk	The boar will lunge forward and hit with its tusks.	Being in front of the boss puts you in a lot of danger due to the boar’s damage. Stay close and to the side. If the boar is attacking you from the front, try and position yourself to the side or block the attack. Do not roll backwards.
Gravity AoE	When Commander Gaius powers up, he will expel an AoE explosion. You can avoid this if you’re far enough away.	If you have enough HP, it’s worth attacking him while he powers up to get more damage in. Make sure you’re full HP, so you can survive the hit.
Jumping Attack	While powered up, he will dash away from you and do a short leap ending in a stab.	This move is rare to see, but it’s not anything to worry about. Roll towards the attack if you see him jump at you.
Gravity Hole	Commander Gaius will place a ball of magic at your position that will pull you in. After pulling in three times, it will explode.	If you get caught in it, keep trying to roll away. You need to clear a lot of distance as the range will expand each time it ticks. The final explosion can be dodged, but you’re better of getting away.
Charge Spinning Dive	Gaius will dash away, leap into the air, and then hold in the air while he charges an attack. After a moment, he will come spinning down on your position. When he lands, an AoE of gravity magic will spread around the boss.	The centre of this attack is safe. Dodge the spin at the last moment before he lands and you will be safe. Keep attacking him while in the middle of the AoE.
Upwards Stab	This move can be imbued with Gravity or performed normally. He will stab upwards incredibly quickly, dealing a lot of damage. The Gravity version of this has a small AoE.	This move was rarely used against us. It seems like he uses this if you are in front of him or to his left. If you’re in front, roll forward to the right.
Lunging Combo	His multi-hit combo starts with stab, into a side slice, then he has the boar swipe at you twice, ending in an overhead lance swing.	When this attack comes out, you should try and get away to avoid being caught. You can block most of his attacks, but rolling is much safer.

Commander Gaius rewards

For killing Gaius, you get the Remembrance of the Wild Boar Rider… and nothing else. You now have access to the Scadu View area where you can find plenty of Scadutree Fragments further along the path. You can trade the Remembrance for the Sword Lance weapon or the Blades of Stone Sorcery.