In this walkthrough, we’ll break down our top tips for beating Glintstone Dragon Smarag in Elden Ring so that you can master this fight and make your way into the Academy of Raya Lucaria. When you’re done, take a look at our full Elden Ring walkthrough to see what you need to do next.
Elden Ring Glintstone Dragon Smarag boss fight walkthrough
Glintstone Dragon Smarag is a powerful, magical dragon that resides within Liurnia of the Lakes. You’ll encounter this terrifying beast to the West of the Academy of Raya Lucaria, near the Temple Quarter region. Glintstone Dragon Smarag is very strong, but you will get a Dragon Heart if you manage to win. You can use this Dragon Heart at the Cathedral of Dragon Communion to gain new draconic incantations. Below, we’ll explain our top five tips and tricks that you should use in the Glintstone Dragon Smarag boss fight.
How to beat Glintstone Dragon Smarag: tops tips for success
Here are our top tips for defeating Glintstone Dragon Smarag:
1. Use Torrent to move around quickly
Since you encounter Glintstone Dragon Smarag in such an open area, we recommend using Torrent to move around during the fight. Torrent is much faster than the player character, allowing you to quickly dodge out of the way and get some distance from Smarag as it charges its attacks. If Torrent dies, remember that you can use one Sacred Flask of Crimson Tears to revive them. This might feel risky, as it’s one less flask that you can use to heal yourself, but using Torrent will drastically improve your chances of survival in this boss fight.
2. Avoid using magic damage
Damage type is key in Elden Ring. If you use the wrong type of attacks, you might find yourself dealing almost no damage against bosses, regardless of your level and attributes. In this boss fight against Glintstone Dragon Smarag, we recommend avoiding magic damage altogether. Mages might want to put down their staff and invest some points into Strength or Dexterity, and anyone using weapons with magical abilites should switch things up for this fight. Instead, we recommend using good old Strength or Dexterity-based melee weapons. Most of the options in our Elden Ring best weapons list, such as the Sword of Night and Flame, Reduvia, and the Grafted Blade Greatsword, are available before you battle Glintstone Dragon Smarag and will deal significant amounts of damage. Reduvia is especially strong here, as it inflicts the bleed effect. This is extremely powerful against almost every boss, as bleed will deal massive damage when it takes effect. Reduvia also has a ranged attack if you want to stay a little further away from Smarag’s attacks.
3. Keep your distance from fire attacks
Glintstone Dragon Smarag has many attacks, but its most powerful moves often involve fire. Whether they’re unleashing a wave of fire across the arena or swooping down to blast you with a torrent of flames, these attacks are sure to deal a significant amount of damage. Fortunately, using Torrent will help you get away. Whenever you see Glintstone Dragon Smarag charging up a flame attack, indicated by fiery blue magic swirling around its mouth, ride as far away as possible. Keep your distance until the attack ends and then ride back in to continue dealing damage.
4. Stay underneath Glintstone Dragon Smarag
While Smarag can breathe fire and sweep its tail to deal massive damage to those in front or behind respectively, it only has a few moves to deal with players directly beneath it. To deal easy, consistent damage to Smarag, we suggest getting underneath with Torrent and circling around its legs while slashing. Smarag will occasionally perform a leg stomp attack, but these are easy to dodge. If you see a leg lifting up, it’ll come crashing down moments later. To avoid this, simply move over to the other leg and keep slashing. This should keep you out of range of the leg stomp, while allowing you to keep up the pressure and whittle down its health bar.
5. Stagger Smarag with hits to the head
Smarag’s head is a weak point, so any hits there will deal extra damage. If you want to defeat Smarag quickly, simply use your melee weapons to wallop its head as much as possible. This can prove risky if you just stand there and hit, as it might use a flame attack to deal massive damage, but there is an easy manoeuvre that you can use to keep out of danger. As mentioned above, you should try to get underneath Smarag to avoid taking damage. As you ride towards Smarag to get below its body, use Torrent to do a double jump towards the head. Slash as you approach to deal extra damage with each hit to the head, and then continue over to the legs. Whenever Smarag moves and you need to reposition, approach from the front so that you can get extra hits on the head for maximum damage. These hits to the head will also lower Smarag’s poise, so you might eventually stagger the dragon. This will give you an opportunity for some free attacks or a powerful visceral move, which will give you an advantage in the fight. That wraps up our Glintstone Dragon Smarag boss fight walkthrough. If you are taking lots of damage during this fight, take a look at our Elden Ring best armor sets guide to increase your defence. If you want to upgrade your character further, check out our Elden Ring Sacred Tears and Elden Ring Golden Seeds locations guides. If you’re ready for your next challenge, take a look at our Elden Ring boss locations guide to discover other threats that lurk nearby.
