Elden Ring: Grave Warden Duelist (Murkwater Catacombs) Boss Fight

Published: March 24, 2025 at 4:58:58 PM UTC
Last updated: January 31, 2026 at 8:11:33 PM UTC

Grave Warden Duelist is in the lowest tier of bosses in Elden Ring, Field Bosses, and is the end boss of the small dungeon called Murkwater Catacombs in Limgrave. Like most lesser bosses in Elden Ring, this one is optional in the sense that you don’t need to kill it to advance the story.


As you may know, bosses in Elden Ring are divided into three tiers. From lowest to highest: Field Bosses, Greater Enemy Bosses and finally Demigods and Legends.

Grave Warden Duelist is in the lowest tier, Field Bosses, and is the end boss of the small dungeon called Murkwater Catacombs in Limgrave. Like most lesser bosses in Elden Ring, this one is optional in the sense that you don’t need to kill it to advance the story.

This boss is a big strong guy with a couple of very large hammers that he evidently likes to hit completely innocent Tarnished over the head with. If said completely innocent Tarnished happens to be outside hammer range, he also has some large chains that he will use in combination with the hammers for some long-range over-the-head smacking.

Fortunately, we all know who the hero of this story is, and no number of chains and hammers are going to keep you and the sweet loot separated for long. Imagine how much easier it would be if all the bosses just realized that and handed over the goodies without fighting? It would be a pretty boring game too though.

Fortunately, the boss isn’t very fast, but he does have very long range due to the aforementioned chains. I found that jumping heavy attacks were quite effective at getting a big hit in between his swings and other than that just take your time and bait out his attacks before you strike back. And yeah, don’t do what I did and jump into his swings, he will throw you into the ground and wind the hammers up like you’re a steak in need of tenderizing.

Hammer time can be good or bad. Depends on which end of the hammer you’re at ;-)

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Fan art inspired by this boss fight

Anime-style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor cautiously facing the Grave Warden Duelist inside the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs just before battle.
Anime-style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor cautiously facing the Grave Warden Duelist inside the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs just before battle.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Anime-style illustration of the Tarnished seen from behind facing the Grave Warden Duelist in the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs moments before battle.
Anime-style illustration of the Tarnished seen from behind facing the Grave Warden Duelist in the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs moments before battle.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Wide anime-style view of the Tarnished seen from behind facing the Grave Warden Duelist in the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs moments before combat.
Wide anime-style view of the Tarnished seen from behind facing the Grave Warden Duelist in the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs moments before combat.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Anime-style illustration of the Tarnished seen from behind confronting the Grave Warden Duelist at close range inside the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs.
Anime-style illustration of the Tarnished seen from behind confronting the Grave Warden Duelist at close range inside the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Anime-style illustration of the Tarnished wielding a sword while facing the Grave Warden Duelist at close range inside the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs.
Anime-style illustration of the Tarnished wielding a sword while facing the Grave Warden Duelist at close range inside the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Realistic dark fantasy illustration of the Tarnished wielding a sword while facing the Grave Warden Duelist in the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs just before combat.
Realistic dark fantasy illustration of the Tarnished wielding a sword while facing the Grave Warden Duelist in the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs just before combat.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Isometric dark fantasy view of the Tarnished with a sword facing the Grave Warden Duelist in the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs before combat.
Isometric dark fantasy view of the Tarnished with a sword facing the Grave Warden Duelist in the torchlit Murkwater Catacombs before combat.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

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Mikkel Christensen

About the Author

Mikkel Christensen
Mikkel is the creator and owner of miklix.com. He has over 20 years experience as a professional computer programmer/software developer and is currently employed full-time for a large European IT corporation. When not blogging, he spends his spare time on a vast array of interests, hobbies, and activities, which may to some extent be reflected in the variety of topics covered on this website.