Golem

Golem is an enemy in Dragon's Dogma.

Description
"Golems are humanoid figures made mostly from clay and stone. Buried within their bodies are magickal charms that grant them the ability to move autonomously. Their dimensions are decided by their creators, but most do tend to top twenty feet at least. Golems are often created to guard important places, treasures, or people, and they follow orders loyally and without question. Golems are a powerful force to be reckoned with, considering their overwhelming physical strength and defensive advantages, but if you can destroy the charms within them that grant them life, they will stopped forever.  Since golems are little more than puppets obeying the orders of their creators, they do not possess wills of their own, nor emotions or even a sense of self. Accordingly, they are not capable of any type of communication.  Thanks to their artificial nature, golems do not have pain receptors and will not be stopped by bodily damage. They also lack sight and detect enemies by life force alone. Tactics intended to impair their vision will thus be meaningless."

- Capcom official description



The glowing magickal medals on a 's body grant them life and serve as their weak points. While most of the medals are scattered around the body, some are hidden in harder to reach places such as under the sole of its foot or in its palm. Note that one of the medals will glow more brightly than the others. If destroyed, the Golem will immediately "shutdown", going into a state of vulnerability. This gives the Arisen and their party ample time to quickly shatter any remaining medals. Word of warning though, after the Golem becomes frozen for a while, it will reactivate itself and "roar" sending everyone flying off its body. The color of the medals then switches to red, signalling that the Golem has entered the Berserk Rampage mode, which causes its attack speed to increase significantly. This can catch unwary or over-confident players off guard who are used to its big, slow lumbering movements. Destroying several more of the medals or simply waiting out the Berserk Rampage, will revert the Golem to its normal state.

Stats

 * Note - Golems have a very high resistance to magick - but not complete immunity

Damage Taken

 * Note: though Golems can be damaged by pure magick attacks, they are completely resistant to any magick within the Five Archmagicks.

Pawn Bestiary Knowledge

 * Enemy Specific - Golem Tactics
 * Golem Strategy Vol. 1 - Use magick to attack the medals which will make one key medal glow brighter. This medal, when destroyed, will immobilize the Golem.
 * Golem Strategy Vol. 2 - When firing its laser beam the Golem's mouth is vulnerable to attack.  Attacking its mouth while it's firing will stagger or knock down the Golem.
 * Attack and destroy the Medals

In addition to witnessing these techniques, it is necessary for Pawns to participate in killing 15 Golems either with their own Arisen or while travelling with others.

More information can be found on the Pawn Bestiary Knowledge page.

Tactics

 * Invulnerable to magic. The exceptions are spells that conjure a physical manifestation, and the spell Exequy
 * Immune to all debilitations.[[File:Golems can only be slain by destroying the glowing discs around its body, as demonstrated here.|thumb|right|285px|Golems are immune to magic. Melee vocations may need to climb the Golem in order reach the higher glowing weak points.]]
 * Generally only defeatable by physically destroying the glowing medals on its body.
 * The medals are vulnerable to blunt damage, which includes warhammers, maces, and all non-magic arrows
 * Can be destroyed by fall damage.  Gicel is capable of pushing a golem backwards off a ledge.
 * Golems may have one or more medals on their bodies that glow brighter than the others, which are revealed by the use of magic. Once this medal has been shattered, the Golem will freeze and turn dark. Take this opportunity to run away, heal or continue attacking the other medals. When the Golem reawakens, it will release a repulsing blast with a thundering roar that causes powerful knockback to those within range. It will then turn red/magenta and go berserk for about a minute. Once the Golem has turned purple again, it is safe to attack once more.
 * There is a medal underneath the Golem's foot, usually hard to target - it can be exposed either by:
 * Destroying the medal on its lower back which will usually cause it to drop to all fours.
 * Hitting the mouth when the Golem fires its laser, which may knock down the Golem.
 * The Laser Eye Beam cannot be aimed above the Golem's eye level, so jumping onto higher ground will render its Laser Beam useless. A well timed strike on its head while it shoots laser beams or charges its laser attack will topple it most of the time.

Vocation specific

 * Striders & Rangers : All multistrike skills are useful - the bow does blunt damage so is especially useful, whilst climbing attacks are also effective. Physical bow users are excellent allies in a Golem fight.
 * Warriors are very effective, as they can inflict high physical damage that can fell Golems in no time. They must be wary of the Laser Beams, though, as Warriors lack high Magick Defense. Warriors can also use their heavy jumping attack to penetrate through and damage the medal in the palm, provided they have good enough aim.
 * Mystic Knights : Dark/Abyssal Anguish can allow them to hit two or even three medals at the same time, inflicting massive damage and staggering the Golem. Use of a blunt weapon such as a Mace multiplies damage.
 * Sorcerers : Jumping Magick Billow is the Sorceror's only basic attack against Golems. Unequipping the staff and attacking the disks unarmed can also be used.
 * Generally only spells with a physical damage component are effective - this includes Gicel and Bolide spells.
 * Be wary of including a Sorcerer pawn with the Maelstrom spell. Pawns are unaware that this Dark-based spell does no damage whatsoever to Golems and the hurricane effect completely blinds the player's ability to see the Golem.
 * Most of the meteors from Bolide or High Bolide will miss.
 * Exequy can destroy the Golem, ignoring the need to destroy the medals, but has the disadvantage of a long casting time.
 * Magick Archers : The Golem is for all intents and purposes completely immune to the Magick Archer's spells. Instead of its bow, a Magick Archer should rely on physical dagger attacks (or Immolation). However Sacrificial Bolt and related spells will damage Golem discs, though the effect is not very powerful. For example, the sacrifice of three ~Lv.80 pawns was only able to remove around a half of the golem's strength.

Trivia

 * The Golem protecting Selene in Witchwood is likely a homage to the Golems in Berserk manga by Kentarō Miura, where the Golems rise up to protect the young witch, Schierke, from intruders. The setting is also similar with the events happening in enchanted forests that most people cannot find their way through and the witch's homes which are built right into a great tree. The Golems in Berserk are made from soft earth and are much smaller in size. In Berserk Golems have a smaller entity embedded inside, which if not destroyed, continue to regenerate the outer body. These Golems can also be used to help with household chores.
 * Golems appear to have no particular features at first, but upon closer inspection, one can see a tormented, agonized facial expression on the Golem's head.
 * There are "hibernated" Golems in Witchwood that never come to life when approached in Selene's garden and in the marsh behind her house.

Gallery
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