Arms of God Enemy Types & Counter Guide — How to Beat Every Enemy in the Game

Know Your Enemy

Arms of God has 23 enemy types across four acts, not counting bosses. Each has a specific attack pattern, elemental weakness, and behavior. Learning these is the difference between clearing a room in 15 seconds and dying to the same mob three times in a row.

This guide covers every non-boss enemy, organized by act. Boss strategies are in the [Boss Guide](/guides/arms-of-god-boss-guide-how-to-beat-every-major-boss).

Act 1 Enemies

Hollow Soldier

HP: Low | Damage: Low | Speed: Slow | Weakness: All

The basic enemy. Walks toward you and swings. Two-hit combo with a long recovery window. Dodge the second swing, punish during recovery. Any weapon works.

Counter: Anything. These exist to teach you basic movement.

Shield Bearer

HP: Medium | Damage: Low | Speed: Slow | Weakness: Shock, flanking attacks

Carries a shield that blocks all frontal damage. Attacks with a shield bash that pushes you back. The bash has a 1-second wind-up — dodge sideways, not backwards.

Counter: Fast weapons (Dual Blades, Daggers) — dash behind during the bash animation and attack from the back. Shock blessing stuns them through the shield. Ranged weapons also ignore the shield entirely.

Flame Imp

HP: Low | Damage: Medium | Speed: Fast | Weakness: Frost, Water

Small, fast, throws fireballs from range. Dies in 2-3 hits but fireballs hurt. Usually appears in groups of 3-5. Prioritize these over everything else — a pack of Flame Imps can kill you in seconds if ignored.

Counter: Ranged weapons (Holy Crossbow, Stormcaller Bow) to pick them off from distance. Frost blessing freezes them mid-fireball. Water Spear one-shots them.

Charger

HP: Medium | Damage: High | Speed: Fast (charge only) | Weakness: Flame, Heavy weapons

Lines up a charge (red indicator line appears for 1.5 seconds), then rushes forward dealing massive damage on contact. Hits a wall → stunned for 3 seconds. The charge cannot be interrupted once started — do not try to out-damage it.

Counter: Bait the charge into a wall, then unload during the stun window. Heavy weapons (Hammer, Greatsword) can break the charge with a fully charged heavy if timed perfectly. Flame blessing DOT ticks during the stun window for bonus damage.

Act 2 Enemies

Plague Rat

HP: Low | Damage: Low | Speed: Fast | Weakness: Flame, AoE

Small, fast, attacks in swarms. Each hit applies a poison DOT that stacks up to 5 times. At 5 stacks, you take significant damage over 8 seconds. Individually weak but dangerous in numbers.

Counter: AoE weapons (Sunforged Hammer charged heavy, Heavy Axe slam) clear swarms in one hit. Flame blessing's burn spreads between rats — one burning rat ignites nearby rats. Holy crossbow piercing shots work well too.

Skeleton Archer

HP: Low | Damage: Medium | Speed: Stationary | Weakness: All

Stands at range, fires arrows in a straight line. The arrows are slow but there are usually 4-6 archers per room. They fire in staggered volleys so you are constantly dodging.

Counter: Close the gap immediately. Ranged weapons trade poorly because there are too many of them. Dash through the arrow volley (you have iframes) and take them out in melee. Frost aura from Frost blessing slows their fire rate.

Wraith

HP: Medium | Damage: High | Speed: Medium | Weakness: Holy, Light weapons

Floating enemy that phases in and out of visibility. Attacks with a scream (AoE cone, cannot be blocked) when it reappears. Immune to physical damage while phased.

Counter: Holy weapons do 50% bonus damage and prevent phasing for 5 seconds after being hit. Light weapons (Dual Blades, Daggers) can stun-lock a Wraith before it phases. Listen for the audio cue — a rising whine means it is about to reappear and scream.

Golem

HP: Very High | Damage: High | Speed: Very Slow | Weakness: Shock, sustained DPS

Massive stone enemy. Slow moving but each hit takes 40-60% of your HP. Attack pattern: ground slam (AoE around it) → rock throw (ranged, tracks slightly) → charge (short range, fast). Then 4 seconds of recovery.

Counter: Bait all three attacks, then unload during recovery. Shock blessing doubles damage against golems. Frost slows their already-slow attack cycle to the point where you can get 6-8 hits between attacks. Do not get greedy — hit 3-4 times, dodge out, repeat.

Act 3 Enemies

Shadow Assassin

HP: Medium | Damage: Very High | Speed: Very Fast | Weakness: Holy, Frost

The most dangerous non-boss enemy in the game. Teleports behind you, backstabs for 200% damage, teleports away. Appears with almost no warning — a brief shimmer 0.5 seconds before the teleport.

Counter: When you see the shimmer, dodge FORWARD, not backward (it teleports behind you). Holy blessing reveals them while cloaked — worth equipping just for Act 3. Frost blessing slows them enough that they cannot complete the backstab before you react. Never stand still in Act 3 rooms.

Fire Mage

HP: Medium | Damage: High | Speed: Stationary | Weakness: Water, Frost

Casts three fire spells: fireball (dodge sideways), flame wall (blocks path, lasts 8 seconds), meteor (targeted AoE, 2-second delay, one-shots at low HP). The meteor is the priority — when you see the red circle, move immediately.

Counter: Water and Frost weapons deal double damage. Close the gap quickly — mages have no melee defense. Interrupt spellcasting with any hit. Kill mages first in any room.

Corrupted Paladin

HP: High | Damage: High | Speed: Medium | Weakness: Void, Heavy weapons

Heavily armored, heals nearby enemies, and buffs their damage by 30%. The buff aura is a visible golden circle. Kill the Paladin first or you fight an entire buffed room.

Counter: Void blessing ignores armor (execute triggers at 25% instead of 20%). Heavy weapons break the armor after 4-5 hits, increasing all damage taken by 50%. Focus the Paladin before anything else.

Act 4 Enemies

Void Reaper

HP: Very High | Damage: Extreme | Speed: Medium | Weakness: Holy, sustained DPS

Elite enemy that only appears in Act 4. Scythe attacks with massive range. Applies a stacking debuff that reduces your max HP by 5% per hit, up to 40%. The debuff persists until you clear the room or die.

Counter: Holy blessing cleanses the HP debuff on kill. Maintain maximum distance — the scythe arc is wider than it looks. Burst damage works better than sustained DPS because you cannot afford a long fight. Full guide: [Void Reaper strategy](/guides/arms-of-god-void-reaper-guide).

Divine Guardian

HP: Extreme | Damage: High | Speed: Slow | Weakness: All (rotating immunity)

Rotates immunity between physical, fire, shock, and holy every 10 seconds. The current immunity is shown by a colored aura. Attacks with homing light projectiles that cannot be dodged — you must break line of sight.

Counter: Carry two weapons with different damage types. When physical is immune, use elemental. The aura color tells you what is immune: red = fire immune, blue = shock immune, gold = holy immune, grey = physical immune. Use pillars and walls to break light projectile tracking.

Enemy Type Quick Reference

| Enemy | Act | Priority | Primary Counter |

|-------|-----|----------|-----------------|

| Flame Imp | 1 | HIGH | Ranged, Frost |

| Shield Bearer | 1 | LOW | Flanking, Shock |

| Charger | 1 | MED | Bait into wall |

| Plague Rat | 2 | HIGH | AoE, Flame |

| Wraith | 2 | MED | Holy, audio cue |

| Golem | 2 | MED | Bait rotation |

| Shadow Assassin | 3 | CRITICAL | Holy reveal, dodge forward |

| Fire Mage | 3 | CRITICAL | Water, close gap |

| Corrupted Paladin | 3 | CRITICAL | Void, focus first |

| Void Reaper | 4 | HIGH | Holy cleanse, burst |

| Divine Guardian | 4 | HIGH | Two damage types |

General Combat Principles

1. Kill ranged enemies first. Melee enemies chase you. Ranged enemies kill you while you kite melee.

2. Never stand still. Even during boss recovery windows, strafe. Shadow Assassins punish stationary targets.

3. Use audio cues. Wraiths whine before appearing. Chargers make a distinct scraping sound before lining up. Bosses have unique sounds for each attack. Play with headphones.

4. The dodge has iframes. The middle 30% of the dodge animation gives full invincibility. Time your dodge so the iframe window overlaps the enemy attack, not before it.