Elden Ring First Sorcery Vendor and Mad Pumpkin Head Boss Guide

Guide to help you get to the first Sorcery vendor Sellen in Elden Ring by exploring Waypoint Ruins and defeating Pumpkin Head Boss!

Where is the Sorcery vendor Sellen in Elden Ring?

The first Sorcery vendor / teacher is located in Waypoint Ruins (where the pink flower enemies are). From the Agheel Lake North Grace, go past the Birdseye Telescope and cross the bridge with the horseman, traveling towards the black caravan that carries the Great Axe. Waypoint Ruins are on your left.

Path to the first sorcery vendor in Elden Ring

As you walk into Waypoint Ruins, go towards the large pink flower, but make a u-turn at the two little flower enemies.

You can defeat them or just walk past them. I would advise ignoring the big flower since you will have to fight a mini-boss before you are able to access the vendor.

As soon as you pass the left wall, make another u-turn towards the ruined building where the torch is. In the image above, those beams of light are where the two little flower enemies were in the previous image.

At the base of the stairs, you’ll find a golden fog wall and inside you’ll have to fight the Mad Pumpkin Head boss.

How to beat the Mad Pumpkin Head boss

The Mad Pumpkin Head boss itself is pretty straightforward, not a whole lot of attacks as a full boss.

His flail inflicts bleed damage which you can see as that red meter above the boss health bar.

Elden Ring Mad Pumpkin Head Boss Fight - Bleeding effect

If you aren’t familiar, the bleed status effect builds up to a huge hit once the bar is filled. This is in contrast to poison where you get a very long damage over time (DoT) applied to you. Make sure you don’t let the bar fill all the way up, but you’ll probably be defeated before that happens.

The signature trait of the Mad Pumpkin Head is, wait for it, his pumpkin head! This helmet mitigates a lot of the damage he takes and seems to be more resistant to magic damage than physical.

This is a pretty easy fight for melee. As a spellcaster, most of your spells are gonna get blocked by his big ol’ pumpkin head.

How to fight Pumpkin Head as a spellcaster

He doesn’t have that much health, so you can just spam Glintstone Pebbles and should be able to defeat him even if they hit his helmet, but it will take time to whittle him down, requiring you to dodge more of his attacks.

His body is a lot more vulnerable, so if you can manage to hit that instead, your spells will deal full damage.

Hit Pumpkin Head from the back side when you can - Elden Ring Mad Pumpkin Head Boss

I think it’s best to just try and get the juicy body shots in when you can, but not waste openings to hit his head. If you can hit him 2-3 times, that’s like a third or half of the damage you’ll deal with a body shot.

His actual attacks are all pretty similar, he just swings around his flail a number of times, usually more than once, so just wait until he finishes his flurry and isn’t winding up another swing before drinking or attacking.

It’s best to roll backward and to the side. Rolling to the side is best if you want to get in some body shots, but it is a little riskier since you’ll be closer to his flail.

There is a Co-op summon sign at the entrance to the ruins if you need additional help.

Sorceress Sellen – The First Sorcery Vendor

In a room behind the boss arena you will find Sellen, the first sorcery vendor / merchant in Elden Ring.

Where to find the first sorcery vendor in Elden Ring

Sellen has 6 Sorceries she can teach / sell you, though if you started as an Astrologer like I did, you’ll already know two of them and two more (Scholar’s Shield and Armament) might not be useful to you, though they may be useful if you aren’t a Sorcerer.