Elden Ring Tree Spirit Boss Guide: How to beat them

This guide will help you learn how to fight Tree Spirit bosses in Elden Ring. They all share the same moveset and you can apply the same strategy to each one of them!

What are the Tree Spirits

Tree Spirits are intimidating mini bosses that appear in several locations throughout the Lands Between. They’re as massive as dragons, tend to deal quite a lot of damage, and frequently writhe around in a chaotic fashion. Despite the fear they can instill, Tree Spirits aren’t all that different from other bosses.

In this guide, I’ll be focusing on the Putrid Tree Spirit found at the end of the War-Dead Catacombs in northeast Caelid.

Putrid Tree Spirit boss location in Caelid

This version of the boss seems to have a few more attacks than your typical Tree Spirit and is accessible long before you should technically attempt to fight it. Just because you have defeated Starscourge Radhan does not necessarily mean that you’re ready to fight the Putrid Tree Spirit.

This guide is still applicable for other versions of the boss, though you may not see all of the attacks that I mention. In particular, the attacks that involve Scarlet Rot are likely to be absent from other versions.

Tree Spirits Boss Mechanics and Strategy

The signature traits of Tree Spirits are their chaotic writhing and fast movement. It can be quite difficult to tell when and where it’s safe to be for attacking and flask drinking. Thankfully, the boss doesn’t deal damage with its body most of the time, especially if it’s not traversing the room. This is in stark contrast to a boss like the Magma Wyrm where you’ll often take damage if you make direct contact with its body.

Standing near the head or tail are the most dangerous positions. In general, if you are in front of the boss, you should probably not be attacking unless you know you can finish your attack and dodge before the Putrid Tree Spirit’s attack could possibly land. Due to the writhing, it’s quite difficult to see the telegraphs for the boss’ attacks.

It’s also pretty dangerous to try and create distance from the Putrid Tree Spirit unless it’s doing an attack with a very long animation because the boss can and will move incredibly fast if it isn’t already in the midst of an attack. In this way, it’s quite similar to how bears work.

It’s safest to be extremely close to the side of the boss. You will get moved around a lot as the boss wiggles about, but many of the Putrid Tree Spirit’s attacks just don’t hit to its sides and often the head and neck will actually deal damage if they make contact.

Now, the side of the boss isn’t always safe. There are instances where you will take damage if you stay to the side. In these situations, it’s best to run away and create distance. Whenever it’s unsafe to be right to the side of the boss, it’s safe to be further away.

Keep an eye out for contorting, coiling, and when the boss deliberately moves away from you. These are signs that the boss is about to do an attack, though again, it won’t always mean that you have to move away.

Head Slam

The boss will slam its head down at you. Often, it will do the attack twice in a row, especially when sub-50% HP.

The key telegraph is that the boss will swing its head back like a whip and then quickly swing it down to the ground where you’re standing. If you’re far enough away, you can dodge back, but dodging to the right or left is the safest. Do not dodge forward.

Fist Pound

The boss will clasp its claws together into a fist and slam down towards you.

It will always be safe to dodge to the left or right, but you might also be able to dodge forward or backward depending on how close you are to the boss. If you dodge forward, you can probably get a few extra hits in, but you have to already be pretty close to the boss to evade the attack.

Claw Swipe

This attack probably has the most subtle telegraph, the boss’ left arm basically comes out of nowhere.

Thankfully, you can dodge at the very last second. Make sure you’re not dodging to your left, but any other direction should work. If you’re having to worry about this attack, you’re standing somewhere that you shouldn’t be.

Tail Swipe

The boss has a tail swipe attack, it’s one of the most telegraphed of the physical attacks, but it has massive range. Like other boss’s tail attacks, the Putrid Tree Spirit tends to only do it to punish poor positioning or a mistake. If you stay away from its tail, the boss won’t use this attack very often.

It’s best to dodge backwards or forwards depending on which direction will move out out of range of the swipe. If you’re closer to the boss, dodge forward; if you’re further away from the boss, dodge backward. The swipe itself is fast, so it’s best if you can just utilize the immunity frames you get from dodging.

Head Swipe

When doing a whole head swipe, the boss will kind of roll onto its side and recoil its whole body to wind up the attack.

As you can see from this image, the boss contorts itself in such a way that it’s hard to see what you’re looking at. This is the key indication that you’re in for a head swipe attack.

The whole head is actually off the screen. Your best bet to avoid this attack is to dodge through the swipe or sprint out of range. You likely won’t be able to dodge in any other direction without relying on the immunity frames.

Scarlet Rot Downward Breath

This attack has an incredibly long animation and only deals damage in a small area, making it one of the best opportunities to get some hits in.

The key telegraph is that the boss will coil up tightly like a cobra before breathing down Scarlet Rot breath towards its tail. You can tell that the boss won’t be doing a tail attack because the entire body coils up, not just the tail.

All you have to do is run away from the Scarlet Rot breath and then go ham on the boss from a safe location. As a melee, you should be safe anywhere that the boss’ body blocks the breath.

Scarlet Rot Breath Attack

Sometimes, the Putrid Tree Spirit will breathe Scarlet Rot while charging.

You really don’t have to do anything to avoid it if you’re already to the side of the boss and in my experience, it seemed to charge past you a lot of the time. I think this attack is more just another punishment for being in front of or at range from the boss. If you stick to the side it shouldn’t be an issue.

Eat Attack

The boss recoils back and opens its mouth wide. It tends to actually move away from you before beginning the attack.

Then, it quickly charges at you to the side and attempts to gobble you up.

You must dodge in the direction that the boss is not coming from or sprint diagonally towards the boss and in the opposite direction that the boss is charging from. I don’t think you can shield the attack because it grabs you.

You will almost certainly be defeated if you get hit by this attack because it chews you up, applies Scarlet Rot (completely fills up an empty bar) and then spits you out while breathing more rot onto you. The only time I was able to survive it is when I had full health and the Opaline Bubbletear active. Even then, I only barely survived and had to immediately take a sip of my flask and consume Preserving Boluses to cleanse the Scarlet Rot.

This attack is still present on other types of Tree Spirits, but without the Scarlet Rot components, making it a bit less dangerous.

Scarlet Rot Explosion

This attack is typically done when the boss has about 50% HP and marks a transition to phase 2 where the boss will passively emit Scarlet Rot. You don’t have to worry too much about the Scarlet Rot buildup; you’ll probably defeat the boss or be defeated before it maxes out.

The explosion itself is huge and deals a ton of damage, almost a full health bar. Thankfully, you have a lot of warning where the boss will start glowing red and fire will spawn in various places around the room.

When you see this, you have to sprint away. Once you’re far enough away that you’re in front of all the little fires on the ground, you’re safe to use ranged attacks. Be careful that all the fires are actually in front of you; if you can’t see your character because of a weird camera angle, you can’t be sure. Unlike some other second phase transitions, the Putrid Tree Spirit can do this attack again when it’s below 50%.

After the explosion is finished, you can charge back in and start attacking until the boss begins its next attack.

War-Dead Catacombs Putrid Tree Spirit Rewards

The Putrid Tree Spirit at the end of the War-Dead Catacombs drops a Golden Seed, Redmane Knight Ogha Spirit Ashes, and 64,000 Runes.

War-Dead Catacombs Putrid Tree Spirit Rewards - Knight Ogha Spirit Ash

Most Tree Spirits drop a Golden Seed when defeated. Since they are considered mini-bosses, they don’t drop as many Runes as you might think you’d deserve for taking down one of these difficult foes. In general, Rune drops from bosses seem to scale more with the perceived stature of the boss in the Lands Between than actual difficulty or level requirement.

You can find more Boss Guides for Elden Ring here on VULKK.com. And if you want to fully explore, we have a growing collection of guides to help you find and collect every valuable item in the Lands Between.