How to Beat the Erdtree Avatar & Putrid Avatar Boss – Elden Ring

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Leyndell, Ashen Capital

• Spirit Summons Available: Yes

Found guarding almost every minor Erdtree in the Lands Between, these guys might feel somewhat familiar to anyone who played Dark Souls — remember the Asylum demon? In this guide, we’ll give some general advice and specific strategy for how to take down Erdtree Avatars and collect their sweet, sweet tears.

General Tips

• These bosses are vulnerable to Fire damage — even the simple Fire Pot can be a big help in defeating them (especially for characters that lack ranged options).
• Unless you’re trying to give yourself a challenge, don’t bother fighting these things on foot unless you have to — always mount Torrent before engaging an Erdtree Avatar.
• You can dodge this boss’ projectiles by riding perpendicular to the boss (horizontally while locked on). In areas where there are lots of obstacles, it’s not a bad idea to unlock the camera and look where you’re riding to avoid the projectile attack (once you’ve pointed yourself in the right direction).
• Only attack after the boss has finished attacking, or when the boss is idle; if you try to get damage in while the boss is actively running towards you, you’ll almost always get hit.

Strategy

On horseback, the pattern for taking down this boss is relatively simple: get close enough for the boss to begin an attack or combo, ride just out of range, and then ride in as the last attack finishes. Attack as you ride around and then away from the boss.

While ideally you’ll learn every combo and know exactly when it’s safe to attack, you’ll probably end up heading in early a few times. If you tap the dash button and sprint in, and then circle around the boss as you attack, it will frequently miss its more vertical attacks. Therefore, it’s best to always dash in and ride around the boss to ensure you have a chance to dodge any unexpected swings.

Sometimes the boss will two-hand the weapon near its tip and then slam it into the ground, doing AOE magic damage and creating orbs that then fly towards you. Riding in a circle while locked on is the easiest way to avoid this attack, although make sure you know there’s nothing in front of you — if you get caught on an obstacle you’ll probably die to the projectiles.

Summons can help take the boss down faster, but because so many of its attacks are sweeping and horizontal, it can still be dangerous to attack him while he’s doing one of his moves. That being said, if you see him raising his weapon high over his head for a downward attack — and he’s targeting a summon — it’s usually safe to ride behind him and attack him.

Magic users can use the same strategy of riding just close enough to trigger a combo and then riding out of range, and can start flinging spells as soon as they’re a safe distance away.

On Foot

You’ll sometimes encounter the avatars in areas you cannot summon Torrent. When fighting the boss on foot, you’ll have to roll through its attacks and then counterattack. Therefore, learning the boss’s combos is essential. If there is cover nearby, you can also choose to hide in an area the boss can’t reach and used ranged spells — the problem with this tactic is that the boss will spam its Projectile Summon, which will force you to hide and can be difficult to avoid on foot.

Putrid Avatar

While fighting the Putrid version of the Erdtree Avatar boss, the main difference will be that the Butt Slam attack will also send out rotten projectiles that will create rotten areas on the ground, which will inflict Scarlet Rot even if you’re mounted.

While this attack is easy to avoid, unlike the Erdtree Avatar version of this boss, you will have to wait for the rot clouds to disappear before you can go in and deal damage to the boss. However, if you have access to ranged attacks, this is a good opportunity to use them while waiting for the clouds to dissipate.

Moveset

There are safe attack windows after the end of every attack/combo listed, with the exception of the Projectile Summon.

• Triple Attack – The boss swings its weapon right to left, then left to right, and then raises it high over its head for a downward slam. If you’re greedy, you can attack the boss from behind as it does the third attack in this combo.
• Overhand Slam – The boss holds its weapon in its right hand and brings it around over its shoulder and slams it into the ground. You can attack after this move finishes.
• Two-handed Slam/Sweep – The boss holds its weapon in both hands, bringing it over its right shoulder and then slamming it down; it then winds up and unleashes a horizontal attack.
• Butt Slam – The Erdtree Avatar jumps up into the air, then lands on its butt, damaging everything near its landing site. Ride away when it jumps up, and start charging in right before it lands to get followup damage in. When fighting the Putrid Avatar version of this boss, you’ll have to wait for the Scarlet Rot clouds to disappear before charging back in.
• Stomp – The boss stomps one of its feet, doing damage in a small area around where its foot lands. While it is possible to circle around the boss and damage it during this move, it’s safer to just get out of range.
• Projectile Summon – The boss holds its weapon near its tip with both hands, and slams the tip of the weapon into the ground, creating an AOE magical attack around it and summoning orbs that then fly towards the boss’ target. Ride away from the boss when you see this attack begin, and then ride horizontally relative to the orbs to avoid them.

We hope this guide was helpful! If you have any questions, suggestions, or if you’ve discovered other Erdtree Avatars and want to let us know the location and rewards, you can do so in the comments!