Ulcerated Tree Spirit | Elden Ring Wiki

Ulcerated Tree Spirit DLC Boss Video Guide

Ulcerated Tree Spirit Fight Strategy

Melee Users

"Don't Panic" is the motto of the Ulcerated Tree Spirit fight. Most of the times when it's flopping around it won't damage you, so learning when the few times that touching it hurts is the key to this fight.

Setup: Shield and enough armor to survive its bite attack.
Optional Setup: Holy Defense and Fire Damage, such as Fire Pots and Fire Grease

The most important thing to watch out for is the roar before the bite attack. Immediately after the roar, it will crawl up on the wall and charging at you with mouth wide open! Shift left when you see it and you should avoid it. Be ready to roll if it is too close.

Phase 1: Keep pushing towards his left side with your shield up until you are in range. If your Guard Boost is too low, it will stagger you, but its melee attacks are slow enough that you can recover before the next one starts. If it starts a breath attack, get in close if you are near enough, and run to the side if you are not. You can get some solid swings in while it is breathing everywhere else.

Learn the one crawling animation that does damage you from touching its entire body and avoid t.

Watch out for the start of Phase 2, since it does a large AOE with lightning strikes when it first transitions. It can do this AOE later in the fight as well, so continue to watch for the windup. If you are already far, run away. If you are close, move away with your shield up and just eat the damage.

Phase 2: The Tree Spirit starts doing holy damage with its attacks, so blocking with your shield will do chip damage to you. Don't Panic. The strategy is the same as phase 1, but hopefully you've got some timings down and can roll through a few of his melee attacks. Don't be afraid to take the chip damage on your shield instead of a full strength attack.

Repeat enough times to learn the windups and you'll be able to pick out the ones where there's enough time for a charged attack or multiple attacks. Eventually, you'll put this tree back in the ground.

Some more specific attack patterns for roll-focused characters:
Starting off the fight, it will either lumber toward you and prepare for melee combat, or it will charge at you for its three-hit, double-charge combo. For the Double charge, dodge LEFT then LEFT again, then wait until you see it climb the wall and wind up, then dodge LEFT one more time to avoid the grab. Now, once you are in the fight, it is recommended to stay close to the boss's left arm (right side looking at the beast) where it meets the ground. You can punish almost every melee move with multiple light attacks and this strategy mostly keeps it from using the dangerous yellow breath attacks.

So if it claw swipes, dodge RIGHT, read for another move, then get in a light attack and repeat. If it raises its claw to stomp, then roll RIGHT, count two stomps with the claw you just avoided, then jump attack and reset. If it flops its neck down, roll RIGHT, turn to your left and get a couple of light attacks, then read its next move and reset. If it starts winding up its tail, back away from it then Dodge Roll right, then punish with a jump attack. Finally, if it hunkers down and cranes his neck up and begins to glow, SPRINT AWAY quickly. This is the beginning of phase two and the explosion will kill you or lower your health to where you can be killed easily. It is a grind in the early game because of the beast's high HP, but you can do it! Study the moves and develop a reaction to each one.

One weakness of the Tree Spirit is that its claw and mouth attacks can often overshoot the player. Staying as close as possible allows for easy damage, only being threatened by the tail whip attack. The whip can be blocked with a decent amount of stamina, since there's enough time after the block to recover from a stagger.

Magic and Ranged Users

You should bully him like a melee build. It is so large that you can't really make a gap that it won't immediately close, and it will also go for a bite attack if you get too far out. Don't start any attacks straight in front of it unless you're sure it's not about to go for a breath attack, and try to shoot for its side after it flops past you.

Stagger Bug:

If you stagger the Ulcerated Tree Spirit during its phase-change animation (the move where it explodes with golden light), the AI of the boss will stop acting in any way. This will allow you to damage the boss however you see fit from safety. Be warned however that after about 8 seconds after the AI stops functioning, the boss will resume moving. So it is in your best interest to continue staggering and Critical Hitting the boss so that it remains immobile while you work towards defeating it.

Ulcerated Tree Spirit Attacks & Counters

Attack	Description	Counter
Double Charge	It roars and lunges at you, then writhes once with its body, then climbs the wall and lunges again. The 2nd lunge is a deadly grab.	Roll LEFT, roll LEFT again, wait for it to climb the wall, the avoid the 2nd lunge with another roll LEFT.
Charge Grab	It roars, climbs the wall, then lunges at you for a deadly grab.	When you notice it climb the wall, roll LEFT as it charges.
Gold Breath Spew	Its mouth will glow yellow and it will fire a long-distance stream of golden flames.	If you are at a distance, sprint horizontally and then approach him to punish once out of the line of fire.
Charge + Spew	It will perform "Charge Grab" then coil up and spew fire right below its head.	Avoid charge like normal, then sprint to its leftish belly (right side looking at the beast) and punish.
Claw Swipes	It will swipe with its left claw, hesitate briefly, and then swipe with its right claw.	Roll THROUGH each swipe. So roll LEFT then roll RIGHT.
Sideswipe	It will swipe with its claw on whichever side you are on front-to-back to clear you off of its side.	Roll THROUGH. If you are approaching to the right, the claw will come from the left, and vice versa. This attack can have a follow up, see below.
Tail Swipe	It will wrap its tail around its back then swipe it across.	Back away from it as it winds up, then roll RIGHT, and sprint to punish.
Claw/Tail Combo	It will perform "Sideswipe" and follow up with a jumping "Tail Swipe"	Roll THROUGH then hesitate a short moment, then roll RIGHT through the tail.
Claw Crush	It will raise its claw and stomp in a 1-2-1 rhythm. So two stomps on the side that it stomps first, and one on the other side.	Roll out of the way of the first stomp, then wait until second stomp happens then punish. HIGHLY PUNISHABLE because it never changes or adds a follow up.
Swipe then Pound	It will perform one claw swipe from the right looking at it head on, then it will raise both claws together in a pounding motion.	Roll through the first swipe, then SPRINT to its belly (off-center) and the pound will miss you. Punish with a few light attacks.
Neck Flop	It will flop its head over and slam its neck down directly in front of itself. May follow up with another neck flop or a neck swipe.	Roll RIGHT out of the way, turn to your left and punish with 2 light attacks.
Neck Swipe	It will roll its neck to the right (its left) and wind up a heavy swipe that will hit for over half your health.	This attack has a massive windup. Be patient, then dodge through to the RIGHT. Similar to the Tail Swipe, I had more luck avoiding this by being slightly further away from its body then by being up against it.
Yellow Fire Explosion	It will hunker down, and crane its head up, beginning to glow with yellow fire. Subsequent fire pillars will rise up at points marked with a glowing spot on the floor.	This has 2 hit boxes. The main AOE explosion around the beast that will knock and stun you, and an AOE on each pillar of yellow fire that blasts upward from the marked places on the floor. As soon as you notice this move, SPRINT away while being mindful to avoid the pillars that will soon form by watching the floor.

Ulcerated Tree Spirit Notes & Other Trivia

• Variation from Stormveil Castle can be killed with ranged weapons/spells with ease - the player should place summoning sign near 2nd boss fight from that area and run to area from that side. If the player manage to get summoned shortly before ascending to the area, where Tree Spirit appears, the player will spot him with most of his attacks being harmless.
• Tree Spirits bear resemblance to the Pus of Man, an enemy from Dark Souls 3, and are an implementation of the "Snake Soul" boss concept from the early beta of Dark Souls III, referenced in its internal file name.

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