Elden Ring offers some of the toughest and most varied bosses out of any From Software game to date. The Tree Sentinel is one of the first bosses players will face, encountering this gilded knight immediately upon exiting the tutorial area. He's fast, hits hard, and can be tricky to read.
While this fight isn't mandatory, it's surprisingly easy once you learn his attack telegraphs and the power of jump attacks. With good movement and a little bit of external help, you should be able to smash this boss in a few tries and receive his Golden Halberd, one of the best early-game weapons you can get your hands on.
Tree Sentinel Overview
| Tree Sentinel Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | The First Step, Limgrave |
| Optional | Yes |
| Summons | Players and Spirit Ashes |
| Drops | Golden Halberd |
| Weak To | Jump Attacks |
The Tree Sentinel is the first boss you'll face after the tutorial. Located right after you exit the tutorial, you can find the Tree Sentinel roaming the outskirts of the Church of Elleh. It's possible to avoid this fight entirely by running around the boss, but those who fight this boss will be given a powerful melee weapon for their trouble. We recommend you fight the Tree Sentinel after you receive Torrent and your first Spirit Ash. You'll also want a hard-hitting melee weapon or ranged weapon with tons of ammo.
Tree Sentinel Attacks
Most of the Tree Sentinel's attacks occur at melee range, using his halberd and horse to damage your character. This boss has three attacks worth noting here: a shove, shield deflect, and slam. Every attack can be found below, along with some tips on how to avoid them.
Every halberd attack from the Tree Sentinel can be parried, stunning the boss for a few seconds.
| TREE SENTINEL ATTACKS |
|---|
Underhand Swing
The Tree Sentinel will raise its halberd in the air before performing an underhand swing to his right.
Counter: Dodge perpendicular to the boss to avoid this attack.
Overhead Swing
After a short hop, the Tree Sentinel will make an overhead swing at you. If the attack lands near you, he can chain this into a three-hit combo.
Counter: Dodge shortly after the horse hops, or create some space when that telegraph occurs.
Wide Swing
The Tree Sentinel will move the halberd to his left before making a wide, horizontal swing.
Counter: Roll right as the boss moves its arm outward, or run away when he begins the attack animation.
Halberd Poke
The horse will stand on its hind legs before the Tree Sentinel slams the ground with its halberd. This deals heavy damage.
Counter: Dodge right as the front of the horse begins to fall to the ground.
Shield Slam
When the Tree Sentinel gets below half health, it can launch himself and his horse into the air before slamming the ground. He'll charge with his shield shortly thereafter, dealing lethal damage to low-level characters.
Counter: Dodge the first leap shortly after the boss jumps into the air. Run away to avoid the second attack, or dodge a second after the boss raises his shield toward you.
Shove
Either the horse of Tree Sentinel will shove you, staggering you for a second. The boss will typically follow this up with a halberd attack.
Counter: Shoves usually happen if you're standing too close to a boss. Right after you punish the boss, retreat until his next attack telegraph appears.
Shield Deflect
The Tree Sentinel will protect himself using his shield, covering his shield in holy runes. Arrows will deflect off the shield and deal no damage. Should any spells hit this shield, it will create a lighting spear directed at you.
Counter: Don't use any spells when the shield is raised. Melee builds have a moment to dish out some damage.
Strategies
There are three main strategies for this fight: making smart use of jump attacks and parries for melee users, avoiding attacks with Torrent, or cheesing the boss with ranged attacks.
Melee Strategy
Tree Sentinel is a tough fight for melee builds but not impossible. If you're a newcomer to From Software titles, we highly recommend that you get comfortable dodging the boss' attacks before doing anything else. Learning how to utilize your invulnerability frames (iFrames for short) is a key skill you'll use for the rest of your playthrough.
As for the strategy itself, it's quite simple:
- Wait for the boss to attack.
- Dodge or parry the attack to avoid incoming damage.
- Use a heavy jump attack with a two-handed weapon to deal heavy poise damage.
Jump attacks serve as your main tool for staggering the boss. Two-hand your weapon, jump in the air while holding the heavy attack button, then retreat once the attack hits. This deals an absurd amount of damage to an enemy's poise, the Tree Sentinel being no exception. Three or four heavy jump attacks should be enough to stagger the boss, allowing you to get some free hits in. Once the boss recovers from the stagger, retreat. Rinse and repeat until the boss is dead.
For Souls veterans that want to kill this boss quickly, you can parry all of this boss' halberd attacks. Right before the halberd hits you, if you activate your shield's parry ability, you can deflect the attack and temporarily stun the boss. You can't get a critical hit on the boss since he's on horseback, but you can dish out some solid damage without any concern for getting hit.
Mounted Combat
Melina will give you the ability to summon Torrent, your mount, fairly early in your playthrough. We recommend fighting this boss once you unlock Torrent. You can use Torrent's unmatched speed to avoid most of the Tree Sentinel's attacks. Wait for the boss to attack, close the gap to land a hit or two, then retreat. So long as you read the boss' telegraphs correctly, you should be nigh-impossible to hit. To make hitting the boss remember, try to attack the boss from his backside. Remember, you can alternate which side you're attacking from on your horse by pressing your left or right bumpers.
Tree Sentinel Cheese
There's a stone ruin positioned directly across from the Church of Elleh you can use as cover from the Tree Sentinel. Use Torrent to jump atop the stone block, then use your preferred ranged weapon to kill the boss. So long as you don't stand near the very edge of the structure, it's impossible for the boss to hit you. It might despawn periodically and reappear near the church with this strategy. If this happens, use a bow to draw the boss' attention again. It's also possible to do this at the Chruch of Elleh's entrance, but we don't recommend you do this; it's much harder to land ranged attacks from such a small entryway.
Tips
- You can summon spirits for this fight. Consider summoning a group of spirits before starting this fight to draw the Tree Sentinel's attention away from you.
- Rest at the Church of Elleh's Shrine of Grace to restart this fight without dying.
- Heavy jump attacks deal massive poise damage to this boss.
- You can use a shield to parry this boss' halberd attacks.
- Should this fight prove too difficult, you can run past the Tree Sentinel and fight it another day. It isn't a mandatory fight.
