Elden Ring’s open-world setting allows for lots of bosses to be placed in the world of the Lands Between. This guide will help you defeat one of the optional bosses in Elden Ring, the Draconic Tree Sentinel, by outlining key strategies to use.
Elden Ring Draconic Tree Sentinel Location
Draconic Tree Sentinel is an optional boss in Elden Ring and is found in the region of Altus Plateau. Although the boss is optional, he is guarding the most straightforward path leading into Lyndell Royal Capital. If you can’t find the second secret path to the city, he acts as the main boss who you need to defeat to get to Lyndell, Royal Captial.
Draconic Tree Sentinel is a beefed up and stronger version of the Tree Sentinel with lightning attacks and is much more aggressive than the regular Tree Sentinel that you will probably have faced around three times by now.
To get to Draconic Tree Sentinel, head east from the Hermit’s Shack Grace in the Capital Outskirts region. Follow the path along the round wall of the city to get to the bridge which is guarded by Draconic Tree Sentinel.
A non-boss version of Draconic Tree Sentinel is found in Crumbling Farum Azula, just before the Maliketh Boss Fight. Here, the boss version is the main focus.
The boss is found in free roam mode and other enemies may intervene, so make sure you kill any enemies nearby who might make the job harder for you.
There is a Stake of Marika near the boss, so if you die, you won’t have to run back all the way from the Site of Grace.
Draconic Tree Sentinel Recommended Level and Weaknesses
Although, Draconic Tree Sentinel can be fought at the start of the game, but it is highly recommended to fight him when you reach a level of around 20.
In order to exploit Draconic Tree Sentinel’s weaknesses, make it a point to use Standard and Thrust type of attacks to cause a great deal of damage. You are not recommended to use Strike Damage and Lightning Damage as they do the least damage.
Draconic Tree Sentinel Attacks and Counters
The Draconic Tree Sentinel boss uses a great hammer which can deal massive damage. If you stay on the side where he is holding the hammer, be ready for many extremely fast attacks with almost no windup.
If you are far away, he will charge his attack and run up to you and slam his weapon into the ground. He can also charge his attack by holding the hammer over his head and then strike it into the ground dealing AoE damage.
He also uses the Horse stomp, where his horse will stomp on you, and his horse also breaths fireballs which can both attack you at a range as well as while you are standing next to him.
Along with these, Draconic Tree Sentinel also has a variety of shield attacks, where he can bash you in any direction if you are standing on the side where he is holding his shield. Along with front and back bashes, the boss can also slam his shield on you.
Draconic Tree Sentinel enters his second phase after his health depletes a bit and starts using Lightning attacks against you. This is where the fight gets interesting as there are so many attacks that are almost impossible to recognize every time.
The boss will imbue his shield with Lightning and either follow-up with a sweep that summons a field of lightning falling at random places or raise his shield and then slam it to drop a single targeted lightning bolt at you from the sky.
The first attack can be avoided by looking at the highlighted areas on the ground, whereas you need to master the timing for the second attack so you can dodge it.
For the hammer, Draconic Tree Sentinel will either smash his hammer into the ground and deal AoE damage or swing his hammer and slam it on the ground which sends out a wave of Lightning. This attack has particularly good tracking, so as soon as you see him charging this attack, run away.
How to Defeat Draconic Tree Sentinel Boss in Elden Ring
For as strong as Draconic Tree Sentinel is, he is stupidly weak to Poison and Bleed. A single cast of Poison Mist spell, without any upgrades, will easily deal over 1000 damage to the boss. This just shows how easy it is to defeat the boss if you can sue any of these two ailments in the game.
If you are a pure melee character, you need to be fast on your feet. Remember that you will not be able to tank any of Draconic Tree Sentinel’s attacks. You need to always stay on your Torrent to be able to dodge an attack or soak up damage.
The best thing is to use a weapon with good range. For Colossal Sword users, a crouch attack is a stab and has good range. Spears have a good range on stabs as well as charged heavies. For straight sword and Katana users, make sure to only exploit the opening in his attacks.
You can ask for additional help to defeat this boss by summoning other players using the Furlcalling Finger Remedy. If you are having a hard time, go back and start working on Millicent’s questline. After you give her the Prosthesis Arm and defeat the boss in Windmill Village, you can summon her for this fight.
She can be a huge help to you for defeating the boss. Millicent will distract the boss during the second phase, and you can do some damage with ease.
Don’t sit on summons. They can be a huge help and will help you get breathing room from the boss. We recommend any ranged archer-type summon. Even if you are calling a mimic, give it a bow so it can help establish distance between you and Draconic Tree Sentinel.
When the sentinel’s health will be reduced by half, he will boost himself with dragon magic. These attacks will be new and will contain two ferocious lightning strikes. You need to use fast spells and maintain your distance at all points to have a change of standing against him.
Draconic Tree Sentinel Drops
Defeating Draconic Tree Sentinel will drop 50,000 Runes, Dragon Greatclaw and Dragonclaw Shield.
How to Cheese Draconic Tree Sentinel
In order to take the Draconic Tree Sentinel by surprise, you need to collect poison mist incantation first. You must visit Weeping Peninsula and enter castle Morne Rampart (see map below for precise location). You need to kill Scarab here to obtain the poison mist.
Again, if you manage to get your hands on Poison Mist or any of the blood ailment dealing spells, you can get the fight over quickly. You need 12 Faith to use the Poison Mist spell.
After obtaining the mist, you must buy Finger seal which will help you in casting the poison mist. Finally, the only thing left is to sneak behind Draconic tree sentinel by walking past trees and bushes so he can’t see us. Just don’t rush, walk, or attack the boss otherwise the whole cheese will fail.
As this quest will take time, therefore, allocate some flasks to FP. Continuing the mission, keep going until you reach the Sentinel’s horse. This is the point where you will cast your poison mist.
The boss won’t know your location when you cast your spell. You must cast this spell only once and keep observing the boss. The spell will cause the health of the boss to decline. Once you see the health of the boss has stopped declining, then cast the spell again.
Now all you need to do is wait because killing the enemy with poison takes time. That’s how you will kill the boss without undertaking a sword fight.
How to Skip Draconic Tree Sentinel
After the wave boss, a portal in the subterranean leads to the eastern ramparts beyond the Tree Sentinal, allowing you to skip the Draconic Tree Sentinel. The only thing necessary is that you must kill Radahn and enter Nokron. Use the coffin at the end of Nokron to enter Deeproot Depths.
