Mad Pumpkin Head is one of the bosses you’ll face during the early stages of Elden Ring. These are optional bosses that wear a pumpkin-shaped helmet – which you can get – and wield large flail and hammer weapons.
You will find two different variants of the Pumpkin Head bosses in different locations across the Lands Between. One boss will be a singular Mad Pumpkin Head, while the other will be a Duo Mad Pumpkin Head.
Defeating these bosses isn’t that challenging, but you will still need a few tips and a general strategy to defeat them if you are at a lower level. Before we move on to that, we must first learn where to find the Mad Pumpkin Head boss in Elden Ring.
Mad Pumpkin Head location in Elden Ring
There are two variants of the Mad Pumpkin Head optional boss, both of which can be found at different locations in Elden Ring.
The singular Mad Pumpkin Head boss can be found in Waypoint Ruins located south of the Limgrave. After defeating it, you will be able to have access to Selen.
The Pumpkin Head Duo boss is another boss battle you can encounter in Caelum Ruins, west of Caelid.
When you do run into the boss, you’ll find yourself trying hard not to laugh. And the boss is not just goofy, and it’s very easy to defeat as well.
Mad Pumpkin Head weaknesses and recommended level
or the Mad Pumpkin Head, you will have to be at least Level 25 before engaging it. He is a heavy-hitter boss who can one-shot you easily if you are under-leveled.
For the Pumpkin Duo, you are required to be at least Level 50 to 75 to properly engage them. They are a duo now, which puts you at a massive disadvantage.
Mad Pumpkin Head is only immune to head attacks. Apart from that, you can attack wherever you like.
They are massively weak to Blood loss buildup; you can just bleed them to death since they have no armor on. For that, the best kinds of weapons would be Rot Weapons like the Scavenger’s Curved Sword.
Mad Pumpkin Head attacks and counters
Double Swing
The most basic attack the Pumpkin Head uses is the double swing, and you will see them often in your encounter. He moves his flail twice, once from left to right and once from right to left, in slow motion.
Overhead Smash
If you manage to dodge his wild strikes, he will then use a powerful attack in which he swings his flail over his head and brings it down directly. You’ll be facing this attack mostly against the Pumpkin Head Duo in Caelid.
Hand Strike
This deals massive damage but also is easy to dodge. Sometimes the boss will combo the Overhead Smash with a wild Hand Strike attack at you to catch you off guard. He uses his unarmed hand for this attack.
Up Down Combo
If you damage the boss quite enough, he will start using uppercuts and follow up with an Overhead Smash.
Head Slam
The boss will sometimes use quick wild strike to catch you off guard. After quite a while, he will start using his head bashes, so you will have to dodge that attack since it cannot be parried.
How to parry Mad Pumpkin Head’s attacks
Since the Pumpkin Head Boss has no magic attacks and only blunt attacks, you can parry all of them except for the Headbash if you time it correctly.
Tips to beat Mad Pumpkin Head in Elden Ring
While a boss is meant to be as furious looking as possible, Elden Ring brings you a boss that wears a pumpkin on its head. However, it does deserve some credit since it gets the job done as a helmet and shields the boss pretty well.
Mad Pumpkin Head
To defeat the pumpkin head, you can use your reliable spirit summing Fanged Imp Ashes to deal damage.
They are not heavy hitters, but they deal lots of bleed damage which will help you a lot in the encounter. You just have to do as much bleed damage as you can to defeat it. Some of the best Bleed builds in Elden Ring can help you out with that.
Your spirits will also help you with that blood loss buildup and chip away some of the boss’s health, so it will not be that head.
It doesn’t reward anything in particular, but it gives you access to Selen the Sorcerer. Along with that, you also receive 1,100 Runes as a reward for defeating the Mad Pumpkin Head Boss.
Mad Pumpkin Head Duo
Defeating one is not hard, but defeating two of them at the same time can prove quite a challenge. The Duo boss will do their absolute best to mince you down, so to avoid that use your spirit summoning to distract one of them while you focus one at a time.
After defeating the first boss, you can start focusing on the other boss and bleed it to death. Remember that one of the two Mad Pumpkin Heads wields a hammer, while the other wields a flail.
The duo boss rewards you with the “Visage Shield” great shield, which has a special attack, “Tongues of Fire,” that deals AOE fire damage in a limited area. It costs 5 Focus Points which depletes the longer you use it. You will also receive 6, 300 Runes as a reward for defeating the dua pumpkin heads.
How to cheese Mad Pumpkin Head in Elden Ring
Despite it being a heavy hitter, there is a little trick to the boss. The boss’s follow-up attacks have a move set, which he will only do if you are in its radius.
To avoid it, you will have to attack, run around the boss until he starts chasing you and attack again. Rinse and repeat the process until you defeat.
If you think the arena is pretty small to run around, do it clockwise or anti-clockwise, it will still make the boss chase you
How to farm Mad Pumpkin Helm in Elden Ring
The easiest way to get Mad Pumpkin Helm is to go and defeat the non-boss variant of Mad Pumpkin Head inside Castle Morne. He will be located at the front when you go above the elevator.
Defeat the dogs so that they don’t annoy you, and then defeat the Pumpkin Head. Keep repeating the process until it drops the Pumpkin Helm. Keep in mind that the pumpkin helm can only drop from the non-boss versions known as Lesser Mad Pumpkin Head.
Later on, after defeating the Mad Pumpkin Heads, you will also be able to obtain the Mad Pumpkin Head Ashes, which you can use to summon them as your allies.
