Putrescent Knight is an optional boss in Elden Ring. It was introduced with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC and has heavy lore implications. A putrid lump of flesh that came to life with St Trina’s nectar is now vowed to protect her at all costs.
Elden Ring offers some really crazy boss fights, but nothing surpasses the Putrescent Knight. Despite being an optional boss, it is one of the most thrilling and exhilarating boss fights we have ever come across.
In this guide, we will tell you how to locate the Putrescent Knight at the bottom of the earth’s depths and how you can beat it easily in Elden Ring. We also have a couple of builds to help you with the fight.
Putrescent Knight Location in Elden Ring
Putrescent Knight can be found at the end of the Stone Coffin Fissure area in Elden Ring. This area leads to St Trina and can be found on the northeast side of the map.
To reach this area, you must first make your way to the Cerulean Coast. From the Cerulean Coast site of grace, go south to find the map piece. Once you locate the map piece, a grey area to the east of Cerulean Coast will appear.
Go east of Cerulean Coast until you reach the grey area. This is the Fissure, marked by a huge opening in the ground. Go to the right side of the Fissure and use the Torrent to climb down.
Go through the small tunnel to reach the Stone Coffin Fissure area. Keep going down without worrying about the falls to reach the Stone Coffin Fissure Cross. From the cross, keep going further down until you reach the Fissure Depths site of the cross.
There is a massive drop in front of the grace. But don’t worry, and jump all the way down to the putrid pool. After a few seconds, Putrescent Knight will appear to stop you in your tracks from reaching St Trina.
Putrescent Knight Stats and Weaknesses
Putrescent Knight has 20,612 HP in addition to 123 Defense and 120 Stance. You can’t parry the Knight’s attacks, but you can break its stance to deliver a Critical Hit.
Putrescent Knight is weak to Holy, Strike, Fire, and Scarlet Rot but strong against Slash and Pierce attacks, making this boss a fight a chore for melee builds.
This boss is also immune to Poison, Hemorrhage, Sleep, Madness, and Frostbite. You can use your spirit ash summons for this boss fight in addition to an NPC summon, which we will discuss in the next section.
Best Stats and Build for Putrescent Knight
For this fight, we recommend that you use at least a level 200 character with at least 60 points in Vigor stat. Make sure that you have a fully upgraded Mimic Tear summon ready for this battle.
Summon Thiollier inside the arena, as this won’t increase the boss’s strength or defense. But, you must trigger Thiollier’s side quest until the point to reach the Stone Coffin.
This is a very difficult fight for melee builds, as this boss moves a lot around the arena. We recommend that you use Malekith’s Black Blade for this fight as its weapon art can stop the Putrescent Knight in its tracks.
Another great choice for this fight is a fully upgraded Backhand Blade with Keen affinity. You can apply Holy and Fire grease to this weapon to deal massive damage to the boss.
For a sorcery build, try to go with Faith as faith-based incantations deal more Holy damage than spells.
Use a fully upgraded Erdtree Seal to cast the following incantations to further increase your damage output.
Equip the following talismans, as they will help you a lot.
- Two-Handed Sword Talisman. To increase the attack power of two-handed swords.
- Rotten Winged Sword Insignia. Increases the attack power of each successive attack.
- Shard of Alexander. Increases the attack power of your skills.
- Sacred or Fire Scorpion Charm. To increase the attack power of Holy or Fire attacks.
An armor with good poise, like Blaidd’s armor, is highly recommended for this fight. You can also use Great Jar’s Arsenal Talisman to reduce your equip load.
Mix the following Crystal Tears in the Flask of the Wondrous Physick.
- Holy Shrouding Cracked Tear. To increase the damage of the Holy attacks.
- Opaline Hardtear. Increases the defense against all types of attacks.
This is one of the most optimal builds you can use against Putrescent Knight. If you are still having problems with this boss, you can always visit Renalla at the Academy of Raya Lucaria and undergo rebirth by using the Larval Tears.
This will allow you to try multiple builds until you come across one that suits you the best. However, Larval Tears are a limited item in Elden Ring. Make sure that you save some for other bosses like Messmer the Impaler.
Phase 1 – A Putrid Knight
The Putrescent Knight uses a massive cleaver and his horse as weapons against the players. This boss always starts the fight by leaping into the air from its horse and crashing down at the player’s position.
Dodge this attack by rolling forward, but don’t attack. The boss will do a sweep attack combo, and its horse will appear from thin air. The horse will charge at you. Dodge to avoid the charge, and then dodge again as the Knight will do a charge attack too.
The horse will appear once more and do another charge attack, followed by another charge attack by the Knight itself.
This is an extremely crazy combo where you must dodge multiple times, with little to no chance of dealing any damage to the enemy. Putrescent Knight also throws its cleaver like a boomerang towards the players.
This attack has two steps. Make sure that you are ready for the second attack of the cleaver on its way back to the Knight’s hands. However, this attack gives you ample time to land multiple hits on the boss.
This boss also does a sweeping attack with its cleaver on horseback. This is a delayed attack with Knight moving further away from the players. Dodge forward and run towards the boss to get a chance to land some hits.
Putrescent Knight also does a slam attack by holding the cleaver with both hands. This attack is followed by two more slams. Don’t get greedy and only attack after the third slam attack.
The Horse makes the fight even more difficult as it has some attacks of its own. One of these attacks is stomp which deals minor damage to the player. While the roar attack is more dangerous as it pushes back the player and sometimes even knock you down.
Both of these attacks can easily be dodged as the window of both attacks is pretty generous. These are all the attacks Putrescent Knight has in its first form.
Except for the charge attacks, most of these attacks can not only be avoided with ease but also allow you to land massive hits on the enemy. Unluckily, this phase only lasts until the Putrescent Knight’s health falls to 65%. This is where the real fun begins.
Phase 2 – A Knight with a Vengeance
Putrescent Knight starts the second phase with a massive attack. After summoning its horse, the Knight will move up in the air with the help of muddy water and spill some putrid material from its body.
This liquid, upon impact with the ground, summons massive blue flames that spread outwards. You can avoid this attack by jumping into the air in the forward direction. The Knight does this attack multiple times before calming down a bit.
The boss also moves forward in the same stance and summons a blue fire in a vertical line that is much faster and concentrated. Don’t try to jump over it. The best course of action is to dodge left or right.
In this phase, the attacks of the Putrescent Knight also get more erratic and vicious. The boss will now combine the slam attacks with three swings, making it a 6-hit combo. The swing attacks are always delayed, making the dodge timing extremely difficult.
Make sure that you stay really close to the boss to land some damage as soon as the attack is over. The Knight will also do the charge attack more frequently now.
With its health around 25%, Putrescent Knight will once summon the vortex of putrid material and do the blue fire attack. At this point, everything will turn crazy as the Knight will start chaining more and more attacks.
There will be little to no chance between the attacks to land a hit. Brace yourself and go all in. If you haven’t summoned Mimic Tear ashes yet, this is your cue. Forget the no-hit run and try to land as many hits as possible.
If you are also using spells, rely on them instead of getting into the fight head-on. This phase is crazy, but it will be over soon. Once you learn the attack pattern of the boss with our help, you will be able to take it down in no time.
However, this boss is notorious among the Souls community for its difficulty. In case you keep losing to this boss, don’t lose hope. Read its attacks more carefully. Die a couple of times more, and you will emerge victorious eventually.
Putrescent Knight Drops and Rewards
Putrescent Knight drops 220,000 Runes in addition to the Remembrance of the Putrescence. You can exchange this remembrance with Enia at the Roundtable Hold to either get Putrescence Cleaver (weapon) or Vortex of Putrescence (spell).
