Elden Ring: Mad Pumpkin Head Duo (Caelem Ruins) Boss Fight

As you probably know, bosses in Elden Ring are divided into three tiers. From lowest to highest: Field Bosses, Greater Enemy Bosses and finally Demigods and Legends.

Mad Pumpkin Head Duo is in the lowest tier, Field Bosses, and is found in the underground part of the Caelem Ruins in Caelid. Like most lesser bosses in the game, this one is optional in the sense that you do not need to kill it in order to advance the main story.

First of all, the boss is not really called Duo, I just call it that because there are two of them. Yes, two bosses at the same time. Prepare for headless chicken mode.

One of them attacks with a hammer and the other wields a flail. No matter, they both really really like to whack people over the head with whatever they’re holding, but fortunately they move somewhat slowly and are not that difficult to avoid. But even though it’s not difficult, I can obviously still screw it up, so I ended up taking quite a beating in this one.

I decided to give Banished Knight Engvall a rest on this one, as he managed to get himself killed during the last boss fight and is therefore obviously completely unreliable and currently in bad standing pending possible termination of his contract. If only he had a contract. And he doesn’t get paid either. Yeah, we all know I’m going to keep him; I just like to let him stew in uncertainty for a while.

Contrary to most enemies in the game, these bosses do not have a weak spot on their head. In fact, they seem to take significantly less damage if you hit the head instead of the body. Which I guess makes sense considering they’re wearing huge helmets and very little else, but it takes a little getting used to and they also like to try to shield their bodies with their huge heads, so try to work around that.

As usual in fights where there is more than one enemy, the best approach is to try to focus one of them down as fast as possible, as the fight becomes much more manageable when there is only one. I wouldn’t exactly call what I’m doing here “fast”, but for a lone headless chicken against two huge brutes, I think it’s okay ;-)

Fan art inspired by this boss fight

Anime style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor confronting two Mad Pumpkin Head bosses inside the torchlit cellar beneath Caelem Ruins in Elden Ring. Click or tap the image for more information.

Wide angle anime fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor facing two Mad Pumpkin Head bosses inside the underground cellar beneath Caelem Ruins in Elden Ring. Click or tap the image for more information.

Anime fan art showing two enlarged Mad Pumpkin Head bosses looming over the Tarnished in Black Knife armor inside the underground cellar beneath Caelem Ruins. Click or tap the image for more information.

Dark realistic fantasy art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor confronting two massive Mad Pumpkin Head bosses inside the torchlit cellar under Caelem Ruins. Click or tap the image for more information.

Isometric dark fantasy view of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor facing two towering Mad Pumpkin Head bosses in the underground cellar beneath Caelem Ruins. Click or tap the image for more information.

Further Reading

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• Elden Ring: Nox Swordstress and Nox Monk (Sellia, Town of Sorcery) Boss Fight