Elden Ring: Putrid Avatar (Dragonbarrow) 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.

Putrid Avatar is in the lowest tier, Field Bosses, and is found outdoors guarding the Minor Erdtree in Dragonbarrow. Like most lesser bosses in the game, this one is optional in the sense that you do not need to defeat it in order to advance the main story.

The Putrid Avatar is similar to the regular Erdtree Avatars, except that they also inflict Scarlet Rot, which is obviously highly annoying. If you have already defeated the Putrid Avatar in Caelid, you know what this is about, although this one is much higher level and hits much, much harder.

So much harder in fact that it managed to kill me and then died itself within the few seconds it took before I was resurrected at the Site of Grace. I guess it was the presence of my homegirl Black Knife Tiche that put the boss in its place at just the right time, but even so, I would have liked a do-over. Although I generally don’t think that there is any such thing as a bad win, it does feel a bit silly that I’m considered victorious even though I died first.

But if you think about it, it really shows just how skillful I am at rolling right into huge hammers when bosses swing them. Just look at all the space around the boss where no hammer is going to hit, yet I’m always highly successful at being in just the spot where the hammer falls, helping the boss make Tarnished pancakes for breakfast ;-)

As usual with these avatar boss types, get away from them in a hurry when they’re about to explode, dodge the magic missiles they summon and don’t underestimate how far they can reach with their hammers. Said the person with a distinct hammer-shaped dent on the head ;-)

And now for the usual boring details about my character. I play as a mostly Dexterity build. My melee weapon is the Guardian’s Swordspear with Keen affinity and Chilling Mist Ash of War. My shield is the Great Turtle Shell, which I mostly wear for the stamina recovery. I was level 121 when this video was recorded. I’m not sure if that’s generally considered too high for this boss. Maybe a little, but then again, everything in Dragonbarrow seems to kill me really easily too, so it only seems fair. I’m always looking for the sweet spot where it’s not mind-numbing easy mode, but also not so difficult that I will be stuck on the same boss for hours ;-)