Elden Ring: Tibia Mariner (Liurnia of the Lakes) 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.

Tibia Mariner is in the lowest tier, Field Bosses, and is found outdoors in the Eastern part of Liurnia of the Lakes, near a flooded village. Like most lesser bosses in Elden Ring, defeating it is optional in the sense that you do not need to do so in order to progress the main story of the game. However, he drops a Deathroot, which you may need to advance Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman’s questline. If you haven’t started that questline yet, you need to go to Limgrave and find the knight called D there, close to another flooded village and another Tibia Mariner. But there are other videos about that.

You may have encountered a Tibia Mariner before, most likely in Limgrave, as mentioned. I have made another video of that fight, but while that one was really easy, this one proved more annoying, because the boss would constantly teleport away when I got close.

The Tibia Mariner looks like a ghostly sailor, quietly sailing around in a little boat, maybe fishing, maybe just enjoying the scenery. Or maybe just pondering whatever it is that undead sailors in small boats ponder. Until you disturb it that is, at which point it will summon help, lift the boat up into the air and attempt to slam it down on you, and all sorts of other shenanigans.

Except that this one is apparently some sort of undead version of James Bond, as its boat is perfectly capable of sailing on dry land, which had me baffled and confused for a while, running around in my usual headless chicken mode, killing the mariner’s minions in the lake, unable to locate the boss. Until I finally spotted him far away from the lake, up on a hill, apparently happily sailing around on the grass up there. Silly me for thinking that a boat would actually be sailing on water!

I usually don’t cut my videos down in length more than a few seconds, but on this one I spent a full three minutes not being able to find the boss, so I decided to cut that most boring part away and start at the point where I actually spot him. Gotta keep something for the Director’s Cut, the Unrated Version and the extra special Christmas Edition too ;-)

The last time I fought a Tibia Mariner, it used very few of its abilities and didn’t summon a lot of help. This one was different, as it summoned annoyingly many and I had somehow forgotten about these glowing undead that you need to hit while down to prevent them from standing back up, so that was a fun surprise too.

The most annoying part of the fight is the boss’s tendency to teleport away as soon as you get to it, dragging the fight out much longer than it should be. I suppose this boss is really meant to be fought on horseback, but I enjoy that even less than running around in a pool full of undead, so if it must drag out, then so be it. My horse is reserved for transporting my precious hide across distances with great speed, it is not for fighting. And that has nothing to do with the fact that I suck so much at controlling it that I usually end up hurting myself and/or the horse if I try mounted combat, that’s just pure coincidence.

I’ve you’ve played Dark Souls III and watched my video on the Twin Princes boss fight there, you will know that my stance on bosses teleporting tends to ignite lengthy ranting and strange comparisons to fictional vacuum cleaner manufacturers, but if I must say one positive thing about this Tibia Mariner guy’s teleportation, it would be that he at least doesn’t smack you over the head with a huge, flaming greatsword right after teleporting, so I can confidently say that I have experienced worse.

Other than the teleportation, it’s a good idea to watch out for when the boss lifts the boat up into the air, as it’s about to do a slamming attack that causes a tidal wave, so you should move away from it at this point. And of course, always be mindful of how many minions he has summoned and where they are, as they can easily overwhelm you.

I suppose that using a Holy weapon would be a good idea for this undead boss with undead minions, and if you have watched any of my previous videos, you will know that I have been using a spear with Sacred Blade for a while. But just before fighting this boss, I had acquired the Guardian’s Swordspear and I really wanted to try it out, so I didn’t even consider the type of damage or what I was fighting. Typical timing, but it didn’t prevent the boss from dying eventually and handing over the loot. I guess he’s not James Bond after all, 007 would never have been defeated so easily ;-)