Elden Ring: Ulcerated Tree Spirit (Mt Gelmir) 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.

Ulcerated Tree Spirit is in the lowest tier, Field Bosses, and is found outdoors near the Minor Erdtree at Mount Gelmir. 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.

You will notice this boss as you travel down the slope and approach the Minor Erdtree. If you’re not careful, the boss will notice you too and quickly decide that you’re not welcome on its fiery slope or under its precious tree. Or perhaps it just sees you as free lunch, who knows what an Ulcerated Tree Spirit is really thinking when it’s alone ;-)

I was feeling lazy and even though I have defeated several of these Ulcerated Tree Spirits before without the aid of summoned spirits, I decided to call in Black Knife Tiche for assistance, as these bosses have proved quite annoying in the past, and although she’s not really a tank, Tiche is generally quite good at distracting grumpy bosses and thereby sparing my own tender flesh some painful beatings.

It’s the first time I’ve faced one of them outdoors where the use of Torrent is allowed though. Ulcerated Tree Spirits are fast, highly mobile, and have area of effect attacks that you need to get away from. All much easier to handle while on horseback. Between Torrent, Tiche, and myself, this boss ended up feeling too easy, so I should probably have gone in with fewer proverbial guns blazing. But then again, we may as well hit the enemy hard the first time, so we only have to hit once ;-)

If you decide to melee the boss on foot, you mainly need to watch out for the times when it starts glowing, as it will soon explode and cause a lot of damage to you, so make sure to get away. When it starts charging around randomly, just make sure to stay mobile too and try to roll out of the way when it gets close. There is usually a few seconds opening after the charging where it’s safe to get some hits in.

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 115 when this video was recorded. I think that’s too high for this boss as it felt a lot easier than the previous Ulcerated Tree Spirits I have faced. 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 ;-)