The vast world of Elden Ring has a lot to do. Exploring catacombs, dungeons, castles, or desolated snowfields will keep you on the edge of your seat during the entire playthrough. The game brings new bosses, some of which are a sight to behold. These bosses have unique mechanics and breathtaking stages, making even the most challenging fights enjoyable.

Draconic Tree Sentinel is a boss that you face in the mid-section of the game, and the fight is not as pleasant as it seems. If you recall the Tree Sentinel fight at the beginning of the game and add Fire, Lightning, and a lot more damage, then you get the newer version of the boss called Draconic Tree Sentinel. Here is all you need to know about this intense boss battle.

Updated October 20, 2023, by Sean Murray: Still looking for how to beat the Draconic Tree Sentinel? We got you covered. This guide has been refreshed with improved formatting and more links to other helpful Elden Ring topics.

Draconic Tree Sentinel Overview

Draconic Tree Sentinel is a boss located in Capital Outskirts in Northeast Atlas Plateau. The boss is optional, meaning you do not have to defeat it to enter Leyndell, Royal Capital.

Instead, you can go through Deeproot Depths by progressing in Fia's questline. However, the Deeproot Depths method is quite long and time-consuming. So facing the boss to go ahead is a better option. Plus, you get a cool weapon and a great shield out of it, so why not?

You can summon Spirit Ashes and online players to help you in the fight. You can also summon the NPC Blackguard Big Boggart if you bought Rya's Necklace from him and a few squids. The boss is quite weak towards physical thrusts and strikes, so make good use of them. After defeating the boss, you will get 50,000 Runes, Dragon Greatclaw (Weapon), and Dragonclaw Shield.

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Draconic Tree Sentinel Attacks

The boss has two phases in this fight, and it is necessary to avoid Lightning Wave and Targeted Lightning as they deal serious damage and can knock you down, leading to another attack from the boss.

Draconic Tree Sentinel Attacks Phase 1

Mace Attack

The boss hits the area around the player with his mace.

Counter: You can roll back to avoid this attack or dash away if you are on a horse.

Lunging Strike

Draconic Tree Sentinel leaps on his horse to attack the player with a mace attack. If the player is at mid-range, the boss will slowly charge up to you and perform the leap.

Counter: You can dodge to any side or roll back when the boss is about to hit you with his mace.

Shield Swipe

If you are near his left side, then the boss will use his shield to swipe at you from the back or front, depending on your position.

Counter: Rolling forward towards the boss will avoid the attack.

Shield Smash

The boss smashes his shield on the ground. Another shield smash can follow this up. They can also delay his shield smash.

Counter: Rolling towards the boss is a good option to avoid the AOE.

Horse Stomp

Draconic Tree Sentinel will make his horse rear back and track you for a little while before stomping you.

Counter: Keep your distance while the horse is tracking you and roll back when the stomp animation starts.

Fireball

The boss's horse shoots a fireball at you from mid to long-range.

Counter: Rolling to either side as the fireball comes close to you will help you avoid it.

Fireball (Close)

The horse shoots a fireball at close range on the ground.

Counter: Rolling sideways will avoid this attack.

Phase 2

Smite

The horse rears back while the boss charges up lightning smite from his mace and brings it down in front of him. The attack hits close to mid-range.

Counter: You need to keep a great distance from the boss as soon as you see the animation for this attack start and roll back when the attack hits the ground.

Lightning Storm

Draconic Tree Sentinel charges up his shield with lightning and swipes it causing lightning strikes to occur at random places.

Counter: These have a large hitbox, so keeping your distance from them is crucial. You can get on your horse as soon as the animation starts and can dash far away from the boss.

Targeted Lightning

The boss imbues his shield with lightning and causes a strike to occur at the player's location. This attack has a very long range.

Counter: You need to wait patiently and dodge to any side as the boss brings down the lightning.

Lightning Wave

Draconic Tree Sentinel puts his mace on the ground and leans his horse backward before unleashing a massive lightning wave. This attack covers a lot of range and has on-point tracking making it harder to avoid. The boss can follow up this attack with another lightning attack.

Counter: If you are already at a medium distance from the boss, you can dash away from the boss on your horse. However, rolling into his mace should avoid the attack if you are close.

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How To Beat Draconic Tree Sentinel

There are three main strategies for this fight, and they revolve around your playstyle and how you want to defeat the boss.

Melee Strategy

The melee strategy is by far the riskiest out of all the strategies. You can mount up and use a melee weapon to attack the boss to make it easier for you. Fighting the boss without Torrent in the first phase is manageable; however, in the second phase, the boss performs a lot of AOE moves and attacks with good tracking making it harder to dodge all. The plus side of going for the melee strategy is that the boss is relatively weak against thrust attacks and strike attacks.

Performing jumping heavy attacks or charged ones can break the boss's posture; however, this will not lead to a critical hit.

Mounted Ranged Strategy

The ranged strategy is quite simple for our Sorcerer brothers and sisters. You need the Swift Glintstone Shard (Sorcery) and need to ride Torrent. Keep moving around the arena while having a lock-on on the boss, so you can dodge the fireballs coming your way. As you focus on dodging the attacks on your horse, keep spamming the Sorcery to chip away the boss's health bar.

If you have high enough Intelligence, the boss will go down much faster.

Dodging most of the Lightning AOE attacks on a horse is more manageable. This will allow you to create a great distance from the boss. You can also summon a Spirit Ash that can switch the boss's aggressiveness on it while you poke from a long range.

Poison Mist Cheese Strategy

This strategy is for the last resort, one can say. If all else fails and you have to defeat the boss, then make sure to use this cheese. The cheese allows you to kill the Draconic Tree Sentinel without hitting him once or making him aggressive towards you. All you need is the Poison Mist (Incantation), which you can get by killing the Teardrop Scarab located southeast of the Castle Morne Rampart Site of Grace.

You will need 12 Faith to use it, so we would recommend grinding some Runes and getting to that Faith if you do not have that much. The Incantation does not take much FP, you can use it many times.

After acquiring the Incantation, equip your seal and circle the boss by crouching until you get around behind him. Once you are near the boss's backside, you can use Poison Mist repeatedly, allowing the Poison to build up and surely kill him.

You will have to do this spell multiple times, so bring a lot of FP flasks as you will not need Health flasks with this tactic.

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General Tips

• Be Level 90-95 or Higher.
• Make use of the giant arena and limit the boss's attacks.
• Do not greed a lot of attacks all at once as the boss can interrupt your attacks with his mace and one-shot you.
• Do not use consumables like Flasks or mount up near the boss as it can take out half of your health in this animation.
• Try dismounting or mounting your horse whenever the boss uses Lightning attacks, as you have invincibility frames in the animation and will not get hurt.

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Next: Elden Ring: Complete Guide And Walkthrough