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On your journey as the lowly Tarnished, traversing Elden Ring's The Lands Between, you will possibly come across bosses carved entirely out of tree bark and wielding a large mallet. Armed with both melee and ranged attacks, these beings are known as Erdtree Avatars - Mother Nature's guardians come to life. But what about their counterparts, the Putrid Avatars?

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These Putrid Avatars are far deadlier than their Erdtree Avatar kin, stronger and wielding the powers of the Scarlet Rot. Without further ado, here's a comprehensive outline of everything needed to face a Putrid Avatar.

Putrid Avatar Overview

Putrid Avatar

Locations

  • Greyoll's Dragonbarrow, North Caelid
  • Minor Erdtree, Consecrated Snowfield

Optional

Yes

Summons

Spirit Ashes and Players

Drops

Caelid

  • 91,000 Runes
  • Opaline Hardtear
  • Stonebarb Cracked Tear

Consecrated Snowfield

  • 160,000 Runes
  • Ruptured Crystal Tear
  • Thorny Cracked Tear

Weak to

Fire and Physical Attacks

Like the Erdtree Avatars, Putrid Avatars can be found at the base of Minor Erdtrees in Greyoll's Dragonbarrow in Northern Caelid and the Consecrated Snowfield respectively. As mentioned before, the Putrid Avatar has the ability to produce Scarlet Rot, which proves to be the greatest weapon in their arsenal.

Since they are found in higher-level areas, that means you'll have to scale up as well; particularly your weapons. Weapons that are +2 won't do significant damage, unfortunately, so having a +5 and above is recommended. This goes for Spirit Ash summons, too.

Putrid Avatar Attacks

Elden Ring Putrid Avatar Attacks

Both Putrid Avatars found in the game have the exact same move set. However, their melee attacks definitely hit so much harder, at times even one-shotting you if you have not sufficiently levelled up your Vigor stat. Just being in the vicinity of its AoE Scarlet Rot attack can drain your HP significantly, if you're not careful. Hence, we are going to delve deep into the Putrid Avatar's full range of attacks.

Related: Elden Ring: How To Defeat Elder Dragon Greyoll

Battle Strategies

Elden Ring The strategies for the Putrid Avatar

In order to deal with the Putrid Avatar's moveset, there are two varying ways to go about it. By going melee, you'll be vulnerable to its hard-hitting swings and overhead slams, but your weapon (+5 and above) deals physical damage. However, sorcerers possess the advantage of attacking from a distance, but must make sure their spells deal tons of physical or fire damage.

Prepare some Preserving Boluses prior to the fight in order to dial down the Scarlet Rot buildup — just in case you cannot evade its AoE attack quickly enough.

Melee Strategy

Elden Ring Melee strategy for the Putrid Avatar

Unlike any other boss, the Putrid Avatar is not made out of flesh or blood, and so using a weapon with Bleed damage does nothing. However, using a weapon +5 and above that deals immense physical damage; using a Flame Sling or Black Flame spell if you have the stats required; or crafting some cracked fire pots will help with this fight immensely. Weapon skills like the Moonveil katana's Transient Moonlight deals amazing damage to this boss, while the Bloodhound's Fang skill Bloodhound's Finesse also takes out chunks of HP.

Take note that for both Putrid Avatars, their respective boss arenas are either quite a squeeze or simply have too many obstacles that you can easily get cornered in. Caelid's Putrid Avatar has many living jars dotted around the arena, and they could become a hindrance should you end up dodging into them. Getting on horseback and doing a double jump can help with avoiding these obstacles.

Ranged Strategy

Elden Ring Ranged strategy for the Putrid Avatar

Once more, arming yourself with the Black Flame, or any other fire spell, is immensely helpful in dealing with the Putrid Avatar. You should also consider using sorceries that deal physical damage, such as Rock Sling, Glintstone Greatsword, or Loretta's Greatbow.

Just in case, make sure you have the Opaline Bubbletear in your Flask of Wondrous Physick combination, to give you added protection if you're not able to evade in time. Alternatively, you can summon Spirit Ashes such as Lhutel the Headless to distract the boss while you fling fireballs at it.

Tips

Elden Ring Tips for the Putrid Avatar
  • Arm yourself with a weapon that deals physical/fire damage.
  • For spells, either fire or physical damage will do (i.e. Rock Sling, Black Flame, etc.)
  • For melee and mages, use Opaline Bubbletear for extra defensive capabilities.
  • For melee, make sure your weapon is upgraded to +5 or higher.
  • Your Spirit Ashes must be upgraded to level +6 or higher.
  • Keep Torrent handy to get you out of a bind.

Next: Elden Ring: Complete Guide And Walkthrough