Elden Ring Draconic Tree Sentinel boss fight: how to defeat Draconic Tree Sentinel

Looking for an Elden Ring Draconic Tree Sentinel boss fight walkthrough? You may have found Limgrave's Tree Sentinel hard, but that was merely a walk in the park compared to the Draconic Tree Sentinel. Found guarding the main path leading into Leyndell, Royal Capital, the Draconic Tree Sentinel is a formidable opponent that's sure to cause some trouble. Fortunately, we're here with a few top tips to make this boss fight a breeze.

In this walkthrough, we'll break down our five top tips that you should use to defeat the Draconic Tree Sentinel in Elden Ring, so that you can get into Leyndell and continue your quest. If you're unsure where to go once you reach the capital, check out our full Elden Ring walkthrough for more help.

How to beat the Draconic Tree Sentinel: tops tips for success

Here are our top tips for defeating the Draconic Tree Sentinel:

1. Boost your lightning damage negation
2. Use status effects like bleed or scarlet rot
3. Rush in to get some easy hits
4. Attack while circling around the boss
5. Use Torrent to dodge attacks and soak up damage

1. Boost your lightning damage negation

One of the key differences between the Draconic Tree Sentinel and other variants you may have previously encountered is its ability to deal lightning damage. It unlocks a range of lightning-based attacks in the second phase which are hard to avoid, so you'll want to boost your lightning damage negation for this fight.

The Boltdrake Talisman is a powerful talisman that you can find near the Divine Tower of Limgrave in Stormveil Castle. Wearing this talisman will increase your lightning damage negation, helping you soak up some of the Draconic Tree Sentinel's thunder attacks. You can also use the Lightningproof Dried Liver consumable if you've found any, but you won't be able to actually craft this yourself until much later.

2. Use status effects like bleed or scarlet rot

Before entering the fight, we also recommend equipping weapons or spells that inflict either the bleed or rot status effects. The Draconic Tree Sentinel has a lot of HP, so using these effects to your advantage is an easy way to chip away at its health.

Weapons like Reduvia and the Moonveil katana, both of which appear in our list of the best weapons in Elden Ring, deal bleed damage. If you'd rather use scarlet rot, take a Dragon Heart to the Cathedral of Dragon Communion and purchase the Rotten Breath incantation. This has low attribute requirements of 15 Faith and 12 Arcane, and will quickly apply the rotten effect to this boss.

3. Rush in to get some easy hits

The Draconic Tree Sentinel isn't hidden behind a fog wall, so we recommend using Torrent to rush in at the start of the fight. The boss will tend to start with a slow swing of their weapon, which you can easily dodge. Follow up with a string of easy hits before the battle really kicks into gear.

4. Attack while circling around the boss

After landing your initial flurry of attacks, we recommend circling around the Draconic Tree Sentinel while you keep dealing damage. Your instinct might be to get some distance from the huge Dragon Greatclaw that it wields, but this will actually make the Draconic Tree Sentinel use powerful ranged attacks.

If you notice the Draconic Tree Sentinel firing out fireballs or bolts of lightning, try getting closer. This should make the Tree Sentinel use close-range melee attacks instead, which are much easier to dodge.

5. Use Torrent to dodge attacks and soak up damage

As you circle around, you should be able to keep the boss on one side, making it easy to just continuously swing your weapon. If you see the Greatclaw rise into the air, do a little dash with Torrent to avoid damage and then get back to hitting. The first phase isn't very dangerous, so you should be able to keep this up until it reaches half health.

As we mentioned earlier, a host of powerful lightning attacks come into play during the second phase. Two of these in particular - an AOE attack that brings beams of lightning down and a move that sends a wave of lightning across the field - are particularly troublesome. Using Torrent's dash might give you a better chance of escaping unscathed, but there's a high chance they'll still hit.

Fortunately, Torrent should still save the day, as your spectral steed will soak up the damage from these attacks. You should notice that a lot of the Draconic Tree Sentinel's hits will damage Torrent instead of you, making it easier to survive this fight than it might first appear. If Torrent dies, simply get some distance and use a Flask of Crimson Tears to revive your horse when you get the chance.

That wraps up our Draconic Tree Sentinel boss fight walkthrough. If you want to increase your defence for this fight, take a look at our list of the best armor sets in Elden Ring. To upgrade your character further, check out our Elden Ring Golden Seeds and Elden Ring Sacred Tears locations guides. After defeating the Draconic Tree Sentinel, see what other challenges await in Leyndell and throughout the Lands Between with our Elden Ring boss locations guide.