Elden Ring: Tree Sentinel (Western Limgrave) Boss Fight

I apologize for the picture quality of this video – the recording settings had somehow gotten reset, and I didn't realize this until I was about to edit the video. I hope it's tolerable, nonetheless.

As you may know, bosses in Elden Ring are divided into three tiers. From lowest to highest: Field Bosses, Greater Enemy Bosses and finally Demigods and Legends.

The Tree Sentinel is in the lowest tier, Field Bosses, and can be found patrolling in the starting area on the path leading up to the Church of Elleh.

This boss is most likely the first enemy you will see after getting out of the tutorial area in the beginning of the game, as he can be seen patrolling in the distance.

Since it looks like a proud knight in shining golden armor, you may think that it's a friendly guard, there to keep you safe as you take your first baby steps into the life of a real Tarnished. But if that is what you think, you are wrong and probably forgetting what game you're playing. Good thing this guy is there to remind you ;-)

I believe that most new players will struggle with this boss until they're in their level thirties or so. Sure, it is possible to kill him without leveling up at all, it's even possible to complete the entire game without ever leveling up, but challenge runs aren't really a casual gamer or new player activity and that's what I'm talking about.

The first time I personally tried fighting him at the very beginning of the game, I got my sweet heinie whupped so hard that I got flashbacks all the way back to Dark Souls II and my favorite achievement/trophy of all time, the one called "This is Dark Souls".

Tree Sentinel actually isn't a very complicated boss to fight, but he hits very, very hard, has long reach and is very fast and highly mobile. And like most horses in this game, his like to kick people in the face too, just to add insult to injury.

I suppose the intention is that you should fight him on horseback, but I just can't seem to get the hang of that, so I ended up fighting him on foot. It may be less effective, but it's far more fun, in my opinion ;-)