How to beat the Putrescent Knight in Shadow of the Erdtree

✓ at a glance

• The Putrescent Knight is found in the Fissure.
• You can cause Bleed on this boss, but it is not super effective.
• Stay close and be aggressive, the Putrescent Knight wants to create distance.

Depending on how you progress through Shadow of the Erdtree, you are going to run into a number of different bosses. The Putrescent Knight could be considered a mid-game boss, but we fought it towards the very end of our playthrough. That said, it still gives you a run for your money if you’re not prepared, so take a look at our Putrescent Knight boss guide to get up to speed with how we beat it.

Putrescent Knight location

When you reach the Fissure Depths Site of Grace, you must plunge down from the plank… or rather, the statue where the ghost is sitting. Jump down and you’ll enter the boss room. When you move forward, the boss will spawn in. You can reach this area by travelling to the southern tip of the Cerulean Coast and entering the Stone Coffin Fissure. This is the boss of that area.

This boss has a lot of movement and it can be a nightmare to deal with when it separates in two. You have a huge arena to fight in, but you cannot use Torrent. The Putrescent Knight can suffer from Bleed and take a lot of damage but don’t expect it to trigger twice.

The knight will land, dealing damage as it does, while the horse charges off in a circle to try and hit you. The horse can teleport around and the two will regroup after each attack. Once the knight finishes a triple swing with its cleaver, the horse will charge in for another attack, but you can dodge this by rolling to the side. The Putrescent Knight will then spin forward with more cleaver attacks, after it lands, it will do the same attack again.

✓ Is it my turn?

This is your cue to get in some damage. After it lands the final swing, it will remain still for a time while the horse comes back and the knight mounts up. Attack them during this window to get free damage.

As with all bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree that can move around a ton, they will always try and catch you out by creating distance to use ranged attacks. For this fight, the knight performs a hit while repositioning itself away from you. It will then throw its cleaver like a boomerang and hit you while you try and get close. For this boss, you want to wait for it to move away and then move forward to it while you prepare for a dodge. Roll into the attack when you see the weapon coming and you will glide over it.

if you are far away enough, the boss will launch out a huge magical AoE fire attack. It stands still and grows large as it throws purple balls towards the ground. These projectiles will explode on the ground and spread fire towards you in a line, covering a huge area. It will fire out three waves of this and there are some spots on the ground that are safe but we got hit by it every single time.

✓ Wombo Combo

After it’s finished, move in to get some damage before it can cycle through to its next attack. If you’re really unlucky – like us – his melee combos can chain almost indefinitely. This is to stop you staying so close, but you should only back up if you need to heal.

One nasty combo to be aware of is when it swings at you, jumps away, throws its weapon at you, and then spews more magic fire on the ground. This is probably a kill if you don’t have enough HP to survive it, so make sure you’re topped off at all times. Rolling to the side while you’re at range is always your best option, but the hitbox on the weapon throw attack and flames are unreliable to predict, so you need a little bit of luck on your side.

Most of the Putrescent Knight’s attacks have Frostbite, causing it to build on your character when you get hit by the flames. If this triggers, it will do a lot of damage, so be mindful of how much you block and you should heal immediately if it triggers on you. Due to the way the boss swings their weapon, they are going to trick you into rolling too soon. If you know this going into the fight, try and keep a level head and don’t dodge too early. It’s really frustrating the boss does this, but you can time your rolls better to evade them.

✓ Knight too fast, what do?

The best practice for this boss is to stay close and keep up the aggression. If you’re close to it, you can keep baiting melee attacks that are easier to exploit than anything else. It also gives you a chance to heal more because many attacks will go over your head.

The boss moves around too much to reliably stay behind it, but it doesn’t seem to have an attack that will reach you there. It will simply keep turning and swinging to the side. Exploit this as best you can and make sure you remove any lingering frostbite if you have a moment. It’s not a huge priority, so don’t worry if the bar is halfway full. Thanks to the Crimson Seed Talisman, your healing will pack much more of a punch and you won’t use nearly as many.

If you follow our advice, try being aggressive, and use the Mimic Tear or your favourite Spirit Ash, you will prevail. Even if you don’t, try not to get discouraged. These bosses give no quarter and, more than anything else, all of them are unfairly weighted against you in ways that make the game less fun. If you’ve hit a wall, shop around for a bit and grind some levels. We were level 203 and accidentally had the Gold Scarab Talisman equipped, and we still got through it.

Putrescent Knight move list

While we didn’t get to fight the Putrescent Knight more than once, we definitely got hit by most, if not all, of his annoying attacks on our way through this ordeal. We’ve named them ourselves quite literally, so hopefully this helps you see the attacks we’re talking about.

Attack	Description	Strategy
Dismounting Combo	The boss will leap off its horse and begin a multi-hit combo. While the boss does this, the horse will also attack independently for a time.	Hope that the horse is distracted by your Spirit Ash. Otherwise, you need to keep an eye on its attacks and dodge accordingly. A shield will help you here. When the combo ends, go in for some damage or take the time to heal.
Lunging Sweep	The Putrescent Knight will move back and swing its cleaver at you from left to right.	You can dodge over this attack or you can dodge back. We highly recommend you dodge towards the attack instead. Equally, feel free to block it.
Swiping Reposition	The boss will swing three times, on the third hit it will use the momentum to run away from you.	Run after the boss and don’t let it get too far away. It might attack when you get close, but dodge to the side or forward to avoid it.
Overhead Slice	When in front of the boss, it will swing its weapon down from above.	This is a single hit and you can get in some damage after it ends. Roll to the side to avoid it and then hit the boss back.
Double Cleaver Slam	The boss will hold its weapon in two hands and perform two hits. They both come out slow, trying to catch you out.	Time your rolls here. Wait until you see its arms move for the first swing and then give it about a second before the second one comes out. Hit the boss afterwards while it recovers.
AoE Roar	The boss will roar and cause a small shockwave dealing minor damage.	The move doesn’t hurt a great deal, but it will use this if you crowd behind it too much. If you roll away in time, you can avoid it, but it is a pain to dodge. You’re better off swinging and taking the hit.
Horse Kick	The horse will rear up and bring its two front legs down on you. This will cause a small AoE in front.	Roll to the side when the horse rears up and try get in some damage. This can be chained into its double-swipe attack where it runs away after attacking.
Weapon Throw Combo	At range, the Putrescent Knight will throw its weapon, move closer and and swing at you. This attack can be chained into the double cleaver slam.	If you want to close the distance, you must be ready to roll through the thrown weapon. It will then come to you, so make sure you roll again.
AoE Fire Spew	The boss will float up into the sky and spew fire magic at the floor. This will cover a huge AoE.	Each hit of the fire builds up Frostbite, for some reason. It is very hard to see where the fire will spread and it comes out super fast, so try and block if you can, or time your dodges. We got hit by all three and barely survived with one HP.
Frontal Fire Spew	The Putrescent Knight can use another fire attack where it will spew the same magic in front of it.	This is much easier to dodge than the other one and it comes out in a predictable line. It is still fast, but you can move to the side to avoid it.

Putrescent Knight rewards

If you manage to survive the Putrescent Knight’s never-ending onslaught of melee attacks, you will be rewarded with the Remembrance of Putrescent. This can be used to get the boss weapon and a new sorcery. With the boss dead, you can go through the cave it spawned in to meet St Trina herself, in all her… weirdness.