How to beat Putrid Avatar in Elden Ring

When visiting one of Elden Ring’s Minor Erdtrees, there’s a good chance you’ll run into one of the Erdtree Avatars. One of these will be the Putrid Avatar, which fights similarly to the Erdtree Avatar, but is a lot deadlier. However, if you can come out on top, you’ll walk away with a whopping 91,000 Runes. Here’s how to take down this foe and reap this bountiful reward.

You’ll find the Putrid Avatar at the Minor Erdtree in Caelid. This boss has a lot of attacks capable of either one-shotting you or causing Scarlet Rot buildup. We recommend going into this fight with many healing flasks and Preserving Boluses just in case you get afflicted with Scarlet Rot.

Tips to beat Putrid Avatar

Putrid Avatar has a lot of the same moves as the other Erdtree Avatars. It has two and three-hit melee combos that it will throw out randomly, an overhead swing of its staff that has incredible range, as well as a magic attack where it will send bolts of light towards you. Regardless of what build you’re running, the key here is to stay mounted on your horse during the entirety of the fight. By dashing away on your steed, you’ll be able to evade the boss’ melee attacks. To avoid getting hit by the aforementioned magic projectiles, you just have to circle the boss while on horseback.

Where Putrid Avatar distinguishes itself from its peers is its jumping slam attack. Whereas Erdtree Avatars cause a brief burst of lightning to appear around them while utilizing this attack, Putrid Avatar’s slam attack causes a cloud of Scarlet Rot to form around it. Fortunately, the cloud dissipates after a few seconds, meaning if you keep your distance, it won’t affect you. Its posture will become hunched shortly before leaping into the air, so if you see its posture shrink a little, get away as fast as possible.

If you’re running a melee build, you’ll want to focus on chipping away at its health a little bit at a time using heavy-mounted attacks. Putrid Avatar will be left open for an attack following the end of any one of its combos. Dash in for an attack, land your hit, and get away; repeat this process until it’s dead. Putrid Avatar has a ton of HP, so don’t expect this to be a quick fight. In our experience, it took roughly five minutes to take it down using this method.

Alternatively, if you’re playing as a magic-user or have a powerful bow, you can fire away at Putrid Avatar using your projectile of choice while on horseback. Be aware that the boss is rather fast, however, so you’ll likely only be able to get a few shots in before being forced to reposition yourself.