How to beat the Burial Tree Watchdog in Elden Ring

The Burial Tree Watchdog is an optional boss in Elden Ring that can be found in the Stormfront Catacombs. When players first arrive in the catacombs they will need to explore it. They will find a door that is locked and will not let them pass.

Players will need to open the locked door and then head down the stairs to the room where the Burial Tree Watchdog awaits.

How to beat the Burial Tree Watchdog

The Burial Tree Watchdog is an interesting boss and is difficult for reasons that are quite unique. The Burial Tree Watchdog is a statue with just two moving parts. The arm with a sword will swipe up and down, left and right, and the head will turn around. This makes it very hard to read and predict what it is doing.

The Burial Tree Watchdog will also spin on a dime, so you need to time your dodges for any downward strokes almost perfectly to avoid it tracking you and smashing you into the ground with its massive blade.

The Burial Tree Watchdog will also do two different attacks that are quite tough to deal with. First, it can breathe fire. The range on this is quite long and will track you. Secondly, it will levitate into the air, follow you, and slam down into the ground, repeating this three times. The slam does an area of effect damage, so once again you need to time your dodge very well.

Players who already have the Lone Wolf Ashes are in luck, as they can use the three wolves to distract and easily take down the Burial Tree Watchdog. Ranged characters are also in luck, as the Burial Tree Watchdog has no way to rapidly close the distance. For melee characters, it boils down to trying to stay to the left or right of the Watchdog, and watching out for spinning attacks while you are there. Ideally, you want to bait an attack from the Watchdog, then hit it a couple of times and rapidly roll out.

Remember, the lower your equipped load, the faster your roll and the more I-Frames you will have, which will make your life much easier in combat.

About the author

Aidan O'Brien

Aidan O'Brien has been playing games for over three decades and has been writing about them for five years. When not getting stomped on by the creations of Hidetaka Miyazaki, he enjoys spending too much time in Warframe, Destiny 2 and any other ARPG with a solid grind. When not writing, he is doing inexplicable behind-the-scenes magic for GAMURS Group.

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