How to defeat the Putrescent Knight in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

The Putrescent Knight is an optional boss that you can fight in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree fairly early if you choose to. Much like Bayle the Dread, the Putrescent Knight is meant to be a late-game encounter, but the area where the boss is can be found and accessed early in the game, much before you even defeat Messmer the Impaler.

Much like Metyr, Mother of Fingers, and Bayle the Dread, the Putrescent Knight is tied to an NPC questline, and also one of the most intriguing plot revelations including St. Trina. The Putrescent Knight isn't a particularly tough boss if you fight him close to the end of the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

However, trying to defeat it any earlier than that can make it difficult to even reach the Putrescent Knight's second phase. With that being said, here's a comprehensive guide on how to defeat the Putrescent Knight in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

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Tips to easily defeat the Putrescent Knight in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

If you follow Thiollier's questline, an NPC that you will find tucked away in the far eastern corner of the map, you will eventually reach the Stone Coffin Fissure. Make your way through the dungeon to reach a dead end, which marks the location of the Putrescent Knight's arena. The start of the boss fight is somewhat of a reference to Bloodborne.

Defeating the Putrescent Knight is necessary to complete Thiollier and St. Trina's questline in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (Image via FromSoftware)

Much like how you're required to take a leap of faith from a seemingly lethal height to reach Rom, the Vacuous Spider's boss arena in Bloodborne, Putrescent Knight's boss fight requires you to jump into darkness, where you eventually come face-to-face with the boss.

Although the Putrescent Knight looks a lot like the Elden Beast from the base game of Elden Ring, albeit much more agile thanks to the boss' mount, it's much weaker and nimbler, making it easier to stagger, if you're using a Colossal weapon. Additionally, the boss is incredibly weak to Bleed, which you can use to make quick work of the Putrescent Knight.

However, despite it being quite an easy encounter, the Putrescent Knight should not be taken lightly, as it has a few attacks that can stun-lock you and end up killing you if you're not careful.

Here are some tips to help you fight the Putrescent Knight in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree:

• The Putrescent Knight is one of the very few bosses in the game that doesn't charge at you right from the get-go. Hence if you're planning to use Mimic Tear or any other Spirit Summon for the boss fight, you can do so right from the beginning.
• if you start Thiollier's quest and complete the first step of his quest chain, you can also summon him for the boss fight. However, unless you're having a very hard time with the Putrescent Knight, I highly recommend fighting it solo.
• Your main objective here is to dodge the three-hit combo of the boss and immediately retaliate with a few hits.
• The Putrescent Knight always starts the battle with either a rush attack, which it combos into a multi-hit slam attack, or a two-handed slam attack, which it then chains into a move where he dismounts his horse and charges at you. His horse also charges at you from a different direction.
• To avoid getting hit, dodge the slam attack inwards, i.e., towards the boss, and the subsequent charge attacks sideways, but delayed. Alternatively, you can carry a Great Shield with you that you can use to tank most of the physical attacks.
• Once the Putrescent Knight completes its charge attacks combo, it then summons three waves of magical AOE that you can dodge by jumping or rolling inwards. Or you can tank them if you have enough health and have a magic-negation Talisman or buff active.
• I highly recommend using a Great Katana for this boss fight, mainly due to its reach and the passive Bleed.
• The second phase of the Putrescent Knight isn't particularly challenging; however, it does add a few more attacks to its existing combo chains, which can be a bit tricky to avoid. The spinning slash attack, in particular, adds an AOE aftershock that can be a bit tricky to dodge.
• I found the Dragon Hunter's Great Katana to be incredibly effective at dealing with the Putrescent Knight. The Ash of War of the weapon, Dragonwound Slash gives you an easy way to avoid the magical AOE and a very powerful projectile attack that can deplete chunks of the boss' HP in every single hit.

Suggested build for the Putrescent Knight boss fight in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (Image via FromSoftware)

Once defeated, the Putrescent Knight rewards you with its Remembrance, which you can use to craft either the Putrescence Cleaver, a fantastic Strength weapon that also scales with Arcane or the Vortex of Putrescence Sorcery Spell. The Putrescence Cleaver is easily one of the best Strength weapons in Elden Ring, akin to the Ruins Greatsword.