The Deathbird is a boss in Elden Ring that can spawn in multiple locations throughout the Lands Between. Like the Night Cavalry bosses, Deathbirds only spawn at nighttime, and only in specific spots. The first that most players come across is just south of the Warmaster's Shack in Limgrave.
Head to the Warmaster's Shack and head east along the road until you see a field with many Trolls to the south. There is a large ruin right above a Troll sitting down, on top of which the game's first Deathbird spawns when the player gets too close. Nighttime in Elden Ring is more dangerous with these bosses around, who spawn out of thin air when least expected.
Deathbird Moveset And Weaknesses
Deathbirds are technically flying creatures like Birds and Bats, and thus can be staggered reliably if several Heavy attacks connect in a row. They are heavy hitters themselves, though, and being damaged by even one of its attacks could knock you off of Torrent.
Deathbirds don't move too fast when attacking, but they can reposition themselves quickly when needed and have a few gap-closers, too. When it comes to weaknesses, Deathbirds are particularly weak to Holy damage, which Incantation and Faith users can take advantage of handily even this early in the game.
Deathbird Moveset
- Leaping Staff Slam: Deathbird will leap up into the air, raise its staff, and slam down on the player's location. High damage.
- Staff Cleave: Swipes its staff in a frontal arc rapidly in a single swipe, dealing damage to everything in about a 180-degree area. Medium damage.
- Staff Swipe Combo: Deathbird will swipe its staff once and quickly follow up with a more powerful swipe in the opposite direction. Medium damage, then High damage.
- Staff Thrust Gap-Closer: Rears back and stabs forward with its staff, sometimes embedding it in the earth for a brief second. Medium damage, but can close gaps.
- Staff Slam Reposition: Deathbird slams its staff into the ground and quickly launches itself to another spot with the force of the attack. High damage.
Deathbird Weaknesses
Deathbirds are particularly weak when hit in the head, though it's hard to reliably hit this soft spot unless you're a master Archer. The boss can be staggered pretty easily, though it can be hard to chain together Posture-breaking attacks quickly.
When it comes to Damage Type weaknesses, Deathbird is really weak to Holy damage only. Using Holy Pots or a weapon with Holy damage (like with the Sacred Blade Ash of War) deals almost twice the normal amount of damage.
Strategies For Beating Deathbird
Depending on whether you want to take on Deathbird in Ranged or Melee combat, you will want to ride Torrent or fight the boss on foot, respectively. Riding Torrent and casting spells or shooting arrows trivializes this fight, but riding Torrent and trying to deal physical damage up close will more often than not end up with you getting knocked down.
Normally, players can't use Spirit Summons for this fight, but if you draw the Deathbird north up a hill you will find an area where Spirit Summons are allowed. As long as you don't stray too far from the ruin where it originally spawns, the Deathbird shouldn't despawn. If it does, quickly get back to its original spawn location to stop its HP from refilling, which essentially restarts the fight entirely.
Spellcasting/Ranged
Spellcasters and Archers will have the easiest time with this fight, which can be cheesed by simply running at a medium in a circle around the Deathbird while constantly firing arrows or casting spells. Incantation-users will have an easier time than Sorcerers, though, thanks to the Deathbird's weakness to Holy damage.
Don't get too close, or you risk being hit by a strong melee attack, and watch out for its leaping attacks which can close the distance between you quickly or reposition the Deathbird and make an attack miss.
Melee Strategies
Melee players should not use Torrent for this fight, as it's extremely likely that you will fail to dodge a powerful melee attack, get knocked off your horse, and be vulnerable to another strong attack (if it doesn't just outright kill you). Instead, try to stay as close to the Deathbird as possible, directly underneath if you can get there, so that its melee swings won't connect and it'll be forced to use aerial strong attacks.
Dodge right as the staff slams the ground and quickly get back in close for a good few seconds of free hits as the Deathbird recovers. Like other flying enemies, the Deathbird is easy to stagger, especially in the brief second it can be hit while airborne – jumping Light attacks are more likely to hit as it flies upwards. Normal Heavy attacks to its feet also do lots of damage to Posture, too.
Rewards For Beating Deathbird
The first Deathbird found in Limgrave will drop the Blue-Feathered Branchsword, a Talisman that raises defense with low HP, and 3,900 Runes. Later on, other Deathbirds can be encountered that have more HP and drop other items.
The Deathbird in the Weeping Peninsula, for example, drops the Sacrificial Axe which recovers FP with every kill. The Deathbird in Liurnia of the Lakes drops the Red-Feathered Branchsword, a Talisman that raises a player's damage when their HP is low. A fourth can be found in Caelid, and a fifth in the outskirts of Leyndell, Royal Capital.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.