The Ulcerated Tree Spirit is a boss encounter in Elden Ring that excels at form over function, as fighting this giant enemy doesn't exactly measure up to how impressive its visual design is. Considering how many of these enemies appear throughout Elden Ring's Lands Between, the lackluster combat has a tendency to appear on repeat across a playthrough.
There are several factors that lead to the impressive presentation of the Ulcerated Tree Spirit, just as the frustration of the fight is hampered by more than one feature of its design. It is the sum of the parts that make this one of the less-appreciated bosses in Elden Ring, even though it has one of the best introductions and visuals throughout the game.
The Ulcerated Tree Spirit's Bombastic Entrance
Unlike most bosses, the Ulcerated Tree Spirit is one of the few that isn't waiting for the player at the center of whatever arena they are first challenged in. Instead, most iterations of this boss cause a brief earthquake that shakes the camera and kicks up dirt and dust before erupting out of the ground. There are a handful of Ulcerated Tree Spirits across the game that appear in different ways, such as the one guarding Elden Ring's Cerulean Hidden Tear which spawns in the air before dropping onto a possibly unsuspecting player.
On top of these impressive openings into the fight, the Ulcerated Tree Spirits are also some of the more interestingly designed enemies throughout Elden Ring. They appear like dredges that have fallen from Elden Ring's Erdtree, growing bark skin that cracks and shatters as the creatures grow underneath. Considering that these bosses often reward the player with Golden Seeds that supposedly drop from the Erdtree, their appearance seems to tie them directly to the massive structure itself. The result is a layer of lore on top of an already successful rule of cool.
Elden Ring's Worst Hitboxes and Telegraphs
Unfortunately, once the fighting starts and players are tasked with blocking and dodging attacks, this is when the encounters with the Ulcerated Tree Spirit start to go downhill. This is because the enemy itself has a unique way of moving that causes it to slide and undulate in awkward paths across the arena. So, the key to defeating the Ulcerated Tree Spirit is following these awkward movements and staying out of range whenever it winds up one of its attacks.
The problem that appears when fighting the Ulcerated Tree Spirit is in the way that each attack will twist and spin the boss to cover a lot of ground. However, instead of just the claw that is being swung, or the mouth that is biting, the majority of the enemy's body all becomes the hitbox that will deal massive damage. This means that many attacks can still punish the player, even if they were able to dodge the more obvious part of the attack. Sometimes, even hiding behind a wall won't protect the player from a cheap shot by Elden Ring's Ulcerated Tree Spirit.
In addition to the poorly expressed hitboxes, the Ulcerated Tree Spirits also come with a handful of attacks that have little to no telegraph before suddenly unleashing massive amounts of damage. This is compounded by a camera that struggles to hold the entire boss in view, whether locking on or not and leaves what could be seen as fair telegraphs just out of frame throughout most of the fight. None of these factors make the boss impossible, especially when using one of Elden Ring's stronger builds, but it adds a layer of frustration that can make taking on one of these bosses more trouble than they are worth.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
