Personally I was struggling as fuck until I find 2 magic sword and playing in dual stance ( never used a spell for now , i'm just playing close combat range with magic stats just in case xD ) You can respect after the 2nd story boss if you want ;)
He's tough looking the first few encounters, but he's like midir kinda. He's hard, until you beat him once, then he becomes a joke you could do naked with a broken straight sword if you had enough patience
Honetly I avoided him imedietly, knowing that only by his "looks" that he is the "too strong for now" kind of boss I beat him after I defeated the Dark Rider tho
I went straight to margrit, got rolled, farmed a little, afterwards, I kicked tree sentinels ass. I didnt even go south or east till I was halfway through the academy, and everyone was so weak, I was like "ohhhhhhhh."
Idk why so many people are calling him hard…I have never played a fromsoftware game before and as a samurai, i killed tree sentinel right out the gate. I did this by dying to him on foot 2 times then i went out to explore.Soon after 3 graces i got my mount. On my mount i died to him just once and the second time i was able to kill him by dodging his attack by pressing B whenever be charged it up and then as soon as he goes to recover i charged my heavy attack up and ran into him. I repeated this process until he died so idk man pretty easy to me
Honestly I feel like the open-world design of Elden Ring "softened" me quite a bit. Boss too hard? Dungeon too complex? No problem, I can just go somewhere elese and can come back stronger at a later point. You rarely are actually forced to deal with a difficult challenge there and then. And then some you get to the endgame, have nowhere else to go, and didn't learn all those tough lessons before...
Same after that victory i was thinking "i can beat that shinny boy the dark rider was not that hard" hahaha boy he help me remember that i should stay humble 10 tries (3 times i was about to beat him but was not aggressive enough)
It is when you're as dumb as me and in-line to Margaret with lvl 3 no upgrades, 4 basic healing flasks, and for some reason neglecting all summonable help
Less important but also useful is that hitting him 20 times in a row while dodging his attacks on Torrent makes darn sure you get the hang of the mounted combat, which is new to From games.
This, it really didn't take me long to learn the lesson, he was clearly not there for me to kill right then. But once I got torrent, a few levels, a weapon. Suddenly a thought came to try out mounted combat and what better target than that clearly overpowered enemy in the beginning. That definitely caught me up to speed with mounted combat.
Unless you're someone like me who has always been terrible at any form of vehicular combat. No matter the pain it may cause me, I refuse to use Torrent in combat.
This is the real lesson I learned from this guy. I did avoid him at first of course, but the real lesson I learned was, “hey, mounted combat can be more advantageous than grounded combat in certain situations. Also here’s how you use it effectively.” Man single-handedly taught me how good charging heavy attacks are on horseback.
Doesn't help that Torrent controls like absolute crap. Like, eventually I got to the point where I regularly fight on him, and even enjoy it, but it's a learned skill for sure.
Boy cuz lemme tell ya, a level 9 Bloodhound Fang with a few Bloodhounds Finesse straight WRECKS lots of.... normal, enemies. I used to be terrified of Golems, those damn birds in Caelid, and other things that now I just wreck in a few hits
The icing on the cake incase you thought that he was MEANT to be there as the first boss intended for a new player is his reward. You get a weapon that requires MULTIPLE LEVELS in faith, strength and dex, which tells you "you shouldn't have fought him yet. learn patience."
As a compeltely new souls player I took one look at him and was like "aw hell nah" and snuck past, I actually didn't realize he was a boss until one of my friends asked me if I had beaten "Tree Sentinel" and we had a very confusing discussion where I said I had reached Margit but never seen Tree Sentinel anywhere
I mean even a new souls player, seeing a large horsemen I would be sure it's a boss, cause from my friend word "if it's look armored and large, definitely a boss" and we'll armored and large was most definition of Elden ring bosses
I just immediately stealthed past him and came back repeatedly throughout my time to see how I measured up against him now. Like, every time I gained a few levels and upgraded my weapon or I found a bunch of better armor etc. I'd pay him another visit and basically treated him as a measure of how far I'd come. I did kind of forget about him once I got into Stormveil Castle though, so then I came back and kicked his butt after I beat Godrick :)
Haha pretty much did the same thing. Only after getting my preferred weapon type, Ultra greatswords, colossal in this game, and taking ages to get the stats required was I able to go and kill him without having to try to many times.
Good approach, beating the Tree Sentinel is a general indication you are at least ready to attempt Margot (but not necessarily ready to beat him, since you still need to learn his patterns and rhythm)
To be fair, all you need is a 100% physical shield and ways to mitigate stamina consumption via trinket... The 1st trinket you find in the sword key at the tutorial area is a HP / Weight / Stamina item. Maybe look for the Shield Barrier skill to consistently buff it without needing sorcery. What you notice in this game is enemies hit your stamina extremely hard when you block... I think you get it somewhere in Limgrave or in the Weeping Peninsula. Anyone thinking of what happens if you build a 30 Endurance Wretch in the beginning? That's level 19. Super buffed walking tank with Over 200 stamina, heaviest armor possible, and every skill that focuses on making shields your main weapon.
I had a similar experience but with the Dragonkin Soldier in that one big cave. I found him when I barely had anything of use, obviously dying tons of times, but then I went to fight Margit, came back, died a bunch, but overcame him after beating Godrick. I had formed this relationship with that boss, and that's what I think is amazing about this game
I fought Professor Sentinel for over two hours before finally succeeding. The lesson I learned from him was to time my dodges as in my earlier attempts I would panic dodge the moment I saw him wind up an attack. The boss taught me the importance of patience and reading the tells of an enemy to win
This studio is on another level when it comes to game design. The thought and details put into these games are astounding. Elden Ring is as fresh and inspiring as Demon Souls was when it first came out. Truly remarkable what these designers are able to do without holding your hand and telling you outright.
To add to this, I think the Grafted Scion is a way of introducing players to this concept. Killing it IS possible, but you ARE going to die as a new player. Tree Sentinel is just the natural extension of this. You ARE going to die if you fight me, but progress a little and we'll see what you're made of. I rammed my head against him for a few tries, realized I didn't have my trusty Claymore by my side, grabbed Torrent and the GS near him, then killed Sentinel without issue. That was where the game clicked for me, like with Abyss Watchers, Gascoigne or Genichiro. I've been using his weapon for well over twenty hours now, and it's been nice carrying the soul of our teacher with me. The stuttering at the bottom of the hill is an issue though.
there are two grafted scions i came across inside a catacomb somewhere(not bosses). there's absolutely no way to beat them even if I lure one by one. No damage whatsoever and they one shot combo me.
@@zaxmaxlax They're tough as nails, even for someone in mid/late game. My best recommendation is to use a very sturdy shield (Heater with barrier shield is pretty nice in my experience). Be very patient, watch out for the combo with the trail effect on its swords, and punish its jump hard. That or just run away, they're often not worth the trouble.
You can’t kill the scion f.e. With the astrologer class - the maximum amount of magic damage you can deal to him is like 1/4th of his life and then you can only use your wand to punch
@@toooes You'd have to assume the player went in completely blind without watching any gameplay trailers or seeing the promo shots on the store page for every system. But even then, I'd say that his first lesson is that it's okay to skip encounters and once you find Torrent it's easy to put 2 & 2 together. I feel like it works whether you know or not.
@@ENCHANTMEN_ I think that he is a good example of that but it’s still somewhat reasonable to fight him on foot depending on your weapon, I think that teaching moment is more at home in the dragon fight because you’ll get baddabinged if you don’t have a horse I feel like they both try and teach the lesson to increase the odds of you learning it
I thought the same thing while fighting him(2 hours was… enough time to see it). Even if you don’t get this lesson clearly from Tree Sentinel, the npc that warns you before Agheel makes the same point. He says you’re underpowered for a dragon, which is true, and says that you shouldn’t bother fighting it right now(which might be another way of learning the “avoid overly strong enemies” lesson), and if you actually try and beat Agheel the second lesson is learned. Miyazaki is a great game designer. Also, thank you for suggesting the wretch as a starting class, I’m loving the experience
Wretch gang!!! My 1st time too. Didnt get yo margit till about hr 12. Lol. Noped right out of that fight. Ended up in the underground and didnt kill a thing. But robbed them blind. Magic bow and some other cool things..
Those wretched zombie guys all pray to Agheel, I was first like these guys are muttering like bloodborne only when I listened closer did I make out the word Agheel. I was like what's Agheel? Well, I killed them all and was running around the swamp and you know what, I'd pray to him too.
This is my first time playing a souls like game and i came out of the cave and for like 30 minutes i couldnt beat him. I thought i was just really bad at the game (which i no doubt am) but i didnt know he was more OP than like the bosses in the area. Very good to know that he is intended to be that way lmao
@@horzionfalls5921 i dont care what it says on the store lol, any idiot like you can add a tag on steam. This game literally comes from the original developers of Dark Souls, it's not inspired by it. It's THE Souls game.
@@penultimania4295 It actually IS a Souls-Like, because that was a genre created by FromSoft out of their own mouths by the Dark Souls series. This game is not Dark Souls, it is not in the Dark Souls world, it has literally nothing to do with Dark Souls. The game is a Souls-Like. How you gonna be that mad over something you're wrong about. Also devs choose game tags, not users, so no, not anyone can just edit the Elden Ring steam page and type "Souls-Like" on it.
Elden ring is my first souls game and it really is remarkable how well they teach you the way the game is meant to be played without a massive in depth tutorial or help boxes popping up on the screen. The effort and passion behind the game is evident
Ironically I had played dark souls 3 sucked at it (I'm talking barely past tutorial boss) and now I like elden ring, it's not that much easier but the freedom and rewarding feelings it gives you when you do just about anything other than pick flowers is amazing
The fact that you get his weapon as a reward for beating him, but you can't use it early on since it has high stats requirement, should show you that the devs intended him to not be beaten early on.
i get your point, but honestly, some of these weapons have ridiculously high requirements for no reason. If the devs didnt want us to have access to a weapon early, then they shouldnt give it as a reward from a boss you meet in the starting zone, especially if said boss can be killed relatively easily after a few hours of gameplay, and you dont even need to be a godlike player with insane reaction times or skill to do so.
meh, if they had no intent of having him beat early on they wouldn't plop him directly in front of you at the beginning of the game, higher level gear is common in souls games, all it means is you gotta level up before you can use the weapon
I think this is their way of upping a notch on their rewards system to make it feel more rewarding. Raising your stats to be able to use the Golden Halberd should not be terribly difficult if you spent time beating the Tree Sentinel early on.
Margit was a teacher for me, it taught me not to play Dark Souls when i sm playing Elden Ring... I confronted him at lv 25 and it took many tries untill i figured out that i should not just two-hand my gretsword and dodge and hit in the openings like i did through many playthroughs with DS games. When i tried using jump attack, counters and good ash of war ( gives bleeding damage in a swipe ) and combined all of that i beat him. And that is in part a lesson which tree sentinel gives, dont play Dark Souls, play Elden Ring, you can avoid enemies here easier, you have more tools at your disposal in combat...use them.
I dodged all Margits attacks. I used the rot dog to give him red rot. I’ve used the rot dog on all bosses so far it’s really useful. I found tree sentinel harder than Margit.
I rarely find the guard counter useful. 90% of the time you're still better off dodging and 50% of the time you go to do a Counter, your enemy is gonna just follow up and break your poise before your hit even lands.
@@roiroije6326 cause you're throwing it out willy nilly, u wait for the enemy to finish their combo and on the last hit u block and counter. U may ask why do that instead of just dodge and roll? Counterattacks do insane posture dmg and more dmg than heavies, while being fast. Don't disregard new mechanics cause u haven't figured them out yet
I bought a item that stuns him (like bloodbornes music Box) as long as he's in his first faze. Used that to get the early part out of the way and then got serious with the final half. This game has so many many different tools and toys for you to play with and adjust how you approach encounters.
same, first off i got my ass kicked, then i tried parrying him and found out you had to parry him 2 times so you can critical him, so i just practiced dodging him
Margit is also a teacher tbh, he's very early on in the game if you just blindly follow the directions without preparing first. at the very least he's a reminder of tree sentinel's teachings x)
Spoiler!!! I didnt do any of the main story path. I keep going side quest and meet. The one and only patches. And what interest me is. What patches selling. A rune to bind Margit. I was like wtf? How did patches got this stuff? An item which essential to beat the big boss with ease. Doing side quest does reward you.
As someone who took 15.5 hours to beat the tree sentinel fresh from the tutorial since it's my first fromsoft game, I can honestly say that fighting it taught me so much. From core mechanics to dual wielding to equipment builds I am so happy I spent the time to beat him. And to get a halberd I couldn't even use after killing him is icing on the cake
What makes someone who didn't play any FromSoft games bang their head against the wall for 15 hours? If I just started a random game that had such a hard boss at the start, I'd for sure either skip it or skip the game entirely.
@@MegaDeox oh trust me I just beat him and I wanted to refund the fucking game so badly you dont even know but then I looked at my playtime and I was already at an hour which meant I couldnt refund so I said Im getting my moneys worth and kept trying until I beat him took me an entire day worth of hours
The boss also teaches you that creativity can be rewarded - if you hide on the top of the ruins nearby his walking path (you can see them on the left @2:30 ) you can cheese him pretty easily by just plugging away with arrows or bolts. you just need to get the initial nomad book so you can craft arrows and some small bones from animals to keep your ammo up.
I spent about 9 hours attempting to beat the Tree Sentinel out of the tutorial area. It was definitely unreasonable of me to do, but my persistence paid off and I was finally able to beat it without getting hit lol. 211 deaths later, I can finally explore the game!
@@slavplaysgames or he probably realized he wasn’t meant to face him early on, but thought that since tree sentinel was so close to a respawn, it’d be fun if he could be him while still a fresh character
@@goatmagnum It's definitely stable enough about 90% of the time. So far my bigger nitpick is that viewing bloodstains hasn't ever worked for me, and desyncs in co-op are happening too much. But I love this game so much I can't even be that mad.
Thats something that's amazing about this game you no longer have to die a million times to progress, you actually have a huge amount of options where you can go explore almost the entire map freely and come back to things anytime.
I was determined to beat him when i first came across him. It took almost an hour, but now the tree sentinel's moveset is burnt into my memory, making every other encounter with tree sentinels a thousand times easier.
This was very well thought out, thank you for the analysis! This was the first game in the series that I've played, so I was shocked when I encountered him as my first experience with combat lol. I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure it out, but took my lumps and moved on :) I've gotten old enough to know when I'm beat and swallow my pride!
The lesson I got from Tree Sentinel was that I should react rather than act, to wait for his attack then make mine during his recovery period. There are very few attacks in this game that are not well telegraphed and you can almost always dodge, block, parry or stance break your way out of it. Once you know this he's basically defenceless as all his attacks are extremely well telegraphed and consistent in their timing, so with practice you can reliably roll either out of the way or through them.
I feel this is exactly the same as the Stone Talus on the bottom of the cliff when you leave your starting cavern in Breath of the Wild. He is much stronger than all the other enemies on the Great Plateau but completely optional, too.
I’m currently on Margit. I feel like every mini boss so far has been shouting, “Hey! Remember that mechanic you skimmed over in the tutorial? Try it!” Sentinel(and most of the main Limgrave area) teaches you that mounted combat is crucial. The boss at Castle Morne reminds you to guard counter. FromSoft has PERFECTED combat with this one.
I did not use a horse for tree sentinel, I didn't adventure anywhere either. I just ran at him for multiple tries and killed him. Just rolling and 2 handing my estoc. Got the dodges down and confirmed when I can get free damage. Easy fight. I've beaten ds3 and 1, demon souls and bloodborne. Skipped 2, hated sekiro. I guess I'm somewhat a veteran. But I avoid shield for example. Was nailed into me by the community that "shield takes no skill lol" when I first started the bloodsouls games. So I avoid shields always. Especially since Mt first fromsoft game was bloodborne. I'm just used to rolling and counter attacking like bloodborne.
I'm definitely in the category of leaving him be and going to do other stuff. I tried about 10 times to beat him after getting Torrent and some better gear, plus the spectral wolves, but I'm still getting my shit kicked in by him, so I'm just gonna leave it for now, and come back later. I've been enjoying the heck out of the exploration part of the game, and I am slowly getting better as a first time souls game player. As an aside, I can't believe rats hit as hard as they do. Good lord...
If you get the jellyfish from the woman on stormhill you can balance it's agro with damage. Eventually he'll get poisoned and you just need to avoid getting hit. Easy clap
I beat him today as a level 1 wretch with a straight sword in 2-hander mode. I highly highly recommend you invest the time to learn the fight until you beat him. Ever since I beat him I've been folding bosses in lingrave with the same weapon still at level 1 in just a few tries each. They feel like absolute child's play compared to Sentinel-sensei lol
@@nextos Yes, that's my point. It was only by investing the time into learning how to play by fighting the Sentinel-sensei that I was able to quickly overcome the other bosses. Had I skipped the sentinel it would have been a lot harder to fight the others because I would have lacked the foundational skills. This is my first souls game that I've been more than a couple hours into.
I really enjoy your take on this. It sounds dumb as I type it out, but DS really, REALLY taught me lessons in patience and perseverance growing up. I felt a lot of the same sentiment when I first rolled up on Tree Sentinel. But man, the feeling of finally knocking him down was incredible and rewarding. I do t feel very many other games bring me that sense of satisfaction.
At 6 hours and 20 minutes, with a good 90 minutes spent taking cracks at him, I finally broke the wall. My starter axe wasn't cutting it, so I saved up for a Bastard Sword. Upgraded it once, and then... I watched. After several attempts of summoning NPC phantoms in, I realized they were more a hindrance than a help, both because they do no damage whatsoever and because they kept throwing my pace off. Eventually I learned that dodging left and right are almost always the wrong thing to do. I either started dodging away from or into his attacks, depending on if they were safe afterwards. In the back half of the fight, the safest time to attack is after the heavy shield slam - the one with the wind effects on it. You can gauge distance fairly easily, and it's probably the move with the longest recovery time, which... honestly isn't saying much 'cause you'll still only likely get one swing in. But it was _safe_ and that was the key thing I'd been looking for. I was walking away from this guy the entire fight. Too many attempts the lockon had been the actual fight, because Sentinel would do his ground slam over me and I'd eat the full attack because I wouldn't turn around in time. If you're always moving away from him, you will _never_ eat more than a glancing blow. I'll probably never have the stats to wield his weapon, but it was never about a reward. He doesn't even have a trophy for killing him. I didn't know he dropped anything at all. I just wanted revenge. And y'know what? Felt good, man. The key to success is to slow down and _watch_ - and obviously to not get tilted, which is easier said than done. No regrets.
I spent the same amount of time going at it with the axe actually and i got the hang of the first phase down after the first hour or two. When the second phase came along, i went toward a downward spiral but it helped me realize how to actually dodge fast aoe attacks and get my reactions up. I got on a good run and finally beat him after 7 hours total of playing the game. My previous with the other games helped a bit but that just shows that the combat system has changed a bit since the last time i played these games.
As someone tht also picked wretch, the tree sentinel was a tricky one, one shotting almost every hit but once I beat him, it felt like anything in this game was possible but I completely understand if ppl just dont do it until they get stronger. I hav 1000+ hrs on ds3 which is the most similar game to this and I dont think ive struggled as much to a boss I felt like i could beat. Sometimes there are bosses tht u just cant beat on ur first playthrough bc you’re under leveled but I never felt like tree sentinel was like tht. Every time I died, I felt like it was completely my fault and I felt Like i could still win evn tho I was base wretch. Hes a great boss tht I think encourages alot of ppl to face an obstacle wen they think they can Edit: it did take 3 hrs at base wretch lvl tho so Edit 2: Why the fuck are there 2 tree sentinels
Ugh he has some wonky hit boxes. I was taking damage from vertical slashes that were 3 feet away. Though that may have been related to the frame drops on pc. They mostly seemed relegated to that area, for me at least. Once I left I never really experienced them. But even then they weren't that bad. Barely noticeable at times. Not sure that really accounts for some of the more BS hits.
@@rainbowkrampus most people never take advantage of the jumping i-frames, jump this casual should be the new meta. Those vertical attacks are easily avoidable with a simple jump lol
@@rainbowkrampus its not wonky the halberd hitbox is huge. The only effective way is you roll toward him. Most people have did this mistake even in dark soul franchise game. The handle hitbox is small and also the damage you get from his handle also small. And boi i do like the enemy attacking react when you realise which side you at when facing him. Its pursuer 2.0 after all. About the stuttered part my laptop did not have that problem which everyone have. Probably because i update my pc regularly.
I played DS 3 for like...5 hours i think...BB for like...maybe 10....and I just saw that mountain of a man on a horse and ignored him....there's literally no reason for me to fight him....I started as a wretch, and after 2 restarts (due tome not noticing a lever, and me forgetting that npcs can actually kick my ass) I am not level 23 and working on some actual gameplay
So far, I’ve found Dex based weapons with added bleed damage from the Blood Slash ash of war to be incredibly useful. It’s actually how I beat Margit the Fell Omen. He bled out
@@LOLcheeseORZ agreed! Ive always been a STR weapon player in all the other Souls games, including Bloodborne, so it’s nice that Elden Ring provides such fluidity and change of pace. Trying new things
@@ariannadravis3934 that’s crazy! I use it on the same weapon lmao! I was so inspired by the Carian Knight that I made one of my own. INT and DEX build with Carian sorceries. I love the sword attack sorceries. The Rapier is a great way to get aggressive if I have to.
I am new to souls like game and I am hard-headed, I used 7 hours just to beat this boss once I got out the door, I've learn to utilize my dodge I frames, its pattern, attack windows, how to stagger it with heavy jump attacks, 2nd phase's triggering its shield bash, and I play on keyboard, another thing I've learn is never giving up no matter how bad the situation is, I beat it with 10% hp and 0 potions.
He also taught me one of the easiest ways to deal with bosses in this game is to bait out out one of their easy to dodge super long recovery attacks and then jump attack them until they stagger, seriously I've beaten Tree Sentinel, Margit, Godrick, Dragonkin Soldier of Nosketti, and Magma Dragon Wyrm with the same strategy and with my +3 Large Club (Battle axe for Tree Sentinel and Greataxe for Margit tho) (i am on the hunt for the Great Club)
@@GodMajik easy, first phase its easy to stagger him just bonk his head with jumping r2's. You can do this by baiting him into doing those fire breathing attacks and getting near his legs, then once he finished you can come out of his legs and boink him. At some point you'll have broken his posture and you can do critical damage. After this and a couple more swings he should go into phase 2, and this is where the real Magma Wyrm fight begins. You can practically no longer bonk his head, so what i did was i just stuck to his legs hit him once or twice then ran away. Rinse and repeat, you can also roll through his AOE attacks like i did in order to beat him. Reminder: i did this with a +3 Large Club not because i didn't have enough stones for upgrading it but because i was saving them from the great club (i got the great club btw, it's fun but I'm deciding between it and the Large Club since its not as great of a moveset as I'd enjoy), so unless you're also there in search of the Great Club you'd be doing more damage than me with my Large Club
@@GodMajik Hug its hind legs, just wail on them until you see him stand on them to prepare for his smash AOE and roll, you can get around 2 hits when behind him before he turns around
@@bobbrownley2223 thank you man, I’m gonna try your way and see how it goes unfortunately I’m not a strength build, I’m more dex/mag I’m still trying to find the way to respec because I’ve not fully decided on a decent build yet in all honesty but I feel like I can probably put up a better fight now against MW 😁
There are two ways to grind a souls game, experience and gear. You can either be perfect in the fight, or get so OP as to destroy them, or somewhere in between. Both ideologies are correct.
Great video. I'm still very new at the game. And I"m actually trying out a few of the classes before deciding on one. After seeing a lot of well known gamers get killed multiple times in Elden Ring, I realized that I too will have to get used to getting killed a lot. Yet, it also relieved a lot of stress knowing that. So, I don't have to be hard on myself if I die a lot. That being said, I can see myself having a lot of fun in Elden Ring for a long time to come. They made the game more adventurous with its open world design and ability to level without having to follow the "main story". Thanks again for this. Now...onto Elden Ring!!
I took your advice and started as a wretch. I'm level 1 with nothing but my billy-club, a crappy shield, and the vendor chainmail armor. I got my ass handed to me for hours from the wee hours of the morning last night fighting the Tree Sentinel. I was frustrated, but never infuriated. That's because in all but maybe 2 deaths when I got hit it was genuinely my fault. A couple times I got hit by invisible hit boxes when I was trying to whiff-punish, and I literally saw air in between my head and his lance when I got hit, and they weren't supposed to be AOE attacks mind you. I learned not only every move in his arsenal, but also the permutations of each variation of his moves. Yes, about 3 of his attacks actually have alternate versions that proc both randomly and after certain points in the fight. I tried and tried and tried and eventually I was able to chain jump attacks together and chip his health down to about half. And then I realized that's where the true fight begins.... He adds 3 new devasting attacks to his arsenal with 2 of them having AOE strong enough to kill you from sheer splash damage. After about 3 hours of punishment, I decided to at least to look for a better weapon because that starter club was barely even hurting him with a fully charged R2 or jumping R2. I looked around and saw an armored zombie patrolling his route. I folded him and luckily he dropped both a fancy set of plate leggings with more defense and he also dropped a straight sword with a couple of amazing 'square-off' attacks. It took me only about 10 more tries on the sentinel to learn the new tech for the sword, and I finally dropped his ass a few hours ago! This is my first souls game that I've played for more than a few hours, so this win felt spectacular! Ever since then I've been dungeon delving in limgrave and bodying bosses in just a couple tries. They feel like childs play thanks to Sentinel-Sensei! I'll never forget him!
I keep seeing people say "this is my first souls game". It's weird, why didn't you play any past souls game if you bought Elden Ring right at launch? Did you pre order? Again, its just weird especially if you had pre-ordered and had not at least bought Dark Souls Remastered, Sekiro, Dark Souls 3, or Blood Borne to get ready for Elden Ring.
@@DropoutJerome newcomers just don't like to play older titles, thats all there is to it. Unless they are really invested and interested in FromSoftwars's unique game design
@@DropoutJerome I played a little Demon's Souls back then, but I didn't have a PS3 at the time. I played Dark Souls 1 later on, and I wanted to play as an archer. It was literally unplayable, I couldn't even kill hardly one skeleton in the starter area with the bow. I looked it up to see if I was just that terrible, and I found an interview with the devs in which they explained they nerfed the bow into the ground intentionally to dissuade players from picking the archer because they "thought too many people played as an archer in Demon's Souls". I was so put off by disingenuousness that I swore off the entire series, and stuck to my guns. I'm not mad that they made archer unplayable, I'm mad that they went about it in such a deceitful way and for such an arrogant and asinine reason. Sekiro's protag and story just didn't interest me. I'm sure it's a good game, but it's themes and setting just aren't my cup of tea.
@@theendereyes4395 Nah, I may go back and play the demon's souls remaster at some point. I just didn't have a PS3 back then, and I don't have a PS4 or PS5 now.
@@7F0X7 Makes sense. Thanks for explaining. If you ever want to play Dark Souls again the bow scales with dex, and its still good at the beginning of the game. Each Souls game has a lesson where if you run into enemies thatre too hard, then go a different direction. You don't want to go to the graveyard where the skeletons are until a little later in the game after you've upgraded your weapons and leveled up a bit. It's like elden ring, but on a much smaller scale. Maybe after Elden Ring you'd want to explore more of the series, even try sekiro because Demon's/Dark Souls is one half of Elden Ring, and Sekiro is the other half.
The lesson hit me pretty hard when I first met him. I chose the samurai class and decided to shoot him with the bow for the first attack. I soon saw the arrow barely did anything to his hp and I thought to myself "I've made a terrible mistake." And proceeded to die quickly.
Came in thinking this video was a very obvious discussion of an already discussed topic but the change in prepesctive to the to player that keeps trying caught me off guard. Really like the final point of the video even after coming in sceptically.
I ended up doing the wall method and it taught me so many lessons throughout the fight. It took 2 and a half hours and while it was absolutely brutal it was absurdly rewarding. It taught me that your shield is not your savior and that you need to learn to dodge more than you block. It also taught me how important not being hit greedy is, this game is all about patience and not being prideful. If you have to cheese an enemy that’s what you do, if you have to spend an entire minute dodging a hit sequence just to land one good attack that’s what you do. You need to utilize everything yet rely on nothing. It also teaches you the valuable lesson of exploration and preparation. Levels mean something in this game and spending time getting good items is worth it. That brutal lesson leads you to discovering that this isn’t a hack and slash it’s a vast world of interactions and challenges each with a unique way to be overcome.
I was initially being stubborn by attempting to beat Tree Sentinel with my naked wretch and his club. Over 3+ hours later, I decided that it was going nowhere and pressing on might actually burn me out before the game really starts. Also the fact that he doesn't give any unique rewards for beating him early compared to something like Vanguard in Demon's Souls. So I snuck by him, got Torrent along with a greatsword and some random armor, and returned for delicious vengeance which was a heck lot less frustrating lol.
That’s what happened for me the shield bash attack was pretty bs so I decided I’d rather not waste my time on it after an hour or two. I honestly think it’s a pretty bad mini boss to be so early as it isn’t a very good fight and you’re meant to do it on horseback or when you can tank more than one to two hits.
@@ariannadravis3934 I meant something that cannot be obtained if you didn't beat him right off the bat. The tutorial Vanguard demon in the Demon's Souls remake is an example since you can only get the classic helmet for the fluted armor if you manage to kill him (along with other bonuses like some extra healing grass and upgrade stones).
I feel like he was designed to be fought again on turret. He is much more bearable that way and honestly I think it’s way more fun to joust him than to fight him on foot.
i found him harder with torrent. easier to dodge on foot. also torrent's jump and his attacks are buggy. he will still hit u even if u jump above his attacks
He legit never hit me once just being on the side and circling him spamming r1 on straightsword while being slighly sideways behind him. Easy on horse indeed - wolfsummons helped aswell.
Elden ring was my first souls game and i never thought about those bosses that way, but man that makes so much sense. I got extremely frustrated at first, then i did let go and went roaming. After gearing up, came back and beat the hell out of this boss. That whole process was so rewarding, and i now apply it on every single section of the game, so, in a way, you're completely right i was educated to do that by Tree Sentinel. Even though the teaching wasn't obvious, it was powerful and did stick with me way deeper than if i've seen this just written in a tutorial note somewhere.
I'm having such a fantastic time with the game so far. I've put like 14 hours into the game and I haven't even left limgrave or beat Margit yet. The volume and variety of content on display is crazy. How are you enjoying the game so far mr ratatoskr?
@@Coynepurse I'm playing on a gtx 1050, i5 8300h and 16 gigs of ram. Getting around 40 fps but no stuttering except when I'm entering a new area. I feel like I'm lucky since a lot of people with much better hardware are struggling to run the game smoothly. I would advise to wait for a major patch that alleviates the issue. I don't think we can really do anything about it other than wait unless some user mod comes out that fixes these issues.
I have put in 8 hours into limgrave alone but i used guides to explore everything since its so big a world i can get lost easily or muss opportunities i never knew were there but now i got like 6 bosses left to beat in the area, the dragon of the lake, the tree sentinal and Margrit, other 3 are rumored bosses found only at night. Im lvl 23 and dumped alot into Vigor and i can tank a hit now XD but its still hard if i get ganged up on by enemies :P or if a boss has a tricky moveset and/or OP stats Edit im not going to move downwards to the other starter area before I beat everything i can in limgrave
@@Manudyne nah get a shield that blocks all damage- the brass shield is good for that - and use the guard counter attack + charged R2's whenever you can. Staggers the boss numerous times for massive riposte damage
Father G was the best teacher. As a souls player I went into Bloodborne trying to play slow and conservative, lost to him 20 times, gave up. You roll backward you die. Went back a week later upset and frustrated, played aggressive, easily won, realized I didn’t know how to play souls games before that moment.
Well, you knew how to play souls games, but not how to play soulsBORNE. That’s the magic of these games. You come out of one of them thinking you’re the man, then proceed to get your ass kicked by the next title. God I love these games man
It’s very interesting how I didn’t discover him until a bit later after having already gotten my horse and some equipment, but it was still no cakewalk and a valuable lesson in how horse combat works as I refused to believe I was supposed to fight on foot.
I mean, if you're a veteran in the Souls games you should know that if an enemy looks dangerous and you're just starting, you shouldn't fight said enemy. If you do, you're just a masochist.
I think there is something in rising to the challenge that I've been conditioned with previous darksouls games. You can 'cheese' it and if your a speedrunner this is no concern but there comes a time where you want to win a particular way and not the supposedly easier way. Tree sentinel for me was using only my short bow to kill it with painstakingly crafted bone arrows. I absolutely refused to use anything else, not my dagger or short sword. My bow. Yes it was hard but a real sense of pride and accomplishment comes with victory though there might be a bit of truth of being a masochist 😅
@@zokuva That's when you don't have any option rather than kill it. Because Dark Souls taught me that some areas are more difficult and you should avoid it if you can't handle it (Catacombs, New Londo), in Dark Souls 2 there are two ogres that hit hard and a newbie player shouldn't fight them. Even the first tutorial boss in the original Dark Souls it teachs you that you should run if you're not prepared to fight the boss (Asylum boss, you're barehanded and you deal little damage until you search for better equipment).
As someone who went through every from soft game except bloodborne in about a span of 3 months, the first time I saw Tree Sentinel my immediate instinct was to go around him. Especially starting as a wretch following Ratatoskr's advice. The dark souls series is designed in such a way that if something is too hard, generally you have ways to make it significantly easier. The only way to make Sekiro easier is by getting mechanically proficient, and genuinely being able to read the fight. No sugar coating. I realized I much preferred this type of engagement. On my way to to Margit I found the wretch experience too enjoyable, and I decided to take him on at level 3 naked with a club. I definitely found my identity as a player, and belong in the group that likes to "bang their head against the wall until it breaks" as he put it. I found myself saying the exact same thing as Rata during my playthrough when I started to experiment with spirit summons, bows, and magic which I hadn't done much with previous from titles. There is no wrong way to play the game if you're having an enjoyable experience. I found that I love to master a boss to every little animation and permutation of their move set. I also love to be resourceful and experimental and use different mechanics even if it makes the fight trivial. I genuinely feel like there's a personally enjoyable experience to be had in Elden Ring for almost any player.
i just find the controls a bit too confusing to do anything quickly lol. I don't like the menu system at all as it's too easy to accidentally use a potion at the wrong time.
He is meant to be fought on horseback. The next main boss in the castle merit or whatever his name is, is meant to be a wall for players. You are supposed to go east and explore the map. It's funny everyone summoning and still get wrecked cause the game wants you to go explore.
I found it easier on foot, gives more control over the fight, you can make him use certain moves and his moves are easy to dodge anyway as dodging on a horse is shit if you get hit as it stunlocks
I hated this boss so much, but I've fought him so many times that I can literally walk around most of his attacks I barely even roll anymore unless it the charge attack/shield bashes or I messed up my positioning. I still got to relearn the fight every time I change weapons tho cuz range and stagger damage are the most important factors in beating this boss.
Ez way to beat i found worked for me: run away and wait for him to do his jumping attack then jumping r2 him, then do it all over again until second phase where now you bait his shield jump attack and are able to get one jumping r2 AND possibly an r1
Sadly all i learned from tree sentinel is that the game has loads of performance issues, as during the fight i'd get constant stutters and slow downs, even being above reccomended specs, and even after lowering the settings, it persisted.
I think it is literally just that area, it's right where all those tutorial caves are so there's a lot of geometry right there with horseman. Rest of the game's zones have better instancing between open world and dungeons and I haven't seen those dips again.
Go to steam> library> elden ring> properties> launch options and type "-NOTEXTURESTREAMING". It only works if you have enough VRAM, load times are going to increase (a lot), but you wont experience stuttering anymore.
I ended up avoiding him completely because, well, that's a big horse. I wanted to go at him with Torrent. Turns out, Torrent is like half the size of that tree sentinel mule. As of right now, I return to the tree sentinel from time to time to practice horse combat. I find that aspect of the game to be extremely difficult, so it's nice having a sturdy training dummy. Though at this point my biggest issue is accidental dismounting because my stick is so sensitive.
From the moment my Wretch character crawled out to the open world, Tree Sentinel was the first thing my eyes caught and i instinctively knew better to leave him the hell alone, may be a way of thinking i developed from playing Dark souls 1,2 and 3 games like when they throw fire breathing dragons at you in the first area lol fond memories. It's riding a giant horse, both the horse and the rider are clad in golden armour, wielding and big a+s great shield and a halberd, there's no way iam even gonna approach him. So terrifying yet majestic. Putting up some levels and after buying my first chain mail armour i approached him, took me some time to get used to the mounted combat. It was a really fun fight and now i honor his memory by wielding his Halberd. Such a wonderful design!!
For me this boss was a way to introduce me to horseback combat. At first I died about 20 times to it and later as soon as I got torrent I beat him at my second try. Though I felt kinda bad for leaving that boss... dying again and again to that stupid horse stun attack isn't much more enjoyable
Elden Ring is my first FromSoft game. And aside from the tutorial, Tree Sentinal was my first real mob. Because I was so hard headed I fought him for 5 hours until I finally defeated him. And from then on, I was hooked on this game.
You know, thinking about it, this reminds me of the initial DS1 choice but on another level. When you first reach firelink you have a couple options on where to go, whether you know if you'll hit a dead end or not. ER meanwhile gives you a similar lesson with Tree Sentinel, in that you can go one place, or do one thing, and then come back later for something else - only this time it's a lot less likely you'll hit a dead end since it's open world. I didn't play wretch, but I saw he was pretty beatable, and he felt fun to fight so I decided to keep going at him until I downed him. I think for a veteran like me, he also just makes a good formal first impression for the hopeful boss quality going forward. Not too far yet, but I haven't been disappointed yet.
That idea that "if something is too difficult for you that you can leave" is profound in the context of souls games. Especially considering the amount of people who think there needs to be an easy mode.
Im definitely the hard headed type, I tried to beat tree sentinel the first time i saw him, but after a few tries I left and proceeded to go straight to margit and beat him after many tries. IMO Margit was much easier since you can summon the npc.
Really appreciate this game allows you to have options, which past FromSoft games were a bit more restrictive about. When I realized I was too underleveled for Margit, I then spent time exploring the entire southern peninsula. Tackled some caves, catacombs, a mine, and found an Evergaol boss I could easily beat. Everything else, even though I am now in Stormveil Castle, is being earmarked in the back of my mind to try again later. Still haven't beat Tree Sentinel even though I get his health down to half, because he knocks you around a lot.
Only took me 4 hours and 100+ deaths to beat him. It was an amazing experience, and I am still on my 1st playthrough. It has been a blast so far. Great video by the way
the 2nd and the 3rd boss encountered put a smile on my face: the first one is literally just a regular enemy recently promoted to boss, which means that Pinwheel isn't the easiest boss in the souls games anymore, while the Tree Sentinel is a reference to the Anor Londo giant sentinels in DS1, which have one of my favourite designs.
What I love about tree sentinel is that he’s also a gauge of how far you can reach. Limgrave isn’t the Tree Sentinel’s Natural Habitat, The Capital is, if you struggle to beat him than good luck facing everything late game has to offer you
Yep. Tree Sentinel was hard, but the one in Crumbling Farum Azula was brutal, even as a Samurai at level 165 with a bloody dex build who dual wields Katonah. He beat me a lot. So I let this one educate me. I found that by using the Eritrea shield to send his horses fire back at him, he was much easier to deal with then since at some point he'll realize "he'll just pick me apart from back here", forcing him to charge me so I can roll out of the way. Really tough enemies like the Draconic one we meet in Crumbling Farum Azula or any other tough foe are meant to educate us.
This mans videos are like Elden Ring Therapy everytime I get upset and stop playing the game for a day or so I watch his videos and I wanna go back and play again and I tell myself his advice and that I beat Dark Souls 1, 3 bloodborne, and Sekiro. If I can do that, I can do this.
FYI, you can cheese the first one. There's a ruined building to the right of the path that you can jump on. He won't jump up and if you have bow/magic, you good. There's a similar tactic for a pair of them later.
I’m so glad I didn’t have to struggle with him at the beginning. I started off as a mage and I just stood on the ruin next to him and kept hitting him with my pebble spell
Tree Sentinel is also an excellent boss to teach seasoned veterans the mechanics of the game. For example, the best way to set yourself up for a punish on his attack where he rushes in and swings the Halberd in a wide arch is to run away from him and roll to his left side. This sets you up to hit him on his weak side, where he doesn't have the Halberd and can't do the quick horse tackle. His shield crash also has a gigantic aoe, something that multiple bosses later on will use. Aoes pretty much so big and with such good tracking that you either need to set up good positioning beforehand or need excellent dodge timings. You'll know where the s in this game's roll are for sure once you beat him with a new Wretch character.
You can stand on top of the broken building just to the right of the path on your mount, he will never jump up on it, and you can glint pebble him down. His strikes will not hit you and he'll start moving back and forth under you...inch your way in your mount to the edge, target him, and continue to pebble him. He may actually despawn and appear back at the top of the hill, but his health will not reset. Lesson to take away from it...use the structures to your advantage and make quick work of something that would normally be difficult.
i cried a little there. Beautifully explained! Didnt know that. I fought this Bastard straight out of Tutorial and it took me 3Hours and 2 Controllers.
An educator in another way as well. Since I've chosen his halberd as my horseback weapon of choice, I find myself emulating his fighting style. Employing carefully timed attacks amidst charges and tight turns really helps makes the most of the halberd.
Me who spent 3.5 hours on beating Tree Sentinel as a fresh Wretch: “I’m a slow learner.”
Bro same here. I got a straight sword off a near-by zombie, and that made the fight sooooo much easier.
Personally I was struggling as fuck until I find 2 magic sword and playing in dual stance ( never used a spell for now , i'm just playing close combat range with magic stats just in case xD )
You can respect after the 2nd story boss if you want ;)
Don't worry it took me 6 hrs. I broke that wall but head is in pieces now 😅
Oh I learn it immediately. I'm just a stubborn bastard that can carry a grudge. Now he's dead and I have a shiny new weapon.
Kinda funny for some villain to go
"How many times do I have to teach you this lesson?!"
Only for the hero to say
"Not sure, I'm a slow learner."
Aside from the game design purposes, I just think it's amusing they made the first monster you encounter in the open world so ridiculously powerful.
Welcome to elden ring
He's also From Software's answer to the infamous white lynel on the great plateau starter area in breath of the wild on Master Mode.
He's tough looking the first few encounters, but he's like midir kinda. He's hard, until you beat him once, then he becomes a joke you could do naked with a broken straight sword if you had enough patience
And you go just a little bit to the right, and you encounter an even stronger dragon. Nice :)
I didnt encounter him at all and I'm past Godrick
"Oh hey look an enemy- oh, that a boss, thats a boss THATS A BOSS!"
-me meeting the tree sentinel for the first time
Same 😂 I ran up and started attacking him thinking that was going to be what the normal enemies were like and got one hit lmao
thats an anti tank rifle
Oh f##k! THAT'S AN ANTI TANK RIFLE!
Me: *See's big golden horseman* "AHH HELL NAW!"
@@deinonychus1948 I thought he worked like the knights from heide's tower of flame on DS2
@@deinonychus1948 same. I just took a glance at him and noped out of the there asap
Honetly I avoided him imedietly, knowing that only by his "looks" that he is the "too strong for now" kind of boss
I beat him after I defeated the Dark Rider tho
Also the dark music that plays when he starte spotting you
I went straight to margrit, got rolled, farmed a little, afterwards, I kicked tree sentinels ass. I didnt even go south or east till I was halfway through the academy, and everyone was so weak, I was like "ohhhhhhhh."
Idk why so many people are calling him hard…I have never played a fromsoftware game before and as a samurai, i killed tree sentinel right out the gate.
I did this by dying to him on foot 2 times then i went out to explore.Soon after 3 graces i got my mount.
On my mount i died to him just once and the second time i was able to kill him by dodging his attack by pressing B whenever be charged it up and then as soon as he goes to recover i charged my heavy attack up and ran into him.
I repeated this process until he died so idk man pretty easy to me
Honestly I feel like the open-world design of Elden Ring "softened" me quite a bit. Boss too hard? Dungeon too complex? No problem, I can just go somewhere elese and can come back stronger at a later point. You rarely are actually forced to deal with a difficult challenge there and then. And then some you get to the endgame, have nowhere else to go, and didn't learn all those tough lessons before...
Same after that victory i was thinking "i can beat that shinny boy the dark rider was not that hard" hahaha boy he help me remember that i should stay humble 10 tries (3 times i was about to beat him but was not aggressive enough)
The only lesson I learned from Tree Sentinel is "DO NOT FUCK WITH TREE SENTINEL!!!"
It is when you're as dumb as me and in-line to Margaret with lvl 3 no upgrades, 4 basic healing flasks, and for some reason neglecting all summonable help
Lmaoo
i learn sometimes its better to fight mounted foes on foot instead of mounted.
@@andylastname566 really I was dying a lot on foot. Not until I got the horse that I kill him mountaineering
@@andylastname566 oh god. not really. you need to learn to time your swings better and work on your circle 8's.
Less important but also useful is that hitting him 20 times in a row while dodging his attacks on Torrent makes darn sure you get the hang of the mounted combat, which is new to From games.
This, it really didn't take me long to learn the lesson, he was clearly not there for me to kill right then. But once I got torrent, a few levels, a weapon. Suddenly a thought came to try out mounted combat and what better target than that clearly overpowered enemy in the beginning. That definitely caught me up to speed with mounted combat.
Unless you're someone like me who has always been terrible at any form of vehicular combat.
No matter the pain it may cause me, I refuse to use Torrent in combat.
This is the real lesson I learned from this guy. I did avoid him at first of course, but the real lesson I learned was, “hey, mounted combat can be more advantageous than grounded combat in certain situations. Also here’s how you use it effectively.”
Man single-handedly taught me how good charging heavy attacks are on horseback.
Doesn't help that Torrent controls like absolute crap. Like, eventually I got to the point where I regularly fight on him, and even enjoy it, but it's a learned skill for sure.
It's laughably easier to kill him on foot though for me because of how telegraphed his moves are
Professor Sentinel: "There is no right way to play."
75% of the player base: "Yeah sure. Have you seen how broken my bleed build is?"
That’s why I said earlier, “There is no right way to play” against the game very true, against invaders however...........
Idk my frost build was pretty OP until they fucking patched it 😡
Bleed really should be nerfed if I’m being honest
Boy cuz lemme tell ya, a level 9 Bloodhound Fang with a few Bloodhounds Finesse straight WRECKS lots of.... normal, enemies. I used to be terrified of Golems, those damn birds in Caelid, and other things that now I just wreck in a few hits
@@jaredgreathouse3672 to be fair level 9 is like... Almost max.
The icing on the cake incase you thought that he was MEANT to be there as the first boss intended for a new player is his reward. You get a weapon that requires MULTIPLE LEVELS in faith, strength and dex, which tells you "you shouldn't have fought him yet. learn patience."
Very good point!
Nothing wrong with trying till you succeed though. Just cuz you cant wield the weapon doesnt mean it wasnt worth the effort
@@KayOScode true! but it informs the player after that challenge that you the rest of the area won't be like him
@@KayOScode no it exactly means that tbh
@@communistcomputergod6449 what about the sense of accomplishment of beating something far above your level?
As a compeltely new souls player I took one look at him and was like "aw hell nah" and snuck past, I actually didn't realize he was a boss until one of my friends asked me if I had beaten "Tree Sentinel" and we had a very confusing discussion where I said I had reached Margit but never seen Tree Sentinel anywhere
I mean even a new souls player, seeing a large horsemen
I would be sure it's a boss, cause from my friend word "if it's look armored and large, definitely a boss"
and we'll armored and large was most definition of Elden ring bosses
I just immediately stealthed past him and came back repeatedly throughout my time to see how I measured up against him now. Like, every time I gained a few levels and upgraded my weapon or I found a bunch of better armor etc. I'd pay him another visit and basically treated him as a measure of how far I'd come.
I did kind of forget about him once I got into Stormveil Castle though, so then I came back and kicked his butt after I beat Godrick :)
Haha pretty much did the same thing. Only after getting my preferred weapon type, Ultra greatswords, colossal in this game, and taking ages to get the stats required was I able to go and kill him without having to try to many times.
Good approach, beating the Tree Sentinel is a general indication you are at least ready to attempt Margot (but not necessarily ready to beat him, since you still need to learn his patterns and rhythm)
Tree Sentinel is sorta like a Lv30 heavy / keen class if you engage at that level, or lv40 magic / quality
To be fair, all you need is a 100% physical shield and ways to mitigate stamina consumption via trinket...
The 1st trinket you find in the sword key at the tutorial area is a HP / Weight / Stamina item.
Maybe look for the Shield Barrier skill to consistently buff it without needing sorcery.
What you notice in this game is enemies hit your stamina extremely hard when you block...
I think you get it somewhere in Limgrave or in the Weeping Peninsula.
Anyone thinking of what happens if you build a 30 Endurance Wretch in the beginning? That's level 19.
Super buffed walking tank with Over 200 stamina, heaviest armor possible, and every skill that focuses on making shields your main weapon.
I had a similar experience but with the Dragonkin Soldier in that one big cave. I found him when I barely had anything of use, obviously dying tons of times, but then I went to fight Margit, came back, died a bunch, but overcame him after beating Godrick. I had formed this relationship with that boss, and that's what I think is amazing about this game
I fought Professor Sentinel for over two hours before finally succeeding. The lesson I learned from him was to time my dodges as in my earlier attempts I would panic dodge the moment I saw him wind up an attack. The boss taught me the importance of patience and reading the tells of an enemy to win
You just described Dark Souls as a whole : patience is key, also Git Gud and Try Finger but Hole
@@HowlGough Same experience here. Everything else after has been much easier
Me like an unhinged mad man trying to perry
Hesitation is defeat
After beating tree sentinel, Margit went down easily
This studio is on another level when it comes to game design. The thought and details put into these games are astounding. Elden Ring is as fresh and inspiring as Demon Souls was when it first came out. Truly remarkable what these designers are able to do without holding your hand and telling you outright.
To add to this, I think the Grafted Scion is a way of introducing players to this concept. Killing it IS possible, but you ARE going to die as a new player. Tree Sentinel is just the natural extension of this. You ARE going to die if you fight me, but progress a little and we'll see what you're made of. I rammed my head against him for a few tries, realized I didn't have my trusty Claymore by my side, grabbed Torrent and the GS near him, then killed Sentinel without issue. That was where the game clicked for me, like with Abyss Watchers, Gascoigne or Genichiro. I've been using his weapon for well over twenty hours now, and it's been nice carrying the soul of our teacher with me.
The stuttering at the bottom of the hill is an issue though.
there are two grafted scions i came across inside a catacomb somewhere(not bosses). there's absolutely no way to beat them even if I lure one by one. No damage whatsoever and they one shot combo me.
@@zaxmaxlax They're tough as nails, even for someone in mid/late game. My best recommendation is to use a very sturdy shield (Heater with barrier shield is pretty nice in my experience). Be very patient, watch out for the combo with the trail effect on its swords, and punish its jump hard. That or just run away, they're often not worth the trouble.
You can’t kill the scion f.e. With the astrologer class - the maximum amount of magic damage you can deal to him is like 1/4th of his life and then you can only use your wand to punch
yeah i love his weapon, the reach is mwah
@@artival22 After I saw someone beat midir using only fists I believe everything is possible.
Ratatoskr: "you don't have to beat your head against this wall"
Me: ok but im still gonna
Darksouls games have conditioned me. Don't be a bitch.
@@Marth667 Bosses when you run away to level up: I smell bitch in here.
souls games is all about banging your head against a concrete wall. Wouldnt be a souls game without it
There's a third lesson you can learn from Tree Sentinel: Bows are a viable way to safely kill enemies from unreachable places 😁
Win at all costs
Fellow long range cheese enthusiast
Long range cheese = best cheese
no bows moment
How many arrows did that take....
My immediate thought was "That guy has a horse, I'm not fighting him until I have mine". I came back with Torrent and beat him on my second attempt.
Same here, I figured he was meant to teach the player that some bosses should be fought on horseback
There is nothing within the game that would lead you to think you will eventually have a horse
@@toooes the ads?
@@toooes You'd have to assume the player went in completely blind without watching any gameplay trailers or seeing the promo shots on the store page for every system. But even then, I'd say that his first lesson is that it's okay to skip encounters and once you find Torrent it's easy to put 2 & 2 together. I feel like it works whether you know or not.
@@ENCHANTMEN_ I think that he is a good example of that but it’s still somewhat reasonable to fight him on foot depending on your weapon, I think that teaching moment is more at home in the dragon fight because you’ll get baddabinged if you don’t have a horse I feel like they both try and teach the lesson to increase the odds of you learning it
I thought the same thing while fighting him(2 hours was… enough time to see it). Even if you don’t get this lesson clearly from Tree Sentinel, the npc that warns you before Agheel makes the same point. He says you’re underpowered for a dragon, which is true, and says that you shouldn’t bother fighting it right now(which might be another way of learning the “avoid overly strong enemies” lesson), and if you actually try and beat Agheel the second lesson is learned. Miyazaki is a great game designer.
Also, thank you for suggesting the wretch as a starting class, I’m loving the experience
@Rill you don’t start with a horse so you still have to explore before fighting the dragon which proves his point
What NPC?
Wretch gang!!! My 1st time too. Didnt get yo margit till about hr 12. Lol. Noped right out of that fight. Ended up in the underground and didnt kill a thing. But robbed them blind. Magic bow and some other cool things..
@@roiroije6326 Commenting because I found Agheel but I also want to know where this npc is.
Those wretched zombie guys all pray to Agheel, I was first like these guys are muttering like bloodborne only when I listened closer did I make out the word Agheel. I was like what's Agheel? Well, I killed them all and was running around the swamp and you know what, I'd pray to him too.
This is my first time playing a souls like game and i came out of the cave and for like 30 minutes i couldnt beat him. I thought i was just really bad at the game (which i no doubt am) but i didnt know he was more OP than like the bosses in the area. Very good to know that he is intended to be that way lmao
Elden ring is not a 'souls like'.
@@penultimania4295 It literally says it on the store "Souls like" lmao
@@horzionfalls5921 i dont care what it says on the store lol, any idiot like you can add a tag on steam. This game literally comes from the original developers of Dark Souls, it's not inspired by it. It's THE Souls game.
@@penultimania4295 bro you're so butthurt for what
@@penultimania4295 It actually IS a Souls-Like, because that was a genre created by FromSoft out of their own mouths by the Dark Souls series. This game is not Dark Souls, it is not in the Dark Souls world, it has literally nothing to do with Dark Souls. The game is a Souls-Like. How you gonna be that mad over something you're wrong about. Also devs choose game tags, not users, so no, not anyone can just edit the Elden Ring steam page and type "Souls-Like" on it.
Elden ring is my first souls game and it really is remarkable how well they teach you the way the game is meant to be played without a massive in depth tutorial or help boxes popping up on the screen. The effort and passion behind the game is evident
Ironically I had played dark souls 3 sucked at it (I'm talking barely past tutorial boss) and now I like elden ring, it's not that much easier but the freedom and rewarding feelings it gives you when you do just about anything other than pick flowers is amazing
*insert 25+ tutorial pop-ups showing up through the early-mid game*
The fact that you get his weapon as a reward for beating him, but you can't use it early on since it has high stats requirement, should show you that the devs intended him to not be beaten early on.
i get your point, but honestly, some of these weapons have ridiculously high requirements for no reason. If the devs didnt want us to have access to a weapon early, then they shouldnt give it as a reward from a boss you meet in the starting zone, especially if said boss can be killed relatively easily after a few hours of gameplay, and you dont even need to be a godlike player with insane reaction times or skill to do so.
meh, if they had no intent of having him beat early on they wouldn't plop him directly in front of you at the beginning of the game, higher level gear is common in souls games, all it means is you gotta level up before you can use the weapon
I think this is their way of upping a notch on their rewards system to make it feel more rewarding. Raising your stats to be able to use the Golden Halberd should not be terribly difficult if you spent time beating the Tree Sentinel early on.
@@AysarAburrub true, same can be said for bloodhounds fang.
Margit was a teacher for me, it taught me not to play Dark Souls when i sm playing Elden Ring... I confronted him at lv 25 and it took many tries untill i figured out that i should not just two-hand my gretsword and dodge and hit in the openings like i did through many playthroughs with DS games. When i tried using jump attack, counters and good ash of war ( gives bleeding damage in a swipe ) and combined all of that i beat him.
And that is in part a lesson which tree sentinel gives, dont play Dark Souls, play Elden Ring, you can avoid enemies here easier, you have more tools at your disposal in combat...use them.
I dodged all Margits attacks. I used the rot dog to give him red rot. I’ve used the rot dog on all bosses so far it’s really useful. I found tree sentinel harder than Margit.
I rarely find the guard counter useful. 90% of the time you're still better off dodging and 50% of the time you go to do a Counter, your enemy is gonna just follow up and break your poise before your hit even lands.
@@roiroije6326 cause you're throwing it out willy nilly, u wait for the enemy to finish their combo and on the last hit u block and counter. U may ask why do that instead of just dodge and roll? Counterattacks do insane posture dmg and more dmg than heavies, while being fast. Don't disregard new mechanics cause u haven't figured them out yet
I bought a item that stuns him (like bloodbornes music Box) as long as he's in his first faze. Used that to get the early part out of the way and then got serious with the final half.
This game has so many many different tools and toys for you to play with and adjust how you approach encounters.
same, first off i got my ass kicked, then i tried parrying him and found out you had to parry him 2 times so you can critical him, so i just practiced dodging him
The funny thing is Rat people thing Margit is the "teacher" boss when you're right that it's Tree Sentinel.
rat people?
@@toomanytamales1323 I think he means the Demi-Humans.
@@toomanytamales1323 you read it wrong, I was referring to Rat as in Rataskor.
Margit is also a teacher tbh, he's very early on in the game if you just blindly follow the directions without preparing first.
at the very least he's a reminder of tree sentinel's teachings x)
Spoiler!!!
I didnt do any of the main story path. I keep going side quest and meet. The one and only patches. And what interest me is. What patches selling. A rune to bind Margit. I was like wtf? How did patches got this stuff? An item which essential to beat the big boss with ease. Doing side quest does reward you.
As someone who took 15.5 hours to beat the tree sentinel fresh from the tutorial since it's my first fromsoft game, I can honestly say that fighting it taught me so much. From core mechanics to dual wielding to equipment builds I am so happy I spent the time to beat him. And to get a halberd I couldn't even use after killing him is icing on the cake
What makes someone who didn't play any FromSoft games bang their head against the wall for 15 hours?
If I just started a random game that had such a hard boss at the start, I'd for sure either skip it or skip the game entirely.
@@MegaDeox oh trust me I just beat him and I wanted to refund the fucking game so badly you dont even know but then I looked at my playtime and I was already at an hour which meant I couldnt refund so I said Im getting my moneys worth and kept trying until I beat him took me an entire day worth of hours
The boss also teaches you that creativity can be rewarded - if you hide on the top of the ruins nearby his walking path (you can see them on the left @2:30 ) you can cheese him pretty easily by just plugging away with arrows or bolts. you just need to get the initial nomad book so you can craft arrows and some small bones from animals to keep your ammo up.
I spent about 9 hours attempting to beat the Tree Sentinel out of the tutorial area. It was definitely unreasonable of me to do, but my persistence paid off and I was finally able to beat it without getting hit lol. 211 deaths later, I can finally explore the game!
@Sku11z yeah lol. I was streaming my attempts and thought it would be fun to keep track. But yeah dude, keep at it! Definitely doable!
@@jyrichi I hope you persevered, the rush of relief I got when I killed him was liberating
Your iq is bellow average .. not something to brag about in the comments .. you are literally a stupid person
@@slavplaysgames or he probably realized he wasn’t meant to face him early on, but thought that since tree sentinel was so close to a respawn, it’d be fun if he could be him while still a fresh character
@@In_aw3 that ain't it chief ... logic is strange to souls players i see or is it that you are all actually woman in real life ?
Tree Sentinel is a very great teacher indeed.
He taught me that the game has massive performance issues.
Lmaooo yes, and I got used to it unfortunately, but damn was it frustrating while fighting an enemy like him in the beginning
@@condor6327 Yeah I'm suffering through it. It's not a constant issue, but more like 10% of the time which is still too much.
Good game though.
@@goatmagnum It's definitely stable enough about 90% of the time. So far my bigger nitpick is that viewing bloodstains hasn't ever worked for me, and desyncs in co-op are happening too much. But I love this game so much I can't even be that mad.
@@TrueYankeeFan I’m guessing bloodstains will be fixed in a patch sometime
Weird, i haven't had a single perfomance issue in the 20~ hours i've been playing (maybe it's because I'm playing in a PS4)
Thats something that's amazing about this game you no longer have to die a million times to progress, you actually have a huge amount of options where you can go explore almost the entire map freely and come back to things anytime.
I was determined to beat him when i first came across him. It took almost an hour, but now the tree sentinel's moveset is burnt into my memory, making every other encounter with tree sentinels a thousand times easier.
This was very well thought out, thank you for the analysis! This was the first game in the series that I've played, so I was shocked when I encountered him as my first experience with combat lol. I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure it out, but took my lumps and moved on :) I've gotten old enough to know when I'm beat and swallow my pride!
For people with low-spec PCs, like me, the lesson we learn is that strong enemies and bosses are not invisible.
The lesson I got from Tree Sentinel was that I should react rather than act, to wait for his attack then make mine during his recovery period. There are very few attacks in this game that are not well telegraphed and you can almost always dodge, block, parry or stance break your way out of it. Once you know this he's basically defenceless as all his attacks are extremely well telegraphed and consistent in their timing, so with practice you can reliably roll either out of the way or through them.
I feel this is exactly the same as the Stone Talus on the bottom of the cliff when you leave your starting cavern in Breath of the Wild. He is much stronger than all the other enemies on the Great Plateau but completely optional, too.
I’m currently on Margit. I feel like every mini boss so far has been shouting, “Hey! Remember that mechanic you skimmed over in the tutorial? Try it!” Sentinel(and most of the main Limgrave area) teaches you that mounted combat is crucial. The boss at Castle Morne reminds you to guard counter. FromSoft has PERFECTED combat with this one.
I did not use a horse for tree sentinel, I didn't adventure anywhere either. I just ran at him for multiple tries and killed him. Just rolling and 2 handing my estoc. Got the dodges down and confirmed when I can get free damage. Easy fight.
I've beaten ds3 and 1, demon souls and bloodborne. Skipped 2, hated sekiro. I guess I'm somewhat a veteran.
But I avoid shield for example.
Was nailed into me by the community that "shield takes no skill lol" when I first started the bloodsouls games. So I avoid shields always. Especially since Mt first fromsoft game was bloodborne. I'm just used to rolling and counter attacking like bloodborne.
Plus I'm trying to be a brood mage spellsword for my first playthrough. Haven't found any blood magic yet. But spellswords are generally no shield.
Guard Counter Misbegotten? I just used their lack of poise to my advantage and used RT after every dodge.
@@trevorveillette8415 nice try loser.
@@trevorveillette8415 - We're very similar, though I played DS2 as well and _adore_ Sekiro.
I'm definitely in the category of leaving him be and going to do other stuff. I tried about 10 times to beat him after getting Torrent and some better gear, plus the spectral wolves, but I'm still getting my shit kicked in by him, so I'm just gonna leave it for now, and come back later. I've been enjoying the heck out of the exploration part of the game, and I am slowly getting better as a first time souls game player.
As an aside, I can't believe rats hit as hard as they do. Good lord...
If you get the jellyfish from the woman on stormhill you can balance it's agro with damage. Eventually he'll get poisoned and you just need to avoid getting hit. Easy clap
@@nextos Thanks! I'm honestly just exploring to see what I can find, and I'm definitely enjoying it!
I beat him today as a level 1 wretch with a straight sword in 2-hander mode. I highly highly recommend you invest the time to learn the fight until you beat him. Ever since I beat him I've been folding bosses in lingrave with the same weapon still at level 1 in just a few tries each. They feel like absolute child's play compared to Sentinel-sensei lol
@@7F0X7 all the other bosses in that area go down like childplay. Not old tree sentinel. And maybe that one guy in eternal gaol on stormhill
@@nextos Yes, that's my point. It was only by investing the time into learning how to play by fighting the Sentinel-sensei that I was able to quickly overcome the other bosses. Had I skipped the sentinel it would have been a lot harder to fight the others because I would have lacked the foundational skills. This is my first souls game that I've been more than a couple hours into.
I really enjoy your take on this. It sounds dumb as I type it out, but DS really, REALLY taught me lessons in patience and perseverance growing up. I felt a lot of the same sentiment when I first rolled up on Tree Sentinel. But man, the feeling of finally knocking him down was incredible and rewarding. I do t feel very many other games bring me that sense of satisfaction.
Beautifully put!
At 6 hours and 20 minutes, with a good 90 minutes spent taking cracks at him, I finally broke the wall. My starter axe wasn't cutting it, so I saved up for a Bastard Sword. Upgraded it once, and then... I watched. After several attempts of summoning NPC phantoms in, I realized they were more a hindrance than a help, both because they do no damage whatsoever and because they kept throwing my pace off.
Eventually I learned that dodging left and right are almost always the wrong thing to do. I either started dodging away from or into his attacks, depending on if they were safe afterwards. In the back half of the fight, the safest time to attack is after the heavy shield slam - the one with the wind effects on it. You can gauge distance fairly easily, and it's probably the move with the longest recovery time, which... honestly isn't saying much 'cause you'll still only likely get one swing in.
But it was _safe_ and that was the key thing I'd been looking for. I was walking away from this guy the entire fight. Too many attempts the lockon had been the actual fight, because Sentinel would do his ground slam over me and I'd eat the full attack because I wouldn't turn around in time. If you're always moving away from him, you will _never_ eat more than a glancing blow.
I'll probably never have the stats to wield his weapon, but it was never about a reward. He doesn't even have a trophy for killing him. I didn't know he dropped anything at all. I just wanted revenge. And y'know what? Felt good, man. The key to success is to slow down and _watch_ - and obviously to not get tilted, which is easier said than done. No regrets.
Summoning a mage helps because they stay out of the way and do damage
Also lots of souls
I spent the same amount of time going at it with the axe actually and i got the hang of the first phase down after the first hour or two. When the second phase came along, i went toward a downward spiral but it helped me realize how to actually dodge fast aoe attacks and get my reactions up. I got on a good run and finally beat him after 7 hours total of playing the game. My previous with the other games helped a bit but that just shows that the combat system has changed a bit since the last time i played these games.
Also im sure he drops the halberd but idk if it is guaranteed or not. I know i got it and ive been using it as a trophy of my victory
You got good! Congratulations, tarnished!
As someone tht also picked wretch, the tree sentinel was a tricky one, one shotting almost every hit but once I beat him, it felt like anything in this game was possible but I completely understand if ppl just dont do it until they get stronger. I hav 1000+ hrs on ds3 which is the most similar game to this and I dont think ive struggled as much to a boss I felt like i could beat. Sometimes there are bosses tht u just cant beat on ur first playthrough bc you’re under leveled but I never felt like tree sentinel was like tht. Every time I died, I felt like it was completely my fault and I felt Like i could still win evn tho I was base wretch. Hes a great boss tht I think encourages alot of ppl to face an obstacle wen they think they can
Edit: it did take 3 hrs at base wretch lvl tho so
Edit 2: Why the fuck are there 2 tree sentinels
Ugh he has some wonky hit boxes.
I was taking damage from vertical slashes that were 3 feet away.
Though that may have been related to the frame drops on pc. They mostly seemed relegated to that area, for me at least. Once I left I never really experienced them. But even then they weren't that bad. Barely noticeable at times. Not sure that really accounts for some of the more BS hits.
@@rainbowkrampus most people never take advantage of the jumping i-frames, jump this casual should be the new meta. Those vertical attacks are easily avoidable with a simple jump lol
@@rainbowkrampus its not wonky the halberd hitbox is huge. The only effective way is you roll toward him. Most people have did this mistake even in dark soul franchise game. The handle hitbox is small and also the damage you get from his handle also small. And boi i do like the enemy attacking react when you realise which side you at when facing him. Its pursuer 2.0 after all.
About the stuttered part my laptop did not have that problem which everyone have. Probably because i update my pc regularly.
I played DS 3 for like...5 hours i think...BB for like...maybe 10....and I just saw that mountain of a man on a horse and ignored him....there's literally no reason for me to fight him....I started as a wretch, and after 2 restarts (due tome not noticing a lever, and me forgetting that npcs can actually kick my ass) I am not level 23 and working on some actual gameplay
sorry, it was 8 hours for DS3, which means probably like 30 hours for BB...
Loving the soulsbournering video with the neir music intro
It feels so special watching this video right after I beat Tree Sentinel. This game and this video are truly poetic masterpieces.
So far, I’ve found Dex based weapons with added bleed damage from the Blood Slash ash of war to be incredibly useful. It’s actually how I beat Margit the Fell Omen. He bled out
Dexterity weapons in this game are extremely good, I've been mopping up the bosses with the uchigatana.
@@LOLcheeseORZ agreed! Ive always been a STR weapon player in all the other Souls games, including Bloodborne, so it’s nice that Elden Ring provides such fluidity and change of pace. Trying new things
I love Blood Slash, so f*cking satasfying seeing a boss lose so much health at once
Blood Slash is so good; it has no right being as BEEFY as it is lmao
I use it on Rodiger's Rapier (weird use ik) and it does w o r k
@@ariannadravis3934 that’s crazy! I use it on the same weapon lmao! I was so inspired by the Carian Knight that I made one of my own. INT and DEX build with Carian sorceries. I love the sword attack sorceries. The Rapier is a great way to get aggressive if I have to.
I am new to souls like game and I am hard-headed, I used 7 hours just to beat this boss once I got out the door, I've learn to utilize my dodge I frames, its pattern, attack windows, how to stagger it with heavy jump attacks, 2nd phase's triggering its shield bash, and I play on keyboard, another thing I've learn is never giving up no matter how bad the situation is, I beat it with 10% hp and 0 potions.
You are a savage for playing on keyboard and I commend you
Playing with Keyboard? Damn, I commend your commitment
this felt like a meditation on obsticals. I love it. you sir get all the youtube stuff, like comment and a sub
excellent video. best way to explain to someone what is going on in this game.
He also taught me one of the easiest ways to deal with bosses in this game is to bait out out one of their easy to dodge super long recovery attacks and then jump attack them until they stagger, seriously I've beaten Tree Sentinel, Margit, Godrick, Dragonkin Soldier of Nosketti, and Magma Dragon Wyrm with the same strategy and with my +3 Large Club (Battle axe for Tree Sentinel and Greataxe for Margit tho) (i am on the hunt for the Great Club)
After Margit, I've not heard of or seen any of those bosses lol, yet I've faced or seen at least as many different ones. Love this game.
Any advice for the magma wrym?? 😭 I did not expect it be such a fucking pain
@@GodMajik easy, first phase its easy to stagger him just bonk his head with jumping r2's. You can do this by baiting him into doing those fire breathing attacks and getting near his legs, then once he finished you can come out of his legs and boink him. At some point you'll have broken his posture and you can do critical damage. After this and a couple more swings he should go into phase 2, and this is where the real Magma Wyrm fight begins. You can practically no longer bonk his head, so what i did was i just stuck to his legs hit him once or twice then ran away. Rinse and repeat, you can also roll through his AOE attacks like i did in order to beat him. Reminder: i did this with a +3 Large Club not because i didn't have enough stones for upgrading it but because i was saving them from the great club (i got the great club btw, it's fun but I'm deciding between it and the Large Club since its not as great of a moveset as I'd enjoy), so unless you're also there in search of the Great Club you'd be doing more damage than me with my Large Club
@@GodMajik Hug its hind legs, just wail on them until you see him stand on them to prepare for his smash AOE and roll, you can get around 2 hits when behind him before he turns around
@@bobbrownley2223 thank you man, I’m gonna try your way and see how it goes unfortunately I’m not a strength build, I’m more dex/mag I’m still trying to find the way to respec because I’ve not fully decided on a decent build yet in all honesty but I feel like I can probably put up a better fight now against MW 😁
There are two ways to grind a souls game, experience and gear. You can either be perfect in the fight, or get so OP as to destroy them, or somewhere in between. Both ideologies are correct.
Great video. I'm still very new at the game. And I"m actually trying out a few of the classes before deciding on one. After seeing a lot of well known gamers get killed multiple times in Elden Ring, I realized that I too will have to get used to getting killed a lot. Yet, it also relieved a lot of stress knowing that. So, I don't have to be hard on myself if I die a lot. That being said, I can see myself having a lot of fun in Elden Ring for a long time to come. They made the game more adventurous with its open world design and ability to level without having to follow the "main story". Thanks again for this. Now...onto Elden Ring!!
Your content is god tier, thank you
I took your advice and started as a wretch. I'm level 1 with nothing but my billy-club, a crappy shield, and the vendor chainmail armor. I got my ass handed to me for hours from the wee hours of the morning last night fighting the Tree Sentinel. I was frustrated, but never infuriated. That's because in all but maybe 2 deaths when I got hit it was genuinely my fault. A couple times I got hit by invisible hit boxes when I was trying to whiff-punish, and I literally saw air in between my head and his lance when I got hit, and they weren't supposed to be AOE attacks mind you. I learned not only every move in his arsenal, but also the permutations of each variation of his moves. Yes, about 3 of his attacks actually have alternate versions that proc both randomly and after certain points in the fight.
I tried and tried and tried and eventually I was able to chain jump attacks together and chip his health down to about half. And then I realized that's where the true fight begins.... He adds 3 new devasting attacks to his arsenal with 2 of them having AOE strong enough to kill you from sheer splash damage. After about 3 hours of punishment, I decided to at least to look for a better weapon because that starter club was barely even hurting him with a fully charged R2 or jumping R2.
I looked around and saw an armored zombie patrolling his route. I folded him and luckily he dropped both a fancy set of plate leggings with more defense and he also dropped a straight sword with a couple of amazing 'square-off' attacks. It took me only about 10 more tries on the sentinel to learn the new tech for the sword, and I finally dropped his ass a few hours ago! This is my first souls game that I've played for more than a few hours, so this win felt spectacular! Ever since then I've been dungeon delving in limgrave and bodying bosses in just a couple tries. They feel like childs play thanks to Sentinel-Sensei! I'll never forget him!
I keep seeing people say "this is my first souls game". It's weird, why didn't you play any past souls game if you bought Elden Ring right at launch? Did you pre order? Again, its just weird especially if you had pre-ordered and had not at least bought Dark Souls Remastered, Sekiro, Dark Souls 3, or Blood Borne to get ready for Elden Ring.
@@DropoutJerome newcomers just don't like to play older titles, thats all there is to it. Unless they are really invested and interested in FromSoftwars's unique game design
@@DropoutJerome I played a little Demon's Souls back then, but I didn't have a PS3 at the time. I played Dark Souls 1 later on, and I wanted to play as an archer. It was literally unplayable, I couldn't even kill hardly one skeleton in the starter area with the bow. I looked it up to see if I was just that terrible, and I found an interview with the devs in which they explained they nerfed the bow into the ground intentionally to dissuade players from picking the archer because they "thought too many people played as an archer in Demon's Souls". I was so put off by disingenuousness that I swore off the entire series, and stuck to my guns. I'm not mad that they made archer unplayable, I'm mad that they went about it in such a deceitful way and for such an arrogant and asinine reason.
Sekiro's protag and story just didn't interest me. I'm sure it's a good game, but it's themes and setting just aren't my cup of tea.
@@theendereyes4395 Nah, I may go back and play the demon's souls remaster at some point. I just didn't have a PS3 back then, and I don't have a PS4 or PS5 now.
@@7F0X7 Makes sense. Thanks for explaining. If you ever want to play Dark Souls again the bow scales with dex, and its still good at the beginning of the game. Each Souls game has a lesson where if you run into enemies thatre too hard, then go a different direction. You don't want to go to the graveyard where the skeletons are until a little later in the game after you've upgraded your weapons and leveled up a bit. It's like elden ring, but on a much smaller scale. Maybe after Elden Ring you'd want to explore more of the series, even try sekiro because Demon's/Dark Souls is one half of Elden Ring, and Sekiro is the other half.
The lesson hit me pretty hard when I first met him. I chose the samurai class and decided to shoot him with the bow for the first attack. I soon saw the arrow barely did anything to his hp and I thought to myself "I've made a terrible mistake." And proceeded to die quickly.
When I saw him, I said, "Hail, sir knight! Could you show me the way to the nearest town?"
Then he killed me.
We haven't spoken since
Came in thinking this video was a very obvious discussion of an already discussed topic but the change in prepesctive to the to player that keeps trying caught me off guard. Really like the final point of the video even after coming in sceptically.
I ended up doing the wall method and it taught me so many lessons throughout the fight. It took 2 and a half hours and while it was absolutely brutal it was absurdly rewarding. It taught me that your shield is not your savior and that you need to learn to dodge more than you block. It also taught me how important not being hit greedy is, this game is all about patience and not being prideful. If you have to cheese an enemy that’s what you do, if you have to spend an entire minute dodging a hit sequence just to land one good attack that’s what you do. You need to utilize everything yet rely on nothing. It also teaches you the valuable lesson of exploration and preparation. Levels mean something in this game and spending time getting good items is worth it. That brutal lesson leads you to discovering that this isn’t a hack and slash it’s a vast world of interactions and challenges each with a unique way to be overcome.
I was initially being stubborn by attempting to beat Tree Sentinel with my naked wretch and his club. Over 3+ hours later, I decided that it was going nowhere and pressing on might actually burn me out before the game really starts. Also the fact that he doesn't give any unique rewards for beating him early compared to something like Vanguard in Demon's Souls.
So I snuck by him, got Torrent along with a greatsword and some random armor, and returned for delicious vengeance which was a heck lot less frustrating lol.
That’s what happened for me the shield bash attack was pretty bs so I decided I’d rather not waste my time on it after an hour or two. I honestly think it’s a pretty bad mini boss to be so early as it isn’t a very good fight and you’re meant to do it on horseback or when you can tank more than one to two hits.
Wait but he does give something unique; his halberd
@@ariannadravis3934 I meant something that cannot be obtained if you didn't beat him right off the bat. The tutorial Vanguard demon in the Demon's Souls remake is an example since you can only get the classic helmet for the fluted armor if you manage to kill him (along with other bonuses like some extra healing grass and upgrade stones).
@@ashscar8878 Ohhhhhh, ok, my b
I feel like he was designed to be fought again on turret. He is much more bearable that way and honestly I think it’s way more fun to joust him than to fight him on foot.
His moves are definitely designed to be dodged, it's a very very good fight on foot. I'm sure it was designed to work both ways.
i found him harder with torrent. easier to dodge on foot. also torrent's jump and his attacks are buggy. he will still hit u even if u jump above his attacks
He legit never hit me once just being on the side and circling him spamming r1 on straightsword while being slighly sideways behind him.
Easy on horse indeed - wolfsummons helped aswell.
Very beautifully ut together.
Good video 👍
Elden ring was my first souls game and i never thought about those bosses that way, but man that makes so much sense. I got extremely frustrated at first, then i did let go and went roaming. After gearing up, came back and beat the hell out of this boss. That whole process was so rewarding, and i now apply it on every single section of the game, so, in a way, you're completely right i was educated to do that by Tree Sentinel. Even though the teaching wasn't obvious, it was powerful and did stick with me way deeper than if i've seen this just written in a tutorial note somewhere.
I'm having such a fantastic time with the game so far. I've put like 14 hours into the game and I haven't even left limgrave or beat Margit yet. The volume and variety of content on display is crazy. How are you enjoying the game so far mr ratatoskr?
@@Coynepurse I'm playing on a gtx 1050, i5 8300h and 16 gigs of ram. Getting around 40 fps but no stuttering except when I'm entering a new area. I feel like I'm lucky since a lot of people with much better hardware are struggling to run the game smoothly. I would advise to wait for a major patch that alleviates the issue. I don't think we can really do anything about it other than wait unless some user mod comes out that fixes these issues.
I have put in 8 hours into limgrave alone but i used guides to explore everything since its so big a world i can get lost easily or muss opportunities i never knew were there but now i got like 6 bosses left to beat in the area, the dragon of the lake, the tree sentinal and Margrit, other 3 are rumored bosses found only at night. Im lvl 23 and dumped alot into Vigor and i can tank a hit now XD but its still hard if i get ganged up on by enemies :P or if a boss has a tricky moveset and/or OP stats
Edit im not going to move downwards to the other starter area before I beat everything i can in limgrave
Same. I’m 13 hours in and have only explored maybe half of Limgrave 🤷♂️
@@TMind109 For Margit: no armor, 2 handed weapons, ash of war whenever you can. Also there's an npc summon to help.
@@Manudyne nah get a shield that blocks all damage- the brass shield is good for that - and use the guard counter attack + charged R2's whenever you can. Staggers the boss numerous times for massive riposte damage
Father G was the best teacher. As a souls player I went into Bloodborne trying to play slow and conservative, lost to him 20 times, gave up. You roll backward you die. Went back a week later upset and frustrated, played aggressive, easily won, realized I didn’t know how to play souls games before that moment.
Well, you knew how to play souls games, but not how to play soulsBORNE. That’s the magic of these games. You come out of one of them thinking you’re the man, then proceed to get your ass kicked by the next title. God I love these games man
@@mattiasandersson8693 went through ds3 and bloodborne easily
Got my ass kicked in elden ring
Wouldn't have it any other way
It’s very interesting how I didn’t discover him until a bit later after having already gotten my horse and some equipment, but it was still no cakewalk and a valuable lesson in how horse combat works as I refused to believe I was supposed to fight on foot.
this is a really great video
I mean, if you're a veteran in the Souls games you should know that if an enemy looks dangerous and you're just starting, you shouldn't fight said enemy. If you do, you're just a masochist.
I've always just thrown myself at bosses. Basically the git gud strategy. Too damn stubborn. I will not leave a boss alone until I kill it.
I think there is something in rising to the challenge that I've been conditioned with previous darksouls games. You can 'cheese' it and if your a speedrunner this is no concern but there comes a time where you want to win a particular way and not the supposedly easier way. Tree sentinel for me was using only my short bow to kill it with painstakingly crafted bone arrows. I absolutely refused to use anything else, not my dagger or short sword. My bow. Yes it was hard but a real sense of pride and accomplishment comes with victory though there might be a bit of truth of being a masochist 😅
Souls games taught me the opposite: If you see a boss, you can't do anything else until it's dead
@@zokuva That's when you don't have any option rather than kill it.
Because Dark Souls taught me that some areas are more difficult and you should avoid it if you can't handle it (Catacombs, New Londo), in Dark Souls 2 there are two ogres that hit hard and a newbie player shouldn't fight them. Even the first tutorial boss in the original Dark Souls it teachs you that you should run if you're not prepared to fight the boss (Asylum boss, you're barehanded and you deal little damage until you search for better equipment).
i may or may not be a masochist.
As someone who went through every from soft game except bloodborne in about a span of 3 months, the first time I saw Tree Sentinel my immediate instinct was to go around him. Especially starting as a wretch following Ratatoskr's advice. The dark souls series is designed in such a way that if something is too hard, generally you have ways to make it significantly easier. The only way to make Sekiro easier is by getting mechanically proficient, and genuinely being able to read the fight. No sugar coating. I realized I much preferred this type of engagement. On my way to to Margit I found the wretch experience too enjoyable, and I decided to take him on at level 3 naked with a club. I definitely found my identity as a player, and belong in the group that likes to "bang their head against the wall until it breaks" as he put it.
I found myself saying the exact same thing as Rata during my playthrough when I started to experiment with spirit summons, bows, and magic which I hadn't done much with previous from titles. There is no wrong way to play the game if you're having an enjoyable experience. I found that I love to master a boss to every little animation and permutation of their move set. I also love to be resourceful and experimental and use different mechanics even if it makes the fight trivial.
I genuinely feel like there's a personally enjoyable experience to be had in Elden Ring for almost any player.
i just find the controls a bit too confusing to do anything quickly lol. I don't like the menu system at all as it's too easy to accidentally use a potion at the wrong time.
i just found your channel, love that you used nier replicant ost as a background music! keep up the good work
He is meant to be fought on horseback. The next main boss in the castle merit or whatever his name is, is meant to be a wall for players. You are supposed to go east and explore the map. It's funny everyone summoning and still get wrecked cause the game wants you to go explore.
I found it easier on foot, gives more control over the fight, you can make him use certain moves and his moves are easy to dodge anyway as dodging on a horse is shit if you get hit as it stunlocks
I hated this boss so much, but I've fought him so many times that I can literally walk around most of his attacks I barely even roll anymore unless it the charge attack/shield bashes or I messed up my positioning. I still got to relearn the fight every time I change weapons tho cuz range and stagger damage are the most important factors in beating this boss.
Ez way to beat i found worked for me: run away and wait for him to do his jumping attack then jumping r2 him, then do it all over again until second phase where now you bait his shield jump attack and are able to get one jumping r2 AND possibly an r1
Sadly all i learned from tree sentinel is that the game has loads of performance issues, as during the fight i'd get constant stutters and slow downs, even being above reccomended specs, and even after lowering the settings, it persisted.
I think it is literally just that area, it's right where all those tutorial caves are so there's a lot of geometry right there with horseman.
Rest of the game's zones have better instancing between open world and dungeons and I haven't seen those dips again.
Go to steam> library> elden ring> properties> launch options and type "-NOTEXTURESTREAMING". It only works if you have enough VRAM, load times are going to increase (a lot), but you wont experience stuttering anymore.
That's the case with me as well. While the patch definitely helped with the game as a whole, his fight is still very stuttery and laggy unfortunately.
I lead him towards the church framerate stabilises there as far as i experienced.
Playing on laptop and not having any stuttering like what you guys are describing. Rtx 2070 and i7.
This video alone got me to sub. You really read that perfectly. Damn..
Tree Sentinel is and has been my favorite Elden Ring boss since i started up the game the hour it came out. Will always love the Tree Sentinel
Non of my friends and me moved forward without beating this boss, took us roughly 3-4 hours but it felt good and was entertaining
I ended up avoiding him completely because, well, that's a big horse. I wanted to go at him with Torrent. Turns out, Torrent is like half the size of that tree sentinel mule.
As of right now, I return to the tree sentinel from time to time to practice horse combat. I find that aspect of the game to be extremely difficult, so it's nice having a sturdy training dummy. Though at this point my biggest issue is accidental dismounting because my stick is so sensitive.
Great video!
From the moment my Wretch character crawled out to the open world, Tree Sentinel was the first thing my eyes caught and i instinctively knew better to leave him the hell alone, may be a way of thinking i developed from playing Dark souls 1,2 and 3 games like when they throw fire breathing dragons at you in the first area lol fond memories. It's riding a giant horse, both the horse and the rider are clad in golden armour, wielding and big a+s great shield and a halberd, there's no way iam even gonna approach him. So terrifying yet majestic. Putting up some levels and after buying my first chain mail armour i approached him, took me some time to get used to the mounted combat. It was a really fun fight and now i honor his memory by wielding his Halberd. Such a wonderful design!!
I beat him while on my horse, it was ALLOT of fun.
No it wasn’t. Slashing something 400 times isn’t fun. Plus horse combat is garbage
@@lewispooper3138 it's fun once you learn how to time your attacks on the mount. Gives more options to approach monsters and new playstlye.
@@BleachRush it’s like sekiro swimming combat it’s really simple but kinda fun. It’s pretty bad but it’s still enjoyable
For me this boss was a way to introduce me to horseback combat. At first I died about 20 times to it and later as soon as I got torrent I beat him at my second try.
Though I felt kinda bad for leaving that boss... dying again and again to that stupid horse stun attack isn't much more enjoyable
I enjoy your content sir!
Elden Ring is my first FromSoft game. And aside from the tutorial, Tree Sentinal was my first real mob. Because I was so hard headed I fought him for 5 hours until I finally defeated him. And from then on, I was hooked on this game.
You know, thinking about it, this reminds me of the initial DS1 choice but on another level. When you first reach firelink you have a couple options on where to go, whether you know if you'll hit a dead end or not.
ER meanwhile gives you a similar lesson with Tree Sentinel, in that you can go one place, or do one thing, and then come back later for something else - only this time it's a lot less likely you'll hit a dead end since it's open world.
I didn't play wretch, but I saw he was pretty beatable, and he felt fun to fight so I decided to keep going at him until I downed him. I think for a veteran like me, he also just makes a good formal first impression for the hopeful boss quality going forward. Not too far yet, but I haven't been disappointed yet.
Then prepare yourself, Tree Sentinel, Agheel, Margit and Godrick are only the tip of boss fight greatness.
That idea that "if something is too difficult for you that you can leave" is profound in the context of souls games.
Especially considering the amount of people who think there needs to be an easy mode.
Great video buddy your a good man
The flail on horseback with the wolf summons works wonders.
Im definitely the hard headed type, I tried to beat tree sentinel the first time i saw him, but after a few tries I left and proceeded to go straight to margit and beat him after many tries. IMO Margit was much easier since you can summon the npc.
Really appreciate this game allows you to have options, which past FromSoft games were a bit more restrictive about. When I realized I was too underleveled for Margit, I then spent time exploring the entire southern peninsula. Tackled some caves, catacombs, a mine, and found an Evergaol boss I could easily beat. Everything else, even though I am now in Stormveil Castle, is being earmarked in the back of my mind to try again later. Still haven't beat Tree Sentinel even though I get his health down to half, because he knocks you around a lot.
Lnever seen you before, but a really nice simple thought explained well
Only took me 4 hours and 100+ deaths to beat him. It was an amazing experience, and I am still on my 1st playthrough. It has been a blast so far. Great video by the way
the 2nd and the 3rd boss encountered put a smile on my face: the first one is literally just a regular enemy recently promoted to boss, which means that Pinwheel isn't the easiest boss in the souls games anymore, while the Tree Sentinel is a reference to the Anor Londo giant sentinels in DS1, which have one of my favourite designs.
Got a sub for the use of Song of the Ancients
Also the video was great too
Great video! This game is awesome!
What I love about tree sentinel is that he’s also a gauge of how far you can reach.
Limgrave isn’t the Tree Sentinel’s Natural Habitat, The Capital is, if you struggle to beat him than good luck facing everything late game has to offer you
Yep. Tree Sentinel was hard, but the one in Crumbling Farum Azula was brutal, even as a Samurai at level 165 with a bloody dex build who dual wields Katonah. He beat me a lot. So I let this one educate me. I found that by using the Eritrea shield to send his horses fire back at him, he was much easier to deal with then since at some point he'll realize "he'll just pick me apart from back here", forcing him to charge me so I can roll out of the way. Really tough enemies like the Draconic one we meet in Crumbling Farum Azula or any other tough foe are meant to educate us.
This mans videos are like Elden Ring Therapy everytime I get upset and stop playing the game for a day or so I watch his videos and I wanna go back and play again and I tell myself his advice and that I beat Dark Souls 1, 3 bloodborne, and Sekiro. If I can do that, I can do this.
@2:20 those sweet sweet hit boxes. Chef's kiss on the development of this masterpiece.
This title and thumbnails has killed me before the video has even started looool
FYI, you can cheese the first one. There's a ruined building to the right of the path that you can jump on. He won't jump up and if you have bow/magic, you good. There's a similar tactic for a pair of them later.
First play through my stubborn self took 4-5 hours to take him down 😅.
Learned a lot of patience and more about the combat system early on
I’m so glad I didn’t have to struggle with him at the beginning. I started off as a mage and I just stood on the ruin next to him and kept hitting him with my pebble spell
Professor Tree Sentinel - that made me laugh out aloud. Thank for the giggle.
Tree Sentinel is also an excellent boss to teach seasoned veterans the mechanics of the game.
For example, the best way to set yourself up for a punish on his attack where he rushes in and swings the Halberd in a wide arch is to run away from him and roll to his left side.
This sets you up to hit him on his weak side, where he doesn't have the Halberd and can't do the quick horse tackle.
His shield crash also has a gigantic aoe, something that multiple bosses later on will use. Aoes pretty much so big and with such good tracking that you either need to set up good positioning beforehand or need excellent dodge timings. You'll know where the s in this game's roll are for sure once you beat him with a new Wretch character.
You can stand on top of the broken building just to the right of the path on your mount, he will never jump up on it, and you can glint pebble him down. His strikes will not hit you and he'll start moving back and forth under you...inch your way in your mount to the edge, target him, and continue to pebble him. He may actually despawn and appear back at the top of the hill, but his health will not reset.
Lesson to take away from it...use the structures to your advantage and make quick work of something that would normally be difficult.
The beginning of the Tree Sentinel Song is pretty sick
i cried a little there. Beautifully explained! Didnt know that. I fought this Bastard straight out of Tutorial and it took me 3Hours and 2 Controllers.
An educator in another way as well. Since I've chosen his halberd as my horseback weapon of choice, I find myself emulating his fighting style. Employing carefully timed attacks amidst charges and tight turns really helps makes the most of the halberd.