The Putrescent Knight in the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC seems like one of the toughest bosses in the game, but one technique lets players cheese their way through it in seconds.
The boss at the bottom of the Stone Coffin Fissure seems impossible to beat at first. The ghastly cavalier makes a strong impression, blowing players up by turning into a bipedal blender or having their horse do the job for them. And no, this isn’t the Elden Ring DLC’s final boss that we’re talking about. It’s easy to get discouraged when the boss’ first move is capable of ending the fight.
But while the first attack from the Putrescent Knight can end the fight, that’s actually true for the player as well. The Putrescent Knight hits hard, but has a very limited health pool that sets it up to be blown up with the right cheese strat.
How to get to the Putrescent Knight in the Elden Ring DLC
Players reach the Putrescent Knight by working their way through the Stone Coffin Fissure, located on the Cerulean Coast.
The trickiest part of making it to this boss is actually reaching the Cerulean Coast. The trek to the Elden Ring DLC’s most scenic locale is largely underground through a series of tunnels and canyons. It doesn’t look like this, however, as it’s somehow mostly open-air areas the entire way.
Players start their journey from Castle Ensis by taking the pathway to the southeast. While this pathway forks multiple times, it’s easy to stay on course for the Cerulean Coast; simply choose the path that slopes downward each time, until reaching a poisonous swamp. Hug the cliffside in the poisonous swamp and head in a northwestern direction. A cave guarded by some Miranda Blossoms leads the player downward further, to the point where they reach the Ellac River Canyon.
The path is easy to follow from there, at least from a navigational perspective.
Simply follow the Ellac River as far as it goes. There are multiple waterfalls along the way that the Tarnished will either need to platform their way through or hug some ledges through. Eventually, a final waterfall past a giant crab and a forest of Lightning Rams marks the end of the Ellac River.
From there, head west. The cliffs bottleneck into the Cerulean Coast. From there, continue heading south toward the large peninsula. On the southern reaches of this peninsula are an enormous chasm, similar to the descent into Nokron, Eternal City in Ranni’s questline. There’s a tough road ahead but at the end, a leap of faith gets the Tarnished and Thiollier to the Putrescent Knight.
Best cheese strategy to beat the Putrescent Knight in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Players can beat the Putrescent Knight with ease using the Lion’s Claw or Savage Lion’s Claw Ash of War on a colossal weapon that deals strike damage.
In Elden Ring, katanas, rapiers, axes, and hammers all deal different kinds of damage.
The Putrescent Knight’s biggest weakness is strike damage from hammers, flails, and fist weapons. Its next biggest weakness is being staggered, due to weak posture that makes it easy to knock down for a critical hit. Players can combine these two weaknesses by equipping a great hammer with the Lion’s Claw Ash of War.
Using Lion’s Claw or its newborn sibling, Savage Lion’s Claw, knocks down the Putrescent Knight in just two or three hits on a great hammer. Not only that but the ability will truck through almost everything the Putrescent Knight does, letting it reliably hit even if there’s a trade of blows. Just spamming the move and following it with a critical hit can lead the player to victory.
Players with medium or high strength will have a number of different options available for this including the newly added Black Steel Greathammer. The best weapon to beat the Putrescent Knight for low-strength players is Great Stars. This great hammer has a 22-strength prerequisite, the lowest of a strike damage weapon of this nature.
Players can get one from the Writheblood Ruins in the Altus Plateau via an invasion. The easternmost building in these ruins has an invasion sign for Magnus the Beast Claw. Interact with it and kill him to receive the hammer. On the other hand, players can also opt to respec their character.
