Around this time a couple of years ago, I wrote an article sharing how my knowledge of deceptive hitboxes in fighting games made me a better Cuphead player. This year, it seems as though my understanding of high-level play in fighting games has once again assisted me in another unrelated title — this time Elden Ring.
To preface this, I have zero experience with any “Souls” games, and had never played one until I picked up Elden Ring just a few days ago. Even with that being the case, I managed to beat the first really hard boss you encounter when initially being unleashed into the open world — a boss you are not supposed to be able to take on until later in the game — and it was largely thanks to my longtime fighting game experience.
As many know, the “Souls” games — named after the Dark Souls series which established the hardcore action RPG video game genre — are notorious for being incredibly difficult. You die A LOT in these games, and in order to find success it generally takes a lot of trial and error, as well as leveling up and acquiring the best equipment you can find.
These games are considered among the hardest titles on the market today, and in Elden Ring in particular, you can and will run into a lot of enemies that are just too strong for you to handle until you improve your character — and that is by design. The first big boss that you encounter after starting Elden Ring is the Tree Sentinel, and based on everything I’ve heard and read on the matter, this boss was designed for the purpose of teaching players the very important lesson that oftentimes you simply need to grind and get better before you can even think about fighting some of these enemies.
The Tree Sentinel looks just as dangerous as he actually is when you first start out. This boss is a giant knight riding on a giant horse, both covered in heavy golden armor. This knight fights by swinging an enormous lance with one hand while smashing you with a massive shield with the other hand.
From everything I’ve seen, experienced Elden Ring players recommend that you do not take on this boss until you’re around level 30, and it is HIGHLY recommended that you get your horse first before fighting him as it makes the match up far more manageable. However, I play Lily in Street Fighter 6, and I am no stranger to adversity (and torturing myself)… so I took this boss on right at the start without leveling up and I fought him on foot.
Ready for the whiff punish.
All I had at my disposal was a level 7 Hero class character, my two-handed axe, and three flasks that I could use to heal throughout the fight. I had no ranged weapons either, so this bout boiled down to a 1v1, close quarters slug fest. Oh, but the most important tool I had in my back pocket was my knowledge of competitive fighting games and how to play them.
I had been considering picking up Elden Ring for a long while, but never took the plunge until just a few days ago. In looking into the game every now and then, I often heard fighting game players who have also played it say that understanding spacing, timing, and general footsies is a big key to beating challenging bosses — and that is absolutely correct.
Fighting this boss right out of the gate essentially meant that he was killing me in about two hits. Sometimes, one swing of the lance would knock me down, and as I was getting up he’d already be tossing out a meaty hit that finished off my life bar before I even had time to remember what game I was playing.
It became evident to me very quickly that if I had any hope of defeating this foe, I’d have to gain a solid understanding of his attacks, the ranges at which he hits them, and when and where he wants to do certain things. This is footsies 101, and with proper match up knowledge, sometimes even the worst match ups can become winnable.
One of the most effective techniques I found was waiting for the Tree Sentinel to perform his large, lunging attack where he rides up at you and takes a big swing of his lance. Funny enough, this move reminded me of attacks like Luke’s fully charged heavy punch Flash Knuckle, Balrog’s rush punches, or any swift, horizontal-moving special move in Street Fighter.
I used the exact same strategy against the Sentinel as I would against those moves, which essentially consisted of waiting at a range where I know the opponent wants to throw out the move, reacting to it, dipping out of the way at the last second, and doing so in a way that keeps me close to the opponent so that I could get the best punish possible. Just like fighting games, I used whiff punishing to score significant damage on this enemy, especially when I considered how long of a recovery time he had after doing the big attack.
Standing just out of range of HP Flash Knuckle to get an optimal punish.
Another one of the knight’s go-to attacks was a heavy, leaping shield stab that deals a ton of damage. Once again, being able to recognize when the attack was coming and standing at the perfect range to make it whiff right in front of me allowed me to get some of my best hits in for what basically felt like a whiffed Dragon Punch.
Knowing exactly when I could hit this boss was just as important as knowing when I couldn’t hit him, and this element of the fight translated to me as frame advantage/disadvantage in fighting games. Due to the recovery of some attacks in competitive fighters and how much advantage they have on whiff or block, there are a lot of times where you could attempt a punish, but doing so might be too risky, and several of the knight’s attacks were exactly that.
He’d take a big swing of his lance that would leave him open, but at best I could maybe get one hit in before he was already doing the Jinrai Kick follow up and clobbering me for my attempt.
At the end of the day, it took me about 2 hours of fighting the Tree Sentinel, dying, learning how his attacks worked and their spacing, and an extreme amount of patience to take him out at the very start of the game. Above all else, understanding footsies made it possible for me to even consider this challenge, let alone accomplish it.
Those who have played Elden Ring are probably wondering why I’d ever even bother trying to take on this powerful boss right at the beginning of the game instead of just waiting, grinding a bit, and coming back to it later.
The simple answer is… I’m a mad man when it comes to difficult video game challenges, and I also wanted to determine if my understanding of high-level fighting games and footsies could get me through a fight that is otherwise known as being damn near impossible. It could, it did, and I one and done-ed that Tree Sentinel in hopes that I never have to fight him again.
Finally picked up #EldenRing! Never played a Souls game in my life. This guy was kinda hard… pic.twitter.com/UUzK4gHrJU
— Steven “Dream King” Chavez (@TheKingOfDremes) December 27, 2023