We’ve dealt with Messmer The Impaler and his obnoxious, flaming, snaky bullshit in another guide. Right now, though, we gotta deal with the Shadow Keep’s weed problem. The good news, at least, is the Scadutree Avatar is a totally optional boss fight, so, really, walking away is on the table, and there’s nothing after the Avatar’s area aside from an admittedly pretty look at the Scadutree. You can try another approach to getting out of the Keep, no one will judge you, we swear. But if you really want to prune this shrub for good, we’ll get you there.
The Scadutree Avatar’s Abilities
Right off the bat, the Scadutree Avatar is out to get on your bad side by shooting a wave of thorny branches at you along the ground, not just once, but twice. It’ll pull this move just about any time you’re not in arm’s reach. If you make it past that, the Avatar will start slithering closer for a couple of wide swipes with its vines, horizontally at first, then overhead. For phase one, the Avatar will mostly try smashing or pushing you with its sunflowery head, taking occasional breaks to stick its “hands” into the ground to Miracle-Gro some deadly thorn bushes in yellow pools around its trunk. There’s also an unblockable version where its head turns gold, and crushes you flat. Its big magical maneuver is to raise its head to the sky, and fire off a series of flamin’ hot sunflower seeds that can home in on you over short distances, kinda like a slower version of the Elden Beast’s big projectile attack. That attack is at its most dangerous in phase one though, where it shoots off in four waves.
Phase two is when this thing gets straight-up annoying, and it adds a few new tricks. For one, it’ll perform a full-on bumrush across the field. The first time it does this will be when phase two begins, and he’ll sweep across three times before stopping. The sunflower seed spell makes a reappearance, and he’ll fire it when you’re a good distance away. The good news is this version’s much slower and easier to dodge.
The bad news is everything else. All of the vine attacks from phase one now have an additional strike tacked on that generates more thorn bushes. The dedicated thorn attack now spreads halfway across the area. On top of that, get too close and the Avatar will do its version of a backstep, scooting about 100 feet away from you, taking a parting swipe at you on the way.
Oh but wait, there’s more. On top of everything from phase two, when phase three(!) starts, the Avatar goes nuclear and explodes. And somehow, after that, you still have to fight it one more time. Remember we said this was optional?
Defeating The Scadutree Avatar - Phase One
As much as I’d love to tell you that calling this plant-based son of a bitch every filthy insult in the book will do significant damage, alas, it’s just not the case. So, I guess a sword will have to do.
First off, and I don’t know if it’s a minor glitch or what, but if you’re one of those folks who likes to be trigger-happy with Spirit Ashes the second you go through a boss door, be aware the little gravestone sigil indicating you can call the Spirit Ash doesn’t turn on until you’ve taken a few steps forward into the area. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be a huge deal, but time’s a factor when you step through that door. The Avatar will send the thorn bushes towards you on sight. They’re easy enough to dodge, at least, just go directly left or right. Remember, it’ll send two waves, one after the other, so keep an eye on the far side of the field for the second one.
After that second wave, you can start closing the distance between you and the Avatar. You’ll be able to spot the wind-up for the vine swipes a mile away, but they still do a big chunk of damage if they hit. For tanks: this is one of three attacks a greatshield will actually fully absorb. You’ll get your first clean shot at the Avatar’s head after that second swipe. If you’re super-close, you can even guard counter the second swipe to do a little extra damage.
From there, things get tricky. Magic users are the chosen people on this one. You just want to stay at mid-range and keep tossing spells at the Avatar’s head, just being careful not to get caught mid-cast on an attack. Unsurprisingly, the leafy Avatar’s weak to fire spells. The Spelldrake Talisman will help with that, but the barrage of attacks can get pretty hectic, especially with the thorn bush attacks. At a distance, though, it’s easy to telegraph when those are coming your way. Same goes for the gold-colored unblockable, and you’ll want to create a little distance after you’ve dodged that. Don’t get ambitious when the Avatar goes for its projectile attack; unless it’s clear your Spirit Ash is taking the L from that, you need to be running from it at high speed.
Melee users, strap in, because this entire fight is gonna be a pain in your ass. By and large, you’re best suited making a stand maybe about 50 feet from the Avatar’s trunk. The bashing attacks from the creature’s head can be dodged pretty easily with the right timing, and good shields can shrug off the damage and leave you in a good place to capitalize for a strike or two. Pick a weapon with some range so you have to do less running around trying to stay close. The thorn attacks are still dodgeable, but you’re going to need to repeatedly back away a bit so you can see when the thorns are sprouting up.
The unblockable attack is still dodgeable, but the recovery time on it is such that you can’t really afford not to get a couple of hits in while it’s sitting there. If you’re lucky, your Spirit Ash will be going absolutely berserk hitting the Avatar in the trunk while you get your hits in. Even though the trunk’s generally an easier target than the head, it’s also way harder to stay on target and dodge the Avatar’s attacks. So, leave that idea to your ashy friend. Eventually, you’ll wear the Avatar’s health bar down to nothing, and it’ll trigger a stance break. Run up to the head and riposte it to put an end to this nightmare once and for al—OH WAIT, NOPE, IT GREW BACK. For what it’s worth, though, the riposte is still important: whatever damage your sword does there carries over into the next phase. So, hit it hard.
Defeating The Scadutree Avatar - Phase Two
So, yeah, when the Avatar “dies,” you’ll have about five seconds to heal up before it bubbles back up out of the ground, and it does do some damage when it bursts out, so, don’t be there when it does. If you’ve got a good sound setup, you can hear which direction it’s going to come out of. Take advantage of that.
Once it’s up, if you’re quick, you can hit the Avatar with a cheap shot before the three bumrushes start. You can dodge through that pretty easily, but the timing needs to be fairly precise or you’re still taking a hit. Tanks can absorb the damage from that pretty easily with a Greatshield, but it does take a pretty big chunk of your stamina to do so, and importantly, you need to be facing the Avatar head on when it happens. Keep that lock-on active.
Once it settles down again, it’ll likely fire the new and not-necessarily improved seed spell, or send more thorn bushes after you. Those aren’t a huge deal, but the problem in phases two and three is that the Avatar apparently thinks you have cooties and will do an aggravatingly effective job at keeping you at a distance. Magic users will still have a slightly easier job, but the fact that every combination of attacks now generates thorns makes dodging even more of a priority. If you’re lucky, your Spirit Ash is still alive to pull the Avatar’s attention from time to time, and in that instance, stand off to the side a bit more so you don’t catch any collateral damage from an attack meant for your Spirit Ash.
Melee users, on the other hand, are at an extreme disadvantage here, and the only thing you can do is dodge carefully. In addition, if you’re too close to the Avatar, after a couple of moves it’ll slide away, which will sweep your legs from the back, something even a shield won’t protect you from. Now, your only opening is when the Avatar uses its head to try and hit you, so you need to be diligent about being in range when that happens, but not so close that the Avatar can sweep you off your feet. The constant chase can get monotonous, and the longer this goes on, the better (worse?) the chance your Spirit Ash dies first, which just makes things even harder. With some persistence—and a lot of luck—you’ll wear the Avatar down, it’ll stance break again, and you can hit it with a second riposte, which finally puts an end to this bullsh—OH FOR FU–
Defeating The Scadutree Avatar - Phase Three
Yep, it’s not dead yet. And this time, it’s starting things off with a literal bang. After popping up, it’ll begin charging up energy immediately for its explosion. Unless you have an absurd amount of defense and vitality, chances are pretty good this is a one-shot death for you. The safe route is to just run like hell when the Avatar bursts out of the ground, and hope you reach the minimum safe distance in time. But after the explosion, the Avatar just sits there wilted for a good ten seconds. Those ten seconds are absolute gold in terms of being able to do damage during this phase, and missing your window means this is phase two all over again. Screw that.
That leaves the daredevil alternative: Dodging through the explosion. To be fair, this is actually pretty doable, especially if you’re not stuck with a heavy roll, since it’s not one of those lingering explosions that can catch you after you come out of your i-frames. Regardless, your timing still needs to be pretty close to the sweet spot. Close as we can tell, the explosion has a five second timer once the Avatar starts lighting up. Hopefully, with a little luck, you’re able to dodge through the blast, leaving you with a prime opportunity to whale on this thing. You may still have to play things carefully once it wakes up and goes back to the phase two pattern, but hopefully, you got enough hits in so you’ve only got to smack it two or three times before it’s finally dead, for real this time, for real-real this time.
There ain’t enough Runes in the world to make up for this nonsense, but you still get 260,000 of ‘em, along with the Remembrance of the Shadow Sunflower, which unlocks either a new Colossal Weapon made out of the Avatar’s branches, or the Land of Shadow incantation, which imitates the Avatar’s flamin’ hot sunflower seed attack.
You also get Miquella’s Great Rune. So, remember at some point earlier, when you made your initial approach to the Shadow Keep, you heard a shattering noise, and a message popped up saying “A Great Rune has been broken” or something to that effect? Welp, here’s the leftovers. The description will tell you all it can do is “resist charms,” which sounds pretty useless right now. Don’t worry, it’ll have its moment. But that’s a different guide….