We've dealt with Messmer the Impaler and his disgusting, flaming, serpentine nonsense another guide. But right now we have to deal with the Shadow Keep weed problem. At least the good news is that Scadutree Avatar is a completely optional boss fight, so it's actually possible to just walk away and there's nothing to do after the Avatar's area other than get a good look at Scadutree. You can try another approach to exit the Keep, no one will judge you, we swear. But if you really want to completely prune this bush, we'll take you there.
Scadutree Avatar's Abilities
Scadutree Avatar sets out to get on your bad side right from the start by launching a wave of thorny tendrils towards the ground, not just once, but twice. He'll do this move whenever you're not within arm's reach. If you get past this, the Avatar will start crawling towards you with his vines for a few wide hits, first horizontally, then from above. In phase one, the Avatar will mostly try to smash or push you with his sunflower head, occasionally pausing to stab his “hands” into the ground, and Miracle-Gro will create some deadly thorny bushes in the yellow pools around his torso. He also has an unblockable version where his head spins underneath him and flattens you. His big magical maneuver is to raise his head into the sky and fire a series of flaming sunflower seeds that can be targeted at you at short range, like a slower version of the Elden Beast's big projectile attack. However, phase one is where this attack is at its most dangerous, occurring in four waves.
The second phase is where this thing gets really annoying and adds a few new tricks. First, it will do a full-on bumrush on the field. It will do this for the first time when the second phase starts and will sweep three times before stopping. The sunflower seed spell will reappear and fire it when you are a good distance away. The good news is that this version is much slower and easier to dodge.
The bad news is everything. All vine attacks in phase one now have an additional attack that spawns more thorn bushes. The special thorn attack now spreads across half the area. Plus, if you get too close, the Avatar will step back, moving about 100 feet away from you and giving you a parting shot on the way.
But wait, there's more. On top of everything from the second phase, when the third phase(!) begins, the Avatar goes nuclear and explodes. And somehow, after that, you still have to fight him one more time. Remember when we said this was optional?
Defeating Scadutree Avatar – Stage One
As much as I'd like to tell this plant-based son of a bitch that uttering every disgusting insult in the book would cause significant damage, that's sadly not the case. So, I guess a sword will do the trick.
First off, I don't know if this is a minor glitch or not, but if you're one of those people who like to be on your toes with Spirit Ashes the moment you pass through a boss gate, be aware that the little tombstone seal that says you can summon Spirit Ash doesn't open until you've taken a few steps toward the area. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but once you pass through that gate, time is a factor. The Avatar will send thorny bushes your way as soon as he sees them. At least these are easy enough to avoid, just go straight left or right. Remember, he'll send two waves after each other, so keep an eye on the far side of the field for the second wave.
After the second wave, you can start closing the distance between you and the Avatar. You'll be able to see the wind from a mile away for the creeper hits, but they still do a big chunk of damage if they land. For tanks: This is one of the three attacks that a large shield can really absorb. After the second hit, you'll get your first clean shot at the Avatar's head. If you're very close, you can even counterattack the guard on the second hit to do a bit more damage.
From there, things get tough. Magic users are the chosen ones in this game. You just want to stay at medium range and keep throwing spells at the Avatar’s head, just be careful not to get caught in the middle of an attack. Unsurprisingly, the leafy Avatar is weak to fire spells. The Spelldrake Talisman will help with this, but the intensity of the attacks can be quite hectic, especially with the thorny bush attacks. From a distance, however, it’s easy to telegraph that these are coming your way. The same goes for the gold unblockable, and you’ll want to create some distance after you dodge it. Don’t be too greedy when the Avatar goes for a projectile attack; unless it’s obvious that your Soul Ash has taken L from him, you’ll need to dodge him at high speed.
Melee fighters, buckle up, because this fight is going to be a pain in the neck. In general, it’s best to stay about 50 feet away from the Avatar’s torso. The head attacks from the creature can be dodged fairly easily with good timing, and good shields can negate the damage and leave you in good position for a hit or two. Try to stay close and choose a weapon with range so you have less running around. Thorn attacks can still be dodged, but you’ll have to constantly back away a bit to see when the thorns start sprouting.
The unblockable attack can still be parried, but the cooldown on it is such that you can’t afford not to get in a few hits while standing there. If you’re lucky, your Spirit Ash will go berserk, hitting the Avatar’s torso as you land your shots. While the torso is usually an easier target than the head, it’s much harder to stay on target and avoid the Avatar’s attacks. So leave that idea to your ash friend. Eventually, you’ll reduce the Avatar’s health bar to zero, triggering a stance break. Run to the head and counterattack him to end this nightmare once and for all – STOP, NO, BACK. But for what it’s worth, the counterattack is still important: Whatever damage your sword does there will carry over to the next stage. So hit hard.
Defeating Scadutree Avatar – Stage Two
So, yes, when the Avatar “dies,” you'll have about five seconds to recover before it erupts from the ground again, and it does some damage when it explodes, so don't be there when it explodes. If you have a good audio setup, you'll be able to hear which direction it's coming from. Take advantage of that.
When it comes up, if you're quick you can get a cheap hit on the Avatar before the three bumrushes start. You can dodge this pretty easily, but the timing needs to be pretty precise otherwise you'll still get hit. Tanks can soak up the damage of this pretty easily with Greatshield, but you'll need to spend a fair amount of your stamina to do so, and more importantly you'll need to be looking directly at the Avatar when it happens. Keep this lock-on active.
Once he calms down again, he'll probably fire off a new and not necessarily improved seed spell or send more thorn bushes after you. These aren't a big deal, but the problem in the second and third stages is that the Avatar apparently thinks you have cooties and does an annoyingly effective job of keeping you at bay. Magic users will have it a little easier again, but every attack combination now produces thorns, making dodging even more important. If you're lucky, your Soul Ash will still be alive to catch the Avatar's attention from time to time, and in that case, just stand back a little longer to avoid taking any collateral damage from an attack aimed at your Soul Ash.
On the other hand, melee fighters are at an extreme disadvantage here and all you can do is carefully avoid them. Also, if more Close to the Avatar, after a few moves he will slide, which will sweep your legs from behind, something even a shield can't protect you from. Now, your only respite is the Avatar trying to hit you with his head, so you need to be careful to be in range when this happens, but not so close that the Avatar can sweep you off your feet. The constant chasing can get monotonous, and the longer it goes on, the better (worse?) the chance of your Soul Ash dying first, making things even more difficult. With a little persistence – and a lot of luck – you'll wear the Avatar down, his stance will break again, and you can hit him with a second counterattack, which will finally put an end to this nonsense -OH FOR FU-
Defeating Scadutree Avatar – Stage Three
Yes, he's not dead yet. And this time, he's starting things off with a literal explosion. Once he appears, he'll immediately start charging up energy to explode. Unless you have an absurd amount of defense and vitality, there's a good chance this will be a one-shot death for you. The safe way is to run like hell when the Avatar pops out of the ground and hope you make it to the minimum safe distance in time. But after the explosion, the Avatar just sits there, wasted, for ten seconds. Those ten seconds are absolutely golden in terms of being able to deal damage during this phase, and missing your window means it's a repeat of phase two. Never mind.
That leaves the bold alternative: dodging the explosion. To be honest, this is actually pretty doable, especially if you’re not stuck on a heavy roll, because this isn’t one of those long bursts that can catch you out once you’ve exited your i-frames. Regardless, your timing still needs to be pretty close to the sweet spot. As far as we can tell, there’s a five-second timer on the explosion once the Avatar starts burning. Hopefully, with a little luck, you can dodge the explosion, leaving you with the perfect opportunity to whale on this thing. You’ll still need to do things carefully when it wakes up and returns to its second-phase pattern, but hopefully, you’ll have enough hits to only get hit two or three times before it finally dies, for real this time.
There aren't enough Runes in the world to make up for this nonsense, but you still get 260,000 Runes, plus a new Colossal Weapon made from the Avatar's tendrils, or a Memory of the Shadow Sunflower, which unlocks the Shadow Realm spell that mimics the Avatar's flaming sunflower seed attack.
You also get Miquella's Greater Rune. So, remember at some point before, when you first approached the Shadow Keep, you heard a crashing sound and a message popped up saying “A Greater Rune has been broken” or something like that? Here's what's left. The description will tell you that all it can do is “resist spells”, which sounds pretty useless right now. Don't worry, its time will come. But that's for another guide…