Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Guides

Can you beat the tutorial boss in Elden Ring?

Jesse Lennox
By

Every Souls game starts off more or less the same way: You make your character, pick a class, and go through a short tutorial zone where you are given the most basic explanation for how the game works. You might get a couple of items, but nothing substantial. Rather than end with any sense of empowerment, like most games tend to do in their opening, Souls games like to cap off their tutorial with a boss encounter you’re not supposed to be able to win. These tutorial bosses have only gotten more difficult from game to game as players have gotten more accustomed to the Souls-style combat, but even people who have played every game since Demon’s Souls will find Elden Ring’s tutorial boss, Grafted Scion, nearly impossible to take down on the first try.

While each tutorial boss is meant to slap you around at least the first time around, there’s always a little something special for those who can overcome the challenge and defeat those bosses. They usually don’t change the game much, but are a nice reward for beating a challenging foe with basically no tools at your disposal. What makes Elden Ring‘s tutorial boss a bit more difficult, aside from the boss itself, is it isn’t a terribly quick boss to attempt. You will need to start the entire game over again, with multiple minutes between runs that can easily end in defeat in mere seconds. If you’re wondering if it’s even possible to beat the tutorial boss in Elden Ring, we’ve grinded it out and come up with the answer.

Recommended Videos

See more

Can you beat Grafted Scion?

A player character fights the Grafted Scion boss in Elden Ring.

FromSoftware has only really had one instance of you entering a boss battle that you have absolutely no chance of winning, which was the first Seath encounter in Dark Souls. Outside of that, any time a boss appears with a name and a health bar, you have the ability to kill it. It might take a long time, and require near-perfect levels of play, but it can be done. The same is true for Grafted Scion. Even though you’re coming at this aggressive boss with only basic starting gear and no healing items or flask, victory can be achieved.

How to beat Grafted Scion

A player character dodges a big slam attack from the Grafted Scion in Elden Ring..

If you’re dead set on beating this first boss to see what rewards await you, there are a few tips you can learn to help you out. That being said, there’s not much you can really do aside from getting your timing down and being patient. Outside of your class, there’s basically no preparation you can do for this fight otherwise.

In terms of classes, the Samurai is probably the best one for this fight. It comes with a nice katana, plus a combined total of 30 arrows to do some ranged attacks. For attacks, this multi-limbed monster is very hard to read. It will make wild swings at you with its twin blades, but watch for the final thrust after some swipes. Depending on your position, it could choose to swipe some more, or back off.

If you’re at range, the Scion may leap high in the air for a downward thrust. This is a good opportunity to dodge the impact and get a single counter hit in before it recovers. It can also do a ground slam attack without jumping, which is harder to read but also leaves it open for a moment.

Again, you have no healing at all in this fight, so you can realistically make one or maybe two mistakes total. The best advice we can give if you really want to do this is to play very patiently, only attack when you know for sure it is safe, and be ready for a ton of restarts.

What do you get for beating Grafted Scion?

The description of the Ornamental Straight Sword in Elden Ring.

So, what awaits you after finally beating the toughest tutorial boss in any Souls game yet? A few things, thankfully, but they may not be as great as you would hope. The first is a Golden Beast Crest Shield. This is a greatshield that is a beast, giving a full 100% physical damage reduction and 50% magical, but is super heavy and requires 24 Strength to wield. That makes it quite useless for the first few hours of the game, no matter what class you start as.

You will also get the Ornamental Straight Sword, which you might actually be able to take advantage of much faster. It only requires 10 Strength and 14 Dexterity to use, scaling with Dexterity for damage, so it would be perfect for a Samurai class.

Once you win, you will progress just a little farther into the zone until you hit a cliff where a cutscene plays and you are forced to fall to your death so the game can continue, similar to how in Demon’s Souls you were killed by the Dragon God if you beat the Vanguard Demon.

If you’re interested in this gear, but not in the insane challenge of beating the tutorial boss, you can get both pieces of gear later on much easier as well. Without spoiling as much as possible, a later area of the game will have a Site of Grace you can rest at that’s called Four Belfries. If you go here and find a statue you can use an Imbued Sword Key item on to open, you can enter and be transported to an arena where you will fight this boss again. The obvious advantage now is that, well, you’ve leveled up, learned how to really play, can heal, and have more than one attempt without having to start the entire game over. As long as you have one of these keys on you, you can rest easy knowing you will have your shot at sweet revenge against this tormenting tutorial boss.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
Elden Ring studio sends the game’s own personal superhero a real sword
A dragon breathes fire in Elden Ring.

Legendary Elden Ring player Let Me Solo Her has received an award from Bandai Namco for beating Malenia over 1,000 times.

https://twitter.com/TsuboiKlein/status/1544772979988520960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1544772979988520960%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

Read more
The best games like Elden Ring
Jin plays his flute as Iki Island looms in the background.

Even though it was possibly the most hyped-up game prior to launch, not many could've predicted just how popular Elden Ring would end up being. It has single-handedly outsold the entirety of the Dark Souls series, on its own, within just a few months of release. Even more impressively, it outsold the latest Call of Duty game, which has held the best-selling spot for the past decade or so every year. The once niche genre that FromSoftware really started to refine with 2009's Demons' Souls has finally become mainstream, and millions of players have gotten their first taste of this style of game and are thirsty for more.

While Elden Ring shares a lot of elements from other games, even past FromSoftware games don't give the exact experience you get from Elden Ring. Depending on what aspects of the game drew you in the most, you may have to make some concessions on other parts. But between all the games we've selected, you're sure to find something that will give you more of that feeling you crave. Elden Ring is a unique and, for the time being, one-of-a-kind experience, but once you've finished exploring and fighting everything in The Lands Between, you'll likely be looking for the next game that can give you that same feeling. Here are the best games like Elden Ring to try out after you've become the Elden Lord.

Read more
The best Talismans in Elden Ring
A dragon breathes fire in Elden Ring.

There are so many ways to augment your character in Elden Ring outside of simply leveling up. When it comes down to it, what you have equipped can make a bigger difference to your stats than, well, even your stats themselves. Between your weapon, shield, armor, and consumable items, you can turn a decent build into an overpowered beast that can crush a boss as easily as a simple mob. In past Souls games, one of the most important parts of any character's build was collecting and equipping the best rings to buff up the right stats or give a much-needed advantage in one aspect or another. While rings are gone for Elden Ring, they have been replaced with the nearly identical Talismans.

Talismans are functionally identical to rings. You start out with just two slots to fill, but can eventually max out at four. There are far more than four Talismans in the game, of course, so you will need to pick and choose which are the most important for your character to wear at any time, or for any situation. Some are good essentially all the time, while others are more situational, and others still will never have a purpose for your run. With dozens to find across the Lands Between, it can be hard to nail down which are the best ones. We scoured the map and ran the numbers to pin down the best Talismans in Elden Ring you need to pick up.

Read more