The Genius Of Elden Ring's Tree Sentinel
One of the first things you see when you're set free in Elden Ring's open world is a big, scary-looking knight clad in a suit of gleaming golden armour. This powerful enemy, the notorious Tree Sentinel, has been mischievously placed on the path leading towards the Church of Elleh, an important early game location that new players are strongly encouraged to visit. On the surface it's just FromSoft being FromSoft. A practical joke at the expense of players who don't look before they leap. But there's a lot more to it than that.
The first Site of Grace you visit when you leave the starting dungeon overlooks the area the Tree Sentinel patrols, which means anyone who stops here—which is basically every new player—will catch a glimpse of it from afar. The conspicuous gold armour and sheer size of this hulking great death-knight makes sure they do. Some players might think, well, how tough can he be? The developer has placed him right next to the first checkpoint. They wouldn't do that if this was an insurmountable challenge... right?
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Wrong. I'm sure some patient, pig-headed, or particularly skilled players would be able to defeat the Tree Sentinel before levelling their character up. But for the majority of people, attacking this guy the moment you arrive in Limgrave is a death sentence. He's fast, powerful, and has a long reach thanks to his massive golden halberd. Whether you attack him or not, you quickly realise that the best course of action—at least at this point in the game—is to give him a wide berth. You can easily sneak past him and make it to the church.
The Tree Sentinel is FromSoft firmly establishing that, no, you don't have to attack
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