Gnarlroot, the Elder Treant

Boss

Fought on floor 10, in Act 1: Verdant Ruins. This is this act's climax fight.

Who They Were

The eldest tree of the Whispering Boughs sank its roots into her hunger long before the elves felt the forest slide, and she turned it slowly, ring by ring, the way a season turns a leaf. It never noticed the year it stopped belonging to itself. It still believes it guards the forest. It does, against you.

Mythic, cursed, and divine relics sit above legendary, the fusion ceiling, and drop only from boss and guardian kills: mythic from floor 50, cursed from floor 80, and divine from floor 90, but only on Infernal. This fight sits below all three gates, so no apex relic drops here.

Abilities

Thorn Volley

Targets enemy · 2s cooldown

Three sharp thorns at one enemy.

• damage, power 8 + 0.8×attack
• damage, power 8 + 0.8×attack
• damage, power 8 + 0.8×attack

Thorn Blight

Targets enemy · 2s cooldown

Hurls thorns that poison one enemy.

• damage, power 8 + 0.8×attack
• status, applies Poisoned (dot, 3 turns)

Statuses It Inflicts

Inflicts: Poisoned

How to Prepare

• You fight Gnarlroot, the Elder Treant solo, and there is no rest heal before the encounter, so arrive with real HP in the bank and sustain already flowing: lifesteal earned in the fight itself, plus potions bought with gold beforehand.
• An escort wave of the biome's regular enemies fights first. Only after they fall does Gnarlroot, the Elder Treant step out alone for the closing wave, so keep enough HP and cooldowns in reserve for the real fight.
• It can inflict Poisoned, damage that keeps ticking after the hit lands, so don't count only your burst; a dragged-out fight bleeds you too.
• If you wipe, you restart at floor 1, but your permanent upgrades and talents carry over, so a loss here is a setback, not a full reset. Optional Hardcore mode also destroys your equipped gear on a wipe.