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InWuchang: Fallen Feathers, you and many other enemies suffer from a disease called Feathering. This causes feathers to grow on the body, for you to lose your memories and, over time, eventually morph into a monstrous form, shorn of all features of humanity whatsoever. As you advance through the game, you will see many more of these Feathered enemies.
The Soulwood, however, is a little different. Rather than a transformation caused by Feathering, it is instead an amalgamation of souls of those who were trapped and burned to death in Doomwillow Beach, coalescing into the destructive tree you see before you now. But it is still just a tree, even if it is inhabited by the souls of the cruelly departed.
Preparation For The Soulwood
Throughout Doomwillow Beach, you will fight quite a few different enemies, but some of the more unique ones will be the tree enemies. They are locked in place, as one might expect from a tree, but hit terrifically hard. And, just like you would expect of a tree,they are famously weak to fire, being halted in their tracks entirely when ignited.
To that end, the Soulwood is just as weak to fire, letting you frankly trivialise the fight. And within Doomwillow Beach, just before you descend to where you fight the Soulwood,you can acquire an incredibly powerful Fire Spell by defeating a unique enemy. Fire is your best friend here, so you can use Tempering to set your weapon ablaze, or use some of the spells at your disposal. You should have three fire Spells by the time you reach the Soulwood, so make sure you have at least one equipped.
Beyond this, there aren’t too many issues to worry about with the Soulwood.It can cause Corruption build-up with its projectilesso bring some Purple Camelias to be safe, but otherwise it isn’t too much of a hassle.
The Soulwood’s Strengths And Weaknesses
The Soulwood is a unique boss in that, just like the other trees throughout Doomwillow Beach,it is completely locked in place throughout the entire fight. It is always right at the very back, always has some body part that is capable of being hit by melee. This does mean, however, that getting close enough to strike them can also make it harder to see what the rest of their body is doing. So be mindful when getting close to them.
The Soulwood is also more of an arena battle, one that they have supreme control over.They can summon smaller vinesto rise from the ground around the area, with each of them able to assault you freely from the boss, and each with their own health bar separate from the boss, too. As such, despite the Soulwood being completely stationary, you have to keep constantly on the move if you want to avoid its attacks.
Though not an attack of the boss,the water it is in causes Despair build-up, which will kill you instantly when filled.
The last of its major strengths is the type of damage it deals. Though there is a slight degree of Feathering damage dealt by its projectiles, it is the boss' physical attacks that deal the bulk of the damage.These specifically strike with Blunt damage, so try to build these defenses where you can. Certain heavier armour sets, likethe Ming set, can be useful here.
When it comes to weaknesses, the Soulwood has a glaring one, and that isits weakness to fire. It can tear though the boss, and can make the fight a bit more of a drag without it. As such, it is essential you bring something with fire, be with your Tempering or Spells. If you choose to use Spells,One-Handed Swords will increase the damage they dealeven further, as will opening up more Magic nodes in the Impetus Repository.
Reborn Treant - Soulwood’s Moveset
The Soulwood is honestly not that challenging a fight, and evenhas a very limited movesetas well. Here is everything they can do.
Counter
Vacuum
The boss leans its whole body down and begins sucking you towards them, no matter how far away you are. This will drag you into the Despair pool they reside in.
Run away in the opposite direction. You can dodge, though this is much less stamina efficient.
Arena Fire Breath
The boss will lean low and their head will start glowing orange before they unleash a torrent of flame. This spreads quite wide across the centre of the arena.
Because this attack is so wide, simply stay to the sides when you see them coming low. The flames only remain for a few seconds before disappearing.
Arm slam
The boss' most common move, they reel their arm back and then slam it into the ground as close to you as possible. This arm remains in the ground for a time, but deals damage again as it pulls out.
As the Soulwood is locked in place, their arm cannot reach you from everywhere and its hitbox is quite small, and it also tends to strike around the centre of the arena. As such, it is quite easy to dodge. Just attack it from the sides to avoid getting hit as the arm is pulled back out.
Vine Summon
Without warning, the Soulwood will summon a series of vines from the ground to attack you. They also stay in place, but can spawn anywhere.
The vines will remain for a small while, but are overall easy to avoid. There is no point in wasting your time defeating them as they will disappear themselves after a bit anyway.
Vine Whip
The summoned vines do a small spin in place to attack you.
Easily dodged, though can briefly stagger you if hit.
Very easily dodged, though deals more damage than the whip.
Corruption Projectile
If you move too far from the boss, they will fire off orbs that deal Corruption on hit.
If you stay close to the boss as you should, you are unlikely to even see this move.
The biggest challenge of the Soulwood fight is keeping an eye on where you are actually standing.Stay still for too long, and you will be bombarded by summoned vines. So keep on the move constantly.
How To Beat Reborn Treant - Soulwood
The Battle
Beating the Soulwood is a simple act.Bring some fire, and keep moving. That’s all there is to it. Genuinely. There’s not much more that can be said. The fight will take a good while longer without fire, though it’s far from impossible. With fire, you will burn through the boss. Literally.
Spells are the preferred method of attack here as they keep you at a safe distance from the boss, preventing you from slipping into the Despair pool and dying instantly.The summoned vines are also a good opportunity to activate Shimmerto gain more Skyborn Might for Spells regardless of the weapon you are using. One-Handed Swords are still the best here though for their Biding Time passive and their innate Spellpower boost.
That’s it.Avoid the Despair pool, attack with fire Spells. Win!
The Rewards
After the Soulwood is defeated,the way to the Tang Palace is opened, and a new Shrine appears for you to heal and save at. On top of this, you also get theEcho of Soulwood Spell, which fires off the same Corruption orbs that the boss used against you.
You also gain theAlltree Jade Cylinder, which can be given to Tao Qing back in the Shu Sanctum to unlock new items. You are now free to proceed onwards, closer to the hardest boss in the game thus far.
