Skip to main content

How to beat Mad Pumpkin Head in Elden Ring

Learn how to defeat the Waypoint Ruins boss and access its hidden merchant.

Fighting the Mad Pumpkin Head boss in the Waypoint Ruins in Elden Ring.
Image credit: Eurogamer/FromSoftware

The Mad Pumpkin Head is a boss in Elden Ring that's found in the Waypoint Ruins in the eastern region of Limgrave.

It's one of the many optional bosses in The Lands Between, but the Waypoint Ruins are also where you'll find Sorceress Sellen, so you need to beat the Mad Pumpkin Head in order to progress Sellen's questline.

So, to help you take it down nice and swiftly, read on for our walkthrough on how to beat Mad Pumpkin Head in Elden Ring.

How to beat Mad Pumpkin Head in Elden Ring

The Mad Pumpkin Head is quite a funny chap. The pumpkin head itself looks quite bizarre, but it doesn't really have much going for it apart from that. Indeed, you'll be pleased to hear this is one of the easiest bosses in the game.

The Mad Pumpkin Head usually just hits you with his flail, and very slowly at that. Dodging and then counterattacking shouldn't be a problem. Or, you can block attacks with a shield, depending on how you play.

Every now and then, it will add a punch with its fist from the left side, or ram its pumpkin head into the ground when you stand in front of him, but none of these are earth-shattering attacks.

Fighting the Mad Pumpkin Head boss in the Waypoint Ruins in Elden Ring.
Image credit: Eurogamer/FromSoftware

As such, you can get to grips with the boss' behaviour quite quickly, making it easy to read its telegraphed manoeuvres in advance. Due to this, you should be able to cope well with any style of play. On top of that, it doesn't take much damage to bring the Mad Pumpkin Head down.

Your reward for defeating the Mad Pumpkin Head is 1100 runes, and once you've defeated it, you can activate the 'Waypoint Ruins Cellar' Site of Grace. But that's not all! You can also open a door behind this save point to meet the sorceress Sellen. She sells - who would have thought it? - Sorceries.

These are Glintstone Spells in various strengths, and you can return to Sellen at any time, thanks to the Site of Grace. From this point onwards, you can also follow Sellen's questline.

After defeating The Mad Pumpkin Head, we recomend heading to the Forlorn Hound Evergaol in the southern region of Limgrave next, near the Bridge of Sacrifice that leads to the Weeping Peninsula.

Continue to next boss: Bloodhound Knight Darriwil


Need more help? Jump back to our list of Elden Ring bosses or our Elden Ring walkthrough.

Read this next