I tested the Treeguard Idol against all bosses

[b l a n k]

Hello, I make this topic for documentation purpose, not to say if the skill is worth taking or not.
Please tell me if some things are amiss or can be improved, I'll edit this message accordingly!

Methods

The regular method

Plant X Pine Cones next to each other (X should be a multiple of 2).
Wait from 12 to 18 days for the trees to be fully grown.
Burn X/2 idols next to the grown trees.
Use a Pan Flute to put the treeguards to sleep.
Make the boss attack the Treeguards.

The "aggro tree" method

Plant X Pine Cones next to each other (X should be a multiple of 2).
Plant a single Pine Cone next to the boss to create an "aggro tree".
Wait from 12 to 18 days for the trees to be fully grown ("aggro tree" growth doesn't matter).
Burn X/2 idols next to the grown trees ("aggro tree" must NOT get transformed).
Use a Pan Flute to put the treeguards to sleep close to the "aggro tree".
Make the boss destroy the "aggro tree" to wake up the Treeguards.

The Poison Birchnut Tree method

Place X Punching Bags around the boss.
Plant X Birchnut around the Punching Bags (X should be a multiple of 2).
Wait for a few days until most trees become MEDIUM-sized. Small or fully grown Birchnut Trees won't transform.
Start the boss fight next to the trees/Punching Bags.
Burn X/2 idols next to the trees and get away.
The Poison Birchnut Trees will attack the Punching Bags on their own, also hitting the boss next to them.

Bosses

Ancient Guardian

Use the "aggro tree" method.
2 Treeguards required.

Ancient Guardian dash attack will destroy the "aggro tree".

Ancient Fuelweaver

Use the "aggro tree" method.
6 Treeguards required.

Put the "aggro tree" as close as possible to the Odd Skeleton. Giving it the Shadow Atrium will break the "aggro tree".
Unseen Hands phases must be done manually.

Antlion

Use the Poison Birchnut Tree method.
Up to 20 Poison Birchnut Trees required.

Place 4 Punching Bags arount the Antlion, and plant the Birchnuts all around (not too far or they will get destroyed by the Sand Castles).
Start the Antlion fight, burn the idols, get away until the Poison Birchnut Trees aggro the Punching Bags, then walk around the Sand Castles to lure Antlion's Sand Spikes attacks.

Bearger

Use either method.
4 Treeguards required.

Bee Queen

Use the Poison Birchnut Tree method.
40 Poison Birchnut Trees required.

The Gigantic Beehive needs to be well placed (not close to the sea).
Place 4 Punching Bags arount the Gigantic Beehive, and plant the Birchnuts all around.
Use the Pan Flute to put Bee Queen to sleep before burning the idols.

Celestial Champion

20 Treeguards required.

Phase 1: Use the "aggro tree" method.

Lure the CC rolling attack on a tree to destroy it.
Once the phase 1 is killed, wait for the Treeguards to spread slightly (about 5 seconds), then use a Pan Flute to put them asleep.

Phase 2: Use the regular method.

The CC spin attack will aggro most of the close ranged Treeguards.
Once the phase 2 is killed, wait for the Treeguards to spread (about 5+ seconds), then use a Pan Flute to put them asleep.

Phase 3: Use the regular method.

The CC enlightening snare attack will aggro most of the Treeguards.
Woodie must stay out of range of the circular perimeter of the [Greater] Gestalts summoning attack.

Deerclops

Use the regular method.
2 Treeguards required.

Eye of Terror

Use the regular method.
4 Treeguards required to kill it in a single night.

Woodie needs to stay far away to not get the boss aggro.

Lord of the Fruit Flies

Use the Poison Birchnut Tree method.
2 Poison Birchnut Trees required.

Place 1 Punching Bag on the Lord's spawn point, and plant 2 Birchnuts around it (ideally not on the opposite side).

Moose/Goose

Use the Poison Birchnut Tree method.
Up to 20 Poison Birchnut Trees required.

Place 3/4 Punching Bags around the Goose Nest, and plant Birchnuts all around.
Place a Lightning Rod to protect the Punching Bags and the Poison Birchnut Trees.

Nightmare Werepig

Use the "aggro tree" method.
4 Treeguards required.

Phase 0 (Parasitic Shadelings) needs to be done manually.
Nightmare Werepig dash attack will destroy the "aggro tree".
Pillars dreadstone might not be destroyed.
Woodie needs to stay far away to not get the boss aggro.

Shadow Pieces

Use the regular method.
8 Treeguards required.

Knight must be killed manually before triggering the Treeguards.
Woodie needs to stay far away to not get the bosses' aggro.

Toadstool

Use the "aggro tree" method.
8 Treeguards required.

The Treeguards will push the Toadstool over time, they must be placed on the void side to push Toadstool away from the edge.
The "aggro tree" must be planted as close as possible to Toadstool. Chopping Toadstool will destroy the "aggro tree".
The Sporecap phases must be done manually.

Misery Toadstool

Same as Toadstool, except 20 Treeguards are required.

Undoable / Not ideal

Sea bosses

Crab King
Malbatross

Bosses Treeguards can't aggro [reliably]

Dragonfly
Klaus
Spider Queen

More than 20 Treeguards required

Twins of Terror

[Mr.Tarunio]

CC phase 1 and 2 get melted but 3 seems to be a manual fight.

[_zwb]

49 minutes ago, b l a n k said:

Celestial Champion

You can let cc chop a tree

[Ohan]

But according to klei it was bramble trap specialist that needed the harsh nerf lol 

[loopuleasa]

7 minutes ago, Ohan said:

But according to klei it was bramble trap specialist that needed the harsh nerf lol 

It was. The treeguard method in comparison requires a bit of investment (time especially).

[Ohan]

8 minutes ago, loopuleasa said:

It was. The treeguard method in comparison requires a bit of investment (time especially).

Try crafting and placing a useful amount of traps for each of the above mentioned bosses if theyre even effective against them. And then be blooming and then dance the bosses on it during the entire fight. 

“It was.”

Says the person who has clearly never crafted and placed 40-100 traps. Talk about “a bit of investment” dont make me laugh lol. 
 

you plant a handful of pinecones and wait and then burn 2 living logs and 5 nightmare fuel for 2 mobs with 3750 hp and 190 dmg per swing. 
 

2 swings of 1 treeguard roughly equals the damage of 1 entire bramble trap with its 10 uses.

U need to dance a boss on top of a trap for 30-40 seconds to get the same damage as 2 hits from a single treeguard. 

[bloopah]

3 minutes ago, Ohan said:

 if theyre even effective against them.

Because you use Bramble Traps for crowd control, not against a singular bulky target. Use any other crowd control weapon to beat a single-target boss battle and you'd be laughed at.

7 minutes ago, Ohan said:

Says the person who has clearly never crafted and placed 40-100 traps. Talk about “a bit of investment” dont make me laugh lol. 

You know you can get Living Logs much easier than Woodie, right? A single harvest from a Bee Box along with some Reeds that you can easily obtain once you find the Moon Quay or any Bananas in the entrance of the Ruins will give you enough Honey Poultices to sacrifice health for three Living Logs, all without having to go insane or have a "friendly chat" with any previous Treeguards or Totally Normal Trees. It will also give you the Stingers you need for the second ingredient. For Woodie to get a fraction of Living Logs that Wormwood can produce he would have to kill lots and lots of Treeguards, and if you're impatient and want to quickly kill a whole bunch at once you might get overwhelmed. And don't get me started on the Krampus farms with Wickerbottom and Wortox.

[Ohan]

3 minutes ago, bloopah said:

Because you use Bramble Traps for crowd control, not against a singular bulky target. Use any other crowd control weapon to beat a single-target boss battle and you'd be laughed at.

…What the hell? 

[Captain_Rage]

37 minutes ago, Ohan said:

…What the hell? 

In another way: it is like fighting the Dragonfly with a Fishing Rod and saying that the Fishing Rod makes for a bad weapon.

[Mike23Ua]

1 hour ago, bloopah said:

Because you use Bramble Traps for crowd control, not against a singular bulky target. Use any other crowd control weapon to beat a single-target boss battle and you'd be laughed at.

You know you can get Living Logs much easier than Woodie, right? A single harvest from a Bee Box along with some Reeds that you can easily obtain once you find the Moon Quay or any Bananas in the entrance of the Ruins will give you enough Honey Poultices to sacrifice health for three Living Logs, all without having to go insane or have a "friendly chat" with any previous Treeguards or Totally Normal Trees. It will also give you the Stingers you need for the second ingredient. For Woodie to get a fraction of Living Logs that Wormwood can produce he would have to kill lots and lots of Treeguards, and if you're impatient and want to quickly kill a whole bunch at once you might get overwhelmed. And don't get me started on the Krampus farms with Wickerbottom and Wortox.

You can easily get living logs from killing the easy to kill Mushgnomes in the Lunar Grotto.. but yeah, I guess killing Treeguards or lucking up on totally normal trees work too..

Wormwood players tend to forget that tents & siesta lean-to’s exist, they can spend all their HP farming resources from their own body then easily heal back up with any healing method that doesn’t involve shoving food in their mouth.. I’ve literally joined worlds and just spent my entire time in those worlds as WW supplying players with living logs.

But.. the Lunar Grotto also makes needing to do this significantly less.. I mean yes a WW giving out living logs IS helpful but, I also no longer need to SWITCH to WW relying on him as much, so … that’s nice.

Treeguards are also a good supply for Living Logs, just wanted to point out Grotto Gnomes exist.

[Capybara007]

Grotto gnomes is very slow

[_zwb]

13 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Wormwood players tend to forget that tents & siesta lean-to’s exist

I'd say it's the exact opposite, I use tents early on as Wormwood, until I can kill bee queen and/or get bat bats regularly, and ww relieson tents the most among all characters, no way they can forget about that

[b l a n k]

Alright so about the CC, I tested multiple times and it was always inconsistent, because despite the phase 1 CC can aggro some of  the treeguards (sometimes not all of them) thanks to its rolling attack, they will all de-aggro anyway when it transitions to phase 2, then they will all walk in different directions. The phase 2 CC will aggro a Treeguard here and there by luring its attacks, but it's a mess... That, and the phase 3, is enough for me to put it in the "unreliable" category. But if you like the Treeguards method anyway, especially to help with the first 2 phases, go ahead and use that, it's "free" DPS!

 

2 hours ago, Ohan said:

But according to klei it was bramble trap specialist that needed the harsh nerf lol 

If you are implying the Treeguard Idol needs a nerf, I kinda disagree

Not even half of the bosses can be battled using this method, inclusing bosses that don't need the idols to already be cheesed or anecdotical

The biggest surprise I had was the Ancient Fuelweaver, I think this is the only boss worth mentionning here
 

[erikac14]

I've heard that you can use birchnut treeguards for some bosses. I have not tested it yet though.

[b l a n k]

12 hours ago, erikac14 said:

I've heard that you can use birchnut treeguards for some bosses. I have not tested it yet though.

Treeguard Idols do not work with birchnut trees

[gamehun20]

18 minutes ago, b l a n k said:

Treeguard Idols do not work with birchnut trees

Yes they do

[b l a n k]

4 minutes ago, gamehun20 said:

Yes they do

Wait, what ?

[gamehun20]

Just now, b l a n k said:

Wait, what ?

I know for a fact they work because i logged into the game after i saw your post to test it and it spawned a poison birch tree without fail

[b l a n k]

Just now, gamehun20 said:

I know for a fact they work because i logged into the game after i saw your post to test it and it spawned a poison birch tree without fail

Alright, nevermind then! I must've missed a patchnote including the change

I'll have to retest everything with them now :')

[Jandri]

2 hours ago, gamehun20 said:

I know for a fact they work because i logged into the game after i saw your post to test it and it spawned a poison birch tree without fail

Cool, I didn't know

[DinsdaleP]

5 hours ago, b l a n k said:

Wait, what ?

check the pinned comment under the video:
"Poison birchnut spawning mechanics are weird, naturally only medium deciduous trees can become poison birchnuts, and only chopping fully grown deciduous trees can trigger the medium ones to become poison birchnuts, in the case of the Treeguard Idol, it can only turn medium deciduous trees into poison birchnuts."

[b l a n k]

38 minutes ago, DinsdaleP said:

check the pinned comment under the video:
"Poison birchnut spawning mechanics are weird, naturally only medium deciduous trees can become poison birchnuts, and only chopping fully grown deciduous trees can trigger the medium ones to become poison birchnuts, in the case of the Treeguard Idol, it can only turn medium deciduous trees into poison birchnuts."

It all makes sense now, thanks

[goatt]

On 8/9/2023 at 10:04 AM, Mr.Tarunio said:

CC phase 1 and 2 get melted but 3 seems to be a manual fight.

 

The video did phase 3.

 

On 8/9/2023 at 12:36 PM, b l a n k said:

Alright so about the CC, I tested multiple times and it was always inconsistent, because despite the phase 1 CC can aggro some of  the treeguards (sometimes not all of them) thanks to its rolling attack, they will all de-aggro anyway when it transitions to phase 2, then they will all walk in different directions. The phase 2 CC will aggro a Treeguard here and there by luring its attacks, but it's a mess... That, and the phase 3, is enough for me to put it in the "unreliable" category. But if you like the Treeguards method anyway, especially to help with the first 2 phases, go ahead and use that, it's "free" DPS!

Phase 2 can be done reliably (with 20 treeguards?)

The key is to sleep them.

Right after the death of phase 1, TG are tightly close, and that's bad for phase 2, because that will allow phase 2 to spin all of them at once. The solution is to sleep TG after they spread out slightly so that phase 2 will still trigger all of them, but only spin attack some of them, so that TG's health is preserved as much as possible.

In phase 3, the idea is similar, spread and sleep. Ideally, spread in all direction. Phase 3 will reliably aggro most of the trees. One important thing in phase 3 is that player must stay far away from cc in order to reduce the length of gestalt attack, which would cause tons of damage to all trees.

In summary, 20% panflute is necessary to make the strategy reliable.

[b l a n k]

I edited to add the bosses doable thanks to the Poison Birchnut Trees, pretty good method against "static" bosses

It allows to do Bee Queen, Antlion, Moose, and Lord of the Fruit Flies (why bother for this one)!

On 8/10/2023 at 10:13 PM, goatt said:

 

The video did phase 3.

 

Phase 2 can be done reliably (with 20 treeguards?)

The key is to sleep them.

Right after the death of phase 1, TG are tightly close, and that's bad for phase 2, because that will allow phase 2 to spin all of them at once. The solution is to sleep TG after they spread out slightly so that phase 2 will still trigger all of them, but only spin attack some of them, so that TG's health is preserved as much as possible.

In phase 3, the idea is similar, spread and sleep. Ideally, spread in all direction. Phase 3 will reliably aggro most of the trees. One important thing in phase 3 is that player must stay far away from cc in order to reduce the length of gestalt attack, which would cause tons of damage to all trees.

In summary, 20% panflute is necessary to make the strategy reliable.

That's interesting, however it's not as reliable as it sounds. I tried this strategy and it doesn't work as consistently as I would've liked to... Maybe I'm just very unlucky

[abrocator]

On 8/9/2023 at 7:06 PM, Mike23Ua said:

Wormwood players tend to forget that tents & siesta lean-to’s exist, they can spend all their HP farming resources from their own body then easily heal back up with any healing method that doesn’t involve shoving food in their mouth.. I’ve literally joined worlds and just spent my entire time in those worlds as WW supplying players with living logs.

You can easily get a hundred living logs by using Woodie's tree guard idols + weremoose's charge attack... but yeah, I guess being a full-time self-harming WW works too.