This is my personal strategy guide for beating Commander O’Neil in Elden Ring, although results may vary depending on your build.
Elden Ring – How To Beat Commander O’Neil (Strategy Guide)
Preparation
You don’t need a lot of things; first of all, you need a Torrent. That is a requirement, so is the second thing you’ll need – a melee weapon. I used my +5 Uchigatana, but I was also going to try my +2 Meteor Blade. Both inflict bleeding, but no status effect is needed.
You can use spells and incantations if you want, but I suggest homing stuff. Ashes can also help for the beginning portion, but I wouldn’t use them for reasons that will be evident soon.
I’ll point this out before you get too excited: I was using a +5 Uchigatana for the fight with 15 STR and 18 DEX. I picked Samurai because I liked the stats and the sword, so I was able to do this faster than expected. This will be a slow burn regardless of what you use.
Commander’s Moves/Behavior
This guy is honestly pretty slow. He has some good reach with his polearm, and it hits pretty hard but overall, you can avoid it pretty easily by just moving continuously.
He can swing his polearm in usually two different ways: overhead and horizontally.
If he swings overhead, just moves to the side. If he swings horizontally, then move away. Be wary; sometimes, he’ll try to combo swings.
Testing showed he would stop mid-combo if I moved far enough away, but otherwise, he’ll strike four times before giving an overhead strike.
He can also do various kinds of thrusts with the polearm. It can sometimes be a stronger stab that can knock you off Torrent. Though not always, I may just have been unlucky. But the tracking isn’t particularly great on it; just keep moving.
He can use a storm stomp attack that is somewhat like Banished Knights. But it will also make a very short-lived burst of Scarlet Rot Cloud. When the wind vanishes, it should be safe.
Sometimes, he will gather up Scarlet Rot Dust while spinning his polearm in the air. Run past where the clouds seem to be spawning. It should be clear when you are safe.
He will summon Ashes twice (at least that was the case for me), which are different kinds of Exiles. The first wave of Exiles is seemingly regular with crossbows and swords that total five in number.
The second wave will be three in number, with axes. Functionally, they are absolutely no different from regular Exiles.
While ANY of his ashes are on the field, expect the Commander to be buffing them. White means they get a defense buff (roughly halving the damage I did), red increases damage I believe, but I don’t know for sure.
How To Fight
You should bring your summons either now or you can choose to save them for later. Regardless of what you do, only approach when you’re comfortable starting the fight. Ideally, you should be on Torrent already.
But mount the loyal stead before charging him down. While he summons the first wave of Exiles, take this time to get a good strike or even a few if you want, but be ready to start riding around.
Focus on taking out the Exiles as fast as possible. I used my Meteor Staff and Rock Sling to soften them up before riding by. But otherwise, just make passes, hitting them with your melee weapon until you’ve killed them all.
Now, make passes with Torrent and hit him when you feel safe to do so. Avoid strikes by dodging, and don’t get greedy when you can avoid them.
Although Ashes can be useful, I don’t recommend them because of how reliant this strategy is. On circling the Commander, it gets only more frustrating since it increases the risk of getting hit.
Keep making passes on him until he summons again. Here, you can either take them out or just avoid them as well. But I’d suggest taking them out to avoid risking your life.
Depending on how fast you can keep hitting him, you’ll manage to build up a status effect on him. Bleed can be useful, but I will admit that it is just a burst of damage.
Poison is great for damaging him without even touching him. I’m not sure how weak he is, however. Scarlet Rot is probably useless, but you can try it if you want. Frost, I can’t say anything on, since I haven’t found any frost stuff.
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Last Updated on February 11, 2024
An avid listener of music from a number of countries. Writing is his hobby and passion. A follower of all the latest android and PC games. Not to mention his favorite: Mobile Legends!