Commander Niall |
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| Location | Castle Sol |
| Drops |  90,000Veteran's Prosthesis |
| HP | 15,541 |
| Strong VS |
Neutral to |
Commander Niall is a Great Enemy Boss in Elden Ring. Commander Niall is found in Castle Sol in Mountaintops of the Giants. This is an optional boss, as players don't need to defeat it in order to advance in Elden Ring. However, he must be defeated before entering Consecrated Snowfield.
Commander O'Neil is another variant of this boss.
Commander Niall, veteran of Castle Sol, offered his prosthesis in exchange for the lives of defeated knights held prisoner. He went on to lead these men as an army of no nation.
Elden Ring Commander Niall Boss
- This is an optional boss. However, he must be defeated before entering Consecrated Snowfield.
- At the beginning of the fight, Niall summons two Banished Knight spirits that vanish once he enters Phase 2. If both spirits are killed, he will immediately enter Phase 2 regardless of his health.
- Closest Site of Grace: Church of the Eclipse
- Multiplayer is allowed for this boss
- You can summon Spirit Ashes for this boss
Elden Ring Commander Niall Location
From the Church of the Eclipse Site of Grace in the southeast section of Castle Sol, take the church's eastern exit towards another building. Go through this building and you'll arrive at the upper level of the eastern section. In this upper level you'll see Commander Niall's fog gate as well as a lift you can send down as a shortcut for future boss runs. [Map Link]
Commander Niall Combat information
- Health: 15,541 HP
- Defense: 117
- Stance: 90
- Parryable: Yes
- Is vulnerable to a critical hit after being stance broken or parried
- Damage:
Standard, 
Strike, 
Pierce (Phase 1), Standard, 
Slash, Strike, Pierce, 
Lightning (Phase 2) - Inflicts:
Frostbite - Drops 90,000, Veteran's Prosthesis
Negations (or Absorptions)
Magic
Fire
HolyThe negation numbers are the % of your damage that gets blocked. For example, if a negation is 60, 40% of that damage by that type will go through and 60% will be negated. Bigger number = less damage. A negation of 100 means no damage goes through, and a negation of -100 mean the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is.
Resistances
Poison: 343 / 441 / 731 / 1188
Scarlet Rot: 343 / 441 / 731 / 1188
Hemorrhage: 343 / 441 / 731 / 1188- Frostbite: 343 / 441 / 731 / 1188
Sleep
MadnessThe resistance numbers are the buildup amount to trigger it. For example, if a resistance is 100 you must deal 100 points of the given buildup to trigger it. Note that these go down over time, and increase each time the effect procs. The values after the "/"s indicate the increased resistances after each successive proc.
NG+ and Beyond (click to reveal)
Banished Knight Spirit Combat information
- Health: 1,967 HP
- Defense: 114
- Stance: 65
- Parryable: Yes
- Is vulnerable to a critical hit after being stance broken or parried
- Damage: Standard, Strike, Pierce
Negations (or Absorptions)
The negation numbers are the % of your damage that gets blocked. For example, if a negation is 60, 40% of that damage by that type will go through and 60% will be negated. Bigger number = less damage. A negation of 100 means no damage goes through, and a negation of -100 mean the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is.
Resistances
- Poison: Immune
- Scarlet Rot: Immune
- Hemorrhage: Immune
- Frostbite: Immune
The resistance numbers are the buildup amount to trigger it. For example, if a resistance is 100 you must deal 100 points of the given buildup to trigger it. Note that these go down over time, and increase each time the effect procs.
NG+ and Beyond (click to reveal)
| NG | NG+ | NG+2 | NG+3 | NG+4 | NG+5 | NG+6 | NG+7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP | 1,967 | 2,464 | 2,710 | 2,833 | 2,956 | 3,203 | 3,326 | 3,449 |
| Defense | 114 | 118 | 121 | 124 | 130 | 136 | 141 | 153 |
Elden Ring Commander Niall Boss Guide
Commander Niall Fight Strategy
The Best Tips for Commander Niall
- Niall will primarily focus on buffing his allies while they are still alive and will perform relatively simple attacks that are easily avoided.
- Focus on the dual greatsword Knight with at the beginning, as it is more aggressive than the shield Knight.
- Charming one of the Knights with Bewitching Branches can make the first phase quite simple.
- Use a tanky Spirit to distract the Banished Knights.
- Take advantage of when Niall tires himself out after his Charged Whirlwind dash move
- You can jump to avoid his shockwave foot stomp.
- Kill at least one Knight before summoning your spirit.
- Killing the last of his knights while he is in his buffing animation will lock him in his first phase until about half health
- Using kukris/throwing knives or ranged attacks triggers him to do his kick attack, if done correctly he can be put into a "positive feedback loop" in which he will jump attack you forever as long as you dodge into throwing knive him
- Backstabing one Knight at the start of the fight, preferably buffed by the Dagger Talisman, is an effective way of dealing with the Knights quickly.
General Fight Strategy
Commander Niall is accompanied by two Spectral Banished Knights, one equipped with dual greatswords and the other equipped with a sword and shield. Success in this battle hinges on your ability to manage the two very dangerous knights. Niall himself doesn't get too dangerous until the knights are defeated. He will lumber around the arena, making no real effort to close the distance so focus on the knights at the beginning. Of the two, the dual sword knight is the most aggressive and dangerous. It is highly recommended that you summon a tanky spirit to more easily manage both knights at once. They are also susceptible to Magic Damage so Sorcery mains should have a slight advantage damage-wise.
The easiest way to be rid of the Banished Knights is to, immediately, after traversing the fog, run into the right-hand corner of the arena and await the charge of the dual-wielding Knight, and using a Bewitching Branch on him, turning him into an ally (it might take a few tries to get the timing right, the animation is rather long). This will cause the sword-n-board Banished Knight to immediately aggro him, while your new ally attacks Niall himself, ripping away a huge chunk of his health. Bewitch the second Banished Knight, while avoiding Niall's windstorm attacks, back away and summon your spirit ashes and apply any buff you need. Niall should have taken out both knights by this point (he kills them extremely quickly), or they will have brought him below 50% health, at which point they will despawn, as Niall enters his second phase.
Once the knights are killed, Niall begins actively pursuing you and using his more dangerous moves. Niall commands the powers of Ice via a whirlwind he summons around him, as well as Lightning via infusions on his prosthetic leg. Niall's most dangerous moves always involve him summoning whirlwinds of frost around him. He can then follow up with a stomp of his peg leg, infusing it with lightning and then leaping towards you to perform a powerful leg smash that creates a lightning shockwave on impact. He can also follow-up with two versions of a dash attack. The first is a single whirl of his halberd followed by a quick dash into an uppercut with his halberd. The second version sees Niall charging up for a few seconds as he sucks in frosty winds towards him, he then whirls his halberd several times, creating an expanding whirlwind of frost. Finally, he dashes to the side and then runs toward you, culminating in an uppercut with his halberd. This move tires Niall out and he will be kneeling and vulnerable for several seconds. This is the biggest damage window throughout his fight so be sure to dodge the uppercut and get as many hits in as possible as he recovers.
Melee Users
Start with heavy R2 On right summon dual wielding knight, the attack should land at or just before he materializes. Then a second heavy R2, and he should stagger. If lucky, you can get a crit in which should kill him at appropriate level for this boss and you will be invulnerable. Roll away and or heal. Next bait out the 2nd summon and do a running R2, back up, rinse and repeat. If he teleports to you, roll behind him. Be selective. Running R2 should bait him into an attack and an auto stagger when he is walking with his shield up. You have plenty of time on the 2nd summon as the boss will be passive during this phase.
Next the Commander Niall will charge up frost and electric attacks after his summons have died. Roll at the last second for his attacks. When he charges his leg and flip kicks, roll to his right (your left) to get an opening for an attack. He does a delayed heavy swing after one consecutive attack he has where you should roll twice in a row to dodge it every time, and then punish him accordingly with a few swings. When he does a frost wind and then a charged electric attack, dodge roll into a single r1, watch for a quick poke and then a heavy telegraphed swing, again rolling to your left. Now the charged electric stomp AOE, difficult to manage and hard to avoid. With the swinging frost winds, he has multiple attacks that look similar to this. The one you're looking for is a melee attack ending that you can punish. The other frost AOE should be avoided. So just manage close range and then outside his AOE blasts. Managing your distance and opportunities is key. You should stay up close to him and back away when you see a frost swing coming. Upon one of his charged frost and electric attacks he will kneel and pause for a huge opportunity to hit him with heavy R2s, you should be able to stun him and deal a crit. Definitely dealing with the summons without getting hit was a big advantage to have as much flasks as possible to fight him, because his electric AOE stomp is near impossible to avoid when up close. After frost winds, be ready to charge in.
Magic and Ranged Users
For magic and ranged users, you would want to equip a heavy-hitting spell/incantation for this fight. As stated above, defeat the two knights first before engaging Commander Niall. For a bow and arrow user, try equipping arrows or bolts that has status effects on them like bleed or rot.
If you have the Comet Azur spell, cast a Terra Magica at the edge of the Mist gate (make sure the knight outside the arena is already killed), consume a Flask of Wondrous Physick with a Cerulean Hidden Tear to nullify FP consumption. Once you enter the boss arena, immediately lock on to Commander Niall then charge and release your Comet Azure. It is also recommended to add a Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear besides the Cerulean Hidden Tear for increased magic damage. This setup will most likely one-shot Commander Niall, even on higher NG+ playthroughs.
Commander Niall Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Description | Counter |
| Call Spirits - Banished Knights | At the beginning of the fight, he will wave his standard and summon two Banished Knights. While they are alive, he will continuously buff them until they die or he reaches half health. | Focus the dual-wielding knight, as it is the most aggressive. Use a Bewitching Branch on one if you have the materials. |
| Halberd Combo | A standard 3-hit combo beginning with a stab, a low sweep and ending with a slow overhead smash. | Get some distance away from him or dodge each attack. The final hit is charged exceedingly slow so beware of timing or simply run away. |
| Storm Kick | Niall stomps his prosthetic leg on the ground, creating a frost whirlwind around him and infusing the leg with lightning. He then leaps up towards you and after a short delay, crashes down, releasing a lightning shockwave a small radius from the point of impact. | Maintain distance during the whirlwind to prevent getting frosted. Once he leaps, wait for him to drop before dodging. |
| Storm Kick (Ground) | Niall raises his prosthetic leg up high in front of him, infusing it with lightning and then stomps down in front of him, releasing a lightning shockwave from the point of impact. | Time your dodge very well, especially if he raises his leg up high as the shockwave released has a massive radius. You can alternatively jump to avoid damage. |
| Whirlwind Dash | Niall twirls his halberd once, creating a whirlwind of frost around him. He then dashes straight towards you and performs an uppercut with the halberd. | The dash itself does no damage but serves to throw you off your dodge timing. Dodge the uppercut instead. |
| Whirlwind Dash (Charged) | Niall turns his back towards you and charges up, sucking in frosty winds towards him. He then twirls his halberd several times, releasing an expanding whirlwind of frost. Niall dashes to the side and then runs towards you, culminating in an uppercut with his halberd. Note that sometimes, he only performs the charging portion of this move, without the whirlwind release nor the dash. The frosty winds can still inflict Frostbite on you so maintain distance. | Maintain distance as he is charging and releasing the whirlwinds. Beware their expanding radius that covers most of the arena. When he dashes towards you, wait til the uppercut before dodging. Successfully dodging this attack tires Niall out, rendering him vulnerable for a very long time. This is your biggest damage window for him. |
Commander Niall Lore, Notes & Other Trivia
- His armour set can be purchased from Finger Reader Enia after killing him: the Veteran's Set
- The name "Niall" is a first name of Scottish-Gaelic or Irish-Gaelic origin with unclear meaning. Presumed meanings are "cloud", "chivalrous" or "victorious". All of these meanings make sense for the character being a military commander wielding weather-themed powers.
- Though their relationship is unconfirmed, Commander O'Neil, uses the same model as him, same voice actor, same armour and Commander's Standard and the same first phase moveset, down to summoning disgraced warriors (Exile Soldiers in O'Neil's case), with the lone exception that O'Neil whips up Scarlet Rot winds versus Niall's blizzards.
- "O'Neil" means "Son of Neil", with "Neil" being a variation of the name "Niall".
- Both have an implied connection to the twin demigods Miquella and Malenia; O'Neil carries the Unalloyed Gold Needle made by Miquella and the Commander's Standard references his former master being Malenia, while Niall protects the Haligtree Secret Medallion (left). The Veteran's Armor cape also features a red cloth similar to that of Malenia's Armor, down to Miquella's unalloyed gold wreath being embroided onto it.
- Niall's presence at Castle Sol also implies a connection to Godwyn the Golden and the eclipse worshipped there that will allegedly resurrect his soul. Niall wielding lightning powers and the dragon-themed decorations on the Veteran's Set may imply he was a Dragon Cult Knight in service to Godwyn before the latter's death.
Commander Niall Image Gallery
AnonymousNo offense, but I feel like a lot of you guys simply can't be patient. First off, you can run past all the enemies on the way to him, not to mention the elevator avoids even more encounters. Second off, I recommend killing the dual-wielding banished knight first. Run up to it, get a few hits, then back away. Both the knights' attacks where they lunge at you have some delay so keep that in mind.
For the actual boss, remember that most of his halberd swings have significant delay. After he swings downwards into the ground, you have an opportunity to attack. When he's charging up an attack, keep your distance. Dodge roll later than you think you have to for the dash and lightning stomp. After each of these attacks you have a small window to attack. Next up, we have his big AOE. When he starts charging it, run as far away as possible. You should be able to entirely avoid the AOE. The dash he does after it has similar dodge timing to the previously mentioned dodge attack, and you'll likely be able to stance break him due to his large recovery afterwards. Hope this helps somebody.
- Anonymous
The "Storm Kick" move while he is in the air for 1 second there is an invisible wall behind him that prevents us to get or run behind him, Now is that a bug a feature or just f**k you and dodge that from soft?
- Anonymous
Not that bad if you can kill the dual wield guy quickly before the boss can react (wild swing AOW in my case). After that a guard counter and a few quick swings could get rid of the other as long as Niall is far enough. The actual 1v1 is the hard part, but keep trying and you'll see the openings. The most common one for me was right after the jump (which is the easiest attack to dodge) he does one thrust that you can get to miss with movement alone, then you get your opening. You can also guard counter his end of combos, or pray for the one attack chain that ends with him winded where you can DEMOLISH his healthbar and easily apply status ailments (once again, thanks wild swings AOW).
- Anonymous
you can dodge the lightning attacks by literally just timing your rolls
- Anonymous
bolt of gransax + dung eater puppet just made the fight last like 30 seconds
- Anonymous
I legitimately love this fight. It’s hard but it’s not so bad if you can delete a knight real quick.
I like to use the WA on Ruins GS at the start of the fight. If you can line the two knights and Niall up, you can hit all three a couple times with L2.
It killed the dual wield knight and put a dent in the other one and Niall. From there it’s just dodge and attack, easy peasy
- Anonymous
I legitimately love this fight. It’s hard but it’s not so bad if you can delete a knight real quick.
I like to use the WA on Ruins GS at the start of the fight. If you can line the two knights and Niall up, you can hit all three a couple times with L2.
It killed the dual wield knight and put a dent in the other one and Niall. From there it’s just dodge and attack, easy peasy
- Anonymous
The dualwield knights are BS to fight without range spam. More aggressive than the marionettes doing their "Uh oh Ive gone goblin mode what out !!!" attack.
PITA
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
the elevator "shortcut" isnt supposed to be faster, it's a test of ur intelligence and a lot of you failed
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This boss is legitimately unfun. It's not just his fight though, but the **** enemies to deal with on the way back to him too, that makes it so you're either skipping or take a hit when you enter the fog cause why the **** not
- Anonymous
Stupid boss that keeps spamming AoE. I swear, I'd rather face 2 revenants than this PoS
- Anonymous
Really cool bossfight ruined by two random mobs that devs decided to put into the arena for some reason
- Anonymous
i beat this boss second try on my main character... i am currently on attempt number 50 on my new character
- Anonymous
while weilding 2 greataxes and doing jumping power attacks with double cragblade it took 4 jump power attacks to break stance.
3 jump power attacks+ 1 light attak does not break stance.
Considering the stance damage values in this wiki we have
jump power attack = 27(+2 cragblade)
light attack = 11(+1 cragblade)
so with 29+29+29+12= 98 I did not break stance.
I believe he has 100 stance and not 90
- Anonymous
Adored this boss fight. AOE was a mild issue, but was still deeply enjoyable.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
was this fight ever playtested, and if it was who actually said that this was good enough to go in the full release
- Anonymous
took me so many tries. ended up having to replace my nice deathbed dress with actual armor! here's what ended up working:
1. immediately run up and backstab dual wield buddy
2. run away, take dual wield guy out (in my case, with a stand off WA and a few light attacks)
3. run in circles like an idiot until a good chance to scarlet rot dragon breath big daddy comes up
4. #3 again so it procs
5. summon mimic
6. take out sword and shield guy
7. Niall should be low enough to knock him out in a poise break, in my case he was obsessed with my mimic so i stand off'ed him a few times from the back
more gimmicks than i like to use, but this dude was not a fun fight and he tanked my frame rate. probably would have /killall if i could!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Genuinely have many folds less trouble with Malenia then this guy, I hate him
- Anonymous
Came here to check hi Abilities, dude just full healed during a fight right as he was about to die, he does not have any heal spells, da **** was that Fromsoft.
- Anonymous
Came here to check hi Abilities, dude just full healed during a fight right as he was about to die, he does not have any heal spells, da **** was that Fromsoft.
- Anonymous
Dogshit fight. No openings, a billion AoEs, and at any point he can just do a lightning stomp and one shot
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
You can use the ornamental straight sword with golden tempering and spam strong attack to quickly kill the knights.
- Anonymous
If you're fed up with this guy and wanna summon other players, consider a mage + melee duo. They work well together if they're good at dodging.
- Anonymous
Between Niall and that shitty dual-wielding knight right next to the +1 Cerulean Amber Medallion I genuinely wonder if Caste Sol was playtested
- Anonymous
Poised through the second hit of Aspect of the Crucible: Tail. And that's the story of how I equipped Blasphemous Blade.
- Anonymous
While the fight would be better without the two banished knights, you can easily kite them away one at a time and kill them in ~2 hits with any +17 regular or +6 somber weapon. (Especially if you parry them). As for Niall himself, does he have some aoe attacks that suck? Absolutely, nearly every boss in the game does. That’s not a Niall problem, that’s an Elden Ring problem. If you like to parry, he’s very straightforward too. While I definitely understand the criticisms, I do think most end up being somewhat irrelevant.
- Anonymous
Tarnished: How many AoE attacks will you do this time?
Commander Niall: Yes
- Anonymous
Godrick probably took this dude's leg thinking it would give him those sick lightning abilities but all he ended up getting was a slightly stronger version of Storm Stomp.
- Anonymous
During the fight, both Niall and O'Neil yell something when they buff their warriors. Does anyone know exactly what they say?
- Anonymous
This is certainly a boss that deserves nothing more than a fully buffed comet azur to the face.
- Anonymous
constantly spamming frostbite is a rubbish fighting mechanic
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
My skeletal militiamen came in clutch with this fight. But even then the dude caught me out with how damn wide of an attack arc some of his swings have lmao. Only Pablo the skeleton survived. He's my favourite one, but don't tell Marco I said this.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Not a bad boss, at least he can be cheesed if you're low level or just tired of fighting him, has clear telegraphs and is in a big room. Now the tree spirit in Wardead catacombs, this is a BAD boss
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
So I was going up against this gank squad and said, "You want to gank? Lets gank then!" He summons his gank squad and I summon mine: Greatshield Soldier Ashes. I was doing a faith centric build and while my shield buddies rushed in I used rot breath (Because of course I did, it's Niall) though might not have been worth it since it took 2 casts. While shield bros are providing a lot of tanky distraction I take out knights one at a time with the help of Storm Assault lance. Then picked off Niall with black flame. By then I only had one and a half shield bros left so if you use them take advantage of them as quickly as you can because even they won't last long in this fight. I could only +6 them though.
- Anonymous
Annoying gank, stupidly high damage, boring phase 2 where you just bait and punish his attacks. Easily one of the worst bosses in the game.
- Anonymous
Add phase: As soon as you start walking through the fog, hold sprint and head to where the dual wield nerd knight spawns. Once you see he him start to unsheathe the swords, hit the backstab. Keep an eye on Niall and decide if you're safe to continue attacking the need. If so, he has low poise and can be stunlocked to death. If not, sprint far away from the other two to keep space from them. Try to bait out his longer ranged attacks as they have long recovery and can be punished. Once he's dead, focus on the sword and shield knight. You can exploit his AI by using sprint attacks. He will always lower his shield when you use them, and all his attacks are slow to start. With at least a greatsword sprint R2, it will stagger (not stance break) him, I'm not sure if the same holds true for lighter weapons. Repeat this until it dies. You can also get attacks in on Niall when he buffs the knight, but be aware that the knight does have two quick gap closing attacks that he likes to use when you try attacking Niall. Phase 2: back off and keep your distance the whole phase. This forces him into using his two, easy to dodge gap closers. Do not try to punish him immediately after he uses them, he can and will follow them up with a full combo after them. Once he stops his combo, get in a sprinting R2, and get out dodging as needed. If he does the massive AoE that covers half the arena, just sprint clear across the map to the other side and it can't hit you. Dodge the follow-up dash attack afterwards and punish. Repeat this until dead.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
White shadow's lure works on the knights so if you're summoning and want to distract the knights that's an easy way. Unfortunately it doesn't distract Niall though
- Anonymous
Can someone explain to me why this guy has no poise meter? As in, you literally cannot stagger him with normal attacks despite him being a humanoid enemy. Even CRUCIBLE KNIGHTS can be mildly staggered by strong enough attacks(I know this from both experience and seeing it happen in videos), and there are a lot of enemies way bigger than this guy that can be staggered with like a single light attack. But no this guy just face-tanks everything while spamming aoes that cover like over half his boss arena
- Anonymous
Use a halberd against this guy.
Commander's standard will buff you and any summons, and it's cool to kill him with his own weapon.
Dragon halberd will give him a taste of his own medicine, with the lightning damage and frostbite.
- Anonymous
just cheesed the **** out of this dumbass by constantly moving backwards from him while spamming night comet and i don't feel bad about it at all
- Anonymous
I have done the bow cheese on all 3 playthroughs. I feel a little bad about it, but imo the fight is just not enjoyable and by that time I am ready to fast-track to Malenia.
- Anonymous
Full of Obnoxious AOE attacks and once again you are punished for trying to use anything slower than average.
Just stick to his back and you his basic melee attacks by just walking, I assume that's why they gave him ridiculous AOE spam.
Also be aware if you stun him before he does is arena wide attack, he instantly wakes up and hits you with it. Got insta killed on ng+7 because of it.
One of those optionals I just couldn't be bothered to spend time beating without a spirit summon.
Whip out your mix, then summon up your mimic tear, heal up and just wait for the two-blade to approach you and line up a good attack. With heavy armaments you can stunlock both adds easily.
Once the ads were taken care of I just let my spirit aggro and nuked him with a barrage of poison arrows. Got him to about half health before my spirit died. Then I slapped some poison grease on my bloodhound step and wrapped it up. If you can get enough hits in with this weapon before his poise builds up (actually requires some dodging skill up-close), you'll also break his stance. Poison seemed to work pretty well.
But I imagine faster weapons that are scaled well would do better against this guy as he is very slow and it's just his AoE that takes some learing. Got him after the 5th or 6th try at level 110. Cheers!
- Anonymous
Just beat him now, with vyke spear, dragon claw shield and much patience.
- Anonymous
I personally always have a good time with Commander Niall. He's passive enough in phase 1 to let me dispatch his knights quickly, I take out the dual wielder first and since I favor heavier weapons it's easy to stunlock and kill them both before he's even able to buff them. His attacks are very cool looking with all of the frost winds and thunder, and it's always satisfying to dodge his jump attack and punish accordingly.
- Anonymous
Anyone who say his runback is difficult needs a reality check…just kill the two albinaurics and voila ! Go play DS2 for insane runbacks
- Anonymous
This boss really shines without spirits. Dispatching the two knights and having the boss in Phase 2 for the whole fight makes it even better.
You have to time you counter-attacks as well as your healing. Even more awesome in NG+ and beyond !
- Anonymous
tiny arena + annoying runback + stupid summons + bad attacks
classic elden ring boss formula
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If you don't have Bewitching Branch you can use Stone of Gurranq on the two Banished Knight.
They're dead way before they reach you.
- Anonymous
Some adventurers stopped their adventures after taking an arrow to the knee, but this warrior lost a whole leg and he's still kicking.
- Anonymous
Boring boss that spams 2 attacks and one of them is unpunishable with slow weapon
Hermit Merchant to the west-southwest (Over the western bridge, pass stargazer's ruins, riding down along a ridge) that you can stock up on Lightning Greatbolts since you can carry only 20. They shoot straight unlike how gravity affects normal ballista bolts. Sniping spot on the mountain ridge east-southeast of Niall's location.
- Anonymous
First boss in the game I felt that was actually designed to have spirit ashes used around, because I realized it would be impossible. Also first boss I used physick for. Basically, I had never been pushed to the extreme of using my whole arsenal in the game until I met this guy. Honest respect for pushing the player so far and still killing me 35 times.
RL 92 (I think), 32 STR 30 DEX and 28 VIG. +7 Watchdog’s Staff, +8 Mimic Tear, Lightning Fortification, 10 Crimson Flasks and 3 Cerulean.
Strategy went physick, Fortification, enter, Mimic, heal, two AoW with the Watchdog’s Staff on the dual wielding knight, kill it with two-three hits on Staff. Then CA Niall until second phase. The Mimic was dead at that point. Just 1v1 the dude with melee until I killed him. Tldr, twas hard maybe refusing to overlevel gave me more pain than needed. Like the dude.
- Anonymous
I've used the Crystallian summon in this fight, and discovered that it can tank Commander Niall's frost and lightning attacks even at +8 upgrade level. It can reliably take aggro away from Niall and out survive you. After using bewitching branch on his two summons and finishing the fight, the Crystalian still have more than 75% of its health.
How I finally beat him (and it was very easy once I figured this out): I used a light build so I could roll out of the way quickly. I used the Bloodhound Claws + 20 with Bloodhound's Step ash of war, and Bloodflame Blade incantation. I used the claw in both hands and didn't equip a shield.
I used the bewitching branch on the two sword knight immediately and I used the Mimic Tear Ashes + 6 as my ally. The bewtiching branch, along with my Mimic, killed the two knights almost immediately. Then we went to work on Niall. The claws worked really well on him, and I could dodge out of his whirlwinds with the bloodhound step.
He was really easy to beat like this....
- Anonymous
After turning his knights against him with bewitching branches and skipping to phase 2, he is a cakewalk if you have any knowledge of parries due to him sharing the same telegraphed attacks as O'Neil.
Deleted him on my Blackflame build 2nd try, though a bit of luck is needed for the knight's to not interrupt the branch
- Anonymous
The behind-the-back pokes he does after his distance-closers made this boss a lot harder than others.
Every time I thought I had a large punish window, he’d poke and punish me.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I wanna see a cutscene of Niall and his army of Banished Knights in action
- Anonymous
Don't really understand the hate for this boss. If you're using light weapons/a status build I can see how the beginning would be annoying, and I agree that it's kinda cheap, but after that it's really not hard at all to dodge his attacks and get your own in. Only attack that's really difficult is the close-range lightning blast, but you should really be trying to bait out his distance-closers (jumping lightning attack, halberd charge) because they're both extremely easy to dodge and punish
- Anonymous
I've gotten frustrated with other bosses before, but this one and O'Neill are definitely my least favourite. I'll never understand why some games are intent to ruin fun fights by having the bosses summon more enemies.
I'm not gonna whine and say Fromsoft should make it easier for me, but I will say that even when I beat it, it's not gonna give me the classic Soulslike sense of victory, it's gonna just be one big sigh and a "thank god, it's over"
- Anonymous
Try to use whip on spirits it's easily stun lock 'em. Then kill the beastard!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Probably my favorite fight in the game. Probably most fun with a strength build using endure. Fun to just trade with him and only roll out from his frost tornado
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Gank? Check
Abundance of AOE attacks? Double check
Delayed roll-catch attacks? Check
Stunlock combo attacks? Check
Ridiculous damage? Check
No stake of Marika? Check
One of the "endgame" bosses of all Elden Ring.
In all seriousness, he would've been a cool fight without summons and, maybe, more varied moveset. I can't really fight him while the knights are alive, which, in my eyes, is the same as having a longer run back. After knights are finally gone, it is like he is doing the same three moves on repeat with an occasional arena-wide attack. Less timings to remember, for sure, but I expected more from a boss so late in the game.
Personally, I found it much easier to beat him on strength builds with bigger unga-bunga weapons and quite miserable with lighter armaments (daggers, straight swords, rapiers etc.) on my recent ARC/DEX run. Gotta try parrying next time.
- Anonymous
The fact that bosses like Niall and Godfrey are HUMAN and don't rely on great rune/lifesteal, lifedrain abilities but conquer through Pure Strength and Skill earned by many years of Conquest on the Battlefield makes them infinitely cooler to me than Delusional Demigod Monstrosities that would perform at a much lesser capacity if their oh-so-special great rune souvenirs from the shattering they rely on so heavily were taken from them.
- Anonymous
I enjoy this fight. It's fair even with the knights, they don't take long to remove. The one on one part is fun when to know the rhythm of the fight.
- Anonymous
EASILY the coolest boss in the Game.
Coolest Moveset
Flexes his Commander status
Is an established Veteran of many battles
Poise on par with Godfrey
Higher poise than Elemer of the Briar and The Crucible Knights
Stronger than HALF the Demigods (Being on par with a Demigod is a feat within itself)
Could probably go toe to toe lore wise with ALL Demigods/High tier bosses since AI doesn't care much for dodging.
Everyone saying he's the worst = Skill Issue
GLORY, BRAVE, KNIGHTS
- Anonymous
The most DS3 boss in this game and I mean it in the best possible way. Just use those branches or a weak summon to distract the adds long enough that you can get rid of them asap and you get one of the most enjoyable fights in the game imho.
- Anonymous
Summoning your own spirits is just leveling the playing field for this guy.
- Anonymous
Wild strikes on a bleed weapon. it worked for me after two hours and 19 rune arcs :0)
- Anonymous
Yeah not a fan. I hate gank fights, especially when you're on claws, have no AoE and no range. 1v1's are awesome, and this fight might be great 1v1 too, but throwing in those asshat knights that ignore your summons and always beeline for you makes it one of the worst bosses for me. Just always feels lazy to me when they throw normal enemies into boss fights to make 'em harder. A good boss should be hard enough.
- Anonymous
Dark Moon Greatsword obliterates Niall and his two knights. You can keep a respectable distance and the ranged attack trigger Niall’s kick, making him extremely predictable.
- Anonymous
Niall is very easy to parry, his ranged dash attack being the easiest.
Get the timing down and it's an easy win.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Putrid Corpse ashes helped out a lot. All three enemies immediately aggro on them, which gives you a free backstab/bewitching branch on one knight.
- Anonymous
A tip for the commander if you’re struggling. If you kite him about he reliably attempts to close distance with one of his only two ranged attacks. He will either quickly lunge with his lightning leg peg or leap into the air for a slam with electric peg leg. With practice each slam can be rolled, as well as the follow halberd attack (which is designed to roll catch so do NOT panic roll). In between these ranged attacks use a short bow with either rot or blood arrows and needle him to death. It takes awhile, but once you’re into his rhythm it makes him pretty damn easy.
- Anonymous
The problem with this boss is that he can literally teleport behind you. A "I need to dodge 90% of the fight" boss.
- Anonymous
any of you have any high lightning resistance armor or know about any
So I just killed the commander Niall without entering the castle and I did it with a Ballista. I didn't use any exploits, I just did it. I can prove it too.
- Anonymous
eleanora pole blade plus god skin peeler and mimic tear totally wrecked this guy
- Anonymous
Rot breath with mimic tear was nice for this fight. Kill double blade first, proc rot on Niall, and then kill the other knight. Whe Niall gets aggressive, mimic will tank most of it, and you can run in to get a few hits or keep using breath
- Anonymous
Wait, you guys seriously don't like this fight? The two soldiers at the start can be annoying, yes, but they can be dispatched of pretty easily. Niall himself is super fun.
Status effects and Spirit Summons feel like they're essential for this fight. If you beat him without either of those, kudos to you. **** is rough.
Carian greatsword works well against the banished knight duo if you're an intelligence build and find yourself co-oping with someone against this guy
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