How to Beat Commander Niall

Among the many spectacular bosses in Elden Ring, one of the most important to defeat in order to unlock areas in the game is Commander Niall.

One of the best rewards this particular boss offers is a piece of the Haligtree Medallion, allowing you to access other areas and defeat bosses such as Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree and Malenia, Blade of Miqeulla.

This boss is located on the mountaintops of the Giants area. This guide will outline Commander Niall’s weaknesses and provide you with all the necessary resources in Elden Ring to effectively defeat this boss.

Where Can You Find Commander Niall?

In Elden Ring, Commander Niall is located in the Mountaintops of the Giants area. Your main goal is to reach the lost grace site in Castle Sol.

You’ll also find another lost grace in this castle, which allows you to travel quickly to the boss’s main location. Once you reach the entrance of Castle Sol, you’ll need to head straight until you see a staircase. Attempt to steer clear of the left-hand enemy to swiftly reach the other lost grace. When you reach that staircase, turn left and keep going straight until you see an open door.

To reach the final boss, it’s advisable to avoid any enemies. After passing through the door, turn right and climb a staircase. Once you go up, you’ll exit through another door to the outside, and you’ll see a path leading to a large stone staircase.

Once you’ve ascended the staircase, proceed through the door and make a left turn to locate the final lost grace site. Once you’ve located the final lost grace site, you’ll be able to access Commander Niall more quickly; no other lost grace is closer to this boss than this one. The Church of the Eclipse is the name of this lost grace site.

Upon leaving the room where the lost grace is located, turn left, and you’ll find an altar. Before continuing towards that altar, turn left again, and you’ll exit through a door to the outside.

You must proceed straight through another door that appears in front of you. Continuing towards this path, you will see a wooden staircase that you’ll have to climb, then turn left.

Try to avoid all enemies, and once you’ve exited this area, you’ll find yourself outside once more, where you’ll find a portal that will lead you to Commander Niall.

How to Prepare to Fight Commander Niall?

In Elden Ring, Commander Niall is best fought with other players or spirit ashes, especially in the beginning. This is primarily due to the boss’s use of knight summons, which can be highly disruptive during the battle.

The first recommendations for fighting this boss include having an item that offers resistance to lightning. To start your best Commander Niall build, you can add the Boltdrake Talisman +1, which will help reduce lightning damage. Lightning Fortification is also useful in this fight.

Another helpful tip when facing Commander Niall is to increase your robustness stats. An item that can help with this is the Stalwart Horn Charm.

To avoid issues with the knights summoned by Commander Niall, you can use the Bewitching Branch, which will turn these knights against the boss for a limited time.

Another effective strategy involves dealing with scarlet rot damage, and the most efficient way to do this is through the use of rot pots.

Suggested Loadout

• Boltdrake Talisman +1
• Lightning Fortification
• Stalwart Horn Charm
• Bewitching Branch
• Rivers of Blood

How to Beat Commander Niall?

In the first phase of the fight, you won’t need to focus too much on defeating Commander Niall, but rather on quickly eliminating his two knights. As soon as the battle begins, the boss will summon two knights.

Optional:	Yes
Best Level to Be:	100+
Weak to:	Scarlet rot, Blood loss
Difficulty:	5/10 Is has a clear pattern that can be broken with patience and distance.
How to Cheese Commander Niall:	You can parry almost all the attacks.
Rewards:	90000 runes, Veteran’s Prosthesis
Worth the trouble:	Yes

One will have two swords, and the other will have a shield and sword. Your primary goal is to defeat the dual-wielding knight first, as he is the most lethal and deals the most damage with his attacks. Additionally, this enemy is extremely aggressive.

Keep your distance from this knight, and wait until he completes his combo attacks with both swords before dealing damage. Although neither knight has much health, they pose a significant threat.

The boss will only strike occasionally until you defeat them. If you want to deal quick hits, you can approach the boss’s right side as soon as he appears, waiting for the dual-wielding knight to materialize and land a few strikes before he starts attacking.

If you time this well, you can take down over half of this knight’s health, allowing you to finish him quickly without too much trouble.

The dual-wielding knight has long attack combos, so it’s always best to maintain your distance until he finishes, then attack swiftly. During this part of the fight, Commander Niall will buff these knights, increasing their damage and giving them access to a few spells.

Once you defeat the dual-wielding knight, the other knight with the shield and sword won’t be as difficult. With a few hits, you’ll be able to take him down and fully focus on Commander Niall. Knowing how to beat a humanoid like Niall is much different than knowing how to beat Sir Gideon Ofnir and other human enemies.

Phase 2

Once you deal with the two knights, the real battle against Commander Niall will begin. His first attack will be an area-of-effect move involving a small frost mist that will deal frostbite damage if it touches you.

You should immediately create some distance and start memorizing his attack pattern, which fortunately consists of just three or four specific moves.

After this frost wave attack, he will automatically activate his lightning attack, which will persist throughout the battle. All of his lightning attacks will concentrate on the tip of his spear and one of his feet, creating a combination attack that mixes lightning and frost.

If you manage to time the parry for his initial lightning thrust, you can stun him and deal significant damage. His attack pattern involves a dash, several spear strikes, and a lightning-charged kick with one of his feet. After the kick, you’ll have a window to land hits, especially if you have a swift weapon that allows multiple strikes.

However, if you successfully parry any of these attacks, you’ll interrupt his pattern, and he’ll start over. Occasionally, he will perform a larger area-of-effect attack, similar to the one he used at the start of the fight after you defeated the knights.

One particular detail about Commander Niall in Elden Ring is that most of his attacks are not insta-kill moves, except for a few. Therefore, there’s room to make mistakes while attempting various parries in a row.

The key to defeating this boss is patience, as depending on your level, it’s recommended to be over level 100 with weapons at level 20 to deal enough damage to this enemy.

Even though you can land multiple parries and precise hits after his attack pattern ends, you might not deal enough damage to defeat him quickly. That’s where patience comes into play.

Fortunately, this boss doesn’t change his attack pattern much and has a limited move set, so it’s a matter of waiting, retreating, and attacking until you deplete his health bar.

Another thing to keep in mind is that occasionally he’ll include an aerial attack in his pattern, where he will slam the ground with a frost wave before quickly jumping and trying to strike you with his electrified spear.

Fortunately, this attack is relatively simple to dodge. By following this attack pattern and maintaining distance, you’ll likely defeat Commander Niall without much trouble.

Who is your favorite Elden Ring boss? Let us know in the comments!