Elden Ring: How To Defeat Commander O’Neil
Commander O’Neil can be a boss in Elden Ring and can present quite a challenge to players who prefer to go in solo.
You will need to go to the Inner Aeonia Site for Grace to find Commander O’Neil.
From the Site of Grace , head southeast to a section of the swamp surrounded by dead trees. Inside, Commander O’Neil awaits your challenge.
O’Neil stands alone in the middle of the dry patch. As soon as you approach him, he will wave his staff and summon the first wave. Commander O’Neil commands a squad of summoned troops that will assist him in his fight against you. These troops should be your top priority when fighting O’Neil.
You can bring O’Neil up from the Inner Aeonia Site of Grace and then watch the summons spawn. O’Neil can be easily killed by the summons closest to you before they react.
Your biggest advantage is how slow O’Neil moves. You need to get him away from the summons that he has spawned. He won’t run, but he will follow you. He can only run at one speed so make sure to be alert for any incoming arrows.
Once he’s at a safe distance from his allies sprint away and then take the remainder of the summons. He will stop spawning until he has less than one-third of his health remaining.
O’Neil may randomly give his summons additional buffs such as damage boosts or damage negation. However, these are temporary and you can put them off by kiting O’Neil around.
Commander O’Neil only knows a handful of moves. His standard attack, if you’re close enough to him, is usually four distinct swipes that start from his right side and alternate. You can be sure that he will use a move that leaves you open if he follows up with a fourth swing.
The first can be a simple downward swing that leaves him open for several seconds, originating from his right side. The second is a blood-loss attack that causes severe injury to his body. O’Neil is shown swinging his staff, creating a huge gust of wind around him that curls around his weapon until he lowers it. O’Neil won’t extend his arm when he lowers it. If you keep your hand a little away from him when he swings you will have plenty of time to counterattack.
You must be patient. If you move too far away from O’Neil, he will stop your consecutive attacks. He might also go into his blood-loss attack. This means that you can counterattack faster if you are properly positioned.
Be on the lookout for O’Neil’s more severe blood-loss maneuver. O’Neil will appear to be in a fetal position, with a huge scarlet wind blowing around him. This move can be deadly if you are caught in it. It can attack multiple times and has a large damage radius.
O’Neil will remain vulnerable longer than usual after the big attack, but you’ll be farther away. You don’t need to worry about not being able to follow up on this move. It doesn’t happen very often, so you shouldn’t rely on it to reduce his health.
He will start swinging his staff to summon more troops when he is down to one-third of his health. You can now get a few hits while he summons. After he stops moving you can go back and start looking for the three axe-wielding soldiers that were spawned.
These guys will follow your every move so you can kite them away and hit them whenever they miss a swing. You can summon them here if you have trouble timing the attack. The axe troops are relentless. After they’re gone, you can continue to fight O’Neil until you defeat him.
You’ll be rewarded for your efforts with 12,000, the Commanders Standard and the Unalloyed gold Needle, that you will need to send to Serge Gowry.
