Elden Ring: How To Beat Commander Niall [Cheese Method]

Commander Niall is one of the most, if not the hardest boss in Elden Ring. Like just look at him; he’s agile, looks like he started hitting the gym from the moment he was born, can deal frost, lightning, pierce, standard damage, can summon two guards, and on top of all of that, you can’t parry as well. Long story short, they’ve made him a literal cheat, so it only makes sense to fight fire with fire and give him a taste of his own medicine. That said, you don’t need to defeat him to progress through the story, but if you are a dedicated completionist with an irresistible urge to complete every game a hundred percent, then we welcome you aboard on our “Elden Ring Commander Niall Cheese Method” guide.

Key Highlights

Commander Niall is located in Castle Sol, Mountain Top of the Giants. He is one of the hardest bosses in the game due to his agile attacks, summons, and a small arena.
In order to cheese Commander Niall, the first thing the players need to do is to turn his summons against him. This can be done by letting them close their distance and using a bewitching branch on them.
Once the bewitching is done, the two guards will focus on Niall and keep him preoccupied. This gives the player a window of opportunity to chip away at Niall’s health via ranged attacks.
Once Niall’s health reaches 50%, he will activate his second phase where he will be able to use lightning attacks along with some other brand-new devastating attacks. The second phase of Commander Niall can be defeated by three methods.
The first cheese method is using Glintblade Ash of War on him. Keep summoning Glintblade until Niall becomes vulnerable to riposte. Stab him with any weapon and repeat the process until he is dead.
The second method is to properly face him in battle. When the summons is gone, dodging Niall’s attacks isn’t that difficult. They are heavily telegraphed and quite easy to dodge once the player has understood the moveset. Just keep hitting him once after dodging until his entire health bar reaches zero while keeping yours above it.
The third method is to cheese him with Mimic Tear and Bloody Slash Ash of War. Summon the Mimic Tear as soon as he enters his third phase. Mimic Tear will keep him occupied and will open the window for you to spam Bloody Slash for heavy damage.
Once Niall is down player will obtain the second half of Rold Medallion which is located in a chest just further up ahead.

First Phase Of Commander Niall Boss Fight

Be relieved as we welcome you to the “Elden Ring Commander Niall Cheese Method” guide. In order to successfully cheese the Commander Niall Boss Fight, all you need are a bunch of Bewitching Branches, any ranged weapon with decent damage, and the “Bloody Slash” Ash Of War. Now onto actually using them in a way that will get you the desired result.

More From eXputer: Best Elden Ring Darth Maul Build

Charming The Dual Sworded Guard

Charming The Sworded Guy — Charming The Sworded Guard

To cheese Commander Niall we are going to turn his own men against him. To do that, once you cross the fog gate, quickly head to the right of the arena with the Bewitching Branch readied in your hand. Both of his guards will rush you, do not panic, we want them to do this. The one with the dual swords will reach you first. Now, as soon as he is about to reach you, use the bewitching branch on him. Wait for him to inhale the mist and WOLA! See the magic happen as he will start fighting for you because Niall did not pay him enough.

An Interesting Read: Elden Ring Best Confessor Build

Charming The Shielded Guard

With the swords guard on your side, you can rest a bit easy but your work is far from done here. Your next task is to make the guard with the shield snitch on Niall by using the same method. As the guard with the shield will be occupied by the one with the swords, carefully sneak up to him and use the bewitching branch on him too. Now with both of them on your side, they will stop attacking each other and agro Niall because he was not a good boss and did not pay them enough. But he did train them well as you will witness them literally bullying Commander Niall the legend and taking huge chunks of his health away in a matter of seconds.

A Similar Read: Elden Ring Best Astrologer Build

Using Ranged Attacks

Now here is where the ranged weapons we mentioned come into play. With Niall being preoccupied with his own men, you need to keep your distance from him and attack him using a decent ranged weapon to further his downfall. If you have got a samurai build or have a bow in general, this battle is already over.

A sorcerer build with some of the best spells can also work like a charm here ( you can also stagger him using the Carian Phalanx). The Comet Azur can also be a good option here. If you do not know where to find the Comet Azure, read our Elden Ring Comet Azur Location guide which explains exactly that. In case you don’t happen to have any of them, you can also get by just fine using something simple like the Kukri or The Throwing Dagger.

Also, check out: Elden Ring Best Greatsword Build

Second Phase Of The Commander Niall Boss Fight

If you properly followed the above-mentioned steps, Niall will be transitioning into his second phase. Usually, it starts when his health is below fifty percent marked by Niall gaining lightning powers. Unfortunately in this phase, your buddies charmed by the Bewitching Branch are dead, but you cannot lose focus or you will be joining your dead buddies soon enough.

Now there are three different methods to cheese the second phase of Commander Niall, each of them is equally effective so you can pick the one you find convenient. Let’s discuss each of them in detail.

Consider Reading: Elden Ring Best Armor Sets

Commander Niall Fight Method 1

For this method to work you need the “Glintblade” Ash Of War. What you will be doing here is you will be breaking his stance, making him vulnerable to a reposte, rinse and repeat. One thing to keep in mind is that in order to actually break his stance, you need to hit him twice with the “Glintblade” in a short window of time, otherwise he won’t be stunned. To simplify things, we’ve broken it down into the following steps

Summon the Glintblade
Get close to him and let the Glintblade hit him
Quickly summon the Glintblade again
This time when the Glintblade hits him, he will become vulnerable to a riposte. Stab him with the weapon of your choice ( however, we recommend a thrusting weapon) to drop huge chunks of his health
Rinse and repeat

Commander Niall Fight Method 2

Method 2 is pretty basic meaning you do not need any fancy sorceries or Ashes of War for this one. Here’s how it goes, once his guards fall and you enter the second phase, equip your best weapon and stay in front of him. The goal here is to wait for him to attack, dodge the attack and counter it with one hit (two if you’re feeling confident). Whatever you do, DO NOT make the mistake of getting greedy and try to get in multiple hits as he can and most certainly will punish you for it. Since most of his health will be gone by the time you enter this phase, the pressure will be non-existent for you, making this a walk in the park. Dodge and hit; just keep doing this until you land the final hit and the “Legend Felled” message appears on your screen.

More From eXputer: Elden Ring Best Staff

Commander Niall Fight Method 3

A Similar Read: Elden Ring Best Ashen Remains

To make method three work, you need the “Bloody Slash” Ash of War and the mimic tears. First, you need to summon the Mimic spirit using the mimic tears in exchange for your HP, but you can heal. The spirit will keep Niall busy while you will be spamming the greasy ******* with Bloody slash; it is the least he deserves. Stay patient and keep spamming him with the Bloody Slash, and eventually, you will conquer another seemingly impossible to kill the boss in Elden Ring.

With Commander Niall being defeated, you can finally smell the sweet scent of victory and have full access to the Castle Sol. As for our mentioned methods, you can choose to use any one of them and get by just fine. If you found our “Elden Ring Commander Niall Cheese Method” guide helpful, then you also may be interested in our “Elden Ring Fire Giant Cheese Method guide.

Other Elden Ring Boss Beating Guide:

Was this article helpful?

Thanks! Do share your feedback with us. ⚡

How could we improve this post? Please Help us. ✍