Commander Niall might be an optional boss, but you need to beat him to get one-half of the Haligtree medallion, which you need to get to Malenia. Commander Niall can be very challenging if you do not have a strategy in play. In this Elden Ring guide, we cover how you can easily beat Commander Niall.
How To Kill Commander Niall In Elden Ring
For this encounter, we recommend two bloody weapons so that you can deal hits in quick succession and apply the bleed status effect.
Once the encounter starts, you need to head over to the knight on the right with a pair of swords and quickly land a couple of hits. This is the more difficult knight that does increased damage. That is why we recommend taking him out first. Once you have landed a few hits, let him complete his combo. Move back while he attacks. Once his combo is over, you can head back in and attack him. Repeat this process until the knight dies.
Now you can attack the second knight that has a shield. At this point, you will have defeated enemies like this, so you should not have trouble. Note that Commander Niall can buff the summoned knights to increase their attack and defense. Once both of the knights are dead, Niall will start to use his frost and lightning attacks. Stay back while he activates his frost and electric attacks to avoid taking damage.
The boss has a dash attack which you can parry if you can get the timing right. Or you could just dodge at the last second. His basic halbert attacks can be parried as well. If you are comfortable parrying, then we do recommend doing that since that will stun the boss and open him up to critical attacks.
After his whirlwind attack, which takes up the majority of the arena, he will tire himself and will stay still. You need to take advantage of this and deal as many hits as you can. He does stay in place for a few seconds, so you do have some time to deal significant damage.
If you are using ranged weapons or spells, then you can void the frost AoE but know that the boss will dash at you more often in order to close the gap.
Bewitching Branches (Optional)
To make the encounter even easier, you can use Bewitching branches on the knights that Commander Niall summons. This will turn them to your side, and they will attack Niall. You can buy 5 of these from the Nomadic Merchant located in Liurnia of the Lakes near Bellum Church.
This is how you can easily beat Commander Niall in Elden Ring. You can also check out our guides on how to cheese Mohg and Malenia, Blade Of Miquella.