Commander O'Neil

A humanoid boss wielding a battle standard and summons aid from ghostly warriors.

Location: Caelid

Drops: 12000 Runes, Commander's Standard, Unalloyed Gold Needle

Combat Information:

Location: Commander O'Neil can be found in a large clearing within Aeonia Swamp in eastern Caelid surrounded by gnarled trees. Head south from the Inner Aeonia Site of Grace.

Health: 9210 HP

Defense: 111

Stance: 90

Parryable: Yes

Is vulnerable to a critical hit after being stance broken or parried

Damage: Standard, Strike, Pierce

Inflicts: Scarlet Rot

Drops: 12000 Runes, Commander's Standard, Unalloyed Gold Needle

Damage Negation / Resistance:

Standard: 10

Slash: 35

Strike: 10

Pierce: 0

Magic: 20

Fire: 20

Lightning: 20

Holy: 20

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.

Poison: 332 / 430 / 720 / 1177

Scarlet Rot: Immune

Blood Loss: 332 / 430 / 720 / 1177

Frostbite: 332 / 430 / 720 / 1177

Sleep: 332 / 430 / 720 / 1177

Madness: 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. The values after the "/"s indicate the increased resistances after each successive proc.

Fight Strategy:

NPC Summons: Polyanna, Adopted Daughter. Progress Gowry's quest until he asks for the Unalloyed Gold Needle and her summon sign will appear near the Inner Aeonia Site of Grace.

Direct Melee confrontation is possible, but it's much easier completing this fight on horseback. Employing a hit and run strategy will allow you to outrun Commander O'Neil's counter attacks as well as any attacks from his minions. This also has the added benefit of allowing you to travel outside the arena and avoid the scarlet rot build-up.

Killing summoned Exile Crossbowmen and Exile Axe Soldiers is straightforward from horseback and can be performed without engaging with Commander O'Neil. Doing so will minimize the potential of being staggered or blindsided while attacking O'Neil and will simplify the fight. He will summon a second group of summons wielding axes during his second phase. Although they lack range, they will move towards you aggressively and will do more damage than the first group. However, they can also be dealt with relatively quickly on horseback.

If you want to beat him on foot, it is also doable, since most of his attacks are easily parryable. You just have to watch out for the summons and the Rot Storm.

You can kite him out to the nearby Site of Grace, then kite him through the Scarlet Rot geysers to damage him; he needs to be walking through the geyser when it erupts to take damage, the large pool of Scarlet Rot doesn't affect him.  He will teleport back to the starting point for his second phase, and can be kited out to the geysers again.  The second group of summons will likely follow him out, and that's a good time to use your Spirits to eliminate the summons