Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree - How To Beat Demi-Human Swordmaster Onze (Belurat Gaol Boss) (2024)

Demi-humans are usually not considered the most challenging opponents in Elden Ring, but this one in particular is tricky. Swordsmaster Onze is the boss located at the end of the Belurat Gaol in the Gravesite Plain area of the Realm of Shadow, exclusively available in the mighty Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. This minor dungeon is northwest just to the left of the small lake sitting beneath the Belarut Tower.

To get to the demi-human, descend the Gaol cave as deeply as possible, battling or avoiding some prisoners. After traversing and platforming through a litany of rooms, cross the fog door where Onze resides. There are a few key ways to triumph over this dungeon's boss which requires a little build prep and making real-time reads on Onze's telltale moves.

How To Prepare For The Demi-Human Swordmaster Onze Boss Fight

Get The Right Equipment & Tweak Your Build

Before stepping through the fog, know that aggression and timing will be key to victory. For players looking to clear this fast and not burden themselves with a harder challenge, the Black Knife Assassin Tiche summon is slightly more effective than a Mimic Tear , given her unblockable slash attacks and constant aggro-building offense.

For melee fighters leaning towards dexterity builds, weapons with longer range and speed will be helpful to gauge distance. This boss has a few tricks up its sleeve for opponents who get a little too close without a fast enough dodge roll, so heavy strength builds might have a tougher time avoiding big damage.

Mage builds in Elden Ring with abilities such as Great Glintstone Shard will have a slightly easier time interrupting Onze's combos, which can lead to devastating finishers. Players equipped with shields should be sure to brush up their fast parrying abilities, as this will seriously come in handy for the swordmaster's quick melee combos but won't be much help against some special attacks.

How To Defeat Swordmaster Onze

Best Strategy & Tips

Resembling something like an angry Gollum wielding a glowing sword in Elden Ring, Onze will begin the battle by landing the first attack (in most cases.) The demi-human will teleport towards you before you can even fully summon an ash or fire most magic range attacks and will attempt to land a heavy downward blow. It is recommended to immediately dodge this attack and counter with a heavy attack with melee weapons, preferably something fast and rangy like the Uchikatana.

As seen in Boss Fight Database's video, Onze can be staggered with heavy and light-heavy attacks and get interrupted mid-combo. Be sure to manage distance well, and don't get too greedy with a string of combos.

Getting too close will punish you with grabbing attacks and a powerful area-of-effect ability reminiscent of Malenia's strongest attack, which can be avoided. The telltale sign of that move is when Onze powers up the glowing sword for what looks like a strong upward slash.

The demi-human has assassin-like maneuverability in Elden Ring as the battle progresses since it can teleport and turn invisible while jumping around the arena. For the most part, Onze's attacks can be read with its long jump animation and sword charge-ups at the end of slashing combos.

Dodge out of the way from the Area of Effect (AoE) attack when seeing the upward slash animation, stagger to get the piercing counter-attack for significant damage, and ultimately try to beat the swordmaster to the punch when you see those heavy strikes powering up.

Rewards For Beating Demi-Human Swordmaster Onze

Felling this enemy will reward you with the Demi-Human Swordmaster Yosh ash, which is somewhat effective against lumbering humanoid enemies for the most part but, unfortunately, still a bit slow against faster enemies, given the lead time for heavy sword combos. It comes with a 95 FP cost per summon.

However, given her agility and nimble dodging, it is yet to be determined if Tiche is still more effective as a summon for attracting aggro and dealing damage that can significantly stack. Either way, the Belurat Gaol's exit will appear in the center of the boss arena, where players can continue to explore the rest of the world in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Eritrea.

Video Credit: Boss Fight Database/YouTube

Elden Ring

Platform(s)

PS5 , Xbox One , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC

Released

February 25, 2022

Developer(s)

From Software

Publisher(s)

Bandai Namco Entertainment , From Software

Genre(s)

RPG , Action

Multiplayer

Online Co-Op , Online Multiplayer

Engine

Proprietary

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

How Long To Beat

58 Hours

Metascore

96

Platforms That Support Crossplay

PS4 &PS5 and Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

PS Plus Availability

N/A