From 120 bosses, Elden Ring only requires you to beat a measly 12. But despite the rest being optional, they are just as satisfying to beat and often come with valuable rewards.
One of the said optional bosses is the Omenkiller—a human-like creature with a disturbing smiling face, wielding two large serrated cleavers. It is a terrifying boss—and rightly so— but with the optimal strategy, even the Omenkiller can be beaten with relative ease. Let’s get to it.
Omenkiller Overview
While small in stature relative to other Elden Ring bosses, the Omenkiller feels towering due to its two massive serrated cleavers, further injuring an unnerving boss.
Health Bar: The Omenkiller’s health bar is not too extensive, as it can be depleted with relative ease and in a fairly short period.
Types of Damage: The Omenkiller deals with standard and fire damage.
Weaknesses: Bleed, Frost, and Sleep are Omenkiller’s main weaknesses.
Weapons: The Omenkiller wields a large cleaver in each hand, which it uses to deal standard damage. As well as that, the Omenkiller will resort to breathing fire, which deals fire damage.
Parrying: Parrying the Omenkiller’s cleaver attacks is possible, albeit to varying degrees of success. It seems easy enough due to the boss’s slow and predictable attacks, but it is too inconsistent for our liking. If you are confident in your ability to parry the Omenkiller consistently, then go for it successfully.
Elden Ring Omenkiller’s Locations: The Omenkiller can be found in three locations. The Omenkiller itself is relatively unchanged from location to location. But certain locations come with secondary enemies that fight alongside the Omenkiller, adding an extra challenge to the boss fight.
Below is a list of the Omenkiller’s locations and what to expect from each one.
- Village of the Albinaurics: Located in the swamp area on the south-western shores of Liurnia of the Lakes, Village of the Albinaurics houses the Omenkiller, alongside several hostile hounds.
- Perfumer’s Grotto: Perfumer’s Grotto can be found in Altus Plateau by exploring the north side of the great bridge heading east into the capital. Once you traverse the mist, you will be met by the Omenkiller and stationary poison flower, Miranda the Blighted Bloom.
- Volcano Manor: There are several ways of gaining access to Volcano Manor. The easiest is to complete the first part of Rya’s questline and then accept her invitation to Volcano Manor. Once you traverse the mist, you will find the Omekiller on its own.
Movesets: All three variants of the Omenkiller share the same move set.
- Twin Blade Combo: This attack usually starts with a slam on the ground with one of the Omenkiller’s cleavers, followed by one slash with each cleaver, each slash in the opposite direction. Either block or dodge through this combo.
- Triple Overhead Slams: The Omenkiller raises its cleavers over its head, then violently slams them down on the ground three times in quick succession. You will have to dodge through every slam separately, as they will track your movement. After the third and last slam, you will have ample time to backstab the Omenkiller.
- Guard into Slashes: During this attack, the Omenkiller crosses its cleaver in front of itself, then twists and slashes with one cleaver, quickly followed by the second cleaver. Your best bet is to create distance as soon as you notice the Omenkiller cross its cleavers.
- Fire Breath: The Omenkiller takes a few steps backward, then spews fire from left to right. The large radius of this attack makes it rather difficult to evade from close quarters, so your best bet would be to retreat as soon as you notice the start of the attack.
Pre-fight Preparation
Before barging into the Omenkiller’s lair, you have some pre-fight preparation. We will discuss useful general tips for all builds and then move on to build-specific tips to increase your chances of besting the Omenkiller.
General Tips
Equip items that reduce fire damage
Items such as the Flamedrake Talisman can be a lifesaver if you get caught in the Omenkiller’s fire breath attack while on low HP.
The Flamedrake Talisman will boost your fire damage negation. It can be obtained after defeating the Beastman of Farum Azula in Groveside Cave or Dragonbarrow Cave.
Equip items that staunch your hemorrhage meter
Since all Omenkiller’s cleaver attacks build up your hemorrhage meter, bringing in an item, such as Staunching Boluses, would be wise to negate that effect and remove the Haemorrhage build-up.
Staunching Boluses can be purchased from the Nomadic Merchant for 600 Runes or crafted if you have the Nomadic Cookbook [7].
Dispose of the hounds in Village of the Albinaurics before engaging with the Omenkiller
It is best to kill the hounds in the arena before engaging with the Omenkiller, as they can be frustrating to deal with while fighting the Omenkiller.
Ranged players will find this to be an easy task, as they can pick off each hound one at a time from a distance. However, it is a bit trickier for melee players, as they will have to sneak up on each hound and kill it without alerting the others or, most importantly, the Omenkiller.
The first hound will be near the house, the second will automatically engage as soon as the first one is dead, and the third and last one will be behind the tree to the boss’s left.
Melee Builds
Equip a heavy weapon
The Omenkiller’s weak poise can be exploited to stagger him by using a heavy weapon and focusing on heavy attacks.
Coat your weapons in Magic Grease
Another weakness of the Omenkiller, which must be exploited, is its weakness to magic damage. Coat your armaments in magic grease to capitalize on this advantage.
Magic Grease can be found in Converted Tower, Wyndham Catacombs, Capital Outskirts, etc. Alternatively, you could craft Magic Grease if you have the Glintstone Craftsman’s Cookbook [5].
Equip a good shield
A good shield will come in handy for awkward situations, but it can also be used offensively to perform guard counters against the Omenkiller.
Magic and Ranged Builds
Summon tanky spirit ashes
The aggressiveness of the Omenkiller and the strength of its attacks make up for its slow and predictable moves. It will keep charging at you unless it is distracted by something else.
Tanky spirit ashes, such as the Spirit Jellyfish Ashes or Greatshield Soldier Ashes, will keep the Omekiller distracted for as long as possible, giving you ample time to make your moves.
Enter the boss fight on horseback
Since constant movement is advised and the arenas in Village of the Albinaurics and Perfumer’s Grotto are fairly sizeable, moving and attacking on horseback will keep you out of harm’s way at all times.
Use Glintstone Pebbles
Shooting while moving is the best way of dealing damage to the Omenkiller while keeping it safe. Glintstone Pebbles is an uncostly cast that will allow you to do just that.
If you choose to be an Astrologer at the start of the game, you will already have Glintstone Pebbles. If not, you can purchase them from Sorceress Sellen for 1,000 Runes.
Fight Strategy
A good strategy is all you need to outsmart and defeat the Omenkiller. The strategy deployed will mostly depend on your preferred build. However, we’ll start with some general tips for all builds for your convenience.
To note, strategies are relatively unchanged from location to location.
Be wary of your surroundings.
Across all three locations, you will find numerous objects scattered around the arena, which can impede your movement and get you cornered.
Try to plan your movements ahead of time instead of randomly sprinting around the arena.
Stay on the opposite side of the room to Miranda in Perfumer’s Grotto
Since Miranda is stationary, you can fight the Omenkiller on the other side of the arena, somewhat out of Miranda’s reach. Once the Omenkiller has been defeated, you can freely attack Miranda, which should be an easy kill.
Be wary of Miranda’s only long-range attack in Perfumer’s Grotto
Even if you keep your distance from Miranda, its sole long-range attack can still sometimes reach you. If you notice any sparkling white lights floating from the ground, roll away and wait for the attack to conclude.
Melee Players
Try to stagger and stunlock the Omenkiller
Maintain a constant barrage of heavy or jumping attacks to exploit the Omenkiller’s low poise. Doing so will stagger the boss and sometimes even stunlock it for a few seconds, giving you plenty of time to perform a devastating backstab.
Keep an eye out for the Omenkiller’s triple overhead slam
Try to anticipate or even bait the Omenkiller’s triple overhead slam attack, as you can effortlessly roll through the third slam and backstab the Omenkiller while it recovers.
Ranged Players
Keep on the move
Against the Omenkiller, distance is not enough. It will constantly charge at you and reduce the distance between the pair of you. Negate that by actively moving away from the Omenkiller, even when attacking.
Cheese Tactic in the Village of the Albinaurics
For this strategy, you will need to be on horseback.
Once you start the boss fight, engage the Omenkiller to gain its attention, retreat southwest, and lead it to the small house located past the larger stone house. If it stops following you, attack it once and retreat.
Once you are both near the house, use your horse to double jump onto the house’s roof. You can wait for the Omenkiller to cycle through its melee attacks, which will not reach you, then perform a heavy jumping attack and get back on the roof. If you are a ranged player, you can stay on the roof and shoot at the boss.
At some point, the Omenkiller will use its fire breath attack. When that happens, drop back onto the other side of the house, wait for the flames to subside, and get back on the roof.
That is it. You will have to rinse and repeat that a few times until the Omenkiller is no more.
Rewards
Based on the location of the encounter, you will be entitled to different rewards.
Here is what to expect from each location:
- Village of the Albinaurics: 4,900 Runes and a Crucible Knot Talisman, which can be used to reduce the damage and impact of headshots.
- Perfumer’s Grotto: 8,400 Runes and the Omenkiller’s very own Great Omenkiller Cleaver—one of the best weapons available in Elden Ring.
Is the Great Omenkiller Cleaver good?
The Great Omenkiller Cleaver is excellent for blood builds, as it inflicts blood loss build-up. It also comes pre-equipped with an Ash of War that grants you “Wild Strikes,” an overpowered skill allowing for a few frenzied swings. Plus, it is fairly easy to get a hold of. The Great Omenkiller Cleaver is more of a cheat code than a weapon.
As you have made it to the end of this guide, you are more than well-equipped to take on the Omenkiller and apply the knowledge and strategies bestowed upon you to breeze past the cleaver-wielding boss. As always, good luck!
- Volcano Manor: Unfortunately, no runes are awarded after defeating the Omenkiller in Volcano Manor, but you get the Great Omenkiller Cleaver.
