In the frame above A broad figure in a wide straw hat holds a long serrated blade across its body, a burning gate behind.
Key facts
Boss · Bounty
Commander Cleave
OfficialEnglish
Chinese name, not yet confirmed: 横刀队长Our translationChineseName sources for Commander Cleave
A mid-boss, according to GamerBraves as excerpted in search results. Unconfirmed · GamerBraves
First shown: The 2024 demo.
- Gamereactor, June 2024: “Mini bosses such as Tie Sha the Frenzy or Commander Cleave required better timing and strategy, with their more complex patterns and devastating blows.” Press-reported Gamereactor, 12 Jun 2024.
Sources so far: about ten seconds of official footage, the same cut uploaded again to the official Bilibili channel, three short write-ups from players of the 2024 demo, and a Chinese report of the weapon its boss drops.
Watch the footage
About ten seconds of the Commander Cleave fight, from 1:05 in the official “The Blade is Drawn” gameplay trailer (PlayStation on YouTube, June 2024): a trailer cut, not the whole fight. The official Bilibili channel’s upload of the same footage, the 2024 world tour demo trailer, shows his plate at 1:06. YouTube loads only when you press play.
Phases and mechanics
- Number of phases: unknown. No source we read states it, and ten seconds of trailer show no phase change.
Commander Cleave attacks and how to counter
Attacks seen 2
These labels are our plain descriptions; the game has published no move names.
- Delayed, erratic swings Curved blade with delayed, erratic timing. Press-reported · But Why Tho
- Long one-handed lunge He lunges forward, thrusting the blade out at full arm's length toward the player. Seen in the official Bilibili upload of the 2024 trailer at 1:11. Official · Bilibili upload
How to counter
PendingCounters: filled in after launch (29 Oct 2026)
Frame by frame
With his name plate on screen the fight runs from about 1:06 to 1:16 of the trailer, which then cuts to another scene. In the same trailer Tie Sha the Frenzy’s plate comes before him, at 0:52, and Jade Dancer’s after, at 1:24; his clip is the middle one of three. A small white dot sits on him in every frame. His moves have no published names, so the steps are labelled with the trailer’s time codes.
1:04“The Blade is Drawn” trailer · PlayStation
- Seen Just before his plate appears, the camera holds on him at close range: a wide straw hat, a fur-trimmed coat with a ring-shaped buckle and chain, and a long serrated blade held flat across his body. This is the shot at the top of this page.
1:06“The Blade is Drawn” trailer · PlayStation
- Seen His plate is up as he walks out across the open yard; the player waits in the foreground, and the distance between them closes within the next two seconds.
1:08“The Blade is Drawn” trailer · PlayStation
- Still In the foreground the player sweeps a red blade upward; beyond it stands the broad boss figure in the wide straw hat, dark flecks spraying behind him, a tiled roof on the right.
- Seen Two seconds after the plate appears, the player’s upward cut lands on him and throws a spray of dark flecks into the air.
Official frame at 1:08.88, YouTube b68WE-eZ-Cc · © PARAWULIN PRODUCTION LIMITED / S-GAME
1:09“The Blade is Drawn” trailer · PlayStation
- Still Orange sparks burst outward from where the two figures meet; he stands upright, broad and dark, his blade held low.
- Seen The next beat is a contact of blades: sparks fan across the whole frame while both stay on their feet.
- Reported But Why Tho calls him “a curved blade-wielding warrior with delayed and erratic attack patterns”. Press-reported But Why Tho, 18 Oct 2024.
Official frame at 1:09.68, YouTube b68WE-eZ-Cc · © PARAWULIN PRODUCTION LIMITED / S-GAME
1:11“The Blade is Drawn” trailer · PlayStation
- Seen He is in the air above the player, a dark shape too blurred to read in any single frame, while the player holds a red blade upright below him.
1:13“The Blade is Drawn” trailer · PlayStation
- Still He is bent forward with his back half to the camera and his blade swung out to the right, while the player slips past on his left; a wooden watchtower, a damaged tiled hall and a row of sharpened stakes behind.
- Seen The fight has moved across the yard to the watchtower; he has carried his weight forward and the player has passed him on the left.
- Reported The official Bilibili upload of the same footage shows him lunging with the blade held out at full arm’s length toward the player (1:11). Official 2024 world tour demo trailer, official Bilibili channel, 1:11.
Official frame at 1:13.63, YouTube b68WE-eZ-Cc · © PARAWULIN PRODUCTION LIMITED / S-GAME
1:15“The Blade is Drawn” trailer · PlayStation
- Still The figure in the foreground swings a long blade at him as he turns with a dark weapon raised; orange sparks streak across the frame and watchtowers stand behind.
- Seen The last clear exchange before the trailer cuts away at about 1:17: a wide horizontal swing meets him as he turns.
Official frame at 1:15.65, YouTube b68WE-eZ-Cc · © PARAWULIN PRODUCTION LIMITED / S-GAME
Where Commander Cleave is fought and what it drops
- Fought right after Tie Sha in the 2024 demo. Press-reported · But Why Tho
- Drops No drop is recorded for the English name. gcores says the boss Chinese name, not yet confirmed: 横刀队长 gives the weapon
Chinese name, not yet confirmed: 荡寇横刀. The Juggernaut’s own Chinese name in the 2025 demo menu is 荡寇凶刃, so Chinese name, not yet confirmed: 荡寇横刀 may be its 2024 name; no source says so (see the 
Juggernaut).
Where, in detail
- In the trailer the fight is in an open village yard in mist: a wooden watchtower, a tiled hall with a broken roof, sharpened stakes and scattered planks, with a rock face behind. Official “The Blade is Drawn” gameplay trailer, PlayStation on YouTube, 1:13.
What beating it gives, in detail
- gcores’s report of the 2024 closed-door demo says the weapon its boss drops turns its blade red after three perfect blocks, and that its special skill then cuts deep into the enemy’s Sha-Chi. That boss is named only in Chinese; matching it to Commander Cleave is our own reading (see Name and sources). Press-reported gcores, 6 Oct 2024 (in Chinese; our translation).
To be confirmedWhere: which chapter of the full game holds this yard; nobody has named it yet. What it gives: whether the launch build keeps this weapon, what it is called in English, and anything else he gives.