gaming Dark Souls - The Best & Worst Bosses

[TBD 17,252]

Are you talking about it difficulties?? or just plain who's your favorite and least favorite? Just recently got into dark souls so I jump right into dark soul 3... it actually the first game that got me back to gaming overall.

Rank of difficulties: 

• Hardest: Abyss Watchers 
• Easiest: Wyvern *go for the head. done.

Favorite:

• Abyss watcher
• Dancer of Boreal valley 
• King of the storm/Nameless king
• The prince twin
• Lord of Cinder

Least Favorite due to how annoying they are to fight them:

• Deacon of the deep (although its pretty catchy to say)
• Oceiros the consumed king
• Curse of a rotted great wood.

But most of the time with these hard bosses that I didn't mentioned to be hard.. I have  CO-OP to help so...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzJDimvPW1Y&ab_channel=ThePruld

 

 

 

[honk friend 1,978]

On 8/23/2017 at 0:48 PM, TBD said:

Rank of difficulties: 

• Hardest: Abyss Watchers 
• Easiest: Wyvern *go for the head. done.

How though? You can cheese Abyss Watchers by roll-backstabbing and Ancient Wyvern is hell because of the fucker with the chain axe and the possibility of missing his head. Try fighting Gael or Midir, THOSE are some hard fucking bosses.

[TBD 17,252]

52 minutes ago, Annie said:

How though? You can cheese Abyss Watchers by roll-backstabbing and Ancient Wyvern is hell because of the fucker with the chain axe and the possibility of missing his head. Try fighting Gael or Midir, THOSE are some hard fucking bosses.

Well as I mentioned those other bosses that are like 10/10 difficulties I used co-op  but overall i would have difficult time with it. As for the abyss watcher, (where I didnt used co-op) they are fast plus depend on what equipment I have on that decrease my speed so...  but either way it take too much  time to do back-stub when they keep turning around so quickly.  its like you can't risk a 0.1 second to back-stub to avoid their combos moves. plus your "assistant"  watcher is helpful so i didn't struggle much because of that... till I reach the second part. But yeh i thought the wyvern was a joke xp.

Edited August 30, 2017 by TBD

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,241]

I want to hop back in here for a bit and mention that the Ancient Wyvern, to me, is a terrible boss. It isn't even a fight. Sure, on my first playthrough, I was confused and died a couple of times from the enemies, but on my second playthrough, I just ran through really quick and dropped on his head immediately, boom, done. Incredibly boring.

[TBD 17,252]

19 hours ago, Kyoshi said:

I want to hop back in here for a bit and mention that the Ancient Wyvern, to me, is a terrible boss. It isn't even a fight. Sure, on my first playthrough, I was confused and died a couple of times from the enemies, but on my second playthrough, I just ran through really quick and dropped on his head immediately, boom, done. Incredibly boring.

yeh at first once I jump off toward the Wyvern , I thought we'll be going on a smooth ride, apparently not. 

[PoisonClaw 8,164]

Now that I've had a chance to play Bloodborne, I can safely say that one of the worst bosses in the game is LAURENCE! from the Hunter's Nightmare. He might just be a burning Cleric Beast, but when he enters his second phase and starts crawling while oozing lava in his wake it becomes a crapshoot. 

[honk friend 1,978]

On 8/30/2017 at 4:33 PM, TBD said:

Well as I mentioned those other bosses that are like 10/10 difficulties I used co-op  but overall i would have difficult time with it. As for the abyss watcher, (where I didnt used co-op) they are fast plus depend on what equipment I have on that decrease my speed so...  but either way it take too much  time to do back-stub when they keep turning around so quickly.  its like you can't risk a 0.1 second to back-stub to avoid their combos moves. plus your "assistant"  watcher is helpful so i didn't struggle much because of that... till I reach the second part. But yeh i thought the wyvern was a joke xp.

Then you should decrease your equip load so you can roll faster 

[Celli 4,337]

3 hours ago, Annie said:

Then you should decrease your equip load so you can roll faster 

Especially since poise is useless in DS3, so there isn't a point to equipping heavy armor.

[TBD 17,252]

21 hours ago, Annie said:

Then you should decrease your equip load so you can roll faster 

That what I did too, but I try to balance my weight and my defense since their attack take out lot of HP. but still couldn't risk that 0.1 second. the back stub take too much time. I think I have only succeed once with the back stub, without being caught in their combos. but seeing how slow to do so, i didnt care to take the chance. I don't why or how some people make it so easy, its not the rolling part, its the part how it took 1 second long  for you to get ready to back stub before the backstubbing to happen. And those watchers are fast! Either my timing is not right or my reflex is slow that's probably why I might have trouble with it xp Wished there's a way to limited "charging" yourself to do  back-stub.increasing poise might help, but still not by much.

 but I used the dark hand to attack straight on since it cause a good amount damage to it (as a sword would) and its faster to attack at the same time. Without doing the back-stub, sure it takes longer but hey it effective.;)

17 hours ago, Celli said:

Especially since poise is useless in DS3, so there isn't a point to equipping heavy armor.

That's true, but I'm not so used to this kind of complex RPG like dark souls, where poise has to matter xp.

Edited September 1, 2017 by TBD

[TBD 17,252]

@Celli  isnt there's a ring where you can equip to have a better poise? 

Edited September 1, 2017 by TBD

[Celli 4,337]

48 minutes ago, TBD said:

@Celli  isnt there's a ring where you can equip to have a better poise? 

In DS3? No idea. But as I said, the only reason you'd equip heavy armor is for poise, because defense is a useless stat in Dark Souls. But since poise in DS3 doesn't do anything, you have no reason to equip heavy armor at all.

[TBD 17,252]

15 minutes ago, Celli said:

In DS3? No idea. But as I said, the only reason you'd equip heavy armor is for poise, because defense is a useless stat in Dark Souls. But since poise in DS3 doesn't do anything, you have no reason to equip heavy armor at all.

ah, makes sense since the weight will help you keep in balance. hmm i thought there's one, since a friend told me about it, he told to use the wolf ring or something like that.  Unless that's only in the other dark souls?

[Celli 4,337]

14 minutes ago, TBD said:

ah, makes sense since the weight will help you keep in balance. hmm i thought there's one, since a friend told me about it, he told to use the wolf ring or something like that.  Unless that's only in the other dark souls?

I know the Wolf ring is in the first Dark Souls.

[honk friend 1,978]

18 hours ago, Celli said:

Especially since poise is useless in DS3, so there isn't a point to equipping heavy armor.

Poise is good, if you understand how it works

3 hours ago, TBD said:

That what I did too, but I try to balance my weight and my defense since their attack take out lot of HP. but still couldn't risk that 0.1 second. the back stub take too much time. I think I have only succeed once with the back stub, without being caught in their combos. but seeing how slow to do so, i didnt care to take the chance. I don't why or how some people make it so easy, its not the rolling part, its the part how it took 1 second long  for you to get ready to back stub before the backstubbing to happen. And those watchers are fast! Either my timing is not right or my reflex is slow that's probably why I might have trouble with it xp Wished there's a way to limited "charging" yourself to do  back-stub.increasing poise might help, but still not by much.

 but I used the dark hand to attack straight on since it cause a good amount damage to it (as a sword would) and its faster to attack at the same time. Without doing the back-stub, sure it takes longer but hey it effective.;)

That's true, but I'm not so used to this kind of complex RPG like dark souls, where poise has to matter xp.

The 2nd phase has huge backstab windows and it's not hard to catch them at all. Obviously you shouldn't fish for backstabs in phase 1 since the boss watcher is a lot faster and has friends,  it's really simple though if you try killing off the non boss watchers that aren't helping you and look for Windows of opportunity to attack.

[Celli 4,337]

22 minutes ago, Annie said:

Poise is good, if you understand how it works

I know that, I just thought it was broken in DS3?

[TBD 17,252]

19 hours ago, Annie said:

Poise is good, if you understand how it works

The 2nd phase has huge backstab windows and it's not hard to catch them at all. Obviously you shouldn't fish for backstabs in phase 1 since the boss watcher is a lot faster and has friends,  it's really simple though if you try killing off the non boss watchers that aren't helping you and look for Windows of opportunity to attack.

Yeh that's what I meant, but even so, I kinda chicken out on the 2nd phase and didn't want to risk it xp

19 hours ago, Celli said:

I know the Wolf ring is in the first Dark Souls.

Hmm really? okay, I think I will check it again in my inventory because I thought  I saw one that can increase your poise xp.

[honk friend 1,978]

20 hours ago, Celli said:

I know that, I just thought it was broken in DS3?

Poise affects hyperarmor which only applies when you're swinging weapons

If you're using a quality build or some other melee build in PvP, poise is good when you're going for trades.

[Celli 4,337]

1 hour ago, Annie said:

Poise affects hyperarmor which only applies when you're swinging weapons

If you're using a quality build or some other melee build in PvP, poise is good when you're going for trades.

So it doesn't reduce stagger when you get hit?

[honk friend 1,978]

6 hours ago, Celli said:

So it doesn't reduce stagger when you get hit?

Poise is the amount of health your hyperarmor has when you swing
I believe certain classes of weapons have a base amount of poise health and hyperarmor frames
Poise health is the amount of damage you can take before you're staggered in the middle of hyperarmor frames

[Celli 4,337]

6 minutes ago, Annie said:

Poise is the amount of health your hyperarmor has when you swing
I believe certain classes of weapons have a base amount of poise health and hyperarmor frames
Poise health is the amount of damage you can take before you're staggered in the middle of hyperarmor frames

Ah, yeah, that makes sense, I remember equipping havel's armor for some bosses in DS1, and I still staggered, but it took a lot of hits to do.

Also, kind of funny that defense does nothing in any of the games.

[Scavenger Crow 91]

DS2: Smoke Knight and the King's Pets (I hate those two), DS3: Lorian and Lothric ( my level was low)

DS2: Smoke Knight and the King's Pets (I hate those two), DS3: Lorian and Lothric ( my level was low)

[Celli 4,337]

So I've played through half of DS2 Scholar edition, and these are the two worst and best so far.

Worst: Dual Dragonriders.

As if rehashing a boss wasn't enough, they had the nerve to rehash a boss from earlier in the game, and add a second one. The pathetic part is that it's not much harder than the first Dragonrider.

Belfry Gargoyles: Let's rehash a good fight from the first game, and add three more Gargoyles! That's totally fair! Fuck this fight, seriously. I was able to beat it on my second attempt at least by playing really careful.

Best:

The Pursuer. This guy looks really badass, and his fight is pretty fun, too, if a bit easy once you know what to do.

Lost Sinner: This fight is pretty hectic and fast paced, the first great soul boss, it has erratic patterns that aren't too hard to get down. It does suffer from Dark Souls 2's weird hitboxes, though.

[ultrairongorilla 2,064]

If I were to rate from each game

Best Dark Souls 1 - The Great Wolf Sif, Crossbreed Priscilla, or Ornstein and Smaugh. Finally beating Orenstein and Smaugh was one of the most satisfying accomplishments I've  ever had in a game.

Worst Dark Souls 1 Boss - Probably Dark Sun Gwyndolin for me, because his Bon Fire glitched out and ended up being the only boss I couldn't beat. The Bed Of Chaos I wasn't too fond of either, mainly because it's probably the easiest to screw up if you fall in the holes he creates. Plus I found the trek to get back to it, kind of tedious.

Best Dark Souls 2 boss fight- so far as I haven't completed the game just yet, though my favourite is probably the Smelter Demon, as it was a fun but fair challenge. I died, like alot to this boss, but I eventually figured it out after like 12 tries. He telegraphs his attacks, and long as your keeping your distance from his fire blast, and raise your shield at the proper times, you'll do fine.

Worst Dark Souls 2 boss for me is probably either the Royal Rat Authority because of his wonky hit boxes, or The Duke's Dear Freja because it's the boss I'm currently stuck on.

Best Dark Souls 3 Boss -  Pontiff Sulyvhan,  The Nameless King, or Sister Freide. These three bosses are probably the most difficult in the entire game, with so much to keep you on your toes. Especially with Sulyvhan when he creates a clone of himself. I love how incredibly metal the Namless King Boss turns out to be. Easily one of the most epic boss fights in the entire series along with Sister Friede. Speaking of her, the Sister Friede Boss Fight is probably the longest in the game and an exceptionally good challenge, especially in the 3rd stage, that requires all your skills you've learned to take her down. I like the subtle refrence to Priscilla in the first phase if anybody noticed that.

Worst- Probably The Curse Rotted Greatwood. I just found this one kind of annoying on the first playthrough mainly because of the hand he sprouts during the 2nd phase, plus the bad camera in certain spots. I guess I really don't like tree bosses.

 

 

[honk friend 1,978]

I'm gonna go ahead and post my rankings because why not

23. Champion's Gravetender
Boring, boring, boring. I would rank this above Friede considering I have strong feelings about her, but this boss really just shouldn't exist. It would be nice if the boss area was repurposed for some sort of puzzle area where you get the champion's bones and some other goodies, but instead we get a boring NPC boss fight followed by a boring wolf fight that drags on way too long because the fucker can't stay put. 

22. Sister Friede
To me this is a boss that basically only exists to kill runs. Every boss before this one is actually relatively easy, but Friede offers you such little freedom in how you deal with her which is actually really inconsistent with the rest of the game. This boss is unfriendly to casters, strength builds, quality builds, and tanks. I feel like the only way I can really be toe-to-toe with Friede is trying to match that Bloodborne-esque speed with a dex build, otherwise it's just repetition until I finally take her down. If you fought Friede at a higher level and had an easier time with her, I can see you not feeling the same way I do, but I don't think you should be soft gated from a boss until late game unless you're running a dex build. I like a boss with consistency that I can deal with in more than one way and Friede checks none of these bosses.

21. Curse-Rotted Greatwood
It's a big ugly fly you sometimes have to swat for soul transposition. It's annoying, and very non-rewarding considering there aren't a great deal of useful items you get from soul transposition unless you're a caster or using the ringed city's boss souls.

20. Deacons of the Deep
This boss can actually be dealt with in interesting ways if you're a caster. The sad part is that you're just better off using melee, because there's no reason to prolong a boss fight or try to make it more difficult if it isn't interesting or fun to begin with. This is essentially DS3's take on the prowling magus and it isn't any less boring.

19. Ancient Wyvern
Your only practical option is to run through a bunch of annoying annoying road bumps and plunge attack this one's head. This boss would be better by default if, again, you had more freedom in how you deal with him, but you have one practical option and have a chance at failing that and dying because of it. Poorly designed, annoying to deal with, but at least it's short and easy.

18. Crystal Sage
Much like the Greatwood, Deacons, and Wyvern, this one is easy but incredibly annoying. It's a gank fight like all 3, but the clones pose more of a threat by casting high-damage sorceries. It is satisfying to get a parry off on this boss and it is very satisfying if you can manage to shred his health before phase 2, but besides that it's just kind of annoying.

17. Consumed King Oceiros
I love this boss for its atmosphere and character, as far as mechanics go though I'm not a fan of how it's essentially Vordt but more erratic and with more things that can hit you. It's not a horrible boss, but I don't think it's a particularly good one either.

16. Halflight, Spear of the Church
I have mixed feelings about this one. I don't really agree with mixing PvP in with a boss fight thought the concept is certainly fun and interesting, the NPC variant is boring, and I don't have much to say about it. At the very least it's not offensively bad like most of the others on this list so far.

15. Pontiff Sulyvahn
They do say this boss can be trivialized with parrying, but the thing about this boss that makes it annoying to me is the fact that it's not exactly clear which attacks can be parried and which ones can't. The fire sword attacks can be parried unless it's the overhead attack with a huge windup, the magic sword attacks can't unless he's swinging it with the fire sword. What really trivializes this fight is sorcery/pyromancy, it's braindead easy as a caster but kind of annoying if you're running melee.

14. Aldrich of the Deep
This boss essentially marks my point for total neutrality in boss ranking. I don't love or hate this boss, it's not bad or good, it's just kind of standard.

13. Vordt of the Boreal Valley
I've never entered this boss arena worrying about estus. This boss is a straight shoot from the tower on the wall bonfire because I can reliably kill the whole thing without getting hit once, even if I'm entering with no estus and half health. Arguably the easiest boss in the game, not necessarily boring or bad though.

12. Dragonslayer Armor
To me this fight is very similar to the Old Demon king, but much easier and much less interesting. Not much else to say, refer to #14.

11. Old Demon King
I don't go for this one very often, but I do like how you can do this at the very beginning of the area. It's essentially an option to turn off invasions assuming you aren't doing co-op, and I can admire that. Beyond that though, it's pretty challenging considering a great chunk of his moveset could punish you if you're too greedy.

10. Yhorm the Giant
Yeah, he dies in 5 hits (assuming you're not following Siegward's questline, but the Stormruler mechanic is interesting and balanced considering you have to find a long enough window to charge its attack and can get hit if you're too greedy looking for that window. That's not to say he isn't easy either way, but he definitely is fun.

9. Twin Princes
I'm not the biggest fan of this one but it certainly is unique. The windows of opportunity that you can take advantage of are clear and even with Lorian teleporting everywhere, it's clear where and when you're supposed to dodge. That doesn't make the boss any less punishing though, if you're too aggressive or too defensive you almost definitely will get punished. This boss is all about knowing what to take advantage of and when to take advantage of it, and though it can be frustrating to fight it's still a well-designed boss in my book.

8. High Lord Wolnir
This isn't a very popular boss but it's one I always look forward to, because I know I can reliably kill it, I know the bracelet mechanic is super fun and satisfying, and I know I'll get rewarded with a nice big chunk of souls when I'm done.

7. The Abyss Watchers
This is a boss that essentially teaches you the valuable skill of cheesing. It can be trivialized by parrying, backstab fishing, playing defensively until one of the watchers helps you, or just by playing a caster. Overall it's incredibly satisfying and rewarding to kill and marks the point for exceptional boss quality for its point in the game.

6. Soul of Cinder
I debated putting this here for a while but it is a boss with a lot to sink your teeth in to. No two runs of this boss will be the exact same unless you've beaten the game several times, and yet it doesn't punish you for not understanding every one of its phases and each of their mechanics. A very graceful way to close out the game in my opinion.

5. Dancer of the Boreal Valley
The thing I love about this boss is the fact that you can kill it at basically any point in the game if you want, it's right there in the first real zone of the game and you have the option to kill it before you even go for your second boss. And the best part? You totally could. It would obviously be much easier if you could tank more hits and do more damage, but the boss never changes as you level up, the only thing that changes is how long it takes. If you're bad at the fight, the only thing leveling up will change is how long you can endure it and how much quicker you can deal with it. This immediately opens a branching path and rewards you appropriately for taking the high-risk approach.

4. Iudex Gundyr & Champion Gundyr
I'm putting them on the same spot in this list because they (obviously) have something in common. As a tutorial boss, it's probably the best in the series. Compared to the Asylum Demon it teaches you much more. Where the Asylum Demon teaches you how to dodge and attack, Iudex Gundyr teaches you when and where to dodge, how to parry, where to position yourself, and how to take advantage of your windows of opportunity. When he comes back later in the game as more or less the same boss, he's much more punishing. If you've learned everything you should have from Iudex Gundyr, you should be fine dealing with Champion Gundyr. He can be easily dealt with by parrying and having the sense to know when and where to dodge. If you can't parry you'll get your ass knocked down to the ground for a few seconds so he can finish you off, if your dodges are bad you'll definitely get stunlocked and take potentially lethal amounts of damage. He's easily one of the bosses I look forward to the most in my runs of this game.

3. Slave Knight Gael
This guy is relentless, but not to the point of being overbearing. I have a lot of respect for any fight that can manage that, and this one certainly does. It does 3 phases infinitely better than Friede, considering it doesn't drag on unnecessarily long or punish you for not understanding later phases that take forever to get to. A fantastic way to close out the series as a whole.

2. Nameless King
The #1 spot was a toss-up between this and the Demon Prince, a very close call. This one is certainly good and certainly one of my favorites, but it's almost 2 years old and has shown a bit of its age by now. I've already beaten him several times and he doesn't really pose as interesting a challenge as it used to, compared to Soul of Cinder who still manages to kick my ass. However, he has the best arena, the best atmosphere, closes out my favorite zone in the game, and despite its age it still is a fun fight to take on. 

1. Demon Prince
The Demon in Pain/Demon from Below part is amazing. Never has a gank fight been done more right. The pace of the fight will constantly be changing during this phase. Sometimes you have to fight one enraged demon, sometimes you have to fight them both on cooldown phase, sometimes you'll have them both enraged, and you'll never be playing strictly aggressively, passively, or defensively for any one part of the fight. It makes the fight always feel dynamic, challenging, and most importantly fun. The 2nd phase is solid, it's quite tanky so you can expect to be fighting for a while, but there's never a point in the fight where you're too harshly punished, so you always have an opportunity to bounce back. This is a boss I'll never expect to have to kill without either coming out on top with some estus left over, or dying early enough on in the phase to not feel frustrated at the progress I lost. This boss not only one of my favorite bosses in the game, it may be one of my favorite bosses in the series.

I decided to not include Midir, since I never really bothered with him. I'll update later if I ever form an opinion.

[Celli 4,337]

I just defeated Ancient Dragon and I have to say he is an absolute cunt. High HP, fire attacks that can two shot you, slamming attacks that one shot you, although his pattern isn't hard to get down. I found the best strategy was to attack his back claws, and start running when he starts going in the air to avoid his fire. Not very hard, just incredibly tedious. I have just the DLC, Darklurker, and Nashandra and Aldia left, so when I finish the game I'll post my top 3 best and worst.