Same, boss with the most random ass patterns and does insane damage. Hated that boss.
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The Soulsborne games have over 130+ bosses. Best and Worst of them all?
- Thread starter SargerusBR
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Same, boss with the most random ass patterns and does insane damage. Hated that boss.
PhantomThief
Banned
Best is lady maria imo
Worst is bed of chaos
Worst is bed of chaos
Theslammer
Member
That's one of the best bosses in the game.
Best: Soul of Cinder
Lore wise and gameplay wise they nailed it. He has 5 different move sets(longsword, pyromancer, sorcerer, Faith and Gwyn's) which fits perfectly with the fact that he's Gwyn and every player that linked the fire.
Runner up: Artorias the Abysswalker
Reading so much about Artorias's legend in the base game was amazing and it built up his character, but going back in time to face such a legendary Knight was great. I also enjoy the fact that there are sources that he was left handed, and he fought you with his off hand. Meaning that of we fought him in his prime he wouod be even stronger.
Worst: The Sunken King gank squad
This boss fight is annoying. They're not hard just annoying. They keep running towards you with the trademark Dark Souls 2 infinite stamina.
Lore wise and gameplay wise they nailed it. He has 5 different move sets(longsword, pyromancer, sorcerer, Faith and Gwyn's) which fits perfectly with the fact that he's Gwyn and every player that linked the fire.
Runner up: Artorias the Abysswalker
Reading so much about Artorias's legend in the base game was amazing and it built up his character, but going back in time to face such a legendary Knight was great. I also enjoy the fact that there are sources that he was left handed, and he fought you with his off hand. Meaning that of we fought him in his prime he wouod be even stronger.
Worst: The Sunken King gank squad
This boss fight is annoying. They're not hard just annoying. They keep running towards you with the trademark Dark Souls 2 infinite stamina.
mrmickfran
Member
No the hell it ain't.
That fight was a goddamned nightmare. I heard horror stories about defiled amygdala too, but I managed to cheese her.
Good boss with a cheap (half-HP) mechanic that made him way more frustrating then he should've been.
SENPAIatLARGE
Banned
Best- Slave Knight Gael
Gael feels like the final culmination of dark souls boss design. His visual, music and abilities are amazing and the fight encapsulates everything a good boss should be. Gael is hard, but fair. Everything he does has a tell and a pattern and he doesn't just flail around and do unavoidable damage. A great way to end the series.
Worst- Ancient Dragon/ Vendrick
Ancient Dragon is a terrible boss. There's no real good pattern, he does nigh unavoidable fire damage and has a absurd hp pool. Terrible design all around. On top of this, you need to beat him to get a fair fight with Vendrick, a slow high hp boss waiting to oneshot you at any time. Garbage design in every way.
Gael feels like the final culmination of dark souls boss design. His visual, music and abilities are amazing and the fight encapsulates everything a good boss should be. Gael is hard, but fair. Everything he does has a tell and a pattern and he doesn't just flail around and do unavoidable damage. A great way to end the series.
Worst- Ancient Dragon/ Vendrick
Ancient Dragon is a terrible boss. There's no real good pattern, he does nigh unavoidable fire damage and has a absurd hp pool. Terrible design all around. On top of this, you need to beat him to get a fair fight with Vendrick, a slow high hp boss waiting to oneshot you at any time. Garbage design in every way.
HF2014
Member
Ok for me
the bests:
- Tower Knight : Its the boss that made me say ' Holy shit!' and hook me up to see more in the Souls series. Beting him in melee was a freakin challenge
- Sif : I think its still for me the best one. A wolf with a sword? Hey why not!
- Father Gascoigne : His mid transformation made me panic really, and it was a challenge.
Other could be in the list, there are soo many memorable bosses in there
The worst:
- Royal Rat Vanguard : Did they tried to do a copy and paste of Sif? It was my first impression. But when the fight started, jesus it was horrible.
Also can add most of the bosses from Dark Souls 2, beside the DLC. They were all pretty average with some exception.
the bests:
- Tower Knight : Its the boss that made me say ' Holy shit!' and hook me up to see more in the Souls series. Beting him in melee was a freakin challenge
- Sif : I think its still for me the best one. A wolf with a sword? Hey why not!
- Father Gascoigne : His mid transformation made me panic really, and it was a challenge.
Other could be in the list, there are soo many memorable bosses in there
The worst:
- Royal Rat Vanguard : Did they tried to do a copy and paste of Sif? It was my first impression. But when the fight started, jesus it was horrible.
Also can add most of the bosses from Dark Souls 2, beside the DLC. They were all pretty average with some exception.
I'm not sure how Covetous Demon is worse than BoC. At least it's finished and not BS.
BoC is so terrible, most people will probably still die on the first two attempts in any playthrough even after beating the game 10 times..
RecRoulette
Member
Best: Me. (Old Monk)
Worst: Old King Allant with his SOUL LEVEL DOWN bullshit.
Worst: Old King Allant with his SOUL LEVEL DOWN bullshit.
Yeah I remember his RIDICULOUS one shots. And when I played against him in SOTFS I didn't know they nerfed him, and when I fought against him and I predicted one of his attacks wrong, I went like "GG I'll try again", and when I survived I was genuinely shocked.
Best for me were Orphan of Kos, Artorias and Blood-Starved Beast. Each of these is completely fair but still quite dificult to master. BSB took me 5 tries but was such an unbelievable adrenaline rush. OoK took me 50 tries or so. Figuring him out was a complete pleasure.
Shout out to Gaping Dragon for leaving me completely awestruck, one of the best boss intros of all time.
II guess the Rat Vanguard would probably have to be the worst since it's so uninspired. Bed of Chaos isn't good, but it's super easy and unique to the others so I don't mind it too much.
Shout out to Gaping Dragon for leaving me completely awestruck, one of the best boss intros of all time.
II guess the Rat Vanguard would probably have to be the worst since it's so uninspired. Bed of Chaos isn't good, but it's super easy and unique to the others so I don't mind it too much.
DrunkShogun
Member
Haven't beaten ds2 but artorias and lady Maria were the most enjoyable boss fights.
Worst fight is either witches of hemwick or bed of chaos. Say witches was worst because it's just really forgettable. Bed of chaos was a nuisance but I got lucky and beat it in two runs so was just a quick spectacle that at least looked cool and a interesting backstory.
Worst fight is either witches of hemwick or bed of chaos. Say witches was worst because it's just really forgettable. Bed of chaos was a nuisance but I got lucky and beat it in two runs so was just a quick spectacle that at least looked cool and a interesting backstory.
eot
Banned
This has to be a mistake
Allonym
There should be more tampons in gaming
My favorite boss fight in this franchise is either Ornstein and Smough or Artorias. I'm leaning more towards Artorias however considering that it's a straight up duel with no other annoyances.
The worst is The 4 Kings on NG+++, they just become stupidly hard compared to other bosses and seem super buffed and can tank your attacks. I think I beat those fuckers with pure luck on subsequent playthroughs.
The worst is The 4 Kings on NG+++, they just become stupidly hard compared to other bosses and seem super buffed and can tank your attacks. I think I beat those fuckers with pure luck on subsequent playthroughs.
graffix13
Member
I have only beaten Demon's, BB, and Dark Souls III. Never finished Dark Souls 1 or 2 (time constraints).
Best: Watchdog in the Defiled dungeon (BB)- This thing killed me countless times but once I learned his moveset and was PATIENT (hard for me) then it was a rush when I finally beat him.
Worst: Rat Vanguard (Dark Souls II)- Just a dumb and lazy "boss" fight. Ugh.
Best: Watchdog in the Defiled dungeon (BB)- This thing killed me countless times but once I learned his moveset and was PATIENT (hard for me) then it was a rush when I finally beat him.
Worst: Rat Vanguard (Dark Souls II)- Just a dumb and lazy "boss" fight. Ugh.
hydrophilic attack
Member
Best: False King Allant
Bosses in later games may technically be better, with bigger movesets and harder, but this was my Souls boss. The one I beat my head against. The one I needed several days to defeat. I had to fight him so many times that I decided to shoot the dragon full of arrows so as to make the run back easier.
Runner-ups: Fume Knight, Darklurker, Pontiff Sulyvahn Phalanx
Worst: Probably Centipede Demon. Boring moveset and tiny arena and it's hard to see him. Just bad all around. But the first Dark Souls had plenty of bad bosses. Such a letdown after Demon's Souls
Bosses in later games may technically be better, with bigger movesets and harder, but this was my Souls boss. The one I beat my head against. The one I needed several days to defeat. I had to fight him so many times that I decided to shoot the dragon full of arrows so as to make the run back easier.
Runner-ups: Fume Knight, Darklurker, Pontiff Sulyvahn Phalanx
Worst: Probably Centipede Demon. Boring moveset and tiny arena and it's hard to see him. Just bad all around. But the first Dark Souls had plenty of bad bosses. Such a letdown after Demon's Souls
OverturePT
Member
Son Of Sparda
Member
Best:
Worst:
Rats in Dark Souls 2.
Worst:
Rats in Dark Souls 2.
Kyleripman
Member
Thanks to this thread I just watched videos of all the Bloodborne DLC that I still never got. Have to say, some of those do indeed look great.
Best Boss: Ludwig, from Bloodborne.
Just an incredible boss fight, with an unnerving design and relentless moveset. It's a blast to fight against him. And the transition between phases is possibly my favorite musical moment in the series.
Worst Boss: Now that's much harder. No idea, honestly. Maybe Prowling Magus and Congregation from Dark Souls II, or Chain Snake from Dark Souls III. The Chain Snake skip is pretty cool, though. Not fond of the gimmicky bosses in Demon's Souls either.
Not if they learn some strats like Tokhi Bombs. I know they were unintended, but only possible because of how the game works, and the fact that it won't repell consumables and require a melee hit. There's not much you can do with Dragon God, for example, you have to press the buttons, but it's not the case with Bed of Chaos.
It's still a shit boss, but I'm not sure if it's the shittest. Tokhi Bombs even make it kind of fun.
Just an incredible boss fight, with an unnerving design and relentless moveset. It's a blast to fight against him. And the transition between phases is possibly my favorite musical moment in the series.
Worst Boss: Now that's much harder. No idea, honestly. Maybe Prowling Magus and Congregation from Dark Souls II, or Chain Snake from Dark Souls III. The Chain Snake skip is pretty cool, though. Not fond of the gimmicky bosses in Demon's Souls either.
Not if they learn some strats like Tokhi Bombs. I know they were unintended, but only possible because of how the game works, and the fact that it won't repell consumables and require a melee hit. There's not much you can do with Dragon God, for example, you have to press the buttons, but it's not the case with Bed of Chaos.
It's still a shit boss, but I'm not sure if it's the shittest. Tokhi Bombs even make it kind of fun.
Best is Artorias, for all the reasons already mentioned.
Worst for me is Micolash. He spends half the fight running from you, has annoying repeating dialog, annoying adds, has a cheap one shot kill attack in his second phase, and when you are able to fight him it's a dull fight. Terrible all around, a real low point for the series. Bed of Chaos is a way better encounter than Micolash, at least it looks cool.
Worst for me is Micolash. He spends half the fight running from you, has annoying repeating dialog, annoying adds, has a cheap one shot kill attack in his second phase, and when you are able to fight him it's a dull fight. Terrible all around, a real low point for the series. Bed of Chaos is a way better encounter than Micolash, at least it looks cool.
Sister Friede should be considered up there as one of the best. It's such a tense fight, then it goes into phase 2 where you get a sort of Ornstein and Smough feel that completely changes how you have to handle her. Then, of course, there's that infamous phase 3 that had me literally shaking my head in the good kind of frustration. I don't think I've ever been as satisfied defeating a boss as much as this one.
The worst is Bed of Chaos and I'm sure the developer would agree. Miyazaki has spoken about how they ran out of time for a lot of the back end stuff in Dark Souls and it the most prevalent in the hole Izalith area and particularly in Bed of Chaos. It could have been a really neat gimmick fight, but it doesn't have any of the ebb and flow of a standard Soulsborne boss. You're better off cheesing her with arrows and quit-reloads.
The worst is Bed of Chaos and I'm sure the developer would agree. Miyazaki has spoken about how they ran out of time for a lot of the back end stuff in Dark Souls and it the most prevalent in the hole Izalith area and particularly in Bed of Chaos. It could have been a really neat gimmick fight, but it doesn't have any of the ebb and flow of a standard Soulsborne boss. You're better off cheesing her with arrows and quit-reloads.
RustyNails
Member
Worst
I went into the battle with a hunter. Boss was running around and the hunter kills him in matter of seconds. I'm trying to run after the hunter and by the time I get there the boss is dead. Lol
I went into the battle with a hunter. Boss was running around and the hunter kills him in matter of seconds. I'm trying to run after the hunter and by the time I get there the boss is dead. Lol
RustyNails
Member
Best
Maiden Astraea, guarded by her lover Knight Garl Vinland.
It just felt incredibly sombre. This saintly woman who is looking after the abandoned is seemingly mother Theresa, but her soul is that of a demon's. Shits not fair.
Maiden Astraea, guarded by her lover Knight Garl Vinland.
It just felt incredibly sombre. This saintly woman who is looking after the abandoned is seemingly mother Theresa, but her soul is that of a demon's. Shits not fair.
Laurel_McFang
Member
+1 for Sif was the first that came to mind. The Lord of Storms boss in Demon's Souls mostly because getting to him through all those grim reapers is truly memorable.
Subpar Scrub
Banned
My fav is Artorius and my least favourite is that giant fat worm thing in DS2. Greed demon or Gluttony demon or something? Massive waste of time and resources.
I'll stop myself right now because I could actually type about soulsborne boss design and pros/cons of each for hours and hours.
I'll stop myself right now because I could actually type about soulsborne boss design and pros/cons of each for hours and hours.
Just going to break this out game by game.
Dark Souls 3 is very consistent with the bosses it brings forward. The low points are usually a case of unfulfilled promise rather than being something that's super frustrating. It's kind of difficult to choose a "worst" boss as a result, but High Lord Wolnir winds up standing out as a pretty low point for the game that leaves the Catacombs feeling like a joke. There are interesting ideas to Wolnir but you will never really get to see most of them because the fight is just a very obvious puzzle to hit the glowing parts of the boss to end things quickly.
DS3 at it's best is a close race, but Lothric wins out for me. The cutscene lead in is simple but does a good job of showing Lothric's place in the world and his intention for the flame to just fade out. The fight itself has a really well rounded move set of ranged and melee attacks, and the timings are highly varied without ever feeling super cheap. The teleport mechanic has a certain element of randomness to it, but that's part of what makes the fight exciting, and you at least have the opportunity to play against it reactively. Even the resurrection mechanic feels right in the fight, thematically and from a gameplay perspective, and it turns the tail end of the encounter into a DPS race that can be pretty thrilling.
Other games are less fresh in my mind. Demon's Souls felt like it found the crucial elements for what a boss should be with Flamelurker. Worst is obviously just going to be one of the dragons you toss arrows at for half an hour.
Dark Souls obviously peaked at Artorias. The bulk of bosses that would come in later entries of the series feel like they are chasing after replicating the experience of this encounter. Artorias feels, strong, agile, and fair thanks to quick but very readable movements, and his skill set feels nuanced to leave small weaknesses that players can pick up on that don't completely cripple the boss. Bed of Chaos is the obvious choice for worst.
Never played the DS2 DLC, so I don't have a very complete perspective on it. The base game puts forward a very weak roster though, and a list of the ten worst bosses from the entire Souls series would likely be overrun with candidates from Dark Souls 2. Not only does it have its share of bosses that feel cheap, unintuitive, and frustrating, but it also just have loads of bosses that pose almost no challenge or threat. I really don't have anything that nice to say now that I'm looking over the boss list from the base game, and none of the entries belong anywhere near a top 30+ list of best bosses from the Souls series. The worst of DS2 is hard to choose from. Stuff like Ancient Dragon is beyond tedious, but the really easy bosses are mostly just insultingly basic and often easily exploitable. Something like Old Dragonslayer is pathetically sad though, where an iconic boss from the previous game is reduced to absolutely nothing if the player has a shield with full physical block.
Dark Souls 3 is very consistent with the bosses it brings forward. The low points are usually a case of unfulfilled promise rather than being something that's super frustrating. It's kind of difficult to choose a "worst" boss as a result, but High Lord Wolnir winds up standing out as a pretty low point for the game that leaves the Catacombs feeling like a joke. There are interesting ideas to Wolnir but you will never really get to see most of them because the fight is just a very obvious puzzle to hit the glowing parts of the boss to end things quickly.
DS3 at it's best is a close race, but Lothric wins out for me. The cutscene lead in is simple but does a good job of showing Lothric's place in the world and his intention for the flame to just fade out. The fight itself has a really well rounded move set of ranged and melee attacks, and the timings are highly varied without ever feeling super cheap. The teleport mechanic has a certain element of randomness to it, but that's part of what makes the fight exciting, and you at least have the opportunity to play against it reactively. Even the resurrection mechanic feels right in the fight, thematically and from a gameplay perspective, and it turns the tail end of the encounter into a DPS race that can be pretty thrilling.
Other games are less fresh in my mind. Demon's Souls felt like it found the crucial elements for what a boss should be with Flamelurker. Worst is obviously just going to be one of the dragons you toss arrows at for half an hour.
Dark Souls obviously peaked at Artorias. The bulk of bosses that would come in later entries of the series feel like they are chasing after replicating the experience of this encounter. Artorias feels, strong, agile, and fair thanks to quick but very readable movements, and his skill set feels nuanced to leave small weaknesses that players can pick up on that don't completely cripple the boss. Bed of Chaos is the obvious choice for worst.
Never played the DS2 DLC, so I don't have a very complete perspective on it. The base game puts forward a very weak roster though, and a list of the ten worst bosses from the entire Souls series would likely be overrun with candidates from Dark Souls 2. Not only does it have its share of bosses that feel cheap, unintuitive, and frustrating, but it also just have loads of bosses that pose almost no challenge or threat. I really don't have anything that nice to say now that I'm looking over the boss list from the base game, and none of the entries belong anywhere near a top 30+ list of best bosses from the Souls series. The worst of DS2 is hard to choose from. Stuff like Ancient Dragon is beyond tedious, but the really easy bosses are mostly just insultingly basic and often easily exploitable. Something like Old Dragonslayer is pathetically sad though, where an iconic boss from the previous game is reduced to absolutely nothing if the player has a shield with full physical block.
Laurentius
Member
For me the best is Gehrman.
You must accept your death
(Worst is Bed of Chaos of course.)
- It's fought in one of the most beautiful arenas in the series
- It has one of the best soundtracks in the series (I nearly choke up when the choir comes in)
- It encapsulates everything I love about the "one on one" fights in Souls games
- I love the tragic story surrounding Gehrman, and always reject his offer so that he can finally be freed from the nightmare
You must accept your death
(Worst is Bed of Chaos of course.)
Magic Mushroom
Member
Look! The Pie!
Member
Because the Covetous Demon, while a bad boss, is merely unimaginative and forgettable as opposed to a perfect storm of horrible game design like BoC? Because the Covetous Demon didn't need multiple checkpoints as a result of its cheap gimmicks? Because nobody actually had to apologise for including the Covetous Demon in the game?
There are reasons why BoC is almost universally regarded as the worst Souls boss.
Magic Mushroom
Member
I agree. His attacks are very damaging, but they are readable. And his design is boss.
Theslammer
Member
Yes the hell it was. Might even be my favorite in the whole game. Nothing is cheap, and all his tells were obvious. Patience is a virtue, and victory is sweet. That doesn't mean he's a piece of cake, but once you know how to read his tells, it's about dodging, patience, and knowing when to get shots at him. And I even loved the low-reach Tonitrus, so you can imagine with that, I actually ended up being more aggressive than you might expect.
I played that boss several times on another playthrough, once beating him and several times helping others. It's a fantastic boss.
There was no boss in that game I felt not just victorious about beating, but felt the want to play it again, as much as Defiled Watchdog. There was nothing that frustrated me about the boss because it is such a great fight.
This thread might make me go and solo it again just for fun.
LOL I agree
Von Krukru
Banned
Best :
Runner up : Artorias, the best 1V1 humanoïd boss battle in the series. And Maiden Astraea for for the music, setting and story.
Worst :
Fuck these two huge panther in the DS2 DLC. You have to walk in the blizzard for like 15min to get to them, so that's the only boss of the whole series I never killed.
Runner up : Bed of chaos, of course.
Music, arena, moveset, second phase, sound design. Perfection.
Runner up : Artorias, the best 1V1 humanoïd boss battle in the series. And Maiden Astraea for for the music, setting and story.
Worst :
Fuck these two huge panther in the DS2 DLC. You have to walk in the blizzard for like 15min to get to them, so that's the only boss of the whole series I never killed.
Runner up : Bed of chaos, of course.
Coriolanus
Banned
Best is Artorias. Can't get over how awesome it was to fight berserker armor Guts.
Worst is Dragon God. At least the bed of chaos is quick. Dragon god is just...bleah.
Worst is Dragon God. At least the bed of chaos is quick. Dragon god is just...bleah.
The Lothric fight is pretty great and is definitely one of the more memorable fights in the series, to me. I feel the lead up and presentation of the fight were pretty fantastic. Also, the teleport isn't really random, Lorian gives the start of the tell for the next attack he'll use before the teleport.
Picking a best boss is pretty difficult for me, especially because Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 have so many bosses that I really enjoyed. I think if I really had to choose, it'd have to be between either Maria or Friede. Outside of those two, there's so many other bosses I enjoyed from those games, like, Laurence, Gerhman, Soul of Cinder, Nameless King, and Gael to name a few.
As for worst bosses, I would exclude Bed of Chaos simply because it's probably the obvious answer for a lot of people. I think most of the bosses I'd consider the worst would probably be in Dark Souls 2. There was something about the boss design in that game that just wasn't very enjoyable or challenging, for the most part. The DLC, at least, did a mostly good job of introducing some interesting bosses but each DLC also had at least one boss that felt like an after thought. I think Lud and Zallen definitely take the cake, though, in terms of terrible bosses. The run through the Frigid Outskirts was bad enough, but the boss was just two copies of Aava put in a room together. I think Frigid Outskirts will forever be the least fun I've ever had in not just a Souls game, but just about any game I've played.
Best: Ludwig. Absolutely love his design, and the soundtrack is my favorite of any fight in the series. Just a great fight all around.
Honorable mentions: Knight Artorias, Sister Friede
Worst: Centipede Demon. The camera is so terrible in this fight that my go-to strategy is to wait for him to (slowly) approach the platform you stand on, then mash R1 and roll occasionally.
(Dis)honorable mentions: Bed of Chaos, Old Iron King, Throne Watcher/Defender
Honorable mentions: Knight Artorias, Sister Friede
Worst: Centipede Demon. The camera is so terrible in this fight that my go-to strategy is to wait for him to (slowly) approach the platform you stand on, then mash R1 and roll occasionally.
(Dis)honorable mentions: Bed of Chaos, Old Iron King, Throne Watcher/Defender