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[Nuno Pinto]

Ludwig is my favorite, even though there are ton of others really good too.

Worst... maybe Midir? I really dislike huge bosses in this game, and this one was annoying... that fight wasn't fun and it went for a while to make things worse. There's probably others that I'm not remembering though. Since this one is pretty recent I'm going with it lol

 

[xviper]

i think we can all agree that Bloodborne had the best bosses in the series

because more than 90% of them were beast which is the best thing for a boss to be, huge variety of bosses

and the worst bosses were in Dark souls 3 because they are repetitive and 80% of them are humanoid bosses which is HORRIBLE

 

[Prurient]

Ebrietas is probably my favourite.

I don't really rate the bosses in terms of fight mechanics, for me it all comes from everything else, the lore, the design, and the general feeling of the fight. As a Lovecraft fanatic Bloodborne is my favourite game ever, and Ebrietas feels like everything I adore about cosmic horror turned up to 11. It's one of the few bosses I find myself simply pondering quite often. I do also love the fight, it's overwhelming as hell, but I really think it needs to be.

I think if I had to pick a worst it would be from the (far too) many bosses from Dark Souls 2 that simply consist of kiting round and hitting in the back. That strategy is kind of a Soulsborne trope at this point, but in DS2 it's painfully apparent. Again, lore or design-wise I can normally find something interesting, but mechanically they fall down quite badly.

 

[KLoWn]

and the worst bosses were in Dark souls 3 because they are repetitive and 80% of them are humanoid bosses which is HORRIBLE

No. DS2 had the worst bosses by far.

 

[SallyIsNow]

GOAT

The music, the area you go through to get to him, the fight itself. 5*
WOAT
There's too many awful bosses in DS2 to choose from.

 

[PFD]

Define "best"?

Mechanically, I think Soul of Cinder and Nameless King are great

Subjectively, I felt Twin Princes was epic

 

[The Hermit]

I only played Dark Souls 1, but man Artorias was one of the best boss fight I've ever played.

The whole lore behind him, the fact he had a broken arm.

I would feel bad fighting him, if he didn't kicked my ass several times.

I wish I could skip fighting his wolf though 😥

https://youtu.be/fkyi8aLgq_k

 

[Scher]

and the worst bosses were in Dark souls 3 because they are repetitive and 80% of them are humanoid bosses which is HORRIBLE

The best bosses in the series tend to be humanoid bosses, in my opinion. There can also be a lot of variety in how humanoid bosses are handled, and I think DS3 did a very good job with variety of move sets and stuff like that.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Hmm, tough call. I was actually considering making a poll about this and tallying results sometime in the year after people have enough time to reflect on DaS III and its DLC.

I have to give a shout out to Darklurker, though. It was a lot of fun and had a really unique moveset. There are not many aggressive magic users in this series. Probably my favorite boss from the base game.

because more than 90% of them were beast which is the best thing for a boss to be, huge variety of bosses

Nothing imaginative about a bunch of dumb dogs that use the same old left swipe right swipe with the occasional bite.

Spoiler

See how easy it is to be reductive?

 

[Laurentius]

The best bosses in the series tend to be humanoid bosses, in my opinion. There can also be a lot of variety in how humanoid bosses are handled, and I think DS3 did a very good job with variety of move sets and stuff like that.

Agreed, there are some great humanoid fights in the series:

- Gwyn
- Lady Maria
- Gehrman
- Gael
- Friede
- Abyss Watchers
- Champion Gundyr
- Soul of Cinder
- Father Gascoigne

And more that I'm surely forgetting.

 

[thsantos]

...and the worst bosses were in Dark souls 3 because they are repetitive and 80% of them are humanoid bosses which is HORRIBLE

The tutorial boss in Dark Souls 3 is better than anything from base Dark Souls 2.

 

[Gurgelhals]

It's one of the easier bosses and thus "only" great / memorable from a conceptual and design point of view, but I really think that the Deacons of the Deep are one of the most striking bosses in the series. There's just nothing like an undead horde of creepy degenerate zombie priests ganging up on you, lol:

Similar case with the Gaping Dragon. It's a fairly easy boss for Souls standards, but that monster design - wow! I mean, who comes up with these ideas?

 

[xviper]

The best bosses in the series tend to be humanoid bosses, in my opinion. There can also be a lot of variety in how humanoid bosses are handled, and I think DS3 did a very good job with variety of move sets and stuff like that.

i'm not saying that humanoid bosses are bad, no, far from it, there is a lot of amazing humanoid bosses that i consider to be one of the best bosses in the series such as Artorias, Old king Allant, Old Hero, Penetrator, lost sinner, Gwyn, Gehrman, Father gascoine, namelss king, Gael, and much more

what i mean is that Dark souls 3 bosses were mostly humanoid which is boring and the same thing, in Demon's souls, Dark souls 1 and Bloodborne, when you see a fog wall, you will wonder what kind of fucked up looking boss you're gonna fight, is it huge ? is it small ? is it a dragon ? is it humanoid ? is it a beast ?? many things to guess from

but in Dark souls 3, when you see a fog wall, you will wonder what kind of weapon does the Humanoid boss uses, is it a sword ? is it an axe ? is it a shield\sword, is it a spear ???

you understand what i'm saying ?? Dark souls 3 had no varied bosses which made it a complete trash because bosses are the best thing in the souls series

 

[Sotha_Sil]

Best
-Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon
-Tower Knight (easy but an iconic fight for me)
-Ornstein and Smough

Worst
-Vendrick
-Ancient Dragon
-Vicar Amelia

I generally hate bosses fights that take forever due to large HP pools. Sinh is the exception because it's so well done, and I love the theme.

Haven't played Old Hunters or DS3 yet.

 

[KoL]

BEST: Lady Maria

WORST: Bed of Chaos


I really like Sister Friede, Gael, Sir Alonne, Orphan of Kos and Ludwig too

 

[Laurentius]

you understand what i'm saying ?? Dark souls 3 had no varied bosses which made it a complete trash because bosses are the best thing in the souls series

Got it, the entire game is trash because you don't think the bosses were varied enough. (Which really isn't true, BTW.)

 

[bizzarewars]

I've never beaten a Souls game, so maybe I'm not the best judge on this, but goddamn did I love the Abyss Watchers fight.

Them running around and fighting among themselves trying to get to you was honestly such a huge surprise. I thought it would just be one of those fights where they just threw a bunch of tough guys at you, but nope. Also, the second phase is just killer. Great character design, too.

 

[KLoWn]

you understand what i'm saying ?? Dark souls 3 had no varied bosses which made it a complete trash because bosses are the best thing in the souls series

I'm going through the bosses in my head and I really don't agree.

How about you make a run down of the bosses you think is the same, and lacks variation.

 

[itshutton]

Best: Sif, Amygdala, The Four Kings, Ebrietas

Worst: Dragon God, Mushroom things in Bloodborne, Mask dude is DS2.

 

[Dascu]

It's one of the easier bosses and thus "only" great / memorable from a conceptual and design point of view, but I really think that the Deacons of the Deep are one of the most striking bosses in the series. There's just nothing like an undead horde of creepy degenerate zombie priests ganging up on you, lol:

They're kind of cool, I just wish that they merged into some bigger monster in the 2nd half of the fight.

 

[Nimby]

I'm going through the bosses in my head and I really don't agree.

How about you make a run down of the bosses you think is the same, and lacks variation.

Humanoid bosses would be:
Lorian & Lothric
Sulyvhan
Abyss Watchers
Nameless King
Gundyr
Dragonslayer Armour
Sister Friede DLC
Gael DLC

Not really seeing his argument here. 5 of those fights you could put at the best spot and I would agree. All of those boss fights are great. Gael for me is my favorite fight.

 

[The Artisan]

is nioh included in this thread

 

[Manu]

Best: Tie between Nameless King and Ludwig. Both of them appear seemingly impossible at first, both are extremely well balanced and fair (some iffy camera on NK's first phase notwithstanding.)

Runner up: Manus. He's like a Bloodborne boss in Dark Souls 1. Excellent fight.

Worst: I'm tempted to say half of DS2's bosses, but I'm gonna pick just one and go with Covetous Demon. Did you know you can break the pots hanging from the ceiling to drop dead bodies that the boss will eat so you can hit him? Of course you don't, because it's easier to just kill him in seconds.

 

[Catvoca]

Best: King Vendrick in Dark Souls 2

Worst: Bed of Chaos in DS1

 

[The Wheel of Fortune]

Worst: Royal Rat Authority - Dark Souls 2

I love Dark Souls 2 and defend it a lot, but there is no defense for this boss fight. It's shit, plain and simple.

Why? He's pretty similar to Sif, which most people like a lot, with an added element of crowd control. Part of the point of the fight is finding a way to kill the minions first and then the boss itself. In fact, after I figured out the more comfortable way for me to do it, I stopped having trouble with the boss in the next playthroughs.

 

[Manu]

Why? He's pretty similar to Sif, which most people like a lot, with an added element of crowd control.

People like Sif because of the ambientation, lore, setting and music.

This is just a giant rat with broken hitboxes.

 

[Angst]

The cheapness of the fight turned me off the series forever. And I loooved demon's souls. I've considered picking up up Bloodborne, DS2 or DS3, but my fear of finding another cheap boss like him makes me hesitate.

 

[Deku Tree]

For me the best is Lady Maria. Love the hunter fights in BB.

And the worst is Micolash (by far the worst boss omg). Micolash is just horrible. Nothing fun about that fight after the novelty of it wears off.

Both from BB.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Got it, the entire game is trash because you don't think the bosses were varied enough. (Which really isn't true, BTW.)

Don't worry, I did the math for him. This isn't counting DLC.

BB

Humanoid: 11.5
Beasts: 8.5
Great Ones: 7

I skipped a few chalice bosses because seriously, who considers Maneater Boar or Brainsucker bosses? Split Gascoine into two halves because of how different they are.

Here's DaS III

Beasts: 1
Demons: 2
Dark Creatures: 4
Dragons: 2.5
Humanoids: 10.5

Split Nameless King because the two parts are pretty unique.

 

[Toxi]

Why? He's pretty similar to Sif, which most people like a lot, with an added element of crowd control. Part of the point of the fight is finding a way to kill the minions first and then the boss itself. In fact, after I figured out the more comfortable way for me to do it, I stopped having trouble with the boss in the next playthroughs.

The majority of the challenge comes from the rats at the beginning (Because they can kill you ludicrously fast) and the bad hitboxes of the Authority.

It's ugly and not fun to fight.

 

[darkslayer101]

Best:

I was getting pretty emotional with this fight with the lore implications, her Vergil -esque moves, and the flame-on phase 3 fight. Just beautiful

Worst: Bed of Chaos

 

[Juraash]

For the best I think it would be Nameless King or Gehrmen.

Gehrmen is presented in such a great way. The cut scenes with him standing the framing of you two staring each other down. The build up in just those moments is brilliant. Also the fight itself is frantic and intense and it doesn't suffer from any sort of weird jank because of the arena or mechanics. It's just awesome.

Nameless King isn't as good mechanically, at least in phase one. But it's so intimidating and the lore implications behind him are really interesting. I just really enjoy that fight.

Honorable mentions are Soul of Cinder and The Abyss Watchers for reasons similar to NK. Also Abyss Watchers feature one of the best tracks for any boss ever imo.

As for worst, probably Sif or Four Kings.

Sif isn't a bad fight, but I hate killing him. It might be the only boss in the series that isn't inherently evil or monstrous. Also it's a poor dog.

Four Kings just gives me anxiety. The emptiness of the Abyss, the Kings just coming out of the darkness, the frantic feeling I have trying to kill them quick enough. And to top it all off, you have to gimp yourself some by wearing a special ring just to do the fight. Many a replay has stopped at them.

 

[astroturfing]

love:

Old Monk (the idea alone floored me, got summoned to it while idling and taking a dump, i was so confused when i returned to my PS3 and saw my character with that crazy head gear lol)
Flamelurker
Maneater(s)
Four Kings
Gwyn
Vicar Amelia (might be my favorite)
Ludwig

Thought the Ancient Dragon in DS2 was far worse than Bed of Chaos.

yea that fucking thing gets my vote. so frustrating and stupid, got one-hit killed so many times i just had to look up a guide which i dont like to do in these games.

 

[pretty done]

Worst: Ancient Dragon by far. Shoutouts to vanilla DS2 as most of it's bosses would also be on this if it were a list of 10 + Bed of Chaos and Micolash

Best: Manus (AotA) but shoutouts to Nameless King, False King Allant and Black Phantom Rydell. Old Monk (/Looking Glass Knight) is a fantastic idea but obviously the quality of the fight depends on how free the invader is (and they're always free)

 

[ArjanN]

The best for me is The Four Kings:

It's the one fight in the whole of the series that's given me such an intense feeling of fear, oppression and wonder. The entire thing taking place in an immense never-ending black void, seemingly located below the floor of the world itself adds to the intense atmosphere this fight produces.

An absolute masterpiece in build-up and execution.

Really?

I mean I'll give you the atmosphere, but I hate that mechanically the fight just boils down to wailing on them nonstop with zero strategy.

People like Sif because of the ambientation, lore, setting and music.

This is just a giant rat with broken hitboxes.

Pretty much. The Sif fight isn't very interesting mechanically either. Unless you go there very low level you'll most likely be able to just stand there and block forever and he can't even harm you. At least in Sif's case everything around it is cool.

 

[Chronospherics]

I think The Old Hunters has the best bosses in the series, pretty consistently. Lady Maria is probably my favourite in the series.

Worst? I mean excluding king Alant and other joke bosses... There's a few in Dark Souls 2 and 3 that are terrible. I really dislike that tree thing that attacks you near the start of Dark Souls 3, really rubbish boss. It's generally very easy to beat, but it's also too large for the camera, so causes all sort sof camera issues as a result where attacks are initiated from off-screen.

There's a few issues like that in the series, and in general I feel that smaller bosses work better, less prone to those problems.

 

[jviggy43]

i think we can all agree that Bloodborne had the best bosses in the series

because more than 90% of them were beast which is the best thing for a boss to be, huge variety of bosses

and the worst bosses were in Dark souls 3 because they are repetitive and 80% of them are humanoid bosses which is HORRIBLE

BB was the most consistent I'd say, but most of them were really easy inside the base game. Dlc helped with the difficulty.

Ds probably has the highest highs for bosses with artorias, O&S, Manus, Kalameet. Also has some awful ones like bed of chaos.

Ds2 had the weakest bosses, dlc helped out but I still woupdnt put many of those bosses in a top 5 list.

Ancient dragon is the worst fight in the series, even considering hes optional. BoC is at least easy even if it is cheap.

 

[xviper]

Don't worry, I did the math for him. This isn't counting DLC.

BB

I skipped a few chalice bosses because seriously, who considers Maneater Boar or Brainsucker bosses? Split Gascoine into two halves because of how different they are.

.

did we play two different versions of Bloodborne ??

not counting the DLC and chalice dungeon bosses, here is the bosses of the main game

Cleric Beast
Father Gascoigne ( half human half beast)
Blood-starved Beast
Vicar Amelia
The Witch of Hemwick
Martyr Logarius ( humanoid)
Shadow of Yharnam (humanoid)
Rom, the Vacuous Spider
Darkbeast Paarl
The One Reborn
Celestial Emmisary
Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos
Amygdala
Micolash, Host of the Nightmare ( humanoid )
Mergo's Wet Nurse
Gehrman, the First Hunter ( humanoid)
Moon Presence

so that's 5 humanoid bosses out of 17( not counting the chalice dungeon bosses and DLC)

now lets see Disgrace souls 3: humanoid bosses edition
Iudex Gundyr ( humanoid)
Vordt of the Boreal Valley
Curse Rotted Greatwood
Crystal Sage( humanoid)
Deacons of the Deep( humanoid)
Abyss Watchers( humanoid)
Old Demon King
High Lord Walnir
Yhorm the Giant( humanoid)
Pontiff Sulyvahn( humanoid)
Aldritch Devourer of Gods
Dancer of the Boreal Valley( humanoid)
Dragonslayer Armour( humanoid)
Oceiros, the consumed king
Lothric, Younger Prince( humanoid)
Champion Gundyr( humanoid)
Ancient Wyvern
The Nameless King( half human half dragon)
soul of cinder( humanoid)

so that's 12 humanoid bosses out of 19, more than half, not to mention that the other non human bosses mostly( if not all) suck compared to Bloodborne bosses

 

[lukeskymac]

Dunno about worst, but best is Ludwig, followed closely by Orphan. God TOH is amazing.

Best boss: Abyss Watchers (Dark Souls 3).

What the hell?

 

[Manu]

Disgrace souls 3

Stop trying to make this a thing.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Not a one for this guy? Loved Maria as well. Ludwig was hard AF but rewarding.


Worst was MAJESTIC

 

[lukeskymac]

Worst was MAJESTIC

Micolash isn't even the worst BB boss, how can he be the worst soulsborne one?

 

[BossDarkseid]

did we play two different versions of Bloodborne ??

not counting the DLC and chalice dungeon bosses, here is the bosses of the main game

Cleric Beast
Father Gascoigne ( half human half beast)
Blood-starved Beast
Vicar Amelia
The Witch of Hemwick
Martyr Logarius ( humanoid)
Shadow of Yharnam (humanoid)
Rom, the Vacuous Spider
Darkbeast Paarl
The One Reborn
Celestial Emmisary
Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos
Amygdala
Micolash, Host of the Nightmare ( humanoid )
Mergo's Wet Nurse
Gehrman, the First Hunter ( humanoid)
Moon Presence

so that's 5 humanoid bosses out of 17( not counting the chalice dungeon bosses and DLC)

now lets see Disgrace souls 3: humanoid bosses edition
Iudex Gundyr ( humanoid)
Vordt of the Boreal Valley
Curse Rotted Greatwood
Crystal Sage( humanoid)
Deacons of the Deep( humanoid)
Abyss Watchers( humanoid)
Old Demon King
High Lord Walnir
Yhorm the Giant( humanoid)
Pontiff Sulyvahn( humanoid)
Aldritch Devourer of Gods
Dancer of the Boreal Valley( humanoid)
Dragonslayer Armour( humanoid)
Oceiros, the consumed king
Lothric, Younger Prince( humanoid)
Champion Gundyr( humanoid)
Ancient Wyvern
The Nameless King( half human half dragon)
soul of cinder( humanoid)

so that's 12 humanoid bosses out of 19, more than half, not to mention that the other non human bosses mostly( if not all) suck compared to Bloodborne bosses

Just stahp. Your trolling isn't even subtle now

 

[Opus Angelorum]

Micolash is a terrible boss, required almost zero skill and mindless chases. So boring.

 

[Dascu]

did we play two different versions of Bloodborne ??

not counting the DLC and chalice dungeon bosses, here is the bosses of the main game

Cleric Beast
Father Gascoigne ( half human half beast)
Blood-starved Beast
Vicar Amelia
The Witch of Hemwick
Martyr Logarius ( humanoid)
Shadow of Yharnam (humanoid)
Rom, the Vacuous Spider
Darkbeast Paarl
The One Reborn
Celestial Emmisary
Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos
Amygdala
Micolash, Host of the Nightmare ( humanoid )
Mergo's Wet Nurse
Gehrman, the First Hunter ( humanoid)
Moon Presence

so that's 5 humanoid bosses out of 17( not counting the chalice dungeon bosses and DLC)

now lets see Disgrace souls 3: humanoid bosses edition
Iudex Gundyr ( humanoid)
Vordt of the Boreal Valley
Curse Rotted Greatwood
Crystal Sage( humanoid)
Deacons of the Deep( humanoid)
Abyss Watchers( humanoid)
Old Demon King
High Lord Walnir
Yhorm the Giant( humanoid)
Pontiff Sulyvahn( humanoid)
Aldritch Devourer of Gods
Dancer of the Boreal Valley( humanoid)
Dragonslayer Armour( humanoid)
Oceiros, the consumed king
Lothric, Younger Prince( humanoid)
Champion Gundyr( humanoid)
Ancient Wyvern
The Nameless King( half human half dragon)
soul of cinder( humanoid)

so that's 12 humanoid bosses out of 19, more than half, not to mention that the other non human bosses mostly( if not all) suck compared to Bloodborne bosses

You're really stretching things by including Dancer, Yhorm and Crystal Sage and then not include Witch of Hemwick and Celestial Emissary.

 

[MrS]

Best
1. Smough and Ornstein
2. Ebrietas
3. The Four Kings

Worst
1. Witch of Hemwick
2. Curse-Rotted Greatwood
3. Dark Sun Gwyndolin

 

[Van Bur3n]

Best:

Laurence, the First Vicar

I know a lot of people don't like Laurence, but I thought it was a solid way to bring back the first boss of the game that had such a cool design and make it one of the hardest bosses in the game while adding a twist second phase. Along with the amazing soundtrack and the lore behind it because its freaking Laurence who started the events of BB, it is my all time favorite.

Honorable mentions: Ludwig the Accursed/Holy Blade, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, Slave Knight Gael, Orphan of Kos, Father Ariandel and Sister Friede

Worst:

Bed of Chaos

Both a poor excuse when it comes to putting up an interesting fight and when it does attempt to put up one its just damn annoying to deal with. Nothing about this boss is fun.

Dishonorable mentions: Micolash, Royal Rat Vanguard, Royal Rat Authority, Ancient Dragon


Overall, I'd say Bloodborne had the best bosses of them with Old Hunters alone, but Dark Souls 3 had the most consistency with good bosses.

 

[mrlion]

Best:

Worst:

(haha no its really the best one)

 

[Gormless Noodle]

Probably Ludwig as the best, but maybe Lawrence, not entirely sure but they're both unbelievably good.

As for worst, well, Deacons of the Deep is well on top there, I don't know how they even thought that was anything akin to a boss. Top tier shit. Also Butthole face giant in DS2 was a load of crap, but at least he had the excuse of being the first boss.

 

[Van Bur3n]

Ludwig is my favorite, even though there are ton of others really good too.

Worst... maybe Midir? I really dislike huge bosses in this game, and this one was annoying... that fight wasn't fun and it went for a while to make things worse. There's probably others that I'm not remembering though. Since this one is pretty recent I'm going with it lol

Ancient Dragon is basically Midir but without the fun (because I liked Midir) and only has like two attacks. Ancient Dragon is more of a grind than an actual boss.