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[Jyrii]

I bought Dark Souls 3 when it was released. At that time I had my very old computer so I decided to get the PS4 edition. Gotta say not having 60fps sucks.

I got all the way to Champion Gundyr fight and he absolutely crushed me every time. I didn't want to use summons so in the end I just decided to give up on the game and maybe try again later.

Well few weeks ago I decided to continue and with great valor I approached Gundyr again. Nooooope, he whooped my ass over and over again. Having lost plenty of embers I got irritated and ended up summoning the sword master to help me (my PS+ had ended). Finally I was able to best Champion Gundyr -barely-. Sword master died for my sins so the world might be mended, so the world might be mended.

I mainly used (heavy) broadsword during my run. It had quite fast attacks, but absolutely horrible range. I didn't really like any of the weapons in DS3. The heavy weapons were frigging slow and still might not cause stuns. I didn't like the changes they made with poise either, so I ended up using quite light armor. My build was pure melee with focus on hp, strength and endurance.

Here is how I fared against the bosses:

Iudex Gundyr - easy
Pretty good first boss. I am not sure if I died against him, but the change did scare me.

Vordt of the Boreal Valley - easy
Think I died once. Pretty easy fight still.

Curse-rotted Greatwood - easy
I died multiple times because I didn't understad what to do. I hit the weakpoints, but it didn't seem to do anything. I just didn't hit enough times.

Crystal Sage - easy
Glass cannon.

Deacons of the Deep - easy
I finished the fight on my first try. Just took a bit to realize what to do.

Abyss Watchers - hard
This. Is. Dark Souls. Awesome fight, one of my favorites in the series.

High Lord Wolnir - easy
Died few times because I didn't notice the poison

Old Demon King - easy
I fought this boss very late so I was probably quite overleveled

Pontiff Sulyvahn - hard
This. Is. Dark.. oh I said that already. Damn hard fight. Took me +10 tries.

Aldrich, Devourer of Gods - hard
Took me five-ish tries. That arrow attack was the most dangerous thing.

Yhorm the Giant - easy
Somehow I had Siegward helping me, which made the fight trivial

Dancer of the Boreal Valley - hard
That whirling attack was very dangerous, but it was the only real threat iirc.

Oceiros, the Consumed King - medium
Took me few tries, but it wasn't really overly difficult

Champion Gundyr - hardest boss in the game
This bastard made me quit the game, almost twice. Fast, ultra aggressive and has annoying combo hits.

Dragonslayer Armour - easy
I might have been overleveled, but he was quite easy to read.

Ancient Wyvern - easy
Killed by jump stab (ok I had seen the strategy on youtube accidently)

The Nameless King - hard
Weird boss. The dragon part wasn't overly hard, but my range was so short that it was hard to actually hit it. Also as the boss is big, I couldn't see when he attacked me with his spear. Second part seemed quite standard, but I didn't ever finish him. Probably could have after multiple tries, but doing that dragon part over and over again made me stop.

The Twin Princes - hard
The actual battle here is to learn the attack patterns. After that it got manageable.

Soul of Cinder - hard
First time I breezed through the first form(s) and got halfway through second form. Then I got hit with the 5-hit combo and died. After that I started messing up even with the first part. After reading few guides I finally was able to best it.

I liked the game, but it had many changes I didn't like. Weapons didn't feel good to me, the changes in poise were stupid and multiple bosses having second forms was mostly annoying to me. If I have understood correctly

Spoiler

the final boss

of DLC

Spoiler

has 3 forms.

I think I need some relaxing palette cleanser game now. Maybe King's Quest or The Beginner's guide.

 

[KZXcellent]

Champion Gundyr is ridiculous. That kick infuriates me.

 

[Jyrii]

Apparently parry helps a lot in Champion Gundyr fight, but I absolutely suck at it.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

To everyone having trouble with Champion Gundyr, I have two words for you:

Git Gud

 

[Holdfing]

Champion Gundyr is indeed an asshole, however, some of his attacks can be parried easily. Also dodge dodge dodge. Those combos with the kick are annoying. I found Nameless King to be more brutal, though. And yeah, the last boss of the DLC is quite something

 

[Kill3r7]

Champion Gubdyr is undoubtedly challenging but by that point you have likely faced at least 3 other very hard bosses. I did not struggle with him too much and I used a heavy slow weapon (Dragonslayer Greataxe).

 

[Jyrii]

Also dodge dodge dodge.

Oh believe I did.

I think I might have been too greedy though. The Soul of Cinder fight taught me to just hit once and then run dodge like a fox.

 

[Jyrii]

To everyone having trouble with Champion Gundyr, I have two words for you:

Git Gud

Props to that lady, she does make that fight look trivial.

 

[Shadowhaxor]

To everyone having trouble with Champion Gundyr, I have two words for you:

Git Gud

Based off those attacks, that character is also leveled up quite a bit. But agree, he used to be a huge pain in my ass as well.

 

[DemWalls]

Personally, I really struggled with Sulyvahn, possibly because I got to him after playing for 6 hours straight, so my reflexes were a bit worn out.

The others were rather easy, in particular I expected more from the Nameless King after seeing it called "the hardest boss in the series". I died mostly in the first phase, struggling with the camera.

 

[Dolobill]

Champion Gundyr harder than Nameless King? Hell naw.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Iudex Gundyr on my deprived build kicked my ass. Took around 15 tries. On my Knight build he took only a couple tries. So many variables for just about any boss that I'm not sure I ever want to call any boss easy or hard except maybe Nameless King or Soul of Cinder.

But yeah, Champion can be quite the roadblock. Solid humanoid boss though. And that whole area without light was really memorable to me and a great re-using of assets. Felt like some discarded world and was haunting seeing that familiar area without any life.

 

[Gai Murakumo]

Suprisingly I did not have much trouble with him. I believe I beat him on my first or second try.

 

[Sephzilla]

I thought Nameless King and Aldrich were harder, but yeah, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Gundyr is a bastard

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

I guess I am the only one to consider Abyss Watchers the hardest.

 

[Zyrox]

Champion Gundyr was definitely somewhat of a roadblock for me as well. Took me about 20 tries. That fucking shoulder bash and his air juggle kick...finally defeating him was a great feeling.

 

[Linkark07]

Champion Gundyr? Ptfff, he was easy. Only took me like 2 or 3 tries by myself

Spoiler

in my second run.

No, that dude is a monster. Took me like 10 tries or more in my first playthrough. Died even after summoning other players. That said, I still don't understand how he got much more easy in my second playthrough, same with the Dancer.

Haven't tried Nameless King on New Game+. I'm afraid he will make my hair gray.

 

[Sephzilla]

Haven't tried Nameless King. I'm afraid he will make my hair gray.

Nameless King was the most frustrated I've gotten from a Soulsborne boss since the goddamn Maneaters in Demons Souls

 

[w0s]

I don't remember how many times it took me but Nameless King was the one I couldn't beat. I finally summoned and I swear I could have done it by myself. The person stayed back in the corner and didn't even fight for most of the fight.

 

[DemWalls]

I guess I am the only one to consider Abyss Watchers the hardest.

Hardly. If there's one thing I learned, after all these years, is that "the hardest boss in Souls games" is a deeply personal concept.

Best music though, that's objective.

 

[kris.]

Yeah, I raged over the Champ, too. That kick is absurd. Had to get help from a summon to finally get him haha. I think the one I had the most trouble with was Sulyvahn. I'm not great at parrying and he's so damn fast with his attacks. Still haven't been able to 1v1 him yet.

 

[Hybris]

Champion gundyr was the hardest boss for me on my SL1 no parry run. Soul of cinder very close second.

I fucking love the animation work that went into Gundyr. IMO he has the highest quality animations that they have done in any game in the series. The way he combos his attacks is so fluid and awesome to watch.

 

[Greatest Ever]

Nameless King was the most frustrated I've gotten from a Soulsborne boss since the goddamn Maneaters in Demons Souls

Man, thank god for magic. Only took me two tries for these guys. Got one guy down easy, the second one was tense.

 

[Despera]

I don't remember how many times it took me but Nameless King was the one I couldn't beat. I finally summoned and I swear I could have done it by myself. The person stayed back in the corner and didn't even fight for most of the fight.

Still doesn't count as a solo win though since a partner's presence messes with the boss' AI

Nameless King and Aldrich are probably the only really challenging bosses in DS3 for a Souls veteran. But then again it all depends on your play style. I prefer wearing light armor and duel wielding for the most part, which is for the best because you learn to dodge and parry properly this way.

 

[Bronetta]

Champ Gundyr was alright. Silyvahn and Aldrich broke me, had to summon for those.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Champion Gundyr harder than Nameless King? Hell naw.

Yeah NK is the hardest boss I've ever fought in a video game. Absolute monster.

If you're running a Faith build, it's fun to help people out with that boss. Sunlight Spear absolutely wrecks the stormdrake, so people will love you for shortening that painful first phase (due to the camera difficulties).

 

[UrbanRats]

Champ wasnt that hard for me, it took me 2 or 3 tries i think but Soul of Cinder broke me.
I summoned causw i got fed up and just wanted to get it over with.

DkS2 Double Tiger level of fuckery.

 

[spliced]

Agreed with most of your points OP.

Poise sucks, I had highest poise I could get after investing in higher equip load and basic skeletons were easily staggering me. Pointless.

They turned it into a speed game so strength weapons being slow took a big hit, either grab a short sword or pay the price. Seriously when an enemy is getting the better of me I remind myself that this is DS3 just equip the short sword and spam r1 and that sadly is the answer way too aften in DS3.

Champion Gundyr has ridiculous tracking.

 

[Goldboy]

I actually beat Champion Gundyr pretty easily, but Nameless King ruined my life for a day or two.

 

[Duxxy3]

Pontiff was ridiculous on XB1 because of the frame rate. Have no idea if the actual fight was hard or not.

 

[SkylineRKR]

My hardest fight was probably the Twin Princes. I had their moves down, could do the first phase without being hit but always fucked up when he did that AoE because of the lock on going AWOL. Or I became too greedy and ate all the magic.

Old Demon King was one of the hardest as well, probably because I did that area before Irithyll. He had a surprisingly big moveset and a lot of answers on my melee approach.

Nameless King I had to do a few times over, the dragon isn't hard but the fight doesn't really work. The second battle is one of the best and eventually I read his entire moveset. Helped out a lot of other players beating him.

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Hardly. If there's one thing I learned, after all these years, is that "the hardest boss in Souls games" is a deeply personal concept.

Best music though, that's objective.

Oh I agree. Just a figure of speech because ever since the day I beat DS3 and started browsing DS3 threads, I hardly remember anybody mentioning AW as their hardest. That boss made my blood boil so fucking much. I beat most of the more notorious ones fairly easily (Nameless King, Dancer on first try, etc.) yet even on my 2nd run against AW I still had lots of trouble, probably nerve but still frustrating.

Yeah NK is the hardest boss I've ever fought in a video game. Absolute monster.

If you're running a Faith build, it's fun to help people out with that boss. Sunlight Spear absolutely wrecks the stormdrake, so people will love you for shortening that painful first phase (due to the camera difficulties).

I got addicted to helping people with that boss. Can't really count how many times but I spent at least 30-35 hours just helping people beat him alone lol.

 

[Kinsei]

Here's my thoughts on the boss difficulties along with how many tries it took for me to beat them.

Iudex Gundyr: Easy (0 deaths)
Vordt: Easy (0 deaths)
Curse Rotted Greatwood: Easy (1 death)
Crystal Sage: Easy (0 deaths)
Abyss Watchers: Normal (3 deaths)
Deacons of the Deep: Easy (0 deaths)
Wolnir: Easy (1 death)
Pontiff Sulyvahn: Normal (1 death)
Aldritch: Easy (1 death)
Yhorm: Easy (0 deaths) More of a puzzle than a fight.
Dancer: Easy (2 deaths)
Oceiros: Medium (0 deaths)
Dragonslayer Armor: Easy (1 Death)
Princes: Hard (6 deaths) (The only fight where I felt truly challenged)
Soul of Cinder: Easy (1 death)

I haven't fought the others yet.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

To everyone having trouble with Champion Gundyr, I have two words for you:

Git Gud

Jesus Christ, that was nuts.

Then again, she posted this in the comments:

He can definitely be challenging! I love fighting him without parries as well. He has such cool moves! I almost have 700h in this game. Probably learned how to parry at this level at around 200-300h

Still impressive regardless of time spent.

 

[Kindekuma]

DaS3 was my first Souls game. I didn't think Champion Gundyr was that hard actually. Took me like 3 tries until it clicked. Just a more aggressive version of Ludex. Nameless King though, fuck that guy.

 

[KarmaCow]

For some reason Dragonslayer Armour was my hardest fight. I think I'm just playing too defensively on the second phase when the magic bullshit happens from the sides but I think I died about six times to it.

Gundyr round 2 isn't that much different from the original fight. Yea he has the get off me kick but it's basically the same fight.

 

[yuraya]

My first time around with the game I beat champion on the first try. It was easy. But on my second run he wrecked me really hard. Needed like 5-10 tries to beat him. I don't know how I beat him on first try the first go around. Maybe I was lucky or my dodge roll game was just on point at that moment.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Oh I agree. Just a figure of speech because ever since the day I beat DS3 and started browsing DS3 threads, I hardly remember anybody mentioning AW as their hardest. That boss made my blood boil so fucking much. I beat most of the more notorious ones fairly easily (Nameless King, Dancer on first try, etc.) yet even on my 2nd run against AW I still had lots of trouble, probably nerve but still frustrating.



I got addicted to helping people with that boss. Can't really count how many times but I spent at least 30-35 hours just helping people beat him alone lol.

Me too. Being a Sunbro is too much fun. SoC is probably my overall favorite boss to help people with, especially because you can immediately tell who's new -- new players don't run away

Spoiler

after his 1st phase ends

and get nailed by the huge fire AoE, and also so many of them get caught by the

Spoiler

wombo combo in the 2nd phase

. It's hilarious every time.

And Abyss Watchers was the hardest boss for me, by number of deaths (must have been around 50). But that's also because DS3 was my first Souls game and AW is the first really hard boss you encounter.

 

[Ac30]

I beat Champion G on my second try (Pontiff was way worse IMO) but Soul of Cinder is destroying me. By the second phase I'm almost out of estus and that fucking air juggle attack has unbelievable range.

Strangely enough I went in blind to the Twin Princes fight and managed it easily, I have no idea why I'm failing so hard at the last boss.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I beat Champion G on my second try (Pontiff was way worse IMO) but Soul of Cinder is destroying me. By the second phase I'm almost out of estus and that fucking air juggle attack has unbelievable range.

He telegraphs it like crazy (gets into a stance and pauses for a couple seconds). Use that time to just turn around and sprint away.

 

[Ac30]

He telegraphs it like crazy (gets into a stance and pauses for a couple seconds). Use that time to just turn around and sprint away.

I usually manage it now I know the pattern, it's just I use a SS so I have to get my hits in an misjudge the distance because fucking hell the reach is nutty. He's also much faster than Gundyr and that's saying something

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Me too. Being a Sunbro is too much fun. SoC is probably my overall favorite boss to help people with, especially because you can immediately tell who's new -- new players don't run away

Spoiler

after his 1st phase ends

and get nailed by the huge fire AoE, and also so many of them get caught by the

Spoiler

wombo combo in the 2nd phase

. It's hilarious every time.

And Abyss Watchers was the hardest boss for me, by number of deaths (must have been around 50). But that's also because DS3 was my first Souls game and the AW are the first really hard boss you encounter.

Yeah, that's me. It got on my nerve just thinking about it. I reckon I will still have problems with him next run.

Also, I spent way less time helping people with SoC, but still rather considerable, maybe 10 hours or so. Nameless King is definitely harder but SoC is indeed more funny, well until you made a stupid mistake and get caught in that shit yourself, lol.

Regarding the OP, Champion Gundyr is probably my favorite boss in term of choreography, dude moves indeed like a fucking champion. I did not have a problem with him though. Got him on my 2nd try.

 

[Auctopus]

Aldrich is one of the best bosses in Souls history, she deserved to be in the halls of Anor Londo.

I remember her kicking my ass but her moves each have subtle warnings and proper evasion tactics. Once you've got them down, she's a joy to fight.

 

[Sephzilla]

Aldrich is hard in a way I don't consider very fun. That boss feels pretty bullshit at times.

 

[Wagram]

Champion Gundyr harder than Nameless King? Hell naw.

Nameless King I barely struggled with. Champion ate my toast for like 2 hours.

 

[Lux R7]

nameless and c.gundyr are easier if you fight them with the moaning shield (a lot of things are easier with the moaning shield i guess).

 

[Firebrand]

Your list seems to match my own experience mostly. Nameless King was a weird one for me though because the dragon I found really difficult, a lot of the times due to the camera, but the the king himself after was a cakewalk.

I still haven't beaten the final boss, lost interest for some reason. Should go back and finish it before I go do the DLC on a new run.

 

[Systemwarrior]

Champion Gundyr was pretty easy IMO. Only bosses that gave me troubles were the Nameless King and the DLC final boss.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Aldrich is one of those bosses that seems to be easy but then does arrow rain and you try to block it and die. And you don't run away in time and die.

After one or 2 retries I ran away when he pointed upwards. The arrow rain can be avoided by normally running around. For the rest he wasn't a threat.

 

[Oracle Dragon]

Oh boy, this is making me want to get back and give DS3 another run through. I was really hoping to hold out till the DLC, but as the last mission of XCom2 is kicking my arse maybe it’s time for a break

I don’t recall having too much trouble with Champion myself. For me I think the worst boss was actually Dragonslayer Armor… I played through the game start to finish on my aging 560Ti, after a *ton* of tweaks it was mostly ok. But the arena with Dragonslayer Armor was just brutal, single digit FPS for me. I ended up giving up, just summoning a few people and then hiding in the corner trying not to die while I freeloaded the kill

Nameless King was a pretty good fight, but it was easier with a big shield build… my ez-mode build for souls is just a lot of stamina and the biggest honkin’ great shield I can get my hands on. IIRC Nameless King was made waaay easier by having that lightning resist great shield since you could block most of the bolts. I bet it’s a lot harder if you don’t have a build that can handle something like that.

Now that I have a 1060 to try this game out on I should really go back and try and an all magic sorcery build or something.