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[MrOogieBoogie]

I ended the game as a knight at SL 93, with a focus on END and STR and the rest in Vigor. Solo'd everything, with my main weapon for nearly every encounter being a Broadsword. Anyway, I'd rank them as follows (with number of times I died in battle):

19. Yhorm the Giant - 2
18. Ancient Wyvern - 2
17. High Lord Wolnir - 1
16. Vordt of the Boreal Valley - 1
15. Deacons of the Deep - 4
14. Crystal Sage - 3
13. Iudex Gundyr - 3
12. Curse-Rotted Greatwood - 3
11. Dragonslayer Armour - 2
10. Old Demon King - 2
9. Abyss Watchers - 0
8. Oceiros, the Consumed King - 3
7. Champion Gundyr - 3
6. Lothric, Younger Prince - 4
5. Aldrich, Devourer of Gods - 7
4. Dancer of the Boreal Valley - 7
3. Soul of Cinder - 12
2. Pontiff Sulyvahn - 15?
1. Nameless King - 20? 25?

With the exception of the Abyss Watchers, it's amazing how much better and stronger the bosses in the latter half of the game are compared to the first half (starting with Pontiff).

 

[Auctopus]

#1. The camera in Nameless King.

 

[Hektor]

The Nameless king without a doubt. Not only the most challenging one, but also the coolest fight. Fuckin' loved every second it.

 

[Xater]

I actually had the most trouble with the very first one, which is weird.

 

[Manu]

#1. The camera in Old Demon King.

FTFY

1. Nameless King
2. Pontiff Sulyvahn
3. Old Demon King

Seriously, fuck Old Demon King

 

[ebullientprism]

#1. The camera in Nameless King.

Fucking god yes.

Other than that all bosses are like 2/5 on a difficulty scale. Except towards the end where the game cheapens out and has you do like 3-4 bosses who regenerate all their health at mid fight.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

I actually had the most trouble with the very first one, which is weird.

I had more trouble with him than I thought I would, but the last Souls game I played was Dark Souls when it released on PC. Took a while for the rustiness to wear off.

FTFY

1. Nameless King
2. Pontiff Sulyvahn
3. Old Demon King

Seriously, fuck Old Demon King

I thought the camera in the Oceiros fight was pretty bad.

I didn't visit Smouldering Lake until I was, like, level 85, so by that point the Old Demon King didn't put up much of a fight. Neither did any of the enemies, which I'm glad about because I can easily see how annoying this section of the game must be at earlier levels.

 

[Dahbomb]

Difficult bosses (you will die a few times):

Nameless King
Pontiff Sulyvahn
Soul of Cinders


Middle of the road bosses (you might die but not that much):

Lothric brothers
Aldrich
Champion Gundyr
Dancer of Boreal Valley
Vordt of the valley
Oceiros
Dragonslayer
Abyss Watchers
Old Demon King


Easy bosses:

Deacon of the Deep
Crystal Sage
Highlord Wolnir
Giant Tree
Ludex Gundyr (kinda depends, if you have played Souls game before then this is very easy but if this is your first Souls game then it's not that easy)



Gimmick bosses (if you know the gimmick then there are the easiest thing ever but the challenge is finding the gimmick):

Yhorm
Ancient Wyvern


Overall not that hard of a game boss wise.

 

[kencey]

The camera on Old Demon King is the most annoying thing in the game (and monsters hitting you through walls).

 

[KZXcellent]

#1 The Camera in Nameless King. (This shit was a NIGHTMARE)
#2 Pontiff Sulyvahn (Ultra hectic for me and the clone just makes me go "welp, time to summon")
#3 Champion Gundyr (Phase 2 and his Kick are INFURIATING)
#4 Aldritch (His arrows in Phase 2 are nuts especially when you're dodging them and whatever other attack he's throwing at you.)
#5 Princes (This teleporting monstrosity...)
#6 High Lord Wolnir (His gas is insanely overpowered and him summoning adds at a regular rate makes this fight even WORSE. I don't care if he can kill them when he summons the super-powered skeltons at the end.)
#7 Soul of Cinder (He's just challenging. The 4-5 hit air juggle he does is super cool though)

Wolnir is #6 on difficulty but he's #1 in most hated. Such a chore.

 

[blackflag]

FTFY

1. Nameless King
2. Pontiff Sulyvahn
3. Old Demon King

Seriously, fuck Old Demon King

I'm having problems with him. He seems so easy then BOOM!

 

[E_Darkness]

1) Namless King
2) Lothric Princes
3) Dancer
4) Soul of Cinder
5) Pontiff
6) Champion Gundyr

I think these are the only actual difficult bosses in the game. Nameless King is such a damn good boss. I had to get a completely different weapon for this first phase as I was using a black katana and I had no range to hit the head. I got a washing pole to +9 and it made the fight much easier. I eventually just dodged all his hits and just did one attack each time. I had to get an entirely new weapon to fight this guy. But now I respec'd my character and use his sword spear because it makes me feel good.
The Lothric Princes are annoying, the younger prince reviving the brother is a pain and their attacks and spells can work in tandem. The first phase could just be a boss in his own right.
Dancer's timing feels weird? Also the fact I think this might arguable be the hardest boss depending when you take it on in the game. It hits hard and can throw a lot of hits out there.
Soul of Cinder is basically "lets make a final boss that cannot be parried", but he can be staggered? It almost feels like they intended this boss to have a riposte. But the 2nd phase is just one hit combo if you get caught by the first hit.
Pontiff and Gundyr are just both "git gud" bosses. They aren't hard but if you're not being careful you'll get wrecked. But they're pretty aggressive.

Spoiler

I found Aldrich easy...

 

[GurgleBot20]

Seriously, fuck Old Demon King

Yeah.... I was able to beat Pontiff in 2, Aldrich in 3, Dancer in 1, yet Old Demon King took me forever. I kept losing my lock-on and it seemed like every time I tried to dodge, I got blocked off by one of his feet.

 

[WhiskerFrisker]

Fucking god yes.

Other than that all bosses are like 2/5 on a difficulty scale. Except towards the end where the game cheapens out and has you do like 3-4 bosses who regenerate all their health at mid fight.

This. The Nameless King has a cool but useless first phase that wastes time.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

Aldrich and the Dancer destroyed me. Good lord. I found Oceiros really easy though. Extremely easy to telegraph and was overall a wreckless boss.

Haven't quite reached Nameless King yet, but I'm looking forward to it (seen him in pre-release shots).

May I also say: Fuck Champion Gundyr. Does he not know how to chill the fuck out?

 

[Mephala]

1. The drop to get the Firekeeper Garb in the Firelink Tower. No other area have I died as much. I'm pretty sure I got onto the platform at last not by skill but by luck.

2. Nameless King
3. Champion Gundyr
4. Dancer
5. Pontiff Sulyvahn

I honestly don't remember struggling with the rest. I sort of want to name the Abyss Watchers but I think I had a really good run and everything just worked out for me. I died more in stupid fights like Wolnir.

Mean while... Hawkwood gave me far more trouble than everything other than the Nameless King.

I... Have a glass cannon melee build. I have low hp and stamina, high str/dex/faith and decent carry capacity. My first time through so I wanted to try as many weapons as possible and knew i had to sacrifice points somewhere... Chose health and stamina... There were times I felt that I chose poorly.

 

[Dahbomb]

Soul of Cinder is basically "lets make a final boss that cannot be parried", but he can be staggered? It almost feels like they intended this boss to have a riposte. But the 2nd phase is just one hit combo if you get caught by the first hit.

Soul of Cinder can parry/riposte you in his katana form. That happened to me once.

This boss has like 30+ moves or something crazy like that... I am pretty sure a majority of players haven't even seen all of his moves. Sometimes you get lucky and he might not even go through a particular most set rotation.

 

[Kysen]

Nameless king is the hardest till you use the cheese strat. Just bait his air dive in phase 2 dodge it and get tones of free hits in, rinse and repeat. You also get a guaranteed 5 seconds to heal after he does the air sweep combo and fails to land the 2nd hit. Just back off and not have to worry about the repeated stabs.

 

[mindfreak191]

For some reason I was stuck on Champion Gundyr for 3h until I caved in and summoned help, yet I managed to beat the Dancer on my 3rd try.....

 

[Berserking Guts]

Played as a DEX character throughout and my main weapon was the Rapier.

1. Pontiff
2. Soul of Cinder
3. Lothric
4. Dragonslayer Armour
5. Oceiros
6. Champion Gundyr
7. Nameless King
8. Aldrich
9. Old Demon King
10. High Lord Wolnir

Can't really rank the rest of them since they were a little on the easy side.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Champion Gundyr fucked me up more than anyone else, dude doesn't even wait until the halfway health point before deciding to turn his moveset up on steroids, that's how much he means business.
Gundyr was as traditional ruck as it gets, a relentless melee machine with a variety of attacks to cover the various areas around him.

 

[impact]

I hated Wolnir

 

[Star Falcon]

I didn't keep a count, but looking back I'd say:

1. Nameless King
2. Pontiff Sulyvahn
3. Twin Princes
4. Dancer of the Boreal Valley
5. Abyss Watchers

Nothing else was notably difficult. I one-shotted the following without knowing what to do:

Iudex Gundyr
Deacons of the Deep
Old Demon King
Oceiros, the Consumed King
Champion Gundyr

 

[Foffy]

I beat most bosses on my first try, so I can only honestly talk about bosses where I died at least once.


- Nameless King (This fucker was the bane of my experience, because of the camera)
- Soul of Cinder
- Dancer of the Boreal Valley
- Aldrich
- Lorian & Lothric
- Crystal Sage
- Champion Gundyr (I had no Estus entering this fight)
- Ancient Wyvern (I was killed by one of the bigger dudes in the arena)

I can't really rank the rest, because of how easy they were.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I find it silly people are having trouble with old demon king. He's slow, his attacks are heavily telegraphed and easily dodgable. The meteor thing he does can give you a good 2 or 3 hits and then you can easily dodge back all the slow meteors.

I died the first time and coincidentally had the host die on me in CO op when you get him to his last 10th/20th of health when he falls on his knees and then explodes. Most people wanna rush him and attack there but if you just wait far away he'll explode and then you can rush him to do all the attacks you want.

I had a harder time with dancer due to the erratic movements and little tells on some of her attacks. Second phase it's particularly bad if you don't use columns to avoid her attacks because there's little breaks between her attacks and her spin moves took like my whole health bar.

 

[Empty Space]

#6 High Lord Wolnir (His gas is insanely overpowered and him summoning adds at a regular rate makes this fight even WORSE. I don't care if he can kill them when he summons the super-powered skeltons at the end.)

Wolnir is #6 on difficulty but he's #1 in most hated. Such a chore.

I didn't see any of this at all that's crazy. It was a super boring fight for me of arm swings.

Nameless King take the top spot and it isn't even remotely close for me. Even when I knew all his move I still struggles to roll through a lot of them consistently.

I struggled a little with Pontiff Sullyvahn and Soul of Cinder too, but that just meant 3-5 tries instead of the 1 or 2 I usually did.

 

[E_Darkness]

Soul of Cinder can parry/riposte you in his katana form. That happened to me once.

This boss has like 30+ moves or something crazy like that... I am pretty sure a majority of players haven't even seen all of his moves. Sometimes you get lucky and he might not even go through a particular most set rotation.

That also happened to me just once. I was not even mad when it did it, I was just like "woah". Never did it again.

 

[Drillary Clinton]

1. The Nameless King
2. Princes
3. Soul of Cinder
4. Old Demon King
5. Dancer

 

[MegaSackman]

1) Namless King


I think these are the only actual difficult bosses in the game. Nameless King is such a damn good boss. I had to get a completely different weapon for this first phase as I was using a black katana and I had no range to hit the head. I got a washing pole to +9 and it made the fight much easier. I eventually just dodged all his hits and just did one attack each time. I had to get an entirely new weapon to fight this guy. But now I respec'd my character and use his sword spear because it makes me feel good.

Spoiler

I found Aldrich easy...

I'm still fighting him, using Chaos Blade and I can tell you that first fase is a joke, I understand that people have problems with the camera but seriously once you know how to use it it just so easy. Hitting him in the head with the Katana is a matter of waiting an opening, but you do so much damage to him (I've Chaos Blade +5 tho) that the battle doesn't last more than 60-90 seconds.
Second phase is overwhleming :O Best boss battle in the game so far.

Regarding Aldrich, yeah... me too.

 

[borborygmus]

I don't get why people are finding the Dancer hard. I find you can be really sloppy with your rolls and still not get hit by her at all... Literally right through her slow, giant swings. She's like a low difficulty rhythm game.

I'm also surprised to see Oceiros on some people's lists, just get most of the way behind him and he can't do much other than his tail attack, which is weak.

Sulyvahn was the hardest boss in the game for me. Maybe I was underleveled, I don't know. I found his combos really hard to anticipate, and I can't at all figure out parrying in this game. I thought even Nameless King was easier, just lengthier and more of a test of player endurance.

 

[SargerusBR]

Soul of Cinder is the best final boss of the franchise. It is what Miyazaki wanted Gwyn to be in the first Dark Souls.

 

[Makareu]

I am surprised by the number of people who use the locked on camera on very big enemy. Nameless King p1 is pretty straightforward with free camera once you pick up NK attack cues from the dragon animations.

 

[Ridesh]

1. Nameless King
2. Soul of Cinder
3. Pontiff Sulyvahn
4. Champion Gundyr
5. Lorian & Lothric
6. Aldrich

All others are quite easy.

 

[Star Falcon]

Soul of Cinder is the best final boss of the franchise. It is what Miyazaki wanted Gwyn to be in the first Dark Souls.

Yeah I agree. Loved the presentation of it, how it incorporates all the different abilities, weapons and spells. The music in Phase 2 was a nice touch of nostalgia.

 

[Manu]

I find it silly people are having trouble with old demon king. He's slow, his attacks are heavily telegraphed and easily dodgable. The meteor thing he does can give you a good 2 or 3 hits and then you can easily dodge back all the slow meteors.

Maybe because my defenses were low or because of my armor, but he could literally kill me in two hits when I fought him. Getting hit once, staggered, and then hit again meant death. And I was lvl 50+ by then.

I ended up popping red burrs like crazy when I finally got him.

 

[Arkanius]

1. Champion Gundyr
2. Nameless King

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

Difficult bosses (you will die a few times):

Nameless King
Pontiff Sulyvahn
Soul of Cinders


Middle of the road bosses (you might die but not that much):

Lothric brothers
Aldrich
Champion Gundyr
Dancer of Boreal Valley
Vordt of the valley
Oceiros
Dragonslayer
Abyss Watchers
Old Demon King


Easy bosses:

Deacon of the Deep
Crystal Sage
Highlord Wolnir
Giant Tree
Ludex Gundyr (kinda depends, if you have played Souls game before then this is very easy but if this is your first Souls game then it's not that easy)



Gimmick bosses (if you know the gimmick then there are the easiest thing ever but the challenge is finding the gimmick):

Yhorm
Ancient Wyvern


Overall not that hard of a game boss wise.

This is very accurate and it parallels my experience almost to a tee.

 

[Jebusman]

I was running a two handed Katana build, so just about every boss was a nightmare until I memorized their attack patterns to dodge.

I also played most of the game flipflopping back and forth between keyboard and controller. I think I did most of the harder bosses with keyboard (including Nameless King).

So I'd probably say for me personally.

1. Dancer (Just something about his moves I couldn't dodge. I always was too early or too late)
2. Soul of Cinder (Spear form. I can't deal with spears)
3. Nameless King (Before I discovered the Lothric Knight Shield)
4. Pontiff (I beat this boss completely naked with nothing but a Katana, because I discovered my light armor was effectively useless).

Because they were the only bosses I had to take a break and go back to later after I stopped getting so mad.

Also:

9001. Nameless King (After I discovered the Lothric Knight Shield)

87% Lightning resistance on a standard shield is insane and I wish I had known about this earlier. I just sat there and blocked everything.

 

[Wanchan]

1 - Nameless
2 - Lothric
3 - Soul of cinder
4 - Dancer

As for the rest, I wouldn't even call them bosses.

 

[Empty Space]

I was running a two handed Katana build, so just about every boss was a nightmare until I memorized their attack patterns to dodge.

I also played most of the game flipflopping back and forth between keyboard and controller. I think I did most of the harder bosses with keyboard (including Nameless King).

So I'd probably say for me personally.

1. Dancer (Just something about his moves I couldn't dodge. I always was too early or too late)
2. Soul of Cinder (Spear form. I can't deal with spears)
3. Nameless King (Before I discovered the Lothric Knight Shield)
4. Pontiff (I beat this boss completely naked with nothing but a Katana, because I discovered my light armor was effectively useless).

Because they were the only bosses I had to take a break and go back to later after I stopped getting so mad.

Also:

9001. Nameless King (After I discovered the Lothric Knight Shield)

87% Lightning resistance on a standard shield is insane and I wish I had known about this earlier. I just sat there and blocked everything.

The dragon slayer shield is 97%

 

[ogbg]

Pontiff or Nameless King. Poiseless Abyss Watchers was a missed opportunity

 

[Drillary Clinton]

Kinda off-topic but I went back and played DS1 recently cuz I never got to play Arteries and MOTHERFUCK MANUS

 

[Jebusman]

The dragon slayer shield is 97%

But also a heavier greatshield. The Lothric Knight Shield allowed me to have pretty high lightning resistance while keeping my weight limit down significantly.

 

[Dyna]

Deaths not included since I can't really remember how many times I died/if I even died in certain fights.

19. Curse-Rotted Greatwood
18. Iudex Gundyr
17. Deacons of the Deep
16. Vordt of the Boreal Valley
15. High Lord Wolnir
14. Old Demon King
13. Crystal Sage
12. Yhorm the Giant
11. Dancer of the Boreal Valley
10. Ancient Wyvern
9. Oceiros, the Consumed King
8. Dragonslayer Armour
7. Abyss Watchers
6. Lorian & Lothric
5. Aldrich, Devourer of Gods
4. Champion Gundyr
3. Pontiff Sulyvahn
2. Soul of Cinder
1. Nameless King

If I remember correctly, I summoned people to help me in Yhorm the Giant, High Lord Wolnir, Pontiff Sulyvahn, Aldrich, Nameless King and Deacons of the Deep. Some of those were NPC summons. Now that I think of it, I kind of played the game like a, dare I say it, casual gamer even though I am a veteran of sorts when it comes to the Dark Souls games. I had fun though and that's what matters imo.

The bosses I enjoyed the most were Oceiros, Lorian & Lothric, Dancer and Abyss Watchers.

 

[Saiyar]

Nameless King with my Str build.

With my Mage build it was Vordt. I died about 5 times which was more than Nameless King, Soul of Cinder, Dancer and Pontiff combined.

 

[w0s]

Hard
1. Nameless King
2. Abyss Watchers


Medium
3. Champion Gundyr
4. Soul of Cinder
5. Pontiff Sullivayn

Rest were fun but don't remember having any real trouble past trying a few times. In the end double health bars and seemingly endless stamina seem to be killer.

 

[supermetfreud]

#1. The camera in Nameless King.

This is really a shame, as the first phase of this boss is conceptually amazing. Fighting a dragon-riding badass as he chucks bolts of lightning at you in a swirl of rain and mist is 100% My Shit aesthetically. But the camera actively works against the way you have to read both dragon and rider.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

I am surprised by the number of people who use the locked on camera on very big enemy. Nameless King p1 is pretty straightforward with free camera once you pick up NK attack cues from the dragon animations.

I'm not understanding the NK camera complaints BECAUSE I locked on to the guy the whole fight. His first phase is supremely easy if you just stay locked on to either him or his dragon. Also, staying locked on made the fight incredibly epic. Watching him fly overhead and chuck lightning bolts at you and come swooping down from the sky was honestly amazing to experience.

 

[Dahbomb]

I will say one thing.

Trying to beat some of these bosses with a UGS is quite difficult. They don't provide much of an opening and if you attack at the wrong time then you can get punished because of the slow swing and recovery.

However, the same bosses when tackled with a faster weapon like a broadsword makes them a lot easier.


Also difficulty varies on whether you can shield/parry the bosses or not. Pontiff and Abyss Watchers are a lot easier with a good shield and if you can parry them decently well.

 

[ogbg]

Just don't stay too close in phase 1 and the camera is fine. Stay a few metres in front and run in and out for attacks.