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Your ranking for most difficult Dark Souls III bosses (unmarked spoilers)

1. Pontiff (2v1)
2. Dragonslayer Armor (Those one hit kills)
3. Champion Gundyr (The most aggressive)

These are the only three bosses who aren't a total cakewalk once you figure out their moveset. Even after facing them 10s of times, your execution still has to be on point to beat them.

Then the next tier down:
4. Soul of Cinder
5. Nameless King
6. Dancer of the Boreal Valley
7. Lothric and Lorian
8. Abyss Watchers
9. Vordt of the Boreal Valley

And then I think all of the other bosses are gimmick fights.
 

Sifl

Member
3: Dragonslayer Armor- He isn't that bad, the main problem I had is when he goes into phase 2 most of his attacks can 1 shot you if you don't have enough vigor+not using a shield. Also his 1 shot attacks are delayed+long sweeps.

2:Champion Gundyr- He's fast and has a very awkward pattern, along with delays on a lot of his attacks. He can be parry cheesed, but I don't use anything to parry with.

1:Nameless King- Camera is shit first phase. Second phase most of his attack patterns are easy to figure out, but the spear lunges took me a little to figure out the dodge timings because they're delayed quite a bit (I'm seeing a pattern with all these delayed attack points I'm making).
 

Sanke__

Member
I had by far the most trouble with yhorm

It seems like I must have done something wrong

After that probably dragon armor
 

Sawneeks

Banned
Pontiff Sulyvahn >>>>>> Everyone else

Pontiff took 8 or 9 tries before I took the cheap route and summoned help out of frustration. I probably would have been stuck on him for a long time if I hadn't done that, although I plan to beat him legit my next time around.

Everyone else was either first try ( Nameless King, Soul of Cinder, Lothric Brothers ) or only took 1 - 2 deaths ( Greatwood, Abyss Watchers, Aldritch ).
 

Foffy

Banned
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.

Quite true. I had to switch weapons on Soul of Cinder because the MGS was fucking awful to use. Any window he left for a hit left me open to be hit back because of how slow the weapon is. It has none of the perks that Bloodborne gave it to staggering bosses with its L2, making it largely unwieldy.
 

Virdix

Member
Im suprised with all of the twin princes on peoples lists, I died in 10 seconds on my first attempt and then beat them the second try.

I feel like that fight will shine on NG+ though, excited to do it again after i farm all of these Proof of Concord Kept.

I fought Dancer and Dragonslayer Armour at Sl40-45 so they really atood out to me. Pontiff is rough for me as well.
 

silva1991

Member
1- Nameless King
2- Champion gundyr
3- Dancer
4- Souls of cinder
5- Pontiff/Armor
6- Princes

other bosses are cake walk.
 

burgerdog

Member
You guys need to stop locking on to big enemies. Phase 1 of NM is so easy without locking on and you have way more control over your camera placement.
 

Mman235

Member
As a UGS focused character Nameless King and Champion Gundyr are pretty much the only bosses that took me more than a few attempts maximum. I'd say the princes are a runner up though.

Edit: Estimated death count using the OP template (I know most of them but some with multiple deaths are a little fuzzy)

Yhorm the Giant - 2
Ancient Wyvern - 0
High Lord Wolnir - 0
Vordt of the Boreal Valley - 0
Deacons of the Deep - 0
Crystal Sage - 0
Iudex Gundyr - 0
Curse-Rotted Greatwood - 0
Dragonslayer Armour - 2
Old Demon King - 0
Abyss Watchers - 0
Oceiros, the Consumed King - 0
Champion Gundyr - ~8
Lothric, Younger Prince - ~4
Aldrich, Devourer of Gods - 0
Dancer of the Boreal Valley - 0
Soul of Cinder - 0
Pontiff Sulyvahn - 1
Nameless King - ~15
 
The Nameless King was both my favourite fight, and the most difficult. When he dashes away and my camera de-locks, it's basically an insta-death for me unless I still have the stamina to rollrollrollroll.

And fuck the run to the Princs more than the boss itself. More often than not I'd get caught by one of the soldiers weapons and have to waste an Estus.
 

Rizific

Member
i really wish there was a stats page that kept track of your deaths to bosses. the only ones that i can remember that gave me a hard time was pontiff and nameless.
 
1. Nameless King
2. Soul of Cinder
3. Dragonslayer Armor
4. Aldrich

The rest are not worth mentioning cause they are too easy.
 
1. Dancer
2. Pontiff Sulyvahn
3. Lothric, Younger Prince
4. Soul of Cinder


Lothric only makes me list because of the bullshit heal. Dance is tops because I was fucking terrible at judging how far its reach was.
 

Manu

Member
i really wish there was a stats page that kept track of your deaths to bosses. the only ones that i can remember that gave me a hard time was pontiff and nameless.

Probably the only thing from Lords of the Fallen I'd like to see in Dark Souls.
 
Pontiff's shadow clone bullshit was fun to deal with

Nameless KNG forced me to equip a lightning resist shield

DragonSlayer would have been really bad without tears of denial

The only scary thing about dancer was the repeated swings
 

mxgt

Banned
Bosses that gave me trouble:

1. Pontiff Sulyvahn - 10+ deaths. I've since gotten a lot better at parrying so he isn't as bad. Great fight.
2. Nameless King - 4 deaths. Probably the most fun fight in the game, especially phase 2. Camera does kinda suck though.
3. Lothric Princes
4. Soul of Cinder
5. Aldrich

Rest died in 2 or less attempts.
 
1. Champion Gundyr
2. Pontiff
3. Nameless King

The rest weren't bad. For fun, my death count:

Iudex Gundyr - 0
Vordt of the Boreal Valley - 1
Curse-Rotted Greatwood - 1
Crystal Sage - 0
Abyss Watchers - 4
Deacons of the Deep - 1
High Lord Wolnir - 0
Old Demon King - 3
Pontiff Sulyvahn - 6
Yhorm the Giant - 0
Aldrich, Devourer of Gods - 2
Dancer of the Boreal Valley - 1
Dragonslayer Armour - 2
Oceiros, the Consumed King - 0
Champion Gundyr - 12
Lothric Princes - 1
Ancient Wyvern - 0
Nameless King - 6
Soul of Cinder - 1
 
The Nameless King took me >30 tries. The only other bosses I found tricky were Pontiff Sulyvan, the Soul of Cinder, and to a certian extent Aldrich and Prince Lothric. The rest I found to be disturbingly easy.
 
Nameless King camera is only a problem locking on either the crowdragon or the rider and you stand below them. Stay on front and it will bait the easiernmovea to read, and it will also not use the flying fire breath.

Too many souls player can't do shit without lock-on. Kinda sad tbh.
 

Kholdy

Neo Member
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.


I was expecting a fight like Bloodborne's Headless Bloodletting Beast (Solo) regarding difficult, but found so much easier (I killed on my fourth try).

I found that camera is much more manageable if you lock on Nameless King and switch only when you're going for the dragon's head.


Hardest for me was Pontiff, Twin Princes, Dragonslayer and Champion (before I learned to parry).

This is my first Soul Game (I've got the platinum for Bloodborne though) and was expecting much harder bosses.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
I think Pontiff, Princes and Dragonslayer were the hardest. I'd rank Nameless King there too because it was the first boss where I felt forced to tweak myself with lightning defense.

Pontiff first phase was hard because I sucked at parrying. He has little openings and good reach. Second phase was easier I thought, because he loses his flurries. He also does things like the air strike which are easy to avoid and good punish.

Princes first phase I could eventually do without being hit. But it depended on his first teleport, and the one with the wave strike (I would lose my lock on and sight of him which fucked me up too much). This boss took the most retries by far.

Dragonslayer wasn't that hard, but I would always fuck up somewhere. It was always my own fault though. Those fireballs weren't a real threat but still a bit lame addition to an otherwise great slugfest.

Nameless King wasn't that hard per say. The Dragon is easy if it weren't for the shitty camera, the idea is excellent though. Second phase isn't that hard as his moveset isn't big. But, I felt he hit too hard if I didn't raise lighting def. This is perhaps the best boss fight FROM has ever done. The opening scene, the mid battle scene, the ending... I love it.
 
every boss in the game was a joke to me, except for oceiros.

How did you guys find him easy?

I went for a dex build and couldn't even land a single hit on him during his second phase and died the most to him. Champion Gundyr was also up there, but that was me being super greedy and him punishing that.
Also I found it easier to drop lock on on certain boss fights (like NK) so camera didn't become a problem.
 
Pontiff was difficult until I remembered what parrying was. Champion Gundyr gave me a hard time too but now he's cake.

Didn't have much trouble on Nameless King. He has a few moves that can surprise you but once you've seen his moveset I don't think he's hard to dodge. I have blocked him a few times and he went threw a crazy amount of stamina. Might be a tough fight if you wanna tank
 

Gattsu25

Banned
None of the bosses struck me as overly difficult. Played as a DEX character.

These fights, however, were fucking awesome experiences:
Nameless King
Lothric Princes
Dancer of the Boreal Valley
Soul of Cinder
Champion Gundyr
Pontiff Sulyvahn

The giant tree with the genital warts was the hardest boss in the game for me until I realized that there were additional smaller cloisters of warts all over the boss.

The bosses in this game were all pretty fun.

Edit:
every boss in the game was a joke to me, except for oceiros.

How did you guys find him easy?

I went for a dex build and couldn't even land a single hit on him during his second phase and died the most to him. Champion Gundyr was also up there, but that was me being super greedy and him punishing that.
Also I found it easier to drop lock on on certain boss fights (like NK) so camera didn't become a problem.
I was DEX also and...I don't think I needed to use an Estus on that boss fight. Beat him on my first try :\
 
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.

Yeah Dancer is basically an easier, slower version of Pontiff. Abyss Watchers weren't hard either since you have such large attack windows.

Pontiff is by far the hardest boss for me (although I have a few more to go still).
 

generic_username

I switched to an alt account to ditch my embarrassing tag so I could be an embarrassing Naughty Dog fanboy in peace. Ask me anything!
every boss in the game was a joke to me, except for oceiros.

How did you guys find him easy?

I went for a dex build and couldn't even land a single hit on him during his second phase and died the most to him. Champion Gundyr was also up there, but that was me being super greedy and him punishing that.
Also I found it easier to drop lock on on certain boss fights (like NK) so camera didn't become a problem.

I found Oceriros to be a very easy boss fight. Like you can be under him throughout and repeatedly hit him. Then use the shield everytime he does the 360 degree tail spin.
 
every boss in the game was a joke to me, except for oceiros.

How did you guys find him easy?

I went for a dex build and couldn't even land a single hit on him during his second phase and died the most to him. Champion Gundyr was also up there, but that was me being super greedy and him punishing that.
Also I found it easier to drop lock on on certain boss fights (like NK) so camera didn't become a problem.
Because he is too big, the hitboxes are tight so he won't hit you standing close to him. I didn't het hit even once in phase 2 since he goes over you.


Hopefully next patch has some nerf on straight swords damage. I check ds2 and found hard to get 400+ AR on non-UGS/Greataxes....here refined broadsword has over 430 ar around 30/30 stats with minimal stamina usage.

Ridiculous. Pontiff was easy because i almost killed him while he was summoning his stand with r1 spam from broadsword.
 

LiK

Member
Nameless King's second form is fucking insane. Toughest Souls boss in the series. You need to be on your game. Even Soul of Cinder was easier for me.
 
LOL Tier
19. Yhorm
18. Ancient Wyvern
17. Index Gundyr
16. Deacons of the Deep
15. Oceiros
14. Dragonslayer Armour
13. Crystal Sage
12. Vordt of the Boreal Valley

Can be a Struggle Tier
11. Abyss Watchers
10. Old Demon King
9. High Lord Wolnir
8. Curse-Rotted Greatwood

Actual Challenge Tier
7. Dancer
6. Pontiff Sulyvahn
5. Lothric
4. Champion Gundyr
3. Aldrich
2. Soul of Cinder

WTF is this? Tier
1. Nameless King (Ridiculously difficult)
 
I found Oceriros to be a very easy boss fight. Like you can be under him throughout and repeatedly hit him. Then use the shield everytime he does the 360 degree tail spin.

see the problem is in second phase being under him is like a death sentence. He does the charge move without any signs or telegraph and that insta kills me.

Good thing i found his tail spin to be the only moment to hit him so he was easy in NG+

Because he is too big, the hitboxes are tight so he won't hit you standing close to him. I didn't het hit even once in phase 2 since he goes over you.

Interesting that most of y'all barely got hit standing close to him. He just goes ham if I am nearby and always had to stay behind his butt to survive. I even had to bring a shield for phase 2, which i have never used since Bloodborne training.
 

Kaz42

Member
I had the most trouble with the Nameless King, Old Demon King, and the Final Boss. With the Nameless King I kept getting too anxious in the 2nd phase and would roll too early which left me open to getting hit. The Old Demon King would take up the majority of the screen when I would roll around which got me killed a few times. The final boss kept catching me with magic attacks and with his lethal combo in phase 2. I ended up taking advantage of my bow with him. Used the bow with Pontiff too, made him easier to deal with. I ran a dex build with a katana/bow as my main weapons.

Everyone talks about how easy this game was but I found it to be the hardest one for me. For me its Dark Souls 3 > Dark Souls 2 > Dark Souls > Demon's Souls in terms of difficulty.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
I expected more from Aldrich. I hacked away at him and he didn't seem to be a threat at all. The rain attack is dangerous, but he telegraphs it big time. You can just run in circles. I died once against his phase 2 rain, and from there I sort of watched out for it. Its a bit like Wolnir, his purple cloud killed me and I didn't realize it at first.

Oceiros first phase has some dangerous AoE and frost stuff. Second phase he just lunges at you and in my experience with those mindless bosses on 4 legs its that you want to roll underneath them. This worked out well. He was one of the easier bosses to me but he has some randomness to him and the area can fuck you up so I can see him getting some cheap wins against players.

Dancer wasn't hard either imo, but its slowness can throw you off as you're likely used to fast animations and reactions. Its a more methodical fight, liked it a lot.

Soul of Cinder phase with agile backsteps was a pain for me. For the rest hes manageable. His second phase is just Gwyn and when he backsteps, get out. I see sunbros falling for his juggle starter still.
 
Punishes slow weapons like 99% of the bosses in this game. Using a GS or UGS is not easy in this game.

Figured it had to be something like that, since so many people rank him highly.

He was kind of a joke with the Black Blade, but I can see how maybe if your recovery window was longer on attacks you wouldn't be able to get safe hits after dodging his swings. They definitely don't seem to have intentionally designed for safe attack windows to be a consideration, going by the other common Top 4 on lists (Pontiff, Nameless King, and Gundyr).
 
I expected more from Aldrich.

Yup if you keep hitting Aldrich's tail he barely does any special attacks. If you hit at gywdolyin then he goes ham with bows etc...

Oceiros first phase has some dangerous AoE and frost stuff. Second phase he just lunges at you and in my experience with those mindless bosses on 4 legs its that you want to roll underneath them. This worked out well.

This is so BS. He keeps doing the charge move, which insta kills, when i get underneath him.
 

Dutchman

Neo Member
I only had a bit of trouble with Pontiff and a lot of trouble with Nameless King. Rest of the bosses were dead in a few tries.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Yup if you keep hitting Aldrich's tail he barely does any special attacks. If you hit at gywdolyin then he goes ham with bows etc...



This is so BS. He keeps doing the charge move, which insta kills, when i get underneath him.

I would mostly end up behind him, striking while anticipating the tail.
 

generic_username

I switched to an alt account to ditch my embarrassing tag so I could be an embarrassing Naughty Dog fanboy in peace. Ask me anything!
see the problem is in second phase being under him is like a death sentence. He does the charge move without any signs or telegraph and that insta kills me.

Good thing i found his tail spin to be the only moment to hit him so he was easy in NG+



Interesting that most of y'all barely got hit standing close to him. He just goes ham if I am nearby and always had to stay behind his butt to survive. I even had to bring a shield for phase 2, which i have never used since Bloodborne training.

Never faced a problem with the charge attack. If you are under him and in the front - do a couple of slashes and roll away to his side and proceed to his back

If you are under him and you are behind - keep slashing away ( again only a few slashes, then hold up your shield and prepare for the tail spin )


I found doing that made him very easy.

I expected more from Aldrich. I hacked away at him and he didn't seem to be a threat at all. The rain attack is dangerous, but he telegraphs it big time. You can just run in circles. I died once against his phase 2 rain, and from there I sort of watched out for it. Its a bit like Wolnir, his purple cloud killed me and I didn't realize it at first.

Oceiros first phase has some dangerous AoE and frost stuff. Second phase he just lunges at you and in my experience with those mindless bosses on 4 legs its that you want to roll underneath them. This worked out well. He was one of the easier bosses to me but he has some randomness to him and the area can fuck you up so I can see him getting some cheap wins against players.

Dancer wasn't hard either imo, but its slowness can throw you off as you're likely used to fast animations and reactions. Its a more methodical fight, liked it a lot.

Soul of Cinder phase with agile backsteps was a pain for me. For the rest hes manageable. His second phase is just Gwyn and when he backsteps, get out. I see sunbros falling for his juggle starter still.

Aldrich was a terrible boss. Not crystal sage terrible but still close. The only really dangerous thing about Cinder's second phase that I got killed by is that stupid combo that he does that ends with slamming his weapon into the ground that erupts in fire. If you get caught in the first hit you are more often than not stuck in a massive combo that takes away a good chunk of the health.
 

Zocano

Member
Don't know what it is but I rolled UGS my first playthrough and I found every boss manageable and not overly difficult.

The only time I really had to buckle down and focus was Nameless King but honestly, his moveset and timings are really consistent and easy to learn. He's nothing on Champion Gundyr's level of speed and ferocity. I find Nameless King to be a lot easier now than Champion Gundyr who can still give me a run for my money on repeated playthroughs (even if I beat him 2nd try my first playthrough).

1- The Champ
2- Princes
3- Nameless King
4- everything else

I never had much problem with anything other than the named three in successive playthroughs, and like I said, my UGS playthrough was still the easiest time I had.
 

MrHoot

Member
"Help I've fallen and I can't get up" Tier

- Pontiff Sulyvahn, feat Pontiff Sulyvahn
- Champion Gundyr, 22 times heavyweight champion
- Nameless King, destroyer of cameras and rectums

"Oh shit this guy can actually fight" tier

- Bran and Hodor
- Black Swan
- Soul of Fire mixtape
- Evil Flubber
- ORNST-209

"Eh. sure okay" tier

- Artorias's murder fan club
- Frost puppy
- Big hat and his funky bunch
- "I thought this was bloodborne" aka NotSeath
- Iudex Gundyr aka "I decide if you get to keep playing or not"

"Aw look he's doing cute tricks, imma give him a treat" tier

- Yhorm "Onions make me cry"
- Dragon who apparently can't burn wood scaffolding
- Wolnir and the secret rings

"Bro, go to sleep" tier


- Deacons Pyjama Party
- Dumb man got stuck in tree, more at 11
- Old Rehash King
 
Don't know what it is but I rolled UGS my first playthrough and I found every boss manageable and not overly difficult.

The only time I really had to buckle down and focus was Nameless King but honestly, his moveset and timings are really consistent and easy to learn. He's nothing on Champion Gundyr's level of speed and ferocity. I find Nameless King to be a lot easier now than Champion Gundyr who can still give me a run for my money on repeated playthroughs (even if I beat him 2nd try my first playthrough).

1- The Champ
2- Princes
3- Nameless King
4- everything else

I never had much problem with anything other than the named three in successive playthroughs, and like I said, my UGS playthrough was still the easiest time I had.

lol Champion Gundyr seems like a nightmare with UGS
 
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