Best Bosses from Dark Souls 1
The bosses in Dark Souls are usually regarded as one of the highlights of the game. I will be going through them and ranking them in terms of how entertaining and well designed the boss is.
This was honestly the boss that gave me the most trouble on my first playthrough. His lightning-fast attacks, ridiculous flips, and distance-closing attacks make this a relentless fight, but it's so satisfying to beat him.
As well as being one of the hardest fights in the game, the fight with Manus is extremely fun. It combines the high defensive capabilities of an endurance boss like Fume Knight with the raw speed and offensive power of a mechanical boss like Sir Alonne.
I found the frantic nature of the battle to be amazingly fun.
Manus is the hardest fight in the game, but somehow it feels just as fair.
I personally never saw the extreme hype about this boss. It is very good, but the design isn't as impressive as people make it out to be. There is next to no contrast in terms of speed and damage between the two. Their appearances only give the impression of that.
While this boss is fun and one of the few multi-target bosses that isn't terrible, it still feels like two aggressive enemies attacking you at the same time.
This boss is amazing. I love how it always keeps you on your toes. The entire fight is intense, having two powerful enemies charging at you, which almost simulates a real-life fight.
People always say they quit on Ornstein and Smough. How could you quit on them as cool as they are? The design of the fight, along with the music, creates a perfect atmosphere for the biggest climax in the game. Overall, 100/10.
Just like Manus, the reason I love this boss is the difficulty. It is so intense and fun to fight this beast. It also gets bonus points for being a dragon boss that wasn't terrible, unlike every other dragon in the Souls series (other than Midir).
Hands down the saddest boss in the series. The lore about him only fighting you to protect you from the abyss, the fact that he spends his life guarding his master's grave, and the fact that he begins to limp as he becomes close to death - all of it is heartbreaking.
His fight isn't too bad either, forcing you to actively dodge since he will wipe out your stamina if you block. He probably has my favorite design in the series - a dog holding a sword in his mouth.
The music alone makes him one of my favorite bosses. The sadness of it, combined with the sheer majesty, reminds me so much of Roxas' theme from KH2.
The boss himself is quite challenging and fun, as turtling behind your shield won't work very well due to his sword being on fire. The main issue with the boss is how he can be trivialized with parrying.
The boss is really cool looking and the fairest real taste of an aggressive fight in the game. However, by the time you reach this boss, chances are you will be vastly over-equipped and will beat him without any problems. He is ridiculous on SL 1.
Depending on what weapon you have, the difficulty of the fight varies. Any overhead weapon can make this boss a non-threat as you can stunlock her.
However, the fight itself is well designed as it is all about limiting movement. As the fight goes on, Quelaag will spit more and more lava onto the floor to limit where you can go, making it essential to always be behind her.
This boss is a case of something great that could have been so much greater. The way the boss is structured is essentially a DPS test. I believe that to make this boss even better, each of the kings could be different.
That said, the boss is still really good as is.
This is an intense fight that reflects everything Dark Souls is about.
While this boss isn't necessarily well-liked, I find it to be great. He himself isn't that difficult or impressive in any way, but the skeleton army that joins the battle makes it cool as you keep trying to lead Nito's attacks into the regenerating skeletons. He also looks awesome.
This boss is where things get real. The boss is very tough on your first playthrough as you have no idea about the many different easy ways to beat them. You can get two different summons and have pine resin, making this boss easy.
However, the surprise the first time that second gargoyle came down will always be a fond memory of this game.
As with the Sanctuary Guardian, I would like this boss a lot more if I couldn't beat her with my eyes closed. Her invisibility concept is creative, but it really takes away from the fight when a boss only has three attacks.