Top 10 Hardest Bosses in Dark Souls

Lightning-Spear-Wielding knight who's super fast? Fair. Fat, gigantic executioner with a gigantic hammer that packs a devastating hit? Fair. Two bosses at the same time? Tough, but fair. All of the above in the same fight? Beyond unfair. Oh, but it doesn't stop there. It is actually completely pointless to try to fight both at the same time, because when one dies, the other gets all of its life back. But it can't get any worse, right? Oh, but it does. It gets a lot worse. When Ornstein is killed first, Smough gains his lightning ability, so his hammer hurts you EVEN MORE, even if blocked. When Smough dies first, Ornstein becomes huge. So his hits do more damage, and he's still ridiculously fast. And to top it off, he gains Smough's fire resistance. This battle shows you how unfair Dark Souls can be. There is literally no upsides to this battle. It seems as if they have no weakness. Summoning someone to distract the other boss while you kill off one would be wise. Trying to kill one ...more

If this fight was one vs one against either of them, both of them would be very easy to beat. However since they are paired together this is a very difficult fight.
Smough hits like a truck but he is slow and his attacks can be blocked, Ornstein is very fast, doesn't hit hard like Smough but some of his attacks cannot be blocked especially that massive lightning spell.
If both of them attack at the same time, you're in deep trouble!.
Timing is every thing in this fight.
I found it easier to separate Ornstein from Smough, kill Ornstein then deal with Smough who is now much harder and all of his attacks cannot be blocked completely because of lightning added to him after Ornstein Dies.
Finally dodging is an option but it is risky and it has to be timed perfectly so I don't recommend it.

I had a really hard time with this fight until I realized that when you kill Ornstein first, big lightning Smough can be trapped behind a pillar, and he basically can't hit you as long as you make sure the pillar is between you and him. At that point I unloaded all of my Great Soul Arrows, and Homing Soulmass at him (did almost half his health) and then after that I just swung right after he would attack, since he can't reach you anyways. Killing Ornstein with Smough chasing after you is a pain, but I just led them in circles around the room and when Ornstein rushes at you and he's far enough away from Smough you can block him and get a couple hits in. It takes forever, but once you kill him and just block big Smough behind a pillar it gets really easy.

Smough and Ornstein have definitely earned this spot on the throne as hardest boss fight in Dark Souls. I have lost countless souls to these guys, out all the bosses in the base game this is the fight I have the most trouble with. This fight is troubling for me because I have a heavier build, I use Havel's armor minus his helmet I substitute that with the mask of the child, a ring of favor and protection and Havel's ring. If I don't have this there is a 100% chance that I will get completely screwed over by the speed of ornstein. Now smough really isn't that hard for me to handle. I can move faster than he can, and if I have solaire to help me he helps keep smough disgraced while work on killing ornstein. I always kill him first because if I don't the fight becomes almost literally impossible for me because of his speed. Super Smough is no problem because of his lack of speed so I'm able to get a couple hits off after one of his attacks that take him a while to recover from

Definitely the hardest boss on the amazing add-on. It is very possible that his magic-fire breath can be a one-hit KO if you're not careful. It is suggested you come into this fight with a good shield and light armor. Staying by his legs is key, but even then you have to be careful. Don't get greedy with hitting him. His tail swipe can be devastating and so can his stomps. This fight is especially difficult if you're trying to cut off his tail for the Obsidian Sword.

Savage boss.. and only one in this list I've never killed. Manus is the only other one I broke a sweat on, but I guess dark souls is always like that - you walk through a boss nobody else can kill then get stuck on one everybody thinks is easy. I really think Kalameet is an exception to this rule.. and have no doubt it would be number one if you restricted voting to people that have killed everything in the list.

Kalameet had some absolutely insane damage levels and a lot of HP, this thing is next to impossible to kill without a great shield. The one time I was able to slay the black dragon by dodging, took 3 straight hours. With 53 points in stamina by dodging to the side, I was eventually able to win. My opinion, this was the hardest boss.

This guy hits like a train, has HUGE range, his fire breath is usually a 1-hit kill and he's really fast and hard to keep up with. But damn he's gotta be one of the coolest dragons in gaming and I LOVE his fight nonetheless.

Manus, Father of the Abyss really has given me problems. I am currently on NG+4, and still have not successfully defeated him. His ridiculous combos make this boss THE hardest boss in the game. His five-hit combo pretty much kills you every time. If it does not kill you, then you're probably tanking him, which doesn't really work. Another problem with this bosses difficulty, is the fact that there is no real medium strategy for defeasting him. You could try multiple ways, from tanking, to winging it and going in with a ranged weapon. But no matter what you do, you can't say he is not hard."

The final boss of the add-on, but probably not the hardest. Still very hard, but not the hardest. His attacks can be blocked with a good shield. The thing that makes this boss hard is his stupid, nearly unavoidable magic attacks. He doesn't do them often, but when he does, you better block or get the heck out of the way. Summoning Sif makes this boss easier, but he's still a challenge. You don't want to be hit by this boss.

This guy can pull some serious wombs combos, has sudden attacks with huge range that are hard to dodge, and the dreaded dark magic attacks! The machine gun magic is super easy to dodge, but the first several times I fought him I thought it was literally impossible to survive the dark rain one and the one where you're surrounded by them coming in.

Why is Manus at 6?! The beat down this guy gives is relentless. His magic is strong as hell but easily blocked with the silver pendant. It's his melee which screws you up. Sif barely makes a difference other than as a good aggro sponge.

Artorias will either 1-hit kill you or leave you with like 10% health most of the time. He is super fast, much more mobile than you, and extremely unpredictable. And then he gets an insane speed and strength buff on top of that. Tanking this guy is literally impossible because he takes boatloads of stamina, hits fast, does crazy combos unlike any other enemy, and he's extremely aggressive and his attacks are just ferocious. This fight will make you learn how to dodge like a champion. He is my favorite fight in the series though, he's just EPIC.

Artorias is hard, but the key strategy is to have a decent poise breaking weapon, a good shield and some decent armour. During the fight you will want to try and keep your distance, and only go for pot shots at him when he stops. Don't do more than one or two hits cause that will end in punishment. If he gets a little passive feel free to heal or get a couple of hits in (he will very rarely be on 24/7 offense. For me he usually gets in for some hits for awhile than afterwards has is usually passive for a few seconds which is all you need.) Learning your dodges and quick rolling are essential to taking him out. When he starts to buff, get in his face and get wrecklessly offensive and try to stagger him cause it will deactivate his buff and you can get more free hits. If you fail to do so play passive until his buff deactivates naturally and then repeat.

The only easy thing about this fight is that he doesn't have a lot of health. Everything else is eye-gouging frustrating. There's no nearby bonfire and you will probably die a lot. This guy has two heavy machetes, and he hits FAST. The only time you have to heal is when he goes to power up. And that's the problem. He powers up. You don't want this. He hits harder and faster. The key to this fight is you have to hit faster. Iron flesh could be essential for this fight.

I found all of the bosses supriseingly easy, took me 1-3 tries on all but three. I was actually really disappointed. But then, this guy happened. Took me like 9 or 10 times to beat him. Had to learn to be a god at dodging and in the end, path-of-the-dragons burned his face off, out of estus and with 10% health. Best fight ever

First play through this boss fight is about as easy as the iron golem. Now I understand the iron golem isn't that difficult but I couldn't think of a better analogy. Anyway this boss fight is like the iron golem fight but without any of the ledges and more of them spawning in every now and again. My first time playing I had my friend give me armor and weapons that I shouldn't have had until 2nd play through and that made the fight much easier. However my second battle with them on my actual second play through wasn't very easy. I think I attempted this boss fight 5 times with one of those times having help from my friend. Anyway on my last two tries I had the grass crest shield equipped and a black knight sword +5. I don't have a lot of stamina so having that shield helped a lot as I was able to attack more often and most of the' time got one king killed, or almost dead by the time the next one spawned in. Though I did die my first time using this strategy, I came out victorious in my ...more

The Four Kings are actually quite easy on the first play through, but they become significantly more difficult on New Game + and beyond. Here's the thing: you can't focus on defense. You have to go in and hit as much as you can and try to regain stamina fast. It may seem wise at first to defend yourself, but here's the catch: If you don't kill one king fast enough, another will come out. It is possible to have to face four at a time, which will make this fight extremely difficult. It is highly suggested you go into this fight with heavy magic resistant armor, and a good shield, not that you'll be using it much.

To be honest, I heard this boss was really hard but there was a way to cheese them. I normally like trying a boss out and seeing if I can beat it mono on mono with no souls and humanity so I have nothing to lose from repeated failure, just so I can feel like a badass when I finally win. But to be honest, the run to this boss was so annoying between the ghosts (who I didn't feel like constantly using items to be able to fight) and those super fast skeleton knight things that chase you the whole run to the fog gate, so I just decided to cheese them. Just put on Havel's armor, equip the grass crest shield and swing like a madman.

On the first playthrough these guys are a piece of cake. But when you get onto NG+ these guys become an ABSOLUTE nightmare. Their health increases severely and the time between each king appearing is significantly decreased. Picture a beautiful sunny day. The flowers are all blooming and everyone is right with the world. That's what Ornstein and Smough look like compared to these guys on NG+3 and above. This is how hard the Four Kings are in each playthrough:

NG: Piece of cake

NG+1: Horrible

NG+2: A nightmare

NG+3: The raging fires of hell

NG+4: The deepest pit of hell

NG+5: Satan himself

NG+6: Everything you fear, the fires of Hell and Satan all at once

On my 7th playthrough (NG+6) it took me 13 HOURS of STRAIGHT PLAYING to beat them. I knew how hard they'd be I leveled up immensely and I thought I'd be ready for the fight but no matter how bad I thought it would be it was nothing compared to what it was. A new king appeared ...more

Gwen really earns this high of rank in the list for me if you can't parry him. If you can manage to do that then you're absolutely golden in this fight. What recommend is going into the fight for the first time and trying to learn his parry timing. Now I understand this can be VERY frustrating and you more than likely will lose a LOT of souls doing this, but when you get the timing down, and you finally manage to beat him it's all worth it. Now I must mention that your parry timing has to be very good because ONE badly timed parry can, and probably will be the end of the fight. I have learned this through many badly timed parry's. I can say from experience that once you have his timing down this becomes a very easy boss fight.

I died to him by far the most out of any boss in the game. I heard parrying him helps, but it didn't work for me because if I messed up he would kill me in 2 hits and he gives you no time to heal that close. Then I heard you can just cart him around the mounds of dirt but even then he can still get through. I ended up using the moonlight greatsword and dodging his attacks until he did his grab, then using the semi-ranged R2. It uses a ton of durability but I guess I had enough power to the point when it only warned me the weapon was almost broken on the last hit. If he did end up hitting me I would wait and heal instead of attack during his grab attack. This guy is a bastard but it felt so good beating him without using some cheap trick.

Unless you're good at parrying or you have Knight Solaire summoned this guy is definitely the hardest boss in the game.

He's extremely relentless, doesn't give you time to heal AT ALL, has high health and on top of that his sword is on fire. So don't think you can just tank it with Havel's set because you'll have to have a high fire resistance shield like the Dragon Crest Shield or Black Knight which both have quite low stability.

You have to be absolutely precise with your dodging and attacking because just ONE tiny mistake and the match is over. His flame sword WILL wreck you with just a couple of hits. Maybe more if you have fire resistance armour.

So do yourself a favor and become and absolute EXPERT at parrying before going into this fight. Or if not summon Knight Solaire as he can distract Gwyn whilst your healing. Despite all the other painful things about fighting Gwyn the hardest part is by far trying to heal. You will only get a few chances in the whole ...more

Unlike Dark Souls's predecessor, Demons Souls, the last boss proves to be a challenge. Once again, this boss doesn't have a whole lot of health, so you can probably kill him fast. But his fire-sword can wreck you in a few hits. And the most significant part about this boss is that he is the absolutely hardest boss in the entire game to heal against. He will not stop hitting you. Evasion and blocking is key for this fight. If you saved Solaire, this fight will be a lot easier, as you can summon him to help you.

The first boss of the add-on. The only thing that makes this boss easier is the fact there is literally nothing standing between him and the bonfire, so if you did, at least you're right there. This boss is big and attacks fast. He can very possibly poison you with his tail, which makes him even harder. His lightning attacks are almost unavoidable and he has a good amount of health. Tanking this boss would probably be a good idea.

This guy is a nightmare...

This boss is joke for veterans of the series. However I can see why this boss could be ranked here for newer players. You are attacked almost immediately after entering the fight and he has two fast wolves to try and take you down as well. After you get them downed the fight becomes much easier. A tactic that is very helpful but at the same time kind of cheesy is after you take down the wolves is to just keep running up the stairs having capra follow you then jumping down. After he jumps down that's when you should attack. The absolute only time you should play defensive in this fight is when you're going up the stairs other than that try to hit him as much as possible and you'll do fine.

This boss pissed me off even more than Ornstein and Smough because the dogs would just bum rush me and pin me to the boss every time I entered the room. When I finally killed them without the Capra Demon killing me, the fight became a piece of cake because when you lead him up the stairs and make him jump off after you, his falling animation takes forever and you can get like three swings in. Rinse and repeat. But those stupid dogs. I still hate this boss fight. I think the most annoying part is either trying to run past or kill all the dogs and thieves on the way to him.

Definitely not the hardest, but he may be the most annoying boss. He has two dogs guarding him, and if you don't kill them quickly, you will be killed very quickly. The Capra Demon has fast, powerful machetes. The only thing that makes him easy is that he has very little health. Kill the dogs, run on top of the stairs, heal if necessary, hit him in the back, repeat. Mages will probably have a hard time with this battle.

He becomes incredibly easy once you kill his two dogs, however before you do the fight is very difficult. In NG+ it's a joke.

What makes this boss hard is not the boss itself, but how many times you will probably die before you can actually hit him. It only takes one hit to kill him. Easy, right? Wrong! You have to destroy 2 orbs, 1 on each side, while his giant branches are trying to hit you with fire, and the ground is literally caving in beneath you. You then have to drop down to the tree in the opening, get up to him, and hit him once. This is a very evasive process.

This boss was accurately dubbed the bed of Bull by YouTuber thedeModcracy. I have lost countless souls to this stupid unfair boss. This is the only boss in the ENTIRE GAME that I truly hate, and never look forward to fighting. The only good thing about this boss fight is that it saves what progress you've made in the fight. Other than that this "fight" is truly Bull

I've heard this boss be accurately be dubbed the bed of Bull. that's because that's exactly what this "fight" is. For a player with a slow build this boss fight is a complete pain. Destroying the two orbs is a chore in itself but then jumping to the branch in the middle is worse. This is the absolute WORST BOSS in the entire game

The worst fight in the entire Bloodsouls series. Easily. She constantly tries to swipe you down her holes, and can use firestorms to wreck you. Luckily, it saves your progress you've made in the fight.

Although the first boss was very similar to this one, this one can be somewhat challenging if you don't know what you're doing. You start off the battle with some health loss already because you have to fall through the floor. His hits are pretty hard-hitting and might be able to kill you in one hit. Fortunately, he's very slow. Staying behind this boss can keep you safe. Just watch out for him fire eruptions.

This boss is literally just demon fireside but not on fire. Though I do think his AoE attacks hit harder than demon firesage's so look out for those. Other than that if you can beat demon firesage you can beat this asylum demon reskin

This boss isn't too horrible. He's big and intimidating, but he's pretty easy to kill. Dodge his arm attacks at range, then when he gets close make sure to try avoid the jumping attack as much as possible. This boss is also completely optional if you're part of the chaos covenant and are plus 2 rank,

What makes this boss hard is that you have to make him come to you. There's lava around him and you CANNOT go in there. It's hard to hit this boss without being hit, but he doesn't have a whole lot of health. Having a good shield can make this boss a piece of cake.

This boss was impossible for me until I discovered the patch of land to the right. Then I beat it on my first try.

What's the worst part about the demon? The arena. The lava just sucks.

This boss is seriously the easiest part about blight town. Whether you have mildred to help you or not you're more than likely to beat this spider lady monster on your first try. If you can manage to stay on her right side (your left) the fight is a piece of cake. I honestly kind of wish they would have had something a bit more challenging guarding the second bell of awakening.

This boss isn't TOO hard, but can be a pain if you're going in with no strategy. It's actually kind of easy to get a lot of hits on her, but that's what makes it difficult. You get greedy with hits, and next thing you know, you're standing in lava. Literally. Her lava can kill you pretty quick which is why you can't be too greedy.

I thought she was relatively easy, I beat her on the first try. The phantom you can summon can really take a hit and distract her, and you just have to make sure you don't get hit by lava and just stick to her sides while the phantom soaks up damage.

Not hard defeated her first go, no help at all and not knowing her attacks.

Even besides the infamous exploit where you can push him over the edge, this fight is easy. If you're by the body where you pick up the clothes, he will do the same attack over and over again. This attack is very easy to dodge and you can get a few attacks while he just rests his arm there. The biggest problem with this boss is its BS hitboxes. If you do die to said hitboxes the fight becomes much more difficult because his attacks reach ALL THE WAY across the arena.

This boss can be hard depending on the strategy. Once the fight engages, you can then run back to the fog door and he will jump at you over the edge, holding on for dear life. This is when you keep hitting his hands to get him to let go, and voila! He's dead!

Even without the fog wall cheese tactic this boss is still extremely easy. All you have to do is be relatively close to him and dodge his attacks then hit his arm when you can. By far the easiest boss in the demon ruins

For me Nito is the second easiest lord to kill behind seath, at least for me. The only attacks I REALLY have to watch out for are his AoE attack, and his red sword attack, those two do the most damage to me by far. Anyway I try not to worry about the skeletons, the only ones I actively try to avoid are the giant ones, and I normally don't go that far into his tomb. I don't worry about his skeletons because I like to stay close to him because then a majority of his tracks miss. The only down side to that is it's almost impossible for me to avoid the AoE attack. A positive to that though is that he uses it quite often and I just have him kill his own skeletons for me. The most tries it's taken for me to kill into is three. He just isn't that hard of a boss for me.

This boss is REALLY annoying if you don't have a divine weapon. If you don't, his skeletons will reanimate after you've killed them and start attacking you. And trust me, you want to focus on him. He's slow, but powerful. These skeletons can easily overwhelm you.

This guy is a joke. Even if you don't have a divine weapon all you have to do is have him perform his AoE to kill em.

For me seath is by FAR the easiest lord for me to kill. All you have to do is stay out of his crystals, and avoid his tail whip attack and you're fine. It also helps if you have purging stones, and a good amount of flasks. I also helps if you know all the invisible paths, and if you can just run through the clam enemies. However they can follow you in there. If that happens all you have to do is save and quit the game then reload it, and you'll be right in front of the fog wall. By far this is the easiest lord for me, I never have trouble fighting him.

It is actually impossible to even damage this boss on first encounter, so you are forced to die and fight him later on. Even the second time, he is immortal unless you destroy the crystal behind him. Even THEN, he is still difficult. His magic crystal fields that he makes can be annoying, and can be hard to avoid. Not to mention the fact that the path to him is a compete pain in the a**.

Seath is a very easy boss. Just do your best to stay out of the crystals. However, the tail cut is very difficult to pull off. If you wear Paladin's armor and just stay in front of him, it is hard to lose.

For a player who had absolutely no idea of what to do to win, Seath was the hardest boss in the game, and I hate that.

A completely optional boss, but very annoying nonetheless. He blasts magic from across the hall which is VERY powerful, and once you reach him, you can MAYBE manage two hits on him. Fortunately, he doesn't have a lot of health.

Optional and very similar to the moonlight butterfly, avoid his magic and arrows by hiding behind the pillars, then take a couple swings on him when you can and that's all this boss takes. Gwyndolin is a push over.

Annoying not hard

This boss is a complete joke. Definitely the easiest boss in the entire game. If you have a good weapon you can literally kill him in 3 hits. The path to this boss is actually somewhat difficult so you can high five yourself once you actually make it to him.

This is a boss? ha what a joke, this guy can easily be killed in just a few swipes. I also find it funny how his clones are supposed to confuse you but they completely fail at doing so. By far the easiest boss in the entire game.

What, really? He's not at the bottom of the list?

Fortunately, you have to engage the first hit for this fight to begin, so take advantage of this with the most powerful hit you can think of, then keep your eyes peeled, because she turns invisible. This is where it gets hard. Fortunately, you can somewhat get a fix on her position because she eaves footprints in the snow. Don't let her hit you, because she can cause some heavy bleeding damage. Take advantage of attacks when she becomes visible again.

This boss fight can be quite challenging without a good set of armor and a good weapon. Her attacks can hit hard, and they cause bleed damage. If you have a fast hitting weapon that's what I recommend going into this fight with as it will allow you to make her turn visible relatively easy, after that you can just wail on her

Just watch the footprints, then run up behind them, hit a few times, and run away. Once she becomes visible, her moveset is one of the easiest to dodge in the game. She does bleed damage, though.

A loot of people will say this is the easiest boss in the game, and depending on your build, it might be, but jumping into this battle with no strategy will most likely end in your characters death. First of all, this boss has a TON of health. The first few times I fought this boss I got wrecked, and I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. Then I figured out a strategy: When he charges, stand by his side and wait for him to stop. Then get some good hits in his tail, but don't get greedy. So yeah, this is an easy boss, if you know what you're doing.

For being the holder of the key to blight town I honestly expected a much more difficult fight than this. Though I really don't need to I always summon solaire for this boss just for the hell of it. The only attack you really have to look out for is his walking/charging attack, if you get stuck in the path of that without decent armor you can consider yourself as good as dead. If you do avoid it however, which you most likely will, he just sits there for a few seconds and lets you hit him. Just rinse and repeat and this boss is pretty much a free kill

I've fought the Gaping Dragon twice now, but I have yet to die from it. This is rather surprising to me, since every other boss I've fought against managed to just demolish me on the first attempt.

I don't know if it was because I was playing way too cautiously, the massive arena or the telegraphed attacks, but I didn't exactly have any problems going up against it.

Dark Bead demolishes this guy.

Again for "guarding" one of the best, and most important, areas in the game this boss is a push over. This boss is easily defeated solo, he's even easier if you choose to summon tarkus to help you. Just remember to take down the giant throwing fire bombs at you in the tower, if you don't do that this boss becomes much harder.

Very slow, but powerful boss. You don't want him to hit you. Fortunately, if you're careful, he probably won't hit you. This boss can be easily defeated by summoning the phantom before this boss.

A relatively easy boss, because it leaves itself completely vulnerable when it comes down to rest, letting you probably get about half of its health down in one rest. The tricky thing is, low-health characters might have a tough time with this boss, because its magic can be a one-hit kill. Luckily, his magic can be easily evaded.

This boss is a easily killed if you have witch beatrice summoned, if you have your own magic, or a combination of both. Even without the help this boss is really easy, just avoid her magic attacks and attack when she comes down to rest.

This boss is easy especially if you cheese him and just keep plunging off the tower. Also if you're lucky he'll jump back to avoid your hits, and if you're in the right spot he'll jump right off the bridge.

This boss is easy depending on the strategy uses. If you do it right, you can just plunge attack him over and over again, just run back after every plunge to give yourself time to climb the tower.

Probably the easiest boss in the game in hindsight, but can be tricky for new Dark Souls players, considering it is the first boss. Luckily, you get a free plunging attack which will give you a great advantage over him.

Very easy after your first play through. When I started NG+ I killed him normally, and without even taking a hit. However when I start my next play through I'm going to kill him the first time you encounter him because I want to try out his weapon