Ranking the Bosses of Dark Souls and Bloodborne

Although no one element defines Dark Souls or Bloodborne, there are few elements of these games as beloved as their boss fights. The bosses of this franchise are a culmination of everything that makes these games great and they tend to attract a lot of passion from an already passionate fanbase.

Which is why ranking them is so tough. There are a lot of bosses in these games—as you’ll soon discover—and given that just about all of them offer something that no other game can, the task of ranking them feels like ranking your children. If you had 105 children.

Nevertheless, with the release of Dark Souls III, it feels like a good time to look back on the bosses of Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls II, and Bloodborne and determine where they all fall in the great, brutal hierarchy.

First, a few notes on this list:

- Dark Souls III bosses are not included to avoid spoilers.

- This list includes DLC bosses as well as optional bosses, but does not include mini-bosses that do not meet the standard boss fight formula. That means there is no Havel the Rock on this list.

- While a number of factors went into determining these rankings, ultimately, the decision came down to personal thoughts and feelings.

Here we go...

105. Bed of Chaos (Dark Souls)

You know, it’s almost kind of an honor to be named the worst Dark Soulsboss of all time. I mean at least it would be if Bed of Chaos wasn’t such a blight on the series.

Bed of Chaos is a uninspiring boss that still manages to frustrate even the most hardcore of Dark Souls players, thanks to its series of frustrating and unenjoyable combat elements. It’s the part of the game you’ll dread coming back to the most and contributes nothing to what is otherwise one of the greatest games of all-time.

104. Royal Rat Vanguard (Dark Souls II)

You know what’s a good idea for a Dark Souls boss? Anything but a bunch of rats.

That may sound obvious, but apparently it wasn’t, as that’s exactly what Royal Rat Vanguard is. Among a series of regular rat enemies is the one rat you have to kill in order to beat this “boss.” There is nothing special about these rats besides the fact that there’s a lot of them. Even then, there’s not really a lot of them in the grand scheme of things. It’s all pretty sad, actually.

103. Leechmonger (Demon’s Souls)

It should be noted that nothing from this point on is quite so bad as the previous two bosses who almost received a separate tier of their own. That being said, Leechmonger is essentially the Soulsseries’ Great Mighty Poo without the singing or humor. This largely immobile blob of waste doesn’t put up much of a fight regardless of your character build and the entire time fighting it is spent in a dingy brown environment that perfectly clashes with the rest of the series design philosophy of bleak, but beautiful.

102. Pinwheel (Dark Souls)

To be honest, I’m not sure I would have included Pinwheel as a boss if he wasn’t classified as such by the game’s official materials.

But so long as we’re here, I’d just like to say the major failing of Pinwheel is how painfully easy and generally unimposing he is. This sorcerer looks like any regular enemy, but puts up less of a fight than most them. Lazily floating around the room and occasionally making a copy of himself, Pinwheel is the only Dark Souls boss that seems like he can’t wait to die. Most are happy to oblige him.

101. Fool’s Idol (Demon’s Souls)

You know, Fool’s Idol isn’t really that much different from Pinwheel. Both are fairly lazy magic wielders that really don’t inspire many Souls players to praise the brilliance of their fights.

The chapel setting for the Fool’s Idol fight is much more enjoyable than Pinwheel’s domain, however, and at least Fool's Idol does put up something resembling a fight. Still, there’s just nothing much more here than some magic missile dodging and quick beatdowns.

100. Dragon God (Demon’s Souls)

I do have to give From Software credit for naming a boss something as imposing as Dragon God and actually making the boss look like he could indeed be the God of all dragons.

However, that just makes it all the more of a shame that the fight is such a disappointment. The entire fight boils down to running between protective pillars en route to firing pre-staged ballista arrows at the Dragon God until he is dead. It’s the kind of fight that might work in a game like God of War, but takes very little advantage of the things that truly make great Dark Souls boss fights tick.

99. Centipede Demon (Dark Souls)

The fact that the Centipede Demon is one of the few Dark Souls bosses I needed to Google to remind myself which one it is should tell you a lot about this fight.

Though I’m actually a fan of the way From Software incorporated physical centipede elements into the design of this boss, the actual fight is nothing that memorable. This is your basic towering beast with a large weapon that so happens to be aided by the presence of pools of lava. Considering the lava is more of an annoyance than an actual threat, that one distinction does not save this encounter from becoming a low-tier fight.

98. Covetous Demon (Dark Souls II)

Let it be known now that if you see a lot of Dark Souls IIbosses on this list, that’s because the game had a significantly higher amount of bosses than any other game in the series.

In the case of Covetous Demon, it certainly could have done with one less. Covetous Demon is a huge slug-like creature that bears more than a passing resemblance to Jabba the Hutt. Beating him requires little more than circling around his attacks and hitting his tail when available. Overall, the encounter contributes nothing substantial to the game or franchise.

97. Belfry Gargoyles (Dark Souls II)

You know, callbacks to previous bosses are not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, you’re going to see a few of them higher on this list.

The biggest problem with the Belfry Gargoyles boss in Dark Souls 2 is that it’s essentially a Michael Bay sequel to the first encounter with these beasts in Dark Souls. There’s more of them and they’re more dangerous, but the stakes and emotion that made the original encounter so memorable are just not there. It certainly feels good to beat this tough boss, but the whole encounter feels surprisingly close to nostalgia exploitation.

96. The Duke’s Dear Freja (Dark Souls II)

First off, can we give some love to the From Software employees responsible for the naming of bosses? The Duke’s Dear Freja is just a great name that makes you go, “What the hell is that?” when you hear it.

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is “A giant spider.” This is pretty much your typical giant spider encounter made slightly more disheartening by how easy it is to avoid most of Freja’s larger attacks. The smaller spiders Freja attracts can make this fight more difficult, but considering this was a significant boss fight progression-wise, it does feel tremendously underwhelming.

95. Dirty Colossus (Demon’s Souls)

Although many franchise bosses are ultimately just lumbering beasts with various attacks, most of the fights do a fairly admirable job of disguising this in some way.

Dirty Colossus, however, feels like it could be the template that the team uses to build every other boss fight off of. Aside from the lingering darkness that surrounds the Colossus (imagine the Balrog in Fellowship of the Ring), this is a perfectly average fight in a game filled with otherwise pretty creative bosses.

94. Scorpioness Najka (Dark Souls II)

Remember earlier when I mentioned boss fight callbacks that would actually be featured much more prominently on the list? This is not that fight.

Scorpioness Najka is essentially a re-imagining of the Dark Souls fight with Chaos Witch Quelaag, but offers substantially less than that encounter did. The balance of the fight’s difficulty is pretty good, and the way she is revealed from underneath the sand is neat, but the design of the two bosses is far too similar to not compare them. In that respect, Scorpioness Najka falls short.

93. The One Reborn (Bloodborne)

The first Bloodborne boss fight on this list is one I’ve heard described by some fans as the absolute worst fight in any of these games. However, I feel that assessment is a bit too harsh given the fight’s blood moon setting and the intimidating design of The One.

Still, it’s easy to understand that sentiment given how formulaic and simple this boss is. You just need to take out the casters that surround The One and then go to work on the boss itself. Not every boss fight needs to be an epic, but the setup for this one suggests something greater than you ultimately get.

92. Demon Firesage (Dark Souls)

You know, the Dark Soulswiki does such a good job of describing this particular encounter, that I feel the need to quote it here:

“This boss is very similar to the Asylum Demon and practically identical to the Stray Demon, the strategy is much the same.”

They also go on to mention that his skin is on fire, which is indeed his trademark characteristic. Otherwise, this is a boss you actually see multiple times in Dark Souls, with this being the least memorable of the encounters.

91. Giant Lord (Dark Souls II)

The premise of how you encounter the Giant Lord is actually fairly interesting as it requires you to essentially take a trip through time and encounter a beast that actually plays well off an earlier boss lore-wise.

The fight itself is a disappointment, though. It’s a slightly more difficult version of that earlier fight, but the general strategy here remains the same, as you’ll still be circling around this lumbering giant sword wielder and patiently waiting for opportunities to strike. Given the scenario behind this boss, it’s hard to not view it as a letdown.

90. Ruin Sentinels (Dark Souls II)

This is a fight that I always want to love more than I do, as I happen to be a fan of multiple character boss fights, and the Ruin Sentinels have this Egyptian protectors design philosophy to them that’s hard not to love.

Unfortunately, this fight is undone by the way these guys are cheesed into an easy battle, removing much of the drama from the encounter. It’s almost impossible to really make this a 3-on-1 fight unless you wish to, and as a 2-on-1 it doesn’t measure up to similar multiple boss encounters elsewhere in the series.

89. Taurus Demon (Dark Souls)

As one of the first bosses that players encounter in Dark Souls, this showdown with the Taurus Demon will always hold a fond spot in the hearts of many Dark Soulsplayers as an early reminder of just how screwed they truly are.

Nostalgia aside, though, this fight suffers from a similar problem that the Ruin Sentinels battle does in that it is too easily exploited. By making your way up a convenient ladder and dropping strong diving attack after strong diving attack onto the Taurus Demon, it becomes quite easy to beat this lovable monster even at lower levels.

88. Blood-Starved Beast (Bloodborne)

While the Blood-Starved Beast follows the old “fast moving beast that you’ve got to roll in and out of for precious hits” school of boss design pretty faithfully, the Beast’s particular set of quick attacks is actually fairly vicious and his “Skinned Hound of Hell” character design is pretty great as well.

Still, this is ultimately a pretty standard fight that loses some points for feeling like a step down from the game’s previous early boss encounters. Blood-Starved Beast just doesn’t ask anything of its challengers.

87. Phalanx (Demon’s Souls)

In many ways, Phalanx is a precursor to Royal Rat Vanguard. The difference is that, while Royal Rat Vanguard completely sucked, Phalanx’s premise of surrounding a giant blob with hoplite soldiers is actually kind of cool.

What hurts this fight in comparison to others is that it’s far too simple. While you can kind of forgive the ease of Phalanx, considering that it’s an early game boss, the encounter itself doesn’t really amount to more than taking on a series of slightly tougher normal enemies and then wailing on the gooey center of them so you can move on.

86. Flexile Sentry (Dark Souls II)

There’s actually a lot to love about Flexile Sentry. As the world’s most dangerous siamese twins, these back-to-back swordsman certainly look intimidating, and the fact they reside on a pirate ship does imply they may be pirates. The great thing about that, of course, is that pirates are cool.

The biggest problem with Flexile Sentry is that the boss rarely takes advantage of its unique design to really come up with creative attacks. Aside from limiting the player’s ability to properly circle the boss, this is a surprisingly standard encounter against such a cool foe.

85. Moon Presence (Bloodborne)

Life isn’t fair if you’re Bloodborne’s secret final boss, Moon Presence. While you are supposed to be the badass, tough as nails secret boss to a badass, tough as nails awesome game, your presence is greatly diminished by the fact that you have to follow one of the greatest fights in franchise history.

Moon Presence is certainly tough enough to be worthy of being a secret final boss,but in comparison to the regular final boss in the game, this creature just does not measure up on a creative or emotional level. Even taken on its own, there really isn’t much to this particular fight beyond its cool setting and punishing difficulty.

84. Skeleton Lords (Dark Souls II)

Well first off, props to these fine gentlemen for becoming lords of the skeletons, as that cannot be an easy title to come across. Skeleton bros are a universally tough lot and climbing to the top of their hierarchy is a real accomplishment.

In this case, it’s a fairly good bet that they achieved such a lofty title by hurling wave after wave of annoying enemies and attacks at their foes just as they do to the player. This fight isn’t bad so much as it is frustrating. It accomplishes the ultimate Dark Souls boss goal of making you feel better for having beat it, but only because you’ll be relieved to not have to do this again till the next time around.

83. Throne Defender & Watcher (Dark Souls II)

While I can’t blame Dark Souls II for trying to capitalize on what made the Ornstein and Smough fight so memorable (more on that much later), the game’s fascination with multiple bosses began to get tiring and made them all seem to run together.

That’s certainly the case here with Throne Defender & Watcher, who try to emulate the power and speed combination of the famous duo, but come across more as cosplayers than genuine threats. This fight isn’t awful by any means, but it's little more than an appetizer to the final battle.

82. Prowling Magus (Dark Souls II)

The Souls series occasionally toys with the concept of a boss fight that’s basically a mob of enemies and it rarely works. It’s a tricky concept in the first place, and the fact that they are usually far easier than the typical boss fight certainly doesn’t help.

At least that’s what holds this particular fight. Being forced to take down both Magus and his zombie congregation should be an incredibly tall task, but the minions prove to be easily removed with a few wide attacks, and Magus himself is a fairly weak sorcerer that doesn’t require much more.

81. Celestial Emissary (Bloodborne)

Well I have to give Celestial Emissary credit for playing with expectations. What initially appears to be a sequel of sorts to the Royal Rat Vanguard quickly turns on you, as one of your prey grows tremendously in size and begins to wail on you for your hubris.

Aside from that amusement, this fight certainly isn’t in the same league as the true heavy hitters of these games. It deserves some credit for being entertaining and fairly balanced, but aside from its humorous callback, Celestial Emissary just doesn’t measure up.