How Good Are Bosses? Boss Tier List: Darkest Dungeon

Apparently people like when I do tier lists, so here's another. Enemy tier list someday.
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[@matesajben5274]

Timestamps: SPOILER WARNING Intro: 0:00 Collector: 2:14 Shambler: 5:25 Shrieker: 7:45 Thing from the stars: 9:12 Fanatic: 14:10 Necromancer: 16:55 Prophet: 20:13 Hag: 22:44 Brigand Pounder: 24:23 Siren: 26:08 Crew: 29:01 Swine God: 31:44 The Flesh: 34:48 The Crocodilian: 39:13 The Baron: 41:27 The Viscount: 43:18 The Countess: 44:35 The Garden Guardian: 46:02 The Brigand Vvulf: 47:41 The Miller: 49:51 The Sleeper: 51:00 FINAL SPOILER WARNING The Shuffling Horror: 51:51 The Templars: 53:52 The Mammoth Cyst: 55:25 The Heart of Darkness: 57:47

[@falseking989]

You sir are a gentleman & a scholar.

[@dynamasterakadingus6693]

I think you missed the most important boss in this game: Overconfidence. As we all know, Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.

[@joemoe650]

Queue me; I can quickly kill this shamble before fighting veteran flesh. Jump cut to me losing my healer and highwayman

[@jahredharrison4069]

Damn, Overconfidence got PROT

[@whyisdiscostevetaken]

thanks for reminding me, almost forgot to remind myself

[@theblackbaron4119]

A while ago, I made that my SMS/ notification sound on my phone. So every time someone wants to talk to me I get reminded that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.

[@HoneyBadgerVideos]

Unkillable too. And always strikes when you least expect it.

[@Mitoru.]

If this was by difficulty then SSS tier would be "Remembering to use dog treats"

[@alexchen2519]

Houndmaster is too much of a good class they have to nerf one of your inventory slots as a cost to use him.

[@slenderminion289]

Every bloody time.

[@kirbyjoe7484]

@@slenderminion289 I thought I was the only one.

[@kamilslup7743]

Idk what they do, i just ditch them when i need space.

[@matt-dv3ef]

@@kamilslup7743 dog treats grant +50% Damage and +15 accuracy to the houndmaster for 3 rounds. you can also use it on an Oyster curios (cove) to get +25 dodge until camp.

[@knightdew1651]

The brigand pounder is my favorite boss for 1 reason and one reason alone. In this game you face many horrific bosses, a room full of undulating and evershifting cropses, a fanatical preist burning all those he finds evil at the stake, a mad prophet who glimpsed the truth of the world and ripped his eyes from his socket, and finally, the most deadly of them all... A Cannon

[@franconunez925]

Let's not forget one of the most brutal heavy hitters bosses in this game... big pig... and pig.

[@bigenemy000]

I actually find this very deep because if technology might be the answer to strength perhaps theres hope to destroy eternally the heart of darkness once and for all... Afterall we stopped it with few soldiers and some sort of mercenaries with equipment made out of iron or steel... Imagine if they developed an M216 Lmao. If technology is really stronger that magic/faith/anything near the fantastic aspect, its a demonstration that perhaps the opponents we fight against who have those powers are perhaps insanely weak.

[@thelordscrusaders387]

Literally gun the boss

[@TheFuriousBrother]

@Cinnamon Killjoy and on top of it not actually being gone/destroyed, this game draws on many of Lovecraft's writing, and in that, there's always a bigger monstrosity out there.

[@Andy_Enderson]

@Cinnamon Killjoy pretty much

[@4orehead683]

it's simple, the Fanatic can't enter the Courtyard because he was never given an invitation by the Bloodsuckers, and he has to hunt down your party to get the invite

[@ShuffleFM]

That is a great reason. I hope it's canon

[@eclecticspaghetti]

wait that's hilarious honestly i hope that was intentional

[@diegoizaguirre3452]

@@ShuffleFM you know what I would like, a tier list on mod/ modded darkest dungeon bosses

[@grapesodasalmander2434]

That and he burns any bloodsucker he sees.

[@snkybrki]

Just grind ruins omegalul

[@nomenklatura91]

the croc deserve his own tier for the dedication he puts in killing the player vestals

[@alejandronieto4212]

Yep, in comparison the Thing of the Stars is a joke.

[@fluorideinthechat7606]

I ran the first Crimson Court quest with a Vestal, Plague Doctor, Flagellant and Bounty Hunter at Apprentice level like the quest was advertised as. The damn crocodilian killed my Vestal, making my Flagellant go Rapturous and kill my Plague Doctor. Managed to squeak through with a Death Door’d Bounty Hunter and said Rapturous Flagellant.

[@lustejon]

@@fluorideinthechat7606 Just fucking lost my vestal to the croc. She had quick reflexes and natural swing and will be missed. Of course she died on the first dd check because we all know dbr is a myth. No joke she got focused on every single attack.

[@voidc4]

literally had my first level 4 vestal killed by a croc

[@unknownentityenthusiast6765]

It’s always the healer first to go.

[@ThomasG911]

You forgot a boss: That one room layout in the Crimson Court with three Chevaliers

[@Intestine_Ballin-ism]

They put way too many of those in the game for how absolutely absurdly hard they hit

[@RemotSailes77]

The only encounter I lost a character to in a run :( damn these bugs

[@ulysses5136]

@@RemotSailes77 the only encounter you lost a character?

[@unknownentityenthusiast6765]

The fuckin chevs ought to be size 2 with that doublestun, they stun 3/4 of my party and kill the other

[@majeh8060]

The most powerful normal ennemies to me are the giant, who can one shot all your units if it get a good hit. Or another guy in the Warren's I think, he throw to the entire team lances, dealing 15 damage to everybody... Only appear in lvl 5 Warren's exploration

[@PrimusSwallows]

I think you misunderstand the riposte on the barrel of bombs. You say that this is just your heroes getting blown up as they hit it, but arbalests and plague doctors and whatnot get riposted by shooting at it from rank 4. 6 guys are between them and the barrel, but the aggressor is the only one taking damage. This can only imply that either the barrel itself consciously beats the shit out of any hapless buffoon who dares to challenge it, or that there is secretly a manlet brigand hiding either behind or inside the barrel, and his job is to lob bombs at people trying to attack the barrel and possibly also to hand the bombs to Vulf when he needs one. This makes Vulf at least A tier.

[@Kotoy1]

funniest shit ive ever read

[@unknownentityenthusiast6765]

Eldritch entity within the barrel is chucking grenades at your heroes

[@tokitowa4393]

A fun thing about the crew, is that if you have a hero with virtue in slot 1, the anchor man can't actually anchor them. Because they cannot drown in despair when they are busy being cool, lol.

[@maguc5906]

What I love about The Shambler is that it's implied that it's ALWAYS hunting the player, but can only come out during the complete dark. Really brings out the Lovecraft horror of it even more, and it helps the Heart of Darkness since even a lovecraftian horror such as the Shambler isn't safe from it's influence and power

[@empirecrumbles615]

what implies that?

[@turgturg3175]

@@empirecrumbles615 the fact that it can appear in any dungeon

[@kamilslup7743]

I wanted to square up with him but my compulsive vestal was like "No."

[@spookytown7963]

@@kamilslup7743 my highwayman did it like 3 times in a row 😭

[@mathemaniac1211]

The shambler really reminds me of the being from "The Haunter of the Dark". This story is about a man who accidentally summons a monster by looking into the shining trapezohedron. This Monster cannot survove when exposed to light wich is even used to contain it. Simularly the shambler cannot attack when there is light.

[@rawr70101]

My first Darkest Dungeon playthrough I killed Wilbur instead of the swine king at the very start of the combat. I kept getting rage attacked but I was new enough to think it was an acceptable trade off instead of being marked and hit. I killed the boss and I don't think I lost anyone. I was feeling good about it, ready to do it on veteran, before I learned how stupid it was and how I just got lucky to survive it.

[@ShuffleFM]

Killing Wilbur first is a rite of passage

[@dumpsta-divrr365]

I love the collector comic, it's just a nice little skellington that finds the mensis cage and robe and decides that he wants to gather heads for fun. So wholesome

[@anon-2311]

Honestly the thing I love about Heart is the achievement for taking Reynauld and Dismas to it, and that they're actually a really good combo to fight the final form. The game gives you exactly what you need at the beginning, which feels like good game design to me. Keep up the awesome stuff Shuffle! On the old road, they found their redemption.

[@dr.narwhalmd4885]

When I first saw the collector I thought he was like some sort of boss who collected the souls of the party members that you had lost and then used them against you. I think that would’ve made him way cooler because then he’d be sort of rubbing it in your face that you lost such good characters and now he’s going to try and kill you with them

[@diddymelone2265]

Definetely. I think collector is a great boss, but still lacking. Most importantly: often times while I burn down collector himself, the maa head goes and protects the Highwayman head ... why ... how are they not hard coded to use guard and heals on collector. Also some more variants wouldve been great.

[@grevok]

Doubt this man has even played the video game Didn't list "Yourself" as the number 1 boss to overcome

[@mr.jeffmann376]

(: i need this today thank you

[@limcw6092]

this hit me more than usual

[@MrTigracho]

Spoiler ?

[@ashleyneku5432]

Best thing about Collector is that the Narrator is afraid of his presence. "A full pack often attracts...unwanted attention."

[@raumkhan4514]

Judging by the journal entries, I think the little tentacles the Shambler summons are just chunks of its flesh sorta sloughing off as it's fighting your party

[@LucianC137]

I favorite is the Swine. I like how the ancestor says, "It. is. a travesty", when we fight it xD

[@DrBXXI]

My take on the "bloodsuckers" is that they are parasites of the heart of darkness. Just like we as humans have to deal with mosquitoes or ticks, the heart of Darkness has cratures that feed on him, they are nothing but insects to him, but such a bid deal for us, yet he can't do anything about it. And maybe we are helping the the oldgod to get rid of the annoying parasites that plague him.

[@arealhumanbean3058]

It makes sense, the Ancestor discovered the heart after taking a sip from the Countess blood

[@zeuthras]

I let out an audible sigh of relief when you put The Thing From The Stars into D-tier. It's essentially just about rushing it down to 30-40% HP and then slowly fighting a war of attrition, hoping to God that it doesn't crit you with its Vorpal Strike. I've had to end an otherwise very succesful dungeon numerous times, just because that thing appeared in one of the last corridors.

[@kamilslup7743]

Thing from the stars: i have 80% PROT, u can't defeat me *laughs in puncture/pick to the face*

[@vayneinsane]

To offer a small defense to the Thing from the Stars, it gives me superboss vibes. Like the last major boss to challenge when even the Countess has fallen to you. Which is why it has all of the things listed in this. To offer one last challenge where you've overcome all others. Basically the Thing from the Stars is the Countess of the Color of Madness.

[@Netugi]

I can get behind it from that perspective, if only it were more like the Shambler in that you can encounter it if you want but you can easily avoid it. Like sure you can just not go to its weekly region, but that's locking down a whole region just because you don't wanna deal with it. May cause you to miss out on a really good trinket from a boss, or your only decent team option is apprentice (everyone else is stressed out?) and the only apprentice mission is there so you have no choice but to risk it. Maybe if it had its own special room battle on dead ends that you can avoid, hidden as a normal room battle? Or maybe it hides in secret rooms and guarantees it gets scouted out if it's there?

[@kharn-the-betrayer]

I like the idea it hides in secret rooms, that would make the whole risk / reward mechanic behind them better, at the moment when one pops up its like 'woo free stuff" I might think twice if I had to fight The Thing.

[@lucasistrom]

I always thought that the lore for the Warrens bosses was pretty interesting. I like how a lot of bosses in this game exist because of the Ancestor, and the Flesh and the Swine God fit into this category really well as his failed experiments. I think they also fit in really well with the Warrens, since all of the generic Warrens enemies are probably of similar origin to the bosses.

[@cmdrgodwin]

Always thought the "summoned" tentacles the Shambler has were in reference to the Journal Entry where an Occultist summoned the Shambler. The term "Sloughed off" originally made me think it was sliced off, but it merely means cast-off. Either way, I interpret it such that the individual tentacles of the Shambler can operate on their own to fatal capabilities. . . Like Boleyn who got clapperclaw'd (Presumably).

[@phiwvey]

"There are some bosses that are kinda too hard" Fanatic: "why are yall pointing at me?"

[@n4n196]

Never lost a person to fanatic. I lost to wilbur tho

[@commandertaco1762]

Lucked out hard to my first fanatic fight, dodged like 3/4 of his attacks and got 2 cures out of it, haven't tried to fight him since lol

[@phiwvey]

@@commandertaco1762 last time i thought him he took my healer first, DD'ed her and as soon as she came out Fanatic cleaved and killed her

[@thedeergod435]

That bastard’s killed three of my guys so far :(

[@Pockymon94]

Since the Collector go after parties with lots of loot and is out to get their heads, I always interpret it as it collecting greed (perhaps an obvious analyzis, but still wanted to share)

[@pierrecourtois5167]

It also fits the fact that the team comp with a highwayman, a manatarms, a vestal and most importantly a antiquarian is called "The Collection"

[@theonionpal6639]

The only good thing about the Fanatic is that my Hierophant (mod) keeps trying to tell him that he's delusional and should turn his eyes toward the real enemy.

[@StefanSochinsky]

I get where you're coming from with the Thing, but there something you forgot to mention about it: you always know about the possibility of coming up against it when selecting your missions. I don't like actually fighting it, but I really like the IDEA of the boss as it really does put you in the mind set of fighting an alien that we don't really have a 'proper' means of dispatching.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

Exactly. I don't get why so much praise for the Shambler being optional, and no mention at all of the Thing's equally optional nature.

[@drzerogi]

I also like that it forces you to play the other 3 main dungeons if you don't want to fight him. Otherwise you could just play one dungeon over and over and beat the game.

[@nikolachiara9285]

@@DinnerForkTongue The Shambler has praise because you van choose to avoid it and still play said mission, thiny from the stars is optional, but if you don't wish to fight it, means you avoid that mission, and potentially miss out on good trinkets or such, the shambler cannot do this unless you poorly manage your torches, there is nothing to praise about the thing from the stars by saying it is equally optional, because it is not, and everything about its design is poor, if it had an altar like shambler or such, it would be far better designed, but as is it is piss poor in literally every regard

[@ExtremeMan10]

I rather fight Fanatic with Shambler while getting my ass penetrated by Collector rather than fight Countess ever again, screw her 3-4 moves, ridiculous resistances and even the fact she is invicible unless you bring good blight/bleed comp or Shieldbreaker Edit: The reason why Fanatic cant go to Courtyard is because of its time twisted nature, he needs invitation to get in and reason why we dont see so much insect as in courtyard when infestation is High is "by lore" he is the one killing all around the estate

[@drzerogi]

Yeah, the countess is HARD. I agree that she is the hardest boss in the game, not even close.

[@coolguy7742]

The reason the fanatic doesn't go into the courtyard is because he isn't genuinely trying to stop the crimson curse. That's what he thinks he's doing. He's a religious fanatic, a person consumed by a mythology of his own making. He is hunting after the victims of the curse rather than the cause. He has a "need to do terrible things in the name of righteousness". It's a commentary on religious fanaticism.

[@eclecticspaghetti]

You're right, Thing From the Stars kind of sucks, but... I dunno, I just kind of like it? It's unique for a game where one of the best strategies is to just burst down enemies as fast as possible, to be forced to win a battle of attrition. Is it fair? Not really. Is it fun? ...also not really, but do I like it? For some reason, yes.

[@ryangrear3430]

i think because you can avoid it i don't mind as much all the stupidity it has similar to the shambler you can just simply say "not interested" and not have to deal with it

[@snkybrki]

It kinda makes sense. Of course an interstellar entity would play by different rules.

[@kamilslup7743]

Oi, thing from the stars. GIMME YO QUIRKS

[@SpacewardJarl92]

Some magic happened for me recently where I had the easiest viscount fight in the world. I was using vestal, jester, flag, hwm, and it started out targeting the bodies until my hwm went. He had point blank and was in position one so I said "why not?" 64 CRITICAL Needless to say, I beat the viscount in three turns without anyone losing over 10 hp or gaining over 5 stress.

[@Crazieyboy15]

So...your a witch then. Time to round up the mob.

[@Vibrioidimp7]

How quickly the tide turns.

[@kamilslup7743]

I had uses a bleed-based team to apprentice necromancer and just deleted tha fucker.

[@TheGunslinger44]

Something about the Wilbur vs Swine God "who's the real boss" debate is that you can actually kill the Swine God, leave Wilbur alive, leave the mission, and still have the mission count as completed. Another thing, design wise, is that of course everyone's eyes are blackened out and look cool, but the Swine God especially has these extremely sunken eyes into his sockets to the point you could actually believe he has no eyes and that Wilbur is the one that guides him. Anytime that the Swine God attacks, his eyes will flash red and glow like that one series of memes with characters having glowing red eyes. It's a very nice detail and explains a lot as to why the Swine God gets so enraged anytime you attack Wilbur.

[@gregorlangemeier4116]

I like that some fights get fairly easy when you figured out a strategy. It's rewarding to feel like you understood the concept of the boss and are now able to build a counter strategy, making the fight easier. That's why the bosses come in three levels after all (I think). Also this can completely turn the difficulty of a fight. My first brigand pounder and swine prince both went horribly. But when I came back with another strategy and set up, I could handle them really well. So, as you said, knowledge is the most powerful "thing" in this game.

[@Khrene]

2:37 Collectors characters. Those heroes are the pinnacle for the holy trinity of Tank (MAA) Damage (HI) and Support (Vest). Most games have a fourth category that changes from game to game.. The Collector softly represents that fourth category: Sabotage. Sabotage abilities are moves that set up the opponent to fail, namely Debuffs, DoTs, and Stress/Affliction.

[@SoloQueuer69]

it's also super fun since maa, hwm and vestal make a great 3-team already so running The Collector comp (antiquarian at the end) is great for farming money AND you get to play as a named party comp lmao

[@thecrimsonviscount5689]

Nobody: The Viscount fight: *[CRITICAL HITS AND RIPOSTES INTENSIFY]*

[@guilhermegarbin439]

my leper in bl literally destroyed viscount, turn 4 he was dead, baron at least was fun with the acts and my ripostes criting the shit out of him

[@utkubenli]

The thing from the stars also has a huge life pool. When you add that top of all you mentioned, it just makes you go "cool my entire planning for this run is just ruined now"

[@kaschey6145]

Ah, I completely understand your frustration of the Thing from the stars fight. It's so awful that when I see that it's roaming in one of the dungeons I'm like "Yep, we're not going to the place this weak even if there's a mission with an awesome trinket". And when I'm doing the endless Harvest I usually go as far as I can until I meet this abomination of a game balance.

[@ciaranmccullagh9246]

I actually quite liked the thing from the stars fight, it always felt a good challenge, tho I can see why someone may absolutely hate it

[@kaschey6145]

@@ciaranmccullagh9246 Unfortunately, it's really painful (in a bad way) to deal with it without armor piercing and it's just not fair to make a boss who counters everything except for 2 characters in the game and has attacks you literally can't dodge (the thing when it summons a crystal in the beginning of the fight and that stresses everyone). Of course, the design is cool and the theme of the boss is quite intriguing but fighting it feels like just guaranteed stress and damage to your party no matter how well you're prepared.

[@ciaranmccullagh9246]

@@kaschey6145 like I said, I can see why you despise the fight, I just like it personally

[@blindeyedblightmain3565]

The worst part of this boss for me is that the Thing never shows up when you have a party that can actually take it out with little effort.

[@joaolucaslages7792]

Makes me sad that the Thing was sooooo close to being amazing. Imagine if it used the shard only when it had a DoT. If the Prot was high, but not so absurd and consistent throughout the fight. Just with that you allow many more tactics against it.

[@toad23567]

Siren for me is S-tier because her singing with the cove music is my favourite soundtrack.

[@drzerogi]

Yep, its a nice touch.

[@-Zikade-]

I think Baron is my favorite. I just found the mechanics fun and it was clever artistically as well, like the cheering crowd. It's just a fight I always look forward to because it's fun and challenging in equal measures.

[@MineLightTerr]

40:32 The reeds are not the mechanic, they are only a set-piece to facilitate it, their entire purpose is to fill in the other 3 gaps croc is not in. His actual mechanic, on the other hand, is apex predator, and how it works. Croc can only apex if he's submerged, and he can only submerge if he is in rank 2 or 3, so pushes and especially pulls are a big deal in circumventing his main big attack. As such, heroes like occultist, shieldbreaker and bounty hunter (especially with vengeful kill list, which practically guarantees the move to not be resisted if it connects) are very important to have in the fight, at least one of them, though preferably two. Additionally, croc loses one of his offensive skills depending on if he's in rank 1 or 4, essentially guaranteeing he will either rake/lurk (in rank 1) or swarm/lurk (in rank 4). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of the fight either, but saying the entire encounter is just hoping he won't apex multiple people at once isn't really a fair critique of it.

[@SuccimusPrime]

The fact that you HAVE to run something that specific to super hard counter that specific action makes the fight poorly designed. and while yes, counterplaying a boss while at the hamlet is a big part of the game, when a move is so polarizing like that, it's not fun to plan/play around, not interesting to fight against, and not skillful to lose to. Counterplay should have a bit more finesse than "oh lets just spam this so he is locked out of X busted ass move lol" Also, theres no guarantees in this game, so you whiff your pulls 1 time (especially at low levels), apex hits crit and you pretty much lose right there.

[@henningg.1687]

Thanks for the explanation, I was not aware of that. It's interesting, because usually shuffling bosses around is very rarely the way to go in this game. For many bosses it is not even possible.

[@thetheory6159]

@@SuccimusPrime you can beat the boss without shuffles. If you fail then you either got unlucky or you simply made bad decisions. Saying a boss is poorly designed because a specific strategy is better is the same as saying the entire game is bad. "Bleed is unusable in the ruins, it's a bad area because a strategy is bad against it" "Having a mobile team is the best strategy against prophet, ew! Bad design!" "The darkest dungeon has super high bleeds and stress so stress heals and bleed resist do better than nothing! Bad design!"

[@nikolachiara9285]

@@thetheory6159 You can beat any boss with anything in this game, doesn't mean that the boss isn't poorly designed for favoring one style and not being friendly or interesting. The croc is not interesting or fun, it does not introduce anything new, and the fact that the other 3 slots are filled with blank space essentially is just poor design, there is no way to make the croc always be in the first slot since the grass cannot be killed, that is genuinely poor design, and isn't surprising for the piss poor dlc of this otherwise good game

[@michaelcoffey1991]

This was a fun watch as we have now seen 90% of these bosses so we have a actual opinion on them. Thanks for this, love the longer discussion pieces.

[@joshbays6461]

18:45 TFW you get Solar Crown in a torchless run.

[@marcel6873]

Once i went to champion flesh and took 4 houndmasters. I think it's actually one of the easiest bosses, because you can just melt it with a right party

[@hothaian9990]

I fully agree with you all why the lower tier bosses are not fun to fight. Maybe those are design flaws but I think Red Hooks just doesn't have enough time and resources for adding unique mechanics for each bosses into the game at the time. That's why they reused the "Pot" and "Summon" mechanics so much You could even argue that all the boring-to-fight bosses just need ONE interesting concept about them to make them enjoyable. For the Hag, simply tweak it so the hero reaching Death Door inside the Pot won't got busted out but instead would get Death Door checks each of the Hag turns. Now that would be terrifying. The Collector instead of being a slightly harder Necromancer could summon more than 3 types of head. He could have 2 - 3 combinations of heroes that he could summon randomly each encounters. The TFTS should have his Cure and Summons removed. Compensations would be to hit every positions with his attacks except the piercing one to bring out how "cosmic" it is. Removing the Summons would also making him exclusively stay in position 1+2, rendering some of the hero's moves useless. The Pounder should have all the generic bandits replaced with unique ones with Guard and Buffs and Self-positioning moves etc. to make the fight much more spicy and so you would have to choose between the Cannon and the bandits on who would get prioritised. Then nerf the Cannon damage and HP so that it is manageable instead of life-or-death RNGesus prayings. So on and so on... Though I bet someone probably made mods like what I described already.

[@ShuffleFM]

Hag checking deaths door with the pot is terrifying I agree. Other stuff sounds p fun too

[@itsyaboyxd8106]

Lovely little video, concise and genuine and actually has some gameplay to look at instead of an hour of the static tier list that most review videos do. You have earned my sub good sir

[@ShuffleFM]

Thank you. I'm glad I spent the extra time to do footage, because I almost didn't

[@drzero1131]

one thing about the collector I'll say is that depending on where you are in the game/ a dungeon and what team you've brought, his appearance is either horrifying or trivial. If he shows up against a team that can't really fight him because of whatever reason, he's one of the scariest bosses, and because he shows up when you have a nearly full inventory, it can put you off getting vital gold or doing antiquarian runs to avoid him, because of how lethal he can get. but put him against a team that is properly equipped, and he can get bullied as quickly as round 3 (as shown in your footage). Like one run I did earlier today, long champion cove mission with a GR, PD, vest and crus, had just finished it. Decided to explore the final room, collector shows up in the corridor, he gets surprised. By the end of round 1 he's taken a crit lunge, a noxious blast and is stunned. Barely survives round 2 with a slither of health, and proceeds to die to blight round 3.

[@swordslasher3000]

Heeey, I just asked you about this! This was great to listen to, and it helped me realize things I never would have thought about (like how the Necromancer is a good tutorial boss, Shamblers are optional, Thing From The Stars is a DM pet character, etc). I really appreciate seeing vids like these, it gives me so much more appreciation for the game and its design. However, you didn't rate the Hag S tier like I requested, so I will not be liking this video or posting this comment. Unforgivable.

[@Eloxist]

I recently got Darkest Dungeon (about 2 weeks ago) and I have to say, the bosses have been my favorite part about the game, or at least one of my favorite parts. Unlike other turn based games, bosses here are not damage sponges that you have to grind for hours to beat them stat wise, but instead each one of them has it's own "thing" that makes you consider how you will build your team, what trinkets you will give them and how you will tackle the fight itself. Their visuals are also amazing and fit the thematic of the game. I do have to say though, I agree with what you said about bosses like The Hag, a few days ago I did my first ever Champion hag boss, and I was actually getting my heroes out of the pot until 4 rounds in I realized that I was not getting anywhere, so I instead decided to burn her down and win the fight without losing anyone (I got a bit lucky as my Hellion dodged at Death's door). Nonetheless I guess the realization and sudden shift in strategy that I had to do was great and enjoyable by itself, at least for the first time.

[@namenotloading]

when you just want to explain some enemies but suddenly it took 1h

[@thatonenecromancer4044]

I think soden crew is my least favorite fight, it honestly takes me the most time out of all non dlc fights

[@djstonedage5538]

Sunken Crew on stygian is impossible without the pull cheese

[@dismasthesecond5697]

@@djstonedage5538 and virtue cheese

[@lordbrandon5120]

>siren grabs jester >Jester finales my man at arms. Thanks

[@pointynoodle]

Another thing about swine god: there is a legitimate play to simply kill wilbur then intimidate and weakening curse the shit out of the swine god. After that he's trivial, you can just melt him while he deals 3 damage on all your guys with enraged destruction.

[@sirincognito1250]

Btw The thing from that stars has another skill. If you only have one hero at the begin of the turn, it takes your action automatically.

[@Zero-dm2ep]

I love how he perfectly describe my first full team wipe when he describe shambler

[@chariotboi5061]

I just realized I rage quit this game months ago because fighting the thing from beyond the stars was such BS that I just assumed since it's literally everywhere it was some easy mini boss and the apprentice Necromancer was going to be literally impossible. Now I see that the thing is literally the worst boss in the game 🤣

[@Businessgoose124]

I put these tier lists on when I'm trying to sleep, your voice is so soothing

[@nikitakempf5065]

Love watching these videos! The tier lists of yours are really fun to watch with all the knowledge you have c:

[@SillyBunny5]

Loving this game so far and you’re a gem I found while delving in!

[@heartlessmushroom]

I really like that The Baron is an inversion of the usual shell-game gimmick. It's actually better to take down the eggs and their contents down one by one, because if you pop one and find the Baron first, then it means you have to balance doing damage to him, clearing his adds and clearing the remaining eggs and all while you don't have healing moves available to put up with his cleave spam.

[@user-cv2ro9lr6s]

Honestly i subscribed recently . but im really enjoying the content i put it in the background listen and when something im interested in pops up as a subject i just focus on it . to be fair good videos dude very detailed and ur game knowledge is insane even for a veteran player like me gets me surprised of few things and makes me want to play the game ever more .

[@cry_stain]

One time I forgot that hitting Wilbur is not good, so I one shot him with an iron swan first turn. The entire fight turned into a race to kill the giant pig before it killed us, I was sweating the entire time.

[@Pandzior75]

I had similliar experience but it was some years ago and I don't remember it perfectly. I think that I had some brain lag and tought that it would be great to use riposte against that butcher. Then I realized what horrible thing I've had done.

[@gtnogme]

Heh, my first encounter with him I killed off the Wilbur first. Then my Vestal kept saying he was angry for killing the little one over and over. So as I was getting crushed at least I knew the next time will be easier. I managed to barely kill him. I'm new to the game and finally farming rank 3 missions on Radiant with Antiquarian. My first death was Antiquarian and thought she was horrible, but now she's one of my favorites to farm with.

[@witherkichian4867]

Honestly I find it kind of funny that the bandit boss just straight up steals other bosses' mechanics. Hell, he even bounces his cannonball in the same way the Prophet does while stealing Prophet's main gimmick.

[@eclecticspaghetti]

If the Fracture counted as its own boss, separate from the Sleeper, where would you rank it?

[@ShuffleFM]

C

[@SuperParkourio]

The final boss is the easiest and cruelest boss in the game.

[@WRanger87]

Pretty lame that it just decides to circumvent the mechanics of its own game just to give the player a fuck you for putting time in.

[@snagsTS]

Shrieker killed my Dismas the very first time I encountered him. I still managed to win and got the graveyard event later. Getting Dismas back. I almost laughed hysterically when I realised I could bring him back.

[@Akymma]

The collector shows up when you have a crap ton of stuff cause he is drawn to things to collect. And he gives you valuable loot hard to fit cause it's not something that you commonly find out there anymore.. you know cause he kills those that have tried before and take their stuff. It makes sense.

[@crabking3525]

11:15 Lol that was my first reaction when I got the talismans of the flames. Like when you literally need to equip an item that allows you to survive a specific attack, that's bad.

[@KonoGufo]

Something great about the Shuffling Horror/Shambler reveal btw: you mentioned how it has a nice added impact because the player has likely seen/encountered Shambler before, so it's sort of an "Oh shit!" moment of something familiar yet different. What's also nice, though, is that this works in reverse, too. Think about a player who's never seen the Shambler, but has beaten the first Darkest Dungeon mission, meaning they've seen the Shuffling Horror; later, they boot up the save and then by random chance (or curiosity with the Altar) they run into the *regular* Shambler. Suddenly, they're having this moment where they're realizing several things at once: that the horrifying monster they fought exists outside of the Darkest Dungeon, that this is what that thing *normally* looks like; and the best of all, it should give them a moment of pause as they consider that the Heart of Darkness was somehow able to corrupt and enslave something as terrifying as the Shambler proves itself to be during its fight. Makes for a wonderful moment of revelation where the situation gets re-contextualized into something even scarier for the player.

[@jankoo999]

As for Dark Souls 3: if your friend left because they were stuck at Gundyr in "tutorial area" then they weren't ready for the rest of the game and they would get much more frustrated down the line, change my mind. I think Gundyr is hard for a reason - DS3 shows you the whole gameplay loop withing first 10 minutes of the game: 1) there will be area with weak "respawning" enemies that you will learn to go trough 2) there are some optional harder encounters that will give you nice loot 3) there are random items scattered everywhere 4) at the end of the area there is a boss that will f*ck you until you make him not to If you're out in the tutorial probably means you wouldn't enjoy rest of the game as this is pretty much most if not everything that Dark Souls is for an average player.

[@jonathanrussell8998]

"You have to take 5 trinkets instead of 8" Me, who beat that mission yesterday blind without the Talismans: *Pathetic*

[@jeremymiller2952]

Seeing Flesh in S tier made me happy. My favorite looking fight, and favorite fight in general.

[@edward9148]

oh fuck yeah bruh, been watching your streams and videos everyday, keep it up man

[@nathanwoolley421]

I remember my first playthrough of Darkest Dungeon. I had done some basic research on the game beforehand and read something about items being able to be used on certain curios to interact with them, so when I saw this totem asking for a torch, I didn't think twice. I ended up getting TPKed in my 3rd dungeon by Shambler.

[@PrincipledNaturalLaw]

First, a big thanks for creating/sharing the DD playlist 👍 As someone who is currently playing through their first DD campaign, the fact, that order has been imposed on the chaotic avalanche of information that was burying me, is greatly appreciated. It's a solid game....so far, it's all positives,no negatives & having a blast in the Campaign....literally, last night got squad wiped by the damn boss canon thing 😆😆 Peace out ❤

[@ShuffleFM]

You'll get that cannon next time!

[@PrincipledNaturalLaw]

@@ShuffleFMAye...it's gun & dusted!!! ☠

[@marcingluszek7564]

Great video mate :)

[@hariman7727]

I suspect the thing from another world or beyond the stars or I forget is designed as an endurance challenge where you survive it more than anything else, because it is two alien to combat and survive directly. Which is really brutal and not fun, especially if it pops during a boss mission or a longer mission where you need to conserve resources.

[@dariussonofjazzlin7433]

Vvulf gets bonus points for the awesome soundtrack

[@impossibleexperiments]

my favorite fight is the Shrieker. it's awesome thematically (big bird that steals shinies), has a great gameplay function (recovering lost trinkets), you can revisit it anytime (by suiciding fresh heroes), the music rocks, you can get unique quirks and diseases from it and most importantly: it's one of the few fights in the game that you can win by outlasting the opponent which let's you send in very unusual comps and skill sets. Oh and you cut right to the chase, it's really all about the boss, not about making it to the boss room.

[@shamefurdispray859]

When I defeated the Fanatic, literally the next dungeon I entered I encountered him again

[@insert_apathetic6159]

With shambler I went into the fight blind not knowing what the torch in the altar did. It was one of my favorite moments in the game.

[@bunnysupreme74]

My favorite part of the Hag is when my buffed Arbalest finally comes out of the pot, and the Hag immediately gets a turn to kill her.

[@quinnlee-miller9792]

The puzzling d20s can be stacked to 2 when you have the geology hall I believe; makes it worth it imo, since it takes the 3 you can get in Collector’s room to 2 slots, and if you find him and get another, it’s only 2 slots still. Works with jute tapestries and antiquarian antiques too, so it makes up for citrine still being worthless

[@marcoasturias8520]

Ah yes, Swine Prince, where the true boss fight is geting an arbalist down there

[@daikatarokamegawa542]

Can't believe you didn't go about the story of thrice damned Mizir when talking about the Shambler.

[@Oznerock]

The collector gives good loot because he's a collector- That gem is also in the locked rooms where we find the heads- we can assume they're his rooms. He goes after you if you have things to collect - he is specifically a mechanic to attack greedy players!

[@thenameismary4874]

When I was fighting swine prince I killed the little pig behind him and only survived because my jester took 5 deathblows

[@MrR2TheZ]

I had one mark for and one mark against the Brigand Vvulf: For good, he is one of the only bosses that you CAN ignore, but if you do will cause damage to the Hamlet. It's for that reason I found his presence unsettling. You really do feel cornered when they show up and it's on you to do something about it. I actually didn't have a MAA ready for the fight, so it was extra scary. For bad, his Tower Shield ability actually makes the fight so much easier since he becomes a bigger target and wastes a turn in order to do it. Now you can hit him in rows 2 and 3. Thanks Vvulf!

[@dudewhy6953]

The Crew is a really fun fight. At times it’s irritating but once you get into the swing of things (and you kit your heroes correctly) it’s a really fun game of micromanage and big damage.

[@stevecraig730]

Hot damn been waiting for this lol

[@takeApicture247]

I fought the Swine God for the first time yesterday and I was surprised to hear he had more attacks then the AOE stun and obliterate since that's all he used against my team. I only barely won with my last 2 members because of Flaggelent's death which i assumed was some holy interventions that stunned Swine God and healed my last 2 party members

[@pedroprass106]

the first time i fought the sleeper and i got to the 2nd part and i was like: "okay, now its a stress race so i gotta kill it qu-" >MISS< >MISS< >MISS< >MISS< "D-did he... just miss his initial horror attack...?" needless to say the fight was a breeze.

[@lanuudo]

I made my friend stop playing the game because i told him to put a torch in a weird red orb and see what happens

[@ehoffart529]

Sunken Crew is probably the worst boss battlewise simply because you can just virtue farm to make them a joke. I really like how the Fanatic was set up. I purposely fought him the other day. I guessed which fight was him and set up the fight so that I camped right before him.

[@ehoffart529]

@@Shadowlurker4897 I mean yeah thats fighting them normally but I prefer just virtue farming so that the anchor literally does nothing.

[@yaboi3710]

"If you are walking in the dark, you choose to do it, youre fighting shambler" me who optimized the team around antiquitis and loot 👁👄👁

[@Brntnugget]

Little bit off topic but coming from someone who started the souls series with 3, I think gundyr is a great tutorial boss. Hard for newbies sure, but he does everything a hard dark souls boss does reasonably like punishing greedy attacks or bad estus drinks

[@dyllanoverly1091]

I didn’t even know the croc was a boss I always thought it just guarded usually the first key or last key in crimson court I always end up getting a lot of camp curios here so this guy never seems that bad cause I end up using a campfire to buff for the main boss and before the key rooms, I will say I do think they are to generous with the campfires there I’ve had a run where I got 6 in one run

[@Tereza641]

I like necromancer because when I first battled it I didn't put much thought that summoning dudes was gonna put him out of range of my melees. I didn't even thought it would be hard at all because ruins is easy when you take Crusader and Vestal. And I almost died because of the poor party comp... And a valuable lesson was learned. DD wrecks you, but it tries to teach you to. That was horrifically encouraging

[@agamemnonofmycenae5258]

Gundyr was actually an easy boss. Champion Gundyr is where it's at(also a homage to the undead asylum, where you fight the asylum demon, and later can encounter him again in the same place,as well as another variant before Lost Izalith).

[@segtendonerd64]

Gundyr?

[@jankoo999]

@@segtendonerd64 Dark Souls 3 boss, he's mentioned in the video while talking about Necromancer

[@botox_to_rapox]

I agree that Formless Flesh has really good design, idea of the fight is great, but it's just C tier anyway, maybeee B tier for me. This fight is just easy (maybe even easier than Hag Witch, because The Pot actually threatens your guy by dealing unevitable dmg every turn unless you use your time to beat that), I didn't even care what these parts do because i just was beating those without the PROT, it never threatened me and it might be a long fight if you can't hit the squishy parts. Its moves aren't impactful also, you easily heal all the damage.

[@user-cy9vd7rl4h]

Sounds like you're talking about apprentice. Champion flesh can chunk out 60-120 damage per round from the heads and butts, not including bleed&blight or stuns from bones, and will easily outpace a vestal&off healer. If you don't roll a heart for 2-3 turns in a row it's actually the highest damage potential fight in the game while you're getting spammed with cleave jaws of life, undulating invasion, and bone zephyr and swinging into 50-80% prot. Rolling a couple hearts makes the fight significantly easier.

[@tobiaspetersson6446]

The Siren has had the biggest swing in success for me, one time i got my first ever party wipe to Siren because she got the bounty, who then crit my healer putting her on deaths door, and then got finished off by the Siren. The next time i fought her, the fight literally went flawless, she got to use song of desire 4 times, 2 of them dodged, the rest of them resisted, she also used a stress attack once, that missed.

[@S_Black]

You have to be a bit careful with party selection and not take heavy hitters. Taking people or trinkets with bonus damege to eldritch is great.

[@pyrusvincent1029]

I remember a few friends and I were playing Darkest Dungeon over Parsec a few weeks back. (Each of us takes control of 1 character via mouse control.) We were doing a long dungeon everyone is level 3 ish, and randomly got into an encounter with the Collector. No big deal, we wipe it out and end the fight with about half health and stress on everyone, and two camps remaining, still. We literally take **one fucking step** and run into a fight with the Thing from the Stars. Within three turns, we've been crit no less than 5 times, our vestal is dead dead, a highwayman's at death's door, and our leper and crusader are both having heart attacks every fucking turn. We barely make it out by the skin of our teeth, and refuse to go anywhere where that boss is lurking now because of that experience.