Ranking DARK SOULS 3 Bosses from EASIEST to HARDEST - Tier List

My personal perspective of all the Dark Souls 3 Bosses ranked from easiest to most difficult. A lot of the opinions come from a combination of early experience and having ran the games for greater challenge. Make sure to leave a comment with YOUR ideal order below or which tier list you want to see next. Follow these links below for more!
Twitch.tv/Squillakilla
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Twitter.com/OGsquilla
• SL1 NG+7 Darkeater Mid... - No Roll Midir by Tolo

[@facoba9332]

Can we agree the chain axe guy is the actual boss in ancient wyvern

[@ashes_blue]

Yes.

[@tonio1746]

He throw me to the abyss like 100 times

[@Cyfaeras]

or the havel summon if you get unlucky

[@crowstepxanth2413]

Yes

[@vulkarin8616]

What chain axe guy ? These snake thingys?

[@Halvaari]

In my experience Friede and Midir were by far the hardest, while soul of cinder was surprisingly easy.

[@timt8027]

Right?!

[@nakunyacuz4102]

Cinder is easy, untill you fight him at sl1 no upgrades, then its a nightmare

[@TheLloydLightning]

Midir stops being a challenge once you figure him out. The higher bosses on the list usually don't.

[@wr5488]

Funnily enough on challenge runs its usually the opposite. Midir is really easy to avoid, and Friede staggers almost every hit so you can keep her at bay fairly easily. Soul of Cinder doesnt really have a... 'weakness' like that, its a straight up fight. On a no level run I think most people find the likes of Soul of Cinder to be much harder, despite the others having considerably more health.

[@nakunyacuz4102]

@@wr5488 cinder is definitely great challenge

[@beetlepimp4777]

Champion grave tender being over midir actually boggles my mind

[@fuller1883]

if you have ever fought him at low level n+7 the fights a real shit show with the wolf and champion both alive and one shotting you. If you do have enough dps its not so bad, but most people fight him over leveled and over equipped. Midir on the other hand is consistent and predictable, obnoxiously tanky but manageable.

[@beetlepimp4777]

@@fuller1883 you can easily destroy the grave tender on new game plus 7; just use a great sword and he’s done. but I thought we were ranking them as like first play through anyway? But I digress, when the wolf goes into 2nd phase, you can literally kill it there if you keep stun locking it, midir may be “predictable” but he packs waaaay more of a punch than champion grave tender. He’s definitely more difficult than soul of cinder, I’ll tell you that much 😑

[@bonkusdonkus3743]

@@beetlepimp4777 midir killed me a bunch on my first play through. After that he isn’t really that hard, but he’s still so much fun to fight.

[@beetlepimp4777]

@@bonkusdonkus3743 I’m new game plus 5 currently on ds3, and he’s still a pain in the ass, I’m at pontiff rn but I think I’m going to skip him this play through

[@bonkusdonkus3743]

@@beetlepimp4777 ah, I guess I just have so much experience with slow/big combo bosses that they’re easy to me.

[@Jeroen_stam]

Not proud to admit, but the curse-rotted greatwood clepped me the first couple of times, simply because I didn’t know wtf I had to attack

[@kingbrad6482]

Admitting you’re trash is better than holding to a stupid pride.

[@griezler]

Same lol

[@lactural]

Every boss claps you the first couple/dozens of times

[@lactural]

apart from wolnir

[@satanpills6232]

@@lactural cap I died hella times to him

[@DontDisapPyrrha]

Rip Gwyndolin 2011-2016 eaten by pudding monster

[@RandyBobasek]

How fun would it be if there would be more "eaten gods" as next phases or just switch them as he reapears...

[@kingbrad6482]

You’re a clown for spoiling

[@straatzz5388]

@@kingbrad6482 mate you can see they are gwyndolin and it isnt revealed in ds3 because its already known. Wasnt a spoiler

[@kingbrad6482]

Straatzz ohhh ok then even though I played ds1 too

[@straatzz5388]

@@kingbrad6482 yeah in ds1 you kill gwyndolin but it is said after you leave aldrich devours the body. It is theorized that the other half of him is gravelore nito but we dont really know. Gwyndolin is an optional boss you probably never killed them

[@FlawlessKam]

*Cries in Gael OST

[@bryceburgess5981]

Fricking love his music

[@GTAVALE]

@@bryceburgess5981 ikr it's amazing

[@kingbrad6482]

Plin plan plon.

[@squeegs3409]

Cries in midir ost

[@kingbrad6482]

Squeegs it’s not even a sad symphony 🤡🤡🤦🏻‍♂️

[@sladevalen2120]

Seeing champion gundyr higher than midir gave me physical pain

[@leesbutters1485]

Seeing Pontiff Sulivan above Midir made me scratch my head, I think I’ve died one or two times ever against Pontiff on many different playthrus

[@daith_izumi]

I was confused at the rankings too

[@MarcusFenixKO]

Seeing Gravetender even in the top 10 gave me pain.

[@wr5488]

I find Gundyr harder than Midir! Midir is REALLY easy to avoid, whereas Gundyr is a fast paced back and forth. I have no idea on Gravetender being that high though lmao

[@leesbutters1485]

@@wr5488 I can understand Champion Gundyr being closer to Midir but both Pontiff and Gravetender above them doesn’t make much sense to me. I will say with Champion Gundy if you get really good at parries he becomes pretty easy, I have a video on my Xbox of just standing still parrying him the whole fight.

[@MM36Productions]

I don't know, Aldrich in the same tier as vordt and ancient wyvern feels...dirty

[@martk647]

Definitely higher..

[@dyanblade1]

Arrow rain second Phase...

[@mentalwarriorshow1458]

I’d disagree. Aldrich was pathetically east for me. And the arrow storm is just a couple seconds of sprinting away. I beat him my first attempt and only used like 3 estus. I was expecting something much harder from the hype lol

[@majoraboy7018]

Yea.... He should be higher

[@cman600000]

Yeah, i got stuck big time my first playthrough on Aldrich.

[@Shyguymask]

I died to High Lord Wolnir and Curse-Rotted Greatwood but I beat Champion Gundyr and Dragon Slayer Armour on first try....

[@r3ptil393]

after i beat the game 2 times my second character was pyromancer and i literraly cheesed all of the bosses i couldnt kill from my first time.....pyromancy makes everything like a joke except bosses which have high fire dmg absorption like the demon boss under wolnir.Eitherway im slaying dark lothric knigh sword with dark infusion and drake sword with chaos infusion.I would suggest people start using dark infusions since most of the PVP shields weapons and items are with low dark absorption.Black flames and dark infusions is everything. P.S. Dont forget to trasmute the chaos vestige bed from the Old Demon King...cheers guys.

[@jamiefenwick8359]

Wolnir can get some really cheeky kills on you even if you are fairly good at the game.

[@r3ptil393]

@@jamiefenwick8359 he actually did my second playthrough as the guy above me was saying he glitch pulled me with his animation of the arm when he is pulling and i died from the cursed fart around him.

[@The_Soldier-of_Godrick]

E

[@xanderdaniels8284]

I beat champ on my first try, it wasn’t quite as fun the next time around though lol

[@potatomatop9326]

Ancient Wyvern sometimes: what the hell are these spikes on my head for?

[@Foundyoumylove]

Good one ^^

[@slaveknightgael7017]

Hahaha 😂 good one bro

[@biga9144]

Fashion

[@jarrarwinks8470]

Fashion Souls.

[@tokyonova2814]

“I know you’re summoning your friends” bold of you to assume I have friends

[@SniperSnake-iv9nz]

Lmao

[@Strikker36]

if your playing dark souls you have plenty of friends :)

[@tokyonova2814]

@@Strikker36 you know what that’s true man there’s a hell of a community for the fromsoft games

[@jacobmoon5764]

Bold of you to assume I didn’t use all my embers on abyss watchers

[@jarrarwinks8470]

Bold of you to assume I read the description of embers, and didn’t sell them.

[@lordziz]

For me Friede will always be far and away the hardest boss. I’ve played through DS3 probably 6 times and only on my most recent playthrough did I finally beat her without summoning or being OP.

[@capperbuns]

Imo she is very ez to me. I can consistently beat her with +7 weapons. My problem lands on the nameless king.

[@adamhill596]

Mate I am the exact same she kicks my ass the most!! And only beat her one v one... one time

[@adamhill596]

@@capperbuns it's why i love dark souls we struggle with different bosses... I can comfortably beat him one two times max

[@MattDoesLife539]

@@adamhill596 Yep, I'm the opposite. I've done hittless nameless king runs but I still struggle vs Friede still this day. This is what makes DS series unique, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses in bosses.

[@RELOFTLP]

Yeah me too, I'm in the first run and still battle against frida and namless king but can easely beat the final boss under maybe 10 attamps.

[@vanquish5023]

It is interesting hearing the perspective of "difficulty" from someone who does no-hit runs. It seems that his difficulty is based upon predictability and fewer move sets than anything else.

[@leo-shun]

Seeing that gravetender and halflight being harder than Midir is beyond me

[@bonkusdonkus3743]

@@leo-shun midir is really easy to dodge once you got the hang of it. Really predictable too, fun to fight just as much as he is predictable. Half light idk, fighting a player was annoying and those wolves make me want to die.

[@mushuable]

I'm currently fighting Midir on my first playthrough and though I've died a lot, I'm confident I'll get him soon. He's massive, slow and very predictable. Half-light, SOC and Champions are not, which is probably why they are rated difficult, probably from a 0 hit perspective. The worst for me is Friede, eratic movements, crazy AOE, harder to predict. Midir is definitely hard on the first playthrough but after you've figured it out (never be under it, always in front of it, be patient and let it come to you), it's just an endurance fight.

[@goblof]

@@bonkusdonkus3743 you can say that about every boss

[@Dorraj]

@@goblof that's why I don't think "once you learn it, it's easy" should be a definition for "difficulty". I think difficulty should be determined by how much it dunks on you first try, and how hard it is to learn how to beat it. When you are challenge running a game, "difficulty" takes on a whole new meaning that is more about mechanics and less about how "hard" something is.

[@itsyaboi1245]

Wolnir always smokes me cuz I'm too careless or overconfident and the fog just instant kills me

[@uglybastard6614]

ya dude the only times ive died to him was his spooky mist

[@DeadPixel___]

@@uglybastard6614 you know he can spawn a lot of these Skeleton Guards, if the fight takes to long? I had once really bad rng with his attacks.

[@runek100]

Or, I was really unlucky and couldnt smack those rings and he pushed me almost to the corner of map and killed me with fog.

[@leftsideanalog]

and he does the sword sometimes, and he can summon grave wardens

[@01luvgrey]

yeah vape lord wolnir has been known to do that

[@pienoaji]

It's weird, I never struggled with Soul of Cinder NEARLY as much as with Friede or the Twin Princes.

[@timt8027]

Thats because soul of cinder is easy and friede might be the hardest boss in the game

[@jackbartlett6936]

@@timt8027 I think midir then Gael then her, those three bosses are the only ones that make me get butterflies before the fight even starts 😭

[@dynamicflashy]

@@timt8027 Friede is the hardest boss, imo.

[@milesmonaco2625]

@@jackbartlett6936 moonlight butter

[@EchNelys]

Well I never struggled with the Twin Princes, Midir or Nameless King (nor the camera boss just before) but the Dragonslayer Armor for exemple always give me pain in the ass x) I guess we all have our personal challenges x).

[@spadekxtra]

12:55 "Soul of Cinder will make you feel like you are playing against a slot machine with Japanese A.I." Well...

[@KH-lk9rn]

I must say, the editing is clear with good transitions, and keeps the video at a good pace. The enunciation and backstory of each boss really holds my attention too. Overall, this video is phenomenal.

[@louisBrother1988]

The sudden great jokes really worked well too, overall extremely well put together. Goob job Squilla!

[@m33tballa]

i think u just really vibe with his quick delivery, wit, and use of big words

[@pokimanefartcompilation]

there was no moment in the video where I felt he was too repetitive and monotonous, very swell in capturing the audience. Reasoning was very logical for each placement. The video was a good length, seeming very fleshed out and detailed yet not too long as to bore the viewer. overall, I'd say this was a pleasant viewing. 8.5/10

[@gaup9986]

Sister Friede clapped my cheeks so bad first time i fought her.

[@aplive58]

I had 80 deaths against her first playthrough. Second most deaths came from NK. On subsequent playthroughs, I still am inconsistent against Friede, but NK has become easy for me.

[@Blernster]

Me too, the first 30 times

[@gumplenet]

I somehow beat her first go. I still don't know how, but it was definitely the best boss fight in my playthrough by far. I'm sure she'll get her revenge in NG+

[@kingbrad6482]

Just like how madrid clapped LivArpool.

[@gaup9986]

@@kingbrad6482 good one!

[@fortel5]

i always struggled on many runs with Midir no matter what type of run, as a veteran of the game i must say in my case, Midir is by far the hardest, i don't struggle on any other boss than him since some years, can be my playstyle maybe

[@cman600000]

Yeah, hardest boss for sure.

[@fortel5]

@@cman600000 Yeah, hardest boss of FS games alongside with Isshin Sword Saint, Demon of Hatred, Orphan of Kos, Laurence and Fume Knight.

[@laughingman9574]

@@fortel5 Fuck Demon of Hatred, I hate him with a passion. I would rather fight 3 Orphans than him.

[@jimmygames5557]

Ppl say gale as well but I'm same something about midir fucks me up I should know his movement but then I'll just get mega lazered and die.

[@fortel5]

@@jimmygames5557 totally true man i feel ya so much

[@adamwestslappup]

I love Soul of Cinder. My first time fighting him, I realized he was just all of my past characters from 1 and 2; and then phase 2 hit. Probably one of the most emotional final bosses in gaming for me.

[@spideyfan1024]

Sister Friede gave me a fun, balanced, and exciting boss fight while also being able to kick my ass and not even get mad about it. Easily my favorite in the game.

[@gumplenet]

I beat her first go, miraculously. It was definitely the most memorable fight, the entrance cuts cutscene was chilling and the third phase... such an awesome fight!

[@gorkemaykut5230]

I had to fight her for 3 days to get it right in my sl1 run, everything can go wrong went wrong in my final attempt and I somehow managed to beat her, it's one of the best boss fight I had

[@gumplenet]

@@gorkemaykut5230 hard work pays off! I'm a casul and couldn't imagine fighting her at SL1!

[@gorkemaykut5230]

@@gumplenet I recommend trying it, it's like learning to play dark souls for the first time I say 4-5 boss is a pain in the ass (most of them are in the DLC) but other than that it's a very fun challenge unlike the others and surprisingly you got a good amount of options in front of you even though you are sl1, I had comparable dmg to my friend who was playing normally only difference is you got less health and armor give it a shot, you might enjoy the experience

[@gumplenet]

@@gorkemaykut5230 I'll give it a go after my NG+ run 😊

[@leopard--]

Normal Game tutorial: “press X to jump” Dark Souls tutorial: “X: Traverse the fog”

[@biga9144]

Press circle and while running which is done by holding circle while pushing L3 forward to jump.Very simple

[@leopard--]

@@biga9144 “Visible confusion”

[@randomstuff4874]

@@leopard-- i think they misunderstood your joke. They told you how to jump in ds3. Pressing left joystick while holding dodge (Circle or B) makes you jump. (Idk computer controls for dark souls so very sorry if thats what you play and I'm just incoherently explaining console things XD)

[@biga9144]

@@randomstuff4874 for me it was press circle while while holding circle to jump tho maybe the jump controls were different for us?

[@arkayv]

@@biga9144 that was the old Demon's/Dark Souls jump control. Ever since DS2 I believe, it's pressing L3 while running (holding down circle).

[@elijahkeay3906]

It’s always so interesting how difficulty varies between people, I beat dancer, the twin princes, and the soul of cinder second try on my first playthrough, but various other bosses took tons of attempts. I will say though that soul of cinder on sl1 is incredibly difficult. It’s pretty absurd, even compared to the rest of the dlc bosses like Gael, fride and midir

[@leo-shun]

*The gravetender and halflight harder than midir* Man the disrespect..

[@mingQWERTY]

Funny enough I also feel that way. I died to Halflight (the npc) so many times to the point where I didn't even kill the npc to win cause a player was summoned. I think it's just RNG for me because I swear the npc will always do the most annoying attacks 99% of the time and that 1% is when he switches to the bow and arrow which is the easiest to punish.

[@tristan62099]

Not the content i expected from this channel but its quite the welcome surprise, Squilla has a great voice and is perfect for these kind of analysts

[@kade_viralbrush]

a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one

[@Blernster]

Yeah I love it

[@ethanbolger6690]

@@kade_viralbrush hello there

[@yzwme586]

I'm so glad my brother bought me DS1 for Christmas last year. Beat then then went on to beat DS3. One of the greatest games of all time easy.

[@stompingpeak2043]

Play ds2. Its an absolute amazing game if you don't let people ruin it with negativity

[@leopard--]

Im fairly new to the series too. Finished Dark Souls 1 like a month ago and it holds a special place in my heart cause it’s my first Souls game. But as im typing this, im about to finish DS2 right now and im really sad that it’s coming to an end cause i really like the game, maybe not souls wise but still a pretty decent game nonetheless. Give it a shot.

[@kstreet7438]

@@stompingpeak2043 I'm stuck in it. I attacked the lady with the key to Huntsman's corpse and I can't kill her she's so op.

[@stompingpeak2043]

@@kstreet7438 yeah she is a pain in the ass I did that and it took my low level character like 20 lives to kill her. Its not impossible but just hard. If anything just restart since thats literally right at the beginning of the game and it will take like an hour or less to get there again. Either stun lock her off the edge after dragonrider or just pay the one time fee. Its only a couple thousand souls and not very much

[@insomniclipse9400]

@@kstreet7438 she can be stunlocked with a dagger

[@santiagomarin1882]

I unironically died more one Deacons of the Deep and Wolnir than on Abyss Watchers and Pontiff Sulyvahn

[@HokageHeir]

True lol

[@tenorenstrom]

Ditto. Deacons and Wolnir had me dying the most. Almost all other bosses were a maximum 2 deaths kill. First run experience.

[@zache8110]

@@tenorenstrom it's all in the build for decons. I went in blind and killed him in like a minute. All because is used pure strength with vordts mace. Being able to hit through the whole crowd and kill any given decon in 3 hits made it a joke. Pontif took me a week.

[@defyyourlogic487]

Bruh how do you even die to Wolnir lol pontiff is 100000x harder

[@santiagomarin1882]

@@defyyourlogic487 It took me like an hour to realize that the mist was Curse Mist that killed me in an instant

[@laughingman9574]

Beautiful thing about the Souls is that everyone has different difficulty rating, it's magic.

[@MrTrueCaller619]

O&S are like my bitches but i just can't beat Soul Of Cinder ..

[@laughingman9574]

@@MrTrueCaller619 I believe it's about reading the boss, some you naturally read and know how to dodge, or at least know when you are making mistakes. On my first play of DS3 dlc 2, I was stuck at Midir for 2 days :)... after I finaly realised I should go for the head and did that fight a lot, I've beaten him SL1 no hits taken. However, I never played DS1 after beating it SL1, Manus is the fight that I will never be good at. As for the Cinder, I think moveset (and speed of the weapon in particular) matters the most. My go to was always heavy weapons and one hit per punish.

[@solid_2077]

I find melee bosses easier, beat almost every melee boss first try except champion gundyr. Mages on the other hand, Aldrich gave me so much trouble.

[@ghostparty2062]

Yep. Iv beat darksouls 3 a thew times but I always have a hard time with abyss watchers

[@laughingman9574]

@@ghostparty2062 Watchers are a skill gate for sure. I had my share of trouble with them on my first couple of plays, so it's sooo rewarding to go back to them after 1000s of hours and parry humiliate them. :)

[@SleepyDudu]

hardest for me was Sister Friede followed by Nameless King

[@sensoeirensen]

Midir was way harder than Friede imho. NK was not even close that hard - I heard from him before and had respect. But nah...not hard

[@BigDBrian]

friede because my brain too small to understand I was supposed to get close to friede to reveal her invisibility

[@gardevoirdude7493]

@@sensoeirensen aren't you cool...

[@zoob4371]

imo friede is not that hard. what u have to do in the first phase is bait the attack where she jumps in the air and slams down then backstab her. phase 2 you have to beat ariandel up and stay away from friede. backstab her when she heals him. phase 3 basically do the same thing as phase 1

[@AtiumVenture]

What about midir

[@guttgrinder1626]

Nameless King.. So memorable for me when I accidentally found his area. The bossfight is also good, combined with his OST.

[@laiserfish]

Pontiff took me the most attempts out of all of these... Nameless king hurt pretty bad too.

[@joshowen335]

Pointiff destroyed me so many times. Dragonslayer was extremely easy and readable. No way they're in the same tier.

[@laiserfish]

@@joshowen335 I beat dragonslayer and the princes in 3 tries, it took me over 35 on pontiff, probably more I swear...

[@bonkusdonkus3743]

@@laiserfish another person stated in the comments that squillas opinion might be influenced by no hit runs. So that might be it.

[@stephencardone]

Pontiff was actually easier for me on a soul level 1 playthrough, because I had a glass cannon build and parry/riposted his first attack. You can get him directly to phase 2, kill the stand before it's done being summoned, and then it's just a few hits to done. Basically if you nail the opening parry you can just steamroll him. I can post the video if people want to see it in action

[@laiserfish]

@@stephencardone I had to parry him 3 times to get him to stage 2, so I had a bad time trying to parry. In the end I changed to a fire embued sword

[@aplive58]

Waiting on Squilla to rank DS2 and DS1 bosses now.

[@Cothuir]

We skip DS2

[@kingbrad6482]

Si mon stfu.

[@jagosvujovic2086]

Ds1 bosses are all a joke except gwyn, artorias, kalameet and manus but gwyn and artorias can be made super easy with high poise, whereas on the other hand in ds2 you actually have well made and difficult bosses like both smelter demons (especially blue smelter demon), fume knight, sinh, sir alonne, burnt ivory king etc...

[@qwertyjsjd]

@@jagosvujovic2086 you have to be trolling dude

[@MrPatrickbuit]

@@jagosvujovic2086 Is this fr lol

[@adlask9201]

ds3 hardest boss for me was 100% wyvern. I never knew there was an area beyond him so i kept on tryinng to just whack at his legs

[@nathanjora7627]

Well that would be fine if only the hitboxes on his legs weren’t utterly messed up when he attacks, his stomps can damage you even when they have absolutely no business doing so ^^

[@BananaFace301]

Eat your cereal

[@Paddy656]

My first time it glitched out and got stuck on a corner, not being able to move to where you plunge attack it. I ended up smacking it in the neck for a few minutes until it died. I don't think it hit me once.

[@silverhand9965]

@@nathanjora7627 Yeah,it's like the opposite of Yhorm Yhorm isn't meant to be fought normally,but he's still a perfectly functional fight without his gimmick Wyvern however is barely playable without the gimmick

[@nathanjora7627]

@@silverhand9965 Yeah, which thinking about it is really funny because it's basically the guardian dragon from DS2 except bigger, so you'd expect the DS3 version to have better hitboxes XD The other funny thing is that the next wyvern is easier to fight for some reason. But really I wish they just didn't have that stupid armor on their legs. Also I'm gonna say it : guardian dragon (both the boss and the mob) is one of the best dragon enemies (when you include ancient dragon, the five wyverns in lothric, the dragons in DeS, the drakes of DS1, only midir sinh and kalameet rank higher).

[@senioritapolyester]

I just finished my first playthrough a few days ago and Sister Friede was the most difficult for me. I was about to give up on that fight. Then I think it would be Nameless King and Cinder. Gael and Abyss Watchers are my favorite fights :)

[@MattyIceBJJ]

First phase with Friede is an awesome little dual that you can't get too greedy on lol. If I throw on my twinblades though I wreck through her health super fast, so I like to throw a scythe on myself and smash her with her own weapon.

[@GinkgoPete]

Friede is just one of the worst designs in souls. Every time i beat her it felt like complete cheese.

[@MattyIceBJJ]

@@GinkgoPete How come?

[@senioritapolyester]

For me it is a cool boss design, but the third phase was so brutal. And having to deal with second phase so I can practice the third one that was kinda annoying. But then I finally beat her and it felt good :)

[@jackbartlett6936]

@@senioritapolyester what about midir most consider him then Gael and friede to be the hardest bosses in the series

[@expecting747]

19:Yhorm, this may be surprising but out of all the playthroughs I’ve had I only died to Yhorm a couple times you just gotta dodge correctly and time your charge. 18:Ancient Wyvern, if your not careful the snake dudes will get you especially the one with the axe and I’ve sometimes fallen through his head while plunging. 17:Curse Rotted, fights fairly simple pop balls and don’t get smooshed although I’ve sometimes been overly aggressive during second phase which lead to his hand grabbing me a lot. 16:Deacons, the only real difficulty I’ve had is when they gank me like your typical invasion or when I have just not enough damage and die to curse. 15:Wolnir, when he isn’t glitched and has his skeletons out sometimes he can be a pain if your to cocky. 14:Vordt, he only took me 3 tries on my first playthrough I figured out staying under him was my best bet at winning. 13:Crystal Sage, I really don’t know why but the first time I fought the sage I just couldn’t do it I would always get spammed by her sorceries in phase 2 and sometimes if you don’t do enough damage she can be a splinter in your playthrough. 12:Iudex Gundyr, ah my first ever souls boss..Iudex took me 7 tries on my first play through to beat and that’s what i’m basing my difficulty off for him now though I genuinely enjoy fighting him. 11:Dragonslayer Armor, on my pure strength build I switched over to Vordts hammer leveled it upped and killed him easily but on my pyromancer playthrough it was another story I had to pretty much memorize everything so I knew when I could attack. 10:Oceiros, like Squillakilla said first phase isn’t too bad and you just have rotate around him dodging his attacks and looking for your opening but his second phase can still sometimes give me a hiccup. 9:Pontiff, this was another boss that proved to be a roadblock in my playthrough he’s very persistent and barely ever gives me time to heal but once he activates his stand ability he can actually be easier during that part. 8:Chanpion Gundyr, his first phase is not to bad since it’s the same move set as before but when he goes into phase two he can be very very tough and persistent during sl1 runs his kick pretty much one shots you. 7:Old Demon King, since this boss is optional I haven’t really bothered to fight him much during the years having this game I’ve only killed him twice, his aoe attacks can be pain and his hammer does insane damage. 6:Dancer, her move set is so fluid that it almost doesn’t look like it should be in soils game and she is so relentless with her bayblades and don’t forget that grab. 5:Abyss Watchers, these guys are tough and we’re definitely a big road block for me I found the second phase easy man on man but first phase would always end up with me being killed in the corner. 4:Aldrich, this is mainly a personal struggle but it seems whenever I playthrough this game Aldrich always reminds me that i’m not good and it doesn’t help that he always spams arrows and magic whenever I fight him. 3:Lorian and Lothric, these bros can be quite the challenge first time around and even multiple times later in other playthroughs Lorian is one quick boi and it doesn’t help with Lothric spamming magic. 2:Soul of Cinder, kind of shocking that he’s number two but it was really tough for me to decide where he should be in top 3, Soul of Cinder is pretty much all your previous characters from the other games into one the only real problem I had with him was his damn sword combo in phase two but I was filled with joy the first time I beat him after only 6 tries (it’s also additionally harder with the tears in your eyes when Gwyns theme plays.) 1: Nameless King, even though i’ve had DS3 for 4 years I actually only defeated him last year on a Artorias build, i’ve always tried to beat him on playthroughs but I was never able to and to me he is the first boss that comes to my mind whenever I hear “Dark Souls Bosses.” Sorry for I can’t say anything about DLC since ive never played it.

[@awesomesauce260]

This is an interesting tier list, a lot of different placements to others I’ve watched. For me, midir is the only boss where I wasn’t sure if I was going to beat it, where’s the others I didn’t ever think that so midir goes at the top for me

[@sad_knight1827]

I would if I had time, but I will say the Gale is my favorite boss in the series, literally so perfect

[@inferno2996]

I definitely think the setting and music is amazing and his moveset is very fun to watch , but they should rly have given him more health and damage

[@azrael5493]

@@inferno2996 he already has the most health in the entire game and can easily 1 shot you if you lack poise

[@timelessdust3001]

@@azrael5493 midir has more health

[@azrael5493]

@@timelessdust3001 in terms of raw numbers but not in terms of defense on his hitzones

[@bonkusdonkus3743]

@@timelessdust3001 makes sense that midir has more health

[@Kenichimightiest]

Surprised at placement of dragonslayer armor. Always found him kinda easy and intuitive to dodge. Got him first try on my sl1 run.

[@carboncuber3147]

Ikr. I killed him first try on my first play through after buying the game, and killed him without taking damage on my second play through.

[@TechnoVisionTV]

I agree, but I think it’s the fact that he practically 1-2 shots anyone who isn’t playing a strength build. It’s also a very long fight, so you have to doge perfectly for a long time

[@jdoesgaming8866]

On my first playthrough, he took me hours to beat because I couldn't get the dodge timing down. After I did though, it's pretty easy. Now he's my favorite boss in the game. He's so fast and fun to fight. Edit: this was on a dex build

[@clashplaya8638]

He’s definitely coming from the perspective as an SL1 player. Some bosses like dragonslayer become infinitely harder (relative to other bosses) when the fight lasts longer and your life ends quicker

[@gladr9272]

I suffered a lot with it

[@ASMCourtney]

I know planned videos are more effort for less reward but I'm not a huge livestream guy and this was amazing to be able to lay in bed and listen too. Thanks squilla

[@Mj0Skyver]

Your script for this video is fantastic. I adore the subtle and overt references.

I must say that, in my 1st run, Crystal Sage was way too difficult :/

[@YoakeUdez]

4:12 “Pale enough to be apart of my chemical romance” thank god I actually understood that reference

[@Inferno594]

That’s not fair I want to understand it too

[@sovranmartet5791]

@@Inferno594 My chemical romance is a music band, and their faces are pale with make up

[@GimmeDopamine]

Loving the KZbin content from you! Nice to hear your extensive thoughts on these games.

[@toxikteddy]

I started dark souls and this was helpful to know and I love your videos keep it up :D

[@kell2818]

I'm soo glad that I am not the only one that finds Soul of Cinder to be difficult I died almost as many times to him as dancer on my SL1 run

[@MOBSTER_]

Soul of cinder is a pretty easy point , at this point at the game you should have no problem beating him

[@kell2818]

@@MOBSTER_ I think it's just my playstyle, I can beat Darkeater Midir first try ez pz but SoC destroys me everytime

[@bonkusdonkus3743]

@@kell2818 lmao same, you get so used to the big slow moving bosses with huge combos that the fast ones with small combos beat your ass. Beat abyss watchers first try, then beat midir after 50 and Gael 30, then on NG+ I got stuck on Abyss watcher for an hour.

[@user-bw7ho9wm8m]

I actually think that th only kick ass moment of soul of cinder is the pyromancy/curved sword stance

[@dodojesus4529]

@@MOBSTER_ sl1 soc is really brutal especially phase 2 can just meme on you with one mistake

[@liquidlilith1169]

Awesome video! Could we get a Bloodborne version of this list?

[@sparkvii2370]

oh man this is good content squilla!

[@tysaylor7079]

Glad you are making this kind of content. Your channel is about to blow up. Thanks for the vids

[@NAcHO-wx5vg]

Can you do a tier list of all the bosses from the dark souls trilogy from easiest to hardest?

[@nameless9924]

Hella accurate and the jokes we’re smoothly delivered loved every part of this

[@eneiban6503]

Will you do this for blood borne possibly? Thanks for the vid, it was dope!

[@davids7646]

I really really need to give you props about your scripted videos by how your voice is speedrun pace yet digestible

[@cadenchavez2028]

I absolutely love this video and your content, and I agree mostly with your list. I personally would have put soul of cinder in B just because by the time I fight him in every run I’m stacked as hell and I never do challenge runs, and I would have put twin princes in C because I have literally never died to them. Something about that fight is just dummy easy to me, idk why.

[@samanderson5904]

On my first play through and first souls game the abyss watchers are making me contemplate my existence

[@Crmpyy]

Damn that’s crazy how different opinions vary

[@sherman614]

I am so happy to see someone else who struggled fighting the Gravetender. That wolf for some reason was the hardest boss for me up to that point. I also really struggled with Aldrich.. Maybe I had bad RNG, but EVERY time I got close I would get the arrow rain haha, I would watch other people fight him in walkthroughs and they would walk right up and start attacking and hardly ever get the insta-kill arrow bombardment haha. And yet, I got really good luck with the Soul of cinder, that fight only took me 3 tries to beat, yet the crystal sage destroyed me haha.

[@MajikMatthew]

reminds me of rusty 2 years ago, if i forgot what squilla and rusty sounds like i'd end up thinking im watching rusty 8/10

[@TooManySteamGames]

You have to give the man credit for going all in on the cringe jokes :D

[@isprobablyjobhunting]

They're gold.

[@LudicrousRat]

Vordt has always been one of the easiest one in my book. Stay under his belly for most of the fight and you can ignore almost all his moves. Occasionally have to dodge and get back under, but oh so easy. Dancer is also a piece of cake if youre sorc build as you can like two or three shot it with that one great soul arrow spell or whatever its called

[@Etholux]

Fantastic video.. I personally always found the telegraphing for Dragonslayer Armor to be much easier to read and react to than Pontiff Sulyvahn.

[@thomaspereira1545]

0:58 " and is the biggest damn tree you've ever seen" Meanwhile: Archtrees

[@WitherAndrot]

My top one is sister Friede and father Ariandel. The boss fight synergizes with dlc's plot so good, it's just masterpiece. And Midir has the best music that I've heard in video games.

[@biga9144]

Ludwig ost would like to know your location

[@WitherAndrot]

@@biga9144 yeah, it's also pretty unbelievable, though I heard it only outside of the game, because I can't play Bloodborne due to PS exclusives politics

[@biga9144]

@@WitherAndrot damn that sucks yeh it’s should be on pc and Xbox it would make the community more alive and other people can experience the masterpiece of a game

[@hhGeco]

This is just a shortcut to comedy. I love it

[@SynysterProjects]

I'm so happy Dragonslayer Armor was so high on your list. In my first playthrough he killed me more than any other boss save a handful.

[@thesilverwind6922]

when I fought greatwood and old demon king with my str build they were really easy, then i tried with another character in a dex build and wielding the caestus.... they wiped the floor with me lol

[@TheUnd3rd0g]

love these shorter videos

[@endermage77]

Dragonslayer Armour tripped me up really bad because he blends in with the bridge so well. I keep losing track of him since he's essentially the same color as the floor

[@gardevoirdude7493]

Great vid! I'd have to say phase 3 Friede was a lot harder for me than Cinder tho. So much pressure, at least you often have time to breathe between cinder's attacks

[@jaredcullum117]

While not the hardest, the dancer is definitely one of my favorite boss fights and I've only recently been able to beat her in just a few tries. Demon prince was easily one of the highest in terms of difficulty.

[@rebingo1040]

As a veteran of the game, I wonder if anyone shared my experiences when it comes to difficulty First time: 1. darkeater midir 2. nameless king 3. pontiff After 10+ runs: 1. Soul of cinder 2. pontiff 3. twin princes Soul level 1 run: 1. gael 2. nameless king 3. friede

[@TheStraightestWhitest]

Minus the Nameless King ranking on your SL1 run, I completely agree. First time, NK was 40+ deaths, and Friede probably 40+ as well. Now at 2100 hours on it, Midir is in the top 5 easiest bosses, but Friede will still give me some trouble. And at low SL, it's the fast hitters like Gael and Friede that make things tough. That said, I don't understand the NK ranking. Besides Midir, he's the only boss on which I've managed my 10 times in a row no hit kill. He's extremely consistent.

[@ZhenJi88]

If death count is difficulty, for me: 1. Pontiff - 12 deaths 2.Nameless King - 10 deaths 3.Curse-Rotted-Greatwood - 8 or 9 deaths The rest was 5 or less tries. After a few playthroughs I think Friede is the hardest boss by far. For me Sekiro was way harder with the final boss taking me 2 hours and many deaths.

[@Killerkew]

Only difficult sl1 boss was gael

[@lth_lch]

First time: 1. Twin Princes 2. Pontiff 3. Midir NG+10: 1. Pontiff 2. Cinder 3. Friede I guess, but really everything other than Pontiff and SoC is relatively easy I haven't done a SL1 run, so no comment. In summary, fuck Pontiff.

[@huigitoburrito6411]

Ngl, after dying so many times to *any* boss for that matter, I always look back on how far I've come, the difficulties I've faced, and how I've defeated them, it's always enough to inspire me to press on and overcome.

[@juwe7143]

Would be cool to see you do this for DS1, DS2, Bloodborne and Sekiro

[@x.kitsune]

Crazy to see how different peoples' experiences were with the bosses. I guess it shows how different peoples' skills are in different areas, I'm sure that has a big impact on what bosses are hard for who, that and build diversity. Personally, I'd put Midir way higher up and Soul of Cinder way lower, SoC was 1 of the easiest bosses in the game imo and definitely underwhelming for the last boss of the base game. I killed him so quick that I thought there were multiple phases left lol. This is all perspective from someone who just finished their 1st playthrough a couple weeks ago though, but the only bosses that took more than 3-4 tries were Midir & Sister Friede.. I think Midir took like 10-12 tries and Friede took a good 5-6 before I figured out that you could actually locate her when she went invisible, even though I was getting to the last phase after my 2nd try I used a ton of my estus by that point from the 1st phase getting booty clapped from behind. Great video though, and interesting to see what people consider are the hardest bosses!

[@PrimeRicci]

Same SoC was dissapointing for me but for some reasons the big tree took me way to many tries than i would admit on my first try lol.

[@mahmud7645]

My death count for Friede and Midir are exactly reversed lol

[@hydroshock1853]

I must be in the minority then, I struggled a little less with Gael than Soul of Cinder.

[@metinderinkaya5059]

Soul of Cinder on NG+7 and higher is a literal monster. I struggled with him so much on especially NG+9 or smth

[@lth_lch]

Couple months late, but yeah, I agree. Cinder is pretty underrated in terms of difficulty, at least by players who only played through the game a couple times. There's a lot of margin for error fighting him the first few playthroughs, but at like NG+5 and up you have to be on your absolute A-game. I feel like not enough people realize just how different some bosses can be at higher NG levels.

[@EnderEpicBoss]

@@lth_lch Even more months later, I kind of disagree tho could be due to my playstyle. NG+17 was my highest and then that save disappeared but he was surprisingly easy to defeat every time, at most I died twice in NG+15 and none on higher with him, dodging his stuff is as simple as rolling in front most of the times besides when he does the multiple hit combo which you just want to run away

[@anapostrock]

Hey dude, long time youtube viewer and twitch stream lurker!!!! What's the song used in this video? It has a nice atmospheric post rock touch

[@biglogie680]

its nice to just see all the bosses again what a beautiful game really i wish i could play it for the first time again

[@LesWebsterGoldArdeoGang]

I’ve played through ds3 on NG+7 many times and the boss that always gives me conniptions is Gael. Personally, I find him the toughest. Him and Halflight anyway.

[@arthurdurham]

I found Friede to be the hardest. I just couldn't figure her out until my second playthrough, when I finally got her patterns and was playing with a better staggering weapon she got a lot easier. But... It's the multiple phases that just make her annoying and a slog. The second phase is just annoying, with cutscenes ruining the flow and resetting the room and it being a completely different type of battle than the other 2 phases. I always lose my patience and rush it and die for my impatience or run low on estus. And then the whole time to wait for her to resurrect on the 3rd phase. It just takes so much time to figure out how to beat her. If it was just the first 2 phases I'd think she was a pretty good boss.

[@adamhill596]

She is a good boss....

[@Vuskenicht]

Shocked to see grave tender so high. I’ve never had an issue dunking on him and he’s never managed to kill me but I used to have more difficulty than I’d like to admit on some of your lower tier bosses so I’m no bad ass

[@thezsar5053]

I think it’s interesting how we all have different bosses we considered the hardest. How all of our experiences were the same and yet so different in the end

[@huntermengel2683]

I mean, arnt we all on some levels just pudding monsters at different points in our lives ?

[@YoakeUdez]

10:45 I feel like I just had PTSD

[@josephthomas8318]

I haven't played any of the dark souls but a few gameplay videos got me super interested. Should I go back and start with the first game or is it too dated? Can I start with number 3 or will I be completely lost?

[@arthurdurham]

You're so right about Midr on the second run through. He was a mountain to climb my first time but I just beat him on my second and the only issue was his hp level making the fight last awhile so more room for mistakes. But he's really predictable and easy to dodge if you're not greedy with your attacks. I find the demons to be harder bc you can't see both of them at the same time and the demon prince is faster and more erratic.

[@divyenjoshi1168]

Hardest boss for me in DS3 is definitely Friede although I don't die for hours or anything.

[@randomstuff4874]

Only thing I'd change on this list is Gael and Frieda. Their the absolute hardest in my opinion. Soul of cinder is definitely 3rd place tho. First phase is hard af, but 2nd phase i found to be really easy and pretty predictable. Good list 👍

[@bobjohnson5557]

I wouldn't even put soul in my top 3. Never had as much issue with him as I did with Gael and Frieda.

[@randomstuff4874]

@@bobjohnson5557 fair enough i could see how. I just put him up there cause the first phase diversity of attacks is hard to overcome

[@Ithinkso11]

Gael is probably the fairest fight while delivering the most challenge for that title.

[@hydroshock1853]

I used less tries on Gael than Soul of Cinder just yesterday. Did not expect that.

[@JamesGowan]

Good vid... I agree with most everything here.

[@Tollp]

It's so damn interesting how the perceived difficulty varies so vastly in DS games. I beat the Abyss Watchers on 1st try and found them to be quite easy. But daaaamn, that rotten greatwood tree made me quit DS3 for about a year before trying the game again, just because I found out its an optional boss.

[@BananaFace301]

He finally did it. He made a tier list.

[@WC-ip6tt]

pontif is the hardest boss for me. It took me like 30+ tries

[@probablyabott9108]

Very interesting to see how this game can be difficult to people in such different ways. On my first playthrough I got stuck on Nameless King for a day but beat Soul of Cinder on my first attempt. Curse Rotted for an embarrassing amount of time, but Gael on my second.

[@dingusispingus5987]

I love doing no stormruler Yhorm. It almost feels like they made the fight beforehand, then decided to add in Stormruler because they needed it somewhere.

[@Tempus_Sicarius]

To this day, Midir remains the only Dark Souls boss I've been unable to beat. I just can't get the hang of him for some reason, so personally I'd have put him higher

[@gabrielcoutinho4027]

same

[@stormeyedselkie]

I can't even hit him off the cliff 😂💀

[@andljoy]

Dog strategy (under his belly) and when he is about to do downwards fire run for the tail and run back in before the swipe.

[@Zephhi]

Hit him in the head only and get 2 attacks in each time, then dodge backwards. Simple

[@Parrtorias]

I was called, for Champion?

[@Many13-MA]

I'm always amazed at how the difficulty of the bosses changes from one person to another. Took me like 10 attemps to kill champion gundyr, and 8 Pontiff/Nameless, yet I killed the twins, the dancer and the souls of cinders in my first try. For me this just shows how different playstyles affect the difficulty so much

[@lillemy5062]

I thought about that when I did different playthroughs. Weapons change the game, so having twinblades makes the game easy, running around with ultras require more planning, pyromancies have a hard start but easy end, sorceries has a hard start and never changes :P the game has a lot of replayability

[@jukedem]

How is the soul of cinder A tier I beat him like first try and it was super anticlimactic but nameless king took me like 20 tries.

[@theeternalpotato203]

I found the princes to be one of the easier bosses in the game on my first playthrough. Sure the teleports can be chaotic, but just hitting one to two times and watching the teleport made it almost a game of tennis, alternating between me swinging and lorian swinging. Lothric's light "soul spear" wannabe was the only challenge in it for me, mainly because I sucked at dodging it. Also I was using an Irithyl straight sword +5 for my first time.

[@thesadsquatch3158]

Dancer will always be my highest difficulty, idk man just can't get a handle of it.

[@zugz8632]

Use a crossbow. Easiest way to beat em. You can do it on soul level 1 too.

[@jacklancaster3531]

Yeah dancer sucks

[@andreaalajmo271]

Man Friede is my favourite fight from all fromsoft games. Absolutely stunning design + 3 uniques phases and a total shitload of moves. But damn you feel the fight, it's visually fantastic and seems like a movie. Especially that phase 3 aerial combo when u dodge below. And the camera works fine too. (Btw was the lockon for nameless that bad? I always felt the camera moved exactly as i wanted and followed every boss move)

[@sunbearsunday750]

I think it's so cool how everyone's personal tier list can differ so much. Really speaks to how well these bosses are designed. For me, NK and SKG were the hardest in DS3 without question.