The Best & Worst Enemy Phantoms from Every Soulsborne Game

[@alexberube5269]

I love using a seed when Maldron runs away and watching him die to the enemies

[@willv3462]

I fucking love Maldron the Assassin. He even emotes on you if you die. It is incredible.

[@chipskyshart87]

I absolutely hate him so much, but he’s still my favorite NPC Fromsoft has ever made

[@asdergold1]

Honorable mention to the guy that hides as an object.

[@hamiham32]

​@asdergold1 you talking about yoel? The little bastard for anri quest?

[@chipskyshart87]

@@hamiham32 I think he’s talking about the guy in Eleum Loyce that’s disguised as a barrel at the end of a hallway

[@noecarrier5035]

The hallway has bait down the end of it too.

[@NisseDood]

Maldron is a pain in the ass to fight but for a Phantom he got so much more personality than any other in any souls game that I like his inclusion. Worst in DS2 I probably put Fencer sharron because she seems to have such absurd poise and is tanky for how early she is. The funny thing with Brume tower Maldron is the placement of the chest can easily tunnel vision people to miss him and get backstabbed by him. Holy Knight Aurheim is also amusing becuase he uses a silver talisman to hide as a barrel and backstabs players going for the chest that ironically contains silver talismans. :V

[@GunRunner106]

the dud that invades in the shrine of amana in front of the demon of song area is a paint to deal with sometimes. the double trouble consecutive invaders at the bridge can be annoying.... who else...?

[@candletype1a447]

Btw, I realize that the onscreen corrections I included at 26:55 were actually not needed cos I was right the first time. No idea why I did that lol.

[@Caleb-zs8is]

Thanks for the video man we really appreciate what you do. I'm playing through ds2 right now with the bone fist, and my goodness having not only knock back but high poise damage works incredibly well against the phantoms. It's so fun to watch quick sword Rachel fall to her death. It even made the old abyss areas fun.

[@Deinareia]

Did you know? Ostrava is actually also a name of a city. Just imagine if he was named 'London' or 'New York' instead :D

[@Pennywise12528]

Interesting additional details about Tsorig: The second time you encounter him, he isn't actually a phantom, he's just there for real. There is however a WHITE phantom summon for him up above to help with the Old Demon King if you beat his red phantom form previously. There's nothing stopping you from going down into the ruins with him instead, however. Tsorig is thus not only one of the rare characters that pops up as both phantom types and a non-phantom opponent, but he's the only character I am aware of where you can paradoxically summon his white phantom form to help kill his real form.

[@Deadput]

Yeah these days I just bring Tsorig down to watch him deal with himself as it's quite amusing.

[@felipeguedescampos851]

​@@Deadputso, you watched Tsorig beating himself

[@fang4223]

Oh we all remember Maldron. I remember popping a tree seed after he ran into the pit too, and watch all his would be guards delete his HP. : ) He was the most accurate to an actual tryhard player ever, right down to a fatal flaw to his gimmick.

[@Major233179]

As bad as the gank squad is in Bloodborne, the Bloody Raven will forever give me the 1000 yard stare

[@CantFaketheFunk]

He was a pain in the ass and I died 100+ times to him (give or take) and then one time I was using Ludwig's sword and just... he kept running into my charged R2s and dying

[@sgtdipaolo]

seeing Maldron appear in this video makes me want him to appear in the Elden Ring DLC somehow. Please. I want him to cause PTSD in DSII players like myself when I see "Maldron the Assassin" while in the middle of the rumored sleep or deathblight swamps.

[@driesvanheeswijk1633]

OMG YES even more useless Fromsoftware rankings for my autistic brain to absorb!!!!! FUCK YEEEEEAAAAAAAHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH DEAR MISTER CANDLE TYPE 1A!!!!!

[@DrowningUpsideDown]

every new video like this i watch i feel acutely aware of my autism

[@subnormality.]

i too am autistically into these rankings in a big way

[@DreadnoughtDT]

“I don’t count Havel since he’s a human NPC” *counts Tsorig’s 2nd encounter even though it’s him as a human and not an invader* Tiny nitpick aside, great content as always brother.

[@elias.t]

Thing about Scirvir: he runs out of mana eventually and then it's just a normal melee encounter. The phantom in the swamp, though, lives on a couple of tiny islands where a single misstep not only poisons you, but removes your ability to roll.

[@AStangeSoup]

If you're having trouble with Miriam in the room where they just keep teleporting away you can actually find a ladder in the room and climb up it and do a plunging attack which stops them from teleporting. It's just slightly to the left when you walk in and makes the fight a lot faster and less annoying!

[@ramen3643]

yeah nobody seems to know about this for some reason, for me it was the first thing I did after entering the room

[@Schrau]

I think my favourite thing about Knight Slayer Tsorig non-phantom encounter is that you can actually summon him as a spirit, backtrack to where he is, and have him fight himself.

[@ColtonGamingTV]

Try fighting Pinwheel on a new character and you will understand why Paladin Leeroy is there. The Pinwheel fight is actually really hard on a base character and Paladin Leeroy makes that fight trivial and then you have the rite of kindling for the whole game!

[@unbearable505]

Back in the day I liked to bully Pinwheel first thing by starting as Warrior, putting the levels from the Asylum Demon into strength, heading right for Nito to join his covenant and finally fighting Pinwheel with my newly acquired Gravelord Sword and Leeroy in tow. Poor guy never stood a chance.

[@Dr.Decker927]

You might not be able to fight him but Bradley has never let me down. All hail Bradley

[@ramen3643]

who?

[@invictus_1245]

He's a ds2 phantom that can heal you with miracles, he's in no mans warf and somewhere else I forgot.

[@unbearable505]

@@invictus_1245 He's at No-Man's Wharf (where he's probably most useful), Shaded Woods (hidden in one of the towers in the way to Najka) and at Throne of Want.

[@novemberbravo6194]

Ooh, very interesting idea for a list! Can’t wait to cue this one up when I get home later. The quality and quantity of your output continues to impress, as ever : )

[@elbandito2990]

When Maldron backstabbed me then proceeded to taunt my dead corpse, I know I found my eternal rivals. He is 100% the best though, no other invader has the personality that he does.

[@ac1dnet]

i dont think she is the best but i love anastasia in elden ring it just cracks me up how she invades multiple times and never heals she is just full on aggro the whole time

[@EKk8819]

These have been some of my favorite battles in the souls/borne genre, Thank you for giving them their respect! Personally I enjoyed the mind flayer ones in Demons souls on the spiral stairs I love using my bow on them and Bloodborne DLC had some really fun ones but that whole Old Hunters DLC is just GOAT. Eileen the crow is sick too idk if she counts but I love her. Phantom Blaidd in Elden Ring is cool too. Great upload man!

[@chipskyshart87]

As bad as Miriam is, she doesn’t hold a candle to Juno Hoslow for me. The absolutely insane damage of Jester Thomas and the BHS/Hunters Bone spam of the Cainhurst Crow. And the shit scented candle on top of the diarrhea cake is the near instant bleed proc if you get comboed.

[@DeanBiddler]

Great video as usual. I would love to see a video on your thoughts on Fear and Hunger 2

[@soccerdude12793]

Love how you’re keeping these souls rankings fresh

[@mattwcook9127]

Maneater Mildred is probably my favorite overall... But that's mainly because the Meat Cleaver is one of my favorite weapons in DS1, and you can get it in like, 5 minutes if you've got the keys

[@Space_Equestrian]

My personal least favorite invader in DS3 has to be Holy Knight Hodrick in Undead Settlement, He's got mid-game stats in a early-game area and his fighting style is kinda annoying. After having played DS3 for hundreds of hours now, I simply never die in early game which means I ALWAYS got an ember when running through Undead Settlement, and if I ever dare to go the path leading to the Curse-Rotted Greatwood where there is a Undead Bone Shard he will spawn, and if I remember correctly, while invaded you cant walk inside the elevator room where you meet Siegward. So either I skip the Undead Bone Shard and the boss for later, or I let him invade me and then I kill myself to reset.

[@ftir1450]

Hey man, thanks as always for making these great videos

[@candletype1a447]

My pleasure m8

[@tezereth]

Miriam really isn't an invader, it's the same case as Havel, a human type miniboss. Full of magic and trickery, but still.

[@candletype1a447]

An enemy phantom doesn't have to be an invader.

[@tezereth]

@@candletype1a447 Still, Miriam feels more like an Havel situation with extra steps, at least in my opinion

[@heavenz3857]

Your videos are non stop bangers man, u deserve 1million subs

[@stephanie_jjb]

I would have said Mildred over Jeremiah, she isn't hard but it is obnoxious having to fight her in the swamp and by the time you lure her out of the swamp you're already being swarmed by mosquitoes

[@pizzafac3890]

Finally something to eat food to. I have never seen a single video of anyone rating invasions.

[@Ironica82]

Maldron really plays like I would if I pvp'd (using the environment to my advantage) and because of that, I hate him too :D. That fight in the Loyce area really feels like a true battle over an entire neighborhood instead of just a room.

[@RagnarokiaNG]

For Dark Souls 2 a dishonourable mention goes to Armorer Dennis in the Forest of Fallen Giants, as you don't have ways to properly counter him at the start of the game with him spamming dangerous spells at range and having a huge magic slash that cuts through shields in melee, the worst part being that he is guarding a stylish hat so doing him as soon as possible is important for fashion souls. You can just ignore him and loot the chest before he reaches you or summon the skeleton room NPC to help, but as a one on one fight its brutal for how early it is.

[@BPCRevere]

He's actually kind of a puzzle miniboss - when he spawns in that little room next to the tree, there's a chance that a seed of giants is there too. It's not obvious because it looks like a beehive hanging off the tree and isn't a glowing item, but it means you can trigger it and have the ironclad enemies handle him easily. Spent so long bashing my head against him, then found out that basically he's not meant to be fought, he's there to teach you about an item.

[@wewewe6152]

Super glad I found this channel. I love your style, informative and funny. Keep up the fantastic work!!

[@CosmicEye597]

You're killing it man! Great upload after great upload.

[@XadePsyconic]

I've got to hand it to Dark Souls 2 they definitely put the most memorable NPC invasion in that game

[@Spid4r1]

Yeah, they made all the phantons cool and forgot about making the game good

[@Bendanna93]

At least the game still has charm​@@Spid4r1

[@unskilled822]

the jester pyromancer was really cool and the ng plus monster phantoms adds alot to the new game

[@GrooveCrewsades]

For a potential worst DS3 phantom, I wanna give a shout out to one of the 2 resident parry gods of fromsoftware, Holy Knight Hodrick. I actually really like Hodrick, but he and Moongrum can be annoying for me to fight because of how good they are at parrying.

[@VivaSativaMusic]

Dagger and bow only run in Elden Ring, I had to spam jump attacks until Moongrum put his shield away. Trying to play with a bit of finesse just got me parried over and over again.

[@asdergold1]

​​@@VivaSativaMusic You could've parried Moongrum? The ash works on daggers.

[@VivaSativaMusic]

@asdergold1 I personally just blow at parrying with daggers, give me Golden Parry and I can do it no problem but the delay with the active frames with daggers throws me off.

[@thieryleo314]

I hate the yarhargul hunters! It's such an absurdly high difficulty spike compared to the rest of the level, so much so that I have never not cheesed them

[@setsunaes]

I would say Mauldron the Assassin was gonna be the best red phantom in DSII. He's pretty dope actually, even in brume tower.

[@driesvanheeswijk1633]

22:39 please never stop making videos

[@beyond560]

Pure quality mate, gkad ive found you! easy sub

[@ramen3643]

I didn't have any trouble with preceptor miriam personally, and it's because I happened to figure out how you're actually supposed to beat her, and I always got confused when people said she was annoying, andtit turns out that no one knows her gimmick. once you go up the elavator, there's a ladder that leads to some rafters, you're supposed to go up to the rafters and then hit miriam with a jump attack, and then she stops teleporting after you do this. alot of people seem to just miss the ladder while it was the first thing I did and I never really had to experience her constant teleporting

[@0Idskuul]

You are by far the funniest souls KZbinr on this app!!

[@DiscoFinalBoss]

I love Jester Thomas. He’s Tarkus if he did pyromancy. He’s a great summon but was a pain to fight when he invaded.

[@TheAdarkerglow]

So, I used poison arrows on Miriam and she was really easy. Wait for her to draw her big magic bow while aiming your very mundane bow and arrow, plug her in the head as soon as it makes her immobile, and once the damage starts ticking, go fix a cup of coffee. Scarlet Rot also works. Really quite easy.

[@mayday2237]

in the fight with Miriam, you can actually use the ladder, she's scripted so that she won't attack or notice you once you go up and won't teleport away after you land near her.

[@azamniazi6916]

Can’t wait for the all souls enemy’s ranked video

[@SubmachineExplorer]

I would say that maldron behaves like a real invader, emoting, using the enviroment, rollcatching you, thats why many people would hate it

[@GravelordWrust]

Great video as always, brother! I bloody hate Maldron. 😂

[@thesongofthelinnet]

I used a giant's seed on Quicksword Rachel and aggro'd everything in that room 10/10 would recommend

[@agustinelmaszarpado4121]

you should do one about best and worst summonable phantoms

[@AntiSocialismo50]

That guy that help you with laurence is the best

[@d3viLang3LFall3n]

Y'kno what, I hate invasions, but I do like me an npc invader now and then.

[@kyogrecrown5869]

I thought this was gonna include npc summons so i was waiting for the Chad Black Iron Tarkus

[@josdenbakker554]

Dear Candle, I recently subscribed to your channel and I love your content. I am really curious about your favorite levels/areas in the soulsborne games. That could be a cool video I think. Anyway, thanks for the cool content. Looking forward to more! Greets from the Netherlands

[@kemonngo3106]

should specify red phantoms in title since there are other colors as well: yellow, blue, etc

[@Haru-spicy]

my pick for best invader in DS3 is Holy Knight Hodrick. parry king grandpa is the goat purely by how hard he bullies new players

[@itsippintimeyo]

I went through a playthrough where I was attempting to gather every item and Leroy thought it would be a magnificent idea to just roll off the cliff 😐

[@takenovercome23]

Mauldon would be both my most loved & most hated, love hate relationship with him but he always makes me laugh

[@buckyhurdle4776]

Only ten seconds in but sure it will be great content, as usual

[@iamthehobo]

Still good 20 seconds in, a new record for him.

[@higherplaces129]

Cannot believe you did that to the Xanous King

[@drfabulous2804]

I didn’t have too much trouble with Miriam because I chose a Faith build and blasted her with Frenzied Burst

[@jh9794]

Demon souls, skirvir, his phantom is an absolute tank for zero reason.

[@rigorm136]

Based Paladin Leeroy enjoyer

[@Rat_King_Covenant]

Sad the NG+ invasions aren't included. I feel like they add to the experience.

[@t-mango2491]

22:40 mauldron how I love your aggravating ass, honestly I think he’s one of my favorite’s for a couple reasons, number 1 is in his first appearance he’s called an assassin, and shows his cowardly colors, needing to use sneaky tactics to kill you, but 2, when he appears in eleum loyce, by that point in the game you should be familiar with how the systems work, when have you ever found a white phantom that you didn’t summon? Nonetheless that false sense of security lulls many of us into an early death but the best part about him is that in both of his encounters if you use good tactics, you can get him, if you pull the lever and he isn’t dead, he runs and hides behind a mini boss, and will gank you there as well, so whenever facing mauldron, remember this strategy, slap him around a bit, or use ranged attacks until he’s started to run, parrying the lance is very easy once you get the timing down, as like 90% of his attacks are parryable (if not all) then, once he’s running for his life, just watch him go, until he stops somewhere, unless you’ve scouted ahead, he’s gonna be surrounded by enemies, then simply pop your seed of a tree of giants, listen to the clashing of steel for a few seconds, and he’ll be gone, I also advocate for this method against Vorgel the sinner, and other similarly difficult characters (gank fights largely)

[@piterrospl9512]

Maldron is just the best phantom across all games, so much personality and you can mistake him for a player due to how annoying he is. EVERYTHING about him screams "sweaty annoying tryhard" who will rely on cheap tricks to kill you and make it as unpleasant as possible. As you mentioned, the lance and greatshield for easy poking playstyle. Camping near a chest, so if you run for it, he will charge and knock you off. Running off into an area full of enemies once in danger. Gesturing over you if you die. Pretending to be an ally and gesturing at you, only to backstab you once you hit a lever. Run off again if you survive this encounter, and hide behind Covetous Demon while throwing corrosive urns at you to break your equipment. Gesturing at you when you die, doing the equivalent of a "point down". Even his name, Maldron - on one hand, edgy, and on the other, literally makes you mald. Everything about him is just so damn perfect, as he replicates an annoying asshole player behavior - as long as you played with online active, you must have run into this type of player at least once across the games.

[@cheatsheet3325]

You had the left/right hand correct the first time. :)

[@candletype1a447]

Yeah, had a complete brain fart during editing there haha

[@invictus_1245]

In my opinion choir member in bergenwerth is way more annoying than the trio since at least you can do a merry go round with the stairs and have cover. Also micholash is a hunter and he is the worst fight.

[@Little_pug]

You don’t actually fight ostrava you actually fight his father, his father being the one who fought him wounding him enough for him to die right after you talk to him

[@Mo_Mudabber]

Whenever someone would invade me(the avoidable kind) i just exit out the application and restart it 🤣

[@willydirt9355]

DS2 invaders are more dangerous than most bosses in the game and the other souls games

[@FoolOfDust94032]

Tsorig is fun because you can make him fight himself.

[@xXLunatikxXlul]

DS2 phantoms were my favourite tbh

[@jamesarthurkimbell]

Top Three Ss in "Demon's Souls" all getting pronounced fully

[@J.aime_le_pain181]

rip Blaidd, he was a good boi

[@cincameron]

i am sad that SoTFS brings in the unique character invaders because most of them are just annoying. But all of the original invasions and even the Forlorns from SoTFS are great imo. I just dislike the ones that were designed by players (i forgot if that was the case, correct me if i'm wrong)

[@123afish]

Knight Slayer is BY FAR the worst in DS3. His 'encounter' in Carthus is DS2 levels of busted.

[@vbrant2705]

Good luck fighting ds2 npc invader without poise damage

[@sueflewelling3657]

Candel can you rank the words of the soulsborne

[@davidrw67]

That dlc invader in ds3 i use lothric knight great sword and 2 handed havies to cheese him

[@mr.budderpie3538]

Ds2 phantoms are scary man

[@GunRunner106]

maldron is straight up cheating. as he can use estus as an invader, in Dark Souls 2. maldron is fucking awesome. gestures. taunting. running away to heal. playing like an absolute scumback. he also throws acid bottles the lil dickhead. he has so much shit going for him in both areas. there is also the prowlers who invade as a team of 6. those are some scumbacks too. also personally love the invader in the ivory crown that invades you and uses the item to hide himself and tries stalking you disguised as a piece of furniture. DS2 had some of the best invader interaction out of all the souls games, non can compare to this. forlorn still being able to keep invading you after you cleared all the areas is what made it feel like the world was actually alive for once.

[@zedarkenigma]

Why does the text pop up during the Villhelm review? You got the hand right, and the text is wrong.

[@candletype1a447]

Read pinned comment

[@PiethagorasTearem]

They shouldve just made sir wilhelm a full boss

[@drpringles5775]

killer7 ost 🤩

[@halpysbane3373]

That intro tho

[@balaam_7087]

Maneater Mildred, hubba hubba 😍

[@Hugo_Tate]

7:37 pause lol

[@robin6709]

lmao at the text correcting vilhelms weapons in each hands even though he literally said it correctly and the text is wrong????

[@leoklimond6796]

Isnt Madara twin a invader

[@EZ2BCHEEZY36]

Royal Sorcerer Navlaan anyone?

[@raydiehl8990]

Orin of the Water for sekiro?

[@candletype1a447]

I mean I guess O'Rin is literally a phantom haha, but not in the same way as the other games where you get invaded or attacked by human-type enemies with the same sorts of movesets as you.

[@exposingpowerfullieslivest5082]

who thinks havel is a phantom??? i have never heard this in all my years. hes clearly not a phantom

[@candletype1a447]

Your mum thinks he's a phantom.

[@exposingpowerfullieslivest5082]

🤣🤣😭😭@@candletype1a447

[@TifffanyTaylor]

Dude you are farming me for views harder than i farm bloodstone chunks. 😂

[@wsmith7918]

I hated bloodborne but brador is by far my favorite invader of any fromsoft game. Bro gave me access to the best beast gear in the game, was the start of me getting the beast claw and finally being able to have fun in that shit game

[@amirdarknes]

Ur soooo funy bro 😂😂😂💀💀💀💀

[@MsKeylas]

42:47 Actually here was elementary since she did not really had a place to run away to. At least for me. I flattened her in the middle of the room