CaliggyJack: Dark Souls 3 Bosses Ranked

CaliggyJack 08.04.23	Out of all of Miyazakis games, this one is still probably my favorite.
Trebor. 08.04.23	I agree with this one a lot more. The tree bitch is so fucking boring I have PTSD from sister friede though
Mort. 08.04.23	nameless king kicks my head in every time
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	God I need to replay DS3 and actually finish the second dlc. Stupid good boss roster. Nameless King and Sister Friede gave me such a hard time
Gameofmetal 08.04.23	Vordt is good tho! Never felt that hard but is really fast and chaotic to introduce the melding of Dark Souls and Bloodborne boss design.
Gameofmetal 08.04.23	Midir is a very good boss that corrected FromSoft's design of dragon fighting but that mf is hard. Only beat it for the first time very recently.
s0nicx 08.04.23	The Curse Rotted Greatwood is one of two bosses I beat first try (The other one being the Abyss Watchers which, if you asked me how I wouldn't be able to tell you). Still haven't finished this game yet though.
Gameofmetal 08.04.23	My most shocking first time KO is Maria of the Astral Clocktower, absolutely smoked her first time ez.
PotsyTater 08.04.23	Having halflight anywhere other than dead last, deacons over aldrich, and soul of cinder in the top 5 is a massive fail
CaliggyJack 08.04.23	Soul of Cinder is awesome
Gyromania 08.04.23	Wow, Aldrich below Deacons? I said that boss was underrated before and damn, there’s the proof. Pretty solid list otherwise, although I think Dancer is a much better boss than most of the stuff in front of her sans Gael and Frieda
WatchItExplode 08.04.23	Why is every other souls born game so much more memorable than this one?
Gyromania 08.04.23	Wait wtf, the demon prince is lower than Iudex Gundyr? K nvm this list is a fail
Gameofmetal 08.04.23	I think DS3 is pretty underrated tbh, arguably the best cast of bosses overall, doesn't look as dated as 1 and 2, both DLC are excellent, nice blend of Bloodborne's speed into the Dark Souls formula.
Gyromania 08.04.23	DS 3 definitely has vastly improved combat to 1 and 2, I’m not sure that it’s more memorable than either, but I think 2 is memorable for the wrong reasons. For sure 3 has some of their best bosses tho, alongside Sekiro and Fronsoft
PotsyTater 08.04.23	Soul of cinder might be the worst fromsoft final boss of all time
PotsyTater 08.04.23	Ds3 has memorable bosses and but the opposite for its areas
Gameofmetal 08.04.23	FromSoft is kinda bad at final bosses tbh. Gwyn is lame to fight in spite of the great final level and music and such. Nashandra sucks ass so much so that they redid her but better in the first DLC. Bloodborne has good final bosses actually. Sekiro is great. Elden Ring I don't like the elden beast at all, Radagon is cool tho. Soul of Cinder is basically in the middle somewhere, fine but not my favorite.
WatchItExplode 08.04.23	Yep that's it. The areas in dark souls 3. Just don't hold a candle to one or two. Bosses are interesting enough and Oceiros is such an interesting bit living in game lore
Pon 08.04.23	Game is saturated with quality bosses and Gael was pre much the perfect send off for the series \o/
Gyromania 08.04.23	DS3 areas are far more memorable than 2 imo but I agree it's built weaker than most of their other games as far as level design... def some great ones though. Soul of Cinder is a great challenge and I like what they did with it. It's an overrated boss but it for sure spanks the shit out of Nashandra and I like it more than Gwyn even though I like Gwyn more from a lore pov
Shemson 08.04.23	Best bosses in DS3 but less interesting areas for me My top 6 based on the amount they killed me in an enjoyable way 1. Pontiff Sulyvahn - evil lore, moved with purpose and I was probably a bit underlevelled when I got to him so hit a few hours brick wall fighting him 2. Sister Friede - hardest boss in souls for me. The first two phases would put her right up there but then the third phase ffs 3. Midir - destroyed me. Didn’t really enjoy this one but was hard af 4. Nameless King - hard af until I got good at killing his dragon. Once I learned the dragon move set the only time he got me was when he flew up in that unavoidable fire breath, normally only needed one estus so had loads to take on the man himself who was really just a decent human shaped fighter, nothing too scary 5. Dancer - was also quite underlevelled so died a lot but what a beautiful move set. Didn’t mind seeing him repeatedly slap me about 6. Gael - I was OP by the end of DS3 and it’s DLCs so it only took a few efforts but a great battle nonetheless
PotsyTater 08.04.23	The lies irrational ds2 haters tell themselves
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	Ds3 has memorable bosses and but the opposite for its areas [2] preach
Ryus 08.04.23	very excited to play this
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	Prepare to die
BaselineOOO 08.04.23	Abyss Watchers are crazy overrated. Pontiff Sulyvahn >>>
Ryus 08.04.23	DS1 was like the best game ive ever played. getting towards the end of sekiro and honestly i'm liking it less and less as i go on. the combat is super cool and unique but the extreme focus on boss fights and reduced focus on exploration vs. DS1 makes it feel a biit repetitive and monotonous. so im very excited to return to dark souls, will be playing this one next
Gyromania 08.04.23	Sekiro has the best bosses and best areas of any From game, by far Imo.
Ryus 08.04.23	idk man the fact that i had no difficulty traversing through any area made them a lot less cool, didnt really give me any time to soak up the atmosphere or feel like i was in danger like in DS1. a lot of the minibosses early on were pretty repetitive and not all that difficult. i will say the genichiro fight was amazing, easily my favorite
Gameofmetal 08.04.23	The extreme streamlining of sekiro is a good thing imo, it felt like such a tight, cohesive experience.
Ryus 08.04.23	yeah i can see why people would think that. im still really enjoying it but its just not really as much of my thing as DS1 was. also im just kinda biased against stealth in games lol
CaliggyJack 08.04.23	"The lies irrational ds2 haters tell themselves" How can anybody not consider Eleum Loyce memorable? Smh
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	Sekiro is very much it’s own little thing, very hard to compare to the other From Soft games aside from sharing the same barebones. More rhythm game meets action adventure than it is exploration/rpg. Both styles amazing in their own right, just different.
Gameofmetal 08.04.23	Not saying they need to do that every time but it an extremely good execution of a one off game that diverged from a lot of FromSoft traditions.
Shemson 08.04.23	I did 3 before 1 Ryus and I think you’re gonna love it, there are even some really nice callbacks to characters etc. from 1 The best description I heard was that DS3 was like a love letter to DS1 but could never quite capture the beauty of the map, even though gameplay and boss fights are much improved.
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.23	DS3 is the first person shooter of the series
Ryus 08.04.23	that makes me not excited at all johnny why would you say that "The best description I heard was that DS3 was like a love letter to DS1 but could never quite capture the beauty of the map, even though gameplay and boss fights are much improved." interesting! cant wait to dive in
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	DS2 is a shitshow but has the jank of DS1 that DS3 never had, and is kinda more charming for it. Still my least fave FromSoft to actually play (tied with Demon’s).
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.23	"why would you say that" to ensure you go the based way in and play DS2 first. most frustrating mechs in the series for sure, but the build options are so wide that it wears it like a charm
Ryus 08.04.23	hmmmmmmm no i think i will play ds3
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.23	though fwiw playing DS3 for the first time >>> playing DS2 for the first time probably why so much DS2 hatred comes from the lard-arsed CASULS beethoven elephant jingle
Shemson 08.04.23	I’m a quarter through DS2 and I definitely preferred DS3 - though I’m enjoying 2 a lot
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.23	i rest my case
WatchItExplode 08.04.23	DS2 is amazing. The Iron Keep and the Gutter might be my fave areas in all of souls. Edit: forgot Tower of Latria
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	Iron Keep is hell incarnate I chuckled and cried my way through tho was playing scholar of the first sin so don’t know if all the evil enemy placements were due to that or
WatchItExplode 08.04.23	All of my favorite areas are absolutely evil. They sure are memorable though. Vanilla iron keep was the same as far as I can remember. Unless you had some phantoms attacking you. That's the main thing scholar did to make things more difficult. The amount of kiting necessary is stupid.
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.23	Scholar on a mage build is peak Souls and probably the only time magic has felt fairly balanced in these games Excepting maybe Elden Ring
BaselineOOO 08.04.23	DS2 haters are the Tool haters of Souls series - they're plain wrong. DS2 is charming and beautiful. Eleum Loyce, The Gutter, Shulva, Iron Keep, Brume Tower and Lost Bastille are extremely cute areas that the rest of the series could never afford. The sheer amount of builds, the magic, the quirky items, the wonderful lore. I'd argue even the clunkiness of it is perfect... it's so clunky but it clunks just right.
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.23	ngl The Gutter is probably the most unfairly maligned level in the whole series, love the approach they went for there
Gameofmetal 08.04.23	DS2 is a great game on its own, just isn't as good as the others.
Gyromania 08.04.23	The Gutter is the biggest nothing area they've made. Now Blighttown, that's an unfairly maligned level
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	When DS2 kills you it makes you feel mistreated in a way DS3, BB and for the most part ER don’t - jank hitboxes, lots of falling down holes, etc. It’s relatively kind to you until it’s downright evil, kinda like DS1, and there is a charm there, but when I just wanna spam R2 with the boys it’s not the place for it. Love hate relationship, clearly.
Gyromania 08.04.23	Ryus: yeah I don't rly get your criticism. There are plenty of things to explore in Sekiro, and many of the maps encourage it, like Fountainhead, Senpou Temple, Hirata Estate, etc.
BaselineOOO 08.04.23	Blighttown doesn't have as oppressive of an atmosphere as The Gutter, but yes, I love Blighttown too. I also love that toxic-ass short level from DS2 with bugs and centipedes (forgot how it's called), if only it was longer and more difficult tho!
BaselineOOO 08.04.23	https://www.nexusmods.com/darksouls2/mods/1146 Install this mod for Scholar of the First Sin if you decide to give DS2 another chance, it changes everything.
Ryus 08.04.23	maybe exploration is the wrong word but traversing the world just wasn't that interesting to me and i know the focus of the game is the bosses and minibosses but the world is just way less memorable than DS
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	oh yeah i forgot how fashionsouls DS2 is, and how beaut the hub is. need that mod.
BaselineOOO 08.04.23	One of my controversial opinions (and God knows I have plenty) is that the first DS is the weakest in the series. It is high-art but to me it was insanely boring compared to all games From released afterwards, including DS2. I was never that impressed with exploration in DS1 for some reason (it was the second Souls game I've played after DS3). Oh yeah, I also like Demon's Souls (the original) far better than DS1 as well.
Gyromania 08.04.23	"DS2 haters are the Tool haters of Souls series " I have 700 hours in DS2 and I can say with complete certainty in hindsight that it's the weakest game they've put out by a considerable margin since Demon's Souls... Maybe it's better than Demon's Souls, it probably is, but still. It was fun for the time, I played it since launch and it was for sure better than the vast majority of AAA games at the time. The pre-scholar version of the game was much better for a variety of reasons. DS2 is filled to the brim with artificial difficulty and the Scholar version goes all in on that premise with additional gank squads on top of preexisting gank squads. DS 1 was quite hard but it was also very well balanced. Sen's Fortress is this treacherous place that's a wall for a lot of players their first time through but it's mostly a skill-check. DS2's approach to difficulty is basically: throw tons of enemies in small spaces and have a bunch of unfair go-fuck-yourself gimmick traps that insta-kill the player. Idk man, it's not a terrible game and I do love some of its levels and bosses but I could criticize the game all day long
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	"I have 700 hours in DS2" my god. how did you survive such extended exposure to jank?
FowlKrietzsche 08.04.23	DS3 didn't wow me until I got to the DLC, but I LOVE the Ringed City
Gyromania 08.04.23	Asleep: it wasn't easy! Lol honestly a huge chunk of that is PvP
Gyromania 08.04.23	Honestly the Ringed City disappointed the hell out of me outside of its amazing bosses. Like visually the city looks stunning but then you realize 75% of it is a massive swamp with some huge connected staircases. I really think they could have done a lot more with this
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.23	"my god. how did you survive such extended exposure to jank?" ignores gnawing temptation to 5post in response to that comment I think when you've played these games a certain number of times, your priorities shift. Boss and level design are pretty enduring (which is why I'd put BB tops), but at this point I'm less invested in exploration and much more in what kind of journey the games take you on. DS3 being a linear blockbuster and Sekiro being so time/place/character-specific (though masterfully done) have definitely been a slight detriment relative to the rest of the series, whereas the open-endedness and world/gear depth of DS2 have aged fantastically in a way that i think you've got to have really mined them to appreciate
Ryus 08.04.23	i wanna play bloodborne so bad bros. should i just buy a ps4
BaselineOOO 08.04.23	I don't think it's worth it. It's a bit similar to DS3 but with better areas and weaker bosses. Its performance is a disaster on PS4. I'd say wait for a remaster/remake on PC.
WatchItExplode 08.04.23	I'd really like to do the demons remake but I don't have a PS5. I did get a PS3 just so I could play the original and I still think world tendency is the coolest mechanic these games have ever employed
AsleepInTheBack 08.04.23	BB is the best FS game (with DLC) buy a ps4 or a ps5 and DO IT framerate is ass tho be prepared
Gyromania 08.04.23	I do know what you're talking about Johnny re: build depth, esp pertaining to PvP, which is where I think most of these focused builds shine the brightest. For this reason (among others) I've always maintained that 2 had the best PvP experience. The issue is, PvP is basically dead now.
Gyromania 08.04.23	And yeah I'm totally on board with more linear experiences that don't focus much on in-depth level design (I'd have to be pretty forgiving of mediocre level design to make it through the recent Final Fantasy game), the issue with DS2 is it's hard not to compare to other From games in that regard when they're so well known for their bosses and levels
Gyromania 08.04.23	"Its performance is a disaster on PS4. I'd say wait for a remaster/remake on PC." Yeah dude, it's pretty fucking bad and it's sad to think that we may not get a 60 fps remaster, something I saw in a video about how they would need to straight up re-code a lot of the game based on how it was built. Sekiro also looked rough as hell on the PS4, but it plays smooth as butter on the 5. 30fps isn't always an issue, but it is when your games demand lightning fast reflexes of the player
MeatSalad 08.04.23	BB is easily in the top 3 of Fromsoft games. Idk if it's worth getting a PS for but it might be
zakalwe 08.04.23	“30fps isn't always an issue, but it is when your games demand lightning fast reflexes of the player” Absolute cobblers
brainmelter 08.04.23	Midir is definitely hardest for me in this game. I’ve never really had trouble with Nameless King idk
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.23	Nameless King was one of the less troublesome endgame bosses with i ran the game with unupgraded estus and a bandit knife
zakalwe 08.04.23	The bosses in DSIII are a piece of piss with the help of summons and absolutely hard as fuck without. That is fact.
JohnnyoftheWell 08.04.23	don't think i've ever summoned for a DS3 boss
Ryus 08.04.23	summoning seems not fun in general
zakalwe 08.04.23	Jolly co-operation is the full experience
Gyromania 08.04.23	Go fight a boss in Sekiro on PS4 and then on PS5 and tell me you don’t notice a difference
EyesWideShut 08.05.23	Yea Midir gave me the hardest time but tbh I didn't really care for most of the bosses in DS3 after coming from BB. I know its a different game etc but idk. I wouldn't mind replaying this.
EyesWideShut 08.05.23	I love the winter areas tho !
Veldin 08.05.23	Totally forgot about Halflight
JayEnder 08.05.23	Funny enough the three Souls games are the only Miyazaki games I haven't played. Bloodborne is a masterpiece, Sekiro was great but soul crushingly difficult, and Elden Ring was a spectacle to behold boss/enemy design wise, but got boring for me after like 50 hours
BaselineOOO 08.05.23	OP why did you rate Oceiros and Aldrich below the Deacons of the Deep? Explain!
Scheumke 08.05.23	Probably the greatest boss roster fromsoft have done yeah. Too bad a lot of areas are just either boring or a slog to get through. Or both. Would love a boss gauntlet mode for consoles for this one.
CaliggyJack 08.05.23	@baseline Deacons are pretty easy but it's so cool visually and it's one of the few instances of a mob boss being good in this series.