Bosses are unique and powerful enemies in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered. Defeating bosses affects the world of Lordran, limiting multiplayer invasions and progressing flags in NPC questlines. Bosses can only be defeated once in your own world, but you may join and assist other players with their battles by going online. Keep in mind that special dropped weapons from boss tails can only be obtained in your own world. You can also receive a Boss Soul to create Boss Soul Weapons when you defeat your own world's bosses.

This page compiles the list of boss encounters, as well as some mini-bosses and non-respawning enemies through the game. Strategies for defeating them are found on their respective pages. See also Enemies.

 You can find our video guides for all bosses here:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Area Bosses

These Demons are mostly located at the end of each area. They are distinguishable by the fact that their Name, and health-bar, shows up at the bottom of the screen. The battles also takes place in arenas, blocked by fog-gates.

  • Not all bosses are mandatory for game completion. Optional bosses have an * marker next to their name on the list.
  • Several bosses can be skipped if following a specific, advanced Game Progress Route.
  • The Demon Firesage can be skipped only if you are in the Chaos Servant Covenant (Rank 2).
  • We have not added a * to bosses that may be skipped via cheating, exploits or other non-intended mechanics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




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    • Anonymous

      Eh the bosses in this game kinda suck tbh. Obviously, there are some good ones like O and S and the DLC fights but most of them need more attacks in order to feel like an interesting challenge, especially on repeat playthroughs. Most of them also end way to quickly because the health pools are generally really low

      • Anonymous

        I killed like 10 bosses or more. First playthrough. Died twice to Smough and Slayer, 1 to sif and 1 to the thing with the teeth in its big vjj. Bosses in this game are an embarrassment to the souls series, so far at least. Bosses in Ds 3 and Sekiro and soooo much harder. Rest of the game is cool but they should have made bosses more difficult in remaster.

        • Anonymous

          Only 1 TIME I"VE KILL the bed of chaos in a same fight, using the Iron golem armor and the Havel shield in 2 hands

          • Anonymous

            Bed of Chaos, the worst boss ever created. I can't name a single quality that this has. It's incredibly frustrating to walk your entire journey only to receive ONE slap and have to walk all over again. Apart from the fact that your build doesn't matter against her, the damage you cause doesn't make a difference, and practically all of her attacks kill you in hit kill. I don't know how they let this thing go into the final version of the game.

            • Bosses ranked:
              SSS+: Artorias.
              S: gwyn,sif.
              A: ornstein and smough, kalameet.
              B: iron golem(for tarkus), manus, nito.
              C: pinwheel, four kings,priscilla.
              D: bed of chaos
              E: anything else

              • Anonymous

                I would love to see a challenge run of beating the bosses in the order they appear in the list for example you would have to beat gwyn before bed of chaos or ceaseless discharge before quelaag

                • Anonymous

                  Somehow the gargoyles were the hardest for me on my first playthrough. It literally took me less time to beat O&S, Kalameet, and Manus.

                  • Anonymous

                    I don't think Capra Demon is so bad. I always have the poise ring when I fight him, so I throw that on, quickly kill the dogs while I can't be stumbled, then run up the steps to the ledge, heal, drop attack him and finish him pretty quick. He's not a big enemy so he can be staggered pretty easy.

                    • Anonymous

                      I still stand by Capra Demon being the worst boss in this game, maybe even the entire trilogy. Bed of Chaos is bad, but it's essentially Mindsweeper. No need to use buffs or even think. Put on a podcast and do it bit by bit or look up a playthrough if you want it to be over. Capra is just bad. I thought the Royal Rat Authority was the lowest point, but at least that boss had kick-ass music.

                      • Anonymous

                        The five main bosses correspond to 5 villain archetypes
                        Four Kings - formerly righteous beings corrupted by something evil
                        Nito - not really malicious, but looked really scary
                        BoC - Experiment gone wrong, monsters living in agony
                        Seath - Insane evil wizard
                        Gwyn - self-righteous **** being evil in the name of good

                        • Anonymous

                          Going back to this game brings back so much nostalgia after playing ds2, ds3, sekiro, elden ring, and bloodborne after beating this and the bosses still hold their own

                          • Anonymous

                            As much as I love some of these bosses they definitely are the weakest of the soulsborne bosses ( I haven’t played ds2 yet so I can’t say for them) I struggle to find a main game boss I truly loved fighting. Iron golem was the most fun of the main game bosses for me and gwyn was cool besides for that one fast slash that has like a 3 frame windup. The DLC bosses were good though. Bloodborne ds3 and elden ring’s main bosses definitely beat them in quality overall in my opinion.

                            • Anonymous

                              the ranking below is an arbitrary list i swear to god it doesn't make sense easiest to hardest or hardest to easiest

                              • Anonymous

                                Bosses ranked from easiest to hardest: Ornstein And Smough. Gwyn. Tie Between Four Kings, Seath The Scaleless, Bed Of Chaos, Gravelord Nito, Black Dragon Kalameet, And Manus. Knight Artorias. Tie Between Iron Golem, Dark Sun Gwyndolin, Sif, And Centipede Demon. Tie Between Crossbreed Priscilla And Sanctuary Guardian. Gaping Dragon. Tie Between Chaos Witch Quelaag, Stray Demon, Ceaseless Discharge, And Demon Firesage. Pinwheel. Tie Between Bell Gargoyles And Moonlight Butterfly. Capra Demon. Taurus Demon. Asylum Demon.

                                • Anonymous

                                  They legit had to disable comments on Gwyndolin's page because so many people were being transphobic.
                                  I can't tell if this is funny or just kinda sad

                                  • Anonymous

                                    Sucks that theres no achievments in Dark Souls remastered for dlc bosses? Awesome game though, didnt expect it to be sad. :´(

                                    • Anonymous

                                      Lmao, The Elden Ring fanbois trying to calm themselves by calling DS1 & DS2 bosses trash after seeing how most players didn't like ER bosses. Like why do you think this genre is called Souls-like, not Elden-like, or something else? it is only thanks to the success of the first 2 games that even ER exists.

                                      • Anonymous

                                        I just skipped the taurus demon.
                                        Go kill havel and unlock door with master key,go forward until a way up and a way down,go for the down kill black knight and take shield on corpse and go upward to darkroot garden and go to andre
                                        But I don't recommed it because it's more difficult than fighting him

                                        • Anonymous

                                          Four Kings, Seath, Nito and Bed of chaos are optional If you do a certain skip to the kiln of the first flame

                                          • Anonymous

                                            DS1 definitely has the best map of the series so far, love exploring the world, but going back, I find the bosses to be a lot less fun. They really improved their boss design in the later games.

                                            • Anonymous

                                              So far, my least favorite boss to fight was demon Firesage, because i you were near him, the aoe attacks were impossible to dodge.

                                              • Anonymous

                                                My favorite is the 4 kings. They have all 4 aspects that i think a perfect boss needs.
                                                1.music : the music is amazing
                                                2.the atmosphere : the arena is just the abyss ( i belive) and you can't really see anything and it scares the **** out of you.
                                                3.lore : i won't go to detail,just look it up.
                                                4.the gameplay : the kings have high health and scary and powerful attacks,you are always trying to kill one of them before another spawns in.
                                                I love this boss

                                                • Anonymous

                                                  Google this 'Gwyn, Lord of Cinder Gothic Music Version' and listen to Gwyn theme played on a church organ!!!

                                                  • Anonymous

                                                    Hey, little tip for everyone, the dark sun Gwendolyn page has been a favorite hangout for transphobes, do not listen to them, they’re opinions are not valid, also if there are any transgender people reading this keep living your truth, you are perfect just the way you are

                                                    • Anonymous

                                                      I only accept one ending for this game, the one shown here: 'Solaire Ending - Solaire finds his very own sun ! Dark Souls 1 Secret Ending'
                                                      P.S.: do not let your children watch it for the Sun's sake...

                                                      • Anonymous

                                                        People need to stop looking up how to defeat bosses and just keep on trying until you get the hang of it.

                                                        • Anonymous

                                                          Hi I need some advice. Should I be focusing more on dodging or blocking? Ds1 is my second souls game after ds3. For me dodging was more effective than blocking in 3 so much that I quit shields past Abyss watchers but in 1 it seems the other way around. Also managing equip load for quick rolls is just killing me.

                                                          • Anonymous

                                                            Wait, is the Hydra in that grassy place not considered a boss? I guess it doesn't have that health bar on the bottom but whatever.

                                                            • Every dark souls boss in a nutshell:
                                                              Asylum Demon: "we never forgot the first"
                                                              Taurus Demon: R U N
                                                              Bell Gargoyles: where we learned to summon//"the true dark souls starts here"
                                                              Moonlight Butterfly: Melee's most boring fight
                                                              Capra Demon: the most bullshit fight, small arena with THREE fast and agressive enemies
                                                              Gaping Dragon: toothy pu***
                                                              Quelaag: "amazing chest ahead"
                                                              Stray Demon: Asylum Demon but B O O M
                                                              Pinwheel: hardest boss
                                                              Iron Golen: Tarkus! Tarkus! Tarkus!
                                                              Ornstein and Smough: COME ON AND SLAM!!
                                                              Crossbreed Priscilla: fluffy tail waifu
                                                              Gwyndolin: trap ahead
                                                              Seath: getting there is harder than killing him
                                                              Sif: ;-;
                                                              Four Kings: *NG+ ptsd intensifies*
                                                              Nito: Spooky scary...
                                                              Ceaseless Discharge: "wt* is this name??"
                                                              Demon Firesage: Asylum Demon but hotter
                                                              Centipede Demon:"MY EYEEEES!!!"
                                                              Bed of Chaos: shitty plataform boss
                                                              Gwyn: *plin plin plon*

                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                Imma be honest, DS1 has the worst bosses in the series. Out of 22 bosses, only 3 of them are really good (O&S, Gwyn, and Sif). Demon souls and DS3 had less overall bosses but they were alot more unique and fun to fight, DS2 didn't have many good bosses but at least there was a large amount of them, and BB had quantity and quality. DS1 doesn't have either of those

                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                  So many bad bosses, some aren't even really bosses. Love you the most DS1, you're still the best "Dark Souls" game.

                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                    Gwyn hardest boss. Beaten all bosses in 1-5 trys but gwyn still **** boss. yOU cAn PaRry HIm. I would say thats poor mindset

                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                      Wanna see Solaire's true ending and see Solaire beating all Dark souls series bosses ? Look for 'All Dark Souls 1,2 & 3 Bosses in NG+9 vs Solaire of Astora' and praise the sun one last time!

                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                        Ceaseless Discharge is optional too once you place the Lordvessel and are ready to do some sequence-breaking parkour and not having a bonfire to rest at before Demon Firesage / Lost Izalith.

                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                          This game took over my life. It was a games with gold download on Xbox 360. Couldn't stop thinking about it. I did 2 playthroughs and when that was done I moved on.
                                                                          Nothing I have played since has given me the same feeling of accomplishment.
                                                                          It is a very special game that lives on in my memory.
                                                                          Cheers.

                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                            New players: I’mma show this game who’s boss

                                                                            When they’re done: I hurt myself today... to see if I still feel...

                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                              *****, pinwheel was hard I was stuck on him for 6 months the attack where he stares at the wall and doesn't do anything was devastating

                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                Does anyone else feel like the HP pool's of a lot of DSR boss fights are a bit two low? (and no I'm not a dark bead one shot) The final boss of DSR has around 4,000 hp. To compare DS3's final boss has almost 11,000!. I did a build with the claymore and my AR was a 467 and i was able to end most of the fights in less than a minute

                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                  I'm making a D&D campain and video game bosses (undertale, terraria, dark soul) are coming into the fantasy world and this helped alot becuase I dont really know all of the bosses from dark souls

                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                    Who's bright idea was it to readjust all the pages and NOT list all the boss weaknesses anymore? Like for real I can't check what's weak to bleed anymore. Thanks for making me use the actual wikipedia which sucks compared to what this site used to be.

                                                                                    • How can I find out which bosses bleed and which ones don't? I am trying to decide to either upgrade the Lifehunt Scythe or the Quelagg's FurySword first. I don't want to do the Lifehunt Scythe first if not a lot of bosses bleed.

                                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                                        Four Kings suck. Why do I have to remove my Havel's Ring just to fight them? And the trek back from Firelink to New Londo is so painful and boring. I hate New Londo in general, the ghosts are dumb. Almost as bad as Izalith.

                                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                                          My top favorite/most memorable bosses in order: Gwyn at number one, Smough and Ornstein tied with Bell Gargoyle for second/third, and Quelaag in fourth.

                                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                                            Wait so you're saying that the taurus demon is optional but the bell gargoyles aren't? But how can that be you have to kill the taurus demon in order to get there.

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