It's difficult to describe what makes the Dark Souls series so good to someone who isn't a fan. The series' reputation for being notoriously hard and unforgiving can understandably be off-putting to some players that aren't used to challenging gaming experiences. It's also very easy to൩ define the series by its reputation, if you were to base this purely on its "prepare to die" moniker alone.
Still, to write the series off because of its reputation would be missing the point of the series entirely. With Dark Souls, it's a player's perseverance that will make the games suddenly 'click' with the player and the Souls series truly showcases its rewarding nature.
Furthermore, the Souls series offers up one of the most rewarding gameplay systꦿems in any gen🅰re. It's the trial and error exploration, the tough but fair combat —that requires skill and timing— and the beautiful way that it lets player piece together its ambiguous story and mysterious lore.
The boss battles in the Dark Souls series are one of the many memorable challenges that you'll encounter on your journey through the lands of demons, forsaken kings, and cursed dragons. In a series where even a low-level Undead can kill you if aren't careful, rating any Souls boss as "easy" can be relative, but here are 8 of the most difficult bosses you'll encounter in Dark Souls and 💖7 that🌠 will give you much easier time in comparison.
15 Hardest: The Purs�༺�uer (Dark Souls II)
The Pursuer from Dark Souls 2 is an optional boss that you may meet early in the game. As a result, he can be an extremely difficult deal with. He's capable of overwh𓃲elming you with fast charge attacks, three hit combos, the curse Stab, energy blasts, and projectiles that can hit you from all angles.
The Pursuer is unrelenting. The game's lore describes him as "the bearer of the sign, and will not rest until his target is slain." That statement conjures up images of the glowing red visor from The Terminator or the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica, but his movements and attacks were based on a Devil May Cry 4 character called Angelo Credo.
14 Easiest: The Guardian Dragon (Dark So🐽uls II)
There are many dragons in the Dark Souls series, and some are more powerful or memorable than other🐬sꦜ, but The Guardian Dragon is probably the weakest in the series.
The first Guardian Dragon you encounter in Dark Souls 2 has been trapped in a large cage at Aldia's Keep. Aldia commande🐟d the Dragon to guard the way into Dragon Aerie, as part of an experiment gauge its reaction.
The dragon's attacks are very easy to avoid and dodge from any angle, and staying underneath it while timing your dodges will guarantee you a very easy victory againstꦓ the dragon.
13 Hardest: Ornstein And Smou✃gh (Dark Souls) 🌸
The Dragonslayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough are a pair bosses that you'll encounter in the first Dark Souls game guarding Gwynevere, the Princess Of Sunliꩲght in 🐷Anor Londo.
This battle is notoriously difficult and for a very good reason, because🌞 fighting either one of them on their own would be a challenge in itself. Whether you're dealing with Smough's devastating power or trying to cope with the Ornstein's speed, you'll have to find a way to beat them bot🅷h at the same time. Further adding to the challenge is, when you beat one, the other combatant will absorb the downed character's physical characteristics and its health will once again be restored to 100%.
Your best chance of survival is to use the pillars and try to take down Ornstein first, with Smough being the most predicta⭕ble of the two in the second phase. Using weapons that are capable of t⛄he thrust attacks when using the pillar as a means of crowd control.
12 🌼 Easiest: Pinwheel (Dark Souls)
Pinwheel is a boss you will encounter in the Catacombs of the first Dark Souls. What makes Pinwheel such an easy battle is, by the time you reach him after battlin꧑g your way through the hordes of skeletons and Undead Mages, your character will become mor๊e than a match for Pinwheel.
If you don't kill it within the first few hits, his attacks are eas𒁏ily avoided and aꦺre telegraphed to the point of complete predictability.
It's a shame that Pinwheel can be taken down in such an easy manner because its creepy design is fantastic, and its cloning ability could have made for a more difficult battle if it was encountered at a ღdifferent point and location in the game.
11 Hardest: Lothric And Lorian The Twin Princes (Dark Souls III) 🉐
The Twin Princes Lorian and Lothric are found at the top of the Lothric Castle in Dark Souls III. According to the game's description, the Princes rejected their duty to becom𒁃e Lords Of Cinder, and settled down far away to watch the fire fade from a distance. Their actions resulted in a curse that forever bound them together making them𒀰 inseparable.
Battling these two can be a complicated matter if you're not prepar𓂃ed fo🐽r their combination of healing magic, teleportation, and swift physical and magic attacks.
The battle is fought through two phases, that is best fought using a strategy that allows your charact♔er stay close, which is easier said than done when they have the abilit♛y to counter your attacks at ease, especially when using Greatswords.
10 Easiest:🦄 The Giant Lord (Dark Souls II) ✨
The Giant Lord is found in Dark Souls II. The game's lore reveals that T🍃he Giant Lord and The Last Giant found in the Forest Of Fallen Gian🍌ts are one and the same.
Despite The Giant Lord's gigantic and intimidating size, the fight doesn't require a great deal of strategy to defeat it. Maneuvering around the giant's feet will🙈 ꦓcause it use the highly telegraphed stomp attack which can be easily dodged.
Further꧂more, if you stay on its left leg you should also be able to avoid its sword attacks while attacking the back of its foot. Finally, the giant is very weak to any form of fire attacks so you using fire based weapons and will go down very quickly as a result.
Interestingly, The Last Giant's weakness is more than made up for, by dropping 300,000 souls on a Bonfire Intensity 8 to eventually r💯espawn again — becoming a great way to farm souls.
9 🃏 Hardest: Smelter Demon (Dark Souls II)
The Smelter Demon is a very difficult optional boss that featured in Dark Souls 2, and If you choose to fဣight him, the battle will take place in the Iron Keep. According to Dark Souls lore, he is responsible for the death of the Iron King and the downfall of his kingdom.
He can attack in a variety of ways that can do a great deal of damage including a jumping attack which can at times explode and hurt you within its area of effect. Additionally, after working down some🐷 of the demon's health, it will activate Flame Aura 🎃which will damage your character if you get too close adding an extra layer of difficulty to the battle.
Finally, one of his most devastatiꦕng attacks come in the form of a combo, which will hit you with a double strike and then follow up with a jumping attack for extra damage.
8 Easiest: Moonlight Butterfl❀y (Dark Souls)
The Moonlight Butterfly is a creature that is encountered as a boss in the Darkroot Garden in the first Dark Souls game. It is probably one of the least intimidating creatures i♛n the Souls universe, and such a sight would usuཧally lead the player into a false sense of security, but not here.
All Of the Moonlight Butterfly's attacks are magic-projectile based, but are very easily avoided with a little bit of timing. The best method to beat the creature are with lo🐬ng range weapons such as bows or magic attacks. Although, even pure melee fighters can easily beat it, because the butterfly will decide to take a res♈t on the bridge thus allowing you attack it with ease.
7 Hardest: Knight Artorias (Dark Souls෴) ▨
The Knight Artorias is also known as the Artorias The Abysswalker and is found in located in the coliseum area of the Oolacile Township of the original Dark Souls game.
According to the Dark Souls lore, Artorias was an honorable knight that was unmatched in with the greatsword, and he was one of the Four Knights of Lord Gwyn. He became corrupted after trying to save the Princess ♑of Oolacile from the Abyss, and sacrificing himself for his companion Sif The Great Grey Wolf.
Not only is this one of the best and most memorable fights in the entire series it's also one of the most difficult. If you try and keep your 🦩distance, he will heal, gain strength, and leap at you with blistering speed and power, so you'll have a very hard time keeping th🃏e pace of the fight with Artorias.
6 Easiest: The Taurus Demon (Dark Souls꧙)
The Taurus Demon makes its first appearance as an optional in the original Dark Souls at the Undead Burg. He's a minotaur-type crea🦋ture that wields the Demon's Greataxe.
As intimidating as the Taur🌠us Demon looks he's an extremely easy boss to take down, in a variety of ways. You can either kill it with firebombs from above after climbing the ladder, or use the plunge attack from higher ground and finishing it off by attacking the legs.
Finally, if you're clever enough, you can position yourself by a certain point on the bridge, and lure the demon in to attack you, which if timed correctly with a dodge, will cause it fling itself off the end of the br🌱idge providing you a very easy win.