Summary
The scale and spectacle of bosses in theDark Soulsseries is often what draws people to it. While some are more interested in grounded duels between tragic knights, others would rather slay a dragon that completely dwarfs their own character. Fortunately, this trilogy has a lot more in store for players than simply dragons.
The famously creative artstyle that FromSoftware employs makes stumbling into any boss encounter an exciting prospect, but when players find themselves utterly overwhelmed by the boss in terms of physical stature, the journey toward victory can become even more breathlessly satisfying.
Coming late inDark Souls 3, being an encounter that players only have in theRinged CityDLC, the Demon Prince and its split first phase are notable for being abattle of endurance.
There is a lot of health to get through, and a lot of damage to avoid — something that can be made even more difficult by the size and speed of the monsters, making them difficult to ever focus on at once and working against the player’s efforts.
One of the iconic moments ofDark Soulsis seeing the tiny face of the Gaping Dragon appear at the edge of the arena, only for it to fully emerge and reveal its horrific true form.
It’s not only intimidating due to the body horror aspect of its design, however — it’s also enormous. This creates a puzzle where the player must figure out where to position themselves to be safe from it while attacking.
In the introduction cinematic ofDark Souls 3, players are introduced to the variousLords of Cinderthat they’ll be tasked with hunting down. Yhorm the Giant is a name that speaks for itself and sets certain expectations.
While players might be surprised to discover he’s not even the largest boss inDark Souls 3, his imposing stature and near-invulnerability (without the use of the Storm Ruler sword) might help to reinforce his daunting reputation.
While not often regarded as a favorite boss at all by the wider Soulscommunity, it’s an important part of the game due to how it allows players access to craftingboss weapons.
The presentation, however — having an ancient and withered tree come to life and attack the player — is a very compelling and memorable sight, even if it does just come down to hitting the obvious weak spots around its cursed body.
While Ancient Wyvern again falls into the category of forgettable bosses by many fans' accounts due to the fight’s gimmick, the player does have some versatility in how they approach this initially imposing enemy.
They can handle it the way they handle any enemy inDark Souls 3 —through straightforward combat that will last quite a while — or they can navigate the tricky puzzle of the level, running past aggressive enemies to land a plunging attack for an instant victory.
The Ancient Dragon is an important part of the climax ofDark Souls 2.As players approach, they have tofirst navigatethe Aerie before the shrine, as Dragons fly all around — before getting through the myriad of powerful knights leading up to the peak.
Once there, the Ancient Dragon won’t even attack, simply speaking to the player in its strange way. However, once they instigate combat, it offers one of thetrickier challengesof the game due to the sheer size of this colossal foe.
Midir has often been cited as one of thehardest bosses in theDark Soulstrilogy. Players will immediately notice not only his incredibly large health bar, but also his myriad of damaging attack combos — including a chaotic laser show that has the potential to one-shot players.
This is all compounded by the sheer size of Midir — especially with his wingspan extended. It’s intimidating, and that can impact the morale of players descending into his enormous arena. A true battle of endurance, this boss will test players to their limits as one of the ultimateDark Soulschallenges.
While the darkness surrounding High Lord Wolnir obscures his true size (the fight is primarily against his arms and torso), the size of his hands compared to the player should give some sort of indication as to his true stature.
Still, none of it matters too much when his hands are all that the player needs to keep their eyes on — though this is confused somewhat when Wolnir uses those hands to summon skeletons and a giant sword. Not too challenging, even as far as gimmick boss fights go in the series, but High Lord Wolnir makes up for that shortcoming by delivering an incredible spectacle as players must send him careening down into the Abyss.
Much has been said about the design behind the Bed of Chaos,generally disliked as it is by the Souls community. However, what often goes unsaid is how absolutely enormous of a creature it is.
That makes sense, however, when considering how the Bed of Chaos essentially functions as a level in itself. Players have to traverse its arena from one side to the other, destroying protective barriers as the arena itself crumbles — and all this isn’t taking into account the Bed of Chaos' roots that extend far below the arena.
As a boss, Ceaseless Discharge is generally thought to be pretty forgettable — beyond the fact that it needs to be defeated for the subsequent area to be explored.
The creature itself, however, is absolutely gigantic. Even though the boss fight itself only involves its upper half, Ceaseless Discharge fully dominates your field of view, and looking down at how far it extends reveals its true size, as you can see it towering out of the molten lava far below.
