Summary
- Many FromSoftware bosses have simple tricks to make fights easier, ranked by effectiveness.
- Examples include targeting unique enemies, utilizing the environment, or exploiting AI bugs.
- Understanding these tricks can turn daunting boss battles into manageable encounters.
FromSoftware games are renowned for their brutal difficulty and fearsome bosses, enemies that can halt players in their tracks for hours at a time. However, many veterans of the Soulslike genre know that a lot of bosses can be trivialized with a simple trick, and the same holds true for a lot of FromSoftware bosses.
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Whether it's using level geometry to cheese the boss or exploiting a massive weakness, there are plenty of simple tricks that make hard FromSoft boss fights infinitely easier. This list is ranked by how much easier the boss becomes once the player knows the trick to beating them.
8 Royal Rat Vanguard
Watch The Mohawk
Dark Souls 2
- Released
- March 11, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Mild Language, Partial Nudity, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
Dark Souls 2 has always been the black sheep of the Souls franchise. It was made under different leadership than Dark Souls 1 and 3, and it sometimes shows with kooky boss design. However, like every other FromSoftware boss game, some bosses, like the Royal Rat Vanguard, are easy to take care of once the player knows how.
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At first, the Royal Rat Vanguard can seem overwhelming, as a horde of rats swarms the player. Worse still, cutting them down does nothing to the boss' health bar. The trick is to only target the rat with the mohawk (seriously). That's the only rat that needs to be killed to beat the boss, and once players identify the right rat, it's game over.
7 Folding Screen Monkeys
See No Evil
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
- Released
- March 22, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was a bold step by FromSoftware away from their RPG roots and towards a more straightforward action game. That means the boss fights are more visceral and action-packed than in the Soulsborne series, but new traversal options also opened up new kinds of puzzles and bosses, like the Folding Screen Monkeys.
Unlike the fearsome samurai or monsters of legend that Wolf needs to fight through most of the game, the Folding Screen Monkeys are simple, tiny monkeys running around an open boss arena that can be killed in one hit. However, they run away faster than Wolf can catch up. The trick is to abide by the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" maxims indicated on the folding screens, exploiting each monkey's unique perceptive weakness, and killing them quickly.
6 Asylum Demon
Death From Above
Dark Souls Remastered
- Released
- May 23, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
As the very first boss fight of Dark Souls, the Asylum Demon may have been slain more than almost any other FromSoftware monster, becoming one of the most iconic video game demons ever. It's also a tutorial boss that can be minimized by following the instructions written in a message on the ground just before the big fight: It suggests running behind the Asylum Demon, and players who do will find a door they can escape through, which eventually leads them to the walkway above.
When players emerge above the Asylum Demon lurking below, if they just use a plunging attack, they can massively decrease the Asylum Demon's health, making the boss fight much easier. It's the prototypical example of a FromSoftware boss fight that can be made far easier through smart tactics.
5 Bed Of Chaos
The First Witch Of Izalith
- First appeared in Dark Souls.
Bed of Chaos is, bluntly, one of the worst boss fights FromSoftware has ever made. Infamously, the studio was running out of development time when it came to designing Izalith, and they simply couldn't get a good version of the area and boss ready. Thus, players are stuck with the Bed of Chaos, an awkward platforming-based boss in a game very much not designed for platforming.
The worst thing about the Bed of Chaos is that a single hit can annihilate the player. The trick here is to simply quit out of the game and reload once the player manages to slay one of the nodes that act as the boss' weak points. The positions will reset, making the boss fight ten times easier to work through, and avoiding that very annoying run back to the starting platform.
4 Dragon God
The Tumult Beneath
Demon's Souls
- Released
- November 12, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence
- Genre(s)
- RPG
Demon's Souls has the distinction of being the first Soulslike game, and it defined a lot of what made the subgenre popular. However, it's clear at this stage that FromSoftware was still experimenting with what exactly made the formula work, resulting in a relative glut of gimmick bosses with simple strategies.
While the Dragon God seems intimidating, by simply hiding behind the terrain and staying out of sight, players can slay the Dragon God incredibly quickly. On repeat playthroughs, this literal god becomes one of the easiest bosses in the game, all because its eyesight isn't very good.
3 Gwyn
The Lord Of Fire
- First appeared in Dark Souls.
Gwyn is an incredible final boss. He is underpinned by a game's worth of narrative weight, marking the final challenge for a player who needs to have mastered every mechanic to defeat him and Link the Flame once again.
That is, unless that player can parry. Gwyn is incredibly aggressive, but he's also very easy to parry, leaving him open to massive critical hits that melt his health bar. Players with even a rudimentary understanding of the parry mechanic can dispatch this final boss in no time, making a fearsome enemy one of the easiest.
2 Ancient Dragon
The Oldest One
- First appeared in Dark Souls 2.
The Ancient Dragon in Dark Souls 2 is an optional fight for a very good reason. This massive dragon, perhaps the oldest and biggest in all of FromSoftware's games, is a fearsome foe, with a wide roster of attacks that can kill the player almost instantly. On the surface, it seems like one of the hardest bosses in the game.
However, if players run underneath the Ancient Dragon and stay between its hind talons, the boss's AI bugs out and repeats a very easily avoided move. Simply rotate between the two hind talons, getting in attacks where possible, and the Ancient Dragon never pulls out the big guns, trivializing a difficult boss fight.
1 Capra Demon
Close Quarters Combat
- First appeared in Dark Souls.
In the early stages of Dark Souls, each boss is designed to teach the player a valuable lesson. The Asylum Demon teaches the power of plunging attacks, and the narrow parapet where players fight the Taurus Demon is designed to encourage players to use geography again to unleash powerful plunging attacks. The Capra Demon is the apex of this tutorialization.
This boss fight is infamous. Players are crammed into a tiny alley packed with the Capra Demon and its two annoying dogs. There's no room to move at all. That is, unless players go up the stairs and across the arch at the top. Here, players can dispatch the dogs easily, and the Capra Demon can't hit them while they're up there. It completely neutralizes the threat and is the default strategy for beating the boss.
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