History ThatOneBoss / DarkSouls

* The Burnt Ivory King, the final boss of the ''Crown of the Ivory King'' DLC. By himself, he's not ''too'' bad, although he does have a really nasty impale attack that can be very difficult to avoid and does a ton of damage. No, what makes this boss a nightmare is that before you can actually fight him, you must first fight your way through an army of charred Loyce knights, all of which are DemonicSpiders by themselves. And you have to fight them all again ''every single time'' in the likely event you die to the King. If you take the time to explore Eleum Loyce and free the uncorrupted knights, they will join the fight and freeze the gates to stop the charred knights appearing, but this doesn't make it much easier as the charred knights prefer to [[GangUpOnTheHuman target you]] rather than their kin. And if you ''don't'' free the uncorrupted knights, you are in for a rough time as the charred knights ''never stop coming,'' even after the King joins the fray.

* Pontiff Sulyvahn has two incredibly strong elemental swords that he likes to spin around with wild abandon, along with summoning a shadow clone when he reaches half his health that he likes to combo his obscenely powerful attacks with. He is fast, agile, and extremely aggressive, allowing scant opportunities for healing. He can also extend the reach of his swords with magic, purposefully delaying his sword strikes to punish quick dodge rolls off the floor, and having little to no tells on his sword lunges and backhanded sword strikes that he tends to use immediately after you attempt to punish his moves. The only small concession is that he's vulnerable to parrying, but if you can't get the tricky parry timing down, be prepared for a hell of a fight, as he will mercilessly punish any player mistake. If you are not good at dodging – particularly at dodging ''into'' combos to avoid them – then heavy fire and magic resistances are pretty much mandatory.

* The Smelter Demon is a good candidate for a ''Dark Souls'' player's worst nightmare of the year. In addition to its metric ton of health, its [[Videogame/SoulCalibur Nightmare-esque]] {{BFS}} with immense range, speed, and damage, and its indifference to most physical damage, it's also the first boss to basically force players to either get a damn good shield, or else outright master the new, harsher dodge timings. As a cherry on top of the flaming, spiked iron cake, it has two traits that specifically punish [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome most players' preferred boss strategies]]. One; shortly into the fight, it bursts into flames, slowly chewing through the health of players who like to stay close to punish its openings. And two; it frequently performs a large, telegraphed SwordPlant. [[DefensiveFeintTrap It looks like an easily-exploitable opening]]. [[ZigZaggedTrope Sometimes it genuinely is]]. [[SphereOfDestruction Other times, it isn't]]. It doesn't help that a glitch can trap you against the wall, making you easy pickings. The fight is technically optional, but the only alternatives are either trudging through the whole of the [[ThatOneLevel Iron Keep]] ''[[MarathonLevel using one bonfire]]'' or blitzing your way through the Belfry Sol area, which leaves you at risk to getting invaded by Bell Keeper covenant members, so it's [[MortonsFork really a case of pick your poison.]] An oft-overlooked exploit is using Lucatiel of Mirrah (summonable nearby) as a distraction, while loading the Smelter Demon with poison throwing knives. While it by no means makes the fight trivial, it makes it significantly easier and keeps the Demon's focus away from the player.

* The Smelter Demon is a good candidate for a ''Dark Souls'' player's worst nightmare of the year. In addition to its metric ton of health, its [[Videogame/SoulCalibur Nightmare-esque]] {{BFS}} with immense range, speed, and damage, and its indifference to most physical damage, it's also the first boss to basically force players to either get a damn good shield, or else outright master the new, harsher dodge timings. As a cherry on top of the flaming, spiked iron cake, it has two traits that specifically punish [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome most players' preferred boss strategies]]. One; shortly into the fight, it bursts into flames, slowly chewing through the health of players who like to stay close to punish its openings. And two; it frequently performs a large, telegraphed SwordPlant. [[DefensiveFeintTrap It looks like an easily-exploitable opening]]. [[ZigZaggedTrope Sometimes it genuinely is]]. [[SphereOfDestruction Other times, it isn't]]. It doesn't help that a glitch can trap you against the wall, making you easy pickings. The fight is technically optional, but the only alternative is trudging through the whole of the [[ThatOneLevel Iron Keep]] ''[[MarathonLevel using one bonfire,]]'' so it's [[MortonsFork really a case of pick your poison.]] An oft-overlooked exploit is using Lucatiel of Mirrah (summonable nearby) as a distraction, while loading the Smelter Demon with poison throwing knives. While it by no means makes the fight trivial, it makes it significantly easier and keeps the Demon's focus away from the player.

* The Bed of Chaos. If there was one endgame boss that is absolutely hated by players just for how mind-boggingly frustrating the strategy to defeat it is, it's this monster. It's also despised for being full of FakeDifficulty in a game that usually avoids the trope, primarily because you can't actually damage it with your weapons in order to kill it – you have to run to and destroy three weak points, avoiding virtually-unpredictable and difficult-to-dodge attacks that instakill you by sweeping you into a bottomless pit. They become increasingly difficult to reach with the chaos that piles up throughout the boss fight (read: tree arms swinging around wildly, crumbling floor, fire scythes digging their way to you, and straight-up Firestorm pyromancies). The '''single shred of mercy''' this fight has in it is that the weak points don't regenerate if you die, meaning you don't have to start the entire fight from the beginning when you inevitably plummet to your doom. How annoying is this fight? Miyazaki at one point [[https://www.giantbomb.com/forums/dark-souls-6255/dark-souls-design-works-translation-npcs-and-monst-576001/ stated]] that the Bed of Chaos was his greatest regret.

* The not-so-appreciated honor of the most hated boss goes to one of the first bosses of the game, the Capra Demon. The boss itself wields [[DualWielding two]] [[{{BFS}} very large machetes]] that have wide hitboxes and loves to slam both of them down on any unfortunate player that thinks they have a chance of blocking its attacks, occasionally starting the fight with this attack, which can kill you instantly. The [[GoddamnBats two attack dogs]] [[FlunkyBoss that accompany it]] make the fight all but impossible until they're disposed of, and the brutal speed at which the boss charges at you with powerful attacks as soon as the battle begins, combined with the very small area you have to maneuver in mean many players will stare at the "You Died" screen ''mere seconds'' after starting the fight. The dogs and the arena are the biggest reason why this boss is difficult, which is a relief as you meet seven of them as [[DegradedBoss respawning enemies]] on the way to Lost Izalith, with most of them tightly packed together making picking them off one by one a must. Good thing you can skip the fight via SequenceBreaking, or you can cheese it by bringing a lot of Firebombs and blowing it up past the fog gate, IF you know where the sweet spot is...

* Despite being a mere Dark Spirit and not technically a boss, Armorer Dennis in HD Scholar of The First Sin is ''excessively'' rage-inducing. He's basically a high-level sorcerer player with Sorceries like the standard issue Soul Spear, the fifty-mile-wide, roll-or-else Soul Greatsword and [[ThatOneAttack Soul Vortex]], a storm of block-penetrating perma-stunning energy roughly the width of the area he's encountered. He's not even a SquishyWizard as he has a high-stability shield and ''way'' more HP than any Dark Spirit of his level should have. Oh, and [[EarlyBirdBoss you first find the bastard in the Forest of Fallen Giants]].
* The Royal Rat Vanguard [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard will make you realize that those rats are using every advantage the game provides to the enemies against you]]. First, you have to kill a high number of poisonous rats before the boss actually appears, who looks exactly like any rat except for his Mohawk, and that he inflicts [[TakenForGranite petrification]]. Second, all the rats are smaller than you, [[DenialOfDiagonalAttack so a lot of your attacks won't reach them]]; you will need a weapon that hits the ground, like a club. Third, there are statues all over the arena that cannot be destroyed, and every time you hit one, your weapon will bounce off, leaving you completely exposed. Fortunately, like the previous boss, this one is optional, and you can opt to ignore it until you have late-game equipment and can one shot every rat to oblivion, unless you're trying to get the Rat King covenant at a low Soul Memory.
* The Smelter Demon is a good candidate for a ''Dark Souls'' player's worst nightmare of the year. In addition to its metric ton of health, its [[Videogame/SoulCalibur Nightmare-esque]] {{BFS}} with immense range, speed, and damage, and its indifference to most physical damage, it's also the first boss to basically force players to either get a damn good shield, or else outright master the new, harsher dodge timings. As a cherry on top of the flaming, spiked iron cake, it has two traits that specifically punish [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome most players' preferred boss strategies]]. One; shortly into the fight it bursts into flames, slowly chewing through the health of players who like to stay close to punish its openings. And two; it frequently performs a large, telegraphed SwordPlant. [[DefensiveFeintTrap It looks like an easily-exploitable opening]]. [[ZigZaggedTrope Sometimes it genuinely is]]. [[SphereOfDestruction Other times, it isn't]]. It doesn't help that a glitch can trap you against the wall, making you easy pickings. The fight is technically optional, but the only alternative is trudging through the whole of the [[ThatOneLevel Iron Keep]] ''[[MarathonLevel using one bonfire,]]'' so it's [[MortonsFork really a case of pick your poison.]] An oft-overlooked exploit is using Lucatiel of Mirrah (summonable nearby) as a distraction, while loading the Smelter Demon with poison throwing knives. While it by no means makes the fight trivial, it makes it significantly easier and keeps the Demon's focus away from the player.
** It's telling that the BonusBoss encounter for the ''Crown of the Iron King'' DLC is ''another'' Smelter Demon - this time dealing magic damage thanks to its blue flames.

* The Lost Sinner has quickly become one of the most hated bosses in ''Dark Souls II''. Not only does she have swift yet powerful, long reaching attacks, her arena is fought in the dark, meaning your lock-on range is terribly short unless you defeat another challenging optional boss, allowing you to light up the lamps in her room. What cements her status, however, is when you lower her HP to 60% in NG+, two black phantom pyromancers spawn, both whom have access to some of the most powerful pyromancy spells in game. It's gotten to the point that both of their health and damage output were reduced in Patch 1.03 due to how frustrating this boss was to many; ''Scholar of the First Sin'' also makes it so that you no longer have to face the optional boss in the [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] area just to light up the oil lamps in her arena.

* While Throne Watcher and Defender are like Ornstein and Smough, one is a LightningBruiser and the other is a MightyGlacier. They are much more frustrating since you cannot use the arena to your advantage against these bosses meaning you have to wait to find an opening to attack them. You also need to kill them both back to back, otherwise, they will revive each other.

* Holy Knight Hodrick, the very first NPC encounter in the game and one of the toughest to boot. Encountered at the Dilapidated Bridge bonfire in the Undead Settlement, Hodrick is [[ArtificialBrilliance ridiculously good at parrying]], and will almost always succeed when he tries, setting you up for a ripe riposte. If you try circumventing this by attacking him while he two-hands his Flamberge, he'll just hyper-armor his way through your attacks and slaughter you. Finally, if you somehow whittle down his monstrous health and his supply of Estus, he'll cast Warmth to start healing himself again. [[spoiler: The secret encounter with him as part of Sirris' questline is largely the same, except you have half the healing and you have to make sure Sirris lives through it - if she dies, you have to try again]].
* The Crystal Sage is this for [[SquishyWizard pure sorcerer builds.]] For anyone with some brawn it's an obnoxious but not overly hard boss whose spam attacks can be tanked and who loses big chunks of health to every swipe of your trusty sword. But if if you sank all your points into Intelligence and Attunement (and you kind of have to if you want to have a viable sorcerer build), have fun trying to dodge the barrage of differently-moving spells coming from [[MesACrowd four different directions]] while knowing that any mistake will likely be your last because you just don't have the armour and health to survive more than one or two hits. And you'll have to do it for a very long time, because the one sort of damage you're proficient at dealing out is the one sort of damage the Crystal Sage has a ton of resistance to!
* Abyss Watchers, while an awesome boss, let you know what kind of game you’re in for. The bosses before them are fairly easy, but the Abyss Watchers throw you in for a heavy test on how well you’ve learnt the game’s mechanics. You are immediately met with a fast and aggressive foe upon entering the arena, who can gap close to you incredibly quickly. Then another one enters the fight! You then have to manage two of these foes until the third one arrives, one who can still damage you, but who attacks the other two enemies, evening the odds. And if you don’t kill the first Abyss Watcher on time, a new hostile Abyss Watcher appears! The fight demands you to know how to manage multiple enemies at once, on top of being a test of dodge rolling and finding openings to attack during. You kill the first Abyss Watcher, thinking you’ve done the fight… only for Phase 2 to begin, a souped up Abyss Watcher with the same aggressive and fast moveset, but one that leaves devastating fire AoEs after every greatsword attack, demanding fast reaction times and very well timed dodges to avoid getting clipped by the fire after effects, as well as good Estus management from the first phase to claim victory.
* High Lord Wolnir sounds easy on paper, but can be frustrating in practice. The battle requires you to smash the three gold rings on the boss's wrists, which causes him to die instantly. The issue is that Wolnir surrounds himself with heavily damaging poison clouds. While this isn’t too bad, Wolnir will sometimes keep his left arm in the poison so you can’t hit it, or, worse, will charge at you and corner you into these poison clouds. He also constantly spawns skeletons to help him too as if this wasn’t annoying enough. The boss isn’t challenging but offers very little visual clarity and a weird moveset that a lot of the time does nothing, but sometimes will kill you in a way that just leaves you puzzled.
* Pontiff Sulyvahn has two incredibly strong elemental swords that he likes to spin around with wild abandon, along with summoning a shadow clone when he reaches half his health that he likes to combo his obscenely powerful attacks with. He is fast, agile, and extremely aggressive, allowing scant opportunities for healing. He can also extend the reach of his swords with magic, purposefully delaying his sword strikes to punish quick dodge rolls off the floor, and having little to no tells on his sword lunges and backhanded sword strikes that he tends to use immediately after you attempt to punish his moves. The only small concession is that he's vulnerable to parrying, but if you can't get the tricky parry timing down, be prepared for a hell of a fight as he will mercilessly punish any player mistake. If you are not good at dodging – particularly at dodging ''into'' combos to avoid them – then heavy fire and magic resistances are pretty much mandatory.

* Aldrich, Devourer of Gods is a weird case. Most of his attacks are very easy to dodge and punishable. His soul spears are telegraphed from a mile off, his magic orbs around him do minuscule damage and when he does a melee attack, it’s not only easy to dodge but he generally lies flat on the ground for ages after, allowing you to unload your stamina bar into him easily. He also has a tiny HP pool and a heavy weakness to Fire. So why is he on here? Aldrich’s arrow attack is one of the most dangerous attacks in the game, capable of oneshotting players at high HP who don’t dodge on time, lasting for an eternity and generally making any kind of counterattack completely impossible. And that's phase one! In phase two he sets himself on fire alongside the ground around him, gains increased damage and guess what? His arrow attack is now arguably the strongest attack in the game! It now follows you around the arena, lasts longer than before and forces you to run away lest you pelted by arrows – all while he is sending other attacks at you – and will still kill you almost instantly if you get caught in it. He doesn’t usually cast his arrow move if he’s close to you, and his weak melee attacks make sticking to him very powerful… which would be great, expect for the fact that he loves to teleport away all the time, and if he starts drawing his bow when you get close to him, you have to now run away for dear life lest you get quickly pelted to death by arrows. If you're not cheesing his attacks with Vow of Silence ([[GuideDangIt or don't know that the miracle can stop several of his attacks]]), get ready for pain.

* The Deacons of the Deep are easy on a first playthrough (especially for melee builds), but on NG+, they become much more aggressive and love to launch their attacks one after another, and it's incredibly easy to get boxed in by them and become impossible to dodge their attacks. They're also a pain for magic builds in general, since it's extremely hard to target them with spells so anyone used to cheesing bosses with magic will be in for a surprise.

* If you have any intent on going through the Untended Graves for one of the three endings, you have to get through the BeefGate [[UpToEleven with extra beef]] that is known as the Champion Gundyr, who TookALevelInBadass from the WarmUpBoss that was the game's tutorial boss, Iudex Gundyr. He manages to prove such a huge threat to the player by hitting ''way'' harder than he before (to the point he can outright ''one-shot'' you if you're sufficiently underleveled or just lacking in HP), his combos being far longer and far more aggressive overall, and keeping you constantly on your toes by virtue of having several fake-outs and false moves to punish you with. The saving graces to having to fight this monstrosity are twofold: for one, he thankfully ''doesn't'' have the corrupted Abyss form the Iudex Gundyr fought you with, but he still TurnsRed and busts out even ''more'' aggressive combos that'll likely catch you by surprise and send you to a quick death. The second saving grace and in a weird subversion of a BonusBoss, is that he's completely skippable... but if you intend on getting the [[spoiler:[[EndOfAnAge End of Fire Ending]]]], he's flat-out ''mandatory'' to beat the game, as an item you need to get for that ending is kept beyond him, with no way around. Either way, he still counts by virtue of getting in the way of you beating the game, and if you're expecting an easy boss fight like the Iudex Gundyr, expect a total CurbStompBattle with ''you'' at the receiving end.

* High Lord Wolnir sounds easy on paper, but is very challenging in practice. The battle requires you to smash the three gold rings on the boss's wrists, which causes him to die instantly. That's where the difficulty starts. Not only does Wolnir like to keep his left arm back in a cloud of rapidly-damaging poison gas, but he also likes to breath said gas through the entire room. In addition, the enormous size of the boss and the fact that he's constantly flailing his arms about during his attack animations makes it very easy to get disoriented. And just to make things worse, he also constantly spawns skeletons to help him too.

* Aldrich, Devourer of Gods is basically much Gwyndolin on steroids [[spoiler:which is rather fitting considering he ''ate'' Gwyndolin and is using his body as a puppet to fight you with]]. Many of his magic attacks are unblockable and do insane amounts of damage, even considering that he's a late-game boss. In particular, his most cruel ability is launching a barrage of magical balls at you before blowing you away with a dark magic shockwave when you get try to dodge the balls by getting close to him. He loves to teleport around the arena when you get close, casting homing magic missiles with excellent tracking whenever he leaves or appears. Oh, he also has a Soul Spear that can go through the pillars, so don't even try to hide. And that's phase one! In phase two he sets himself on fire alongside the ground around him, gains increased damage and can launch a rain of arrows which follows you around the arena for at least 15 seconds – while he is sending other attacks at you – and will kill you almost instantly if you get caught in it. If you're not cheesing his attacks with Vow of Silence ([[GuideDangIt or don't know that the miracle can stop several of his attacks]]), get ready for pain.

%%NOTE TO TROPERS: DO NOT add any boss that falls under the Final Boss or Bonus Boss category. This applies to bosses that take a lot of time to find (and are hard as hell to beat) and DLC bosses; the latter are clearly designed to be harder than the vanilla game. Please read the trope article in its entirety before considering which boss qualifies.

For the troublesome bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' and ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice,'' visit [[ThatOneBoss/{{Bloodborne}} this page]] and [[ThatOneBoss/SekiroShadowsDieTwice this page]] respectfully. Difficult bosses for ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' and ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' can be found under their respective YMMV tabs.

* High Lord Wolnir sounds easy on paper, but is very challenging in practice. The battle requires you to smash the three gold rings on the boss's wrists, which causes him to die instantly. That's where the difficulty starts. Not only does Wolnir like to keep his left arm back in a cloud of rapidly-damaging poison gas, but he also likes to breath said gas through the entire room. In addition, the enormous size of the boss and the fact that he's constantly flailing his arms about during his attack animations makes it very easy to get disoriented. And just to make things worse, he also constantly spawns skeletons to help him too.

* Pontiff Sulyvahn. Two incredibly strong elemental swords that he likes to spin around with wild abandon? Check. Summoning a shadow clone when he reaches half his health that he likes to combo his obscenely powerful attacks with? Double check. Fast, agile, and extremely aggressive, allowing scant opportunities for healing? Triple check. Extending the reach of his swords with magic, purposefully delaying his sword strikes to punish quick dodge rolls off the floor, and having little to no tells on his sword lunges and backhanded sword strikes that he tends to use immediately after you attempt to punish his moves? Check and mate. The only small concession is that he's vulnerable to parrying, but if you can't get the tricky parry timing down, be prepared for a hell of a fight as he will mercilessly punish any player mistake. If you are not good at dodging – particularly at dodging ''into'' combos to avoid them – then heavy fire and magic resistances are pretty much mandatory.

* For as early as she appears in the roster, Quelaag is very likely to be this. She can be as early as the fourth boss you face (second, if you chose the Master Key as your starting gift), and she stands as a test of whether you've really mastered the game's mechanics or not. Often enough, she simply runs over to you to do several attacks with her sword, which does fire damage, typically a type that is never completely blocked by any shield[[note]]Though you can be in good shape if you barely managed to sneak out the Dragon Crest Shield from the Undead Dragon earlier, or were lucky enough to have a Black Knight drop its shield.[[/note]]. However, one of her common attacks is for the spider to start spitting huge globules of lava, which sit in the arena for several seconds and become another obstacle for you to keep away from, but her most dangerous attack, which is only telegraphed by the pose her human body takes[[note]]If Quelaag hugs the spider, ''run for your life''[/note]] and can be confused for the said lava spit, is a burning shockwave around her, much like the Force miracle, that can one-shot you even at full HP if you're standing beside her. As a result, anytime she stops and seems safe to run up to in order to start getting in hits could lead to this attack and seeing "You Died" in the next second after if the player doesn't look carefully. Thankfully, even if you're not online, you can summon Maneater Mildred just outside her arena if you defeated her phantom earlier, though she is likely to be stunlocked by any lava pools from Quelaag's spitting attacks.

* For as early as she appears in the roster, Quelaag is very likely to be this. She can be as early as the fourth boss you face (second, if you chose the Master Key as your starting gift), and she stands as a test of whether you've really mastered the game's mechanics or not. Often enough, she simply runs over to you to do several attacks with her sword, which does fire damage, typically a type that is never completely blocked by any shield[[note]]Though you can be in good shape if you barely managed to sneak out the Dragon Crest Shield from the Undead Dragon earlier, or were lucky enough to have a Black Knight drop its shield.[[/note]]. However, one of her common attacks is for the spider to start spitting huge globules of lava, which sit in the arena for several seconds and become another obstacle for you to keep away from, but her most dangerous attack, which is only telegraphed by the pose her human body takes and can be confused for the said lava spit, is a burning shockwave around her, much like the Force miracle, that can one-shot you even at full HP if you're standing beside her. As a result, anytime she stops and seems safe to run up to in order to start getting in hits could lead to this attack and seeing "You Died" in the next second after if the player doesn't look carefully. Thankfully, even if you're not online, you can summon Maneater Mildred just outside her arena if you defeated her phantom earlier, though she is likely to be stunlocked by any lava pools from Quelaag's spitting attacks.

* [[DualBoss Ornstein and Smough]] is where the game finally begins to demand mastery. They both hit like tanks (with Smough in particular punishing anyone who still hides behind a shield instead of dodging as his attacks are unblockable) and their movesets compliment the other’s perfectly and, especially if you decide to go it solo, the fight requires kiting them and capitalizing on the moments where the two are separated (thankfully the pillars are a massive help on that front). To add salt to the wound, they are also [[SequentialBoss a sequential boss]], in that if you kill one, the other gains his power and full health.

* While Darkeater Midir's attacks aren't too difficult to dodge once you get the hang of it, the main challenge in his fight is just [[MarathonBoss how long it takes to kill him]]. He has an insane [[DamageSpongeBoss 15,860]] HP on your first playthrough, second only to Yhorm the Giant. Unlike Yhorm, however, he doesn't have many weaknesses. While those with high Intelligence can easily eat through his high HP with Pestilent Mist (which does percent-based damage), other builds will struggle against him due to his high defense and resistance to multiple types of damage. Coupled with the fact his large size makes keeping a lock-on difficult, and his laser breath attack, which can one-shot most players if not dodged (particularly in the second phase, where it lasts longer and is much harder to dodge), the battle is basically an endurance test.

* [[DualBoss Ornstein and Smough]] is where many players become men and many men become sobbing babies. Or plainly giving up. They both hit like tanks and their movesets compliment the other’s perfectly and, especially if you decide to go it solo, the fight requires kiting them and capitalizing on the moments where the two are separated (thankfully the pillars are a massive help on that front). To add salt to the wound, they are also [[SequentialBoss a sequential boss]], in that if you kill one, the other gains his power and full health.

** Cutting it down a little bit, Smough is the really frustrating part of this fight. Ornstein can be mostly trivialized with the use of a sufficiently strong shield (and there are dozens of Silver Knights to farm from on the way to the boss). Smough, on the other hand, is [[LightningBruiser deceptively fast,]] has absurd reach with his attacks (which are unblockable), and can easily knock the player prone, with the next strike timed so that it hits juuuuuust as the player gets up.
** This gets even worse if you decide to kill Ornstein second for the Leo Ring. When Smough absorbs Ornstein, he just gains more health and stronger attacks. Ornstein, on the other hand, gains all of this, bloats up to Smough's proportions which enhances the range on his attacks, and, as a result of his new size, adopts a completely different moveset, including the incredibly powerful Lightning Impale, which will almost certainly one-shot you if it hits.

* [[DualBoss Ornstein and Smough]] is where many players become men and many men become sobbing babies. Or plainly giving up. They are essentially designed to be a co-op boss, and either one of them can kill a player in about one or two hits. It's nearly impossible for non-ranged players playing solo, as neither one will ever shift their attention, giving no windows to attack. To add salt to the wound, they are also [[SequentialBoss a sequential boss]], in that if you kill one, the other gains his power and full health.

* If you have any intent on going through the Untended Graves for one of the three endings, you have to get through the BeefGate [[UpToEleven with extra beef]] that is known as the Champion Gundyr, who TookALevelInBadass from the WarmUpBoss that was the game's tutorial boss, Iudex Gundyr. He manages to prove such a huge threat to the player by hitting ''way'' harder than he before (to the point he can outright ''one-shot'' you if you're sufficiently underleveled or just lacking in HP), his combos being far longer and far more aggressive overall, and keeping you constantly on your toes by virtue of having several fake-outs and false moves to punish you with. The saving graces to having to fight this monstrosity are twofold: for he thankfully ''doesn't'' have the corrupted Abyss form you fought the Iudex Gundyr with, but he still TurnsRed and busts out even ''more'' aggressive combos that'll likely catch you by survive and send you to a quick death. The second saving grace and in a weird subversion of a BonusBoss, he's completely skippable... but if you intend on getting the [[spoiler:[[EndOfAnAge End of Fire Ending]]]], he's flat-out ''mandatory'' as an item you need to get the ending is kept beyond him. Either way, he still counts by virtue of getting in the way of you beating the game, and if you're expecting an easy boss fight like the Iudex Gundyr, expect a total CurbStompBattle with ''you'' at the receiving end.

* If you have any intent on going through the Untended Graves for one of the three endings, you have to get through the BeefGate [[UpToEleven with extra beef]] that is known as the Champion Gundyr, who TookALevelInBadass from the WarmUpBoss that was the game's tutorial boss, Iudex Gundyr. He manages to prove such a huge threat to the player by hitting ''way'' harder than he before (to the point he can outright ''one-shot'' you if you're sufficiently underleveled or just lacking in HP), his combos being far longer and far more aggressive overall, and keeping you constantly on your toes by virtue of having several fake-outs and false moves to punish you with. The saving graces to having to fight this monstrosity are twofold: for he thankfully ''doesn't'' have the corrupted Abyss form you fought the Iudex Gundyr with, but he still TurnsRed and busts out even ''more'' aggressive combos that'll likely catch you by survive and send you to a quick death. The second saving grace and in a weird subversion of a BonusBoss, he's completely skippable... but if you intend on getting the [[spoiler:[[EndOfAnAge End of Fire Ending]]]], he's flat-out ''mandatory'' as an item you need to get the ending is kept behind here. Either way, he still counts by virtue of getting in the way of you beating the game, and if you're expecting an easy boss fight like the Iudex Gundyr, expect a total CurbStompBattle with ''you'' at the receiving end.

* If you have any intent on going through the Untended Graves for one of the three endings, you have to get through the BeefGate [[UpToEleven with extra beef]] that is known as the Champion Gundyr, who TookALevelInBadass from the WarmUpBoss that was the game's tutorial boss, Iudex Gundyr. He manages to prove such a huge threat to the player by hitting ''way'' harder than he before (to the point he can outright ''one-shot'' you if you're sufficiently underleveled or just lacking in HP), his combos being far longer and far more aggressive overall, and keeping you constantly on your toes by virtue of having several fake-outs and false moves to punish you with. The saving graces to having to fight this monstrosity are twofold: for he thankfully ''doesn't'' have the corrupted Abyss form you fought the Iudex Gundyr with, but he still TurnsRed and busts out even ''more'' aggressive combos that'll likely catch you by survive and send you to a quick death. The second saving grace and in a weird subversion of a BonusBoss, he's completely skippable... but if you intend on getting the [[spoiler:[[EndOfAnAge End of Fire Ending]]], he's flat-out ''mandatory'' as an item you need to get the ending is kept behind here. Either way, he still counts by virtue of getting in the way of you beating the game, and if you're expecting an easy boss fight like the Iudex Gundyr, expect a total CurbStompBattle with ''you'' at the receiving end.

Optional boss examples go [[BonusBoss/DarkSouls here.]]

Also see the Bloodborne page [[ThatOneBoss/{{Bloodborne}} here.]]

%%* Raime the Fume Knight from ''Crown of the Old Iron King''. It's telling when you find messages outside his fog wall commenting on misery and sadness ahead, because he's statitically the boss with the highest failure rate in the game. Most of his attacks come in hard and fast with his straight sword, but then occasionally he'll swing his ultra greatsword and either shave off a massive chunk of your life or utterly ruin your stamina. After he's lost about a third of his HP, [[TurnsRed he gets serious]], buffs his ultra greatsword with a dark flame and gains a new, significantly more aggressive moveset that punishes players that either can't time their dodge right or just stand there expecting to block his strikes. Additionally, if you haven't collected the Smelter Wedges throughout the DLC, Nadalia's idols will keep healing him if he's near them, and if you have Veldstadt's helm equipped, Raime will immediately enter his second phase moveset without you hitting the HP threshold.