In a game with so many bosses, there are a number of them that are generally easier than the rest. Some others are really difficult, while others are simply annoying or tedious to fight.
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Basement/Cellar/Burning Basement
- The black champion version of Monstro, while still a Damage-Sponge Boss for the part of the game you find him, does not do the signature high leap that normal Monstro is known for. This version just hops around and belches random arced bullets in your general direction. As a result, despite his higher health, this version is easier to fight and, because he stays on the ground most of the fight, he takes less time to kill as well.
- On the topic, the original Monstro shouldn't also give that much trouble to more experienced players, as his attacks are very predictable and easy to dodge, and you can be able to clearly tell where he's going to land based on his shadow whenever he does his high leap. Monstro II is a different story though...
- Gemini and their variant Steven are generally this for more experienced players as well. Even in spite of the others having additional tricks, as long as your character isn't lacking in speed, Contusion likely won't catch you and Suture's bullets usually won't hit you. Blighted Ovum seems difficult at first, but you only need to kill Contusion and Suture's brimstone attack is telegraphed and easy to avoid, given that it only shoots left or right.
- The blue champion version of Gemini is easy even by Gemini's usual standards. While they have more health than regular Gemini, they pay for it by being marginally slower, and Gemini is pretty easy to outrun without speed upgrades to begin with.
- Pin the worm is borderline impossible to get hit by once you've locked down its pattern. Hanging out on the bottom of the screen causes its bullets to miss every time if you aren't in the path of the head. In Wrath of the Lamb, Pin can be wiped out with one Bomb, can bomb itself with its own exploding shots, and absolutely fries to piercing attacks. Rebirth fixes the former weaknesses, making Pin not a total pushover, but the original strategy is still viable and it still takes very high damage from piercing shots.
- Larry Jr. is a breeze to fight, since they don't target you, but simply move around at random. Just as long as you stay out of his path and don't let yourself get cornered by poops, killing each without taking any damage is pretty straightforward.
- The black champion version of The Haunt, normally That One Boss, trades in its Brimstone laser for a new attack where he spits two spiders. Sure, spiders in this game are demonic, but they're nowhere near as dangerous as The Haunt's normal attacks, and the long delay between them makes the fight easier. While you still have to deal with his flunkies, starting with two Lil' Haunts and sending both of them to you at the same time, once he starts his own attacks, it's just a matter of good dodging skills and dealing with the spiders. When you encounter The Haunt as a boss in an early floor, you desperately hope it is the black champion version.
- Orange champion Little Horn. While he still has the frustrating cowardice of the original, he loses the ability to summon a tanky Dark Ball that chases you around, making it much easier to focus on the boss. The tradeoff is that he now spits out flaming bombs that leave a patch of fire, but these are fairly easy to dodge and actually increases the odds he'll hit himself with the explosion.
- Baby Plum, originating in Antibirth and now arriving in Repentance, also fits here. While she can induce some Bullet Hell, she has plenty of tells, and she moves fairly slowly by default. Long as you're competent at dodging, it'll be easy to deal with her. Plus, if you happen to Sheathe Your Sword, you get a guaranteed drop of her Plum Flute!
Downpour/Dross
- The Rainmaker is this relative to the other newly-introduced bosses in Repentance; while the other alternate floor bosses tend to have tricky patterns, the Rainmaker's attacks generally won't hit you as long as you're moving constantly.
Caves/Catacombs/Flooded Caves
- The Hollow, Larry Jr.'s posthumous version, is somehow even easier, having the same amount of health but a fixed trajectory that makes it very difficult to get hit. While Larry Jr.'s random turns may catch an unaware player off-guard, the Hollow always bounces around the room in the same fashion.
- The Forsaken. Don't let his similar appearance to The Haunt fool you; his only major attacks involve summoning Bonies which, while they remain Goddamned Bats, are nowhere near as annoying to deal with as Lil' Haunts. As for The Forsaken's actual attack, he only fires a spinning tri-shot Brimstone laser, which sounds menacing in theory but in practice is actually much easier to dodge than expected. On top of his limited arsenal, he has a low amount of health for the floor you find him in (The Caves), and is not nearly as mobile as his predecessor. The black champion version of this boss is a flunkier boss that loves to summon skull-themed enemies, but his health remains low, so you shouldn't have much trouble.
- The white champion version of Pestilence does not shoot exploding creep shots like the regular version, and his creep doesn't damage the player, making him much easier to handle. He does spawn more annoying enemies, but it doesn't mean much at the point he's fought; if you're still having trouble killing spiders in the Caves, you're better off resetting anyway.
- The green champion version of Gurdy, while still high on health, doesn't shoot bullets, instead preferring to spawn flies. This makes it much easier to avoid her attacks.
Mines/Ashpit
- The Tuff Twins and their posthumous variant, the Shell. Both of them are fought in arenas with an easy supply of bombs, making your own dps a non-issue, and like Larry Jr and the Hollow, they don't even target you, making their attacks easy to avoid. The only time you'll have trouble fighting them is with Jacob and Esau, due to the large amount of rocks in the room.
Depths/Necropolis/Dank Depths
- Gish is essentially a reskinned Monstro II that trades the former's Brimstone laser for a single slow-moving, Ipecac-like explosive that leaves slowing black creep, and spawns Clot enemies that only fire diagonally. Players skilled enough to unlock him will most likely never take a hit from him, and he drops Little Gish, a familiar that shoots useful slowing tears.
- Loki is far easier than many other bosses in The Depths, with his only attacks being a small number of unaimed, easily avoided bullets and summoning a Boom Fly that can be used against him. His boss room does come with a single moving spiked block, but otherwise he's pretty easy. In fact, it's one of the more popular bosses in the game due to its design and simplistic strategy. If you're not planning to face the Harbingers and want an easy boss in The Depths, hope it is this one.
- War's first phase is exactly what you would expect having seen Pestilence and Famine, with no summons but more aggressive attacks such as summoning Troll Bombs. It's a hard, but fair fight. His second form... is basically a quicker Lust, but saddled with Gemini's poor running stamina. And you find this boss in The Depths, far too late in the game to be very intimidating for anyone with speed upgrades.
Mausoleum/Gehenna
- The Siren, mostly by virtue of not being the Heretic. She has less HP than the Heretic and her attacks are far easier to predict and dodge. Her familiar-stealing is rarely a big issue either since the charmed familiars are easy to kill and reclaim.
- The Horny Boys have a long downtime between each attack, making it easy to get in a lot of damage while they sit there doing nothing. Their bullet-spray is no worse than the Stain's and the boom flies are easy to kill. The only potentially difficult part is dodging the bombs, which are far less frequent than the ones in Hornfel's fight a floor earlier. All in all, it's far easier to fight them than the Visage. And if you just so happen to have Meat Cleaver with you, it becomes a borderline Zero-Effort Boss, as they split into the rather easy Loki and the completely defenseless Hornfell.
Womb/Utero/Scarred Womb
- Scolex was formerly this. It's only fought in Womb I, but due to its very low health pool, it's fairly easy to defeat. It was buffed in Wrath of the Lamb, but it's still easier than other Womb I bosses like Lokii (the second version of Loki in which Loki is split in half) and Death.
- From Rebirth is Mr. Fred. This is a boss that is fought in the Womb, but is completely immobile, is assisted by Homunculi, which are fairly non-threatening mooks, and his 4-way toxic blood trailing bullets can be nullified by flying or shielded tears. And even then you can just wait for the blood trails to fade and start attacking him. Depending on the room layout and item upgrades, it may be possible to kill Mr. Fred from a position where none of his bullets will even reach you.
- Poor Daddy Long Legs. Not only is he one of the rarest bosses to find in the game, but he actually has much lower health than the other bosses in his floornote . His attacks are fairly telegraphed and easy to dodge as well, as long as you don't stand still. Triachnid, his alternative version, is rarer and, despite leaving slowing white puddles when he attacks, is even easier because he only has three legs to attack with. Keep in mind that both of these bosses are in the Womb, one of the more difficult levels in the game.
Minibosses/Multi-floor bosses
- Pride's shout attack only travels diagonally. It probably won't hit you if you're firing at him with your tears, and his bombs are for the most part easy to avoid.
- Lust is a Bullfight Boss set up in an arena with rocks to slow her charges. Unless your character is very slow, she's incredibly easy to beat even in the opening level, and has a chance to leave a useful item in Yum Heart. Her upgraded version leaves a damaging trail of blood, but depending on the room's size and the obstacles, it tends to fade by the time you circle around.
- Wrath is one of the few bosses who's more of a threat to himself than he is to you. He's not very quick-moving and his only means of attack is to spawn bombs — bombs which he's not immune to. Using them against him is easy.
- The bosses which spawn in the Brutal Bonus Level are noticeably less difficult than earlier bosses. Harbingers also tend to be nerfed to second stage only. Not so, however, in the TRUE Brutal Bonus Level, which can quite frequently feature any Harbinger (even Death is normally fought only three levels ago) in a room far more restrictive than the one you normally fight them in. They're not nerfed, either; they're exactly the same as the actual boss fight.
Final Bosses
- Ironically, the Beast is surprisingly easy for being the True Final Boss of the entire game proper. Its first phase consists of only two attacks, the Flappy Bird-esque chase and the rings of fire, both of which seem intimidating the first time around but are actually quite easy to dodge once you get the pattern down. Its second phase has more attacks, but you'll likely not even see them since it has a very small HP window. Once it reaches 33% HP, it's smooth-sailing from there on out because it'll just chase you indefinitely until you land the kill. All in all, the Beast and its preceding gauntlet are more of an endurance battle, relying more on the player's ability to consistently avoid damage rather than dodge any particularly difficult attacks. Of course, none of this actually diminishes how awesome the fight is.
