Bosses in Dark Souls 3 are powerful foes which constitute some of the most challenging experiences in the game. Most are defeated as part of the mandatory story progression, with the rest optional. Defeating a boss earns the player souls, restoration of Ember and unique Boss Souls which can be transformed into powerful Weapons, Spells, or Items via Soul Transposition from Ludleth of Courland in Firelink Shrine.
Certain bosses feature special NPCs available as summons for the fight, with some of these summoning instances dependent on meeting certain progression conditions. See the individual boss pages for NPCs available and their conditions.
As long as the respective boss of an area remains alive, a player may be invaded by hostile phantoms. Once the boss is slain, invasions are no longer possible, however players may continue to summon phantoms via the Red Sign Soapstone.
In total there are 19 bosses in the whole game, with 6 of them being optional.
All DKS3 Bosses
BOSS | LOCATION | NPC SUMMONING | WEAKNESS | RESISTANCE | IMMUNITY | PARRYABLE | OPTIONAL |
Cemetery of Ash | None | Fire/Frost/Riposte | Dark/Bleed |
Poison/Toxic | YES | NO | |
High Wall of Lothric | Sword Master Lion Knight Albert |
Fire/Dark | Slash/Thrust |
Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost |
NO |
NO | |
Undead Settlement | None |
Slash/Thrust/Fire Sacs |
None | Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost |
NO |
YES1 | |
Road of Sacrifices | Slash/Thrust/Strike Poison/Toxic |
Magic | None | YES4 | NO | ||
Farron Keep |
Sirris of the Sunless Realms or Londor Pale Shade or Black Hand Gotthard |
Lightning/Backstab | Dark/Bleed |
Poison/Toxic | YES | NO | |
Cathedral of the Deep | Anri of Astora Sirris of the Sunless Realms or Horace the Hushed |
Slash/Thrust/Strike |
Magic/Dark Bleed |
None | YES | NO | |
Catacombs of Carthus | none | Bracelets / Blessed Weapons Farron/Wolf Knight's GS |
Dark | Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost |
NO |
NO | |
Smouldering Lake | Knight Slayer Tsorig Great Swamp Cuculus |
Dark Black Knight Weapons |
Fire | Bleed/Frost |
NO | YES | |
Irithyll of the Boreal Valley |
Anri of Astora Black Hand Gotthard Londor Pale Shade |
Thrust/Riposte | Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost |
None | YES | NO | |
Profaned Capital | * Siegward of Catarina |
Lightning |
Physical/Magic/Dark | Fire/Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost |
NO |
NO | |
Anor Londo | None * Anri of Astora summons the player in his world to defeat Aldrich if his/her quesline is fulfilled |
Fire/Lightning |
Magic/Dark | Poison/Toxic | NO | NO | |
After 3 Lords of Cinder are defeated (or Emma is killed) |
Sword Master | Dark/Lightning/Strike | Bleed |
Poison/Toxic/Frost |
NO |
NO | |
Lothric Castle | Sirris of the Sunless Realms Eygon of Carim |
Frost |
Dark/Lightning | Poison/Toxic/Bleed | NO | NO | |
Consumed King's Garden | Hawkwood | Lightning | Magic/Bleed | Poison/Toxic | NO | YES2 | |
Untended Graves | Sword Master | Lightning | Poison/Toxic/Bleed | None | YES | YES | |
The top of Lothric Castle | (Lorian) Lightning/Frost (Lothric) Slash/Thrust/Strike |
Dark | Poison/Toxic | YES3 |
NO | ||
Archdragon Peak |
None | Lightning/Frost Plunging Attack |
Poison/Toxic/Bleed | None | NO | YES | |
Archdragon Peak | None |
(King of the Storm) Lightning (Nameless King) Fire |
(King of the Storm) Fire/Bleed Poison/Toxic (Nameless King) Lightning |
(King of the Storm) None (Nameless King) Poison/Toxic |
NO |
YES | |
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Kiln of the First Flame | Yuria of Londor Shade of Londor |
Lightning | Fire | None | Stagger (Only in 2nd Phase) |
NO |
1Curse-Rotted Greatwood technically this boss is optional, although you won't be able to use your Boss Souls to perform Soul Transposition without defeating it because you will not receive the transposing kiln for Ludleth.
2Oceiros, the Consumed King this bossfight is not optional for the "End of Fire" ending, but optional for all others..
3These "staggers" or parrys cannot be followed up with a riposte. However, most bosses are still vunerable to ripostes, triggered through consistent damage and/or head damage.
4He can be parried, but he usually uses spells; the most likely parry is at the very beginning of the fight, where he is more prone to draw his rapier.
Ashes of Ariandel Bosses
BOSS | LOCATION | NPC SUMMONING | WEAKNESS | RESISTANCE | IMMUNITY | PARRYABLE | OPTIONAL |
Sister Friede | Painted World of Ariandel | Slave Knight Gael | Bleed, Dark, Lightning | Poison, Frost | None | YES | NO |
Champion's Gravetender & Gravetender Greatwolf | Painted World of Ariandel | None | Bleed, Fire | Poison, Frost | None | YES | YES |
The Ringed City Bosses
BOSS | LOCATION | NPC SUMMONING | WEAKNESS | RESISTANCE | IMMUNITY | PARRYABLE | OPTIONAL |
Demon in Pain & Demon From Below / Demon Prince | The Dreg Heap | Lapp & Slave Knight Gael | Dark | Fire | Frost | NO | NO |
Halflight, Spear of the Church | The Ringed City | Unbreakable Patches | Fire | Bleed | None | YES | NO |
Darkeater Midir | The Ringed City | Shira | Mercury, Lightning | Dark, Fire, Magic | Poison & Toxic, Bleed Frost | NO | YES |
Slave Knight Gael (Boss) | The Ringed City | None | Frost, Poison & Toxic | Magic, Dark | None | ?? | NO |
Mini Bosses / Special Encounters
- Boreal Outrider Knight, located under the double elevator of Undead Settlement, where we meet Siegward. He drops the Irithyll Straight Sword.
- Boreal Outrider Knight, located on the left side of the main bridge of Lothric Castle, down a staircase. He drops the Sword Irithyll Rapier.
- Boreal Outrider Knight, located behind an illusory stone wall of Grand Archives, top of a small ladder above the wooden bridge. He drops the Outrider Armor Set.
- Stray Demon (drops Soul of a Stray Demon), located on the other side of the bridge where you find Yoel. Can be accessed from the poison swamp area via ladder.
- Fire Demon, located on the way down to smouldering lake
- Deep Accursed, located within the Cathedral of the Deep in a large room with a body in the distance
- Deep Accursed, located within the Anor Londo castle hallway, on ceiling
- Carthus Sandworm, roaming the smouldering lake area just before the old demon king boss fight (drops: Miracle Lightning stake and undead bone shard)
- Sulyvahn's Beast, crocodile/wolf hybrid, located on the bridge to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley.
- Sulyvahn's Beast x2 in the Water Reserve area of Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, location of the Aldrich Faithful covenant altar.
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Bosses [DKS3 Wiki]15 Dec 2020 14:08
A while ago a picture of a boss concept art was shown, called "The Dirty Beast". It's a very Bloodborne looking boss. The strongest beasts in Bloodborne usually had religious titles such as "cleric" or "vicar". On this boss list one of these sounds very similar: Pontiff Sulyvahn. This boss even has a ring named after it called "Pontiff's Left Eye", the description explains that he turns people into frenzied beasts ... Both of those things played a huge role in Bloodborne. It only makes perfect sense.
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12 Dec 2020 20:38
People seriously had trouble with the Champion Gundyr? I beat him on my first try. Lorian was a complete nightmare though.
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03 Dec 2020 02:23
Dar soul is peepeepoopoo gam if yu pley it you gey lel.
~~~~ That 5 year old Fortnite kid (18:22, December 2, 2020)
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15 Oct 2020 17:23
is champion gundyr not also mandatory for end of fire ending, or is he just missing the 2 annotation?
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08 Oct 2020 21:48
For midir under weakness it says mercury. I don’t understand that and never heard of it.
- Anonymous
03 Oct 2020 17:19
Wanna watch Solaire of Astora taking on all of 91 Dark Souls bosses in NG+9? If so, look for 'All Dark Souls Bosses in NG+9 VS Solaire of Astora'
- Anonymous
29 Sep 2020 03:03
Only the dark eater is left, I shall slay him in honor and he shall be the only boss that I do not do the point down on.
- Anonymous
28 Sep 2020 22:11
Casuals, I beat every boss 1st try with my arms cut off whilst drowning in a bucket of semen.
- Anonymous
17 Jan 2021 15:03
Under the mini-boss/special encounter shouldn’t the following also be included:
Fire Demon - Fought in the undead settlement with Siegward
Wyvern - Fought at archdragon peak after the ancient Wyvern boss fight
Giants - Cathedral & Irithyll Dungeon
I say this because they’re all large, high health enemies that don’t respawn after you kill them. Which seems to be the theme for all of the enemies in that section
A case can also be made for the Ravenous Crystal Lizards too
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