Bosses | Dark Souls 3

Bosses in Dark Souls 3 are powerful foes that constitute some of the most challenging experiences in the game. Most are defeated as part of the mandatory story progression, with the rest being optional. Defeating a boss earns the player souls, restoration of Ember, and unique Boss Souls which can be transformed into powerful Weapons, Magic, or Items via Soul Transposition from Ludleth of Courland in Firelink Shrine. Each boss encounter requires strategy and skill, rewarding players with valuable resources and progression upon victory.

Certain bosses feature special NPCs available as summons for the fight, with some of these summoning instances dependent on meeting specific 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. These bosses provide a range of challenges, each requiring unique strategies and offering various rewards upon defeat.

Enemies Bosses Crystal Lizards NPC Invaders

All Dark Souls 3 Bosses

BOSS	LOCATION	NPC SUMMONING	WEAKNESS	RESISTANCE	IMMUNITY	PARRYABLE	OPTIONAL
Iudex Gundyr	Cemetery of Ash	None	Fire/Frost/Riposte	Dark/Bleed	Poison/Toxic	YES	NO
Vordt of the Boreal Valley	High Wall of Lothric	Sword Master Lion Knight Albert	Fire/Dark	Slash/Thrust	Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost	NO	NO
Curse-Rotted Greatwood	Undead Settlement	None	Slash/Thrust/Fire Sacs	None	Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost	NO	YES1
Crystal Sage	Road of Sacrifices	Eygon of Carim	Slash/Thrust/Strike Poison/Toxic	Magic	None	YES4	NO
Abyss Watchers	Farron Keep	Sirris of the Sunless Realms or Londor Pale Shade or Black Hand Gotthard	Lightning/Backstab	Dark/Bleed	Poison/Toxic	YES	NO
Deacons of the Deep	Cathedral of the Deep	Anri of Astora Sirris of the Sunless Realms or Horace the Hushed	Slash/Thrust/Strike Hollowslayer GS	Magic/Dark Bleed	None	YES	NO
High Lord Wolnir	Catacombs of Carthus	none	Bracelets / Blessed Weapons Farron/Wolf Knight's GS	Dark	Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost	NO	NO
Old Demon King	Smouldering Lake	Knight Slayer Tsorig Great Swamp Cuculus	Dark Black Knight Weapons	Fire	Bleed/Frost	NO	YES
Pontiff Sulyvahn	Irithyll of the Boreal Valley	Anri of Astora Black Hand Gotthard Londor Pale Shade	Thrust/Riposte	Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost	None	YES	NO
Yhorm the Giant	Profaned Capital	*Siegward of Catarina joins the player during the boss cutscene if his questline is fulfilled	Storm Ruler Lightning	Physical/Magic/Dark	Fire/Poison/Toxic Bleed/Frost	NO	NO
Aldrich, Devourer of Gods	Anor Londo	None * Anri of Astora summons the player in his world to defeat Aldrich if his/her quesline is fulfilled	Fire/Lightning Farron/Wolf Knight's GS	Magic/Dark	Poison/Toxic	NO	NO
Dancer of the Boreal Valley	High Wall of Lothric After 3 Lords of Cinder are defeated (or Emma is killed)	Sword Master	Dark/Lightning/Strike	Bleed	Poison/Toxic/Frost	NO	NO
Dragonslayer Armour	Lothric Castle	Sirris of the Sunless Realms Eygon of Carim	Frost Farron/Wolf Knight's GS	Dark/Lightning	Poison/Toxic/Bleed	NO	NO
Oceiros, the Consumed King	Consumed King's Garden	Hawkwood	Lightning	Magic/Bleed	Poison/Toxic	NO	YES2
Champion Gundyr	Untended Graves	Sword Master	Lightning	Poison/Toxic/Bleed	None	YES	YES
Lothric, Younger Prince	The top of Lothric Castle	Sirris of the Sunless Realms Orbeck of Vinheim	(Lorian) Lightning/Frost (Lothric) Slash/Thrust/Strike	Dark	Poison/Toxic	YES3	NO
Ancient Wyvern	Archdragon Peak	None	Lightning/Frost Plunging Attack	Poison/Toxic/Bleed	None	NO	YES
Nameless King	Archdragon Peak	None * Hawkwood can be summoned but he will desert when reaching the altar or when the player ring the bell	(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
Soul of Cinder	Kiln of the First Flame	Yuria of Londor Shade of Londor	Lightning	Fire	Poison/Toxic	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

The Ringed City Dark Souls 3 Bosses

Mini Bosses / Special Encounters in Dark Souls 3

• 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.

Bosses Notes and Tips in Dark Souls 3

• Soul Transposition: Upon defeating the bosses listed, players will receive their unique "Boss Soul" (e.g., Soul of Vordt, Soul of the Rotted Greatwood). It is highly recommended that players do not consume these souls for standard leveling. Instead, give the Transposing Kiln (dropped by the Curse-Rotted Greatwood) to Ludleth of Courland at Firelink Shrine. The kiln is "used to transpose twisted souls to craft special items," allowing you to trade these boss souls for exclusive weapons, rings, and spells that cannot be acquired anywhere else in the game.
• Multiplayer HP Scaling: The health pool (HP) numbers listed in the tables below reflect the bosses' base health during a solo encounter. However, the Dark Souls 3 multiplayer scales boss health dynamically. For every summoned Phantom (whether an NPC or another player) present when you enter the fog gate, the boss receives a percentage-based increase to its maximum HP and status effect resistances. While summoning provides a distraction, it also requires your team to output significantly more sustained damage to secure the victory.
• The Ember Restoration: Defeating any Heir of Fire boss in Dark Souls 3 automatically grants the player the "Embered" state. This instantly heals the player to full health and increases their maximum HP by 30% until their next death, allowing them to "gain the strength of flame." If the player defeats an Heir of Fire boss while already in an Embered state, an Ember consumable item is directly deposited into their inventory instead. Consequently, participating in co-op to help other players defeat bosses is a highly effective way to farm Embers without risking your own souls.
• Escaping Boss Encounters: Passing through a boss fog wall does not lock you into a fight to the death. If you accidentally trigger a boss encounter while carrying a large number of souls, or if you simply realize you are ill-equipped for the fight, you can escape. Consuming a Homeward Bone (which "returns caster to last bonfire used for resting") or using the Coiled Sword Fragment mid-combat will successfully teleport you out of the boss arena with all of your souls intact. Note that the boss will completely heal and reset upon your departure.