The most hated bosses across the Elden Soulsborne games

A few days ago, after sinking 120hrs into the Lands Between, I finally completed Elden Ring.

However, something occurred to me as I sat back and reflected before launching into my second playthrough.

Since I’ve already explored everywhere, killed everything and acquired all achievements (aside from two endings), I can be more laissez-faire in my next playthrough.

I can skip the areas and bosses I find irritating and stick to the content I enjoy — like repeatedly dying to Starscourge Radhan.

That led my wandering brain to consider how Elden Ring’s bosses stack up against the most hated classics of previous Elden Soulsborne games.

Demon Souls

The game that started it all has the fewest bosses of all the Souls games, clocking in at a mere 16.

Therefore, only one boss meets the criteria with such a limited pool to choose from — Maneater.

Yes, Flamelurker is harder, Dragon God is disappointing, and Old King Allants’ soul-level sucking move is a pain, but Maneater stands above them.

Or instead, he and his friend fly above the rest before glitching out in the air and knocking you off that stupid little bridge they so boldly labelled a boss arena.

Maneater is irritating, but when the boss bugs out half the time, it makes the fight even more tedious and deaths all the more rage-inducing.

Dark Souls

The game that most souls veterans began with, including me, has a solid roster of 22 base game and 4 DLC bosses.

But this isn’t a tough choice.

Though the Capra Demon may have an awful arena, and the Demon Firesage’s hitboxes are wonky as hell (pun intended), there is only one boss who has genuinely united the community in unilateral detest.

The king of gimmick fights, the Bed of Chaos, is the most hated boss of Dark Souls and potentially all the games.

The relay mechanic of running to the boss fight multiple times, the sheer irritation of the Bed’s attacks, and the seeming RNG of making the final jump all contribute to a dismal, infuriating experience.

Dark Souls 2

The black sheep of the souls’ games has an impressive roster of 32 base game and 9 DLC bosses.

Sadly, the majority of these Bosses are not that interesting, and even as I write this, I’m consulting the wiki page to remember half the bosses of Dark Souls 2.

Still, if there’s one boss that stood out for me, it’s the Lud and Zallen, King’s Pets fight.

Lud and Zallen are two giant, irritating tigers that you encounter near the end of the second game’s DLC.

As irritating as the fight is, with Dark Souls 2’s clunkiness (yes, I know, level adaptability) and the twin bosses’ wonky hitboxes, the real pain comes in the run to the fight.

The boss arena is at the far end of the Frigid Outskirts, which is among the worst areas in the entire game.

It’s covered in a blizzard, making it far too easy to get lost, and is infested with giant killer ice reindeer that have no qualms slaughtering you as you stagger about blindly.

The only potentially redeeming quality of the area is that you can summon multiple NPC phantoms to help you through it.

Dark Souls 3

The capstone game of the Dark Souls trilogy has a modest number of bosses with only 19 base game and 6 DLC bosses.

For Dark Souls 3, I don’t have a most hated boss. Personally, I believe that most of the bosses are well-done, and only a few are disappointing – but none have the same rage-inducing potential of the Bed of Chaos or Lud and Zallen.

However, of the bunch, the most disappointing is the Ancient Wyvern.

It seems like an incredible fight when you first walk into the boss arena, but it quickly devolves into an obstacle course and a one-shot kill.

It’s not a hard fight but certainly a letdown after the boss’s entrance.

Bloodborne

Like Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne has fewer overall bosses, with only 17 base game and 5 DLC bosses, not including chalice variants.

Most of these bosses are good, although a few are hard and can be downright painful, but there is no singular one that genuinely inspires rage in me.

The boss that comes closest to achieving this is probably Micolash, Host of Nightmares if only because of the lengthy preamble to get to the actual boss fight.

This is more significant as Micolash can and will one-shot you if you’re careless, which you likely will be as he’s a push-over at first glance.

Elden Ring

At last, we get to the latest and largest game in the franchise, which has nearly a hundred, if not more, boss fights.

But the question is: among all these fights, is there one that matches the hatred inspired by previous entries? Of course.

Her name is Malenia, Blade of Miquella, and she has never known defeat, unlike most players who find her.

This list is inherently subjective, so there will be people who find her boss fight enjoyable and say that once you learn her moves, she’s easy (Git gud).

But for the bulk of the player base, Malenia is just downright painful and for all the wrong reasons.

Her life-steal makes co-op and spirit summons more of a detriment than a help; her attacks are lightning-fast and coded to punish your attempts to heal, and worst of all is her Waterfowl Dance attack.

She’ll leap up into the air and perform three sets of combo slash attacks that, put simply, murder you.

Her boss fight would be well-balanced if not for the Waterfowl Dance – a move that can easily one-shot you, has insane tracking, odd timing and which she can pull out at any moment.

Ultimately, however, I still wouldn’t say she’s as bad as Bed of Chaos.