Dark Souls III - Bosses
Boss encounters of Dark Souls III in rough order of progression, including the Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City expansions. Bosses gate the critical path, drop souls that can be transposed into unique weapons at Ludleth of Courland, and in four cases yield the Cinders of a Lord needed to reach...
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of 25 entries
· updated 2026-09-15
| Name | Type | Description | Location | Phases | Difficulty | Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iudex Gundyr | Main Boss | The tutorial boss and the first test of positioning, blocking and healing, fought in a flooded arena. | Cemetery of Ash | 2 | Low (tutorial encounter) | Soul of Iudex Gundyr Coiled Sword (bonfire key item) |
| Vordt of the Boreal Valley | Main Boss | An outrider knight of Irithyll transformed into a hulking beast, charging across the arena in sweeping rushes. | High Wall of Lothric (outer rampart) | 2 | Low to moderate | Soul of Vordt of the Boreal Valley Small Lothric Banner (opens the way to the Undead Settlement) |
| Curse-Rotted Greatwood | Optional Boss | A colossal tree whose weak points are the egg sacs hanging from its limbs, forcing the player to attack specific limbs while dodging rolling sweeps. | Undead Settlement (dilapidated church) | 2 | Moderate (mechanical, not reflexive) | Soul of the Rotted Greatwood Transposing Kiln (unlocks boss soul transposition with Ludleth) |
| Crystal Sage | Main Boss | A robed sorcerer that teleports around the arena and summons illusionary duplicates which also cast soul spears. | Road of Sacrifices (ruined chapel) | 2 | Moderate | Soul of the Crystal Sage |
| Deacons of the Deep | Main Boss | A congregation of robed clerics that shuffles and casts together, with a single archdeacon to kill while the crowd interferes. | Cathedral of the Deep | 2 | Low to moderate | Soul of the Deacons of the Deep |
| Abyss Watchers | Lord of Cinder | Undead legionnaires who fight each other as much as the player, with a resurrecting watcher joining the melee. | Farron Keep (Wolf's Blood arena) | 2 | Moderate to high | Soul of the Blood of the Wolf Cinders of a Lord |
| High Lord Wolnir | Lord of Cinder | A giant skeletal lord who drags himself forward out of the dark, swiping with enormous arms and summoning skeletal minions. | Catacombs of Carthus (chasm) | 1 | Low to moderate | Soul of High Lord Wolnir Cinders of a Lord |
| Old Demon King | Optional Boss | The last king of the demons, fighting with a hammer and sweeping fire in a vast ash-filled arena. | Smouldering Lake | 2 | Moderate | Soul of the Old Demon King |
| Yhorm the Giant | Lord of Cinder | A towering Lord of Cinder whose health pool is designed to be broken with the Storm Ruler greatsword found in the arena. | Profaned Capital (throne room) | 2 | Low with Storm Ruler, high without | Soul of Yhorm the Giant Cinders of a Lord |
| Pontiff Sulyvahn | Main Boss | The tyrant of Irithyll, wielding twin greatswords of fire and magic. | Irithyll of the Boreal Valley (cathedral) | 2 | High | Soul of Pontiff Sulyvahn |
| Aldrich, Devourer of Gods | Lord of Cinder | A bloated saint fused with the consumed god Gwyndolin, firing arrow storms and sweeping dark blade waves across the nave. | Anor Londo (cathedral nave) | 2 | High | Soul of Aldrich Cinders of a Lord |
| Dancer of the Boreal Valley | Main Boss | A tall, veiled dancer wielding twin curved blades in a slow, hypnotic rhythm that suddenly accelerates into long spinning chains. | Lothric Castle (throne room, triggered by the basin) | 2 | High | Soul of the Dancer |
| Oceiros, the Consumed King | Optional Boss | The mad former king of Lothric, half transformed into a dragon and cradling an invisible child. | Consumed King's Garden (sealed chamber) | 2 | Moderate to high | Soul of Oceiros |
| Champion Gundyr | Optional Boss | Iudex Gundyr in his prime, unarmoured by rot and far faster, fighting in a dark replica of Firelink Shrine. | Untended Graves | 1 | High | Soul of Champion Gundyr |
| Dragonslayer Armour | Main Boss | An empty suit of armour animated by the Pilgrim Butterflies overhead, swinging a greataxe and shield on a narrow bridge. | Lothric Castle (bridge) | 2 | High | Soul of Dragonslayer Armour |
| Lorian and Lothric, Twin Princes | Lord of Cinder | A crippled elder prince who teleports, and his younger brother who resurrects him and casts from his back. | Grand Archives (princes' chamber) | 2 | Very high | Soul of the Twin Princes Cinders of a Lord |
| Ancient Wyvern | Optional Boss | A dragon circling a fortified mountainside, fought as a platforming chase rather than a duel. | Archdragon Peak | 1 | Low (a scripted chase) | Boss soul (transposable at Ludleth of Courland) Path toward the Nameless King |
| Nameless King | Optional Boss | The exiled firstborn son of Gwyn, fought first on his storm drake and then on foot. | Archdragon Peak (cloud arena) | 2 | Very high | Soul of the Nameless King |
| Soul of Cinder | Final Boss | The final boss, a composite of every Lord of Cinder that has linked the fire, cycling through weapon movesets before shifting into a second phase that mirrors Gwyn's own attacks. | Kiln of the First Flame | 2 | Very high | Boss soul (transposable at Ludleth of Courland) Ending choice at the First Flame |
| Sister Friede | Expansion Boss | A three-phase encounter: a stealth duel in an invisible arena, a paired-scythe frost fight, and finally a two-on-one against Friede and Father Ariandel, whose cauldron fire covers the floor. | Painted World of Ariandel (chapel) | 3 | Very high | Soul of Sister Friede |
| Champion's Gravetender and Gravetender Greatwolf | Expansion Boss | A hollow champion and his giant wolf fought together in a frozen ravine, with the wolf gaining a frost charge in the second phase. | Painted World of Ariandel (Depths of the Painting) | 2 | High | Boss soul (transposable at Ludleth of Courland) Valorheart and the Gravetender's armour set |
| Demon Prince | Expansion Boss | Two demons fought at once in a poison swamp, one melee and one ranged, until the survivor transforms into the Demon Prince. | The Dreg Heap (Earthen Peak Ruins) | 2 | Very high | Soul of the Demon Prince |
| Halflight, Spear of the Church | Expansion Boss | A unique online boss: when connected, another player is summoned as the Spear of the Church to defend Filianore, supported by Painting Guardians. | Ringed City (church of Filianore) | 1 | Variable (player-controlled in online play) | Boss soul (transposable at Ludleth of Courland) Filianore's Spear Ornament for the Spears of the Church covenant |
| Darkeater Midir | Expansion Boss | A colossal dragon that fights at range with fire breath, tail sweeps and dive bombs, with a punishing health pool. | Ringed City (shared grave chasm) | 2 | Extreme | Soul of Darkeater Midir |
| Slave Knight Gael | Final Expansion Boss | The final boss of the trilogy, fought at the end of the world on an ash plain. | Ringed City (ashes of the world) | 2 | Extreme | Soul of Slave Knight Gael Blood of the Dark Soul (painting pigment for Ariandel) |
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