Just in case this point hasn’t been hammered home enough by gamers within the last decade, I’ll say it again with gusto. Souls games are really hard. So hard, in fact, that just by completingoneof the many Souls games that exist on the market today and mentioning it in passing to your gaming peers, they’ll likely regard you as one of the most skilled gamers alive. Okay, maybe that’s slightly hyperbolic, but you’ll probably register an ‘Oh wow, nice one.’ Or something to that effect.
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There are a lot of challenges within these games, which are a cause for celebration if you manage to endure them and come out the other end. But what many Souls fans don’t tell those on the outside looking in is that there are a lot of bosses that are laughably easy when compared to the sterner tests across the genre. So, to give some context and perhaps inspire hope for budding new Souls players who just want to beat one boss to say they’ve done it, I’m going to highlight the easiest Souls bosses across the games.
In a bid to be as fair as possible, we won’t include bosses who arenotmain bosses or who serve as tutorial bosses. This means we won’t be including bosses likeSoldier of Godrick, the Asylum Demon, or Dragonrider, for example. Nor will we be including lesser bosses, which are abundant inElden Ringdue to its open-world nature.
10Fool’s Idol
Game Featured In
Demon’s Souls
Prison of Hope (3-1)
Demon’s Soulsgets a bad rap as far as boss battles are concerned, as across the board, it’s widely accepted that the roster of bosses in this game is the easiest and cheesiest in the Soulsborne catalog. There are a few exceptions to the rule, like Flamelurker, Penetrator, and Old King Allant, but all in all, I pretty much agree with this viewpoint. If you want me to show my work, I will present the Fool’s Idol fight as exhibit A. A boss that will spawn clones, teleport away, and cast magic attacks at the player from range.
This can be a somewhat annoying fight if you don’t know how it plays out, as some traps will stun-lock you on the floor, and attacking her only to find it’s a clone can leave you vulnerable. Not to mention that she is impossible to kill if you don’t kill the NPC in the upper area of the church, so be sure to do that! But there is an easy way to get through this one. When you lock onto her, if she has a health bar, then that’s a clone, whereas the real Fool’s Idol will have no health bar. Once you know this, all you need to do is avoid the traps and slash mercilessly at the real Fool’s Idol, and they’ll go down very quickly.
9Moonlight Butterfly
Dark Souls
Darkroot Garden
Next up, we have a boss that can be a touch challenging if you arrive at the Darkroot Garden without many upgrades to your character and equipment. However, even with some basic upgrades on deck, you’ll be able to make short work of this ranged attacker. Theoretically, the butterfly should be a dangerous foe as it spends almost all its time hovering over the bridge you are standing on, casting magic projectiles at you. However, these are pretty easily dodged and don’t deal all that much damage anyway.
After you dodge for a while, the Moonlight Butterfly then lands on the bridge to rest and this gives you a chance to whale on them. When you do, you’ll watch as their health just melts away. This fight is further trivialized if you have access to firebombs or magic ranged attacks or Witch Beatrice as a summon. The only saving grace is that this boss is encountered early on in DS1, so it’s quite as jarring as some on this list, but it’s still a cakewalk of a fight.
8Ancient Wyvern
Dark Souls 3
Archdragon Peak
Next, we have a boss that feels like it’s going to be one of the toughest fights in the entire series from the offset. Especially when you initially try to fight this thing head-on and see that your attack does next to nothing to this huge drake. However, as soon as you know the gimmick behind the Ancient Wyvern’s fight, you realize that it’s actually not a boss fight at all. It’s more of a gauntlet run through mob enemies.
The path through mob enemies can pose a bit of challenge as they will force you to dodge projectiles and can catch you off-guard and stun-lock you if you’re really unlucky. But after a try or two, you’ll work out the safest path to the top of the arena, and when you perform a plunging attack on the Wyvern’s head, they die instantly. If this was a little more like the Asylum Demon and you still had to take out a portion of their health fair and square, this could have been a worthwhile boss, but as it is, it’s just a gimmick to waste your time and little more.
7Witch Of Hemwick
Bloodborne
Hemwick Charnell Lane
It’s sad that I have to include anyBloodbornebosses on this list, because across the entire game, there are very few bosses or areas that don’t serve as a suitable challenge for a Souls veteran. However, there are two exceptions. The Celestial Emissary and the Witch of Hemwick, and of the two, the Witch of Hemwick is the easiest of all. This boss is an absolute joke, as all you need to do is run around the area and attack the witch, who rarely retaliates, and then when she teleports elsewhere, you just repeat this process.
There is some jeopardy here as the Mad Ones that patrol the arena can hit hard if they do catch you, and she can cast a spell that will stun-lock you for quite some time, making it much more likely that they will. But in truth, simply ignoring these mob enemies and wandering around the area at your leisure to spam attacks on the Witch of Hemwick is a tactic that will work just fine. It’s laughably easy, but don’t get too comfortable becausethere are plenty of Bloodborne bosses that’ll humble youas you progress onward.
6Deacons On The Deep
Cathedral of the Deep
I was torn between this fight andDark Souls 2’sProwling Magnus and Congregation fight as they are cut from the same underwhelming cloth, but I think the Deacons just about edge it due to the fact that they pose next to no threat at all. By this point in the game, you’ll have faced off against plenty of enemy groups, and you’ll know how to perform crowd control when needed. This is something that the Deacons of the Deep fight tries to take to the extreme by providing a seemingly endless amount of basic enemies that swarm you.
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This sounds like a nightmare, but these enemies aren’t very aggressive at all, and if you have access to a sweeping melee weapon, you can continually swing your blade to keep most of them at bay while striking a few of them to chip away at their communal health bar. All you need to do is kill the glowing red ones in the first phase, and then take out the Archdeacon controlling the crowd in the second. It’s basically the precursor to the aforementioned Celestial Emissary fight in Bloodborne in many ways. Some basic positioning and a weapon with good range will make this a breeze, and considering when you meet them in the game, you really would expect more of a challenge.
Gates of Boletaria (1-1)
I mentioned thatDemon’s Soulsis lousy with underwhelming and gimmicky bosses, and I would have to say without a doubt that the most underwhelming of all is the first proper fight in the game against Phalanx. This is a heightened version of the Hoplite enemies, which are essentially gross blobs with spears and shields covering their front. Phalanx is a huge blob that uses multiple of these enemies as armor to protect its soft and weak center, which seems like it might be tough to expose, but it’s really not.
All you need to do here is make use of the Pine Resin and Firebombs that are dropped by the basic enemies just outside the boss arena, and the Hoplites protecting him will melt away. Then, when you expose a hole, all you need to do is slash furiously at this exposed area, and they’ll go down in an instant. The Hoplite spear attacks barely cause any damage, and if you use firebombs, you can just hide behind the pillars in the area to avoid any damage at all. It’s a boss that really sets the tone for the bosses throughoutDemon’s Soulsand one that you’ll kill in one try, I guarantee you.
4Mist Noble
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Hidden Forest
Of all the games in the Soulsborne roster, I would say thatSekirohas the least amount of easy or cheesable bosses. However, one strange exception to the rule feels deeply out of place in this mercilessly hard game. The Mist Noble is a non-optional enemy as they need to be killed to access Mibu Village, and the player encounters this boss a good portion into the game. Yet, despite this, they are the easiest boss in the game by a country mile.
This boss has two deathblows, but there’s no change in behavior between the first and second. They only have two attacks, a labored grab attack, and a lunge, both of which are laughably easy to avoid, but ironically quite tricky to parry because they are so slow. Basically, this is one of the only fights inSekirowhere you’re able to just spam the attack button and mindlessly slash them to pieces with little worry about them countering. We will never know how the Mist Noble obtained boss status, but they did, and as a result, they belong to this list.
3Covetous Demon
Dark Souls 2
Earthen Peak
We are getting into the truly pitiful bosses within the Soulsborne genre now, with the Covetous Demon leading the charge. This boss, in theory, sounds like a really cool concept. The boss has the ability to unequip all of your items, and this, in an ideal world, would then require you to fight them completely unarmed. However, in practice, you’re very unlikely to ever see this effect take place, as this boss has some of the slowest and most labored attacks ever featured in a Souls game. Even if you stand still and beg the thing to attack you, I’m not even sure it would land a hit.
I say I’m not sure because I don’t believe I have ever taken damage from this thing.
All you need to do is get behind it and attack repeatedly. As its tail attack is telegraphed seconds before it actually slams to the floor, it’s too slow to turn around and face you again, and its only counter to this is to flop on its belly and roll around. It’s a boss that makes you question how this fight wasn’t just left on the cutting room floor and one that will give you no trouble when you encounter it inDS2.
The Catacombs
Our runner-up is a boss who seems like they would be a very imposing one, considering the run leading to his arena through the Catacombs is a very tough one. Not to mention that by the time most players head down into the catacombs, they will be several hours into the game and very well-equipped. However, in practice, Pinwheel ends up being the weakest and pitiful boss thatDark Soulshas to offer.
If you enter the fight cautiously and don’t close the distance quickly, the fight can become a little more difficult as they spawn clones of themselves and start bombarding you with fireballs. But if you run to him and attack them immediately, chances are you can take them down with 1-2 melee combos, usually before they can even land a hit on the player.
Even if you do fight fair, their attacks deal a tiny amount of damage, and their clones all go down in one-hit no matter what. So, regardless of how cautious you are, Pinwheel wouldn’t even be challenging to deal with as a mob enemy, and I think that says it all.
1Mimic Tear
Elden Ring
Nokron, Eternal City
I feel really bad puttingMimic Tearat the top of this list as the easiest Souls boss ever, because it’s such a cool concept for a fight, and if you play fair, it can be a really challenging fight. However, due to the fact that the player can play dirty and make this fight practically impossible to lose, I am duty-bound to add this one as your pick of the bunch. Mimic Tear is a gimmick fight that puts you up against a clone of yourself, which, if you have a stacked build, can mean that this fight is very tough.
However, if you have the foresight to unequip all your items before entering the boss arena, then Mimic Tear will essentially present as a naked, defenseless NPC, and then you can take a moment to quickly equip all your items, and if you do,Mimic Tearwill likely go down in 1-2 hits max.
It’s an underhanded little trick that makes an epic boss fight a joke, but all’s fair in the world of Souls games, and any advantage for the player can and should be utilized.
So, when you think about it, the weakest, most pitiful Souls boss of all time is us. Huh, I’m starting to think that Miyazaki planned this all along.
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