Dark Souls 3 is brimming with bosses who will do everything in their power to bring you down… and they will successfully do so over and over again. That’s where our Dark Souls 3 boss guide comes in.
Although this guide will not miraculously let you complete each boss fight without dying, but it will certainly teach you a thing or two about fighting each boss effectively given your character level and equipment.
For more help on Dark Souls 3, read out our Dark Souls 3 Gestures Guide, Dark Souls 3 Covenants Locations Guide, and Dark Souls 3 Estus Flask Upgrade Shards Locations Guide.
Dark Souls 3 Boss Guide
Each Dark Souls 3 boss battle is divided into two phases with the second phase kicking in after a boss has lost about 50% of its HP. In addition to this, each boss battle has its own Trophy or Achievement.
Dark Souls 3 boss guide essentially details everything there is to know about boss battles in the game:
Dark Souls 3 Iudex Gundyr Boss Tips
Being the first boss in the game that appears during the tutorial section of the game, Iudex Gundyr is not extremely tough to defeat unlike other bosses in the game.
You need to pluck a spear out of his chest to initiate the boss battle, but make sure to land a couple of hits before backing away. He wields a halberd with a large range, but relatively slow attack speed.
As mentioned earlier, at about 50% of HP, the boss will begin transforming into the second phase. The brief transformation phase is your clue to dish out some more damage as the boss will not attack you during the transformation phase.
During the second phase, he gains more damage and range, but the general pattern and techniques to defeat the boss primarily remain the same.
One important thing to note here is that his attacks can be parried with a shield. If you still do not know how to parry, try to get behind the boss and attack from there. If you stay in front for too long, he will grab you at close range and leap at you from afar.
Dark Souls 3 Vordt of the Boreal Valley Boss Tips
The second boss in the game is of immense size and deals good amount of physical damage. You should not consider blocking his attacks and must rely on dodging away or getting behind him.
To do so effectively, lock onto him, get in range, and roll around his left-hand-side which will put you directly behind him. Once there, land a couple of hits and he will jump away. He also has a frost de-buff which slows your stamina regeneration.
During the second phase of the fight, his eyes will start gleaming and he will leap at you with a charging attack about 2-4 times – it is crucial that you dodge these charging attacks to avoid receiving damage.
Other than this, you need to stay under his belly or behind him and continue your assault to complete the boss fight.
Dark Souls 3 Curse-Rotted Greatwood Boss Tips
This large tree – or at least it appears to be a tree – has eggs that grow all around it and you must destroy them to complete the boss battle. Do note that there is no way to block or parry the boss’s attacks which is why you should charge in to hit eggs.
One important thing to bear in mind is that you will notice some mobs around the boss which must be dealt with first before eggs on the tree. You should be able to eliminate most of the mobs while they are worshipping the boss.
As soon as you see the floor crumble, the second phase of the boss battle will start. During the second phase, you will be able to destroy the eggs all around the boss.
The boss will also spawn an arm from his belly which it will use to swipe and grab you character, but note that attacking the arm will also deal damage to the boss. Furthermore, beware of the poisonous seeds the boss shakes from the branches.
As with most of the bosses in SoulsBorne games, you need to get behind the boss and continue to attack to complete the boss fight.
Dark Souls 3 Crystal Sage Boss Tips
Crystal Sage primarily relies on Magical Projectiles that can easily be dodged. In addition to this, you should be able to stun the boss that will allow you to dish out some more damage – he literally will not do anything while he is stunned.
After absorbing damage, the boss will teleport away and you will have to repeat the entire process again. It is important to note that the boss will take a couple of seconds to re-appear after the teleport which can be used to heal up a little.
During the second phase of the fight, the Crystal Sage will summon 3x decoys who will have blue attacks and will go down in a single hit. Since the decoys stick close to each other, it is possible to kill a couple with a single attack.
Other than this, his attacks during the second phase primarily remain the same.
Dark Souls 3 Deacons of the Deep Boss Tips
This is a relatively easier boss fight. The boss is not only weak, but also rarely attacks. The only thing that you need to bear in mind is that the boss (surrounded by red glow) is surrounded by mobs.
The mobs will continue to spawn and use weak attacks coupled with occasional fireballs. Attacking the minions will not hurt the boss which is why you need to head in and attack the boss – once he is dead, the minions will die as well!
During the second phase of the boss battle, the minions will throw more fireballs and will channel a fog which will one-shot your character. Therefore, you need to break the channel by attacking the minions and continue hitting the boss.
You will slowly whittle away his HP and complete the boss battle.
Dark Souls 3 Lords of Cinder: Abyss Watchers Boss Tips
At the start of the boss battle, you will come across a total of 3x enemies who will continue to attack each other. You, on the other hand, need to concentrate on the main boss.
A brilliant method to do so is to circle around the main boss with your shield up and wait for him to miss an attack after which you will be able to land your own attack. Do not be greedy and only attack once the main boss misses one of his attacks.
During the second phase of the battle, the boss will come up with a flaming sword, increased range, and increased damage. During the second phase, it is a good idea to have fire-resistant gear and shield.
In addition to his primary attack, the boss will also leave a trail of fire on the ground which will deal some serious damage to your character if you are not careful! Stick to the strategy mentioned earlier and hope to get victorious.
Dark Souls 3 High Lord Wolnir Boss Tips
The boss battle with High Lord Wolnir is not extremely hard if you know what to do. In order to complete the boss battle, you need to destroy 3x yellow glowing rings on his arms.
While you are onto it, dodge away as soon as you are about to get hit. In addition to this, you need to stay away from the purple fog around the boss. Just stick to the primary objective and you will complete the boss fight in no time.
Dark Souls 3 Pontiff Sulyvahn Boss Tips
This boss uses two swords – a flaming sword and a magic sword. As with Lords of Cinder: Abyss Watchers, you need to keep with shield up and circle around the boss waiting for him to miss his attacks.
As soon as you see him miss a few of his attacks, you need to land in a couple of your shots.
In addition to this, the boss will also summon a phantom. There is no need to fight both of them at the same time so you need to try and eliminate the phantom as early as possible. The phantom has low HP and goes down fairly quickly!
Moreover, you should also try and deal damage to the boss while he is summoning the phantom. During this time, you will be dealing damage to boss and phantom at the same time.
Dark Souls 3 Lord of Cinder: Yhorm the Giant Boss Tips
It is a good idea to battle the boss Yhorm’s Storm Ruler Sword. However, do make sure not to land normal attacks, but the powered-up attack.
In order to execute the powered-up attack, you need to hold the weapon in both hands and charge the special storm attack which deals massive amount of damage. You need to repeat the entire process a total of 5x times and complete the fight.
Dark Souls 3 Lord of Cinder: Aldritch, Devourer of Gods Boss Tips
This boss basically relies on magic attacks and a physical melee attack. He fires multiple Magical Projectiles followed by a larger one as well as some arrows.
As soon as you see the boss cast a black hole in the ground, he will teleport away. When it comes to arrows, you must avoid them as the arrows can one-shot and instantly kill your character. As for other projectiles, those can be dodged easily!
Similar to other bosses from other SoulsBorne games, you need to stay behind the boss and continue to attack from there. If you are unable to do so, make sure that your shield is up if you are moving towards the boss from front.
Dark Souls 3 Dancer of the Boreal Valley Boss Tips
This boss utilizes two swords at the same time. Just as Lord of Cinder: Aldritch, Devourer of Gods boss battle, you need to circle around the boss with your shield up and look for a window.
It is a good idea to start the boss fight with fire-resistance. The key to completing the boss fight is to block a couple of attacks, attack, back up, rinse and repeat.
In addition to this, you need to stay away from the range of her grapple and sword swinging attacks. The entire strategy remains the same which you need to stick to and complete the boss battle.
Dark Souls 3 Oceiros, the Consumed King Boss Tips
This boss uses a large piece of wood as a weapon and deals physical damage. In addition to a few physical damage-dealing attacks, he also uses an AOE magic attack.
In addition to this, he also leaps into the air and jumps down dealing massive damage. Aside from this, he also has a leaping attack. You simply need to stay between his legs and continue to attack. However, as soon as you see an AOE attack coming your way, roll back to avoid damage.
Dark Souls 3 Dragonslayer Armour Boss Tips
This boss is found in Lothric Castle and wields a shield and an axe that deals both physical and lightning damage. Aside from this damage, the boss will call upon some flying creatures who will toss Magical Projectiles that can easily be dodged.
Because of large shield, it is useless to attack from front which is why you need to circle around the boss and get behind him to attack.
One important thing that you need to note here is that if you land a couple of attacks, you will successfully stun the boss, allowing you to deal loads of damage.
Unless you have insane amount of stamina, there is no need to block the boss’s attacks and you should primarily rely on dodging which will come handy. Just get a hang of dodging and you will do just fine.
Dark Souls 3 Champion Gundyr Boss Tips
This boss can easily be considered as the beefed up version of the tutorial boss Iudex Gundyr. During the first phase, you can simply spam fast attacks and continue to block the boss’s attacks.
During the second phase of the boss battle, however, you will not be able to block the boss’s attacks and must rely on dodging most of them. In order to defeat him, you need to stay between his legs at all times and continue to attack and eventually the boss will go down.
Dark Souls 3 Lord of Cinder: Lothric, Younger Prince Boss Tips
This easily falls in top-3 hardest boss fights in Dark Souls 3. During the first phase of the battle, the boss will deal physical and fire-damage from a variety of rapid attacks.
In addition to this, the boss also has a teleport ability using which he can get behind your character and deal massive amount of damage. Always bear it in mind and try to get behind the boss while continuously exchanging hits.
During the second phase of the battle, Lorian (the boss of the first phase) will have Lothric on his back. At this point, if you successfully kill Lothric by attacking from behind, Lorian will automatically die.
But if you put your focus on Lorian first, Lothric will eventually revive him, but you will have a couple of seconds to deal some damage to Lothric.
Before you start the boss fight, make sure that you have leveled up, have an upgraded weapon, etc.
Dark Souls 3 Soul of Cinder Boss Tips
For the final boss encounter of Dark Souls 3, you need to keep up your Greatshield and circle around the boss, trying to find a window.
Once you have successfully blocked his 2-3 hit combo, land a couple of quick strikes and back away! After a couple of hits, you will successfully stun the boss after which you will be able to deal a whole lot of damage.
In addition to his physical attacks, the boss also has some magic attacks at his disposal. You need to directly charge in once you see the magic attacks and try to deal some damage.
During the second phase of the battle, you need to learn to dodge away from the 5-hit combo as it cannot be blocked.
In addition to this, the boss will also throw spears at you from a distance. These spears do a whole lot of damage, but leave the Soul of Cinder vulnerable to your attacks which is your cue to end the boss fight and become master of the Dark Souls 3.
This is everything we have on Dark Souls 3 Boss guide. If there is something else you would like to know, make sure to let us know in the comments section below!
