Bosses

Dark Souls 3 opens and closes with a duel against a knight in a graveyard, and between those two fights it asks you to read animations, count combo hits and know when a boss is about to change shape. This guide collects our eight Dark Souls 3 boss pages: the four story fights we cover in the base game, in the order you meet them, and the four bosses of The Ringed City in the order the DLC's path puts them in front of you. Each entry keeps to what our writers actually tested, so where a page is thin, the section is short. The habits that carry through every fight, from baiting to the dodge-over-block rule, are in our mechanics guide.

Every fight we cover

The base game, in order

Iudex Gundyr

The tutorial boss is a lesson in two things: pulling the spear from his chest to start the fight, and respecting a halberd that reaches further than it swings fast. Land a couple of hits, back off, repeat. At half health he transforms, and the animation is a free window to hit him with no counter coming. Afterwards he hits harder and further but fights the same way. Parry if you can; if not, stay behind him, because from the front he grabs at close range and leaps at you from distance.

Deacons of the Deep

A crowd fight where only one target matters. The real boss glows red and rarely attacks, while the deacons around him keep respawning, poke weakly and lob the occasional fireball. Hurting them does nothing to the boss, so push through and hit the glowing one; when he dies, the rest go with him. In the second phase the fireballs come faster and the group starts channelling a fog that kills in one hit. Break the channel by attacking the casters, then go back to whittling the main deacon down.

Dancer of the Boreal Valley

The Dancer fights with two swords at once, and our page treats her like Aldrich: circle with your shield raised, block a couple of swings, answer with a few hits of your own, then back away and reset. Come in fire-resistant gear, and stay out of the reach of her grab and her sweeping attacks. She can also be fought far earlier than intended: our character builds guide notes that killing Emma triggers the Dancer immediately, which opens the road to the Sunlight Straight Sword, and to the Nameless King, far earlier for a Faith build.

Soul of Cinder

The last fight wants a Greatshield. Circle with it up, absorb the two- or three-hit combo, put two or three hits back in and step away. String a few together quickly and the boss staggers, which is where the real damage goes. Whenever it switches to magic, that is your cue to close in. The second phase adds a five-hit combo that can neither be blocked nor parried, so it has to be dodged, and a spear throw from range that hurts but leaves the boss open for your reply.

The Ringed City, in path order

Demon in Pain, Demon From Below, then the Demon Prince

The DLC's first boss is two fights in one arena. Jump into the opening below the long ledge before the Within the Earthen Peak Ruins bonfire, and consider summoning Slave Knight Gael or Lapp there, because two demons at once is the hard part. Each demon swaps between a flaming mode, glowing and aggressive with charges and melee, and a burnt-out mode where it hangs back spitting toxic clouds and claws you if you come close. The fight starts with one in each mode, the second lights up after 15 to 20 seconds, and if you kill one the other flares up for good. Demon in Pain leans on poison breath, Demon From Below on fire, so a Stoneplate Ring and a stack of Purple Moss Clumps both earn their slot. Both demons stagger and take critical hits; both are weak to slashing damage.

Which demon dies first decides the Prince's ranged attack. Our Earthen Peak Ruins walkthrough recommends killing Demon in Pain first, because the resulting laser phase leaves the Prince stuck for a solid 10 seconds you can spend hitting him; kill Demon From Below first and you get chaos meteors instead. The Prince opens phase two with a large explosion, then fights permanently in flaming mode: a charge that leaves a trail of fire, a magma shower announced by floating fire orbs, two spheres that spit smaller fireballs, and a backwards leap with a gust that shoves you away. Stay behind his legs, roll and zig-zag rather than approaching head on, wait for the dives, and if you have Dark Fire pyromancies, spam them. He staggers too, which lands a critical on his face.

Halflight, Spear of the Church

Halflight waits in the church down the Ringed Inner Wall shortcut, and the Judge's opening speech is a free moment to cast a buff. Painting Guardians spawn first, then Halflight arrives with a health pool unusually small for a boss, so the whole strategy is to stay on him and never let up. Online, he may be another player defending as a Spear of the Church, and the same rule applies. If you have finished Lapp's questline you can summon Unbreakable Patches for this fight. A monument high up in the city resets the encounter if you want to run it again.

Darkeater Midir

Midir is optional and easy to miss, and two things stand between you and his arena. First, on the stone bridge he keeps torching past the Swamp, reach the ruined stairwell and knock him off the cliff by draining his health; that earns no souls, it only sends him to his boss room. Second, from the Ringed Inner Wall bonfire, ride the shortcut elevator and jump through the opening in the wall on the way down, which takes a couple of trips to spot. In the statue room, hit the statue that is not holding a weapon to drop an illusory wall, climb down the ladder, and fall through the hole behind the altar; the drop is long but harmless. The same route is how you reach the Spears of the Church altar afterwards.

He is weak to lightning, takes double damage to the head, and cannot be parried. Melee wants a weapon around 500 AR or more. The tail strategy dodges the whip when he turns and hits the tail whenever it lands near you; the head strategy hugs his neck, rolls through claw swipes and charges, and hits the head between attacks. When he winds up the fire blast in front of him, run far forward, never behind; when he takes off and breathes fire, run left. Phase two opens with a dark explosion that can kill in one hit, then dark beams follow every fire breath and dark orbs rise from the ground, so take a few hits and back off rather than getting greedy. Casters should skip crystal and dark sorceries, which he shrugs off, and use Pestilent Mercury from beneath his right arm, where his dark magic cannot reach you.

Slave Knight Gael

The DLC ends at Filianore's Rest with the knight you first met, harmless, in the Cleansing Chapel. Our Slave Knight Gael page reads the fight in phases. Hunched over at first, he lunges and plunges; roll toward him as he winds up and you pass under both, and a scream announces a flurry you can roll through rhythmically. Standing upright in the second phase, he gains wide sweeping slashes; keep rolling into him for the counter window rather than away. The third phase adds an energy wake to his swings, a crossbow and thrown projectiles, and the final stretch layers random lightning strikes on top. Side rolls beat the lightning, the energy blast has to be dodged twice because it comes back, the downward swing hits again on the way up, and standing close interrupts the crossbow. At a third of his health he screams again and the attacks come fast; stay close and keep stabbing.

Help you can summon

Several of our NPC pages record white phantom signs tied to these and other fights. Meet the conditions and the sign appears outside the fog gate.

The conditions behind each sign are on our NPC recruitment page and, for Lapp and Patches, our NPCs guide.

Frequently asked questions

Which of these bosses can I skip?

Only Darkeater Midir, and skipping him also locks you out of the Spears of the Church covenant, whose item he drops. The two Ringed City demons cannot be avoided; they are the first boss on the DLC's path.

Which demon should die first?

Demon in Pain. The Prince then uses lasers, which leave him immobile for around 10 seconds at a time. Killing Demon From Below first gives him chaos meteors instead.

Can Midir be parried?

No. Aim for the head for double damage, bring lightning, and avoid crystal and dark sorceries.

Why is Halflight so easy some attempts and not others?

Offline he is an NPC with a small health pool. Online, a real player in the Spears of the Church covenant can be summoned to play him, so his behaviour changes with whoever is behind him.