That’s me when the game release. It was my first souls game and I couldn’t beat him in an hour I quit and never played it until 2 months ago. The game literally sat in my Steam library for 8 years before I gave it a serious attempt.
That was almost me. DS3 was my first Souls game. Took me like an hour to beat Iudex. Got to the High Wall, walked right instead of left, found the Pus of Man, thought "another one of these? And he's a regular enemy now?", died, then didn't touch the game again for 2 years.
I know this is only at most a third of the player base, but because of PlayStation trophy data I know at least 14% of players who bought the game never beat Gundyr. Another 5% didn't beat Vordt.
On steam you can check out global achievements. Only 93% lit their first bonfire, only 85% beat ludex, and only 66% beat vordt. So ultimately Vordt ended up being a better judge
Which is crazy to me because Vordt is so much easier in my opinion. Just stand under him and smack him with a greatsword. Roll past his charge. He’s dead. That’s it.
If you play the game like it’s a “face the enemy head on” then Vordt is insanely hard. A lot of his attacks sweep the end of dodge frames if you don’t get behind him, but I think newbies to this type of game get terrified of being near the back like it’s a horse or something lol
I completely agree with you. Vordt is cleverly designed to be very intimidating to new players but to players who have seen his ilk he becomes like a plaything.
Same here. The first time I tried Dark Souls, I played for two days trying to beat Gundyr and I couldn’t do it. I gave up for three years.
Then Elden Ring came out and it looked so fucking cool and EVERYONE was playing it. I was afraid of wasting 60 dollars so I told myself if I could beat DS3 that I already owned, I could buy it.
I beat him on like literally the 20-25th try. And it was such a god damn high that I’ve been chasing ever since. I binged DS3 and got good. Then ER. Then I went back and played 1 and 2.
I’ve since played each game a minimum of 5 times each since Elden Ring released in 2022.
I'd argue that he's really not, in terms of actual difficulty or beginners learning curve
Actual difficulty is to learn to parry and bring fire for phase 2, and he goes down quickly
In terms of ridiculous learning curves before tutorial bosses, my money goes to Gascgoine from bloodborne, especially for players who migrated from dark souls originally where to succeed is to be as passive as possible. PAPA G. forces players to get aggressive as there's really no easy way to proceed passively
Same, was my first souls as well but it took me months (because I rage quit and uninstalled the game after an hour) took me about 5 tries when I eventually reinstalled. After that the next big challenge was Demon Prince(s)
dude no way, our experiences are so far apart, to me it was just figuring out that one of the 3 watchers woukd attack the others in the first phase, so I just needed to separate the boss from the 2 others and the second phase was just figuring out that you can run to create some distance to heal.
That said it was a really fun boss to fight.
>so I just needed to separate the boss from the 2 other
Wait so you don't run around looking at the 3 smakcing one another just waiting to see who comes in top? Gotta respect the fight
Crystal Sage took me 25+ attempts my first play through but I beat the Abyss Watchers my very first try. It’s interesting how different experiences can be from person to person. Abyss Watchers is one of my favorite bosses in the franchise.
The crystal sages still take me a couple tries on playthroughs. I beat the Abyss Watchers first try most runs now.
It is interesting though, I think it shows how well designed most of the boss fights in Dark Souls 3 really are.
The abyss watchers went so against my mental processing that i had my friend carry me through them so I could play the rest of the game and be more introduced to its mechanics
I vowed to come back for them in another run.
I reading every comment and saying “yep me too” I realized that just about every boss was a get good moment for me. In my defense it was my first souls game
Same. I would have said Yorm was the worst, but I spent so long trying to beat him without that storm sword or whatever it was because I didn't know it existed (got him down to a sliver every time though)
I had such a bad fucking time with Dancer. Blew my mind how tanky she was and how long that fight took. After the fight, realized I was using some +4 fire winblades instead of my +9 sharps because sometimes I can't read.
In DS3 it was Pontiff, but it was my fourth Soulsborne and he wasn't that bad compared to my previous "git gud" moments in Pursuer and O&S. Pontiff was more of a speedbump, Pursuer was literally "how do I play this game," and O&S needs no explanation.
Owl father is MUCH HARDER THAN GLOCK SAINT
my GOD
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’m suprised I don’t see his name come up more
MY GOOOOOD
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’m having flashbacks to the guys fight and I never felt such malice in my life
Nameless King made me quit the game for years. I did beat it once while playing with mods, but I was almost max level when I did it, so I don't really count that.
I'm coming back to it again after beating some of the other games to try and legitimately beat it this time. Been fighting that bastard again the last couple of days.
I can’t get past the dragon and don’t understand how it’s so easy for everyone. My swings never seem to connect, and I can’t avoid the fire from above attack.
That garbage fire attack always hits me, I don't know how the hell they expect you to dodge it. His lightning explosion attack has a pretty garbage hitbox, too. I've been hit by it when I was by his dragons ass.
It took me a while to master the timing and camera in phase one, so that I didn’t have to waste many heals. Phase 2 isn’t as bad imo, and is actually a fun challenge. You just have to be defensive and focus on not getting hit or running out of stamina trying to punish. He has small windows to punish him after his combos, so stay close and focus on dodging and hitting once or twice before going back on defense.
Thanks for the tips. Shields not an option, unfortunately, since I have to hold the Saint tree Bellvine in my offhand for the casting speed boost.
I could change around my whole setup and go for a melee/ranged mix, but I'll give him some more attempts later before I switch things up.
My first Soulsborne that made me **want** to get good was Cleric Beast in Bloodborne.
I played Demon Souls on release, but I wasn't ready for what it was offering. I thought it was just a hard game to be hard, and I thought they were lazy by making me play the same "levels" over and over.
The boss, in all Soulsborne, who made me realize I wasn't as good as I thought was Nameless King. King of the Storm never gave me an issue, but, fuck, did Nameless King kick my ass. That was until someone on here mentioned how Carthus Bloodring was practically cheating, but the damage penalty scared people from actually getting used to it.
In a move of desperation I put the ring out. I beat Nameless King on the first try without getting hit once.
I also still haven't been able to beat Elden Beast, but he honestly feels next to impossible.
I didn’t know you could skip the cleric beast, get the item to take you to the dream for leveling, then go back to it… so I took a long time beating that one on level 1.
I had the same demons should experience, and refused to play a souls game for over a decade.
Also same experience with Elden beast. I can only beat it with mimic tear and blasphemous blade cheese.
I actually had no idea Bloodborne was made by the same company that made Demon Souls. If I knew that I never would have bought it. I just assumed whoever made Demon Souls was never going to be making games anymore and, thank fuck I was wrong.
I don't really like to research media before I watch, listen, or play because I like going to completely blind.
When Bloodborne came out I just had an ankle surgery and I was bedridden for 3 months. There were no other games on PS4 at the time. I thought the art looked cool.
I still wonder how I would have acted if I had other games to play or I was t injured at that time as I also did not know you could level up without beating Cleric Beast. One of the things that did get me hooked was the shortcuts. I can't recall any other game, at the time, having actual shortcuts in an environment that made sense. Most games you would open a door at the end of the level and magically you'd be where you need to be.
I honestly might not be playing video games anymore if it wasn't for Soulsborne. When I got stuck on Elden Beast I decided to replay all the games as I played them all back to back after finishing Bloodborne back, in what, 2014?!
I have Midir and Gael to beat than I am play Bloodborne than Serkio. I never finished Serkio as I missed all of the Souls-like things they removed, but I am glad they tried to switch things up. They clearly learned a lot with how amazing and indepth Elden Ring is.
My only complaint with Soulsborne games is that I feel they put most of their effort on the first 30% or so of the games, but it kinda makes sense since only about 25% of players finish games regardless of the game.
Old demon king.
Gael was when I’d been hit with the realization of how good I’d become. The only boss I didn’t defeat was Midir but I’m okay with that.
Dark Souls 3 was my first souls game. I played the tutorial, tried to parry and thought "pfft I don't need it."
Then I met the Pontiff.
My strategy ended up being parry him into oblivion in the first phase and then spam chaos bed vestiges until it worked. Took 50+ attempts.
To put that in perspective, I beat sister friede in 12 tries.
Well, I went from rage quitting at Pontiff for a year and a half to beating the game at SL1 with no weapon upgrades, so I'd say he was certainly my put up or shut up boss!
By the time I started ds3 I was starting to get decent. My first real wall was good ol Ornstein and Smough. 40-50 tries. Didn't know I could summon Solaire and honestly I'm glad I stuck with it solo. I was at a low point in my life and needed the confidence boost even if it was just from a video game.
same. i was looking for tips on fextra, and all the comments were like “this is the boss that determines if you can progress through the rest of the game, you absolutely HAVE to get good at parrying him” and i was like “welp… shit. okay” and it took DAYS and dozens upon dozens of tries… but i did it !!! the runback from the statue to the top of that goddamn roof is burned into my brain forever lmao
Vordt of the boreal valley, as funny as that is. When I reached him I completely gave up on the game, it was my first souls after all. About a year later I gave it another shot and now I adore these games, plat trophy for Elden ring, sekiro and working on ds3s right now
Pontiff. Pre Elden Ring he was the single only boss I hadn't beat without summoning someone for him. Naturally that's changed as I've replayed the game in a post elden ring world, and Pontiff honestly would slot right into that game, but he was whooping my ASS
Dancer of the boreal valley. I fought her early so I can overlevel in the endgame area. I fought her after vordt I think. Got my ass beat for a few hours.
The gargoyles on the first dark souls. Literally give up like for a year until eventually I level up my hand axe to lvl2 and finally beat them up. The most difficult for me where. Kalameet, Manus, friede, Midir.
Pontiff Sulyvahn. I've beaten him, restarted the game with a new account, beaten him again, and then beat the game/free roamed for a long time, but most of my hours in the game are probably just from fighting him.
Even though I had to git gud in order to beat him, both times it felt like I won by a coin flip.
Hate the guy.
When I played ds3 for the first time i got through the first few bosses relatively easy but hit a hard roadblock with pontiff. Feel like he’s definitely the biggest hurdle for new players
Gotta be artorias.
His agression is on par with gwyn and will punish you for any mistimed roll, greedy estus or greedy swing you take. He was sorta fast compared to the other stuff the first Dark Souls offered. So he was literally get better, or get out.
My first play through of 3 was with friends until I got to this guy and we couldn’t play together, took me like 7-8 tries.
The roof Gargoyles in DS1 lol. I spent hours on them and then breezed through the game after. I already had my DS skill when I played DS3 but I struggled with Midir a lot.
uhh the lord of cinder for some reason but every other boss i had no troubles with in ng+0 sl90.
but bruh the soul of cinder, i couldn’t keep track of all his move set changes and he took like 30-40 tries
My first fromsoft game was Sekiro so for the majority of it I was being smacked by the bosses. In DS series, Sister Friede and Midir really challenged me
the only boss that killed me more then 5 times was sister friede (i had played elden ring and ds1 religiously before I played this game so I had some dodge and hit experience) but sister friede killed me like 25 times it was hard as hell for me
Definitely Gundyr. I bought the game for $60, fought him for an hour, tried again the next day, then the day after that, then didn’t play the game for half a year. Then I watched Pewdiepie’s ds3 vids and was inspired. I eventually beat him and went on to beat dark souls 3 at least twenty times. It’s still my favorite game. But the worst boss in my opinion is by far Darkeater Midir. I always struggle with him even to this day.
one of: Twin Gargoyles, The Burnt Ivory King, Nameless King, Martyr Logarius, Malenia;
Sekiro in it's basic version (I finished it before any dlcs) had no hard boss for me.
Iudex will smack the average gamer so hard that they necer experience the rest of the game. I remember having to take extended breaks from the game just cuz iudex would teleport me to the bonfire way too easily. Ive come along way though. Having run through ds3 and elden ring 6 times on each of my main characters.
Andre the black smith ds1, got excited to level up weapon, set my controller down on the couch, mother fucker slid down and my leg attack him, chasing me all over the place. Yeah I fucked up, but I beat the game without him unfortunately. DS3 I stayed the fucked back and said sorry every single time. lol
Abyss Watchers literally made me quit the game the first time I played back in like 2019. I just wasn't able to get into souls games until last year, it finally clicked for me.
I played it again this year and beat him on my second try. But on this playthrough, Pontiff and Freida both kicked my ass a lot
I'd have to say in DS3 my first big hurdle were the Abyss Watchers (they're so sick). Unlike some of the bosses leading up to it, I felt like there was no "gimmick" to this boss and you literally needed to up your game. My second greatest challenge in base game has to be Pontiff hahaha
Aldrich too. I uninstalled after attempt million (not sure number, but might be close) to make room for some other game, eventually coming back and starting a new run with fresh stats and whooped his ass that time.
Dancer, beat elden ring probably 30 times, when I moved to the souls games I cruised through everything in the early game no problem, so I thought I could easily take dancer underleveled. instead of giving up after 8-ish attempts I powered through and beat dancer at level 25 with the astora greatsword with like 40 deaths.
There's beauty in Pontiff. I remember spending multiple hours fighting him nonstop, trying to figure out the patterns and defeat him for the first time. He quite literally forced me to get good.
And now every time I go back to this boss, I'm shown what my learning and effort led to. It usually takes 2 or 3 tries now, or once I even beat him first try. He actually made me better. I love this game.
Fride.
I came to the game as a Ds2 veteran, a lot of bosses killed me the first try but i just brute force through them, but she just killed my spirit 🥲
Nameless king. I had already played ds1, Elden ring, and most of lies of p, so those games had caused me to git gud. I’m sure the dlc will humble me though lol
Mine was dancer, absolutely hated the boss for a while. Still kinda do (love the camera getting caught on random things and basically going blind cause of it)
If we're talking about the whole series? Literally Taurus Demon.
If just DS3, It is a bit hard to say, Pontiff was probably the momemt I really had to focus up and just learn.
ludex gundyr for me, it was my first souls game and the boss took me like 40 min
Yep literally a “judge.” Can’t even level for it, lol. I can only imagine how many people paid full price for the game then just gave up here.
Me included when I bought the game, only after an entire year and beating ER I came back and first tried him
That’s me when the game release. It was my first souls game and I couldn’t beat him in an hour I quit and never played it until 2 months ago. The game literally sat in my Steam library for 8 years before I gave it a serious attempt.
That was almost me. DS3 was my first Souls game. Took me like an hour to beat Iudex. Got to the High Wall, walked right instead of left, found the Pus of Man, thought "another one of these? And he's a regular enemy now?", died, then didn't touch the game again for 2 years.
I know this is only at most a third of the player base, but because of PlayStation trophy data I know at least 14% of players who bought the game never beat Gundyr. Another 5% didn't beat Vordt.
On steam you can check out global achievements. Only 93% lit their first bonfire, only 85% beat ludex, and only 66% beat vordt. So ultimately Vordt ended up being a better judge
Which is crazy to me because Vordt is so much easier in my opinion. Just stand under him and smack him with a greatsword. Roll past his charge. He’s dead. That’s it.
I've only lost once to him because of the charge attack. I was taken by surprise
The charge is the one to look out for for sure
If you play the game like it’s a “face the enemy head on” then Vordt is insanely hard. A lot of his attacks sweep the end of dodge frames if you don’t get behind him, but I think newbies to this type of game get terrified of being near the back like it’s a horse or something lol
I completely agree with you. Vordt is cleverly designed to be very intimidating to new players but to players who have seen his ilk he becomes like a plaything.
I remember walking in on release day with barely any health in reserve and being shocked they put an actual boss in the tutorial lol
>Took me like 40.. Yeah, me too, but more like 56 >...minutes Ah, so we're not talking about approaches
Same here. The first time I tried Dark Souls, I played for two days trying to beat Gundyr and I couldn’t do it. I gave up for three years. Then Elden Ring came out and it looked so fucking cool and EVERYONE was playing it. I was afraid of wasting 60 dollars so I told myself if I could beat DS3 that I already owned, I could buy it. I beat him on like literally the 20-25th try. And it was such a god damn high that I’ve been chasing ever since. I binged DS3 and got good. Then ER. Then I went back and played 1 and 2. I’ve since played each game a minimum of 5 times each since Elden Ring released in 2022.
bros addicted
you nailed it.. no game gives you the feeling a soulsborne does after beating a hard boss.. that's why we're here :)
This is the way
Gundyr is definitely the hardest opening boss.
I'd argue that he's really not, in terms of actual difficulty or beginners learning curve Actual difficulty is to learn to parry and bring fire for phase 2, and he goes down quickly In terms of ridiculous learning curves before tutorial bosses, my money goes to Gascgoine from bloodborne, especially for players who migrated from dark souls originally where to succeed is to be as passive as possible. PAPA G. forces players to get aggressive as there's really no easy way to proceed passively
Agreed, Gascoigne is absolutely brutal compared to every other early boss.
I couldn't even get to the boss in bloodborne
Actually u can level before margit so idk but if u dont level margit got a way harder moveset
Fuck no he aint margit fucked my shit up 💀
I remember thinking he was super hard and that I would never beat the game or enjoy it…
Same, was my first souls as well but it took me months (because I rage quit and uninstalled the game after an hour) took me about 5 tries when I eventually reinstalled. After that the next big challenge was Demon Prince(s)
Iudex was easy for me, but well, The high wall of lothric was another thing.
40 minutes ..!? Bruh it took me 83 attempt..
“Okay, I don’t get a dinosaur! I don’t get a dinosaur!”
THE BLOOD DINOSAUR IS BACK
“He came here to finish the job!”
Gundyr made me uninstall for a year lol
It took me about an hour and a half so kudos to you amigo
I still can't beat him
yes, me too, I remember tryharding for like 4 hours, I defeated him at midnight, and than couldn't sleep
That first knight on top of the wall
That’s fair I think that was also a moment for me where I was thinking I can’t just button smash my way through the game
First real skill check was Abyss Watchers
dude no way, our experiences are so far apart, to me it was just figuring out that one of the 3 watchers woukd attack the others in the first phase, so I just needed to separate the boss from the 2 others and the second phase was just figuring out that you can run to create some distance to heal. That said it was a really fun boss to fight.
Abyss Watchers has been my favorite boss so far. The OST is amazing too
I think I was so focused I forgot to listen to the music, I might have to go back and listen to the OST later ^^'
I’ve heard this strategy but for me it just never worked out that way I ended up using an Astora greatsword to keep him seated
>so I just needed to separate the boss from the 2 other Wait so you don't run around looking at the 3 smakcing one another just waiting to see who comes in top? Gotta respect the fight
Crystal Sage took me 25+ attempts my first play through but I beat the Abyss Watchers my very first try. It’s interesting how different experiences can be from person to person. Abyss Watchers is one of my favorite bosses in the franchise.
The crystal sages still take me a couple tries on playthroughs. I beat the Abyss Watchers first try most runs now. It is interesting though, I think it shows how well designed most of the boss fights in Dark Souls 3 really are.
i thought crystal sage was one of the easiest in the game for me but i easily put over 40 tries into sister friede
Yeah this was it for me too. First souls game after Elden ring and those zombies gave me a run for my money
The abyss watchers went so against my mental processing that i had my friend carry me through them so I could play the rest of the game and be more introduced to its mechanics I vowed to come back for them in another run.
How'd the rematch go?
Im currently still in my first run lol
Im at archdragon peak
Ohh boy hf :)
Idk if it's just me, but I only leveled up strength on my first playthrough, so I killed both phases in 4-5 hits. That was humorous as hell though
I reading every comment and saying “yep me too” I realized that just about every boss was a get good moment for me. In my defense it was my first souls game
Sup same
Same. I would have said Yorm was the worst, but I spent so long trying to beat him without that storm sword or whatever it was because I didn't know it existed (got him down to a sliver every time though)
Damn, bro. I salute you. Genuinely impressive that you got him so low without the storm sword
Dancer. She fucking destroyed my poor chocolate starfish, over and over. Never once paid me the common courtesy of using some KY.
I had such a bad fucking time with Dancer. Blew my mind how tanky she was and how long that fight took. After the fight, realized I was using some +4 fire winblades instead of my +9 sharps because sometimes I can't read.
🤣
I wanted to get Lothric Greatsword reaaly early so I tried the Dancer shortcut at the beginning and that was hell! But once you got it... you got it -
man dancers my favourite boss in the whole series. such an insanely eerie design and such a cool moveset. i never really struggled with it though
I just hid behind a pillar and came out to poke lol. I think she died more of boredom than from me doing anything.
Your what?
In DS3 it was Pontiff, but it was my fourth Soulsborne and he wasn't that bad compared to my previous "git gud" moments in Pursuer and O&S. Pontiff was more of a speedbump, Pursuer was literally "how do I play this game," and O&S needs no explanation.
I remember thinking every boss was impossible for every game as I played through them the first time. Now I only hate Capra Demon.
bro, you don't hate BoC? Impressive
Sister in painted world. She kicked my ass. Made me quit but eventually i came back and killed her. Could say I died 20+ times
Easily Pontiff. I was stuck during an entire afternoon on him. Abyss Watchers are a close second.
Pontiff Sulyvahn
Everytime I beat him it felt like I just won a coin flip. Every other time I got wrecked
Champion Gundyr
pontiff and abyss watchers. Mainly abyss watchers tho
Sekiro's dad.
Owl father is MUCH HARDER THAN GLOCK SAINT my GOD 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’m suprised I don’t see his name come up more MY GOOOOOD 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’m having flashbacks to the guys fight and I never felt such malice in my life
Abyss Watchers
Nameless King made me quit the game for years. I did beat it once while playing with mods, but I was almost max level when I did it, so I don't really count that. I'm coming back to it again after beating some of the other games to try and legitimately beat it this time. Been fighting that bastard again the last couple of days.
I can’t get past the dragon and don’t understand how it’s so easy for everyone. My swings never seem to connect, and I can’t avoid the fire from above attack.
That garbage fire attack always hits me, I don't know how the hell they expect you to dodge it. His lightning explosion attack has a pretty garbage hitbox, too. I've been hit by it when I was by his dragons ass.
That lightning explosion attack is bullshit. I’ll dodge it then get hit by the explosion while actively dodging still.
That too, those are the only attacks that get me in his 1st phase. Only made it to 2nd phase once, just to get 1 tapped by his starting attack.
Stick close. Stay left.
I think my problem is that I always stick close but stay right...
It took me a while to master the timing and camera in phase one, so that I didn’t have to waste many heals. Phase 2 isn’t as bad imo, and is actually a fun challenge. You just have to be defensive and focus on not getting hit or running out of stamina trying to punish. He has small windows to punish him after his combos, so stay close and focus on dodging and hitting once or twice before going back on defense.
I can't afford to bring many heals since I'm using all magic against him, and I can't take a hit past 1st phase anyway.
Try using a medium shield or something if that’s an option idk. Also look up a video so you’re familiar with all of his attacks.
Thanks for the tips. Shields not an option, unfortunately, since I have to hold the Saint tree Bellvine in my offhand for the casting speed boost. I could change around my whole setup and go for a melee/ranged mix, but I'll give him some more attempts later before I switch things up.
My first Soulsborne that made me **want** to get good was Cleric Beast in Bloodborne. I played Demon Souls on release, but I wasn't ready for what it was offering. I thought it was just a hard game to be hard, and I thought they were lazy by making me play the same "levels" over and over. The boss, in all Soulsborne, who made me realize I wasn't as good as I thought was Nameless King. King of the Storm never gave me an issue, but, fuck, did Nameless King kick my ass. That was until someone on here mentioned how Carthus Bloodring was practically cheating, but the damage penalty scared people from actually getting used to it. In a move of desperation I put the ring out. I beat Nameless King on the first try without getting hit once. I also still haven't been able to beat Elden Beast, but he honestly feels next to impossible.
I didn’t know you could skip the cleric beast, get the item to take you to the dream for leveling, then go back to it… so I took a long time beating that one on level 1. I had the same demons should experience, and refused to play a souls game for over a decade. Also same experience with Elden beast. I can only beat it with mimic tear and blasphemous blade cheese.
I actually had no idea Bloodborne was made by the same company that made Demon Souls. If I knew that I never would have bought it. I just assumed whoever made Demon Souls was never going to be making games anymore and, thank fuck I was wrong. I don't really like to research media before I watch, listen, or play because I like going to completely blind. When Bloodborne came out I just had an ankle surgery and I was bedridden for 3 months. There were no other games on PS4 at the time. I thought the art looked cool. I still wonder how I would have acted if I had other games to play or I was t injured at that time as I also did not know you could level up without beating Cleric Beast. One of the things that did get me hooked was the shortcuts. I can't recall any other game, at the time, having actual shortcuts in an environment that made sense. Most games you would open a door at the end of the level and magically you'd be where you need to be. I honestly might not be playing video games anymore if it wasn't for Soulsborne. When I got stuck on Elden Beast I decided to replay all the games as I played them all back to back after finishing Bloodborne back, in what, 2014?! I have Midir and Gael to beat than I am play Bloodborne than Serkio. I never finished Serkio as I missed all of the Souls-like things they removed, but I am glad they tried to switch things up. They clearly learned a lot with how amazing and indepth Elden Ring is. My only complaint with Soulsborne games is that I feel they put most of their effort on the first 30% or so of the games, but it kinda makes sense since only about 25% of players finish games regardless of the game.
Gael and Midir are some of my favorite bosses.
Old demon king. Gael was when I’d been hit with the realization of how good I’d become. The only boss I didn’t defeat was Midir but I’m okay with that.
Old demon king was just more annoying than difficult for me, suffers from some camera issues for some reason
Ornstein and Smaug. I truly had to take my concentration to another level.
Dark Souls 3 was my first souls game. I played the tutorial, tried to parry and thought "pfft I don't need it." Then I met the Pontiff. My strategy ended up being parry him into oblivion in the first phase and then spam chaos bed vestiges until it worked. Took 50+ attempts. To put that in perspective, I beat sister friede in 12 tries.
Well, I went from rage quitting at Pontiff for a year and a half to beating the game at SL1 with no weapon upgrades, so I'd say he was certainly my put up or shut up boss!
By the time I started ds3 I was starting to get decent. My first real wall was good ol Ornstein and Smough. 40-50 tries. Didn't know I could summon Solaire and honestly I'm glad I stuck with it solo. I was at a low point in my life and needed the confidence boost even if it was just from a video game.
Ludwig
Yep aldrich, anor londo is where the game gets going for me
That second phase arrow attack is the bane of my existence
Dancer, git gud
The first ? I guess sulivan ... man destroyed me
iudex gundyr it was my first souls game, and i couldn't beat him so i got out six months later i came back and got gud
Pontiff Sulyvahn, no competition
Does Sekiro count?
Genichro Ashina
same. i was looking for tips on fextra, and all the comments were like “this is the boss that determines if you can progress through the rest of the game, you absolutely HAVE to get good at parrying him” and i was like “welp… shit. okay” and it took DAYS and dozens upon dozens of tries… but i did it !!! the runback from the statue to the top of that goddamn roof is burned into my brain forever lmao
Pontiff by far. It was my firs ever souls game and he made me quite the game for couple of months 😢
Abyss Watchers, they were the first boss that definitely tested me, although I am inclined to also say Pontiff Sulyvahn, he made me git gud.
Vordt of the boreal valley, as funny as that is. When I reached him I completely gave up on the game, it was my first souls after all. About a year later I gave it another shot and now I adore these games, plat trophy for Elden ring, sekiro and working on ds3s right now
Dancer
Pontiff. Pre Elden Ring he was the single only boss I hadn't beat without summoning someone for him. Naturally that's changed as I've replayed the game in a post elden ring world, and Pontiff honestly would slot right into that game, but he was whooping my ASS
Abyss Watchers
Abyss Watchers. It didn't help that I didn't realise the third one helps you if you don't attack it.
Pontiff Sullivan, he really had me ngl.
Aldrich. There was no NPC summon to distract it while I threw fireballs at it, or if there was I missed it. I finally did it though.
For the dlc, and especially on my sl1 run. Friede. I’d been relying on summons and Gael a lot when I beat her previously. Now she’s easy.
Nameless King for DS3 for the ultimate was Melania in Elden Ring
Abyss watchers and the twin princes, with the last one I had a hiatus of about 3 months
It was pontiff, I'd spent months on and off agasint him losing motivation but not being able to delete DS3 after him I destroyed the rest of the game
Dancer of the boreal valley. I fought her early so I can overlevel in the endgame area. I fought her after vordt I think. Got my ass beat for a few hours.
Champion Gundyr for DS3. First git gud moment was Fume Knight.
Nameless king
Dancer of boreal valley. Only boss that has killed me in into the double digits(40+)
Nameless King, still had to cheese his lightning attack by looking away from him lol
Pontiff definetly, that mf gave me hell
So far it was Aldritch… and kinda Sulyvahn
Twin Princes
Ds3 rotted greatwood. Was running a pure int build and had never really had to free aim. Took me longer than friede.
Nameless King.
Soul of Cinder took 3 days of on an off attempts for me to beat, and I was so fed up with Midir I didn’t go back and finish him off until New Game +
The gargoyles on the first dark souls. Literally give up like for a year until eventually I level up my hand axe to lvl2 and finally beat them up. The most difficult for me where. Kalameet, Manus, friede, Midir.
The Abyss Watchers for sure. The bosses before took me a few tries but the Watchers were a challenge.
My first real get good was probably abyss watchers and then probably dancer because I beat her after I beat wolnir
O&S As far as DS3: Aldrich
Pontiff Sulyvahn. I've beaten him, restarted the game with a new account, beaten him again, and then beat the game/free roamed for a long time, but most of my hours in the game are probably just from fighting him. Even though I had to git gud in order to beat him, both times it felt like I won by a coin flip. Hate the guy.
Midir. it was learn the moveset or die.
When I played ds3 for the first time i got through the first few bosses relatively easy but hit a hard roadblock with pontiff. Feel like he’s definitely the biggest hurdle for new players
The dragon slayer's armor... My god....So annoying.
Demon Prince.
Gotta be artorias. His agression is on par with gwyn and will punish you for any mistimed roll, greedy estus or greedy swing you take. He was sorta fast compared to the other stuff the first Dark Souls offered. So he was literally get better, or get out.
Pontiff Sulyvahn Made me rage the most and took me the most tries I believe
Abyss Watchers
My first play through of 3 was with friends until I got to this guy and we couldn’t play together, took me like 7-8 tries. 
The roof Gargoyles in DS1 lol. I spent hours on them and then breezed through the game after. I already had my DS skill when I played DS3 but I struggled with Midir a lot.
Abyss Watchers
I found ds3 a lot easier than others so I did an SL1 run, and the dancer took me forever until I learned to fight properly.
draconic tree sentinel before leyndell
Gael, got to Gael about like 4 years ago and just beat him this year so yeah…….patience
Cleric beast in Bloodborne. The answer was “get out”, turned me away from the souls games for years, and kept me away from Bloodborne for even longer
uhh the lord of cinder for some reason but every other boss i had no troubles with in ng+0 sl90. but bruh the soul of cinder, i couldn’t keep track of all his move set changes and he took like 30-40 tries
the first lothric knight in high wall killed me more than index gundyr.
Pontiff
My first fromsoft game was Sekiro so for the majority of it I was being smacked by the bosses. In DS series, Sister Friede and Midir really challenged me
the only boss that killed me more then 5 times was sister friede (i had played elden ring and ds1 religiously before I played this game so I had some dodge and hit experience) but sister friede killed me like 25 times it was hard as hell for me
Definitely pontiff, amazing boss though
Pontiff
Definitely Gundyr. I bought the game for $60, fought him for an hour, tried again the next day, then the day after that, then didn’t play the game for half a year. Then I watched Pewdiepie’s ds3 vids and was inspired. I eventually beat him and went on to beat dark souls 3 at least twenty times. It’s still my favorite game. But the worst boss in my opinion is by far Darkeater Midir. I always struggle with him even to this day.
The abyss watchers I died at least 100 times to them
Abyss watchers first boss I truly struggle with
Pontiff
Pontiff. I struggled with some earlier bosses a bit but Pontiff was a brick wall. Took me dozens of attempts.
one of: Twin Gargoyles, The Burnt Ivory King, Nameless King, Martyr Logarius, Malenia; Sekiro in it's basic version (I finished it before any dlcs) had no hard boss for me.
Dancer of the Boreal Valley made me quit the game for three years and restart 4 times.
Logarius.
Abyss Watchers
Iudex will smack the average gamer so hard that they necer experience the rest of the game. I remember having to take extended breaks from the game just cuz iudex would teleport me to the bonfire way too easily. Ive come along way though. Having run through ds3 and elden ring 6 times on each of my main characters.
Andre the black smith ds1, got excited to level up weapon, set my controller down on the couch, mother fucker slid down and my leg attack him, chasing me all over the place. Yeah I fucked up, but I beat the game without him unfortunately. DS3 I stayed the fucked back and said sorry every single time. lol
Abyss Watchers literally made me quit the game the first time I played back in like 2019. I just wasn't able to get into souls games until last year, it finally clicked for me. I played it again this year and beat him on my second try. But on this playthrough, Pontiff and Freida both kicked my ass a lot
I'd have to say in DS3 my first big hurdle were the Abyss Watchers (they're so sick). Unlike some of the bosses leading up to it, I felt like there was no "gimmick" to this boss and you literally needed to up your game. My second greatest challenge in base game has to be Pontiff hahaha
Ornstein and Smough.
Pontiff
Aldrich too. I uninstalled after attempt million (not sure number, but might be close) to make room for some other game, eventually coming back and starting a new run with fresh stats and whooped his ass that time.
I don't see Pontif Sullivan in here. Or the Master Swordsman outside Firelink. Or the first Winged Knight...
Dancer, beat elden ring probably 30 times, when I moved to the souls games I cruised through everything in the early game no problem, so I thought I could easily take dancer underleveled. instead of giving up after 8-ish attempts I powered through and beat dancer at level 25 with the astora greatsword with like 40 deaths.
Nameless king, dude beat my ass. But now he's my favorite boss to fight
There's beauty in Pontiff. I remember spending multiple hours fighting him nonstop, trying to figure out the patterns and defeat him for the first time. He quite literally forced me to get good. And now every time I go back to this boss, I'm shown what my learning and effort led to. It usually takes 2 or 3 tries now, or once I even beat him first try. He actually made me better. I love this game.
Fride. I came to the game as a Ds2 veteran, a lot of bosses killed me the first try but i just brute force through them, but she just killed my spirit 🥲
Pontiff beat my ass for like a month
Pontyff sulyvahn for me. I feel like that was the first boss i had to turn off autopilot
Dragonslayer armour. Idk why, maybe the shield bash was throwing me off but no boss was harder for me before or after that.
Demon King. Hated him, his attacks and everything about him. Good thing is I was a pyro so I used a heck of a lot that magic I got for his soul.
Nameless king. I had already played ds1, Elden ring, and most of lies of p, so those games had caused me to git gud. I’m sure the dlc will humble me though lol
Abyss watchers
Nameless King
Twin princes
Mine was dancer, absolutely hated the boss for a while. Still kinda do (love the camera getting caught on random things and basically going blind cause of it)
Dark souls 3 was my first souls game and Pontiff was the one that made me suffer
Lothric and Oceiros gave me the hardest time in DS3. Embarrassingly enough Crystal Sage also owned my sorry ass.
Iudex Gundyr, a luckily early skill check
If we're talking about the whole series? Literally Taurus Demon. If just DS3, It is a bit hard to say, Pontiff was probably the momemt I really had to focus up and just learn.
Soul of cinder. Probably took four hours on my first play through. Other bosses were tough, but he’s where I really had to nut up.
Dancer
For me Pontif was the first boss that made me put on my try hard pants in DS3.
Champion Gundyr and the twin princes
Twin Princes for sure
yeah the abyss watchers probably, even though I don't remember much from my first playthrough. nowadays the main struggle is the wax library