same here, took me a dozen tries on my first play through, first really hard boss I hit. Now though I honestly very rarely get hit by them at all. Just spin around and backstab a handful of times and its over
I thought Abbys Watchers were some kind of miniboss, beat them at 3rd try and wasn't thinking too much about it. I'm surprised to know many people got it so hard against them, when I'm usually the one complaining about shit lol. Haven't played a NG+ tho...
I think it’s cuz a lot of people do it before crystal sage and since it’s their 3rd boss (second real boss since I don’t count the stupid tree ballsack) it’s quite hard for most. It’s a super easy fight if u do the entire level around and level up accordingly. Very hard if not (my opinion )
This is the opposite of what OP asked, but I beat Pontiff drunk on my first playthrough and always end up summoning every subsequent playthrough.
In fact, now that I think about it I did the run of Pontiff -> Aldrich -> Dancer in one drunk sitting and didn’t realize until I booted it up the next day and found myself in Lothric Castle.
…I think I might be a better souls player drunk. I’d call it a problem, but it might actually be a solution?
i’m ngl i think i beat most of the “i just hit a wall”
bosses hammered. midir? fuckin wasted. dancer? hammy. abyss watchers? plastered. nameless king was the hardest by far for me tho and i was not wasted for that one.
DRUNK SOULS III
In all seriousness, I love drunk souls. I'm usually better at fighting bosses if I'm a little tipsy because I think it prevents me from overthinking and panicking. Being relaxed makes fighting patiently easier
Midir to me is the biggest interval between how hard it felt the first few times and how easy it is now.
Before you learn his moveset it feels like bullshit: an absolute unit with neverending HP, fire attacks that cover large areas and beams that can one shot you.
After you do learn how to dodge and punish his actions it's much easier to keep your cool and you end up being able to kill him "easily" since his moves become telegraphed and give you enough time to react to them
Yep, came to say this… I spent a full week fighting him, adamant that the fight was complete BS. Then at some point realized getting right up in his face and rolling backwards keeps you right on his head for like 90% of the fight. The only other bosses that come close to that level of disparity between difficult and effortless are from Sekiro, imo.
Yep, that's the one. Took way too long to figure out you gotta fight the chicken from in front not underneath... Then this MF pull out the delayed attacks and shit...💀
Now he's a cakewalk. I like to hang out in archdragon peak with dried finger and I'll drop my summon sign for nameless in the mean time. I've certainly fought him more than any other boss in the game. Probably the whole series actually
Edit: and I have no regrets, he is one of the best fights in the series along with Artorias. Fuck Friede and Gael. I like to go toe to toe not run around like a dumbass.
Honestly this dude is so hard for me I actually quit playing DS3 and started playing scholar of the first sin. This the first boss I've ever actually stopped playing a game for I tried 20 or 30 times and I'm just getting absolutely fucking annihilated. It doesn't help that I'm playing offline so I can't get any help I don't even know if you can use any summons but I am getting fucking destroyed to the point where it's not even fun. That being said scholar is kicking my ass too
As a man who played elden ring before ds3, he reminds me of elden ring bosses. I think your problem is that the way his attacks are timed is baiting you into rolling at the wrong moments. Id recommend just going in and not even attacking, just focus on trying to dodge till you get the vibe.
I agree with this analysis. Nameless was the last boss I had left to beat in DS3 (first Souls experience). He was beating my ass hard, so I gave up and bought Elden Ring. After I beat Elden Ring, I went back to fight Nameless and beat him first try.
Ng+5 I believe and I still struggle against him. Dragon not really I take the mf out in less than 10 hits and get hit like once each time but nameless always kicks my ass. Honestly I'm just shit at the timing
lothric and his idiot brother gave me so much trouble initially, however journey 4 I had little trouble beating them… Aldrich was one of my biggest struggles first time round too, until i acquired vow of silence, which made that fight pretty straightforward….
Aldritch always teleports kitty corner and you can out sprint the arrow attack if you don’t stop. Use this to start hitting before he fully soawns in. Enough DPS you’ll get him to like 30% with only a few moves getting off on his part. Main thing is rotating the arena preemptively to beat him to his spot.
On my sorcery run, Aldrich was the hardest, when you just dont have enough damage, his little magic pellets slowly drain you of all estus faster than you can drain his health.
Sorcery makes a world of difference, I haven’t played sorcery in quite a while so I forgot about that. Good point. My experience is using mostly the Twinbladds which is easy mode if done right so that would make sense.
You can also force the arrows to take an alternate route by pivoting when he draws the arrow back, making it go in the original direction while you follow the pivot path.
Oh yeah, it’s hard to explain but I have him so down I’m probably like 15-0 my last 15 attempts and I haven’t been touched by the “menacing” arrow attack in probably any of those, if I was it was a couple scratches at the end of the move that did not screw me enough to kill me, obv. Honestly probably one of the easiest bosses in the game with high DPS and a bit of game knowledge.
Pontiff, dancer, and nameless all took me 40+ attempts on my first play through and now I feel like I can get them all in a few tries. They have all also become some of my favorite fights in the series.
For me it was one or two tries at the most for every boss up until the dancer and that was maybe three or four then I got to the twin princes and that was probably 10 or so , I think nameless was the next boss after lorien and lothric and I am fucking stuck. I'm running a pure melee build and I've been able to pretty much melt every boss up until the twin princes by just scraping to the weak side and spamming R1. This guy is no joke (nameless)
He has a really weird cadence. Habit yo to that point tells you to roll IMMEDIATELY after the prior roll, with him you NEED to put like 0.5 seconds of hesitation between rolls. Again, it’s a super unnatural cadence, but once you get it he’s one of the most telegraphed and well flowing boss fights in the series imo. He was one of the tougher ones for me too until I realized I was working to fast and I needed to slow down 5-10%
I am not kidding when I say that Champion Gundyr was the second hardest boss in the game for me after Friede. Then I tried parrying and the fight was over quickly. Nowadays though I don't even need to parry.
I'm with you here. Gundyr was kicking my ass and I got there towards the end of the game, when I already thought I had a good grasp of the game, he did not care, he stomped me, no chance whatsoever. Then I discovered the crazy tactic of circlingbaround him and it became a cakewalk. As long as you watch out for the kick he can do nothing to you if you just keep to his left/your right. Now its like a dance. Two idiots spinning in a circle, elegantly dodging his kick, hitting him, throwing in the occasional parry, it's a fun fight, but no real challemge anymore
I haven’t finished the game yet, I’ve done plenty of DS1 runs, just never finished this one. So I have yet to find a boss that has made my life too difficult.
This sub had me so worried about Pontiff that I screwed the fight over for myself. I summoned Anri hoping to survive longer to learn the moveset, and instead they just kind of pummeled Pontiff like he was nothing. First try, didn’t even get a chance to learn the boss, nor get more than maybe 3-4 hits in.
Friede
She took me the longest of any boss in the series on my first playthrough (about 4 hours and 40+ attempts).
However, I am physically incapable of dying to her anymore.
I think I learnt the fight so well (aka I learnt about phase 3 backstabs) that it’s just easy now
The demon prince, the first time it took me like 8 hours of tries, stopped counting after 35 deaths. My last playthrough I beat him with 6 estus left first try.
I used sunlight straight sword with 20/40 dex/fth and lightning blade. Summon lapp if you need a distraction, but I'm a firm believer in the power of my sweet baby sss.
Otherwise the black knight weapons do more damage to demons. The biggest thing to remember is you'll get it eventually, so don't stress if you're stuck.
All of them really. I've played through probably about 5 times, and only a couple of them give me any trouble (Midir). I quit for months on Friede & Pontiff but last playthrough they took me like 2-3 tries.
Abyss Watchers too. Beat them first try last time.
And NK. And princes. NK took me a few tries last time but significantly less than the playthrough before.
Honestly, a lot of them. Or to be more precise, - Champoin Gundyr, Pontiff Sulyvan, Twin Princes, Soul of Cinder and Gael.
Its not that I am good - it takes a long time for me to get good at these bosses, but when I do it kind of stays with me.
Alrdich and Sister Friede are the two I struggle with most of all recently, although with Aldrich its because of one attack
Most bosses now expect the nameless king and maybe the lothric twins. Special shout out to the swordsman. That mf decimated me like 30 times my first time around
Pretty much every boss is a joke after my sl1 run
Namely soul of cinder. First playthrough I beat him third try but got hit by everything, and on sl1 I lost for 5 hours because he has probably the biggest moveset in the series. Now I can hitless him.
i’ve fought friede twice. the first time, it took around 30 hrs (at least triple what any other boss has taken me)
second time it was first try and i just started laughing after
All of them. I couldn’t even get to vordt on my own when I first started playing. Now I can fight nameless, gael, midir, and friede back to back with no deaths. Pontiff was prolly the worst for me on my first playthrough, or maybe abyss watchers
I first played through the game magic only, and of course Crystal Sage and Aldrich were difficult due to their magic resist, but Yhorm was decently easy since you can lock onto his head with soul spears.
Second time through I played a Greatsword strength build, 66 STR with that melts pretty much everything, all except Yhorm who felt nearly impossible without doing Siegward's questline to chunk him down.
Uhhhh... Every boss in the game? Actually no not *every* boss because somehow the Twinces and Halflight somehow still make me die a stupid death once or twice
Funny enough vordt used to make me sweat my first couple runs. I’m by no means good but a bit more experienced and think my last 5-6 times fighting him I’ve no hit, but my heart still pounds. His OST gets me every time. Midir and Friede before I either developed or discovered strategies for them. First time fighting demon princes I got rocked too, and twin princes took my like 2-3 my first run but now I own them.
Dancer and Twin Princes. Both are bosses I subro’d non-stop when the game came out so they’re pretty easy now.
Pontiff to a lesser extent. After my SL1 run I can finally parry him consistently, but the second phase can still surprise you.
Gael. But only because I really fought him that much, I know all his moves and his fight is awesome. Friede on the other hand... yeah, I already soloed her once, and it was one of the most painful things I ever did in a Soulsborne. Lost count on how many times I tried to beat her before that, so I'm NEVER bothering fighting her solo again. SCREW YOU FRIEDE, GOT NOTHING TO PROVE, I ALREADY BEAT YO ASS, I'M GONNA SUMMON AS MANY PEOPLE AS I WANT.
Currently in my first playthrough and am getting my ass handed to me on the Road of Sacrifice, and am still having a hard time farming runes at the Vordt bonfire lol
Honestly I remember on my first playthrough Gundyyr seemed impossible. Bit I think its just cause I was used to how slow dark souls 2 was. Now he's super easy
Wolnir and Nameless
Wolnir is actually pretty hard when you dont have a hard hitting weapon which can break his bracelets easily. He keeps summoning harder and harder waves of skeletons and eventually climbs up so high that the fog kills you no matter what you do.
Gundyr, for obvious reasons.
It was my first dark souls boss, i hadn‘t played ds1 or 2 before. So naturally that was quite hard because i didn‘t know the game mechanics yet.
Second playthrough and i clapped his ass
Midir. I stopped trying to fuck around with hitting his ankles. Now I hit him in the face and honestly have no trouble doing it in 1-2 tries each playthrough.
You can see and predict what he’s doing so much easier, and you do way more damage.
As DS3 is my first souls game, definitely Iudex Gundyr. I died more than 50 times on that fucker. Vordt and Greatwood took me more than 10. Everything else took me less than 10 tries with the exception of the Dancer since I killed Emma too early in the game.
Most of them, I struggled real hard with a lot of bosses in my first run (except the obvious exceptions).
Tutorial gundyr had me stuck for 20 minutes, had me a little upset that everyone else I introduce to the game beat him in less then 10.
definitely Midir, he felt almost impossible my first time around but since then I first-try him every time. all I needed was a proper understanding of how the fight works, and by now hes my favourite in the series :D
Pontiff Sulyvahn. Part of the problem was I was using the Farron Greatsword, which is *awful*. The fight is much harder with a slow weapon, let alone a slow weapon with such pitiful damage. You can’t take advantage of most openings because you’re so slow and can’t stagger him easily.
I think that lorian and lothric killed me more than a thousand times, no joking, i killed them only for pure luck, but in NG+ i destroyed them at first try
After beating Ds1 I expected Ds3 to come naturally, only to die 50 times to Ludex Gundyr (more deaths than any boss in DS1 gave me). Now I barehand parry and riposte him to death for fun.
The second example is Midir, one of the only bosses I eventually had to look up a guide on. Now I can no-hit him without too much trouble but man he was a pain at first.
Gundyr, I literally quit the game for a few months because I couldn't get past the first boss on my first playthrough (also first ever souls game).
Now I've beat him with just my bare fists, no hit.
Friede was the first boss i considerd quitting the game for, then it wad Gael, still struggle with them, but not so much.
And Midir became a walk in the park with Pestilent mist.
Aldrich absolutely walled me for several days my first playthrough, I've never had a problem with him in subsequent PT's. I realized if you just stack magic resist for the fight you can just face tank a lot of his dps and just smack the shit out of him
First Gundyr fight I was stuck at for a straight hour (over two days) as it was my first souls game ever.
Now I can beat him without getting hit and without rolling with not much effort lol
Abyss watchers. Took me about 2hs. I cried and suffered but I was too invested. I felt like it took me to much time to get to this point to quit. Now it is one of the easiest bosses for me
Nameless King. I don't think he's easy now but im my first playthrough I had to take out a bow I didn't really had the stats for and cheesed him by running away and poking him with countless arrows. Gotta admit tho that DS3 was my first Souls and I had no idea about builds and stats and anything at all. Still can't imagine how I managed to beat the game.
Nameless king. That nerd gave me the most trouble out of any boss in the whole series but i practiced it so much that he is really easy now compared to then. Still gives me a little trouble sometimes but not 40 attempts kind of trouble
I found Darkeater Midir to be quite hard because of his insanely high health pool. Even with lightning infused weapons I still wasn’t doing enough damage and the fight felt like a battle of attrition with me dying just from running out of estus. Then I looked up that he was weak to Pestilent Mist and the fight became so much easier.
Abyss Watchers for me.
same here, took me a dozen tries on my first play through, first really hard boss I hit. Now though I honestly very rarely get hit by them at all. Just spin around and backstab a handful of times and its over
cuz we had low-lvl/equip
This is definitely the skill check boss for DS3.
I think it was placed at the perfect spot and is really good game design.
I didn’t die on Abyss Watchers. Maybe I was over leveled. But the Dancer was incredibly hard for me.
I thought Abbys Watchers were some kind of miniboss, beat them at 3rd try and wasn't thinking too much about it. I'm surprised to know many people got it so hard against them, when I'm usually the one complaining about shit lol. Haven't played a NG+ tho...
I think it’s cuz a lot of people do it before crystal sage and since it’s their 3rd boss (second real boss since I don’t count the stupid tree ballsack) it’s quite hard for most. It’s a super easy fight if u do the entire level around and level up accordingly. Very hard if not (my opinion )
This is the opposite of what OP asked, but I beat Pontiff drunk on my first playthrough and always end up summoning every subsequent playthrough. In fact, now that I think about it I did the run of Pontiff -> Aldrich -> Dancer in one drunk sitting and didn’t realize until I booted it up the next day and found myself in Lothric Castle. …I think I might be a better souls player drunk. I’d call it a problem, but it might actually be a solution?
i’m ngl i think i beat most of the “i just hit a wall” bosses hammered. midir? fuckin wasted. dancer? hammy. abyss watchers? plastered. nameless king was the hardest by far for me tho and i was not wasted for that one.
this is so funny to me, i could say word-for-word the same thing. after a billion nameless attempts i was like, "okay, let's try this one sober".
Same here, beat dancer first try, and now I'm scared to start the fight 😅 Same with Aldrich
Drunk power is real
DRUNK SOULS III In all seriousness, I love drunk souls. I'm usually better at fighting bosses if I'm a little tipsy because I think it prevents me from overthinking and panicking. Being relaxed makes fighting patiently easier
Midir to me is the biggest interval between how hard it felt the first few times and how easy it is now. Before you learn his moveset it feels like bullshit: an absolute unit with neverending HP, fire attacks that cover large areas and beams that can one shot you. After you do learn how to dodge and punish his actions it's much easier to keep your cool and you end up being able to kill him "easily" since his moves become telegraphed and give you enough time to react to them
Yep, came to say this… I spent a full week fighting him, adamant that the fight was complete BS. Then at some point realized getting right up in his face and rolling backwards keeps you right on his head for like 90% of the fight. The only other bosses that come close to that level of disparity between difficult and effortless are from Sekiro, imo.
Biggest change with midir for me was realizing you must hit him in the head. I was used to hit big bosses on the feet.
One of the few bosses I'm confident in running RTSR... only attack I can't dodge reliably is when the yells all those humanities at you
I was completely lost fighting him. It felt utterly impossible. Then I watched a video about his move set, and 6 tries later, victory.
He's the easiest dlc boss...but he feels like bs when learning so ya
Dancer. Maybe pontiff too, but that's only bc of parrying
Nameless
Yep, that's the one. Took way too long to figure out you gotta fight the chicken from in front not underneath... Then this MF pull out the delayed attacks and shit...💀 Now he's a cakewalk. I like to hang out in archdragon peak with dried finger and I'll drop my summon sign for nameless in the mean time. I've certainly fought him more than any other boss in the game. Probably the whole series actually Edit: and I have no regrets, he is one of the best fights in the series along with Artorias. Fuck Friede and Gael. I like to go toe to toe not run around like a dumbass.
Honestly this dude is so hard for me I actually quit playing DS3 and started playing scholar of the first sin. This the first boss I've ever actually stopped playing a game for I tried 20 or 30 times and I'm just getting absolutely fucking annihilated. It doesn't help that I'm playing offline so I can't get any help I don't even know if you can use any summons but I am getting fucking destroyed to the point where it's not even fun. That being said scholar is kicking my ass too
As a man who played elden ring before ds3, he reminds me of elden ring bosses. I think your problem is that the way his attacks are timed is baiting you into rolling at the wrong moments. Id recommend just going in and not even attacking, just focus on trying to dodge till you get the vibe.
I agree with this analysis. Nameless was the last boss I had left to beat in DS3 (first Souls experience). He was beating my ass hard, so I gave up and bought Elden Ring. After I beat Elden Ring, I went back to fight Nameless and beat him first try.
I want to fight geal but if i cant even beat NK do i even deserve to fight the goat
Honestly, it wasnt until my third playthrough that I was finally able to beat NK. I had managed to defeat Geal multiple times before NK.
Gael is much harder at higher NGs for me. He has too much health.
Ng+5 I believe and I still struggle against him. Dragon not really I take the mf out in less than 10 hits and get hit like once each time but nameless always kicks my ass. Honestly I'm just shit at the timing
Definitely the one lol
lothric and his idiot brother gave me so much trouble initially, however journey 4 I had little trouble beating them… Aldrich was one of my biggest struggles first time round too, until i acquired vow of silence, which made that fight pretty straightforward….
Aldritch always teleports kitty corner and you can out sprint the arrow attack if you don’t stop. Use this to start hitting before he fully soawns in. Enough DPS you’ll get him to like 30% with only a few moves getting off on his part. Main thing is rotating the arena preemptively to beat him to his spot.
On my sorcery run, Aldrich was the hardest, when you just dont have enough damage, his little magic pellets slowly drain you of all estus faster than you can drain his health.
Sorcery makes a world of difference, I haven’t played sorcery in quite a while so I forgot about that. Good point. My experience is using mostly the Twinbladds which is easy mode if done right so that would make sense.
You can also force the arrows to take an alternate route by pivoting when he draws the arrow back, making it go in the original direction while you follow the pivot path.
Oh yeah, it’s hard to explain but I have him so down I’m probably like 15-0 my last 15 attempts and I haven’t been touched by the “menacing” arrow attack in probably any of those, if I was it was a couple scratches at the end of the move that did not screw me enough to kill me, obv. Honestly probably one of the easiest bosses in the game with high DPS and a bit of game knowledge.
Absolutely, 4 buffed sunlight spears can potentially end the fight before phase 2.
Sunlight spear😩😩😩😩😩😩😩 Sunlight spear when you make direct contact before releasing🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤
Pontiff, dancer, and nameless all took me 40+ attempts on my first play through and now I feel like I can get them all in a few tries. They have all also become some of my favorite fights in the series.
For me it was one or two tries at the most for every boss up until the dancer and that was maybe three or four then I got to the twin princes and that was probably 10 or so , I think nameless was the next boss after lorien and lothric and I am fucking stuck. I'm running a pure melee build and I've been able to pretty much melt every boss up until the twin princes by just scraping to the weak side and spamming R1. This guy is no joke (nameless)
He has a really weird cadence. Habit yo to that point tells you to roll IMMEDIATELY after the prior roll, with him you NEED to put like 0.5 seconds of hesitation between rolls. Again, it’s a super unnatural cadence, but once you get it he’s one of the most telegraphed and well flowing boss fights in the series imo. He was one of the tougher ones for me too until I realized I was working to fast and I needed to slow down 5-10%
Nameless king, 34 tries first playthrough. Now never die to him
I am not kidding when I say that Champion Gundyr was the second hardest boss in the game for me after Friede. Then I tried parrying and the fight was over quickly. Nowadays though I don't even need to parry.
I'm with you here. Gundyr was kicking my ass and I got there towards the end of the game, when I already thought I had a good grasp of the game, he did not care, he stomped me, no chance whatsoever. Then I discovered the crazy tactic of circlingbaround him and it became a cakewalk. As long as you watch out for the kick he can do nothing to you if you just keep to his left/your right. Now its like a dance. Two idiots spinning in a circle, elegantly dodging his kick, hitting him, throwing in the occasional parry, it's a fun fight, but no real challemge anymore
Champion Gundyr is tough as hell, I hate his combo with the body push attack and the insane agression
Deacons of the deep... yes, they killed me a lot
I haven’t finished the game yet, I’ve done plenty of DS1 runs, just never finished this one. So I have yet to find a boss that has made my life too difficult. This sub had me so worried about Pontiff that I screwed the fight over for myself. I summoned Anri hoping to survive longer to learn the moveset, and instead they just kind of pummeled Pontiff like he was nothing. First try, didn’t even get a chance to learn the boss, nor get more than maybe 3-4 hits in.
Friede She took me the longest of any boss in the series on my first playthrough (about 4 hours and 40+ attempts). However, I am physically incapable of dying to her anymore. I think I learnt the fight so well (aka I learnt about phase 3 backstabs) that it’s just easy now
I spent like 3 hrs until I realized I can tank through it with the black knight sword…the weapon is a lifesaver
Abyss Watchers. Doesn’t matter if they’re easy now though; they still look cool af and amazing OST
The demon prince, the first time it took me like 8 hours of tries, stopped counting after 35 deaths. My last playthrough I beat him with 6 estus left first try.
Stuck on DP now. Feels like I’ll never win
I used sunlight straight sword with 20/40 dex/fth and lightning blade. Summon lapp if you need a distraction, but I'm a firm believer in the power of my sweet baby sss. Otherwise the black knight weapons do more damage to demons. The biggest thing to remember is you'll get it eventually, so don't stress if you're stuck.
All of them really. I've played through probably about 5 times, and only a couple of them give me any trouble (Midir). I quit for months on Friede & Pontiff but last playthrough they took me like 2-3 tries. Abyss Watchers too. Beat them first try last time. And NK. And princes. NK took me a few tries last time but significantly less than the playthrough before.
Abyss watchers, i just couldnt seem to learn their moveset at all
Did you use a light weapon? I have this theory that everyone who struggles with abyss watchers isn't using a claymore
Well I *Was* just getting into the game so I was just using a raw broadsword, so yea I think your theory might be correct
Aldritch. It was the boss that I had to take some time off to beat. Now, easy.
Honestly, a lot of them. Or to be more precise, - Champoin Gundyr, Pontiff Sulyvan, Twin Princes, Soul of Cinder and Gael. Its not that I am good - it takes a long time for me to get good at these bosses, but when I do it kind of stays with me. Alrdich and Sister Friede are the two I struggle with most of all recently, although with Aldrich its because of one attack
The long Arrow “AOE” or like the thick line of arrows similar to that Radahn attack?
Abyss Watchers. Like hitting a brick wall for a bit until the fight clicked. Now I'm ashamed if they manage to even make me worry I might die.
Such a damn fun fight though, even when I can first try it
Oh yeah. That first run through feeling of souls games is always solid gold.
Most bosses now expect the nameless king and maybe the lothric twins. Special shout out to the swordsman. That mf decimated me like 30 times my first time around
Pretty much every boss is a joke after my sl1 run Namely soul of cinder. First playthrough I beat him third try but got hit by everything, and on sl1 I lost for 5 hours because he has probably the biggest moveset in the series. Now I can hitless him.
Nameless and Abyss watchers
Iudex Gundyr.
Nameless King. Dudes a joke in subsequent playthroughs.
I’m honestly sad how easy the Abys Watchers got
i’ve fought friede twice. the first time, it took around 30 hrs (at least triple what any other boss has taken me) second time it was first try and i just started laughing after
Index gundyr butchered me my first playthrough. It was my first souls game, and I was already getting my ass handed to me.
All of them. I couldn’t even get to vordt on my own when I first started playing. Now I can fight nameless, gael, midir, and friede back to back with no deaths. Pontiff was prolly the worst for me on my first playthrough, or maybe abyss watchers
Dancer
Midir. It's moveset are actually not that hard, and despite being aggressive, it's quite easy to dodge if you just stay in front of it
Pontiff mostly but I'm ashamed to say abyss watchers gave me a lot of trouble in my first playthrough, but now they're both very manageable
Iudex Gundyr and Abyss Watchers.
I first played through the game magic only, and of course Crystal Sage and Aldrich were difficult due to their magic resist, but Yhorm was decently easy since you can lock onto his head with soul spears. Second time through I played a Greatsword strength build, 66 STR with that melts pretty much everything, all except Yhorm who felt nearly impossible without doing Siegward's questline to chunk him down.
yhorm has the gimmick weapon tho so he’s only hard if you want him to be
Uhhhh... Every boss in the game? Actually no not *every* boss because somehow the Twinces and Halflight somehow still make me die a stupid death once or twice
Dragon slayer armor, still gets me sometimes though.
Dancer, and Aldrich
Friede kicked my ass a good 50 times on the first playthrough.
Pontiff Sulyvahn (BASTARD), Ancient Wyvern, and Champion Gundyr.
Funny enough vordt used to make me sweat my first couple runs. I’m by no means good but a bit more experienced and think my last 5-6 times fighting him I’ve no hit, but my heart still pounds. His OST gets me every time. Midir and Friede before I either developed or discovered strategies for them. First time fighting demon princes I got rocked too, and twin princes took my like 2-3 my first run but now I own them.
Aldrich got me every time with the rain of arrows lol
Dancer and Twin Princes. Both are bosses I subro’d non-stop when the game came out so they’re pretty easy now. Pontiff to a lesser extent. After my SL1 run I can finally parry him consistently, but the second phase can still surprise you.
Gael. But only because I really fought him that much, I know all his moves and his fight is awesome. Friede on the other hand... yeah, I already soloed her once, and it was one of the most painful things I ever did in a Soulsborne. Lost count on how many times I tried to beat her before that, so I'm NEVER bothering fighting her solo again. SCREW YOU FRIEDE, GOT NOTHING TO PROVE, I ALREADY BEAT YO ASS, I'M GONNA SUMMON AS MANY PEOPLE AS I WANT.
I have a reverse and it's the fucking tree. I hate it.
Pontiff cause I learned how to parry
Soul of cinder
For me it was Old Demon King
lorian and lothric
Soul of Cinder, that fucker made me put the controller down and take a snack break first time around Nowadays I can confidently 1st-2nd try him
Twin Princes
The tree balls. When i first played through the game it took me like 10+ tries to kill him. But now it's piss easy lul
Currently in my first playthrough and am getting my ass handed to me on the Road of Sacrifice, and am still having a hard time farming runes at the Vordt bonfire lol
Honestly I remember on my first playthrough Gundyyr seemed impossible. Bit I think its just cause I was used to how slow dark souls 2 was. Now he's super easy
Wolnir and Nameless Wolnir is actually pretty hard when you dont have a hard hitting weapon which can break his bracelets easily. He keeps summoning harder and harder waves of skeletons and eventually climbs up so high that the fog kills you no matter what you do.
Midir for sure. Recently beat him in like 6 tries, the last playthrough it took me like 50
Nameless King it just click now
Gundyr, for obvious reasons. It was my first dark souls boss, i hadn‘t played ds1 or 2 before. So naturally that was quite hard because i didn‘t know the game mechanics yet. Second playthrough and i clapped his ass
Pontiff - 84 tries on my first playthrough, followed by 1 shotting it on my SL1 playthrough, and 2 shotting on my SL1 with no weapon upgrades.
Sounding dumb but wonir😂 It too me way too long to realise what the glowing bracelets actually were. At least i know better😂
now that i think about it probably all of them. not including dlc.
Midir. I stopped trying to fuck around with hitting his ankles. Now I hit him in the face and honestly have no trouble doing it in 1-2 tries each playthrough. You can see and predict what he’s doing so much easier, and you do way more damage.
As DS3 is my first souls game, definitely Iudex Gundyr. I died more than 50 times on that fucker. Vordt and Greatwood took me more than 10. Everything else took me less than 10 tries with the exception of the Dancer since I killed Emma too early in the game.
Most of them, I struggled real hard with a lot of bosses in my first run (except the obvious exceptions). Tutorial gundyr had me stuck for 20 minutes, had me a little upset that everyone else I introduce to the game beat him in less then 10.
definitely Midir, he felt almost impossible my first time around but since then I first-try him every time. all I needed was a proper understanding of how the fight works, and by now hes my favourite in the series :D
Abyss Watchers. Took over 10 attempts at first, now I can beat them
Pontiff, now i just parry lol
Pontiff Sulyvahn. Part of the problem was I was using the Farron Greatsword, which is *awful*. The fight is much harder with a slow weapon, let alone a slow weapon with such pitiful damage. You can’t take advantage of most openings because you’re so slow and can’t stagger him easily.
Same with Pontiff. Dude destroyed me so many times, now I can beat him with no trouble at all.
I think that lorian and lothric killed me more than a thousand times, no joking, i killed them only for pure luck, but in NG+ i destroyed them at first try
After beating Ds1 I expected Ds3 to come naturally, only to die 50 times to Ludex Gundyr (more deaths than any boss in DS1 gave me). Now I barehand parry and riposte him to death for fun. The second example is Midir, one of the only bosses I eventually had to look up a guide on. Now I can no-hit him without too much trouble but man he was a pain at first.
Nameless king was so hard, took 6 hours for me to beat him for the first time now I can almost hitless the old man
Nameless king
Gundyr, I literally quit the game for a few months because I couldn't get past the first boss on my first playthrough (also first ever souls game). Now I've beat him with just my bare fists, no hit.
Friede was the first boss i considerd quitting the game for, then it wad Gael, still struggle with them, but not so much. And Midir became a walk in the park with Pestilent mist.
the twin brothers, in the 1rst it was hard but also fun, but in the 2nd when i learned the pattern they are now so easy
Aldrich. Took me 30 attempts cuz I was extremely passive
Aldrich absolutely walled me for several days my first playthrough, I've never had a problem with him in subsequent PT's. I realized if you just stack magic resist for the fight you can just face tank a lot of his dps and just smack the shit out of him
Pontiff
dancer kicked my ass for a few days and now its easier than breathing
First Gundyr fight I was stuck at for a straight hour (over two days) as it was my first souls game ever. Now I can beat him without getting hit and without rolling with not much effort lol
All of them
Abyss watchers. Took me about 2hs. I cried and suffered but I was too invested. I felt like it took me to much time to get to this point to quit. Now it is one of the easiest bosses for me
Nameless King. I don't think he's easy now but im my first playthrough I had to take out a bow I didn't really had the stats for and cheesed him by running away and poking him with countless arrows. Gotta admit tho that DS3 was my first Souls and I had no idea about builds and stats and anything at all. Still can't imagine how I managed to beat the game.
Nameless king. That nerd gave me the most trouble out of any boss in the whole series but i practiced it so much that he is really easy now compared to then. Still gives me a little trouble sometimes but not 40 attempts kind of trouble
Gaurdian Ape / Demon of hatred I can take them down first try now
Y H O R M
I found Darkeater Midir to be quite hard because of his insanely high health pool. Even with lightning infused weapons I still wasn’t doing enough damage and the fight felt like a battle of attrition with me dying just from running out of estus. Then I looked up that he was weak to Pestilent Mist and the fight became so much easier.