A couple years ago, shortly after Elden Ring launched, we published a piece on the hardest bosses to come from From Software. Now, Elden Ring DLC has recently released, and the list definitely needs an update. Moreover, Armored Core 6 has come and gone in that time. Incidentally, it has representation on this revised list.

Let’s begin!

10. Putrescent Knight (Elden Ring: SOTE)

This is essentially a toned down Orphan of Kos riding a horse, with ranged attacks. That alone would be good enough to justify its positioning here. That said, the Putrescent Knight has a tendency to take characters straight to 0 HP with a handful of incredibly fast attacks. Its horse doesn’t just carry it around the room either, and is perfectly content to charge straight at the player and try to run their character right over!

9. Sister Friede and Father Ariandel (Dark Souls 3)

This one’s definitely not going anywhere, not for some time. This classic endurance test against Sister Friede was From Software boss design at its finest. Two one-on-one fights with Friede sandwich in a very fair but challenging gank fight with her and Father Ariandel. Make sure to use those Estus Flasks wisely, you’re going to need them.

8. Defiled Chalice Dungeon Amygdala (Bloodborne)

It’s going to take something quite a bit extra to kick this one off the list, too. For as much complaining as Elden Ring’s high damage bosses generate, none of them can plainly just one shot the player as effortlessly as the Defiled Chalice Dungeon’s Amygdala can. With the dungeon reducing all players’ health bars by half and only nerfing physical damage done to them, Amygdala’s elemental laser attacks will cut them down in short order if they aren’t ready to dodge on a whim.

7. Promised Consort Radahn (Elden Ring: SOTE)

Though its positioning may raise some eyebrows, it’s difficult to argue that this boss doesn’t belong on the list in some capacity. Really, the only reason it isn’t top five is because of a pretty tame first phase that takes up roughly 1/3rd of the fight. The next two thirds, however, can be incredibly brutal when Radahn enters second phase. He gains a ton of mobility along with plenty of projectiles, and he becomes harder to afflict with damaging status effects his first phase form is weak to. Uniquely, he also has a grab attack that, if the player is hit a second time by, will instantly kill them unless they have a very specific item ready to be used in their inventory. This one will likely take many, many tries, especially if the player hasn’t collected many Scadutree Fragments ahead of time.

6. Slave Knight Gael (Dark Souls 3)

Despite how chaotic Radahn’s fight can get, it doesn’t quite stack up to this one. Unlike with Radahn, Gael comes at the player swinging right from moment one. He has three phases, and though most would argue first phase is easiest, it never truly gets to be anything less than a pretty thrilling challenge. Gael has a very well designed, balanced moveset that is difficult to interact with. He can follow up on almost any of his attacks in ways that can catch the player off guard if they pick the wrong time to lay into him with an attack. Boasting the fourth highest HP in all of Dark Souls 3 and having three whole phases, this one could definitely take some time to beat.

5. Orphan of Kos (Bloodborne)

Keeping the theme going of starting off slow, then turning up the heat as the fight carries on, we have the classic Orphan of Kos. That said, its first phase isn’t so much ‘tame’ as much as its second phase is an absolute crazy train. There are simply no moments when this thing isn’t screaming its lungs out, swinging or throwing something at the player. And when it grows wings is when the fear of Kos really does get instilled into the player.

4. Darkeater Midir (Dark Souls 3)

Yes, at long last, we have finally found a tougher Dragon boss than Midir here. Even still, don’t get lulled into thinking that just because you may have defeated our #3 boss on this list means Midir will be a walk in the park. Midir is still incredibly punishing of poor or suboptimal play, and is still very much capable of killing in two or even just one hit. With a huge health bar, massive defenses without any easily exploitable weaknesses and a massive variety of unique moves, Midir still stands tall as a top five hardest boss in From Software history.

3. Bayle the Dread (Elden Ring: SOTE)

From Software put in a valiant effort trying to have Dragonlord Placidusax be “Midir Sr.” It was a respectable attempt, but it came up short. Finally, Bayle the Dread has been able to successfully carry that torch. Bayle happens to carry quite a lot of moves in common with Midir, featuring a grab attack, a couple of different laser moves and, of course, lots and lots of fire. Uniquely, defeating Bayle places a ton of emphasis on correct positioning in his boss room to dodge his nastiest attacks.

Unlike Midir, however, Bayle’s boss fight grants the opportunity to summon a much more enjoyable and useful NPC in Igon. Igon is mostly memorable for his “curse you Bayle!” monologue, moreso than he is for actually fighting Bayle, but it was worthy of a mention.

2. Malenia, Blade of Miquella/Goddess of Rot (Elden Ring)

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: a boss passed by Malenia on this list, and it isn’t Radahn or Bayle? Malenia is definitely more challenging than both for a few reasons. The first being that her fight will tend to last a lot longer than either of their’s due to her ability to regenerate health and sometimes force the player to get a safe distance away from her. Malenia is still more than capable of near-instantly deleting entire health bars, with her iconic Waterfowl Dance and many of her second phase attacks. Because she can heal whenever she hits something, simply summoning a friend or using a Spirit Ash isn’t necessarily going to even make the fight easier; it could simply be giving her another healthpool to feast off of.

Honorable Mentions:

Black Dragon Kalameet (Dark Souls 1)

Dragonslayer Ornstein & Executioner Smough (Dark Souls 1)

Beast Clergyman/Maliketh the Black Blade (Elden Ring)

Radagon of the Golden Order/Elden Beast (Elden Ring)

Manus, Father of the Abyss (Dark Souls 1)

1. Ayre (Armored Core 6)

Yeah, this one’s a hell of a doozy. This is a boss with Consort Radahn’s mobility, Malenia’s damage output, a ridiculous amount of projectiles and, worst off, the ability to complete transcend the game’s camera’s ability to function. Ayre is sadly difficult for a couple of poor reasons, as she often is able to position herself completely behind the player, faster than the camera can turn so they can actually see her, before being able to nail them with her hardest hitting attacks. She doesn’t have any sort of telegraph on moves such as her nasty grab attack either. She is also adept at dodging, as her AI has command dodges that make certain weapons completely unable to harm her. Unlike Soulsborne games, the player’s ability to heal or block attacks is massively restricted in this game, so it’s a lot harder recovering from taking a big hit here. As a result, Ayre takes the cake for being From Software’s hardest boss. At least it’s at an appropriate setting, as this is one of the game’s possible final bosses.