Top:

Abyss Watchers - Dark Souls 3 (The total twist on the gank formula applied to Dark Souls is amazing, with a fight ranging from 1v1, 1v2 to 2v2 and you can even make it a 2v1 AGAINST THE BOSS if you're good enough. Their moves employ plenty of power alongside swift, graceful movements that are amazing to watch and frequently considered some of the funnest to play against, the fire power-up in phase two is pretty wicked espeicially with the intro cutscene and I actually really like their lore as fighters of the abyss who in spirit descend from Artorias yet are clearly ignorant of a good deal about him is interesting and a good representation of the actual "forgotten history" aspect of the series. Brothers in arms, souls bound together, rising as one in death as unyielding as they were in life. They also look totally badass with good references to both Artorias and to the Hunters from Bloodborne, which both fit the feel of people who fell fighting what they would become.)

Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower - Bloodborne (A fight with excellent voice acting, multiple forms that manage to be really fun without changing a ton as her duelist sword slashes get more and more intense and she resorts more and more to things she finds forbidden, the fact this is the moment that actually makes the main character shit a brick is fitting and intense, amazing music with good lore, the balance here is really great in that she is challenging but not some absurd challenge and feeling very fair, the way she uses her shotgun blasts are cool and her entire moveset just FLOWS very well. Simply a fantastic fight.)

Nameless King - Dark Souls 3 (What a badass! First you get a great fight with a dragon rider, something actually pretty missing from the series, with flying flame attacks and stomps, called lightning strikes from the rider as he circles you or stands on high and great spear swings that is very finely balanced although could use a bit better camerawork. The dragon also has one of the best dragon designs in the series with the crow-like feathers and stormy appearance. Then this guy hulks out, is forced to put what is likely his beloved friend out his misery and hulk out to UTTERLY DECIMATE YOU. This guy has glorious lightning strikes, callbacks to Gwyn's attacks, aggression that nonetheless leaves enough room to heal and overall is a very fair and yet very difficult challenge. Combined with the lore implications of him like 99% being Gwyn's son from DS1 whose name was scrubbed by history finally being revealed and more is just great and I really love how they mix in references to Ornstein, his student, and Gwyn's fights while feeling very unique. Its just great.)

Artorias the Abysswalker - Dark Souls (Many people's choice for the best boss in the series and I wouldn't say I disagree with them. He has an impressively large array of attacks, abyssal sludge, tremendous buildup with many characters connecting to him and his past stuff in Oolacile and his fighting style with one crippled arm and wild, powerful swings is actually very unique to watch, watching him descend into the abyss further and further is great, he has powerful buffs, awesome visuals, it is just overall an amazing fight and surely one of the best.)

Gehrman, the First Hunter - Bloodborne (Tonight...Gehrman joins the tier list. A beautiful battlefield reminiscent of MGS3 with solid and greatly balanced gameplay that has a pretty sick mix of his long scythe weapon and his shotgun blasts, flashstep teleports, powering up under the moonlight and a lot of variety between his attack types. He's a character all throughout the game and you can actually get some pretty great insight on him throughout it all and he has probably the best intro/death lines in the series that are very striking with a good appearance. Grand to see the old man fighting you.)

Soul of Cinder - Dark Souls 3 (Undoubtably one of the finest fights in the series. This guy has at LEAST 16 attacks, I don't want to bother counting all the sword slash/stab/etc variations, with a ton of callbacks to previous games that even works into the lore as an amalgamation of every person who has Linked the Flame in Dark Souls, and so he gets moves from all the popular classes. Form 2 has him go beast mode and summon the strength of Gwyn himself to power up, get an awesome musical transition and basically give a way better fight version of the Gwyn fight from DS1 with even more new tech. His visual design is wicked awesome and I don't know anybody who didn't freak out when they fought this boss and ESPEIALLY when Gwyn's music kicked in for the power up and they played DS1.)

Lothric and Lorian - Dark Souls 3 (I think this fight is really cool. The idea of having a crippled, giant opponent who can teleport around for sudden strikes is pretty great, he has some really cool attacks that can absolutely blitz you and I think the second phase where Lothric joins in to provide cover fire and basically function like one of those two-attack Make Your Move sets is pretty fun and dramatic. They have some really cool cutscenes and lines and their lore is fairly interesting, especially in the context of the series. They have great attack variety, especially when combined with the teleports, and I actually quite like Lorian's design.)

False King Allant - Demon's Souls (Okay, this guy has to have one of the most kickass intros of a boss in the series: He just takes out his sword with a great pan and faces you down to beat you do. The aesthetic this guy has with the fog is really great, he's unrelenting and brutal in the rather slow Demon's Souls yet without seeming too unfair with protection against the kind of OP magic builds in the game. His grab attack can even literally suck the soul right out of you! His design for a knight is actually rather unique and the sword has a cool design. He's helped a lot by Allant being a pretty cool character, which overall actually makes this one of my favorite boss fights in the series and a top contender for final bosses.)

Ludwig, the Accursed - Bloodborne (I feel this set gets special praise for managing to pack both one of the best monster form fights and one of the best knight form fights into a single fight. His design is a wonderfully twisted horse abomination with hooves and human hands and heaps of flesh that is delightfully disgusting to look at...yet transitions quite well into Ludwig regaining his sanity to an extent for the great form two. The transition has to be one of the best in fight cutscenes in Soulsborne. Pretty great lore, too. If I have one problem with this fight, it is that the first form's attacks can feel undefined, while the second form feels like it can have some light bullshit to it. But the stark contrast yet smooth transition is really impressive.)

Orphan of Kos - Bloodborne (Probably THE hardest boss in the series, he is RUTHLESSLY aggressive with an extremely varied moveset with plenty of cool lightning AoEs, insane placenta slams and ripping it apart to shower you in placenta acid, using the stringy flesh its attached to to fling it around and generally being a high octane and crazy fight. Combine it with one of the most beautiful intros in the series and a really great appearance, its all some really top tier stuff, although I do wish he had slightly clearer lore, but what is there is fun enough to not be a negative.)

Ornstein and Smough - Dark Souls (An outstanding fight that many say is the best in the series, for me it rates below some of the other Top choices because of the fact that you need to play the fight pretty cowardly to work: You HAVE to run a lot in this fight or you won't make it and it locks your playstyle a bit much compared to the other bosses above. Smough especially has some great lore of basically being a cannibal and executioner who wants to be a knight but is way too morally iffy to be one...and yet in Dark Souls 3 is still willing to defend the kingdom like one, and Ornstein has some good lore that takes slower to burn and come to a head with the Nameless King. The fact you get to choose which super mode to fight based on which you kill in Phase 1 is great, both gain some significant changes when this happens too and they have good transitory cutscenes. Its all a very fun fight.)

Champion Gundyr - Dark Souls 3 (Pretty sick lore here, if a bit too confusing but this is a case where interpretation can be fun though, and getting to fight a failed champion who wanted to Link the Flame but was too slow is actually pretty cool and makes Ludleth a total badass which is honestly great. He looks like some kind of barbarian warrior and proceeds to kick the shit out of you, combo you to death and turn on a dime to totally rail you. His aggressive nature is very fun and looks heartpounding just to watch let alone play. A really cool fight in my opinion that tests a fast playstyle like Bloodborne.)

Pontiff Sulyvahn - Dark Souls 3 (An awkward place where I think it is one of the finest in the game, and yet I have a very clear thing I can think of to make it even better, which is that Sulyvahn is a definite example of a Souls boss who should have had some kickass dialogue with the player. He's basically the Big Bad of the game and actually has fun competence to him, and I kind of like how he's nonetheless a halfway through the game boss, like all of his schemes are smaller time compared to the huge issues facing the world. His attacks are graceful and relentless with flowing combos, a duplicate, large and flashy explosions, dual-wielding two opposing forces in the series, an awesome appearance and more, he just is a great boss overall although I do feel he shouldn't be quite so parry weak, but at least parrying him is difficult.)

Burnt Ivory King - Dark Souls 2 (My personal choice for the best boss in Dark Souls 2 goes to the Burnt Ivory King. The fact that the fight's difficulty can be tweaked by how much you explore and find the Loyce Knights in his land is awesome and while it is brutally hard if you don't find any, there is absolutely nothing that makes it so you cannot fight him without them even if you go in and die without them, making it a purely optional and manly challenge. Making the start a minion vs. minion brawl with you helping them out and the Loyce Knights sacrificing themselves to help you fulfill the last rites of the King is great. His actual battle is pretty badass, with the king's awesome being shown by retaining his ice powers despite being burnt up, swift yet brutal strikes, a strong design and a souped up blade that looks rather ridiculous but I actually like. He also gets some pretty great lore with Alsanna that is a wonderful turn around of the Nashandra and Nadalia. His moveset is based around False King Allant, so no surprise it is so sick.)

Black Dragon Kalameet - Dark Souls (DeModcracy, in my opinion, put one of the better fights in Dark Souls a good deal too low. Part of why I give this fight a lot of credit is because, frankly, dragon type bosses feel RARELY well done in this genre of game, as Dark Souls itself will go to show, so giving a fight with Kalameet that feels majestic and powerful is pretty great, and I love the breath color he has. Giving kalameet limited flight with the reason of his wing being pierced by Gough is a great way to help reduce the issues Sinh faces with flight and he feels like a rare dragon boss that gets grounded melee correctly. He also has one of the best intros for a boss IMO with Gough standing up, dust of age falling off him, and felling the dragon for you to fight with a single balista arrow. It feels like a great moment even if the lore could be better.)

Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos - Bloodborne (Probably one of the more controversial ones high because I think this is more considered a Great or even Good fight, but while she doesn't quite have the incredible challenge of some of the higher Tops I feel she is still pretty well balanced, has some really striking and great design for an elder god, a wide variety of attacks with a weird movement/attack patterning that feels otherworldly, the appearance of the TRUE A Call Beyond and some great lore with raising up Rom, tying in with Micolash and the Healing Church worshipping her while she wishes to help them but being unable to properly commune. And then implied stuff on top of that. So a pretty great fight, fun lore and a really good design makes it to Top for me.)

Great:

Manus, Father of the Abyss - Dark Souls (I am pretty sure this is widely considered a Top Tier fight, but I personally think that his design while cool makes his attacks sometimes too difficult to tell apart and that his lore could have used with some more clarity, even if it does feature a good deal of good to it. His attacks are well handled, brutally aggressive and fitting for the embodiment of the Dark Souls gone awry that fits the design well but those issues, for me, keep it out of the Top tier. He has one of the coolest designs in the series though, IMO.)

Father Gascoigne - Bloodborne (One of the best early fights in the series, good voice acting, he has a really cool powerset between his shotgun and the extendable axe, some fun lore that even can factor into the fight with the music box and a diverse array of attacks between his hunter forms shotgun and his werewolf forms animalistic swipes. I think what keeps him out of Top to me is that he is perhaps too hard if you're not used to the game and too easy if you are, so the balance is just a bit off, and the werewolf form feels like it goes down slightly fast and is not quite as fun as the Hunter form.)

Sir Alonne - Dark Souls 2 (A great fight to be sure, but in my opinion, it seems somewhat herky-jerky for the graceful style that Sir Alonne is going for here. He does still have fairly graceful attacks but they feel juuuust a touch off and while I feel he has good lore that actually does play into the fight, I don't think it is quite as great as some others at the top, although I do like how he has a unique death to fit into it. Overall the issues, to me, keep Alonne a touch out of the Top tier.)

Dancer of the Boreal Valley - Dark Souls 3 (Pretty cool fight with some fun lore as one of Sulyvahn's enemies who thanks to his clout he basically gets to send away and turn into a minion. She has very graceful movements in combat, a good power-up phase and an absolutely beautiful design that I really like. One thing I will say is that while the Spinwheel of Doom is pretty iconic and not necessarily imbalanced, I do think it is a bit too strong and centralizing of an attack and that I feel Phase One could use some minor tweaking.)

Aldrich, Devourer of Gods - Dark Souls 3 (Kind of a YMMV fight but I think having a boss based a lot around projectiles and keepaway makes sense when he's literally eating Gwyndolin, who was all about keeping away from you as much as possible, and watching Aldrich actually devour a god from DS1 in front of you is rather hardcore, especially since it works into lore like Yorshka. I will say while I liked seeing the Lifehunt Scythe again, some of Aldrich's lore is kind of underelaborated on (although when I realized what the Lifehunt Scythe lore stuff was about it was pretty cool and makes me move it up some), and his fight is perhaps a bit too RNG heavy with him going melee heavy making it too easy. DON'T STAND IN THE ARROWS.)

Darklurker - Dark Souls 2 (While the Darklurker's lore is very abstract, the fact they basically go out of their way to make it very otherworldly and odd with this makes it work pretty well with me, Dark Souls 3 adds some fun stuff with this but I do think it should have been expanded. Looking at The Ringed City DLC they might actually be doing that so maybe it'll go up. The Darklurker has a wide variety of magic that makes it one of the extremely magic focused bosses in Dark Souls and yet retains a pretty damn cool light blade attack. Splitting in half halfway through makes it one of the better gank and Maneater inspired bosses in the series, but it does have a bit too high tuned damage in my opinion and while I like the abstract lore, bringing it up again in Dark Souls 3 only to drop it again so far seems to hurt it for me.)

Raime, the Fume Knight - Dark Souls 2 (Some fun lore about one of Vendrick's top knights who clashed with both jealousy over Velstadt's position and disaproval over Nashandra's place and seeing through her machinations, only to be seduced by another of Manus' children who plays into the same feeling of abandonment that Raime is feeling. His two-sword design of a smaller, slender sword and a giant greatsword is rather unique and gives him some interesting attack animations and his powered up form has some cool attacks, although I will say I actually find it the less interesting of the two. One of the primary reasons this gets lower is that while easily dealt with, I find the fact you need to disable the healing mechanic in a way most new players won't know kinda bullshit and one of the newbie traps I generically hate and so the Form Two would have had to be more impressive to go higher.)

Sister Friede - Dark Souls 3 (I am pretty sure that most people think this is a fairly top tier fight, but I think that it is a bit derivative for me to put it very high, and I think the Form One fight is a bit disappointing: I do wish that they kept the way Priscilla's invisibility worked in this fight instead of the new, more boring one. Form Two is one of the best gank fights in the series but I can't get over the fact that Ariandel looks goofy to me. Stage Three is awesome BUT I find it a bit derivative of bosses like Maria. What puts this down is that I was somewhat disappointed with the lore of Ashes and Ariandel compared to other bosses. She has a good design though and the aesthetics are extremely beautiful in this fight.)

Looking Glass Knight - Dark Souls 2 (A great fight with aesthetic of the clean shine, raining battlefield with lightning strikes and being able to summon an actual player to help him with a fairly varied moveset. I think they should have made him unable to be hit/more damage resistance when summoning though, summoning an NPC when there's no player around is disappointing, and more importantly this guy has absolutely 0 lore at all which drags him below other characters.)

Vicar Amelia - Bloodborne (Probably looks weird this high, but I do dig these early game bosses that both can be great learning tools for new players and a decent challenge for later players. Having a healing nun-like character turn into a beast and yet retain the healing in their monster form. I think that the actual design is nice looking and a bit fluffy and I like how you're basically seeing the healing church fall apart here. The chant is pretty creepy and IIRC you even get to see her in the Hunter's Nightmare as a past version essentially. I've always found her rather memorable. She also has top notch sound design.)

Martyr Logarius - Bloodborne (I kinda forget this fight exists often, but he has a pretty awesome intro and actually some creative powerset with the blood skulls and how he uses the scythe + dagger-sword, flying around like the grim reaper and surprisingly quick strikes. His lore is pretty cool but I will say I think it is a bit below some of the higher lores up here and somewhat disconnected, although I suppose so is Darklurker but I find Darklurker more striking. He also has the issue some Soulsborne things have of a power up causing constant annoying noise.)

Chaos Witch Quelaag - Dark Souls (Difficulty seems fairly solidly balanced, she has a good variety of sword attacks with the woman half and giant fiery, lava area of effects with the spider that can alter the battlefield, fireballs, a fairly good design for the concept and actually has some pretty good lore with her sister, working into the Witch of Izalith's backstory and more. A pretty memorable and iconic boss for DS1.)

Great Grey Wolf Sif - Dark Souls (Not THAT challenging, but not especially easy or especially hard and the beast-like moveset with a weapon is decently unique. The character has a good deal of lore that you get to experience first hand with Artorias as his faithful companion, unique animations for entering if you completed his past quests and generally strikes for the heart pretty well. The moveset isn't amazing but it is still pretty good to go with the rest and like I said has solid balance.)

Abhorrent Beast - Bloodborne (This guy as a character is hilarious, a mysterious beggar who you can direct where to go places but is actually going bestial. You can send him to the right NPC clinic where he'll start slaughtering everyone there and giving you gifts for doing it, send him to the wrong one where he gets to become an experiment you slaughter, or you can attack him and take him head on in a clash with his pretty cool looking beast form, where he is relentlessly aggressive with a widely varied moveset, its a pretty striking battle and memorable battle.)

Smelter Demon - Dark Souls 2 (Is more important for effect on lore than an actual character, the demon's varying attack timings, fairly cool flame magic and mechanic of damaging you for sticking close after he enrages all create a pretty tense and cool fight with a good design to go with it. It scratches into great to me.)

Good:

Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon - Dark Souls 2 (A fairly good moveset for a dragon and some pretty fun, easily expandable lore, I do feel that the poison aspect of Sinh should have come into play more during the fight and that he sometimes does his flight too much in videos I have seen, which is a bit of an issue with a big boss like this. He should have had pure poison breath over flame and poison breath and he doesn't quite have the graceful movements of Kalameet. Sinh has a pretty striking appearance that helps him out, though.)

Amygdala - Bloodborne (Not the most perfectly balanced boss in Bloodborne, but being slightly easier isn't that bad since it isn't hilariously easy or anything, and the boss fight is one with a large attack variety and many viable ways to approach it which is a pretty solid plus in my book. The lore I feel is a bit too vague and confusing for a good boss, however, although I do like stuff like the reference to the Amygdala of the brain. I feel this could have been a Great or higher boss with a little stronger balance and a little stronger lore tie in, but then again given she's optional maybe they didn't want too much to be put into her for that reason? But then maybe she would have worked better as a main, non-optional boss and a bit of expansion then.)

Maiden Astrea and Garl Vinland - Demon's Souls (A highlight in terms of lore, but while Garl Vinland is a fairly cool PvP style fight, he doesn't do much that's especially unique and his balance seems a bit on the weaker end. This feels like a character who relies a lot more on feel and spectacle compared to the combat, which makes it not as fun to watch, and it is noticably a fan favorite.)

Gwyn, Lord of Cinder - Dark Souls (A lot of people consider this a top notch fight but personally I can't forgive how weak to shield parrying he is and missing an admittedly somewhat hard to find glitch that can just make the final boss a breeze, although to be fair 90% of players won't find that out either. I think he is probably a bit TOO hard if you can't parry it, but too pathetically easy if you can, and the Soul of Cinder Phase Two shows how much better this fight could be. He does have some pretty good lore and a lot of the series' stuff starts with him and he is a great ending moment and experience. I feel I could move this up if I ever got to actually play against him.)

Dragonslayer Armour - Dark Souls 3 (This would go higher but I don't like the Phase Two with the butterflies because it just kinda feels like layering stuff on top fo the boss more than anything. I feel like if he just got a cool power-up he could go into Great tier, as the giant axe weapon with a greatshield and vicious, sweeping attacks and pretty gratuitous lightning, not to mention the fake stagger!, makes a pretty great duel boss. But the lore of this guy isn't much and I don't like those butterflies.)

Flamelurker - Demon's Souls (If you are looking for challenge, Flamelurker certainly has it! But I feel like he is perhaps a touch TOO aggressive for the game's engine which treads into bullshit, and he is actually pretty easy if you go with the kinda cheesy magic build which hurts. He also has absolutely no lore value which brings him down a good deal for me. Waaaaaay better than the Dragon God, though!)

Four Kings - Dark Souls (This is a boss a lot of people consider great or even top notch, but I think that it is more of a good fight with pretty epic atmosphere and some decently fun lore. The boss fight is too much of a DPS test though and with four of the kings, they don't have enough attack variety to them in my opinion, although it is actually fairly well balanced at the least. I think the abyss arena looks really cool but also a bit too disorienting for play, although that's kind of the point I suppose. I think if you added more variety to the Kings, maybe a unique attack each that's flashy, it'd be a lot higher.)

Laurence, the First Vicar - Bloodborne (I'm pretty sure this boss is generally considered kind of disappointing to most, but I actually think it is fairly cool. Yes, the first form is basically a souped up Cleric Beast, but not only is that pretty cool story-wise, but since the Phase Two is completely different it isn't exactly a reskin fight at all and it does still vary it up. Laurence has some pretty interesting lore and even fun stuff like he fact what he's trying to do in the DLC is find his own skull without understanding the significance of it. The Phase Two start is sudden, unexpected but cool. He's no Ludwig but I still find the fight quite cool.)

Old Demon King - Dark Souls 3 (Yeah, he's kinda close appearance-wise to the Demon Firesage, but he is still fairly different and as the last demon of the world a callback to the Demons of Dark Souls 1 is very much in order. He has a solid variety of club swings and fire AoEs and I like his one last big, huge area of effect before being nothing more than remnant embers himself which feels like it plays a ton into the themes of Dark Souls 3. So I actually kinda like this fight even though I think more people consider it average.)

Sanctuary Guardian - Dark Souls (This boss doesn't really have any lore, but his design appearance is cool and I think his boss fight looks pretty fun. The floaty lightning shots actually hasn't really been replicated much in the series and giving it solid melee, poison and lightning makes it a rather eclectic and fun mix. Its a good boss without really any notable issues but without much outstanding to it either, making it solidly good.)

PvP Old Monk - Demon's Souls (Its basically just a PvP fight and I wish it introduced a more fun thing to it like a more unique arena or something, so I feel it was better done in later games, but for the time it is still pretty neat and a fun way to introduce PvP into the main game. He has good lore and the archstone boss having the appearance of an old man corpse into this hilariously large yellow cape is great that turns into an amazing hat. It is solid but had a lot of room for improvement.)

The Pursuer - Dark Souls 2 (A pretty solid early game boss. He has a really striking appearance and a badass intro, and having a floating knight with equally floaty mechanics is pretty unique among Dark Souls, plus his cool curse animation and good balance for an early game boss. I personally fidn the lore behind this boss rather boring though, especially given the connection of Velka which never gets expanded on, and so I find him more one of the solid good bosses than a spectacular one.)

Bell Gargoyles - Dark Souls (Actually a fairly iconic boss for many as the first big challenge in the game, AKA The True Dark Souls Begins Here, it is fairly good design for a gank boss with decently good attack variety, especially for the early game, they don't really have much of any lore though, the arena is solid for the fight anyway.)

Old King Doran - Demon's Souls (This guy is a badass, sure, but I feel like his moveset is primitive compared to other fights, even if not awful or anything. What pus this guy low for me is I find his lore very meme, like really dude? All this shit is going on and you just wanna defend the family tomb? Lend a fucking hand you lazy jerk!)

Shadows of Yharnum - Bloodborne (A pretty solid gank boss that gives you three bosses with reasonable health pools and unique attacks between each one to deal with, with some decent crowd control options like the giant pillar. I do think the giant snake attack seems kinda bullshit, though, and they don't have an especially notable lore or anything to elevate them higher than just a solid fight.)

The Maneaters - Demon's Souls (The OG gank boss! I have to dock some points here for the fact that, as the first gank boss, the balance is kinda whack and if you can't take the first Maneater out fast enough it becomes INCREDIBLY difficult, but they have some pretty neat attacks and I personally really love the atmosphere of the fight, with the gargoyles keeping shadowed and out of reach with glowing eyes until they come into barely lit glory to strike you down, not to mention the snake tail and oddly human-like face. Lore is pretty meh.)

True King Allant - Demon's Souls (Okay, don't crucify me, hear me out. If we are talking boss mechanics and combat difficulty, True King Allant is even worse than the Bed of Chaos. But this is essentially a playable cutscene and seeing Allant play out in this way with that pretty sick design is great and I like how he tries to talk to you and convince you with his warped viewpoint. His patheticness plays perfectly into his character and so as a lore moment it is just great.)

Crossbreed Priscilla - Dark Souls (Okay, so this boss is pretty easy, but I think her gimmick is actually really cool and I wish she got a stronger fight to use it, and I really like her design and the general aesthetic of the Painted World and the idea of it, essentially, being a realm where cut content goes. It says something that I am playing her in a Dark Sols D&D campaign. But I can't put her much higher when her fight is fairly easy and has low attack variety. I do like the lore implications of her probably being The Nameless King's daughter.)

The Storm King - Demon's Souls (This boss has to go down because of the fact that if you just stay back and snipe it with a bow, its pretty pathetically easy. But if you manmode it and go for the Storm Ruler as intended, it becomes a fun and frantic race leading into cutting it down quite dramatically and the Storm King is a bit of a Big Bad for the area, albeit in a background manner of speaking, it also has a really cool appearance I feel as a giant demon manta ray.)

Iron Giant - Dark Souls (No real lore here except for "He's the guard to Anor Londo" but he has a cool design for that. He has a fairly solid moveset for a giant character and I like how not only can you be knocked off, but you can knock the boss right off too! Pretty rare. It feels like one of those solidly good fights and a good deal of people remember it for leading into one of the better areas of the game.)

Iudex Gundyr - Dark Souls 3 (A really good learning tool for new players with a shocking phase two to give veterans something neat for the fight and lore with Champion Gundyr which ties nicely. A very fine first boss but being a first boss doesn't have a ton to say.)

Ava, the King's Pet - Dark Souls 2 (The beast fight is fairly good but when you get to compare it to Bloodborne feels primitive, the lore is pretty much just "there", design is snowy tiger. It is good but ultimately rather unexceptional in the grand scheme of things. The fact you can optionally fight them with them invisible for super hard challenge is kinda fun.)

Cleric Beast - Bloodborne (Its "just" a tutorial boss, but as far as first bosses go, the Cleric Beast does a pretty good job of introducing the concepts you'll need to succeed in Bloodborne, with a solid design that tells you what you'll see from some beasts, the basic idea to beating him being the general idea behind many of the beast bosses and so overall it does its job quite well.)

Defiled Watchdog of the Old Lords - Bloodborne (For an extra hard challenge in the hardest dungeons in the game, its a good challenge with good attack variety, but it has no lore and kinda eh design and while he is great for a hard fight I don't think it has as cool attacks and the like as many higher bosses. It succeeds at what it goes for but doesn't go the step above and I feel like going for JUST "extra hard boss", especially since it is a Chalice dungeon boss meaning a bit bullshit-y, isn't the best thing.)

Above Average:

Velstadt, the King's Aegis - Dark Souls 2 (DeModcracy says this is pretty easy but while he is abusable to an extent, he doesn't feel horribly easy, he has a unique design with the big bell weapon for knight bosses and he has solid lore as a guardian of Vendrick and the fact he fought Raime in the past and the fact that his honorable devotion is arguably a huge character flaw. His fight isn't amazing but it feels solidly above average to me personally, backed up by a somewhat unique design and solid lore.)

Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin - Dark Souls 2 (This fight probably doesn't quite deserve so high, but his mechanics are pretty unique to the series, even if I hear rather boring. Part of what gets this guy high is I think he has a decent design, I like the lore and how he questions you throughout the game, how he ties into the insight Dark Souls 2 gives to the nature of the First Flame, a cool intro and the character in general. I also think that to watch this fight doesn't seem awful, just slow.)

Elana, Squalid Queen - Dark Souls 2 (I think this boss is generally disliked in the Souls community, but I find the idea of a boss who can summon a mud copy of an earlier boss pretty cool and she feels like a well done gank boss by not being too aggressive when she summons adds. Her appearance is striking and she fits into the Manus' Children story line with fairly solid balance, but could have perhaps used a bit more flashy attacks. I also feel like the Velstadt summon should have been more normalized to balance the boss better.)

Rom the Vacuous Spider - Bloodborne (A beautiful scenery and the fight isn't bad, but...I dunno, I'm just not super enthused by it being quite so minion based and it doesn't seem that amazingly well tuned, but it is a lot better than many minion fights in the genre and has some solid enough lore to go with pretty scenery, a fun design, and nothing really being BAD about it, so I just kind of leave with a generic "this seems somewhat good" feel here.)

Tower Knight - Demon's Souls (The only reason DeModcracy could have the Tower Knight this high it feels is nostalgia. The mechanic of the giant enemy having archer enemies to deal with before you get to ankle biting is fun, but it isn't all that difficult at all once you realize this and the boss fight once you do take care of the archers is just disappointing even for an early boss. He has some fun lore that also ties in with Phalanx but nothing too exceptional. Its a fun fight but not one which especially jumps out to me.)

Vendrick - Dark Souls 2 (A fascinating character with being able to go into the past and talk to him for insights and advice, his fight isn't very impressive in variety but it fits when you consider it has a similiar point to it as True King Allant, I like the fact he's an endurance fight tests your patiance over time for his brutally damaging strikes, what docks him more points is that the Giant's Soul mechanic for lowering his defense seems kinda lame to me. This gets high like True King Allant due to lore a good deal too.)

Vordt of the Boreal Valley - Dark Souls 3 (He has some fun lore connections to the Dancer as her trustworthy bodyguard who gets transformed alongside her by Sulyvahn and is an earlier boss for it. His design is fairly average giant creature but the addition of the mace adds a little variety to it, its competently designed, the Phase Two beast mode is pretty fun and so it ends up solidly above average.)

Mergo's Wet Nurse - Bloodborne (I give this a bit above average because I find the design really neat and while she locks in her attacks too much to be a huge threat to veterans, I've seen people who aren't veterans struggle enough with her to think she is balanced enough for her position. The wild slashes are pretty cool and she can do stuff like make duplicates and fog to spice the fight up. Its impressive aesthetically but I feel like to go higher it would have needed better balance, especially in not locking the boss in so much, a bit more tie-in lore and maybe some eldritch magic.)

Crystal Sage - Dark Souls 3 (Kinda easy, but he does have a nice array of magic, some lore that tags him back to the DS1 Big Hat Logan and a decent appearance. Has everything a bit above average but nothing that really stands out too me aside from being easy.)

Yhorm the Giant - Dark Souls 3 (A lot more about spectacle than difficulty, if you are of the opinion difficult = good for Dark Souls then this will go a lot lower, but I think that he actually has some really cool lore and one of the more involved sidequests involving Siegward. The return of the Stormruler is also absolutely great and he has great lore. The downside is this fight has no difficulty to it whatsoever unless you forego the Stormruler, which makes it unforgiving, and so it is basically entirely about lore here. To elevate it higher, it should have had a harder runup to the Storm Ruler like the Storm King.)

The Lost Sinner - Dark Souls 2 (I wasn't a fan of many of the "Lord Souls" lores in Dark Souls 2, but the Lost Sinner is fairly good at it at least, and her fight has some neat stuff with unpredictable attacks. It is way too memetically easy with a shield though and I feel like the way they make the fights harder in NG+ is bullshit cheap difficulty, so that dramatically lowers her, but for a lot of players it is a solidly good fight.)

Penetrator - Demon's Souls (The primitive ancestor of the knight bosses in later games sets a good foundation for the series with the afterimage sword and graceful movements, but his attack variety is rather disappointing and he basically doesn't have lore which hurts him a fair deal. He also seems like one of the easier bosses even for his level to me.)

The Moon Presence - Bloodborne (This boss is balanced towards too easy IMO, but it has a really kickass design and the build-up to it as a background presence is pretty slick, it does have a neat attack that just brings you down to 1 but it has too much recharge time to be an effective threat. I feel like if this thing had a more complex beast moveset ala Ludwig this could have been a top notch fight. Following Gehrman is a disappointment.)

Gwyndolin - Dark Souls (Aldrich is in many ways an improvement on the ideas used in Gwyndolin, I like the idea of an extreme keepaway boss who does lots of projectiles and slithering away, although it is too much here. It feels fairly unique and Gwyndolin has fun character, but this fight is just kind of a decently fun idea with mehxecution.)

Nashandra - Dark Souls 2 (Solid lore for the character, a decent design, spooky fight aesthetic, the curse mechanic is kinda bullshit but also not too bad and fair enough. Her actual attacks are really meh though and this fight has always looked really average to me. So it mostly gets slightly higher for some decently good lore and a somewhat questionable mechanic.)

The Rotten - Dark Souls 2 (Its the Great Mighty Poo and he's here to shit on you! The fight is kinda meh easy and his attack variety is disappointing, but I think the flaming arena is fairly cool and he has one of the cooler icky designs in the series. Not much to say aside from that.)

Afflicted Graverobber, Ancient Soldier Varg and Cerah the Old Explorer - Dark Souls 2 (Gank difficulty but I give it a good deal of points for having some of the most fun and effective gank crowd control level design in the series and it feels kinda fun exploit-y. On the downside, it has basically negative lore and seems like it'd be a pain if you don't crowd control them a lot.)

Skeleton Lords - Dark Souls 2 (Too easy, but the concept of skeletal lords who break apart into skeleton armies to fight you when they die is cool and actually not really done in gank fights as a concept much, they have okay but unexceptional lore that at least gives them a purpose and if nothing else the fight I hear is good fun even if it could use better design. Hard to put it a lot higher with that in mind.)

Average:

Yharnum, Pthumerian Queen - Bloodborne (The Mergo mechanic is annoying here, sure, but her design is cool and I think this fight covers a LOT of areas with impressive attack variety, blood spouts and weapons of blood and sprays and all kinds of cool aesthetics with some decently solid lore behind it. But the Mergo mechanic is a total buzzkill and hard to forgive even if it is logical.)

Scorpioness Najka - Dark Souls 2 (Too easy due to low health pool, but her homing magic is fairly neat and I like the design, it feels like another notable boss who could have been pretty good with more developement time that went to just quantity or the like.)

Champion's Gravetender & Gravetender Greatwolf (A pair of fairly average fights that combine to something almost a bit above average, but they could use some more lore and there's a bit of lack of originality here aside from there not being much of human + beast ganking before.)

Asylum Demon - Dark Souls (A good learning tool for new players, much better than Vanguard, but he doesn't have much value aside from that. Still, given it is the first game in the series having a solid learning boss is important.)

Executioner's Chariot - Dark Souls 2 (A cool concept that deserved better execution. Having to chase down the boss through minions while dodging is pretty cool conceptually, if meh exectuion, lore is...okay? I feel this fight is let down by having no cool stuff in the secnd phase. FromSoft, take out stuff like the Dragonriders and focus on making fights like this cool!)

Flexile Sentry - Dark Souls 2 (Cool concept! Disappointing execution. The idea of a two-sided boss whose moveset actually changed based on which side you are on and fighting is cool, with the rising water to make dodging difficult and it harder to change sides being a plus, but the boss is too easy to properly have the mechanics come into play and the lore is pretty pathetically basic. You could also do a more striking design with this concept.)

Micolash - Bloodborne (Amazingly hammy dialogue, hilarious character with plenty of lore insight, but his fight is practically non-existant with like two moves, although the part of finding him is fun enough but it doesn't make up for a non-existant fight. He basically gets this high for stuff like the ridiculous cage head and amazing dialogue.)

Old Hero - Demon's Souls (The Thief's Ring makes this guy hilariously easy, which is a minus, but if you don't use that it is decent fun, although I feel he has kinda disappointingly low attack variety and may have been better as a smaller boss. The gimmick of being unable to see you but tracking you on sound is cool and he has what I find to actually be rather hilarious lore a ripped up grin. A good idea but the execution being lackluster leaves it stuck in the average tier.)

Throne Watcher and Throne Defender - Dark Souls 2 (The fight isn't bad, but their movesets are pretty average, and I ABSOLUTELY HATE how the sound effects for when they power their swords up are SO annoying. I do find their appearances nice but they could dearly have used with actual lore and are a bad representation of how Dark Souls lore can lower things. Maybe I should put this lower, but I do have a sort of fondness for their fight and it has decent design, but it is disappointing nonetheless.)

Phalanx - Demon's Souls (Concept is cool, execution is questionably average, I partially don't like this as such an early boss because it doesn't teach proper boss fighting tactics at all, but it has solid enough lore, it feels like a pretty average fight for its genre basically. Would have been nice if it was a bit harder or more of an endgame boss.)

Mythra, the Baneful Queen - Dark Souls 2 (This fight is, I dunno, okay? She has decent attack variety, some poison attacks, a stage gimmick and hilarious lore, but the attacks aren't anything special and you could do a lot more with that kind of medusa design. It feels like just a very forgettable fight to me.)

Pthumerian Descendant - Bloodborne (Meh? He's an aggressive boss with decent variety but slightly annoying. Has decent balance, not really much lore, meh design, it feels like a fairly standard, maybe slightly on the low end of average fight.)

Living Failures - Bloodborne (Probably a bit high for most people, but I find the fact that they're failures to become Celestial Emissaries and so can't even properly summon their meteor attack rather amusing and while it makes them somewhat easy, the damage is still scaled well enough and they have somewhat average stuff overall to me, the below average balance would normally put it lower but I do like the hilarity you can find here and they have okay tie-in lore at least.)

Gaping Dragon - Dark Souls (Pretty average boss, decent moveset, balance is okay, lore is somewhat amusing but nothing special. Its very much an average boss all around.)

Ancient Dragon - Dark Souls 2 (This fight is kind of bullshit, but it IS 100% optional and it fits the lore incredibly well considering the dragons were so powerful that Gods struggled against them. I feel this fits in the Yhorm, True King Allant mold of being a lot more about lore than the actual battle but has less good lore.)

Demon of Song - Dark Souls 2 (Too vulnerable to dodging back, but is decently challenging aside from that, the gimmick of having a defensive shell up ocassionally isn't groundbreaking but is decent enough, and it is straightforward in being a demon that wants to eat you with a freaky frog-like look, it just gets into average.)

Below Average:

Blue Smelter Demon - Dark Souls 2 (I actually think this boss is pretty neat in a way, but it has to go down for three reasons: No real lore, too copy boss-y from Smelter Demon for a DLC boss, absolutely horrible runup. I do like the way it basically plays around with fighting the Smelter Demon earlier though and it has a lot of those good points.)

Gravelord Nito - Dark Souls (This guy's fight doesn't seem awful but exploitable, if you get him to start just area of effecting then he'll become a lot easier, and even aside from that the fight seems pretty average, Nito could have done more in lore as well but his design is nito enough. This fight always seems disappointing but not, like, terrible.)

The Last Giant - Dark Souls 2 (A pretty average first fighr for this genre, he has a badass intro and the lore of him being the Giant Lord you will slay in the past, recognizing you and being FUCKING PISSED is fun, but I also feel he does less of a good job of teaching the player of how to play the game than many Soulsborne early bosses and his attack variety is fairly lame.)

Undead Giant - Bloodborne (No lore drags this down and while the ball and chain concept is kind of neat, it isn't all THAT special and I find the difficulty of it kinda bullshit. Aside from that is basically an average boss, so some issues drag it down to below average.)

Oceiros, the Consumed King - Dark Souls 3 (OCELOTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! This guy has pretty delightfully hammy dialogue and some interesting potential lore, but honestly his phase one just feels really boring to me, and his second phase doesn't seem bad but pretty average as a whole, and overall the fight feels fairly easy. So while I give this guy props for being memorable and fun dialogue, I have to say as a fight it feels a bit worse than this actual ranking and is propped up by it, but not much worse. I feel like Phase Two should have had stronger dragon elements, like a flame breath. Also his Phase Two has randomly bad enviroment clipping.)

Taurus Demon - Dark Souls (Boring fight that doesn't really do much wrong but doesn't do much right either, so. Its just really boring. He looks slightly neat but thats about it?)

The Duke's Dear Freja - Dark Souls 2 (I think this boss is generaly considered a bit above average but I think the way Seath is used here is a bit meh lore-wise and his fight seems just a touch below average for minion reliance and the gimmick only having okay execution, and his attacks don't feel like anything special.)

Seath the Scaleless - Dark Souls (I don't think that it is especially bad for the actual fight, but the fight is basically very average, so why is it in Below Average? Because I think the forced death in the Seath non-fight earlier is pretty bullshit and that given Seath has a really cool design and pretty solid lore, you could do more with it too.)

Celestial Emissaries - Bloodborne (A fight considered disappointingly easy by many, but I feel for a newbie to the series it'd pose some solid challenge, they look neat with some decent lore and the main one hulking out is fun enough although it could have used a stronger moveset. Its just overall a bit poorer than average but doesn't feel awful to me.)

Vanguard, Non Tutorial - Demon's Souls (I don't really like this both because the next bosses don't help build off it for a new player's experience, it is really primitive compared to other first bosses for teaching a player, and not really much of anything lore-wise to it. Its generally below average but mostly just a primitive first boss.)

Bloodletting Beast - Bloodborne (No lore, design is okay maybe even a bit below average, the battle seems to be kinda bullshit with the earthshaking hitbox and kinda stupid damage/range so without anything else to prop it up its going into below average.)

Bad:

Blood-Starved Beast - Bloodborne (I think this fight is actually fairly liked, but I don't like the fact this boss is so damn weak to just strafing to the side for an optional boss, even if you do miss out a decent bit if you don't do it so it is more semi-optional. Aside from that, not really any lore but a fairly striking design.)

Guardian Dragon - Dark Souls 2 (Just a boring dragon fight without much lore to it. It really has nothing to say aside from that.)

Ruin Sentinels - Dark souls 2 (AFAIK these guys don't have any lore and I always thought they had pretty lame looking attack animations, while the gank crowd control is good the fight's difficulty is basically just based on ganking. I never liked this fight.)

High Lord Wolnir - Dark Souls 3 (Oh hey, giant skeleton! He's too easy though and his lore is too vague and confusing, although having someone so spooked by the abyss that you get to send tumbling into it is fun enough. No challenge and pretty bad attack variety, though.)

Deacons of the Deep - Dark Souls 3 (The balance is pretty whack but they have any ability to kill you, the mass gank Celestial Emissary style is fun enough and I do like the giant fat bouncers and actually fighting Aldrich's followers. The meme difficulty is hard to ignore though and they just don't have amazing mechanics.)

Stray Demon - Dark Souls (Reskin of the Asylum Demon. Has some decent changes but aside from that its just a reskin with at least decent reference to the start of the game. A resounding meh with downgrade for no lore and lazy design.)

Armored Spider - Demon's Souls (There's not really any lore to this boss, you can kill it no risk if you have bow proficiency, and it seems kinda bull if you go in to melee it, but it does have some pretty creative attacks.)

Moonlight Butterfly - Dark Souls (AKA Moonlight Sleeps. Too easy as ranged, too boring as melee, the boss itself is rather a snooze, but it does at least have atmosphere down pat and a variety of moves. Could have been a lot better.)

Curse-Rotted Greatwood - Dark Souls 3 (Okay lore and somewhat decent design but the actual fight is fairly bad with all the keepaway attacks and not that great of true attack variety. Its a generally nasty fight but nasty isn't necessarily bad. What really puts it in bad for me is that one attack that just forces you to keep off him FOREVER and that he just doesn't have much attack variety.)

Dirty Colossus - Demon's Souls (Not quite as bad as some people think IMO, but still pretty bad, the attack variety on this guy is somewhat low but I do like the dirt mechanic and how you get rid of it, the actual model in game is ugly as sin but then again it is filth made of filth what do you expect. I feel like it doesn't do anything egregiously wrong, but it has no lore, is tuned kinda badly in terms of numbers and doesn't have enough variety so it is generally bad but not totally awful.)

The One Reborn - Bloodborne (This fight has always just seemed like a pretty far downgraded Tower Knight to me. The appearance is cool but the fight itself seems disappointing in move variety and is too easy to defeat with simple tactics, to the point you can actually just ignore the gimmick of taking out the witches before the boss. It doesn't feel quite egregiously bad enough to go lower but I've always thought this fight seemed sucky.)

Terrible:

Capra Demon - Dark Souls (An example of actual bullshit design in Dark Souls, its just fast and hard hitting enemies in a close space, not interesting and fun mechanics. It gets this high because I actually like the Capra Demon's design and it at least has any appeal for people who like an absurd challenge compared to something like the Old Iron King.)

Royal Rat Vanguard - Dark Souls 2 (The joy of rat smashing is decently fun but with it just being another rat king trial, the potential annoyance of Toxic and being very easy if you don't get cheesed it just isn't a good fight, although it at least offers a bit of fun to it.)

Old Iron King - Dark Souls 2 (So sad, this guy has a really badass demonic metal thing appearance, but the boss fight is very boring and hilariously easy except when you get cheesily knocked into the Old Iron King's (lava) hole. While he has solid lore and a good appearance, one of the better ones for demons in the series IMO, the terrible boss fight with hilariously long damage windows, telegraphs for days and the only real threat coming from cheese deaths is unignorably awful.)

Leechmonger - Demon's Souls (I like being able to tackle it from multiple angles, but going magic/archery just turns it into a joke which isn't the way to go, and melee-ing it gives you a very boring boss fight with some of the least lore in the game.)

Ceaseless Discharge - Dark Souls (Welcome to the most hilarious boss name in the series! This boss fight doesn't have much to it, but it isn't the worst, and I do like his lore about protecting his sister's corpse after she helped him a bunch...but what a clumsy oaf for dropping the ring that helped ease his pain! A disappointing boss from Lost Izalith, not that uncommon, could have been better I feel. Also has a meme glitch to kill him easily.)

Centipede Demon - Dark Souls (I quite hate this boss really, pretty lazy game design, meh at best visual design, honestly kinda crummy lore, but it isn't as bad mechanically as various characters below it.)

Darkbeast Paarl - Bloodborne (This is either a pathetically easy boss if you can stagger it or an annoying and frustrating experience fighting the camera. Neither are good options and it doesn't have any lore to try and back it up. It has a solid design but nothing that exceptional.)

Loran Darkbeast - Bloodborne (Same as Darkbeast Paarl but with higher difficulty.)

NPC Old Monk - Demon's Souls (Necessary in case a player shows up, but badly and boringly done. The Old Monk has some cool lore at least.)

Worst:

Dragonrider - Dark Souls 2 (Pretty terrible balance, way too easily beaten by strafing, a terrible representation of lore, so why is he not in Worst? Because the gimmick of having to expand the arena or have less dodge room is at all a decent way of doing that interactivity...and because you can make him kill himself in REALLY HILARIOUS ways, which gives him more potential entertainment than most Worst bosses.)

Old Dragonslayer - Dark Souls 2 (Yes, I am putting this below the Dragonrider, I am fairly offended. Wanna know why? Lazy, lazy, LAZY! This is basically just a rehash of Ornstein's fight without Smough and only a few tricks added in. The lore complimenting this is lazy and just causes confusion and there is simply nothing to this fight that isn't lazy. Why above Worst? Because Ornstein's fight is at least fun even solo and decently designed so it doesn't fall below extreme balance memes and the like and some people at least find it fun.)

Adjudicator - Demon's Souls (The idea is cool, but the moveset is terribly primitive offering almost no challenge and the lore is...okay but not amazing. The design is fairly neat at least. I put it above some of the others for at least offering a good base idea.)

Belfrey Gargoyles - Dark Souls 2 (Lazy rehash of a notable boss from Dark Souls 1, with cheap difficulty added in, but at least unlike most of the bosses below it it will lay a scratch on you. Little lore. At least they're guarding a bell?)

Prowling Magus & Congregation - Dark Souls 2 (Waaaaaaay too easy and basically just basic enemies to the sound of boss music. This goes above other Worst bosses because it has some level of surprise factor and because I find the lore possibly being "you enter and slaughter plague victims and their doctors" hilarious. So its like the meme gatekeeper of Worst: If you can't get below just being so high due to hilarious possible memes, well...)

Covetous Demon - Dark Souls 2 (Also waaaaay too easy for a boss. I actually find his lore more hilarious than the Prowling Magus ones. He was once a man in love with Mythra, the queen, but she had no interest in him. His solution? EAT A BUNCH OF FOOD. When that didn't work? EAT EVEN MORE FOOD. Until he eventually become a demon out of the sheer gluttony of it. Totally hilarious if pretty stupid. So why is he lower than Prowling Magus? Because he has a decently interesting attack of eating you and de-equiping your stuff temporarily...that he seems to be coded to intentionally basically never use. For the crime of intentionally not using the one cool attack in his arsenal, he goes lower.)

Demon Firesage - Dark Souls (Certainly the worst Asylum Demon reskin, its a terrible representation of lore and doesn't bring much of any value as a fight. Lost Izalith was rushed and it certainly shows!)

Giant Lord - Dark Souls 2 (Such a disappointing fight for the lore of being the badass giant lord who nearly ended Drangleic. He's basically just the Last Giant with a Sword and should pose almost no harm to a player at this point in the game. The lore is good but the fight is a horrible representation of it and a total disappointment. A clear victim of the game's limited developement time.)

Fool's Idol - Demon's Souls (Where else can you rank a boss that hardly does anything? Great lore, sure, and the gimmick of having to kill something else that seems innocent yet notable to keep the boss from resurrecting seems fun enough, but this boss is nearly a Pinwheel level threat without interesting attacks to make up for it and the lore isn't integrated enough into the game to work this like True King Allant is. Generally trash.)

Pinwheel - Dark Souls (He has a good design, but...he just dies so easily he may as well be little more than a speed bump. It is possible he is meant for earlier in the game, but, even that I hear he is a pushover and why would anyone go through such a hard area first in an open world game? His lore could be fun but is a bit ambiguous. I also think the arm things could be better designed on the model.)

Witches of Hemwick - Bloodborne (Solid design, but where else can you rank a boss that struggles to even scratch you? The summons basically don't care about you and the witches themselves have disappointgly awful attacks. The boss can be made almost impossibly easy by just leaving with a Hunter's Mark and returning with 0 Insight and you can even avoid the second Witch easily. A low point of Soulsborne design.)

Vanguard, Tutorial - Demon's Souls (I'm not a fan of forced death tutorial bosses. Misses Bed of Chaos tier since its at least basically just a cutscene death and you get to enact swift revenge.)

Ancient Wyvern - Dark Souls 3 (Did you like the Dragon God? No? FUCK YOU, here's Dragon God redux! Doesn't have the lore issues and at least has an awesome plunge for the kill to feel like an action hero for a few moments but nothing else of value here.)

Blue Dragon - Demon's Souls (First stage is hilariously boring, second stage is a Gwyndolin-esque runup but more boring and then shoot more arrows! No lore. See what I mean about dragon fights?)

Bed of Chaos Tier:

Dragon God - Demon's Souls (Okay, arguably not as bad as a lot of bosses above it, but its actual fight mechanics are pretty damn shitty anyway, and I want to dock it a lot of points because somewhat cool lore is wasted on such a terrible fight and this guy was HYPED TO SHIT for such a big disappointment. Arguably the boss in the series closest to the Bed of Chaos.)

Royal Rat Authority - Dark Souls 2 (Cheese fight like the Capra Demon with a boss which is literally a shitty Sif clone with a few tweaks because they ran out of time. It gets above other Meme of Chaos tier bosses because it is 100% optional, so you can just avoid it if you want.)

Red Dragon - Demon's Souls (Arguably has the worst actual gameplay in the series, shoot 150 arrows! But it isn't a horrible copy paste like some of the lower stuff, is 100% optional and doesn't destroy any good lore like the Bed of Chaos. Absolutely no gameplay value.)

Twin Dragonriders - Dark Souls 2 (You know this is bad from how I talked about the stuff above it. This fight doubles down on one of the worst fights in Dark Souls 2 by literally just copy-pasting another Dragonrider into the fight except it has a ranged attack until midway through or baited out of it. No challenge, one of the laziest designs I've seen in the game, no worthwhile lore and setting it in an arena calling back to Ornstein and Smough is pretty damn insulting. You deserve to be in tree tier.)

Lud and Zallen, the King's Pets - Dark Souls 2 (Better mechanics than the Twin Dragonriders, worse because they're shit copy-pastes in a DLC which is particularly egregious and awful and consigns them to Bed of Chaos tier despite superior mechanics to bosses above them. Also one of the worst boss runups in the series.)

Bed of Chaos - Dark Souls (Oh boy, here we go. Basically the undisputed worst boss in the series to everyone whose fought it. This character is a horrible representation of the Witch of Izalith's lore and turning into a demonic monster. The fight is basically a platformer with pre-determined patterns that mostly just will trick you and the fiery tree ocassionally slapping you to hit you into it. The difficulty is bullshit in either being easy, getting swiped by something you can't see or dying to glitchy jumps. Then you get to things like the core of the boss just being a one hit monster, being stuck with a horribly long runup to it and more. It is a major lore figure and one of the important bosses totally botched and probably the biggest stain on Dark Souls bosses that will be hard to surpass in future FromSoft games.)