Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (2024)

Highlights

  • Boss HP in Dark Souls games can vary greatly, affecting the difficulty level and player experience during epic battles.
  • From intricate mechanics to lore implications, each boss with its unique HP stat plays a crucial role in defining the Dark Souls series.
  • Endurance battles with high HP bosses like Gael and Midir require strategic gameplay and a deep understanding of the encounters to emerge victorious.

The HP stat has always been one of the most important things in gaming, be that of the players or any enemies they face. The Dark Souls games spawned the subgenre of soulslikes, in which a main defining feature is the array of bosses available for the player to vanquish.

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Related

Dark Souls 3: Hardest Bosses, Ranked

The Dark Souls series is notorious for its difficulty, and these Dark Souls 3 bosses are prime examples of why that is.

As was the case, these enemies would need more HP than usual adversaries due to their status as unique and powerful creatures. Across the trilogy of Dark Souls games, players have seen numerous bosses, all with differing amounts of health. Some health bars have been on the smaller side, thus trivializing the fight, while others have enormous HP, making fights very difficult.

10 Sir Alonne - Dark Souls 2

10,140 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (2)
Dark Souls 2

Action RPG

Platform(s)
PS4 , PS3 , Xbox 360 , PC , Xbox One

Released
March 11, 2014
Developer(s)
From Software

Dark Souls 2 was an experimental game for FromSoftware as they developed the souls subgenre, and Sir Alonne represents both good and bad design choices. Alonne is undoubtedly a great fight, often ranked as so, with mechanics that pushed the boundaries of gameplay, such as mixed durations of delayed attacks to keep players on edge, as would be expected of a character so powerful.

However, the area before Alonne, and the path to get to him, is regarded as one of the worst in the series, with a high HP stat further compounding any frustration, as players will have to endure a long boss fight again if they die. That's assuming, of course, they can even make it into his arena without getting killed beforehand.

9 Soul of Cinder - Dark Souls 3

10,766 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (3)
Dark Souls 3

Action RPG

Platform(s)
PS4 , Xbox One , PC

Released
March 24, 2016
Developer(s)
From Software

The final boss of the base games of the Dark Souls series, the Soul of Cinder concluded the trilogy with an epic finale that saw the boss utilize unique gameplay mechanics along with arguably the strongest emotional moment FromSoft ever developed in a boss fight.

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A combination of the lore of the Soul of Cinder, being a collective of all those who previously linked the First Flame, including the player characters from the first two Dark Souls titles, and the boss cycling through various playstyles made for one of the best final bosses in a FromSoft game. All without mentioning the wordless storytelling FromSoft has become all too renowned for doing.

8 Vendrick - Dark Souls 2

11,450 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (5)

Dark Souls 2, as is natural for a sequel, attempted to try new things, which the game has now become infamous for. Vendrick is one of the biggest examples of FromSoft doing so in a boss fight.

Many players have criticized this fight for simultaneously being both boring and frustrating, with Vendrick only having a few attacks, an incredibly large health pool, and the ability to kill players in a couple of hits. Ideally, FromSoft wanted players to obtain all Giant Souls to face him, which reduces the damage dealt, but not all Giant Souls are required to advance the game, leading Vendrick to decimate players.

7 Slave Knight Gael - Dark Souls 3

15,037 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (6)

Chronologically speaking, Slave Knight Gael is the final boss of the Dark Souls trilogy, released in The Ringed City DLC. Almost universally considered one of the best bosses FromSoft has ever graced players with, he is also one of the most challenging.

Gael holds one of the highest HP stats of a non-gimmick boss fight in Dark Souls 3, primarily designed to be an endurance fight, with multiple phases that each increase in difficulty and intensiveness. One of the most respected bosses as well, due to his lore, Gael solidified Dark Souls 3, and the Dark Souls franchise as one of the most prestigious via his explosive ending of the series.

6 High Lord Wolnir - Dark Souls 3

15,041 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (7)

High Lord Wolnir, despite having a tragic lore backstory, is one of the more disliked bosses in Dark Souls 3 for a multitude of reasons. He one of the easier bosses in the game, with players simply having to destroy his bracelets to defeat him instead of fighting him head-on like a regular boss.

Additionally, his attacks, particularly his breathing attack, can very quickly damage players. Combined with Wolnir's lower body dealing constant AoE damage when players get close, and his boss battle involving him moving up an incline, it becomes clear why he is such a disliked fight.

5 Darkeater Midir - Dark Souls 3

15,850 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (8)

In terms of a non-gimmick boss fight who doesn't recover HP with new health bars, Darkeater Midir possesses the highest amount in Dark Souls 3. Often regarded as one of the hardest bosses ever created by FromSoft, and also one of the best dragon bosses, Midir truly tested the limits of players.

Dark Souls 3's endgame bosses saw a number of them adopt an endurance battle strategy, where players will win the fight not by being stronger, but by learning the encounter and slowly whittling down the HP of the enemy. Midir is one of the best examples of this, having a ridiculous health bar, and dealing devastating damage capable of ending the fight instantly.

4 Sister Friede - Dark Souls 3

18,877 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (9)

Sister Friede was the first main boss fight in a Dark Souls 3 DLC, namely the Ashes of Ariandel, and is largely considered as one of FromSoft's best fights. Before Elden Ring's Malenia, Friede was regarded as the hardest female boss, and is still argued as the best female boss.

Notably, her second phase brought another enemy, Father Ariandel, into the battle, giving way to a great dual boss fight. Much like other endgame bosses, Friede is an endurance fight, with three phases, all of which refill her health bar. Her first phase sees her with 4,863 HP, her second phase with 7,150 HP, and her third phase with 6,864 HP, for a total of 18,877 HP.

3 Ancient Dragon - Dark Souls 2

19,840 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (10)

In FromSoft's games, dragons usually have some of the highest HP stats, with the Ancient Dragon from Dark Souls 2 being no different. Except, while most dragon bosses FromSoft design are almost always regarded as incredibly well-made, the Ancient Dragon is not.

A highly criticized boss, the Ancient Dragon, on top of its very high HP stat, also has a tendency to fly away out of players' reach, in which he will breathe fire with a generous damage output, to say the least. To add on to these annoyances, the runback to the boss can be frustrating, with large distances and enemies needed to get through before the dragon can be challenged again.

2 Demon In Pain, Demon From Below, & Demon Prince - Dark Souls 3

21,169 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (11)

The first boss fight of The Ringed City DLC in Dark Souls 3, the Demon In Pain and Demon From Below are one of the few occasions where a dual battle is balanced.

While each of the demons don't have a huge amount of HP on their own, possessing 7,062 health individually, equaling a total of 14,124 HP, it's when the boss transitions into the second phase where the stat really reaches an absurdly large portion. The Demon Prince has a HP stat of 7,045 health, which, when added on top of the 14,124 amount the previous two demons possessed, equals a total of 21,169 HP players must fight through before they can defeat the combat encounter.

1 Yhorm The Giant - Dark Souls 3

27,822 HP

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (12)

The largest amount of health in Dark Souls goes to Yhorm the Giant, a gimmick boss where players aren't supposed to directly attack him in the typical way.

Yhorm's boss fight requires players to pick up the Storm Ruler sword and use the Weapon Art to deal damage to him, similar to Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy in Elden Ring. Yhorm's high HP also relates to another Elden Ring boss, the Fire Giant, as giving Yhorm too little health would make his presence as a giant underwhelming.

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Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games (2024)

FAQs

Bosses With The Highest HP In Dark Souls Games? ›

27,822 HP. The largest amount of health in Dark Souls goes to Yhorm the Giant, a gimmick boss where players aren't supposed to directly attack him in the typical way.

What is the max HP possible in Dark Souls? ›

In order to get max HP through just leveling, all stats have to be 50. You gain a small amount of HP no matter what stat you level, so if you want to see the highest hp in the game, you need every stat to be 50, which is the cap. That's SL 400 or so and is around 2600 HP.

What is the easiest boss fight in Dark Souls? ›

Pinwheel is notorious for being the easiest boss in the first Dark Souls and one of the easiest in the entire series. While it is nice to fight a forgiving boss occasionally, some challenge would be welcome for Pinwheel, due to the sheer ease of defeating it.

Who is the strongest soul like boss? ›

Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough are arguably the most challenging bosses in Souls-likes history.

What is the best stat to max in Dark Souls? ›

Vitality does see some setbacks after 40 as each stat point raises the overall Hit Points less and less, but prior to 40 Vitality is easily the most important stat to consider, and even after that number is reached, it still ranks high. It doesn't matter what your playstyle or build is, invest in Vitality.

What is the most disturbing boss in Dark Souls? ›

I don't think you'd want to meet any Dark Souls boss late at night, but some are more threatening than others.
  • 8 Gravelord Nito.
  • 7 Deacons Of The Deep.
  • 6 Ceaseless Discharge.
  • 5 Aldrich, Devourer Of Gods.
  • 4 Royal Rat Vanguard.
  • 3 Pinwheel.
  • 2 The Last Giant.
  • 1 Covetous Demon.
Mar 19, 2022

What is the most recognizable boss in Dark Souls? ›

Dragonslayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough (Dark Souls: Remastered) Out of all the different bosses in the original Dark Souls, the most iconic of the bunch is arguably Dragonslayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough.

Who is the easiest enemy in Dark Souls? ›

  • 8 The Last Giant (Dark Souls 2) ...
  • 7 Dragonrider (Dark Souls 2) ...
  • 6 Ancient Wyvern (Dark Souls 3) ...
  • 5 Moonlight Butterfly (Dark Souls) ...
  • 4 Deacons Of The Deep (Dark Souls 3) ...
  • 3 Covetous Demon (Dark Souls 2) ...
  • 2 Pinwheel (Dark Souls) ...
  • 1 Prowling Magus And Congregation (Dark Souls 2)
May 31, 2022

Who is the best final boss in Dark Souls? ›

Gwyn, Lord of Cinder:

The final boss of Dark Souls is a shell of his former self, a fading Lord of Cinder clinging to the dying embers of the First Flame. The music in this fight is particularly memorable, with its melancholic strings and powerful crescendos perfectly capturing the weight of Gwyn's desperation.

What is the strongest enemy in Dark Souls 1? ›

Nameless King is the most strongest boss lore-wise, he's supposedly Gwyn's first child. For DS2 i'd choose Raime. DS1? Well that would be Gwyn.

Which boss kills himself in Dark Souls? ›

Dark Souls 2 Sir Alonne Trivia
  • Sir Alonne is one of the few bosses that is capable of parrying player.
  • Sir Alonne has a special (secret) death animation where he stabs himself if you defeat him without taking damage (Seppuku death animation)
Aug 3, 2024

What is the secret Dark Souls boss? ›

The Dark Sun Gwyndolin is one of the Bosses found in Dark Souls. This optoinal Boss can be found in Anodr Londo. To gain entrance you either need the dark moon seance ring from the catacombs or you can kill Gwyneverre. If you kill Gwynevere you can just warp straight to the dark moon tomb to challenge Gwyndolin.

Who is the strongest in Dark Soul? ›

  • Gael/Ashen One.
  • Ashen One/Gael.
  • Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight.
  • Chosen Undead.
  • Soul of Cinder/Aldritch/some other special mention.
Sep 20, 2017

How much HP does Dark Souls 1 have? ›

Health Trivia and Tips in Dark Souls

One block of the Health Bar is equal to roughly 135.7HP, and each division of each block is about 27.1HP.

What is the max cap in Dark Souls? ›

The highest level possible, when all eight stats are at 99, depends on the starting class and lies around level 710. * Max level is 713 when starting as a Sorcerer, as they have the lowest resistance. Then 711 as Knight or Thief, 709 as Wanderer or Pyromancer, or 710 for any other starting class.

What is the highest strength requirement in ds1? ›

The weapon with the highest strength requirement, Smough's Hammer, requires 58 strength to be wielded in one hand.

What is the maximum kindle in Dark Souls? ›

After acquiring the Rite of Kindling the bonfires can be kindled again for a total of 15 "swigs", and a third time for a maximum amount of 20.

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