Every DLC Boss Fight In Dark Souls 3, Ranked By Difficulty

The trials you face in the Dark Souls 3 DLC are some of the most intimidating and spectacular of the series. Both the Ashes Of Ariandel and Ringed City expansions have contributed greatly to the game’s infamous, intense difficulty. Chief among these vicious additions are the new boss battles.

These bosses are brutal, being specifically designed as late-game content for players who have already done a significant amount of exploring and level grinding. Our challenge, though, is a little easier; ranking these trials, for you. Enjoy!

Updated on November 26, 2024, by Alfredo Robelo: The Dark Souls series is long behind us, Elden Ring carrying the torch of that saga. Since Elden Ring had such a successful DLC, we decided to go back and polish the articles covering the DLCs of the older titles, Dark Souls 3 chief among them.

6 Halflight, Spear Of The Church

A Possible PVP Duel

Halflight is not a particularly challenging boss, even though he is part of the final DLC of Dark Souls 3. He ends up being your regular NPC invader with only a handful of unique moves, and with how low the population playing Dark Souls 3 is nowadays, you’re likely to be fighting Halflight rather than the alternative.

Said alternative can push Halflight to be the hardest boss in the game since he can be replaced by an invading player. This gimmick has appeared in Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls 2, always ramping the difficulty up significantly; when ranking bosses, however, we need to put player input aside, and Halflight on his own isn’t much of a challenge.

5 Champion’s Gravetender And Gravetender Greatwolf

A Dog Has Been Let Out

This fight starts with the Champion’s Gravetender, a quick but relatively weak NPC enemy who summons the Gravetender Greatwolf after taking a little bit of damage. The real challenge begins in the second phase when the Greatwolf joins the fray since you’re now dealing with two enemies at the same time.

Its fast, aggressive attacks and massive health pool can overwhelm unprepared players, as the Gravetender is still applying pressure. While individually, neither the Gravetender nor the Greatwolf are particularly hard, dealing with both in quick succession ramps up the difficulty, although not to unreasonable levels.

4 Demon In Pain, Demon From Below, And Demon Prince

Choose Your Poison

The Demon Prince fight starts with a two-on-one battle against the Demon in Pain and Demon From Below. Each demon has its own move set, and players must juggle their attacks while managing their aggressive behavior, dodging fireballs and laser beams.

After one demon is defeated, the other transforms into the Demon Prince, who unleashes devastating attacks based on its previous incarnation. This fight is molded by your actions throughout it, as the second phase ramps up the challenge based on the last Demon slain, making you choose carefully how you handle them in the first phase.

You can summon two NPCs to aid you in the fight against the Demons, namely Lapp and Gael. Since the Demon’s health is already fairly high, summoning both of them isn’t recommended (due to each summon buffing their health), so just go with a single one of the helpers instead.

3 Darkeater Midir

The Final Draconic Fight

Darkeater Midir is a massive dragon with one of the highest health pools in the game, making him a true test of patience and skill. His attacks are relentless, with massive area-of-effect fire breath, tail swipes, and powerful lunges, meaning that a badly timed dodge can lead to certain death. Midir’s large size and sweeping attacks make positioning crucial, and players must stay focused to dodge his devastating moves. While his attacks are slow, their power and range more than make up for it, turning the battle into an endurance match till the end.

You can get some help in your fight against this fearsome dragon, specifically Shira, Knight of Filianore. However, she might make the fight harder for you since the easiest way to deal with draconic enemies is to be right next to them, avoiding their flame attacks, and Shira tends to trigger those attacks more often than not.

2 Sister Friede

A Three-Phase Fight

Sister Friede, from Ashes of Ariandel, is a nightmare of a boss fight. This three-phase battle starts with a one-on-one duel against Friede, who is fast, agile, and deadly with her frost attacks, relentlessly chasing you across the arena.

The second phase introduces Father Ariandel, who crashes through the arena with powerful fire-based attacks. Finally, in the third phase, Friede returns with a vengeance, becoming Blackflame Friede and unleashing a brutal combination of dark magic and physical attacks. Her speed and the fight’s length make it one of the hardest battles in the game.

You can summon Gael to aid you in this fight, but he is summoned from Phase Two onwards. However, he doesn’t count as a regular summon, meaning that Friede’s health remains the same, making him a risk-free helper for the fight.

1 Slave Knight Gael

Consume The Dark Soul

Slave Knight Gael is the final and most tragic boss on this list, for he was the one who sent you on this DLC adventure. He can even be summoned as an NPC helper through a few of these fights, but when it comes time for him to duel you, he holds nothing back.

Some people consider Sister Friede to be even harder than Gael, mostly due to her many phases and health bars, but Gael is far more aggressive. In fact, he also has three phases; he just doesn’t heal between them, but the punishment he deals with is more than enough for him to earn the first spot.