The Dark Souls series is well known for its infamously intricate and difficult boss encounters. While grinding through them can tempt bouts of controller-shattering frustration as the player suffers through myriad deaths, nothing beats the immense amount of satisfaction that follows finally landing the killing blow on a particularly powerful foe.
But occasionally the games see fit to rob players of that sensation by confronting them with a fight that's uncharacteristically easy. Whether it's a balancing oversight or the developers having a laugh is anyone's guess, but either way, they certainly feel out of place. Here are five of those jaw-droppingly easy bosses that failed to meet expectations, compared against five that reduced gamers to tears after mercilessly spanking them a dozen times over.
10 Too Easy: Iudex Gundyr (Dark Souls 3)
Dark Souls 3 really hits the ground running with Iudex Gundyr, as he's the first boss that players will encounter. He essentially serves as the game's "gatekeeper," ensuring that players are well aware that stiff challenges lie ahead.
However, this also means that most players tend to get wise to his tactics pretty quickly. Staying close and constantly strafing are really the only two tricks that need to be learned. After he's been fought once, he's essentially reduced to a road bump for characters starting a new game cycle.
9 Made Us Cry: Dancer of the Boreal Valley (Dark Souls 3)
This hypnotically fluid fighter can be encountered fairly early on in the game and can be a harsh lesson for players to not get too far ahead of themselves. Yet, even when fought at the appropriate point in the game, she's still one of the tougher encounters for most players.
Her attacks have lengthy telegraphs that transition into fast swipes covering wide areas, fooling players into trying to get in more hits than they should. It only gets more complicated after she's down to roughly fifty percent health, as she'll pull out a second sword and adopt a set of lengthy and deadly spinning combo attacks.
8 Too Easy: High Lord Wolnir (Dark Souls 3)
The big daddy skeleton is a bit tricky in the sense that players need to practically ignore some of their more pressing self-preservation instincts to make the fight easy. However, once that's accepted, Wolnir's a remarkably easy opponent.
Wolnir's main tactic is doing as much damage as possible, as fast as possible. The shackles on his wrist need to be broken to deal some real damage, so simply run up and wail on them full tilt. He'll summon skeletons, which can be ignored unless absolutely necessary. His mist attack can be a nuisance, but it's heavily telegraphed and easily avoided by simply running away.
7 Made Us Cry: Fume Knight (Dark Souls 2)
The Fume Knight wraps up the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC for Dark Souls 2, and he's about as far from a walk in the park as can be. Firstly, the Ashen Idols around the outside of the boss room need to be destroyed. If overlooked, they'll heal him over the course of the fight, making it much harder than it already is.
The first and likely most daunting complication is the Fume Knight's huge arsenal of dangerous attacks. This makes it incredibly difficult to memorize his telegraphs and react accordingly. He also enters a second phase at around sixty percent of his health, where he'll power up his sword and adopt a fun suite of high-reach and area-of-effect attacks.
6 Too Easy: Chaos Witch Queelag (Dark Souls)
Quelaag is fought at the end of one of Dark Souls' most infamously painful locales, Blighttown, so you'd be hard pressed to find a player willing to level a complaint at her lack of difficulty.
The gigantic spider lady may seem intimidating, but her set of attacks have massive telegraphs, making her incredibly easy to predict and dodge. She's also remarkably slow, so players that do get caught unawares can make plenty of room to heal up.
5 Made Us Cry: Nameless King (Dark Souls 3)
The Nameless King is easily one of the most difficult fights in the entirety of the Dark Souls trilogy. But it's also one of the most grandiose and spectacular, making it well worth a few deaths. It might get a little tired after the twentieth attempt, though.
Before players can fight the Nameless King directly, they'll first need to defeat the gigantic dragon that he's riding. After patiently waiting out his flying attacks and rolling through a few deadly spouts of fire to bring it down, the King will dismount his now-dead dragon and engage the player with a full arsenal of ranged, melee, and area-of-effect attacks.
4 Too Easy: Prowling Magus & Congregation (Dark Souls 2)
Though the immense numerical superiority of this boss' horde of zombies and clerics might seem a little daunting at first, the player's first few attacks should make it abundantly clear that this fight is going to be a joke.
There's no specific failing to mention here, as the boss and his cohorts are just absurdly weak. None of them, even the boss itself, take much damage to bring down. The clerics are capable of healing the congregation, but even if they aren't prioritized, this fight's a breeze.
3 Made Us Cry: Manus, Father of the Abyss (Dark Souls)
Dark Souls' DLC chapter Artorias of the Abyss is packed with challenging boss fights that will test the mettle of even the most skilled player. But Manus, the essential final boss of that journey, definitely takes the cake. Then he proceeds to devour the whole thing with reckless abandon and ask for seconds.
Manus' fight is nothing short of absolutely brutal. The player can offer themselves a slight reprieve from his insane dark magic barrages by nabbing the silver pendant before fighting him, but his ridiculous strings of melee combos are still devastating.
2 Too Easy: Pinwheel (Dark Souls)
The fight with Pinwheel in the catacombs below Firelink Shrine is so poorly balanced in the player's favor that it's become something of a meme within the Dark Souls fandom. Perhaps even more puzzling is the fact that he drops some of the most desirable items in the game.
There's not much to be said, honestly. Sustained damage puts him out of commission entirely too fast, and the best he can manage is to become a slight nuisance if allowed to clone himself.
1 Made Us Cry: Ornstein & Smough (Dark Souls)
This infamous duo is perhaps the most iconic in terms of Dark Souls' difficulty level, and many Chosen Undead have simply given up at their doorstep. The fact that these two have managed to turn some players away from the game entirely should be telling enough.
The player must be exceedingly careful in choosing when to attack, and keep their engagements brief. Keeping up with the telegraphs from not one, but two powerful bosses can get exhausting really quick, with a single misstep practically guaranteeing death. To make matters even worse, defeating one causes the other to enter a second, more powerful phase for the remainder of the fight.