The Dark Souls franchise is well known for its punishing difficulty. Enemies hit hard, you have limited methods of healing, and the bosses are all relentless. It's not uncommon for newcomers to hit a wall during their playthrough and take a break.
Tough bosses that were once prominent gods now scrape for a sense of purpose while friendly NPCs scoff at what you're doing. Despite how unforgiving the game is, pushing through it reveals some of the most interesting enemies, bosses, and lore in any video game to date. Some areas you stumble across are incredibly hard, however, to the point where you swear it exists just to make you frustrated.
Updated June 22nd, 2022, by Charles Burgar: The release of Elden Ring has given new Soulslike fans a gateway into the Dark Souls trilogy and other Soulslikes. Dark Souls contains some of the hardest areas that FromSoftware has created, ranging from lava fortresses to iconic poison swamps. We've updated this list to better reflect the difficulty of each zone, and we've reranked and outright replaced most entries. You won't find harder areas in the Dark Souls trilogy than these.
This list focuses solely on the Dark Souls trilogy. Areas from Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring are not on this list.
10 Irithyll of the Boreal Valley (Dark Souls 3)
Irithyll of the Boreal Valley is one of the hardest zones in the base version of Dark Souls 3. While it can be argued that Archdragon Peak and Smouldering Lake are more frustrating, those zones feature one or two difficult encounters. Irithyll is a struggle from start to finish.
Simply getting into Irithyll requires you to defeat one of Sulyvahn's Beasts, an aggressive enemy that can be a struggle to read on your first playthrough. Past that, you'll come across group after group of Pontiff Knights, graceful enemies that deal immense physical and frost damage. They're one of the hardest fodder enemies you'll find in the base game, supported by Fire Witches and NPC Invaders. Pontiff Sulyvahn awaits at the end of this zone, considered by many as one of the hardest bosses in the base game. While this zone becomes much easier to beat on subsequent playthroughs, Irithyll of the Boreal Valley is a notable difficulty spike that will take newcomers by surprise.
9 New Londo Ruins (Dark Souls)
One of the most frustrating parts of the Dark Souls trilogy is an enemy's tendency to strike you through solid surfaces. Enemy weapons can phase right through walls when your weapon simply bounces off the surface. New Londo Ruins turns that imbalance into an intended mechanic.
Just about every enemy in New Londo Ruins is a ghost that attacks through walls. Nowhere is safe, not even the floor. The only way you can counter these ghosts is to use an uncommon consumable that allows you to damage them. Running through this zone is incredibly dangerous, so most newcomers will need to take it slow.
If you can get past the ghosts and Darkwraiths, you'll need to sacrifice an entire ring slot—remember, Dark Souls only had two ring slots—to fight a replicating boss that was effectively a DPS check. Lack enough damage? Throw on a Havel's Set and hope for the best. And if things don't go your way, you'll have to fight through all of those ghosts yet again. Calling the New Londo Ruins a frustrating area would be an understatement.
8 Tomb Of The Giants (Dark Souls)
Getting through the Catacombs is one thing, but have you tried clearing the Tomb of the Giants without a light source? Tomb of the Giants is one of many late-game zones in the original Dark Souls that contains some sort of gimmick the player needs to master. Duke's Archives has rotating mechanisms and invisible walkways. Lost Izalith requires you to walk over lava for long stretches of time, and New Londo Ruins requires you to use a certain ring and consumable items.
Tomb of the Giants has the most frustrating gimmick of the bunch: you can't see. Long stretches of darkness can easily lead you into an endless pit or a skeletal ambush. Unless you have a Sunlight Maggot or Cast Light, you'll need to sacrifice your off-hand slot to see anything in front of you. And with how deadly the skeletons are in this zone, forgoing a shield can be a death sentence on your first playthrough. Tomb of the Giants is arguably the easiest late-game zone once you learn about the Sunlight Maggot, but newcomers that come here unprepared are in for a rough time.
7 Iron Keep (Dark Souls 2)
Most Dark Souls 2 players likely remember their first trek into Iron Keep. They rested at a bonfire, walked across the opening bridge, then immediately got hit by a katana-wielding knight before getting invaded by a real player. Needless to say, Iron Keep doesn't make a great first impression.
Iron Keep is one of many difficulty spikes a player will face during their Dark Souls 2 playthrough. This region contains dozens of enemies with absurd aggro ranges and rather quick attacks. Fighting multiple Alonne Knights isn't uncommon if you play just a little too aggressively, leading to an easy death. Iron Keep was also a hotspot for PvP, so it wasn't uncommon to get invaded once or twice between Bonfire rests.
Getting past all of that, you also have to deal with narrow platforms, awkward jumping sections, turtle enemies that can knock you on the floor, and one of the most frustrating final bosses in the game. It was undeniably one of the best PvP arenas in the game, but most PvE players aren't as fond of Iron Keep.
6 Anor Londo (Dark Souls)
Flying buttresses are the bane of just about every newcomer to the original Dark Souls. Getting past the Silver Knight archers is effectively a Souls rite of passage. Can you keep your cool while archers repeatedly shoot your character into an endless abyss? Some players quit the game right here. Those that got past the Silver Knights then hit a second wall with Ornstein and Smough, the toughest boss fight in the game. If you haven't mastered dodging or stamina management at this point, you would be repeatedly killed until you figured it out. This was a do-or-die moment for many players. Fortunately, the base game never gets harder than this.
5 Ringed City (Dark Souls 3)
The Ringed City DLC for Dark Souls 3 contains some of the toughest areas in the entire trilogy. Navigating through the city was a challenge thanks to Ringed Knights—one of the toughest enemy types in the trilogy—and Angels. Positioning and enemy management are put to the ultimate test in the Ringed City, more so than any other zone in the game. Enemies in this zone are tuned for endgame characters and skilled players.
Bosses follow this trend as well, notably Slave Knight Gael and Darkeater Midir. It's the final test of a player's skill before their playthrough ends, fitting for the last piece of Dark Souls content we'll ever receive.
4 Iron Passage (Dark Souls 2)
Featured in the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC, Iron Passage is an optional area that is effectively Iron Keep cranked up to 11. It's a short series of underground caverns and tunnels, but that's about the only positive thing going for Iron Passage.
Just about every room has a handful of enemies to fight. Casters, archers, and the incredibly tough Iron Warriors featured in this DLC are all present in small, confined rooms. There isn't much cover, few areas for retreat, and the enemies are nothing but relentless. Dying is a guarantee if you overextend just a little. There's only one bonfire, enemies have a ton of HP, and you can be invaded at any point. At least it's optional.
3 Blighttown (Dark Souls)
Even by today's Soulslike difficulty standards, no poison swamp level can match the sheer terror of Blighttown from the original Dark Souls. Players make their way from Firelink Shrine into the sewers of Undead Burg, fighting off giant rats and curse-inflicting frogs. Past that is Blighttown, a toxic swamp filled with some of the most frustrating enemies in the franchise.
You start at the top of a haphazardly-built town and must make your way down into the swamp. Platforms are uneven, ladders are placed in off locations, and you're visible to just about every enemy in town. Giant monsters will attack you with cleavers and dung pies. Bugs will shoot out blood or fire whips towards you. Hollows will shoot toxin blow darts at you, rapidly lowering your HP until you drop dead.
The worst part about Blighttown is that you don't have fast travel yet. You are so far away from Firelink Shrine that there's no going back. You're forced to navigate one of the most confusing levels in the franchise to reach the base of a poison swamp that's inhabited by even more enemies and NPC invaders. Most players miss the bonfire down here, so death means you'll need to descend Blighttown once more. Poison levels are iconic for FromSoft games, but none of them hold a candle to Blighttown. And for those playing the original release version, prepare to have single-digit frame rates in this zone, further amplifying the difficulty.
2 Shrine of Amana (Dark Souls 2)
Shrine of Amana is one of the few areas in the trilogy that is arguably unfair. Every zone we've mentioned previously can be cleared by every build with enough planning and skill. Shrine of Amana heavily punishes melee builds and forces them to use a bow or magic.
This zone is an endurance test. You'll be forced to navigate in knee-deep water while mages fire spell after spell toward you. There's always one mage shooting at you at any point in this zone, usually two or three. Rolling is typically the solution for closing the gap, but Shrine of Amana has underwater pits that are almost impossible to see on the surface. Patience is required here. You need to walk near cover, wait a few seconds for an opening, close the gap to kill a single mage, and repeat for the next 20 minutes. It's not fun and forces all builds to use a shield or bow to survive.
1 Frigid Outskirts (Dark Souls 2)
Every Dark Souls 2 DLC is quite difficult and contains some of the toughest areas in the franchise. No area comes close to Crown of the Ivory King's Frigid Outskirts. This zone has one of the worst enemies in the entire franchise, an incredibly difficult final boss, and one of the most frustrating boss treks FromSoftware has ever designed.
Similar to the Tomb of the Giants, a snowstorm is present that reduces your visibility. Reindeer enemies will appear from the storm and headbutt you, knocking you to the floor while dealing some serious damage. Players walk around aimlessly for the boss while getting headbutted for minutes at a time. When you reach the boss, you're up against two reskinned versions of the Aava boss fight. The fight itself is shorter than the trek to the boss, but should you die at any point, you'll need to make another six-minute trek to the boss and deal with the frustrating reindeer enemies. Just about every Dark Souls 2 player skips this zone on their playthrough. It's easy to see why.