With sixteen core entries across its thirty-year history, the Fire Emblem franchise is one of the most iconic tactical RPG franchises around. Often regarded for its characters and series trademark "perma-death" mechanic, while Fire Emblem may be viewed by some as being a difficult series, it provides players with the resources and tools to form their own strategies and play the games how they want to.
As is the case with any RPG, one of the biggest obstacles that players must overcome in each entry in the Fire Emblem series are the final bosses of each game. The final boss of each Fire Emblem game tends to have absurd amounts of health, terrifying damage output, and are surrounded by treacherous map designs. So today we're going to explore the various final bosses of Fire Emblem and see which are the hardest!
Before we start, in order to make sure we're examining the most potent versions of each of these bosses, we'll be evaluating them based on how they appear in the hardest difficulties of their respective games. Additionally, as we'll be discussing the final bosses of various Fire Emblem games, expect major spoilers ahead!
10 Duma
The final boss of Fire Emblem: Gaiden and Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Duma is one of many bosses in the series that can notably only be killed by a certain character. Luckily, Duma can only be killed by Alm, one of the strongest units in the entire game, meaning this restriction isn't too terrible to deal with, but it definitely limits the types of strategies players can employ to take down this dragon.
9 Julius
Julius is the son of Arvis and the final boss of Genealogy of the Holy War. Julius is quite troublesome to deal with as he is surrounded by several incredibly potent enemies, and in order to conventionally kill Julius, the player must have access to Julia, a character whose recruitment isn't automatic! This means that if a player failed to recruit Julia (or she died,) putting an end to Julius can only be done with plenty of shenanigans.
8 Jedah
While not technically the final boss of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Jedah makes his way into this list due to the fact that he is an optional boss that still appears within the final chapter of the game.
A deadly spellcaster with high defense, Jedah is quite infuriating to deal with, as regardless of who attacks him, he only takes damage from every three attempts, meaning a player needs to waste their units' attacks and put them in harm's way just to scratch him.
7 Hegemon Edelgard
The final boss of the Azure Moon route of Fire Emblem Three Houses, Hegemon Edelgard is one of the final bosses in the series that makes the most out of their range. Rather than simply waiting for the player's forces to reach her, Edelgard bombard's one's units from afar as they progress through the final chapter. If a player lets their frailer units get within Edelgard's range, she will often be able to take them out in a single round of combat, meaning many healing focused characters will be religated to hanging back and healing from afar with Physic.
6 Ashnard
Though Path of Radiance's Ashnard is often regarded as one of the easier final bosses in the Fire Emblem series, this only when referring to the game's normal and easy difficulties. In hard mode and the Japan-exclusive Maniac Mode, Ashnard is quite a scary boss that can completely blindside unprepared players.
Unlike the majority of final bosses in the series who remain stationary, Ashnard gets impatient with the player and decides to travel across the map to wreak havoc. This is made all the more devastating by the fact that the only characters capable of dealing damage to Ashnard are Ike, Ena, Nasir, and the Royal Laguz!
5 Nemesis
Nemesis is the final boss of the Verdant Wind route of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and is perhaps the most distinct of the four final bosses in the game. Rather than being a large monster, Nemesis is a normal-sized unit who is constantly being buffed by his allies, the ten elites. This means that if a player wants a better shot at taking out Nemesis, they must first take out what are essentially ten enemies that feel like their own bosses.
4 Ashera
Ashera is the Goddess of Order on the continent of Tellius and serves as the final boss of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. As Radiant Dawn is already known as one of the more difficult entries in the franchise, it shouldn't be a shock that it's final boss isn't a walk in the park. Regularly utilizing massive attacks that damage every single one of a player's units at once, if a player makes the mistake of trying to take her down with someone other than Ike, rather than having her health depleated, Ashera completely regains all of her HP forcing the player to start all over.
3 Takumi (Conquest)
Takumi is the final boss of Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest and is quite possibly the most difficult final boss in the series to simply reach. Situated at the end of a hall of infinitely spawning enemies, Takumi regularly fires massive beams from across the map that can damage any units that aren't behind cover. While Takumi is far from easy in any difficulty in the game, fighting him on lunatic is a thing of nightmares due to the increased potency of the enemies on the map, and Takumi's improved skills and stats.
2 The Immaculate One (Silver Snow)
The final boss of the Silver Snow Route of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, this unstable version of the Immaculate One, is easily one of the most frustrating bosses in all of Fire Emblem, especially on maddening mode. Not only does this massive dragon have a terrifying blend of devastating offense and rock-solid defenses, as a monster, it has several health bars that must be dealt with. This is made even worse by the fact that the Immaculate one has the Miracle skill, meaning it can survive what would normally be fatal blows just because RNG decided to say "no thank you."
1 Medeus
While Medeus is actually one of the easier bosses on this list in the default difficulty of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, the highest difficulty setting of the game, Hard 5, is another story completely. As Hard 5 already has a notorious reputation for being one of the most oppressively difficult Fire Emblem experiences in the series history, so it should be no surprise that the final boss of such a game would be no different. Shrugging off most blows from anything thrown at him aside from the attacks of other Manakytes and the Falcion, getting to Medeus is a hellish endeavor in itself.