While most bosses in gaming will stay down after players defeat them, there are many that defy expectations and force themselves back into the fight with an added challenge. This is typically done with an intense, transformative cut-scene, where the player character believes the fight has already been won.
For many players, the prospect of fighting a boss again with a new form or skillset can be exciting and surprising, but for others, it can be a major clause in their progress. For players who struggled with bosses in their first forms initially, they could be going into the next fight with nothing to heal themselves with, and death soon arriving for them. These are some of the best bosses that have an amazing second phase.
7 Darth Vader - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
At the end of the campaign in Jedi: Fallen Order, players are pit against the Second Sister, Trilla Suduri in an intense final battle. With a complex and aggressive fighting style, Trilla is relentless with her attacks and can launch herself towards the player with an incredible speed to take them down. Beating her in an intense duel is a satisfying conclusion to the main story, but players shouldn't cheer yet.
As Trilla seemingly returns to the light, the iconic and ruthless Darth Vader appears behind her with his terrifying breathing, and kills her from behind. The camera then pans behind Cal Kestis as Vader stands before him. The fact that Vader has no health bar for this fight speaks volumes for his incredible strength. The battle is short-lived however, as Vader's strength is immeasurable in comparison to Cal's, and facing him after the final boss of the game is a jaw dropping experience.
6 Malenia, Blade Of Miquella - Elden Ring
Malenia is no doubt one of the toughest encounters players will face in Elden Ring. With ridiculously fast attacks that can heal her own health and kill the player in a few hits, she’s certainly an enemy players will want to try and dispatch quickly. For those lucky enough to study her moves and figure out her attack patterns without simply giving up, they’ll be shocked to find that dispelling her incredible pool of health for the first time isn’t quite enough to take her out.
With an incredible cut-scene that shows Malenia embracing the scarlet rot that consumes her and transforming into the Goddess of Rot, players have to beat her whilst she’s at her strongest. With even more attacks in her second phase and a devastating Scarlet Aeonia attack, Malenia's second phase can appear to many as an impossible challenge.
5 Ganondorf - The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
Considered by many as the greatest game of all time, Ocarina of Time delivers consistently with its unique boss fights, which are traditionally defeated with unique and special weapons found in the bosses respective dungeon or domain. The games' final boss fight, Ganondorf, forces players to face him in the final dungeon, the domain of Hyrule Castle. With a soundtrack that grows in intensity as players ascend to the peak to face him once more, the immersion heading into the battle is incredible.
After an intense back and forth with Ganon's projectiles and his magical abilities, players eventually bring him to his knees. Hyrule Castle then begins to crumble, forcing players to escape with Princess Zelda as falling debris rains down from above. After making the descent, the battle is seemingly won and Hyrule Castle is no more. Players are shocked to discover Ganon suddenly emerging out of the rubble, transforming into the monstrous form of Beast Ganon. With an incredible soundtrack to assist the final battle, Ganondorf’s Beast form is one of the greatest second phases ever, and it still holds up 24 years later.
4 Isshin, The Sword Saint - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
It's no shock to many that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an extremely difficult game. From it's incredibly tough learning curve through a pinpoint deflecting mechanic, players can either learn the combat quickly or die trying. Players who manage to make it to the end of the game in pursuit of the Immortal Severance ending are met with a third and final encounter with Genichiro Ashina, and it is only fitting for players to believe that Genichiro will be the game's final boss.
With Sekiro back to the very fields that he lost his arm and began his journey in, it's clear that there are elevated stakes going into this fight. As players manage to deplete Genichiro's health bar and deliver a deathblow, he stumbles back and summons his grandfather, The Sword Saint Isshin with the Mortal Blade. Requiring 3 deathblows to put him down, The Sword Saint in his prime is nothing short of a monster. In each phase, Isshin comes at players with new weapons and an increasingly difficult set of attacks to parry. With The Sword Saint even using a gun in this final battle, the fight is every bit as difficult as it looks, and beating him for the first time feels like an incredible achievement.
3 Radiance - Hollow Knight
After defeating The Hollow Knight and pursuing the Dream No More ending, players are teleported to the Radiance’s dream, where the Radiance must be beaten immediately after defeating the Hollow Knight. Failure to defeat the Radiance will put the player back outside the Hollow Knight boss room, where they must fight the boss again to get back to the Radiance. With an impressive set of attacks and abilities that can catch the player off guard quickly, and the boss itself having 5 individual stages, climbing to the top to land the final hit is a perfect ending to an incredible story.
Players looking for an additional challenge should seek out Absolute Radiance, a stronger, upgraded version of Radiance with more health and much faster attacks. Absolute Radiance can be fought at the very end of Godhome's fifth and final pantheon, where players must beat 42 of the game's bosses consecutively, which is an insane task to complete as each run can take 45minutes to an hour.
2 Sister Friede & Father Ariandel - Dark Souls 3
Sister Friede is one of the most difficult Dark Souls 3 bosses ever created. With a timid and soft-spoken voice, players are shocked to discover her devastating display of power. Even in her first phase, Friede's attacks are deadly. She glides across the ground almost silently on her bare-feet, catching players off guard with the ability to back-stab with her scythe. For those strong enough to defeat her in this phase, she falls over, seemingly succumbing to her injuries.
As Father Ariandel rages behind her, her body is revived from the flame he releases, and she gets back up for her second phase. With Friede's cunning precision and Ariandel's untempered rage, players must now take on the two of them together, in what might appear to be an unpredictable battle. With a shared health bar and Ariandel being the weaker of the two bosses, players should focus Ariandel but still be wary of Friede and her powerful skillset. For those that successfully manage to defeat the duo in this phase, the battle is still not over. Emboldened by dark pyromancy, Friede is revived once more by the blackflame inside her, and she stands ready to fight again in her most powerful form as Blackflame Friede. With three incredibly satisfying phases to fight Friede in, she is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with.
1 Jack Krauser - Resident Evil 4
After an intense pursuit which finds the player following Jack Krauser through a maze like environment, players must dodge traps and several ambush attempts in order to get close enough to beat him. If players successfully deal enough damage in this ambush phase, Krauser distances himself from the player, defeated, and mutates.
His arms grow sharp, tendril like appendages that he uses like swords to try and stab the player, and with his rapid movements and menacing appearance, he is no pushover. Krauser's mutated phase is the perfect example of a fight that has an intense and climactic build up, with a very fitting end to his character.