Highlights

  • Bloodborne's toughest bosses are infamous for their grueling difficulty and challenging gameplay.
  • Some bosses, like Darkbeast Paarl and Blood-Starved Beast, can be particularly tough for beginners.
  • The Chalice Dungeons feature some of the most challenging bosses in the game, such as the Watchdog of the Old Lords and Amygdala.

FromSoftware’s games are always known for their insane difficulty and unforgiving gameplay. Most of this can be attributed to the boss fights, which always put the players' skills and gear to the test. Some of Bloodborne’s toughest bosses are just as quick (if not more) than the player. Facing off against these bosses can sometimes feel like a dance where one wrong step means players have completely lost the rhythm... and they die.

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It's certainly true that difficulty is completely subjective. What one finds to be challenging, others may think it was the easiest thing they’ve ever encountered. It will be different for everyone... but certain boss fights stand out because of how grueling they are for the majority of the player base. The toughest bosses in Bloodborne, as per popular consensus, are some of the hardest challenges in the game, and downright insurmountable because of how challenging they are!

Updated February 6, 2024 by Ritwik Mitra: The fact that Bloodborne is still hailed by many as the best FromSoftware game ever made even after Elden Ring's immense success is a testament to the brilliance of this gothic action RPG.

Miyazaki is at its very best here, letting players enjoy a wonderful action game with shades of Lovecraft added here and there. The game's fast-paced combat system is perfect for its bosses, some of which are ridiculously hard to beat, making this victory all the more satisfying.

19 Darkbeast Paarl

Can Be Tricky To Deal With If Faced Early On

Darkbeast Paarl from Bloodborne
  • HP: 4,552
  • Blood Echoes: 23,100
  • Location: Hypogean Gaol
  • Drops: Spark Hunter Badge, Bold Hunter's Mark

Depending on when players encounter Darkbeast Paarl, this boss can either be a walk in the park or an absolute nightmare to get through. If players have been kidnapped and sent to the Hypogean Gaol, then it's only a matter of time before players encounter this lightning-infused beast.

Without high DPS, Darkbeast Paarl will run circles around the player and flatten them with its damaging moveset. If players manage to stun this beast with a flurry of attacks, then they'll be able to deplete its health bar consistently until it's down for the count.

18 Undead Giant

A Chalice Dungeon Boss That Can One-Shot Low-Level Hunters

bloodborne undead giant
  • HP: 3,175
  • Blood Echoes: 1,425
  • Location: Pthumeru Chalice
  • Drops: Adept Blood Gemstone (2)

The Chalice Dungeons are a decent addition to Bloodborne, even if the randomized content can feel rather lackluster at times. During their exploration of these areas, players will stumble upon the Undead Giant, a boss that can either be ridiculously easy, or hair-rippingly hard.

This depends on the player's level, and Hunters who aren't strong enough can be one-shot by this beast in no time. This makes it important to either gain some levels or perfect one's offense if this boss is giving them a tough time.

17 Blood-Starved Beast

Poison Can Be Tough To Deal With For Players Who Aren't Prepared

Blood-Starved Beast Bloodborne Flayed Creature
  • HP: 3,470
  • Blood Echoes: 6,600
  • Location: Old Yharnam
  • Drops: Pthumeru Chalice

Many people feel that the Blood-Starved Beast is far from the toughest enemy in the game... but these players are well-versed in how Bloodborne's combat system works. For people who are getting into this fight as a relative beginner to FromSoftware games, this nightmarish beast is so fast and poisonous that most players won't even have any time left to think!

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Players need to remain on the beast's left side, stagger the beast whenever possible, and keep a stock of antidotes ready if they don't want to be sliced and diced over and over again by this boss. It may seem like a tough encounter, but players who decide to adhere to Bloodborne's combat system will find this boss to be a cakewalk, which is important since The Old Hunters DLC features this boss in a cramped environment which can be an even tougher challenge!

16 Watchdog Of The Old Lords

Can Be A Pain To Defeat At Half HP In The Defiled Chalice

Bloodborne Watchdog Of The Old Lords
  • HP: 23,963
  • Blood Echoes: 67,763
  • Location: Defiled Chalice - Layer 2
  • Drops: Cursed Sharp Damp Blood Gem (5)

The Chalice Dungeons are a mixed bag in Bloodborne and one of the most divisive parts of the entire game. While some people appreciate the excuse of playing through more of what this game has to offer, the randomized layouts of these dungeons take away a core part of what makes most Soulsborne games so interesting to play — level design!

That being said, the bosses in these dungeons can still be a highlight because of Bloodborne's amazing combat system, with the Watchdog of the Old Lords being a great example of the same. This fire-coated beast is already a tough enemy as is, but things get even more harrowing when players encounter this boss in the Defiled Chalice Dungeons, where their health is shaved down in half and a single hit can spell their doom!

15 Pthumerian Descendant

Extremely Fast With Attacks That Can Phase Through Solid Objects

Bloodborne Pthumerian Descendant
  • HP: 3,437
  • Blood Echoes: 4,147
  • Location: Central Pthumeru Chalice
  • Drops: Lower Pthumeru Chalice & Cold Blood Gem (3)

The Pthumerian Descendant is another boss that is exclusive to the Chalice Dungeons, and it's one of the more entertaining bosses in Bloodborne that players can fight. This boss is quick and tricky to deal with, and players have to memorize its moveset if they don't want to be killed over and over again.

Despite how aged this enemy looks, players can be ready for an epic fight as they trade blows, try to stagger this foe, and land hits during brief attack windows. Higher-level Chalice Dungeons are where this encounter truly shines, and players should be on top of their game if they don't want to be taken out in record time.

14 Gehrman, The First Hunter

Ultra-Aggressive And Punishes Players Who Get Too Greedy

bloodborne gehrman
  • HP: 14,293
  • Blood Echoes: 128,000
  • Location: Hunter's Dream
  • Drops: Old Hunter Badge

Gehrman is potentially the final boss of the game, given how players go through their Bloodborne playthrough. He's no slouch and will destroy players at a moment's notice with his array of powerful moves.

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Players need to be on top of their game to deal with this tough boss, whose moves get even more dangerous halfway through the fight. As long as players apply everything they've learned against this boss, they should be able to defeat him... if just barely.

13 Amygdala

The Regular Boss Is Okay, But The Defiled Variant Is An Absolute Nightmare

Amygdala, a boss in Bloodborne
  • HP: 22,049
  • Blood Echoes: 101,899
  • Location: Defiled Chalice
  • Drops: Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice

The Hunter's Nightmare is a unique optional area in Bloodborne that features the patented poison swamp area that has become quintessential to the Soulsborne experience. The boss at the end of this area is one of the Amygdalas that players have been witnessing all this time in the game.

Amygdala can be a tricky foe to defeat, with its attacks landing for a ton of damage. Its legs are pretty well-guarded too, and players need to figure out the optimal time frames to unleash attacks on its vulnerable spots.

12 Living Failures

High HP And A Brutal Projectile Summon Can Take Players By Surprise

Living Failures in Bloodborne
  • HP: 20,646
  • Blood Echoes: 22,000
  • Location: Research Hall
  • Drops: Astral Clocktower Key

The Old Hunters DLC is full to the brim with some great encounters, with all the boss fights in this game being a pretty hefty challenge as well. This applies to the Living Failures as well, which pales in comparison to some other high-quality boss fights in the game.

The Living Failures are pretty tanky and hit for decent damage, but they're still manageable for the most part. The worst attack they can pull off is a move that summons giant projectiles from the sky that can easily stunlock and kill the player, although the tree in the middle of the arena helps block against this powerful attack as well.

11 Martyr Logarius

A Hard-Hitting Boss That Can Buff Itself To Become More Aggressive

Martyr Logarius in Bloodborne
  • HP: 9,081
  • Blood Echoes: 25,600
  • Location: Forsaken Castle Cainhurst
  • Drops: Crown of Illusions

Cainhurst Castle is one of the best levels in Bloodborne, and it's mind-blowing that this area is completely optional! At the end of this level is a fight against the legendary leader of the Executioners, Martyr Logarius.

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The fight against him tests everything the player has learned up till that point. He's hyper-aggressive, hits for a ton of damage, and has a massive health pool as well.

10 Bloodletting Beast

The Headless Variant Of This Boss Is A Nightmare To Deal With

Bloodletting Beast from Bloodborne
  • HP: 24,287
  • Blood Echoes: 155,473
  • Location: Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice
  • Drops: Pthumeru Ihyll Root Chalice

The Chalice Dungeon is one of the weaker parts of Bloodborne, even though it might theoretically lead to unlimited game time. However, the level design of these dungeons takes a massive hit due to their procedurally generated nature.

That being said, the bosses in the Chalice Dungeon are pretty challenging, with the Bloodletting Beast being a great example of the same. Players can't take this beast lightly, who hits like a truck and can easily one-shot under-leveled Hunters.

9 Shadow Of Yharnam

These Three Enemies Hit Like A Truck And Get Harder To Deal With As Each Shadow Is Felled

Bloodborne Shadow of Yharnam
  • HP: 2,046, 2,602, & 3,645
  • Blood Echoes: 20,460
  • Location: Forbidden Woods
  • Drops: Blood Rapture

The three Shadows of Yharnam that players need to face at the end of the Forbidden Forest can prove to be a massive challenge indeed. Players need to ensure that they don't get caught off-guard by a Shadow while focusing on another enemy, making it a true test of everything the player has learned up to that point.

The Shadows get several buffs as the fight progresses, which can be pretty challenging as well. The worst power is their ability to summon snakes when only one Shadow is left, which can potentially one-shot players if they're unable to dodge this move.

8 Ebrietas, Daughter Of The Cosmos

High HP And Damage Make This Arguably The Hardest Optional Fight In The Base Game

FromSoftware SoulsBorne Bosses Dragons Ebrietas Daughter
  • HP: 12,493
  • Blood Echoes: 36,300
  • Location: Altar of Despair
  • Drops: Great Isz Chalice

Ebrietas is one of the tankiest bosses in Bloodborne and hits like a brick as well. This boss is found at the end of the Upper Cathedral Ward area and poses a pretty substantial challenge indeed.

Players need to keep in mind that Ebrietas doesn't shy away from absolutely pummeling players if they leave an opening. Easily her most annoying attack is A Call to Beyond, which can deplete a player's health entirely if they fail to dodge these vicious projectiles.

7 Vicar Amelia

In The Early Goings, This Boss Is Extremely Tricky And Frustrates Players By Healing Itself

Vicar Amelia Bloodborne
  • HP: 5,367
  • Blood Echoes: 15,000
  • Location: Cathedral Ward
  • Drops: Gold Pendant

Vicar Amelia is basically the Cleric Beast on steroids. She hits like an absolute brick and her healing powers can prove to be a massive pain for players who weren't expecting this move.

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Players will quickly realize that staying in front of this boss is pretty much a recipe for disaster. They need to time their dodges, use Numbing Mist to prevent her from healing and remain aggressive to avoid getting blasted.

6 Rom, The Vacuous Spider

The Spiders Protecting Rom Can Divebomb Players To Potentially One-Shot Them

Bloodborne Rom The Vacuous Spider
  • HP: 5,058
  • Blood Echoes: 36,300
  • Location: Moonside Lake
  • Drops: Kin Coldblood (12)

Rom, the Vacuous Spider is one of the more unique bosses in Bloodborne. He appears to be fairly defenseless himself, letting his minions do most of the dirty work.

Rom definitely starts stomping around and unleashing projectiles to defend himself, but these attacks are fairly slow and won't impede the player too often. Rather, it's the spiders surrounding Rom that players need to be wary of since they can hit the player hard and come from out of nowhere to deal massive damage.

5 Father Gascoigne

Forces Players To Either Adopt An Aggressive Playstyle Or Die Trying

Bloodborne Gascoigne
  • HP: 2,031
  • Blood Echoes: 1,800
  • Location: Central Yharnam
  • Drops: Oedon Tomb Key

Depending on the path players take, Father Gascoigne is either their first or second boss fight, but oh my does he make quite an impression. Just like the player, Gascoigne is also a Hunter who moves fast and can even parry the player's attacks. His final phase will throw players off guard, as he not only becomes more aggressive, but he turns into a freaking werewolf!

While later Hunter encounters may prove more difficult, specifically Gherman, Gascoigne's placement at the beginning makes him extremely punishing. Players have just started this game, which means they have no idea what to expect. Gascoigne is there to roll out the bloody welcome mat.

In his human form, Father Gascoigne can be cheesed relatively easily by using the tombstones in the boss area and clever positioning. There are multiple groups of these grave markers where he can get stuck, allowing the player to wreck him with near impunity as long as they keep an eye out for his pistol attacks. This does not work so well when he goes into his beast form, though this new strength also comes with a severe weakness to Fire damage. Even without a weapon that inherently does this kind of damage, a single Fire Paper consumable is often more than enough to reduce his health bar to zero in a matter of seconds, regardless of which melee weapon the player is using.

4 Lady Maria Of The Astral Clocktower

A Cool Boss Fight With Three Phases That Add Additional Effects To Maria's Attacks

Bloodborne Lady Maria
  • HP: 14,081
  • Blood Echoes: 39,000
  • Location: Astral Clocktower
  • Drops: Celestial Dial

Lady Maria may seem like just another Hunter encounter like Gascoigne. In the first half of the fight, that seems to be true. However, her second phase is absolutely brutal. She ends up summoning her Blood powers, allowing her weapon to have an even greater reach than earlier. Not only can they catch players from afar, but they are also difficult to time.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, she adds fire damage to her weapons in addition to the already deadly Blood attacks. One wrong misstep and she'll one-shot the player. All that being said, Lady Maria is an exhilarating fight from a visual perspective.

She also has pretty well-rounded defenses, with her only real weaknesses being Arcane and Bolt, albeit only slightly. However, as a human Hunter, she can be parried and staggered, which leaves her open to visceral attacks. A great way to do this with little effort is to use the hunter tool known as the Augur of Ebrietas, which lets loose an explosion of tendrils from the player's hand that not only does huge Arcane damage but can parry and stagger humanoid foes fairly easily at the cost of only a single Quicksilver Bullet.

3 Ludwig, The Accursed/The Holy Blade

Both Phases Of This Boss Are Hard For Their Own Reasons

Bloodborne Ludwig The Holy Blade
  • HP: 16,658
  • Blood Echoes: 34,500
  • Location: Old Yharnam
  • Drops: Pthumeru Chalice

Ludwig is a giant creature with a massive sword, which may sound easy to dodge, however, he moves just as quickly as some Hunter bosses. Ludwig was once a Hunter himself, which explains his fast reflexes and agility. Since Ludwig is so huge, this prevents the player from being able to get away when they need a break to heal.

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His sword has a ridiculous reach that can cover a quarter of the arena. Ludwig was the first boss in the Old Hunters DLC. Right from the start, players know that FromSoftware wasn’t messing around.

Ludwig's many limbs can make him tough to approach from any angle, leading to some frustrating scenarios where one closes in to deal some damage only to get donkey-kicked by one of his extra legs or similar. In addition, his leap attack can be tricky to counter, though if one sprints towards the most distant wall when he jumps to the ceiling, he will usually land just behind the player if they don't slow down, opening him up for a few strikes. His greatest weakness is Fire damage, so be sure to bring some sheets of Fire Paper.

2 Laurence, The First Vicar

An Optional Boss In The Old Hunters DLC That Is Basically The Cleric Beast On Steroids

Bloodborne Laurence Fixed
  • HP: 21,242
  • Blood Echoes: 29,500
  • Location: Hunter's Nightmare
  • Drops: Beast's Embrace

Players might walk into this boss fight and immediately show no concern. After all, Laurence is just a reskinned version of the Cleric Beast. The problem is that the skin is on fire. The first half of this fight is manageable, albeit a little dangerous considering his skin can damage players.

The true challenge comes in the second phase, where players can no longer just hit from behind since he completely rips off his bottom half and his top half is crawling full-speed toward the player, leaving a trail of fire in his path. Players can only get so many hits in before his fire damage will eventually kill them. It’s an extremely exhausting fight, but a magnificent one at that.

Boasting immunity to both types of poison as well as extremely high resistance to Fire damage, Laurence cannot be taken down by cheesing methods or with the usual beast counter of using Fire Paper. However, he is weak to Serration-type damage, a hidden damage type that can be found on many weapons including the Beast Cutter and the whip mode of the Threaded Cane. Although positioning will be very difficult to maintain, most players find the second phase of this boss fight more manageable from this burning beast's left side, where his most dangerous attacks don't reach very well.

1 Orphan Of Kos

The Toughest Boss That FromSoftware Has Ever Added To Any Game

Bloodborne Orphan of Kos Fixed
  • HP: 19,217
  • Blood Echoes: 60,000
  • Location: Fishing Hamlet Coast
  • Drops: Kos Parasite

Orphan Of Kos might just be the most difficult boss fight in the Soulsborne games and is definitely the ugliest. This entire fight gives players no time to breathe as they're constantly dodging his relentless attacks, while also getting barely any room to attack. Kos is aggressive enough in his first phase, but the second is even worse.

What makes him so difficult is how he doesn’t play the rules of past games. Usually, players have been able to telegraph all boss attacks, but he tends to delay his swings, resulting in players always missing the correct timing of their dodge. Still, it’s an amazing boss fight and the sense of accomplishment has been unmatched in the series thus far.

There isn't an easy method of taking down this monstrosity. Although he is relatively weak to Fire and Bolt damage, it is not nearly as noticeable a difference as with most other bosses. Furthermore, Orphan of Kos is unlikely to let up long enough for players to even buff their weapon with Fire Paper or Bolt Paper. One method that will make this fight a bit less difficult is to use the hunter tool Augur of Ebrietas to stagger him after he does his plunge attack, which opens him up for a backstab. Just be careful of the lightning that erupts from the beached corpse of his dead mother, for the only place safe from this attack is (counterintuitively) the water.

bloodborne game
Bloodborne

Platform(s)
PS4
Released
March 24, 2015
Developer(s)
From Software
Genre(s)
Action , RPG