JohnnyInterfnk said:Since I finished my second playthrough, I figured I'd do a quick boss rating post over here in the spoiler section.
Keep in mind: I didn't know the power of throwables until well into the game, so I didn't really use them until the end bosses (and in the second playthrough they were mostly unnecessary again until late-game bosses). Also, I tried not to use a companion specter unless I was getting demolished, so a majority of the below was from "solo" play, though I'll note if I used a specter for specific bosses below.
(Oh, and I'll hold off giving it a numerical challenge rating since I'm sure different bosses hold a different challenge levels for everyone.)
1.) Parade Master -- A great opening boss. Really showed you the power of parrying attacks (especially since dodging is so poor early in the game) and prepared you for later boss fights. Move set is simple but fun, and the "head-tear" mid fight adds a good dynamic that comes up a lot in later boss fights. Died 3-4 times before I learned to parry/block instead of flop rolling like I normally do in souls games.
2.) Scrapped Watchman -- I didn't know what the blue birdbath did the first time I arrived at this boss, and thus my surprise specter tore up this boss on my behalf, so I didn't get a good read on this one my first playthrough (This fight is the reason I tried to avoid using specters in my first few attempts). The second playthrough, I didn't use a specter, and found I liked fighting this boss: it felt like a ramped up Parade Master, with some nice telegraphed movesets and enough chaos to keep you on your toes. The fact you got electric damage even when blocking in the second half of the fight is a bit questionable for an early boss (not a problem by the time I reached him the second playthrough though), but other than that this fight was enjoyable and somewhat challenging. Never died to this puppet (thanks specter!)
3.) King’s Flame, Fuoco -- This guy wrecked me repeatedly (died maybe 7-8 times to this boss). Turns out, keeping your distance from Fuoco is a very, very bad idea. Once I figured out to fight him constantly in close quarters, he stopped chipping my health down with ranged shots and became MUCH more manageable. Simply run when he pulls coals out of his belly, but keep VERY close otherwise, and this fight becomes much easier. I read a lot of people found Fuoco easy, but I didn't because of the above. Valuable lesson learned here, and another boss fight thumbs up from me.
4.) Fallen Archbishop Andreus -- I facerolled this guy both times I fought him, which was a refreshing change from Fuoco and the Parade Master. I think I did really well because this is the first boss whose moveset meshes well with dodge rolling (my preferred playstyle) AND is the first boss in my opinion with very telegraphed, non-stuttered attacks. Keep to the side and hack at the belly -- the Souls standard way of fighting! This is the way! The second part of the fight where there are two "heads" to the boss and it has different movesets based on what head you're facing is a fun gimmick but didn't change the fight too much, since the strategy was again stay at the side and hack away. This was the first boss where I felt I did better against the boss than the general community did as a whole. A feeling that won't last...
5.) Eldest of the Black Rabbit Brotherhood -- Died 4-5 times here until I learned the trick of running across the arena to separate the Eldest from his kin so that you can fight them separately. Once you do this, each individual is very manageable. Valuable lesson learned here -- you have THREE defense moves, not two. Block/parry, dodge, and RUN. (Well, actually four defense moves, see below...)
Bonus A.) White Lady -- I'm skipping most Stalker fights as they're somewhat similar (parry-time, repost, use blocking objects to your advantage if available), but I wanted to note this one specifically because it was my favorite. The White Lady is the first stalker who is LIGHTNING fast, and has a somewhat-unique move set, and combine that with a neat introduction and a fun arena and you have my favorite stalker fight of the game. I died 2-3 times here until I learned CIRCLE STRAFING (which, apparently, I forgot somewhere in this mess), after which this fight became much easier. Backstabbing in this game is very fickle, which is why I didn't do it often (I would parry-repost other stalkers like the Survivor) but circle strafing was key here. A very fun fight.
Bonus B.) Mad Clown Puppet -- Including this mini-boss here because I HATED this guy. Rolls a giant ball of flame at you, comes down the hill with two flamethrower adds, has an ENORMOUS health pool, has no weaknesses (that I ever became aware of), attacks hit like a MAC truck, has an ANNOYINGLY long attack that hits you when trying to heal, and most-annoyingly has an un-telegraphed "belly-bump" attack that I cannot parry for the life of me. Took me three or four attempts to take this jerk down the first time I saw him. His only saving grace is his stupid spin attack is easily parry-timed (assuming you remember the slow-down at the end and the "f-u" uppercut after). This is the ONLY mini-boss I had a rough time with, and he shows up AGAIN in the swamp level! HATED THIS GUY! (And yes, you should run past him initially to the Stargazer behind him, save there, then lead him back to the stargazer area to fight him, thereby avoiding adds. I didn't know this because I was playing without a guide. Bleh.)
6.) Romeo, King of Puppets -- The first boss where the first and second phases are extremely different, I liked how the typical large-boss keep-your-distance-and-wait-for-opportunities fight transitioned into a super-fast frenetic parry-fest. I think this boss is high on people's "tough" list specifically due to this extreme shift in fight tactics. I found the first half easily manageable but the second half to be quite difficult. The key to the second half I found is just to RUN when his weapons light up in flames, or else get prepared to be wombo-comboed to death! Then, parry-repost when he's back to normal attacks. I think I died 8-10 times in this fight before I got used to the second phase. In my second playthrough I was able to defeat the King the first-time, mostly because of the muscle memory from the first time around.
7.) Champion Victor -- I think I died once to this boss. This boss is the one I remember the least, though I do remember that it felt like a boss battle from the Arkham series of games (probably because he's one of the only bosses who talks to you before and during the fight). Like a boxer mini-boss, but bigger and faster. Move set seemed pretty simple, abet fast. I also remember that he had two phases to the fight, and the second phase being easier somehow than the first. Anyone else have this experience, or was I just lucky somehow? Ah well, I'll take the winds where I can get them.
8.) Green Monster of the Swamp -- Died like 8-10 times to this boss, because again we have a fight in two phases, with each phase being different. Took me awhile to learn to dodge FORWARD when the Green Monster was tunneling after you -- any other direction and you'll get hit. Unlike the Archbishop, I had a hard time staying to the side of this monster, but if you can goad him into doing the Decay spray that's when you can get a bunch of damage in. I LOVED how the second phase combined the move sets from the first phase with the move sets of the Scrapped Watchman -- thought that was a really neat piece of design work. This was the boss fight where I felt the game was starting to ramp up in difficulty (not including the next main boss).
Bonus C.) Walker of Illusions -- Died too many times here (4-5 I think) due to dodge-rolling into scenery and getting walloped. Was disappointed that the gimmick here, duplication, was essentially a non-issue as the original and duplicate don't fight at the same time, and the duplicate dies very, very quickly. After a lot of bosses with heavy dodge, I remembered that I probably should parry here, and that's when I finally took the Walker out. Got my revenge on the Walker the second playthrough though, just steamrolling over him (her?) like nothing (though to be fair, I was probably VERY over leveled by that time). Side note: I'm not sure if this boss is optional or not. Can you just duck out the side door and avoid this fight? I never tested it...
9.) Corrupted Parade Master -- Easiest boss in the game. Just wait for him to do his flop-and-crawl attack, and counterattack afterwards (and you'll be full stamina if you just walk backwards to avoid the flop-and-crawl attack). Like above, the add was a non-issue, only really soaking some damage dished out after the flop-crawl. I did die once though as I was getting the pattern down, and that's more deaths than the Archbishop got out of me, so credit where credit is due I guess.
10.) Black Rabbit Brotherhood -- Confession time. Here is where I starting using a specter, mostly because I didn't feel like dealing with multiple attackers at one time. As such, this only took me two attempts (my first failed one solo, then the successful one with a specter). I think the gimmick here is you have to kill the last two brothers close together or the Eldest comes back and double-teams you to death, but with a specter in tow this was a non-issue, and in my second playthrough (where I completed this solo) I was so over-leveled that the Brotherhood double-team was a non-issue (they don't attack together, so it's easy to handle them one-on-one). I felt bad about using a specter in this fight, and then I met Laxasia later. Didn't feel so bad after that.
11.) Door Guardian -- A bit of a gimmick fight where you have to target the small leg. Died 4-5 times before I got frustrated by the lack of damage I was doing and looked it up online to see what I was doing wrong (and then felt dumb for having to look it up). Once you know you have to stagger/fatal attack by targeting the small leg, I just used the Devastation Grinder and the fight was much, much easier. I did learn from this fight that Shock is the most annoying status effect of the game, bar none.
12.) Laxasia -- This was the fight that broke me. Phase one is very tough (a !!!!thirteen!!!! swing combo attack!) but at least its manageable. Then phase two begins, and I die in 30 seconds. Insane speed, VERY weird and unwieldly parry times, a flying attack that all but lands 100% of the time, and lightning effects that are super distracting and ABSOLUTELY mess up blocking and parry timing. This is, BY FAR, the hardest fight in the game, bar none. To counter, I brough the specter along, but STILL died (just like me, the specter gets WRECKED in phase two). THEN I decided to learn the joys of throwables, and EVEN THEN, I barely squeaked by. This fight, no doubt, is up there with the legends Ornstein and Smough as the most annoying, most difficult fight in all of souls-likes. At least here you have the mercy of specters and throwables to carry you through, (unlike the upcoming final, final boss of the game).
13.) Simon Manus -- Maybe I was still in Laxasia shock (pun!), but it only took two attempts to kill Simon Manus. Phase one is surprisingly easy for an end-game boss, with telegraphed attacks and manageable parry times. Phase two is much harder however, with annoying projectiles and a "Hand of God" attack thrown in that can one shot you if not careful (hence my first death). I did use Shot Puts to stagger Simon this fight admittedly (I became addicted to them after the Laxasia fight), though I don't think it was really necessary. I also had a specter fight with me the second time (after Laxasia, I figured this fight would be just as bad, but wasn't), but I didn't really feel I needed him, and didn't bother using him for my second playthrough.
14.) Nameless Puppet -- Do you like parrying? I hope you do because you're going to do a LOT of it here during this fight. Died 9-10 times during this fight -- the first phase is pretty manageable, but you really need to excel at parrying as you'll need almost ALL of your heals for the second phase, where things are turned up to 11. As the final fight of the game, I think this fight was extremely balanced and appropriate -- extremely tough but still fair. Both times I faced the Nameless Puppet, I did use throwables, as I switched to a weapon with a slower heavy attack so I used Shot Puts to trigger staggered states (and admittedly, I pummeled the Nameless Puppet with throwables during his last 20-30 of life in phase two. No shame here.). Given that, this fight took a LOT of patience to get through phase two, but I was able to pull it off.
And that's my list! All fight in this game seemed fair, minus Laxasia, which at least can be overcome with specters and throwables if needed. Also notable is that each boss fight felt like it played to a certain style of defense, which made the game feel like you learned a new "skill" for most every boss, which is quite an accomplishment. All in all, I feel this game had extremely well design boss fights, and that lends heavily to the 5/5 score I gave the game.
Anyway, feel free to critique my impressions, especially if you had a VASTLY different time than I did with a certain boss or two.
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Great summary! I think Romeo is a real skill check. Those phase two attacks are brutal and fast, even with a Spectre. I did learn something about weapon wielding enemies in general though, from a shovel puppet of all things, dodging one direction vs the other are not equal vs weapon wielding enemies. Shovel puppets and Romeo will totally hit you if you dodge to the right (your right) and not if you dodge left.
Romeo took me several tries and it’s also when I learned the joys of Aegis leveled to level 2, being able to hold block and attack is really good and made the difference. I also think shot puts are a good idea vs fast enemies so you land your other throwables. Take one sure shot with a shot put then unload a stack of bombs while they’re stunned.
I actually staggered Romeo and just kept throwing bombs, it seemed like the better part of valor.
Victor seemed super easy in comparison.