Dark Souls 3: Ranking Bosses Strength Based on Lore

It's finally here! Dark Souls 3 Bosses Ranked by Lore!

I have compiled all 25 Boss encounters and ranked them based on how powerful they are according ONLY to their lore. This is the final instalment of the Dark Souls Trilogy for this series.

As always these are all my opinions, though large amounts of research go into videos such as these, there will always be some level of subjective world building required by Souls Games, you're likely to have a different opinion - that's fine, and is a cornerstone of why Dark Souls discourse is as alive as well today as it was the day the first game was released!

Ranked Order
No.25: 01:05
No.24: 04:03
No.23: 06:46
No.22: 10:44
No.21: 13:46
No.20: 17:07
No.19: 21:52
No.18: 24:34
No.17: 26:55
No.16: 29:32
No.15: 33:03
No.14: 36:48
No.13: 41:18
No.12: 45:17
No.11: 49:43
No.10: 55:07
No.9: 1:01:43
No.8: 1:06:00
No.7: 1:08:16
No.6: 1:15:15
No.5: 1:21:15
No.4: 1:26:36
No.3: 1:34:58
No.2: 1:41:42
No.1: 1:55:51

[BestiaryYT]

Peep the description for timestamps, Youtube is being funny on getting them embedded on this video.

[icetide]

"Two nobodies fighting at the end of the world" will always be the best way to end such an expansive story

[yabarber]

Gael as #1 is very fitting. People keep saying SoC should be stronger because he’s the amalgamation of every champion, but Gael is everything at the end. Minus you and that one random ring knight in the corner of the map. He’s also the only boss at the end of time. No he doesn’t lead you to him because he’s weak, it’s because he knew he would go mad and knew you would be the only one good enough to put him down because you would try again and again until you won

[harmoniousdiscord]

I'm not going to lie, your final speech about Slave Knight Gael was truly inspiring.

[grdlcknein]

There's a missed lore bit that states Aldritch can manifest miracles and powers just by dreaming about them, one of his transpositions was Priscilla's Life Hunt ability. Aldritch never met Priscilla, he dreamt about her or her power. This makes Aldritch power potentially infinite.

[geoffreysorkin]

Minor correction about Aldrich. The Gwyndolin we see is not a manifestation. It is the actual body of Gwyndolin that Aldrich controls while still consuming them. We know this because we can actually hear Gwyndolin crying out during the boss battle.

[Vernafveik]

Pontiff Sulyvahn is such an amazing villain, and was the most memorable part of Dark Souls III for me

Despite knowing nothing about him at the time, beating him felt like what defeating a being as powerful and tyrannical as him should

His presentation displayed power.
His theme commanded presence.
His difficulty brought upon fear.
His defeat granted us rule over the world’s fate.

[bigmannn]

For the gravetender I think it definitely deserves that spot maybe even lower than the greatwood since that hollow that we fight isn't even the champion that once participated in the arena, that hollow is simply just someone that takes care of the champion's grave and I'm assuming that he's partnered up with the wolves because the wolves themselves recognize that this man is only here to tend to their former master's grave

[nerobiblios]

I feel like the Soul of Cinder was put way too low on the list tbh. SoC is essentially an amalgamation of all the previous individuals who have linked the fire, meaning it would also be an amalgamation of strength, skills and abilities. So it has everything all other previous Chosen Undead had and then some in terms of repertoire, that's what? an innumerable of years if not eons of combat experience fighting against the first Lords, the remnants of Ancient Dragons and a collective knowledge of every age that has ever had a need to link the fire. It also means that every Lord of Cinder's skills are in the SoC too, including Yhorm, Aldrich, the Abyss Watchers and the original Chosen Undead. Imo that makes it easily top 2 or 3.

[Chair-sama]

Imagine being Pontiff Sullivahn, a being at the height of their power, wielding the majority of the major forces of the world and even catalysts for threats that could end the Age of Fire like the Profaned Flame and Aldritch himself. Nothing really stands in your way anymore, but suddenly a lone Ashen One arrives in Lothric, killing your most successful Outrider Knights, decimating your forces, defeating you and the god-devouring weapon you had on your leash, as well as pretty much everything else in sight.

The humiliation must be immense

[elijahkeay]

I’ve never had a channel so eloquently describe what I love about Gael’s narrative, and what he says about humanity so much as you just did, fantastic work

[Scowleasy]

I think I disagree with the logic that being able to link the flame means you’re automatically able to beat Soul of Cinder. I think that the champions spoken of as capable of linking the fire are just that; their sacrifice would actually link the flame. Soul “power” isn’t a 1:1 correlation to pure combat ability, and even when we can beat SoC our power barely lights anything. If the quotes about them were “capable of defeating the Soul of Cinder *and* linking the first flame” that would go a long way to tying them together.

[elijahmontgomery]

Yhorme and Gael are my favorite Dark Souls characters in the series. Both are true servants of their chosen cause. Despite his might, Yhorme was a humble protector. And despite the limitations of his human form, Gael resisted hollowing possibly his the beginning of the age of fire in order to hunt down the Dark Soul so that humanity could escape the cycle in a painted would that would never succumb to rot.

[kiracaroso]

That final speech. You wrote a warrior's speech and an eulogy for the character. Good stuff, very inspiring.

[OhDemetrios]

Thank you so much for your excellent attention to deal and wonderfully crafted prose! You do a great job at contextualizing the history and background of the world and its iterations, I appreciate all the research and effort you go through to make a video of such substance; and I can clearly see how passionate you are about everything you discuss! My preface would be to see Bloodborne and Sekiro before Elden Ring, particularly because without the Elden Ring DLC we might not be getting a full picture of the power and level of influence of all the entities in Elden Ring (but that's only my opinion, and I would be happy to see any video ultimately!)

[FalseShepherd]

Ahhh yeahhh another Banger....now we wait for Bloodborne.

[threemeters]

You should probably rank Bloodborne and the other games by lore first so you can include Elden Ring’s DLC in your ranking

[carloss]

The ending speech was beautiful 😥, it gave me a new perspective not just about Gael, but the entire meaning of that last fight. I thank you for that.

[JohnSmith-tgwc]

Hmmm given the Ancient Wyvern's size, power, stone-like appearance and location, I think it's safe to assume it's one of the original wyverns or the progenitor of the wyvern species. Without the plunge attack gimmick it's a really tough fight and it really does look a lot like an ancient dragon...

[Violaphobia]

“It’s pays homage to the beings in DS1”

We literally go to the ruins of Izaleth and Anor Londo, I’d say this is beyond a subtle homage