Top 10 Cheapest Dark Souls Bosses - Part 2 No's 5-1

Right, so its time to continue with my countdown list of my pick for the top 10 cheapest bosses in Dark Souls.

This list will is based on bosses who used cheap shot tactics to either attack or kill your character and while I am not necessarily calling these bosses cheats(!) and they are by no means bad fights, in fact some cases they are really good ones but they do have an element of sneaky, cheatery going on at the same time. However, this is the nature of Dark Souls of course, you are going to get cheap bosses! ;-)

Right, so with that said let's take a look at the top 5 on the list...

5. Aldrich, Devourer of Gods (Dark Souls 3)

So, at No.5 is this guy from Dark Souls 3, Aldrich, Devourer of Gods, a very powerful mage, who has a penchant for cannibalism aswell as wiping out his enemies with brutal magic spells.

Now what makes Aldrich feel like a cheap boss is simply the nature of how brutal his magic attacks are, particularly his magic arrow volley, which is utterly lethal and WILL instakill you if you are unfortunate enough to get the full brunt of it!  Then of course there are his soul sphere attacks and he usually fires two at once but he can at times even spam this spell up to a total of six times! Add on top of this a melee attack with his scythe like staff that can easily chunk off half of your health, if not more, then you really are in a tough fight but at the same time does feel a bit cheap.

And its simply the way in which they made Aldrich able to quickly one shot players with his magic arrows in particular that makes the fight feel cheaper than anything else. The are of course strategies to avoid that primarily involve you running around behind his tail to get away from the arrow volley or in his second phase you really need to run away from him when the arrows come reigning down as they can change direction! His other attacks however require careful dodging and rolling so you don't connect with them because then you will know all about it!

So for me, Alridch is easily one of the cheapest boss fights given the sneaky mage tactics of trying to wipe you out as soon as you come in the door with arrows or even pulverise you with soul sphere spells.  And for that he more than deserves to take his place on the list here in the top 5.

4. Bed of Chaos - Dark Souls 

So, at No.4 is this chick (or tree thing!) from the original Souls game, which is of course the Bed of Chaos, who must rank easily as one of the most hated bosses in the history of the Souls series and she is far from my favourite too I have to say. The Bed of Chaos is essentially just a giant tree like enemy and inside is the Witch of Izalith and her two daughters, who are all in three separate cores of the tree bed. 

So, what makes this boss so cheap???  Well, for me Chaos can become quite infuriating in the way in which she makes the ground collapse underneath your feet and it will end up killing you more times than not if you are not careful. Its also uses some really annoying claw swipes and slams that knock you off your feet and do quite a bit of damage and you need to block with your shield in order to take the brunt of them.

It has to be said though that this boss isn't that difficult, more just annoying and it feels like a very cheap one at that. However, the one thing going for this boss is that once you knock a core of the tree bed and if you die afterward, it will checkpoint your progress and you for once in the whole series you do NOT need to start all over again! Phew!

So, for me the Bed of Chaos is a pretty mediocre boss that does feel very cheap and annoying in it use of sneaky claw swipes and breaking up the ground to kill you makes for a frustrating and cheap experience that sees it take its worthy place at No.4.

3. The Twin Princes - Dark Souls 3 

OK, hear me out on this one! I'd like to start by saying that I really like this boss fight, its really good and pretty intense and it has a powerful soundtrack and great cutscenes but by heck I really do have to say the mechanics of this one do feel very cheap overall.

So who are the princes again? Well, they are both crippled princes, who are victims to a curse and the elder Prince Lorian, is mute and cannot talk but he is still quite a powerful figure and posses a mighty sword that can do major damage. Whereas the young prince, Lothric, is a very skinny mage, who has some powerful miracles that he can use to attack you and he also has the ability to teleport around the room.

So, why is this boss fight feel so cheap???  Well, it comes down to the whole teleportation idea with Lorian being teleported via Lothric's magical powers all around the room, he will spring up and surprise you with a massive thwack of his sword! And Lorian's attacks hurt...alot! So, for me the whole mechanic of the two of them teleporting around the room in itself can make for a very frustrating time especially when Lorian teleports right ontop of you or he can take you by surprise with his holy sword attack, which usually results in instant death!

There of course are telltale signs of how to avoid them teleporting in on you as you just have to pay attention to where the beam of light appears, which signifies the spot where they will land next so you step back before they teleport in.  So, this does help counter their attacks but its not a fullproof solution as you will always still get caught out by them at times.

So, yep the Twin Princes, while they are one of the strongest fights of Dark Souls 3 they also happen to one of the cheapest aswell with their teleportation tactics, its one that can be very hard to master and despite their quality, they still take their spot here at No.3.

2. Nameless King - Dark Souls 3

So, at No.2 is this guy...the Nameless King.  Yep, good old Nameless takes the runner-up spot and if you have ever played against him then you will surely know why he is on this list!

The Nameless King, if you are unaware of who he is in the series, is the first born sun of Gwyn, Lord of Cinder (the final boss at the end of the first Souls game) and after time he rejected to live his life among people and left to live with dragons instead. So, when you find him, Nameless will be riding his big dragon, King of the Storm and this is where the cheap shottery begins!

So, yeah why is this fight so cheap??? Well...a number of reasons. First up are the deeply annoying camera angles in the first phase of this fight as the camera spins around relentlessly in a confusing manner as you try and fight Nameless and his dragon, which make it difficult to target the dragon, who is your main enemy in this stage.

Secondly, Nameless will relentlessly cheap shot the hell out of you with his spear as he will whack you with either side of you and he most likely will clip you with on one side and if so just stay down! And worse than this is when Nameless charges up his hybrid sword-spear weapon with lightning and slams it down, which often can result in instant death if you get caught in its blast! Nameless can even insta-kill you with his weapon as run towards him as his dragon will fly towards you and Nameless will wipe you out with a brutal thrust attack! And how can you beat this guy again???!!!
Jeeeeezz!!!

The second phase of the fight isn't too bad in this respect but there are still some elements of cheap shottery on display though as at times, the camera will suck you in towards Nameless if you try and stay away from him. This clearly proves that the camera is totally against you in this fight and one of your worst enemies in the entire game!

So, yep for me, the Namless King, while for the most part is a thrilling memorable boss fight, it still is a big cheap shot fest with endless spear thwacks from Nameless (Endless Namless the Nirvana song springs to mind here lol!) and an even bigger battle with the fight's deeply annoying camera angles.

And for these reasons, Nameless King takes the runner-up spot at No.2.

So, the Number 1 cheapest boss in Dark Souls is....

1. Manus, Father of the Abyss - Dark Souls 

Yep at No.1 is this son of a gun...Manus, Father of the Abyss, who appeared in the game's DLC, Artorius of the Abyss.

Manus...yep...what can I say about him then. Why is he such a cheap boss to fight??? Well, let's find out!

For starters a bit about Manus, as he was once formerly human but he ended up being corrupted by the abyss itself that turned him into the creature you see before you in the fight. And in the DLC, you are transported through time by Manus as you have at this point one half of a pendant he desparately seeks while another NPC character, Marvelous Chester presumably has the other.

So, why is this guy SO cheap??!! Well, its simply because Manus fights like a dirty bare knuckle boxer, except only he is a boxer with a GIANT fist, which does some major damage and he often will use it to clobber you left right and centre. Manus can also use his large staff to clobber you aswell, so you will need to time your rolls well to avoid these attacks as he will repeatedly spam them at you till your are gone. And what feels so cheap and annoying here is that once Manus clobbers you and knocks you down, he will continue to clobber you again once you've got up and tried to heal with estus flasks, he will knock that health right off you again!

Another aspect of why this boss fight feels so cheap is because in the second phase, Manus will start using his dark magic, which consists of magical orbs, missiles and bolts and are pretty much one-shot material if you take the full force of them. Now to defend yourself you can use a silver pendant to repel his magic attacks, however the toughest part here is trying to alternate between the pendant during the attacks and switching back to your estus before Manus launches a physical attack again, which he WILL do!

So, yep this fight, while its actually a pretty excellent, intense and challenging one, definitely must rank as the cheapest boss encounter in the entire Dark Souls series as Manus takes no prisoners and hammers his opponents literally into the ground with his massive fist and staff and his magic attacks are just as unforgiving.

And for all the above reasons, Manus definitely deserves the top spot here.

OK, so that's it for now and I hope you enjoyed this list and I will see you soon for another post.

So, till then its bye fer now!