Today in the crosshairs of our critical analysis, we have Bloodborne, a game that is notoriously famous for its high level of difficulty but is also ironically termed the best game that has been published by the studious of FromSoftware. Take a stroll in the cursed and haunted city of Yharnam, with our Bloodborne Boss Tier List, to gain some valuable intel on the different bosses you must annihilate to fulfill your destiny.
The List is based on a total of four tiers, and it ranges from the most powerful S Tier to the weakest D Tier. Please keep in mind before reading the list that articles like this are merely matters of opinion, so please view them from the standpoint of contradiction.
Key Points
- Our list ranks all 22 bosses, by taking both the base game and Old Hunter’s DLC into consideration.
- The rankings were done by taking each boss’s strength and playstyle in mind.
- Father Gascoigne, Martyr Logarius, Mergo‘s Wet Nurse, and the Blood-Starved Beast are among the best bosses in Bloodborne.
- Living Failures, Celestial Emissary, and the Moon Presence are among the worst bosses.
Summary
Following is the summarized ranking of all the different bosses from Bloodborne.
| S Rank | A Rank | B Rank | C Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micolash, Host Of The Nightmare | Cleric Beast | Amygdala | Celestial Emissary |
| Shadows of Yharnam | The Witch of Hemwick | Darkbeast Paarl | Moon Presence |
| Blood–Starved Beast | Mergo‘s Wet Nurse | Laurence, the First Vicar | Living Failures |
| Father Gascoigne | Gehrman, the First Hunter | Orphan of Kos | |
| Martyr Logarius | Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos | Ludwig the Accursed | |
| The One Reborn | |||
| Vicar Amelia | |||
| Rom, the Vacuous Spider | |||
| Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower |
The details of each boss are mentioned below.
S Tier
S Tier.We begin our Bloodborne Boss Difficulty Tier List with the S rank, which is the best tier of the entire list. Out of all the 22 different bosses of Bloodborne, the S Tier consists of the hardest ones, those who are a nightmare to go against.
Micolash, Host Of The Nightmare
The cursed city of Yharnam is a home of numerous monster inhabitants, but of all, Micolash is the one that steals the show with his relatively abusive power levels. Micolash is a boss that surfaces on the player’s radar in the latter part of the game. Micolash is a difficult foe to overcome. His ability to take control of the player’s mind in particular is extremely annoying. He can also form different illusions that disrupt a player’s attack sequence, bringing an end to the entire combo chain. According to game developers at FromSoftware, going up against such a formidable foe wasn’t hard enough, that they felt the need of adding a dark maze, in which the fight takes place. During the fight, at some crunch moments overcoming the maze feels like a much more difficult task than Micolash himself.
The fight with Micolash takes place in two instances. In the first part of the fight, Micolash is aided by his two puppets and uses only his tentacle attack. In the second part of the fight, the boss uses a variety of different melee attacks and a tracer magic attack. The key to defeating Micolash is through player movement and side-stepping. Another helpful note is that, before focusing on the boss, players should try to kill all the puppets in the vicinity, as they are pretty low health-wise, but can deal hard hits, depleting almost half of the player’s health with a single attack.
| Location | Nightmare of Mensis |
| Drops | Blood Echoes
Mensis Cage |
Shadows of Yharnam
Shadows of Yharnam is a tough opponent to overcome, certainly one that requires a lot of in-game knowledge and formidable skill mastery. They resign in the Forbidden Woods of Yharnam and are a total of three enemies, all-encompassing a range of different weapons and attack patterns. Out of the three, the first enemy wields a double-edged katana blade, attacking the players from a close range, while the two are spell casters, and mainly use long-range attacks.
A player when facing the Shadows of Yharnam goes up against all three enemies at the same time. The key to winning a fight against Shadows of Yharnam is side-steps and back evades because there’s a pretty reasonable chance that a shadow will be blocking off the enemy movements at all times. Furthermore, instead of going for a hard-hitting combo, focus on single-hit pokes to decrease the enemy health bar. Another hurdle, to overcome when fighting this boss, is to manage the enemy’s health, as upon killing a shadow the other two, will transform into powerful demons, making it much more difficult to finish them off. A weapon that I would recommend fighting with, is the Tana Torus, due to its relatively long reach and high-damage stats.
| Location | Forbidden Woods |
| Drops | Blood Echoes
Blood Rapture |
Blood–Starved Beast
The Blood-Starved Beast is gonna be the third boss of Bloodborne and is among the hardest to beat. Blood-Starved Beast has a notoriously fast movement speed while it is also fairly difficult to predict its animations, making it reasonably hard to parry or dodge any incoming attacks. The Blood-Starved Beast also has a pretty annoying AoE attack, where it releases numerous poisonous clouds in the surroundings, having a slow poisoning and stun effect on the player’s health cap. A level three Blunder-Must is the ideal weapon to fight the Blood-Starved Beast. While the visceral counter-attack is the most significant attack at the player’s disposal during the fight. Again emphasizing, on it being a strong boss, so don’t get demotivated if you die a lot at first.
| Location | Old Yharnam |
| Drops | Pthumeru Chalice
Lower Hintertomb Chalice Ailing Loran Root Chalice Blood Gem |
Father Gascoigne
More than just a video game, Bloodborne is a journey that has embedded a tragic and gloomy essence. Father Gascoigne once a beloved hero is our next pick for the S Tier of the Bloodborne Boss rankings. The sorrowful and dejected past of Gascoigne lays the foundation for Bloodborne’s true essence. Gascoigne was once a fine hunter and a proud father, who protected Yarhnam from all the dismal beasts that sought destruction and demolition. Gascoigne served his responsibility well, but it took a great toll on him, to the point where he went mad, and massacred everything in his presence, even his beloved wife. To fight Father Gascoigne, a player must accept a request from his daughter, to find her mother, and the tragic story of Gascoigne is uncovered. At the start of the mission, the daughter gives the hunter a sound box, which upon use can stun Father Gascoigne for a notoriously long time.
The fight with Gascoigne is covered in three phases. In the first phases, he is quite vulnerable to long-range attacks. The most a player can achieve in the first phase is evading attacks, and trying to be offensive to a certain extent. In the second phase, Gascoigne’s axe extends gaining him much better crowd control than before. During the second phase of the battle, players have to be on the watch for any dash attacks. In the third phase of the battle, Gascoigne transforms into a complete beast a runs a complete riot. For players to defeat Gascoigne, it is most important to take advantage of the surroundings and try to use a long-range weapon like Iron Chains and the Handgun. While also making use of stun attacks.
| Location | Central Yharnam |
| Drops | Oedon Tomb Key |
Martyr Logarius
Martyr Logarius is an optional boss, that lives in Cainhurst Castle. Still, a pretty strong opponent nonetheless. Martyr Logarius casts a number of different Spell attacks, the red skull attack being his staple, along with some notably strong melee strikes. Logarius also has a number of thrust attacks in his arsenal. Some of his combos are quite slow and can be dodged easily. Knowing when to perry and when to dodge an incoming attack can be the breaking point, to determine the fight. In the second part of the fight, Martyr Logarius, mainly rely’s on his melee attacks that have a natural magic extension at the end of each combo. His final attack of the fight is an AoE attack that can prove to be for most players, during that time a player’s ultimate goal should be to dodge this attack at all costs. Going into the fight, players should have an upgraded handgun with them, as it helps in neutralizing the melee stabs, and creates a little space for the player to move around. Martyr Logarius may be a pretty strong boss to go up against but can be a source of great loot and weaponry.
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A Tier
A Tier.The A Tier is our second category in the Bloodborne Boss Tier List 2022. It is the above-average tier. All the bosses that are present in the A Tier can be a menace to fight, some even had the potential to be inducted into the S Tier, but their difficulty levels are not the same as those added in the mighty S Tier.
Cleric Beast
Cleric Beast is the first main boss that a player would encounter in Bloodborne. The fight against Cleric Beast can be a frustrating one, because of all the different frontal, and thurst attacks he uses, not to mention his enormous health cap. The fight against the Cleric Beast, is also a crucial one, as it provides players with an opportunity to familiarize themselves, with the game’s regain mechanisms. Having said that, there are some key tactics, which can certainly improve a player’s experience and chances of winning when facing the Cleric Beast. First off, players should always look to position themselves behind the opponent and use charge attacks and combos, other than normal attacks. Players should also aim to attack the Beast’s limbs, crippling it, and restraining its movements.
| Location | Central Yharnam |
| Drops | Sword Hunter Badge |
The Witch of Hemwick
The Witch, rather Witches of Hemwick in particular is a tricky fight. There are located near the ally of the Demon Wolves. There are a total of two witches that the player needs to fight off. Both the witches have a variety of area-thrust attacks and remain hidden throughout the duration of the fight. When fighting the Witches of Hemwick, it is key to move fast, yet not deplete all of the stamina. Throughout the fight against the witches of Hemwick the player also has to fight a number of suit monsters, which are placed there to deter a player’s focus from the main boss. Taking a strong into the fight can prove to be a great help, as a player can quickly finish the suit monsters, without dealing much damage, and also depleting the Witches’ heath, with different combo attacks. Stun attacks can also be quite useful. A weapon of level 5 or greater is an ideal choice for the job.
| Location | Hemwick Charnel Lane |
| Drops | Blood Echoes
(Bloodshot Eyeball) x4 |
Mergo‘s Wet Nurse
Mergo’s Wet Nurse is among the few last bosses that a player faces in order to reach the ending Of the Bloodborne storyline. Again, a greatly difficult feat to overcome. Mergo’s Wet Nurse is one hardest mandatory bosses in the Bloodborne Bosses Ranked Recommendations. Mergo is a seriously tough opponent to fight, due to her overwhelmingly damaging sweep strikes. She also performs a number of lunging attacks. During the fight, she also summons a clone killing any possibility of a head-on fight. Mergo also has a great reach, and area control mechanic due to her arch movement. She will also teleport between spaces on occasion. Some tips to make the fight against Mergo’s Wet Nurse a little easier is just like the Cleric Beast, players should position themselves right on her back to attack her spine. Dodge Rolling is gonna be the go-to move to evade any attacks without depleting much stamina. Overall a strong opponent, but can be defeated, if the player has a knack for dodging attacks.
| Location | Nightmare of Mensis |
| Drops | Blood Echoes
1/3 of the Umbilical Cord |
Gehrman, the First Hunter
Gehrman is a tough opponent and can be a frustrating feat to overcome. He is sort of the last boss of the game. He is a hunter-type beast, which essentially means that at certain times, the player fights his mirror image, fighting against the same weapons and charms he possesses. Gehrman is a tough opponent to fight from multiple perspectives. First off his attacks do a ton of damage, and his reach is also quite commendable in that regard as well. Most of his attacks are sweeping strikes, that knock the players off the ground. Gehrman’s movement speed is also quite impressive, enough to kill off any space, within mere seconds.
In order to get an edge in the fight against Gehrman, players should give preference to a firearm-heavy build, as they can interrupt Gehrman’s movement and create openings for single pokes and combo chain attacks.
| Location | Hunter’s Dream |
| Drops | Old Hunter Badge |
Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos
| Location | Altar of Despair |
| Drops | Great Isz Chalice
Isz Root Chalice |
The One Reborn
| Location | Yahar’gul Unseen Village |
| Drops | (Yellow Backbone) x3 |
Vicar Amelia
Moving on, the next boss in the Bloodborne boss level recommendations, we have Vicar Amelia, is the fourth regular boss that the players will encounter in their in-game campaign. Vicar Amelia is an enduring fight, because of her enormously large health cap. Vicar Amelia is a demon-type monster, one whose movement speed is not that impressive, but she has a lot of damaging attacks, that hit hard, and can cause a fair amount of critical damage to the player. Her shock wave attack, in particular, has a wide attack radius and is one where players have to be on their toes, to dodge the incoming attack. Furthermore, during the fight, she will also heal herself on multiple occasions. A helping note for players is that stamina is key to beating Vicar Amelia. Players should position themselves near Vicar Amelia, and perform their pokes and combo chains, but when the time comes they should have enough stamina in the tank, to do quick evades and side-step dodges, over an elongated area radius.
| Location | Cathedral Ward |
| Drops | Gold Pendant |
Rom, the Vacuous Spider
Rom, the Vacuous Spider resides in the Moonside Lake and is a Bloodborneboss that has a wide variety of different attacks. His heath cap is not that big, meaning players with upgraded weapons can easily defeat him in an all-out offensive charge. During the fight, Rom summons many spiders which definitely becomes a headache, as their attacks deal high damage, and constantly obstruct the momentum of the fight. on several occasions during the fight, after a certain amount of damage has been dealt, Rom will teleport between spaces. With each teleportation Rom summons a brand new batch of spiders, causing further obstructions. Other than, summoning spiders, Rom also has a variety of different projectile and AoE attacks, that do a ton of damage, if hit.
| Location | Moonside Lake |
| Drops | Blood Echoes
(Kin Coldblood) x12 Lower Pthumeru Root Chalice |
Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower
Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, is a DLC boss, one that can certainly raise the bar of difficulty in the Bloodborne Boss Tier List 2022. She is a complicated foe to fight. The fight with Lady Maria is comprised of three phases, with each phase her move set and reach increase, raising the difficulty of the fight as it progresses. She can be frustrating at times, due to her new attacks. Her movement speed is quite impressive which when paired with her different attack patterns, makes her an offensive nightmare.
To defeat Lady Maria, it should be fruitful that instead of taking the charge and executing a large combo chain attack, players should look to parry her attacks with firearms and use visceral counters as their primary source of offense.
| Location | Astral Clocktower |
| Drops | Celestial Dial |
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B Tier
B Tier.The B Tier is considered to be the Average Tier, and all of the bosses with exceptionally average stats are ranked here. All these bosses can be defeated easily with little to no hassle, because of the major flaws they possess which prevent them from being posed as a major threat.
Amygdala
Our first boss for the average tier of the List is Amygdala, which resides in the Nightmare Frontier. Not a strong boss to overcome, as most of his attacks are pretty one-dimensional, making the fight fairly predictable. From a long-range perspective, Amygdala only uses a projectile attack, which can be evaded fairly easily, and is also avoidable altogether, if players opt for close-range combat. Again, from a close-range perspective, Amygdala only has two attacks, one being an AoE thrust attack, and the other being a sweep strike. Now, Amygdala might only have a limited list of attacks, but he can deal a fair amount of damage.
The fight with Amygdala is an easy one if players develop an understanding of his attack patterns and successfully counter them. Another tip to have an edge over him during the fight is that players should aim to target his legs other than his tail to deal the most amount of damage with every strike. Also, weapons with long-range attack radius are the way to go.
| Location | Nightmare Frontier |
| Drops | Blood Echoes
Ailing Loran Chalice Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice |
Darkbeast Paarl
Darkbeast Paarl being a bloodborne boss, acts more like a souls character, as most of his attacks focus on long-range combat. He is the sixth boss of the game. The trick to defeating Darkbeast Paarl is to maintain a nearby presence to avoid any charged projectile attacks. Players at all times should look to position themselves under the beast, and try to attack his limbs with the sole purpose of crippling the beast, to hit long combo chain attacks. From close-range Darkbeast Paarl, only has a single AoE attack, which can be evaded quite easily. With that said, under no means is Darkbeast Paarl a weak character, his attacks if hit are deadly damaging and can be a serious threat for players to lose their precious loot. Another tip, Players should not use a lock-on, as their hits will then be toward the center of the body, not the limbs which are the weak spot for Darkbeast Paarl.
| Location | Hypogean Gaol |
| Drops | Spark Hunter Badge
Bold Hunter’s Mark |
Laurence, the First Vicar
Next in the mediocre tier of Bloodborne Boss Difficulty Tier List, we have Laurence, the First Vicar, who was added to the game as a part of the Old Hunters DLC but is still an optional boss nonetheless. Laurance is an annoying boss to fight, he has a large health cap and a variety of different lunging attacks. Defeating Laurence, might look like a hassle at first, but is certainly not a difficult task at all. The fight against Laurence is comprised of two phases. The first phase of the fight resembles more of the one with the Cleric Beast. Movement is key against Laurence in the first phase of the fight. In the second phase of the fight, Laurence loses his lower half and drags himself all over the map. A light-weight high damaging weapon should be given preference for the fight. The Hunter’s Set is the one that I would recommend.
| Location | Hypogean Gaol |
| Drops | Spark Hunter Badge
Bold Hunter’s Mark |
Orphan of Kos
Orphan of Kos is a DLC boss, who resides in the Lighthouse Hut. Kos is an all-out offensive type of boss. He has an impressive movement mechanic that reduces the space between him and his prey. His attacks are mostly sweeping strikes and frontal directed. He also has one or two variations of lung attacks, all of which can be neutralized to a certain extent, if players are successful in maintaining a close position. Like most bosses in Bloodborne, the fight against the Orphan of Kos is comprised of two phases, both phases differentiated on the basis of the intensity with which he executes his attacks. Though Orphan of Kos is a tough opponent to fight, there is a certain glitch that allows players to have a walk in the park. Upon equipping the blood-sharoon spell, you can heal back 4 times the health you lose during the fight, making all the blood vitals almost unnecessary. As for the battle strategy, players should look to parry attacks and execute visceral counters, rather than taking a head-on charge.
| Location | Fishing Hamlet |
| Drops | Blood Echoes
Kos Parasite |
Ludwig the Accursed
Ludwig is the first boss of the Old Hunter’s DLC and is a boss that can prove to be rather frustrating, because on the surface, Ludwig is not a strong foe to fight, yet still players may find it very difficult to beat him. He lives in the castle, beside the door of the Blood Corpse. The battle with Ludwig takes place in two phases. In the first phase, players should focus more on parrying attacks and look for attacks that leave the boss in an open stance. Ludwig’s first attacks will always be a lunging AoE attack, which when dodged can be an opening for executing a long combo punish. His triple slash sweep is another example that can create the same opening for players to execute combo attacks.
Just like Lady Maria, Ludwing’s move set expands as the fight progresses. In the second phase of the fight, Ludwig equips a highly damaging projectile attack, which can create problems for most players, other than that mostly uses wide sweep attacks, which are reasonably easy to dodge and parry. in the second phase of the fight, players should use charge attacks to end the fight quickly. Overall a pretty strong boss to overcome.
| Location | The Hunter’s Nightmare |
| Drops | Guidance
Holy Moonlight Sword |
C Tier
C Tier.Bloodborne is considered to a hard game, because of the high difficulty levels and mental toll it takes to overcome foes and progress through the game’s storyline. Still, there are some bosses which are an absolute joke in regard to other bosses that ranked in the Bloodborne Boss Tier List. Defeating them is almost equivalent to a walk in the park.
Celestial Emissary
The Celestial Emissary is one of the easiest fights, you can imagine throughout the campaign of the Bloodborne storyline. Celestial Emissary are waves of small minions, that have little damage stats and also relatively low health caps, The fight with the Celestial Emissary takes place in the Orphanage of the Upper Cathedral Ward. However, there is a catch, probably halfway through the fight, they will transform into these minions, with low movement speed. If for any reason, a player is feeling overwhelmed with the incoming waves of Celestial Emissary, that can run back to the arch door pillars, which works as a shelter against the large minions. A weapon sweeping strikes, like the Hunter’s Axe is the ideal option for the fight.
| Location | Upper Cathedral Ward |
| Drops | Blood Echoes
Communion Arcane Damp Blood Gem |
Moon Presence
Moon Presence is the last boss in Bloodborne, which only unlocks if players have consumed all the umbilical cord items after the Gehrman fight. Though, Moon Presence is the last boss of the game but is not at all a tough fight. The boss has an impressive movement speed and a wide range of sweeping attacks, but they can be dodged easily without any hassle. In addition, Moon Presence also has a large hitbox, for players it will relatively fruitful to execute charge attacks aimed at his head. Moon Presence is not a very heavily armored boss, and can be stopped easily with a highly damaging weapon.
| Location | Hunter’s Dream |
| Drops | Blood Echoes |
Living Failures
Living Failures is the second boss of the Old Hunter’s DLC, and is the second boss the players will phase after Ludwig. There is nothing special about Living Failures, they are a band of four beasts, which have pretty one-dimensional sweep attacks, which can be dodged quite easily. The only complication that the players might phase while fighting Living Failures, is managing four foes at once.
| Location | Research Hall |
| Drops | Astral Clocktower Key |
Comparison Table
| Bosses | Tier | Location | Drops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micolash, Host Of The Nightmare | S | Nightmare of Mensis | Blood Echoes, Mensis Cage |
| Shadows of Yharnam | S | Forbidden Woods | Blood Echoes, Blood Rapture |
| Blood–Starved Beast | S | Old Yharnam | Pthumeru Chalice, Lower Hintertomb Chalice , Ailing Loran Root Chalice, Blood Gem |
| Father Gascoigne | S | Central Yharnam | Oedon Tomb Key |
| Martyr Logarius | S | Central Yharnam | Sword Hunter Badge |
| Cleric Beast | A | Hemwick Charnel Lane | Blood Echoes, (Bloodshot Eyeball) x4 |
| The Witch of Hemwick | A | Nightmare of Mensis | Blood Echoes, 1/3 of the Umbilical Cord |
| Mergo‘s Wet Nurse | A | Hunter's Dream | Old Hunter Badge |
| Gehrman, the First Hunter | A | Altar of Despair | Great Isz Chalice |
| Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos | A | Yahar'gul Unseen Village | Isz Root Chalice |
| The One Reborn | A | Cathedral Ward | (Yellow Backbone) x3 |
| Vicar Amelia | A | Moonside Lake | Gold Pendant |
| Rom, the Vacuous Spider | A | Astral Clocktower | Blood Echoes, (Kin Coldblood) x12, Lower Pthumeru Root Chalice |
| Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower | A | Nightmare Frontier | Celestial Dial |
| Amygdala | B | Hypogean Gaol | Blood Echoes, Ailing Loran Chalice, Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice |
| Darkbeast Paarl | B | Hypogean Gaol | Spark Hunter Badge, Bold Hunter's Mark |
| Laurence, the First Vicar | B | Fishing Hamlet | Spark Hunter Badge, Bold Hunter's Mark |
| Orphan of Kos | B | The Hunter's Nightmare | Blood Echoes, Kos Parasite |
| Ludwig the Accursed | B | Upper Cathedral Ward | Guidance, Holy Moonlight Sword |
| Celestial Emissary | C | Hunter's Dream | Blood Echoes, Communion, Arcane Damp Blood Gem |
| Moon Presence | C | Research Hall | Blood Echoes |
| Living Failures | C | Upper Cathedral Ward | Astral Clocktower Key |
Verdict
So our Bloodborne Boss ranking has distinctively ranked all 22 different bosses, from both the regular game and the Old Hunter’s DLC. All these bosses are ranked on the basis of their difficulty levels and the complications they pose to the players.
Once again, I humbly ask that you read the article with an open mind because Tier Lists are really a question of perspective and opinion. Having said that, we at TopTierList are open to constructive criticism and welcome your ideas and opinions on the subject.
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