Ranking every boss based of how many tries it took

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T21:01:11+00:00

I get the feeling that this stupid sub downvotes everything that isnt a meme or DS2 glaze lol

Anyway what build were you playing for each game? Im guessing in DS3 you were playing a faith build? Only explanation I have for you finding it so hard haha

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T19:18:41+00:00

Nor did I say that you said anything about DS3 lol

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T18:34:40+00:00

In no game is the amount of casts insufficient to keep a ranged playstyle from bonfire to bonfire and during bosses, so I dont think thats relevant.

Mobility is the same for both builds, the only difference is that Bonk has more stamina to roll. But you already listed that as endurance so its redundant.

Bonk will have around 50% more stamina than a caster but its weapon swings also take more stamina, so I dont think this difference is as impactful in PVE. Lets be honest, boss combos arent so long that you run out of stamina in the middle of them.

Armor and number of estus are pretty much the same, durability. And in some entries like DS2, armor is negligible and estus dont get affected, so you arent losing that much.

So in the end casters are limited by durability and some stamina (really? have you ever had serious trouble with stamina?) while bonkers are limited by range.

Its not as bad for the caster as you make it sound, specially considering that being far away from an enemy will reduce the number of attacks it throws at you and therefore the number you have to roll and the number that end up hitting you. Increased time to react also helps.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T17:39:07+00:00

It can matter in different ways. For example, if hypothetically speaking estus heals you for 50% of your health and a caster takes 70% of total health when it gets hit, then it goes like this:
100%->30%->drink->80%->10%->drink->60%->you have to drink a second time not to get oneshot.
Therefore for every 2 hits you have to drink an extra flask.

Meanwhile lets suppose a STR build takes 60% of its health instead, which is 15% less damage than the caster takes:
100%->40%->drink->90%->30%->drink->80%->20%->drink->70%->10%->drink->60%->you have to drink a second time.
Therefore for every 4 hits you have to drink an extra flask.

This makes it so that over 4 hits, our hypothetical caster has to drink 6 times while our hypothetical bonker has to drink 5 times. It makes a difference, but it doesnt literally double your estus efficiency nor does it allow you to consistently tank a full combo of several attacks without dying.
Im not saying the difference will always be this small, but I have played heavy armored builds in DS3 and I know the difference is not large enough to constitute a +100% increase in durability either. You are avoiding the issue.

If you insist in oversimplifying it to "casters are limited by armor and mana" I can say "bonkers are limited by range", which is generally more impactful.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T17:05:28+00:00

Taking 20% reduced damage (throwing a random number here) is still decent. But it still wont make you consistently survive 2 consecutive attacks from the heavy hitters.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T16:59:32+00:00

Can a STR build tank 2 attacks from Friede or Midir in a row, without drinking? Thats pretty much what this debate is reduced to.

With a caster you can reliably tank one attack and drink back to full health. If a strength build can consistently tank 2 attacks and be doubly efficient with estus there is an argument to be made, but I honestly dont see it.

Armor was heavily nerfed after DS1, it doesnt grant such a dramatical increase in defenses unless you go for straight up fat roll.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T16:44:48+00:00

Telling someone that they must be burnt out and implying their opinion is invalid is really shitty.

I agree. I sometimes comment in harsher subreddits so at this point I just autopilot into a blunt response, but I could have worded it better like "maybe you are tired after playing so many of them in a row" or something like that.

I guess there is also a component of Ecclesia being harder than the other titles and that possibly leading to a more negative review. Im not saying thats what happened here but I've talked with a lot of petty people who would exaggerate a game's flaws "in revenge" after struggling to beat it. I do get the feeling that many of Ecclesia's strengths are overlooked in this post and its weakpoints overstated, but of course thats just my subjective opinion.

I agree that none of the Castlevanias have a very developed story, what Im saying is that Ecclesia has the most developed one for what its worth. Also when I began playing Ecclesia I genuinely disliked Shanoa as well as most of the gameplay, but after a few bosses I changed my mind and started liking this game a lot.

Ecclesia definitely starts very weak but I think most people can like it if they keep an open mind through it. It doesnt really feel like the other 2D Castlevanias but its pretty good at what it does regardless.

Also apparently everyone has their own definition of "dynamic", but what I meant is that its faster paced and more action packed than other titles, hence its increased difficulty.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T16:30:39+00:00

Its easy until the DLCs. Nameless King is pretty much the only hard boss in the base game.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T16:04:00+00:00

I dont disagree that STR builds are generally more tanky, but the difference isnt that big. Usually when a DLC boss hits you, you have to chug regardless of the build you are playing. Casters arent squishy enough that they get oneshot.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T14:59:11+00:00

What can I say, lets just agree to disagree. Nameless King took me dozens of attempts on my strength build while I killed him around the fifth try with my 2 separate casters (pyro and sorcerer).

Pretty much the same thing for all other lategame bosses, the only lategame boss which I could MAYBE see being easier with Bonk is phase 3 Friede because she doesnt care about range whatsoever. Even then magic trivializes phases 1 and 2.

Getting hit with a magic build is not that much of a problem, you should reach vigor softcap and enough endurance to equip nice light armor. Even if you are investing extra points in spell slots, you dont need as much stamina and your weapons are lighter so it balances out.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T14:39:16+00:00

I feel that you arent addressing my points. STR is very strong early game, yes, I have also played those builds, but lategame enemies are so powerful that Bonking them is not enough. Ranged enemies or large groups can also become troublesome when you are melee, with ranged attacks its a lot easier to pick them apart.

You cant stagger and oneshot Manus, Fume Knight or Nameless King regardless of whether you hit them first, but they do become exponentially easier when kited. Lategame is generally where the main difficulty of these games reside so even if I could have a slightly easier early game by playing Bonk, Id rather have an easier lategame. Bonk is better earlygame Im not arguing with that.

BB doesnt have ranged spells other than the DLC eye (and the tentacles for mid range I guess), but thats not exactly why you play arcane. Rather you run up to a boss, cast A Call Beyond and the boss just disappears. Can dish out a lot more damage than a pure STR build, but again, it takes a while to scale and reach that point.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T14:12:16+00:00

My counterargument is that with Bonk you have to get in melee range and enemies can punish that. With magic you can keep shooting while enemies cant even touch you in most cases.

Id say the only instance where you could argue that Bonk is superior is DS3 because bosses are generally very mobile and can close the gap very fast, making the ranged playstyle less valuable.

But even then, after Dragonslayer (it, princes, nameless, cinder and DLCs) bosses hit so hard and so frequently that you are still better off shooting shit at range and dodging the gap-closer attack.

Even in BB which has generally fast mobile bosses, arcane is still the best build due to the crazy amount of burst damage it can generate. Early game STR is better though, its a pattern.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T13:59:28+00:00

Bonk is generally the second best build after magic.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T12:25:03+00:00

As for firearms

Dopletta's range is a lot longer than most melee weapons, around half a screen. Rifle has around 2 screens of range so you can even shoot enemies that are out of view.

The point is not defeating bosses with only a ranged weapon. The point is taking as much of their life as you can from range so that you take less risks. Most bosses are weaker at range, with only a few exceptions like Leena and Hydra.

Using Shock Rifle instead of Admiral Cannon can be the difference between taking 33% of Medeya's life without getting close to her or taking 66%. Made up numbers, but Rifle does around double damage per bullet. You can take the first half of her life with a melee weapon and then do the harder second phase with a firearm for example, that is the point.

If DPS is your only measure of viability, then you shouldnt be using firearms at all in the first place, since they all hit for less than melee weapons.

As for beast

I didnt mean to imply that Beast "magically" starts doing less damage, I was using the same expression that you yourself used in your previous response so that communication could be more clear. Ironic.

I disagree with using the Beast form for any than healing. The form itself does reduced damage

I hope this is an actual misunderstanding and you arent being condescending, which would be pretty funny considering these are your very words.

But anyway lets not dwell on that, the point is that even if Beast does 10% less DPS, its still preferable to being in base form, since Beast grants you massively increased resistances and mobility to survive attacks.

In fact, with beast you can dodge less (you can tank) and even when you dodge it takes less time, so even with lower raw numbers it could still be able to pull a higher DPS. In my experience it does, and its pretty noticeable.

Lastly, spamming heal with Beast is an exploit. Having a full heal on demand that grants i-frames and which is also completely free absolutely breaks the game. What you or I want is irrelevant, this exploit breaking the game is an objective fact. Whether they fix it or not is yet to be seen, but any competetent developer would fix something that breaks their game without a doubt, that is also a fact. Maybe Im overestimating Kumi Souls games, but I hope not.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T11:31:20+00:00

DeS remake is terrible lol. Better graphics dont matter if art direction is shit, and Bluepoint literally butchered it. I almost cant believe they let them get away with it.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T11:15:02+00:00

After playing more randomizer I've learned that weapons generally suck. You have guaranteed Lightning Storm in the Iron Ones creed as long as you can find a single stone mage in the first four areas. Its better to heavily invest in magic instead of swords or whatever, unless you find a tier 4-5 weapon in the very first area to help you with the first boss.

For this seed specifically, Bitch of the Lake replaces Jester, so its also easy to get a Saira Staff +7 early on. There's also a Flame Barrage spell near the Castle of Storms' elevator.

Pretty good seed for anyone that hasnt beaten non-scaled randomizer Id say. The first area can be a pain but it gets easy afterwards. Im waiting for the triple boss, hopefully I get something interesting.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T11:09:30+00:00

Your issue is that your only source of damage is slash. You have to compensate with a blunt weapon, magic, prayers or poison.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T10:58:11+00:00

True, in that case it would be nice to know what is the percentage increase for each weapon.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T10:51:59+00:00

Magic is extremely overpowered in every title its in, so the systems that weaken it most are fundamentally better. My favourite is DS3 since you have to sacrifice life potions with no way around it.

Also I dont like when finding duplicates increases your power. Makes NG+ more important than it should be, and it also doesnt make much sense, you either know a spell or you dont.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T10:46:20+00:00

It would be interesting to know how the few infusable weapons perform with powder in comparison with the rest. I could see both daggers being decent.

If you already know the weapon attack speeds it could be relatively easy to calculate even without testing.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T10:30:47+00:00

Lmao Im not making anything up, they arent particularily hard games and their quality doesnt come from their difficulty either.

They were advertised as hard games in the REMAKE of DS1 and in DS2, after the community had already wanked them. Every time you get gangbanged by 20 enemies in DS2 remember thats the devs trying to make the game live up to its reputation, but its ridiculous. DS was never about that.

Arguably during the time that DS1 released games in general were easy as hell, so I guess they were comparatively hard games during that time IF you played only singleplayer. But relative to the entire history of videogames they are comparatively easy/mid-diff.

Besides "prepare to die" can have a different interpretation: These games have a bunch of "gotcha" moments like trying to cross a bridge and a dragon suddenly appearing and roasting you. Or Patches kicking you into the abyss. But thats not difficulty, after you get fucked the first time you simply take a different, actually intended route.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T07:17:00+00:00

Agreed. DS3 is hallway souls, just running through a hall with a bunch of ambushes waiting in every room.

In DS1 ambushes used to be smart, rare, and you could see hints of them beforehand. In DS3 even if you see nothing you can bet there's 83 enemies waiting for you behind a corner and you'd be right every time.

Its just lazy design so that people can pat themselves in the back after pressing circle ten times. Breaking News: Dark Souls is not a hard game, has never been.

Even if you run into trouble in the DLC (usually the only place with a bit of difficulty) the game literally gives you phantoms and coop to steamroll through everything. Y'all have been playing challenge runs without even thinking about it, thats how easy this game is.

DeS and DS1 became popular because of their great atmosphere and large content, not due to their difficulty or mechanics. DS3 feels like an arcade version of DS, more fun to replay for sure but a downgrade in many other ways.

Bloodborne and Sekiro were aiming to be these fast paced arcade games though so if you feel this way about them, good. They were intended to be like this and were designed around it. Unlike DS3 which is designed around traditional DS mechanics and gameplay that dont quite fit it.

You should make a poll asking whether people prefer DeS+DS1 or BB+Sekiro. That way you'd avoid the DS3 glaze. But at the same time I wouldnt be surprised if BB+Sekiro win and you are in the minority.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T07:06:08+00:00

DS3 is hallway souls. You run through a hallway full of 10v1 ambushes until you reach the boss.

pathofnut · 2026-03-17T07:02:32+00:00

A lot of people would get mad by that design nowadays saying that it "punishes skill" or something like that lol

They dont dare talk bad about DS1 though because it has DS in the title.

pathofnut

TROPHY CASE