A staple of just about any popular fantasy IP, dragons have played a prominent role throughout FromSoftware's three-decade-long history. From classic fire-spewing drakes that perch on the top of castle ramparts to ancient dragons that used to be humans, FromSoftware's Souls series has run the gamut of dragon variations, though that didn't stop Elden Ring from bringing its own swathe of dragons to the table.

In Elden Ring's base game, players can face off against 12 major dragon bosses, and another handful of optional dragon-like foes such as Magma Wyrms. These dragons range from magic-imbued forces of nature to less threatening beasts who can barely lift themselves off the ground due to their decayed wings. With the release of Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, another eight major dragon bosses join the already-packed roster, though there's one that stands head and wings above the rest.

Elden Ring Gravesite Plain Stepping Out
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Comparing Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's Bayle The Dread to Previous FromSoftware Dragons

How Elden Ring's Bayle Stacks Up Against Demon's Souls' Dragons

Located at the very top of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's dragon-focused Jagged Peak area, Bayle the Dread is the final obstacle in a lengthy and tough gauntlet of dragon bosses. But while the three Jagged Peak Drakes and Ancient Dragon Sennesax put up a strong challenge, it's nothing compared to the slugfest that is Bayle the Dread's boss fight.

In comparison to Bayle the Dread, Demon's Souls' dragon bosses are a piece of cake, both functioning more like puzzles than actual boss fights. Demon's Souls' Red/Blue Dragon simply requires the player to move quickly between different spots of cover, and the infamously disappointing Dragon God boss tasks players with doing the same in a different arena, smashing a few environmental objects along the way.

How Elden Ring's Bayle Stacks Up Against Dark Souls' Dragons

While Demon's Souls' dragons can't really be considered proper boss fights, the Dark Souls trilogy is home to quite a few, one or two of which give Bayle a run for his money. The first Dark Souls' two main dragon boss fights are Seath the Scaleless and Black Dragon Kalameet. While Seath's moveset doesn't hold too many similarities with Bayle's, Kalameet's does.

Much like Bayle, Kalameet has a few lunging attacks that can take the player by surprise and has a wealth of fire-breathing AoE attacks that deal a great deal of damage. However, Bayle's attack pattern is much faster than Kalameet's, with there being a lot less wind-up to each of his attacks.

Dark Souls 2 also has its fair share of major dragon fights. The Guardian Dragon's moveset is quite similar to Kalameet's, though it also has a unique attack that sees it shoot orbs of fire at the player. Upon entering his second phase, Bayle will pull out a similar trick, flying around the arena and shooting orbs of fire at those below, though his attack is also accompanied by paralyzing bolts of lightning. Dark Souls 2's Sinh is arguably a trickier boss to fight than Bayle, though that's only because the dragon spends most of the encounter flying high above the player, making it very difficult to land any hits.

Though Dark Souls 3 has quite a few dragon bosses of its own, the only one that truly matters in this discussion is Darkeater Midir, a boss who may have just been dethroned as FromSoftware's hardest dragon fight. With an enormous health pool and some incredibly difficult-to-dodge AoE attacks, Midir still poses a significant challenge, but Bayle's sheer strength might give him the edge overall.