Due to mechanics such as "perma-death,"Fire Emblem is often regarded as one of the more difficult series published by Nintendo. While the outside perception of the series is definitely more severe than the games' actual difficulty, this does not mean that games don't possess less forgiving segments and bosses. Especially on the higher difficulties of Fire Emblem games, there have been numerous bosses who rank quite highly on the difficulty spectrum and possess a questionable level of fairness.
So today, we're going to examine the top 10 most difficult bosses who've ever appeared in the Fire Emblem series!
10 Henning - The Binding Blade
The boss of the The Binding Blade's Chapter 8X Paralogue, Henning is an extraordinarily frustrating boss to take down. A hero wielding a steel sword and a hand axe, Henning possesses a combination of high skill and speed. This paired with his location upon the chapter's throne, makes him very difficult to land a hit on, all whilst his high skill forces players to risk suffering a critical hit.
9 Arion - Genealogy Of The Holy War
The boss of Chapter 9 of Genealogy of the Holy War, Arion is a painful boss to deal with due to his combination of high damage output and survivability.
Consistently doubling a player's units, Arion is a Wyvern Lord capable of easily striking down units within a single combat. As if this weren't enough, Arion is difficult to put down due the the presence of his prayer skill.
8 Gomes - Thracia 776
Gomes appears as the boss of Chapter 8X of Thracia 776 and is a deceptively powerful adversary. Capable of taking out many of a player's units in a single combat, Gomes possesses speed high enough to avoid getting doubled by a player's units, and defense high enough to prevent players from damaging him meaningfully. While his one weakness lies in his low resistance, player's have access to very few magic units by the point in which Gomes is encountered, making the use of Asvel the only surefire way of dealing with him.
7 Ashnard - Path of Radiance
The primary antagonist of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, while Ashnard may not pose much of a threat on the game's normal difficulty, Ashnard poses a huge threat on the game's harder difficulties.
Rather than simply waiting for a player like the majority of Fire Emblem bosses, Ashnard uses his flying mount to take the offensive and come for the player. As if Ashnard's imposing stats weren't enough of a threat, Ashnard is only capable of being damaged by Ike's sword, Ragnell. Furtermore, once a player manages to defeat Ashnard, he get's right back up, refilling his HP and gaining a boost to his stats, requiring the player to best him yet again.
6 Jedah - Shadows Of Valentia
Jedah is one of the most prominent recurring villains within Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Unlike many other bosses on this list, defeating Jedah is not required to beat the game he appears in and is entirely optional. For player's who seek to put an end to Jedah are not in for a fun time, as in addition to possessing high defense, Jedah can completely negate numerous attacks thrown his way, all whilst he repeatedly summons mogalls that must be dealt with.
5 Takumi - Fates: Conquest
The final boss of Fire Emblem: Fates: Conquest, Takumi's boss fight is made significantly more difficult due to the level in which he appears. As the final chapter of Conquest is a deadly hallway full of a neverending spawn of enemies, Takumi intermittently assaults the player with beams that deal damage to any unit not in cover.
Once a player initiates combat with Takumi, is paired up with a copy of himself that can occasionally block incoming attack and deal additional damage, making the fight quite difficult. On higher difficulties such as Lunatic, Takumi gains the skills Vengeance and Lifetaker, making him even more of a hassle to overcome.
4 Ashera - Radiant Dawn
Ashera is the final boss of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, and can be quite difficult for unprepared players to deal with, especially at the higher difficulties of the game. This is due to a multitude of reasons. Firstly, while the vast majority of enemies in Fire Emblem are only capable of fighting one unit at a time, Ashera is capable of dealing damage to a player's entire army at once. Furthermore, if a player manages to deplete all of Ashera's health, if the final blow was not dealt by Ike, she will completely regain all of her health, requiring a player to essentially defeat her again.
3 The Black Knight - Path Of Radiance
The Black Knight is a recurring villain who is fought in both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. In the former, a player has the opportunity to fight him at the end of Chapter 27. However, this fight is not like most normal boss fights in the series, as players only have access to Ike and Mist, and are only allotted a set amount of turns before the battle is automatically ended.
While the game can still be completed without defeating the Black Knight, in the game's hardest difficulties putting an end to him is incredibly difficult and luck based, as even with capped strength, Ike must trigger his aether ability numerous times in order to deal enough damage to seal the deal.
2 Every Boss In The Early Game - Shadow Dragon (Hard 5)
A remake of the very first entry in the series, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon's normal difficulty is not too challenging as far as the series is concerned. However, Shadow Dragon added numerous difficulty options, letting players tone up their own suffering.
In Shadow Dragon's hardest difficulty, "Hard 5," from the word go, the game is completely merciless. Nearly every unit at one's disposal for the first few maps of the game can annihilate each unit under a player's control, save for Jagen, making his use paramount if one seeks to complete this difficulty.
1 Medeus - Shadow Dragon (Hard 5)
As the final boss of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, the manakete Medeus is made absurdly frustrating within the game's hardest difficulty, "Hard 5." Paired with a map that is chock full of powerful and oppressive enemies that are sure to cause multiple casualties in one's ranks, Medeus himself is a heavy hitter who shrugs off most damage that isn't dealt by Marth's Falchion or attacks from a manakete such as Tiki or Nagi. Of these options, the most readily accessible is Marth, who unfortunately in unlikely able to survive a single combat against the dragon.