Lords of the Fallen is a gigantic game with a wide variety of areas to explore, from lands covered in ice and snow to the bottom of a torturous tower of pain. Not only does this game have multiple endings, but it also has unique bosses and rewards based on the ending the player is on the path to obtain.

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Across the 30+ bosses Lords of the Fallen has to offer, there are some that are truly challenging, even in co-op. So, let's go over some of the most challenging bosses in Axiom (or the Umbral) so players know what to prepare for ahead of time.

10 Pieta - She of Blessed Renewal

Starting things off with well, the first real 'boss' of the game, it's Pieta. Pieta is not only the player's best introduction to how boss fights will be in the remainder of Lords of the Fallen, but she's also a very helpful NPC throughout the course of the game (she's the one who upgrades the player's Sanguinatrix).

As a boss fight, however, she's definitely a bit of a barrier for players new to this genre of games in terms of difficulty. If players rely on the parrying mechanic, they can easily Stagger Pieta 2 or 3 times before she transforms into her second phase, but if they don't it can be a tad rough. Thankfully, even when she's in her second phase, her moveset doesn't change all that drastically, players will just need to chase her down a bit more often.

9 The Hushed Saint

The Hushed Saint is an example of a subset of Lords of the Fallen bosses that seem to spend a decent portion of their boss fight being completely untargetable by players. While this is fine once or twice, it does get a bit more irritating as it pops up more and more throughout the game. However, the Hushed Saint is probably the least offensive example of this, since he's only untargetable when hopping on and off his horse (or out of the water).

In general, the attack patterns of the Hushed Saint are not that difficult, but the damage he outputs for the level the majority of players tend to be when they reach this area early on can be brutal. Additionally, a lot of players also missed the mechanic of Soul Siphoning those Umbral Parasites (which the arena is covered in) right when he goes over them to knock the Hushed Saint off his own horse.

8 Kinrangr Guardian Folard

There are a lot of people who are comparing this game to something like Dark Souls 2. Both games seem to have a bit of a reputation for designing their difficulty around the concept of 'pranking' their players rather than just challenging them. Whether it's old ladies pushing the Dark Crusader off cliffs, dogs around every corner, or the army of archers in every area, Lords of the Fallen can be a bit much at times.

Kinrangr Guardian Folard is a perfect example of this design philosophy. His boss battle almost seems intentionally designed to be as irritating as possible given that it has:

1. An arena covered in ankle-high water that disrupts movement.
2. 3 Kinrangr Hounds that also have some ice AoE to their attacks.
3. Folard himself has ice AoEs around most of his attackings, making parrying a poor option.
4. When players die and revive in Umbral, they'll be met with a Mendacious Visage enemy who was apparently just waiting for its moment to shine.

7 Harrower Dervla The Pledged Knight & The Unbroken Promise

Lords of the Fallen's story and lore can be a bit hard to parse at times, given all the religious worldbuilding, sanctimonious 'fluff', and lines about scriptures (honestly it's very reminiscent of the Blasphemous games) but there's a lot of interesting lore to be found. In particular, the lore around the Unbroken Promise and his guardian knight, Harrower Dervla, is extra interesting.

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For the first phase fight against Dervla, it's a pretty standard battle. She uses a crossbow, and a sword, with attack patterns that are pretty easily read/parried. However, halfway through her fight, the boy chained to the altar behind her starts firing projectiles periodically that will get in the way pretty often. Once she's down, phase 2 against the mutated fused form of these two tragic souls, AKA the Unbroken Promise, begins. There's a lot more going on in this phase compared to phase 1, but other than those floating nails that home in on the player and the bolts that are shot unground before resurfacing under the player, most of the attacks are pretty easy to handle.

6 Spurned Progeny

Making giant-sized bosses in Soulslike games is something developers always try to pull off but rarely actually accomplish. They're always at the very least atmospheric but it's very rare that a giant boss is purely a delight to fight. However, the Spurned Progeny in Lords of the Fallen is a lot of fun to fight, once players understand the gimmick behind one particular attack it has. Every other attack this thing has can be easily dodged or learned, but the massive fireball it'll create partway into phase 2 seems to hit anywhere and will basically insta-kill most players.

To avoid this attack, just hide behind one of the upstairs walls in the ramparts of the arena. Do that and the fireball won't hit. Once players know how to avoid this one specific attack, the Spurned Progeny is a pretty fun experience.

5 Tancred - Master of Castigations & Reinhold The Immured

A lot of people in Lords of the Fallen have been getting lost and going down the wrong path for huge swaths of the game. For example, there are quite a few people who mistakenly got the Pilgrim's Perch Key early and committed themselves to reaching the end of its path. Additionally, there's also a subset of people who somehow ended up at the bottom of the Tower of Penance before they ever reached Fitzroy's Gorge. This game has a lot of different branching paths, but the difference in the damage enemies and bosses deal (and the health they have) varies greatly from zone to zone. In particular, if players end up at the Tancred, Master of Castigations boss battle before they have enough DPS, HP, or Defense, they're going to be struggling.

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As a bossfight, Tancred's first phase is rather easy and pretty predictable for anyone who has fought all the other 'Holy Knight' type enemies in this game. A lot of basic stabs, wide slashes, and overhead slams. However, his second phase, Reinhold the Immured, can be a lot tougher and has a ton of health (especially in co-op). But, after a couple of attempts, players will realize how easy to read Reinhold's attacks are, and as long as they approach it carefully the second phase isn't all that bad.

4 Elianne The Starved

This next boss is one that players are least likely to see in their playthrough, as it involves a series of complicated steps (such as not cleansing any beacon) that lead to the Umbral ending of the game.

However, for players who are on the Umbral path, Elianne the Starved isn't really found but more 'triggered'. Essentially, when players have reached a certain step of the Umbral ending path, they'll have the option to Soulflay Pieta in Skyrest. After doing this, it automatically transitions to this boss fight. But, while this is technically the 'secret' final boss for the Umbral playthrough, Elianne isn't all that difficult and has a lot of reused moves pulled straight from Pieta's boss battle (which makes sense given the context). Of course, the two fights aren't 1-to-1, but they're similar enough that players will go into the fight half-prepared already. Simply look out for the flurry of Umbral Orbs, make sure to have a good amount of Wither Defense, and this fight shouldn't take all that long.

3 Judge Cleric - The Radiant Sentinel

The reason the Judge Cleric battle is so high on this list, despite the patterns of both phases of this boss being relatively predictable, is that whenever the attacks do hit (especially in the second phase), they're brutal. That and the fact that even if players know what attack is coming, some of the spells the Cleric uses cover such a wide area.

Granted, this is still one of the most well-rounded and seemingly beloved fights in the game in terms of combat, design, atmosphere, and rewards from her Remembrance. There's really not much more to say other than that. Learn the melee patterns, be ready to react to the wide AoE spells, and don't get too greedy.

2 The Lampreaper

Ah, the 'forced death' tutorial boss of the game. Yes, technically the Lampreaper can be defeated in the tutorial, but the amount of time and effort that takes is absurd. More realistically, players will be killing this boss much later on in Upper Calranth, and it'll still require a lot of work.

Not only is this a boss fight where players will be watching (and occasionally dodging) while the Lampreaper spends half the battle on its 'dragon', but it's also one where players will want to do a bit of prep work before entering the arena to make the Umbral Parasite beneath the center grate of the arena accessible. In general, the battle against the Lampreaper is pretty fun, though he does move around constantly, and it's pretty worthy of being a boss battle that's built up for a majority of the game.

1 The Sundered Monarch

And finally let's go over one of the last bosses in Lords of the Fallen, the Sundered Monarch. This fight is already being compared with stuff like the Vendrick fight in Dark Souls 2, or even some of the boss fights in the Dark Souls 3 DLCs.

Overall, the general consensus on this fight is that, while hard, the Sundered Monarch is one of the most enjoyably challenging boss battles in the game. He has a much wider range of moves than most other bosses do, he doesn't have any gimmicks that feel 'unfair', and his design and the lore around him are fantastic. Plus, given that the boss fight after the Monarch (for the Infernal and Radiant endings) is so incredibly unenjoyable, the Sundered Monarch looks even better by comparison.

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