I'm interested in hearing what you guys think the hardest and easiest of the following were:

• Area
• Enemy
• Boss (required)
• Boss (any)

Something can be difficult for a lot of reasons. For me, the hardest area was probably Dragon Shrine. The Old Knights can take relatively large amounts of damage and they do a ton themselves. I found especially the two near the door to be frustrating at times. Mostly because I was getting impatient to deal with them and tried to either rush them or run past them. Both possible, just more often backfiring than not. Also, the entire run up the stairs is very challenging I would say. Two greatsword Old Knights that aggro together. The Dragon Knights later on. You could run past everyone here, but going through it traditionally is pretty tough. Easiest area (if we don't count Things Betwixt?) would maybe be Black Gulch. It's really small and while the poison is annoying, almost nothing there will probably ever kill you (except for the two Giants, but that's optional).

Hardest enemy would definitely be the Hippo's for me. They can take tons of damage and their grab attack has been an instant kill on all three of my characters, no matter the armor and health. I cheese them more often than not. Easiest is a little hard to answer for this one. There are many easy enemies in the game. Maybe the Lurkers? I don't think they ever hit me more than twice in total. They seem really slow.

To be honest, I'm not completely sure which bosses are required, so perhaps this isn't valid, but I thought the Ruin Sentinels were the hardest of the required ones. Partly because of my builds. With one of my builds, a relatively heavy knight, I straight up slaughtered them. With the other two I had a lot of trouble. I don't think this fight is as 'bad' as Smough and Ornstein, but I still don't like multiple bosses to fight in this series. I feel the lock-on doesn't really fit with how I should be fighting them. Anyway, yeah. Out of all the bosses, I think when I'm going to start a fourth character, Ruin Sentinels will be the only required boss I might still die on. Easiest boss is probably Covetous Demon. Iron King is a good candidate also though.

I don't know what to think of anyone who says differently, but I think you'd only be kidding yourself if you didn't think Ancient Dragon is the hardest boss in the game overall. I'd sure love to know if anyone thinks differently and why.

The Ruin Sentinels get demolished by powerstanced clubs or maces. A powerstanced L2 attack will stagger them and inflict about 30+% damage.

Yay !

Boss (any) :Easiest : Flexile Sentry. The Gluttonous Jabba the Hutt in Earthen Peak isn't for behind though. Seriously, they are slow and easily avoidable and they don't do so much damage (and that's coming frome someone who uses armor because they look awesome, not because they protect well... although, this doesn't deny that). I chose the Flexile Sentry because...

Hardest : Flexile Sentry, in New Game +. The sentry isn't difficult by itself, but the two ninjas that spawn with him are a nightmare. I could go on ranting about how broken they are for long... and I already did any occasion I had in other threads.

Boss (required) :

Easiest : Demon of Song. He is slow, easily readable.

Hardest : Throne Watcher and Throne Defender, because their are two of them AND they heal one another if you don't kill them fast enough.

Ennemy :

Easiest : Hmmm... Tutorial ennemies whithout any weapons ?

Hardest : EXPLODING MUMMIES ! They aren't the "hardest", strictly speaking, but they are the most irritating ones. The real hardest, I'll vote for the Hippomen too. I can't seem to dodge them well and clearly can't block them.

Area :

Easiest : Black Gulch. Poison spitting statues are annoying, not dangerous. Pools of oil can e set on fire for easy kills and the hand-worm-thing in there aren't even that dangerous... Those giant serpents... Meh...

Hardest : I didn't found any area really hard, but the most annoying is certainly Crypt, simply because of those wraith spawning tombstones... and those 7 knights waiting just outside the boss room (lined with unbreakable tombstones, which can become a real nightmare if you didn't find the bell ringer).

@zevvion: On a side note, Covetous Demon and Ruin Sentinel aren't requested bosses. In fact, the only true requested bosses are : The Mirror Knight, the Demon of Song, the guy in the crypt who's name I forgot, the Last Giant, the Giant Lord, the Throne Watcher and Throne Defender and, finally, Nashandra.

Those hippos are pretty damn hard but the giants might be harder. They hit harder and their attacks seem faster/track better. Maybe it's just in my head though. I was fighting the ones in Black Gultch yesterday when I got invaded. Managed to kill one, keep the fight with the invader as far away from the second giant as possible, win that fight then defeat the second giant. It was actually pretty easy to run and heal from them, and the invader let me as he wanted the fight near the giants. I think the ones in the memories are harder to run and heal from because of the ranged attacks from the other types of giants.

Easiest area would be Dragon Memories. Easiest real area would be Harvest Valley. It's so easy that it's easy to forget it exists. Hardest area might be Dragon Shrine or some of the Dark Chasms.

Other than the Ancient Dragon, invading the miracle merchant might be the hardest optional thing. She always heals and since you're an invader you can't, unless it's a miracle, so non magic users are fucked. It's a small arena and she casts WotG and other spells that tear you up. I got my ass handed to me a bunch when I tried it at level 190. Had to rely on poison to counteract her constant healing.

Out of curiosity, how do you skip the Covetous Demon? There doesn't seem to be any other alternate route to going around him unless you mean the 'collect 1 million souls and the Winter Shrine opens' skip which, lets be honest, isn't the way most players are going to do the game. You're also forgetting that you need a Fragrant Branch of Yore in order to even get to the shrine of winter, this means a least 2 additional bosses must be beaten, Dragonrider and the Skeleton Lords (in order to gain access to the Fragrant branch in Harvest Valley).

Demon of Song in Shrine of Amana is by far the easiest boss in the game.

Hardest Boss (Optional): Smelter Demon - Combined with the Iron Keep archers you need to fight through each attempt, he is the most difficult boss to tackle hands down. The Runner up is King Venderick, he was tough because he can kill you in one swing of his blade, but he's slow and pretty easy to dodge. I'm found the Ancient Dragon super easy as long as you have some means of resisting her fire. I used the Great Magic Shield miracle and fire resist ring +2 and it was a cake walk.

Hardest Boss (Normal): Throne Defenders - None of the core boss fights were that tough, depending on your build the Lost Sinner can be rough, especially in NG+ and his pyro buddies, but the throne defenders heal each other ability and how easy it is to accidentally roll off the edge, made them probably the most difficult core boss.

Easiest Boss: Prowling Magus, and Congregation - I've steam rolled through those guys every playthrough. My favorite one was with my mage, I used dark fog on the entire group and they all died of poison.

Hardest Area: Shrine of Amana - Magic snipers that destroy you if you slip up and get hit. You either snipe back with a bow or get real good at dodging. They cast spells so fast and from such a great distance while archdrake soldiers charge you, it makes it super tediuos.

Easiest Area: Harvest Valley - The poison is a pain but all the enemies there are super easy to defeat. I also found the run up to Brightstone Cove where you fight the Gyrm super easy. The Gyrm look super tough but are so slow and easy to backstab.

Hardest Enemy: Archdrake Priestess - These magic snipers are the worst. Runner up goes to the spectres in the Undead Crypt, when that bell rings and you are swarmed by these guys, say your prayers.

Easiest Enemy:Steelworker Undead - There a loads of canon fodder enemies like those poison mushrooms etc. that pose little threat, but the Steelworker Undead in Harvest Valley right before the Covetous Demon, look really scary with their giant hammers, but they do little damage and are super easy to take down.

Can you skip the Ruin Sentinel boss using that Door Pharros Stone where there's a chest with a soul vessel and going up that cage elevator? It comes out on the other side of that boss doesn't it? I've always beaten the Sentinels first before using it so I'm not sure.

@drmechano: Having 1.000.000 souls (on NG at least) opens the Shrine of Winters doors for you, so you don't have to face the four old ones, neither do you have to face the bosses before them. And yeah, I forgot the Frangrant Branch is needed, turning some of those boss into needed boss. But strictly speaking, all the boss before the Shrine of Winter (not counting the Last Giant) aren't needed to finish the game, since their are multiple Frangrant Branches, so multiple routes to take them... But I'll agree that this is very unlikely. Oh and I forgot the Two Dragonriders in Drangleic.

@benspyda:Yes, exatcly that. It comes up right in the front of the Sinner's Rise.

Ehh I'd say the Last Giant is a lot easier. Demon of Song has that charge attack that can catch you off guard. The giant just kinda walks around, the biggest danger is his ground stomp that has insane splash damage and it's always a shock when you're nowhere near his foot and it still hits you.

@myrmicus: Ok, so technically your choice is either "Flexile Sentry + The Pursuer and skip Ruin Sentinels", "Flexile Sentry + Ruin Sentinels and skip the Pursuer" or "Pursuer + Ruin Sentinels and skip Flexile Sentry". All three of those bosses are optional but you can only skip one. That's pretty cool how open that early part of the game is.

Obviously you should hunt down every god damn boss in the game and murder them.

Hardest Area: Dragon Shrine, Memory of Vammar gets a gold star here though for being almost impossible to clear in the time limit

Easiest Area: Tower of Flame

Hardest req. Boss: Lost Sinner NG+, Mirror Knight if online

Easiest req. Boss: Doesn't work since there's only like 7 required fights; but I guess Guardian Dragon, always a fun fight

Hardest optional boss: Smelter (Darklurker not too far behind)

Easiest optional boss: Flexile Sentry

Hardest Enemy: Mace Drakekeeper (easily the hardest enemy in the series, not counting Dark Chasm Havel)

Easiest Enemy: Individual Syan Knights, tutorial guys (though ironically the Hippos are one of the hardest enemies as well)

@mosespippy: Yeah man, Memory of Vammar is such a cakewalk. Why'd they make those giant ass fireballs only do 1500 damage? They should do 3000!

I will restrict myself to NG since I have decided to not go into NG+ until the PC version is out. Also all the lame tricks to dodge bosses don't work in NG either. Also I don't consider Pursuer, Flexile, or Ruin Sentinels optional. No matter what you do you have to fight one or possibly two of them on a true NG cycle. You also have to fight Dragonrider to get access to Huntsman's Copse. Since I can't use ESP to tell which you will skip I consider all of them required.

Hardest area? That's a tough one... Going to break this into a couple categories.
- Most Annoying = Shrine of Amana, Honorable Mention goes to Black Gulch.
- Hardest Mobs (overall) = Dragon Shrine
- Hardest "Area" (as in the actual level) = Harvest Valley, if you actually want to clear it that poison get's really irritating. Especially if you get in the foggy areas in caves, very hard to see where you actually are.
- Place I Died the Most = Iron Keep.... I REALLY wanted those chests sitting in lava.
- Level I least look forward to in PC Version = Undead Crypt

Special note: If you can't tell I don't actually consider any area of the game all that hard. They all have their quirks that might make them hard or easy. If you have to have "one answer" assume my answer to be Undead Crypt simply because it is the area I least look forward to. DS2 managed to avoid the cheesiness of DS1 area design which is why I can't say "Anor Londo those !$%R@#%^*% ARCHERS!" in response to this question.

Easiest Area = Thing's Betwixt ;p. Well no I guess Majula is easier. Oh? Tutorial area and town don't count... fine... Yeah I would say Hiede's Tower of Flame, it is actually surprisingly easy and there is only one mob that is even that dangerous but he never respawns.

Hardest Non Optional Boss Fight = Queen in Earthen Peak (if you don't get rid of the poison), second place is The Rotten. None of the non optional bosses are actually all that bad, I one or two shot all but the two I just listed. Well not counting Nashandra due to late night stupid issues.

Easiest Non Optional Boss Fight = Covetous Demon. I played blind, no idea what was in the room, or what his powers were, and he still only hit me once. That hit also only happened because I had him at 1-2 hits from death and I just got in a hurry. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Hardest Optional Boss = Ancient Dragon (if you don't use the lame trick), or Smelter Demon.

Easiest Optional Boss = Undead Chariot (once you know the fight), or I hate to say it Old Dragonslayer. If you have a decent shield Old Dragonslayer is quite the joke because odds are good you already know all his moves going in... and yes I easily one shot him around level 25-26.

Hardest Single Mob = I would say the "Hippo's" as you guys call them in Aldia's keep. If they hit you with their grab you are dead, period. It also has stupidly good range on it for some reason. Caveat = no regular enemy is hard from range.

Easiest Single Mob = I can't say tutorial mobs? Okay... Hiede Tower of Flame sword and shield knights. All you have to do is strafe to their left and wait for them to start attacking then end their combo. They will miss every single time, you don't even have to dodge or raise your shield just strafing is all it takes.

This was my first experience with a Souls game (Currently in NG+), so I imagine my experience is different from some people here but here goes!

Bosses:

Hardest: The Pursuer is the only boss where I de-spawned the enemies leading up to him from having to retry so I would say that, but that's because I was still familiarising myself with how to play the game (NG+ was a cakewalk). Looking back though I think the Royal Rat Authority is the one that gave me the most hassle, not so much the big guy but more the four little rats at the start that brought me down so many times.

Easiest: I've not had an encounter with the solo Dragonrider where they didn't lunge themselves off the edge of the boss area, so I guess that one? Demon of Song is a close second for me.

Areas:

Hardest: Dragon Shrine. That place ruined me for a good long time. (Bonus points to Iron Keep for not being the hardest but definitely the least pleasant area)

Easiest: Can't think of anywhere that was just super easy compared to the rest of the game. Shaded Woods/Ruins wasn't very hard at all, but I didn't really venture too far into the foggy area except for Vengarl.

Enemies:

Hardest: I swear the magic ghosts in the Undead Crypt (Leydia something?) are the worst. I know once you destroy the statues they're gone forever and that you can easily kill the bell guy before Velstadt but that didn't stop them from ruining my day over and over again.

Easiest: Excluding the tutorial area? The Old Knights in the Tower of Flame are kind of a joke.

Easiest Area: Doors of Pharros, mostly empty and pretty short. PVP component was uninteresting.

Hardest Area: Dragon Shrine - drakekeepers are tough and dragon was tough for me.

Easiest Enemy: I don't know. Nothing stands out. Plenty of enemies just require shield/side-step and nothing more.

Hardest Enemy: Mace Drakekeeper. man that timing on the double-overhead swing got me quite a few times.

Easiest Boss: I was going to say Throne Buddies but plenty of people list them as hardest? They don't have a lot of HP so taking one down fast wasn't hard at all.

Hardest Boss: Ancient Dragon was tough until I figured the fight out. Really a number of bosses were hard for me until I figured out the trick - staying under, or discovering their big 1-hit-kill attack, etc. Smelter Demon was probably the only guy that made me work for it once I had them figured out.

The hardest boss for me were the Ruin Sentinels as well. They were the only ones I resorted to using a shield against (dex/roll build). Although, I haven't beaten Darklurker yet.

Ancient Dragon is certainly the hardest boss generally-speaking, and it made me the most frustrated. Any boss that requires you to 'run away' as the only valid tactic is ridiculous. It felt completely out of place in a Souls game.

As for easiest, there were plenty I beat without getting touched. But the ones that made me laugh were Dragonslayer, Dragonrider, Dragonslayer+Dragonrider, and the Congregation.

The boss I died the most attempting has to be the Ancient Dragon. That damn AoE fire instant killed me so many times.

Was anyone else underwhelmed by the final two boss fights in the Throne of Want? Maybe it was just my build, but with havel's shield I could block pretty much all of the attacks with very minimal stamina drain. It still took me a couple tries to learn the patterns, but I thought it was overall pretty easy.

In fact, most of them were sort of easy. I remember spending hours on some bosses in the first Dark Souls, dying over and over again. I only really had that with one or two bosses in this game (though maybe I'm just better at playing this type of game now than I was when I played DS1).

It's this.

I went back and played Dark Souls again. That game is much easier than I remember it. Almost none of the bosses pose a threat. The only boss fight in that game that is challenging is Smough and Ornstein. I haven't died on any of the others with the exception of the required one on Seathe.

Still fun though.

Area/Easiest: Not counting the obvious, it would have to be Doors of Pharros. If you ignore the rat area, there's only three enemies, and it's very short.

Area/Hardest: For me, it would have to be Dragon Shrine. I could just run past everybody to the fog door, but attempting to fight all of these guys is a major pain in the ass.

Enemy/Easiest: There's that one guy in Doors of Pharros that just stares at a wall with his back wide open.

Enemy/Hardest: The mace-wielding drakkeepers in Dragon Shrine. Their attacks are completely unpredictable. Sometimes, they attack 6 times in a row before resting.

Boss/Easiest: Dragonrider's a pathetic little shrimp. Complete pushover from start to finish.

Boss/Hardest: Smelter Demon. The only way to kill him is to kill him really fast, and if you can't do that, he kills you really fast. Stupid fire buff!

Boss/Hardest Online: Ancient Dragon: Nobody knows to just hang out at his back feet. As a result, this boss is waaay harder with more people.

Easiest Area: Doors of Pharros. I didn't die once running through it, and beat the Royal Rat Authority on my first try.

Hardest Area: The Lost Bastille. I, like a lot of people, went for the Bastille right after Forest of Fallen Giants before doing anything with Heide or the Wharf, and got my shit thoroughly wrecked over and over by those huge guys and that fucking ambush group before the Lost Sentinels (which were dang tough in themselves).

Easiest Boss: Prowling Magus & Congregation. They barely even feel like a boss so much as a group of fairly easy enemies.

Hardest Boss: The Lost Sinner. The way she just kept up with this barrage of attacks that meant if I stumbled she would just keep smacking me (knocking more than a third of my health with each hit) meant that, even though I met the Lost Sinner very early in my game, she ended up being the last Lord Soul I collected.

Hardest Boss (including optional bosses): King Vendrick. By virtue of being the only boss I gave up on completely; it's not even that he's that difficult to predict, but it's just far too demoralising to slowly whittle him down only for him to stomp you down and kill you in one hit while you're staggered.

Easiest Enemy: Probably those little scuttley mushroom things that release poison on you. Just step back for a second and kill them in one hit.

Hardest Enemy: Those fucking stupid exploding enemies god dammit

I think some people here need to remember that hardest/easiest stuff with Dark Souls has always been very subjective and based on personal experience. Sure, there's always Ornstein & Smoughs out there for everyone to agree is pretty nuts, but in my case, I had a BUNCH of trouble with Dragonrider, Nashandra and Demon of Song (the "pitifully easy" bosses for most) while with relative ease I killed Throne Defenders, Velstadt, Smelter Demon and a couple other bosses i've heard people complain about quite a lot.

Yes, I beat Nashandra on my first try (I had already beaten the Throne Watcher & Defender). That is not bragging, I am not good at the game. But that boss fight was way too easy. I could easily block all her physical attacks and I cleverly dodged her magic beam by slowly circle strafing to the right. Then I hit her. Rinse & repeat. That was it. I barely think I even took any damage. I actually didn't believe it was over, I was sure there was going to be another form or something. Maybe I just got real lucky? Maybe I spent way too much time helping people with boss fights and over-leveled myself? Maybe Nashandra is just a pussy ass bitch? I don't know.

Easiest Boss: Nashandra

Hardest Boss: Ruin Sentinels

Easiest Area: Not sure

Hardest Area: Dragon Shrine

Easiest Enemy: Spiders? Easiest is kind of tough.

Hardest Enemy: Any asshole at the Dragon Shrine

I finally saw the credits roll, but I still have some post game content to go through.

Easiest Boss: Dragonrider

Hardest Boss: Smelter Demon and Pursuers second coming. maybe that room jinxed it for me.

Easiest Area: none

Hardest Area: Amana?

Easiest Enemy: compared to the amount of souls they drop early game I would agree with the vanilla old knights.

Hardest Enemy: some NPC's, Navlaan had my number a good many times and Miracle gal I got lucky I pulled off a parry and floored her, otherwise she would have easily outlasted me. And of course Havel.

Easiest boss: Honestly, as a tank build, they were all pretty easy (except the fucking pursuer), but if I had to pick one, I'd say Covetous Demon, assuming the Last Giant isn't an option.

Hardest boss: The Pursuer until you learn his patterns. Then you can win without taking any damage.

Hardest Area: Pre-1.03 Shrine of Amana. Fuck those casters.

Easiest Area: Post-1.03 Shrine of Amana. Fuck those casters.

Hardest Enemy: Mace-wielding drakekeepers. Most frustrating is definitely those exploding zombie dudes.

Easiest Enemy: Unarmed zombies. Those guys still appear in the late game. Like, come on.

So, I have just finished the game this afternoon. I too have some content to go through. No major areas or bosses though; just covenant stuff. It's pretty interesting to see how different everyone's experience was.

Hardest required boss: Old Iron King. Well, the reason why he was so frustrating is because his beam attack somehow cuts right through that wall you hide behind. Also, it's kind of ridiculous that fire attacks have a knock-back effect to them.

Hardest optional boss: Royal Rat Authority. Hardest boss I encountered throughout the game. I was having a difficult time killing the little rats quickly. The huge rat is pretty fast and kills me in two hits, and the little ones can poison you less than 5 seconds.

Easiest boss (both required and optional): The Royal Rat Vanguard was easy, but I'm hesitant to call it a boss fight. The Covetous Demon and the Guardian Dragon were probably the easiest.

Hardest Area: In terms of difficulty of enemies or the area itself, probably none. However, the area you gain access to through the hole in Majula were pretty depressing. I hated the Gutter and the Black Gulch. Come to think of it, Brightstone Cove Tseldora gave me the most trouble.

Can I follow up with you on this? Have you tried to fight him since?

I tried fighting him right away after beating Velstadt, and that was a fool's errand. After finishing the game, though, I read that his defense is significantly hampered if you have Giant Souls in your possession. I had the three Giant Souls from the Giant Memories and a fourth from killing two giants in a secret nook far beneath Black Gulch.

Fought him again, Giant Souls in-hand, and was doing noticeably more damage (though, it wasn't like I was cleaving through him like butter, or anything). I kept strafing around him to his left side--at least, I think it was his left. Whichever was the side opposite the sword--and was able to roll under all of his wide, sweeping attacks.

Got clipped a couple times, but I had enough Vigor to eat one shot and heal safely.

Easiest (optional) Boss: I would have to say Pursuer, dunno... once I figured out how to properly dodge his strikes I never got hit again and he's really stupidly easy once you spend a round or two fighting him.

Easiest (non-optional) Boss:The Rotten, maybe it is my playstyle (magic\miracles\hexes ftw) but this guy is really, really easy. Killed him always on my first go, even on playthrough no.1. The only times I died were when I was "farming" this blob for the Lucatial's side-quest, when she died I felt like it was faster to die as well rather than having to wait for the game to let me quit.

Hardest (optional) Boss:For whatever reason I always have probelms with Royal Rat Authority. It is in a way pretty much reskinned Sif, but still this oversized rodent manages to kill me so many times, no matter what build I play. I can be caster, quality or strenght build and I still get off'd again and again, the number of deaths here makes even Smelty pale in envy.

Hardest (non-optional) Boss:I always dread fighting Lost Sinner. Especially on NG+, I have considered trying to parry her... her strikes are not impossible to parry, right? Anyways she's fine until those damn pyros come into play. At times I felt like snapping the controller but resisted the urge, fortunately.

Easiest area:Black Gulch, even with all the poison statues around staggering the PC I have died here only once and that was my very first time venturing here, got eaten by the black "tar monsters" from one of the puddles. Then came back with a revengeance and fire longbow...yeah I was mad.

Hardest area:It has to be Shaded Ruin. Those lion warriors almost completely resisting the better damage outputs I had (magic and infused weapons) having to resort to meager but rather effective raw infused mace. What didn't help were all the curse pots scattered across the level. And on my first time here I managed to get Ornifex killed when I opened the door to her cell and the basilisks went inside after me...

Easiest Enemy:That is hard to decide since a lot of them fall quite quickly when you're a caster...maybe the Old Knights in Heide's Tower of Flame. The lame brothers to the drakekeepers. Then again I had zero problems with drakekeepers as they are as well ridiculously weak to hexes and lightning.

Hardest Enemy:Lion warriors, they feel to me like a series of mini-bosses as I have to dodge around their attacks and they can withstand a lot of punishment before finally going down.

@historyinrust: Yeah, I didn't even bother trying to fight him until I had 4 Giant Souls (all of them except for the Ancient Dragon's), but I still just found the fight too tedious and frustrating. The thing for me with Dark Souls bosses is that I can't stand a boss designed around easy-to-predict attacks that do ridiculous amounts of damage, since it means that one slip-up five minutes into a fight can ruin everything for you, regardless of how much you've put into Vigor or Defense (which is especially annoying when the deaths come from the game's occasionally spotty hit detection). I'll probably give him a go in NG+, but I gave it 6 or so solid goes and just said "Screw this, it's optional".

Totally agree. Felt like a lot of the game's bosses were this way. The Rotten was the boss that kept snagging me. That stinking grab I couldn't get a feel for until my ninth or tenth run at the thing.

@historyinrust: It's the reason the "easy" Demon of Song ended up killing me far more times than Velstadt, Smelter Demon and other harder bosses based around direct, whittle-down style combat; I got her down to half health with absolutely no problems, then she would do the bellyflop, I wouldn't quite made it out of her attack radius and she'd kill me in one hit because I was running the other way with my shield down.

@lackingsaint: @historyinrust: you both speak truth. Except Vinlands dark orb totally one shot me :)

But yea, the real question should be which was the funnest boss. The gargoyles? I would even say pursuer2 even though i had lots of trouble with him. But those were intense and fun battles. Vendrick sucks. And somebody upstairs mentions the running involved in the ancient dragon fight. Not a dignified battle!

Hardest

Enemy: Giant Mace Dragon Knight

Area: Dragon Shrine Steps

Boss (required): Throne Watcher and Defender (Also happened to be the most enjoyable and satisfying fight in the game for me.)

Boss (any): Ancient Dragon

Easiest

Enemy: (This is a weird question man) Poison Cloud Moths

Area: The Shaded Woods

Boss (required): Jabba The Hutt

Boss (any): The Executioner's Chariot

Nice. It is funny too that I know exactly who you mean.

@reisz: I am curious as you said Throne Watcher and Defender were hardest for you, but you enjoyed it the most. Out of the easy category, would you say the same is true for Executioner's Chariot? As in, he was the easiest but also the most enjoyable of the easiest ones?

Because I share your opinion that he was easy, but I did think it was an interesting boss fight and it was pretty fun. Also, I loved how I got in the 200 rates for my message just after that area when I put down 'Hurrah for horse!, death'.

Easiest

Area: Harvest Valley (if we don't count Things Betwixt). Never died there and the enemies barely ever hit me.

Enemy: Sitting dudes at Doors of Pharros. Seriously, I don't even know if they attack you! (probably)

Boss: Covetous Demon, easily. Easiest boss in all of the Souls games.

Hardest

Area: Shrine of Amana. Magic snipers.

Enemy: Mace-wielding knights at Dragon Keep. They just kept going and going...

Boss: Smelter Demon. Fuck his fire.

I really soaked in the incredible visual look of the Demon of Song. Such a crazy-looking boss. Velstadt was pretty good.

Just generally, I had a lot of fun dealing with the bosses in the back end of the game. Struggled with some of the mid-game stuff, like Smelter and the Old Iron King, but really got a kick out of some of the post-Great Souls adversaries. Twin Dragonriders was a highlight. Throne Watcher + Defender, another.

Absolutely, It was a combination of a couple of things that made it feel like the easiest and super enjoyable. For whatever reason I had huge troubles against the shrouded guys that ambush you on the way to The Executioners Chariot. I must have died to them eight or nine times. Once I figured out there attack patterns I was off to the races, Crossed the bridge, completely SMASHED the Red Phantom there and hit a message right at the gate to the Chariot track that just said "Try Left". Most of the time I half ignore messages, This time I took the advice to heart and went left. After I realised what was happening it started to get really fun because the pacing between Chariot drive-bys is just tight enough that you feel rushed but still long enough to let you get to the next alcove if you keep trucking. I reached the pit and thought for a second that the message had lead me astray so I turn around, see the lever, pull it, roll into the alcove just in time. Marvel at the Chariot driver getting absolutely punished and then smote the horse with reckless abandon. Piece of cake but one of the coolest set piece style bosses in the whole series. I read later that the horse is very weak to lightning damage which explains why I basically scraped it off my shoe.

I remember getting a good laugh out of a message after the boss similar to yours but something like "Hurrah for lever! and then pit!"

Another tactic for the Chariot : Stick to the first alcove you can (I usually end up in the one with the first necromancer, to shup his mouth) and uses ranged attacks on the arriving Chariot, before rolling back to the alcove. It's even easier than doing the whole run and, in the end, he gets punished bad too : He can't jump the gap. The guys on the chariot just fall to their death, while the horses just try to climb the edge, unable to do so because of the chariot attached to them... You just have to do one hit and they fall. It's scripted, you have to hit them to kill them, I tried to poison them with spells (which doesn't do any "hiiting" damage) and they just don't die until you makes them fall.
Pretty fun ^^

Area

Hardest: Iron Keep. Fuck that place. Easiest: The Gutter and Black Gulch. Didn't die once. Serious let down after dying so many times in Valley of Defilement and Blighttown.

Enemy

Hardest: Hmmm. Well those turtles probably killed me the most. But maybe I'd give this nod to those nuking priests in the Shrine.

Boss (required)

Hardest: Had the most trouble with the Old Iron King. Easiest: I guess one of the ones that I one shotted. Pursuer, Dragonrider solo, the Rotten, Covetous Demon.

@myrmicus: That sounds great. I will definitely try this whenever I do a full NG+ run.

@lackingsaint: Just a quick note on Vendrick because I too hated his guts. Had 4 giants in my satchel and still took forever and at some point you screw up. I know I did. Preferably with his health down to 10%. And fighting the dragon didnt seem worth it.

So, here is what you do.

1. get lucky and get the old whip from the crows

2. take in both hands and go to town on him.

I put some leftover twinklies in it and took it to +3 and my Dex isn't even super high (low 20s). I buffed it in the beginning of the battle. for about 250 dmg. when the buff wore off I still did over 200. So more than the lucky bleed strikes I was trying to get in before.

The one thing to be careful about is

3. bring an alternate weapon. The whip broke near the end of the battle and I finished him off with the bleed infused bandits dagger +10 in my left hand.