Her we go again, dang it! Here is another entry for our super big list!

***Level of difficulties we’ll see throughout this list:

Yellow-Orange = Bosses that are not necessarily hard on their own, but hard by either cheap tricks, gimmicks, or location.

Orange = Bosses that are tough on their own, but mainly tough due to a gimmick or trick. The difference here is that the boss may heavily rely on these attributes.

Red = Bosses that are hard to beat in either numbers or skill, truly tough bros.

Maroon = Bosses that are seemingly to near impossible, the god bosses of all bosses!

12. Sister Friede, Father Ariandel, and Blackflame Friede (Dark Souls III)

Attacks (Friede): Critical Scythe Attack, Jumping/Freezing Combo, Jump Freeze, Freeze Attack, Scythe Swings, Scythe Swing Jump, Healing (2nd Phase)

Attacks (Ariandel): Fire Breath, Bowl Stomp, Fire Bowl Stomp, Rush, Lava Rain, Bowl Swing

Attacks (Blackflame): Blackflame Flying Smash and Homing Snake, Dual Invisible Ice Waves and Large Blackflame Snake, Fast Dash and Decapitation Grab, Long Combo / Small Jumping Smash, Scythe Grab and Hit, Quick Healing (rare)

Rewards: 72,000 Souls, Soul of Sister Friede

Rare Rewards: Titanite Slab

Our Level: Red

Description: Don’t worry, we are definitely including downloadable content as well. In particular almost all of the Soulsborne games feel incomplete without their DLC components, Dark Souls III certainly fits this case in point.

Anyways, within the Ashes of Ariandel DLC you will eventually encounter the final boss, or should I say bosses, within the primary Chapel of the painted world. Most would come into this fight intending to exclusively fight Father Ariandel himself, and while you do there is far more to it and the old Father is clearly not the point of tension here. He will unleash the eldest of three sisters, Sister Friede, upon you. Surprisingly enough this character is seen prior to this event as an NPC of which the player can have a conversation with, but now she’s gearing to have her wicked scythe lathered in your viscera!

The fight in general is tough due to her fairly quick speed, far reaching range, Freezing capabilities, and strong attacks, especially her Critical Scythe Attack. But in general the first phase of this fight will seem capable to handle, at least at this point in the game. But the second phase of the fight is where it starts to get interesting! Now Father Ariandel joins the battle proper, slamming his golden bowl and spouting flames in an unbridled rage. They both now share the same health bar, but having to handle two bosses at once suddenly is quite a surprise. Sister Friede will basically have the same attacks, albeit more difficult with the secondary boss present, and while Father Ariandel only performs his one attack every time, he can still easily catch you off guard if you’re not careful enough.

But once you defeat both of them, it would seem as though the battle is officially over… until you begin to see Sister Friede rise again. Yep, this fight is a triple phased boss battle! This time Friede is known as Blackflame Friede, a new and more powerful version of her equipped with Dark Pyromancy. This is easily the most complicated part of the fight, both in part due to how much stronger she has become as well in part to how most new players will be caught completely off from this unexpected third phase. Not only are her attacks far more quick and agile than before, but her newly acquired powers provide much more pain and misery to the player, she even has a new and often used AOE attack.

This boss fight, these characters, make it on the twelfth spot on this list due to the increase of difficulty throughout the phases, the unexpected third phase, and just how truly tough and undeniably unique and inspired the fight is. This is certainly the most impressive thing about the DLC it derives from, and there’s no wonder why they saved it for last.

Hope you like our pick here, in general we really like this boss fight. Check back soon for the next entry…