Best boss fights ever

Best boss fights ever — Yourlist

Boss fights are the ultimate test of everything a game has taught you, transforming hours of practice into one heart-pounding showdown. From towering monsters to cunning rivals, the best of these encounters become legendary moments etched into gaming history. Which epic battle deserves the crown? Cast your vote and settle the debate.

What counts: The crowd's votes decide the order — seeded neutral.

Ornstein & Smough (Dark Souls)▲ Rising
Two bosses, one arena, and a merciless rule: kill one fast or watch the survivor absorb their fallen partner's power and go supernova. The dragon-slayer's lightning spear dance against the executioner's earth-shaking hammer taught a generation of players that Dark Souls fights are puzzles of positioning and target priority, not just reflexes. It's the fight that made co-op bonfire signs a communal survival ritual, cementing FromSoft's reputation before anyone had even heard of Malenia or Isshin.
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86
Malenia (Elden Ring)▲ Rising
Blade of Miquella doesn't just parry your combos, she eats your own damage and hands it back as healing, turning aggression into a trap and forcing a whole playerbase to relearn patience. Waterfowl Dance became internet infamy — a flurry of dodges that punished even frame-perfect rolls, spawning thousands of rage-compilation clips and 'I finally beat Malenia' tears-of-joy videos. She's the modern litmus test for skill in action-RPGs, the boss people cite when they say 'if you can beat her, you can beat anything.'
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53
Ganondorf (Ocarina of Time)▲ Rising
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50
Sephiroth (FF7)
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3
The End (MGS3)▲ Rising
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1
Isshin (Sekiro)▼ Falling
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-15
Radiance (Hollow Knight)▼ Falling
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-47
Sans (Undertale)▼ Falling
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-55

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Comments (9)

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LLena Chen3d
Exactly the kind of argument the internet was built for.
BBianca Lindqvist4d
The crowd is sleeping on the bottom half of this list.
WWill RossiJul 29, 2026
Voted — and the gap between #1 and #2 should be bigger.
DDmitri Tanaka6d
This order is closer to right than any editor would've gotten.