Ranking the First Bosses of Soulsborne! 

One of my favourite things about Margit is the reason he’s guarding stormveil is because he thinks Godrick is so weak he can’t kill even a “lowly tarnished”, and he is completely right because everything in stormveil is far easier than Margit

It's just amazing that you could even think of 14 first bosses or tutorial bosses. Fromsoftware really does love their bosses.

Father Gascoigne is a special kinda boss. He is brutal and merciless towards anyone who doesn't play the way he wants you to. But once you learn how the game wants you to play and get a good enough grasp of the mechanics, he provides a tough, but fair fight. A literal gatekeeper who forces you master the main combat loop before letting you go on to face much tougher foes. His role in the game is such an integral part of the game that every soulslike i keep an eye out for "the Gascoigne" of that game who fufills the same purpose.

Justice for soldier of god, Rick

Gascoigne is the absolute perfect introduction to Bloodborne from both a gameplay perspective and a thematic perspective. He is the perfect roadblock to anyone playing this like a souls game, or otherwise not adapted to the combat system yet. In terms of lore, he gives the player a preview of what a transition into beasthood looks like, and also has his own share of tragic backstory.

I used to hate the third phase of Father Gascoigne, but I loved every phase as of my recent playthrough. Not only does it get you used to the aggression of beast enemies, but it forces you to learn to breathe and relax. I freaked out the first time because I thought he was unpredictable and barely beat him. He really punishes you when you panic. When I stopped panicking, his beast phase was so much fun.

I’ve always found it funny how the rotten and aava the kings pet could also be first bosses in ds2.

EDIT - Two notes: 1) Yes, I forgot about the sword obtained from the Grafted Scion. But my point still stands that anyone able to beat that boss in the tutorial likely already has a build in mind, and won't use those items. A beginner isn't likely to beat the Grafted Scion, it takes tons of practice. 2) Lady Butterfly from Sekiro was not included in this list. I wanted to keep each entry to two bosses per game, and as Gyoubu is the boss of the Ashina Outskirts (The first major area of the game), he got the spot over her. But if she were to be included, she'd take #2 and kick him down to #3. This was actually one of the more fun videos to make on the channel, so please enjoy, and thank you so much for 8,000 subscribers!!!

One thing i was surprised you didnt mention was how Margit rewards exploration. If you go around limgrave and defeat Patches, you can buy the shackles that can really help make the fight easier, especially if you have ashes to support you.

Now we need all fromsoftware Final Bosses ranked in quality from worst to best.

I LOVE that you are so close to 10K. Well-deserved, sir.

I like the Phalanx boss. Weird mound with gnarled roots jutting out, making a crown with ethereal energy emanating from it. Just looks odd and otherworldly

It’s taken a while but I finally caught up with all these rankings! You’re easily one of the most interesting creators I’ve found in a while and absolutely love the content! Keep up the great work

I love your videos man good job on almost reaching 10k

Good job on another amazing video! Ive finally done all of these bosses (ds2 was weird) my favorite is Gyoubu

Hey Billly, loved the video. You should make a video ranking the shortcuts (and connections to firelink) in DS1

Love the vids!!!

Technically, my first elden ring boss was Malenia. I was at my friends house and never played elden ring, and hehad me do Malenia. I got to a quarter health damage dealt first try with bloodbound fang, obviously lost :)

great video! surprised but loved to hear the amaurot theme in the beginning

I think a cool ranking could be rank the Lords of Cinders/Arch Demons/ What ever the main legends bosses in Sekiro/Bloodbourne/Elden Ring are.

I love your list! Only thing I'd disagree with is the camera comment on the cleric beast. I think Darkbeast Paarl has a worse camera. Even if you're not locked on that camera just goes wild.

Cleric Beast is EASILY my favorite starter boss in any of these games. After traversing through the foul streets of Central Yharnam, fighting horrific beasts and monstrosities, and gazing upon that beautifully eerie blood red sky, there’s isn’t a single boss more fit for a battle than the Cleric Beast. In my opinion, the Cleric Beast IS Bloodborne. It’s a brutal, bloody battle to the death between a foreigner who’s new to the horrors of the nightmare, unaware of the true nightmares residing within Yharnam, and a massive, hulking creature possessing nothing but the desire to kill and feed. The moveset is fantastic, the OST is incredible and probably the best in the game, and the atmosphere is fucking perfect. Other than Ludwig, nothing comes close to my enjoyment of Cleric Beast’s fight.

With the grafted scion you can get a good weapon/ shield.. damn good for the beginning. Great channel, glad I subscribed

My first fight with the Torus demon actually ended with both of us falling off the ledge together as he did his big sweep attack causing me to be knocked back with my shield and him being flung over the edge

Thank you for introducing Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa that way. No need to say his name on video when he can say it himself. Oh I remember first time facing him. He was so difficult, probably around 15-17 tries because I had barely tried to parry before that(The round I beat him, I had no heals left, my health was 1 mm and it had been like that for at least 30 seconds before I beat him. I really was determined to win in that situation...and it worked! ). I do however appreciate him for forcing you to learn the game that you bought. Actually find it funny how so many seem to struggle so much with Genichiro and find Gyoubu so easy(understandable). Meanwhile me who struggled so much more with Gyoubu than Genichiro. Though, Genichiro was definitely the hardest inner fight for me. The other two I took down first try or in two tries. On a sekiro main boss tierlist, I would definitely rate Gyoubu S tier. He does what he is supposed to do and he does it well, along with being hilarious in both english and spanish and has a good theme.

What I really love about Father Gascoigne is the fact he is the best boss to test your challenge ideas! He has soo many mechanics that other bosses/hunters will have during the entirety of the Bloodborne experience. Aka long story short, if your able to beat Gascoigne in any restrictions you set for yourself, you'll Indeed, be able to face n beat the game.

I wouldn’t consider some of these tutorial bosses, but out of all of these I would say Gundyr is still the best. Just my opinion of course, but he feels like the best teacher

I genuinely appreciate that you put the Amaurot theme in the background lmao Edit: love the list, and that you used Amh Araeng’s theme at the end lmao

the greatest thing about margit is that damn voice he has and how his role to teach you that this game will not hold your hand.

I love that you included the clip of oxtra! I watched that happen live and it was so funny

IMO Father Gascoigne has the best bossfight music ever. it gives me goosebumps every time I play it.

I likes the use of the cassette beast's ost

whenever mentioning giobu 's name you have to do it with feeling brother. MY NAME .. great lineup

Asylum demon is the best designed boss because of how the level ties in to teach the player (despite the second half of the game just not using any of the mechanics) but Gundyr is the best in my opinion. A fun fight on every repeat play through while not being to difficult for new players

Not sure if you did that one, but I'd like to hear your take on a list of "skill check bosses". Love the content, keep it up!

I’ve always loved vordt I love his lore and the gameplay is pretty satisfying for an early boss. That 3 charge attack is so fun to dodge. Makes me sad he’s underappreciated

Hey you got 10k subs 😊 Well deseved

Margit is the only one in the entire list that remains challenging after a first playthrough.

Hey guys if you bothered reading the comments double check to see if you’re subscribed! Billy S puts a lot of work into these and adds so much background that other countdown list don’t. Also love the Genichiro Ashina fight one of my favorites amongst all souls-borne games

Funny hearing him say Taurus demon is designed not to kill itself by accident because it did that immediately on my first playthrough

I absolutely love Iudex Gundyr, he is literally the perfect tutorial boss in my opinion. If you aren't good enough to beat him then you aren't good enough to even play the game lol. DS3 was my first soulsborne game and I spent so much time trying different weapons and ways to beat him.

Subbed at 8 k so when you get a million subscribers I was here at the beginning

ur vids so underrated

Papa G is one favorite first bosses as soon as I beat CB I immediately sprint over to fight him.

grafted scion also gives an amazing early-mid game weapon it drops off at the capital yes but by then you will have other weapons to choose from

ive played er, bb, sekiro, demon’s souls, and starting ds3. i beat ludex gundyr so easily and it made me really think how bad the grafted scion fight was, even after multiple playthroughs its just so hard to learn the moveset, meanwhile gundyr is a fairly easy moveset but still teaches you that you get punished for mistakes

Yo is that ff14 music in the intro?🤩 Also nice video❤

When i first played bloodborn and stumbled on the cleric beast my heart was racing 100 mph

Asylum Demon is great. An incredible surprise yet deceptively easy, it works so well, the side door shows to observe the arena. You can kill it first playthrough with the black firebombs. This gives the demon greathammer... which is another teaching moment as no beginner PC will have the strength to wield it. An ideal tutorial.

My first time fighting the Taurus Demon I fell of of the edge of the arena and he came with me.

I just want to give props for the FFXIV music in the intro. Cleric Beast will always have a place in my heart, for being easy enough that even a newcomer like me (at the time) could kill it, and for the sick as hell design. Second would definitely be Asylum Demon though, for the nice secret weapon you can get if you chose black firebombs and kill it before getting your first real weapon and shield.

The way ive always seen it was "tutorial boss" then "1st boss" regardless of who you beat first due to each game teaching you something different per game

Imo: 1| Margit, the Fell Omen 2| Father Gascoigne 3| Iudex Gundyr 4| Cleric Beast 5| Vordt of the Boreal Valley 6| Gyoubu Oniwa 7| Genichiro Ashina 8| Asylum Demon 9| Taurus Demon 10| Vanguard Demon 11| The Last Giant 12| Phalanx 13| Dragonrider 14| Grafted Scion

3:38 And very good early-game dex weapon (perfect for Samurai build)

Oh, what an interesting list.

You get a subscribe for giving Daddy GasCan the love he deserves.

Almost was about to say something about the soldier of GODrick

The hardest thing about Gascoigne is his arena. I just love it when I dodge backwards and get stuck on graves! (And then Gascoigne starts pounding my stuck ass)

Lady butterfly was my first boss after tutorial in sekiro.

Love your content but I have to ask: What's with you rolling your Rs regardless of whether it's appropriate? It's not a huge problem, just kinda confuses me. I thought you were maybe just trying to be authentic with 'sekirrrrro' to sound Japanese in your inflection but you said it in 'yourrrrr currrrrrse' as well, and I've noticed it sporadically throughout your other videos. Or am I missing something here?

I know I am late, but in my opinion I think gascoigne also has one of the most underrated osts a boss fight could have, I mean the ost hits hard as in the fight starts out like your hunting him, until were gascoigne ost hits and it is not you anymore that is Hunter him, he is hunting you. Really tho father gascoigne the Hunter ost is truly of my favs in my opinion

I was bored and looking for a good video untill i found this one !! Great video + i agree that Gascoigne is the best

3:30 …….Your rewarded with the Ornamental Straight Sword and Golden Beast Crest Shield waaay earlier than you get in the game. A weapon that you pretty much start using immediately depending on your class. How did you miss that?

It’s actually really easy to kill asylum demon with fists and just staying near his butt. Even though each attempt takes like 10 minutes, his attacks are really simple, and you can definitely kill it first encounter.

Should’ve include the dance too since you can ……. Stumble upon that fight before Vort

Numerous times I have just used the black firebomb starting gift to just zero out the Asylum Demon on first sight with fresh characters. Sure you have no way in hell of effectively wielding his club when you do this, but I still like holding it with a fresh character as a trophy.

I’d have also included the Tree Sentinel, since a lot of SoulsBorne newbies are gonna see him and get tossed!

I think the Cleric Beast would benefit from the player being able to jump/something like Sekiro's grapple hook greatly. Especially since they introduce the game's limb breaking mecahnic with Cleric Beast, but the boss is too tall to reach their head and arms most of the time. I still like Cleric Beast, but their design and music carry the fight for me as the bad camera, small arena, and Bloodborne's 4 directional dodging combined with those quick side swipes make it frustrating, especially on repeat playthroughs. Still though, they're pretty cool (and maybe hot)

Number 1 is like a top 3 boss in the entire souls series imo.

i really think Iudex Gundyr is the best first boss. He makes a point to set the tone and teach that parrying will probably be better than instinct rolling. But Sekiro has some of the best bosses overall. Although Iudex is my favorite, i agree with the black puss ball take. I wish they did his enrage differently.

Good list. Rick God Of Soldiers at number one. His boss was truly magnificent.

Just curious, I see you almost never lock on to the enemies, I understand why in ds1, but why not in the other games?

Seeing the horse disappear after beting gyoubu always made me feel bad for beating him. The horse was just sad that you killed his best friend. 😭

YOO is that cassette beasts ost i hear

How can Vordt, Gyobu, Phalanx, Margit and Taurus all be considered ‘first bosses’ when you have to fight one other boss prior to them? Iudex, Vanguard, Scion, Genichiro and Asylum Demon are all compulsory fights (regardless of forced losses), making the aforementioned bosses (Vordt etc.) their respective games’ second boss battles. Hell, Margit could potentially be the 20th boss battle into your playthrough after the multiple tomb, tunnel and cave bosses, Evergaol bosses, Tree Sentinel, Leonine Misbegotten and Rick

As a first boss for a new comer to the series Margit is way too overtuned but as someone that has been playing these games for a while it was refreshing to have a challenging first boss

if you haven't before, you should absolutely check out the spanish dub for Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa. that VA went just as hard as the english one.

The grafted scion gives you a decent weapon & shield tho? Granted the area being completely disconnected is pretty bad

You could kill so many other bosses before Taurus demon, but I agree most people go that route on their first playthrough

Always remember. Iudex Gundyr was so good, Fromsoftware did it again.

I honestly thought you were going to name off all 10 of the possible first bosses in DSII.

final bosses next pls

I love that Outside Xbox clip, always makes me laugh.

I actually like the grafted for elden ring. It gives 3k runes for a new character because you can just parry kill it with skill & it teaches reward for knowing the moveset. There absolutely can be better first enemies though

I knew Gascoigne would be number 1 just by the title of this video!! Good choice Billy!!

Grafted scion is such a strange first boss. it has a big fast aoe, it can enchant its gear, it is fast as fuck boiiiiii, but that isn't the weirdest bit. Cleric beast and gascoigne fit their areas well. a beast wandering the streets, and a hunter that was driven crazy. Asylum demon is the guard of the asylum, stopping undead from escaping, while the taurus demon is probably like cleric beast, a wandering monster. Last giant is a prisoner that you walk in on, and dragon rider is a guard. Margit guards the way to the castle... then there's grafted scion. a weird monster stuck on/near a cemetery that jumps out to get you. it doesn't have any lines other than screaming, offers no lore, and only exists to be a "souls game first boss". Honestly, i would have switched margit and scion's placement around. Margit wants to stop the tarnished, so he comes to the cemetery to stop the tarnished before it can even start Grafted scion ( a beast that works for godrick the grafted) is used as a guard, protecting stormveil castle from anyone that would seek to break in

Props for shouting out Luke and Ellen love them yo

I would place the craftet scion between vanguard and the last giant. I believe you may a bit to harsh, regarding the scion. ^^

Imagine if you had to fight gyoubu's horse after 😂

Taurus demon killed himself first time I fought him hahaha legendary moment in my souls career

Grafted scion gives his blades and they're cool as hell

I know Soldier of Godrick is a joke to the community these days, but as someone who got their first proper start to Soulsbornes with Elden Ring, he actually was a bit of a challenge to someone like me who was still getting used to the controls. He actually killed me in that first attempt admittedly 😅

Dancer in DS3 can also be a first boss , where would you rank her ?

My first boss in sekiro was juzo the drunkard and then lady butterfly. It was rough. Beat them before the chained ogre 😂

Couldn’t agree more than on Grafted Scion‘s ranking. It’s not just a bad first boss but just a miserable enemy to fight throughout. Give me an Erdtree Avatar, another Omen projection, anything but this flailing monstrosity. Patch 1.11: The Grafted Scion bossfight has been replaced with a Remnant

feels like Margit is deliberately designed to be more difficult than all of Stormvail from a narrative standpoint. Morgott knows that Godrick is not fit to be a lord and surely not fit to guard the pathway north toward the capital. Margit being the superior combatant and blessed with more Elden Blood who is a devoted follower of the golden order, he took matters into his own hands to stop you from progressing through. Almost like he knows whoever can get by him can defeat Godrick, obtain his shard and go to Liurnia.

I believe the channel you shouted out is naked outside Xbox not outside xtra

I’ve honestly never understood the Gascoigne love Margit destroys him

Dark souls 2 legit has like 12 bosses that could be fought first lmao.

I really like that the old dragon slayer in dark souls 2 is clearly supposed to be ornstein