I thought about making this a poll, but there are so many bosses it would just be a clutter.

I personally haven't finished the game yet (I've got Bed of chaos, Four Kings, the DLC and Gwyn left). The hardest boss so far for me has to be Ornstein and Smough, aka Bigge-smalls/Snorlax and Picachu/etc. I didn't bang my head against a wall over them, but it took me around 9 runs before getting them. The easiest was pinwheel. That... thing, went down in a second when I got to him.

Bonus Question: Did you get any bosses on your first try? I downed Asylum Demon, Taurus Demon, Queelana the spider witch-bitch, Gaping Dragon, Sif, Moonlight Butterfly, Pinwheel and Seath the Scaleless on my first.

Bed of Chaos is the one boss I dread to fight each time I play Dark Souls (i'm in my third playthrough). It's such an easy concept, but to execute it is a bitch and a half. All the other ones are pretty simple.

This has been discussed before, but the hardest boss in Dark Souls is Artorias. The easiest is Pinwheel.

Gwyn without parrying is the hardest. Manus and Kalameet are next, Artorias is after that. Artorias is tough the first time you fight him (well, kind of) but if you pay enough attention the vast majority of his attacks are learnable and his "buffing up" phase just winds up being free damage for you. With Manus you have to use I-Frames most of the time, with Artorias that isn't really a thing; also Manus has like 60-70% more health. Kalameet is the only "dodge only" fight in the game which can be quite difficult for Dark Souls players; but he really gets hard when you go for the tail.

Capra is probably second hardest in the main game, then Ornstein and Smough, then Four Kings. Four Kings is just a brute force fight though so there's not really that much strategy involved for most playthroughs.

Kalameet kicked my ass for such a long time. I needed that tail gone.

I've never thought of Artorias as hard. He did take me plenty of attempts but I found that fight to be the most fun I had in the entire game. It was such a blast to keep going back and try to duke it out.

By sheer number of tries though, Ornstein and Smough were it for me.

@fredchuckdave: Manus is easy. I never had a problem with Manus- as far as I can tell he's only hard if you are specced for using magic.

I did forget Kalameet, though. Kalameet is actually harder than Artorias for sure.

The most difficult boss, for me, was Manus. He was so aggressive, and for some reason I didn't use the pendant. He took me 5 tries, but at first, he seemed kind of impossible. I defeated more than half the bosses by the first or second try, but no one boss jumps out to me as the easiest.

For me the easiest was Pinwheel. The hardest being Ornstein and Smough. I beat Pinwheel and Iron Golem at the first attempt. Golem was easy because I staggered him seconds into the fight. Looking forward to trying the DLC stuff. Also, Gwyn wasn't too bad as you can kind of cheese him into doing his jumping attacks. Capra's easily the toughest of the early bosses but I guess you could skip him entirely if you wanted.

I always thought Gwyn was really hard until I learned to parry him. Kalameet was hard, but the fight was so fun that I didn't care. I actually used to consider Gaping Dragon the easiest, since it's easy to lure and damage. Of course, as I played more playthroughs I realized just how easy Pinwheel was.

The easiest boss period was pinwheel so I'm not gonna count him. The easiest for me was probably moonlit butterfly and the hardest were Pikachu and snorlax, kalameet and manus.

NG+ Smough and Ornstein.

For some reason I always feel under prepared for this fight.

Artorias is a really close second, but I had so much fun fighting him that it's hard to even call it hard.

Gywn is a cunt w/o parrying.

I'm just gonna go by my level of frustration when fighting and say Capra was my hardest boss. O&S is probably more difficult, and the DLC bosses definitely are, but I felt more experienced and in tune with the game mechanics when I fought them. Capra had me questioning if I wanted to continue with the game at all.

Sif was easiest for me as I fought him after the DLC.

Seath was a bitch as a mage because I was trying to cut his tail so I could get the Moonlight Greatsword. It was worth it, but the walk back after death was the most painful in the whole game.

I only have experience with a melee build but I'd say it's the Capra Demon. There's really no strategy to the demon fight, just gotta hope you can kill those dogs quickly without getting screwed. Ornstein and Smough were pretty tough too, just cause you can get into some annoying situations when you're fighting two enemies simultaneously. That's also why I found the Gargoyles tough, but part of that was also inexperience. I remember thinking Four Kings was a bitch on New Game Plus, which is weird because I thought they were really easy on my first play through.

Easiest was Pinwheel. I actually killed him after the Gargoyles because I went the wrong way, and I still didn't find him particularly difficult.

The Four Kings were the most difficult for me since I didn't have enough high damage output to take the third one down before the fourth came in and interrupted everything. I went through a ton of summoned people before we/I finally made it through.

The easiest for me was Taurus Demon.

Hardest: the four Fucking kings

Easiest: the moonlight butterfly or ceaseless discharge (he walks off a cliff)

I wanted to play an evasive light character the first time through, so I had shit poise. That made Capra and Four Kings real assholes to fight. But even fighting Four Kings without cheesing in my first run of a souls game wasn't as bad as meeting fatboy and slim for the first time....

Iron Golem was easiest by far. I beat the game 4 times without dying to him at all. And even after that I can only remember dying to him twice total, both times because I walked off the ledge.

Edit: I figured Pinwheel was disqualified... But yeah he is the objectively easiest boss. Might as well not even be a boss.

The hardest boss for me when I was a new player was the Capra Demon since you do not have time to react. In subsequent playtroughs I can beat him easily. After that it is Smough and Ornstein, Artorious, and Kalameet. The easiest boss in all of the souls games is Pinwheel. After that the Moonlight butterfly is pretty easy Nito is disappointingly easy.

In Dark Souls 2 the hardest boss I had fought before the DLC was the Ruin Sentinels but the hardest boss in the game is the Fume Knight, and Sihn, the Slumbering Dragon. While not the hardest, one of the coolest boss fights in all of the souls games is the Burnt Ivory King, rolling in with all your knights is fun. There are a lot of easy bosses in Dark Souls 2 so maybe the Flexile Sentry.

Easiest for me was the Capra Demon.

The Hardest was Ornstein and Smough. People might laugh, but the runner up for hardest for me would be the Gargoyles. No matter how times I've played through the beginning of that game, it always takes me like ten attempts to beat them.

Manus was probably the hardest

Taurus Demon was the easiest

So I, uh, killed the Capra Demon in two hits. I walked up the stairs, did a two-handed jumping attack, and the game decided to count that as both, a jumping attack and a plunging attack. I did -- and I remember distinctly -- 1001 damage to his HP. I hit him again, and that was that. If I remember correctly, I was using the BKS (which did extra damage to demons) and I went through a part of New Londo, so I was probably over-leveled.

My first time through, I probably had more trouble with the Capra demon than anyone else. On subsequent playthroughs, probably Manus or Ornstein & Smough.

For me, the easier end of the spectrum is populated by the likes of Pinwheel, Taurus Demon, and Bed of Chaos (I know people hate this one, but it's never taken me more than two tries to beat).

My first time through I had more problems with O & S than anyone else, even Artorias. Easiest was Pinwheel. Second hardest boss for me was definitely Gwynn because I am so terrible at parrying consistently and just being able to parry every so often doesn't cut it on him.

Manus for sure. Artorias is tough but predictable. Manus has some crazy attacks that he only pulls out when you least expect it

I wouldn't say Artorias is the hardest fight in the game by any means. I personally think that fight is one of the most fun in the game, but I would label Gwyn and O&S harder in my opinion.

On my original playthrough the cake went to Gwynn and Manus for sure. As for the easiest, ofcourse that's Pinwheel. Though I kind of think he doesn't count: I suspect he's actually just a normal enemy who found a boss-licence that some other actual boss had misplaced, and he's bluffed his way into the bosses gallery.

But I am currently most of the way through a deliberate low-level run (levelled to 15 to be able to wield the Balder Sidesword and have 2 attunement slots, and kept it there since). At level 15 with no points spent on vitality, and lacking the endurance to wear heavier armour without moving like a snail, just about everything can kill me in a single hit (well, maybe not the early hollows and such, but still) so whatever I am fighting will become the 'currently toughest'.

I've still got Seath, Nito and the DLC to go, cleared everything else. It's been a lot of fun, and it really drives home how much of this game is just player skill, patience and timing, as opposed to stats. Not that I am all that great a player or anything, but it's a special sort of satisfaction nonetheless.

Not sure about hardest since skill level isn't constant. I personally thought the asylum demon is underrated, that AOE he does is basically unblockable(always take damage) and since my builds aren't always high mobility its very dangerous. I remember skipping him until a time when I was more prepared.

The expansion bosses were probably the best though, Manus and Artorias specifically. Not necessarily hard but they were quite demanding in that your input was required very often and you had to be very good with your timings. It was quite satisfying to fight them, I almost didn't want to finish the fight because it was so invigorating. I think nothing in Dark Souls 2 was quite as cool as Manus or Artorias. Though that DLC boss, the Samurai was very similar to Artorias.

@gamefreak9: Yeah the DLC of Dark Souls probably has my favorite bosses in the franchise. Kalameet is a real underrated gem of a fight.

Gwyn was hardest for me because i was shit at parrying and his fire hurt me so bad through great armor and shield.

though i chickened out with o & s and summoned after the first try.

I really have no idea anymore. At this point, I've played through that game so many times that each boss is more or less easy. Can't really remember which bosses gave me trouble during my original playthrough. Pretty sure I managed to one-shot Ornstein and Smough on my first game, although I didn't manage that again for a LONG time. Manus was probably a bit rough my first few times, as was Gwyn for my shield-wielding character of the time. As for easiest, it was probably one of those simpler bosses--Moonlight Butterfly, Pinwheel, Iron Golem.

I have to agree with some of the aforementioned; Bed of Chaos is definately a pain. Capra gives me trouble some times, mostly due to the dogs simply being in the way, its such a tight area to begin with. Strangely I never had any trouble with the DLC stuff, I think I beat those three in one or two tries each.

I'm only now starting my second playthrough. Thinking back, I think the boss I had the most trouble with weirdly enough was the Stray Demon. No idea why, I just think that fight took more attempts than any other.

Also screw the Capra Demon. That fight can be lost pretty much instantly upon entering the fog gate.

I always thought Manus was considered much more difficult than Artorias, that's always been my experience anyway

I found the Capra Demon insanely hard at first. The fight seemed to be over before I could even get my bearings the first few times. Didn't take that long to learn the way past, and I actually really enjoyed the fight all things considered. Same with Artorias (but not quite as bad, probably because I was more familiar with the gameplay).

Smough and Ornstein can go fuck themselves forever though. I felt like I was slowly losing my mind piece by piece every time I had to go through that goddamn fight.

Easiest was probably the moonlight butterfly. Almost felt bad killing that thing...

Hardest would be gwyn with no parrying (it was pretty intense on my SL1 character). I probably spent the most time on O&S though. Those guys taught me how to play Dark Souls and I cherish my early memories of that fight. I literally thought it was an impossible for a time, and now it's easily my favorite boss fight ever.

Easiest is obviously pinwheel, but since that's kind of a cop out I'm gonna say Demon Centipede. Once you're past his long range attacks, that boss fight is a joke. I usually spend 70% of it just dodging his lame jump-into-the-air-and-reposition move.

I also want to give a special shout out to the Ceaseless Discharge (one of the best boss names ever). I'd beaten him several times before, without much trouble at all, but then on my current run that lava-oozing bastard suddenly gave me seven kinds of hell for some reason. I'm sure it must've just been a lack of concentration on my part, but I don't think I've ever growled at the screen more than during that fight recently.

Also, not a mandatory boss, but the Hellkite dragon still intimidates me to no end. I've only ever killed him using ranged attacks from a safe spot underneath the bridge, never in straight-up melee.

A-A-A-A-A-A-ARTORIAS. Was probably the dude I had to fight the most time to beat, though Kalameet isn't far off, especially one NG+, keep messing with him for a little while longer and he may surpass Arty. Also I'm stuck on The Four Kings right now on my 2nd orrrr 3rd? NG+
One on one they aren't much trouble but they spawn so fast now it's crazy.

Pinwheel has never killed me, Sif is emotionally draining but pretty easy and Gywn wasn't that bad either, both first run and NG+, but now that Four Kings are giving me shit maybe he will too.

Hard bosses? Come on, this is Dark Souls we're talk about, you just strafe and murder those fools!

Seriously though, the boss that gave me the most trouble was without a doubt Artorias, what a fucker!

Hardest: Kalameet

Easiest: Pinwheel

I beat a majority of the bosses on my first try and refused to summon anyone on my first playthrough, which I was pretty proud of. I even killed S+O on my first go at them, and they're probably my favorite bossfight in the game. I've played through the game so many times at this point though that they're all very distilled.

Glad to see so many people saying snorlax and pikachu are the hardest because I beat them last night and they were kinda a bitch. Hopefully future bosses aren't that much harder

I finished the game for the first time last month and am now working on my first New Game+ run.

Easiest is Pinwheel but that's almost cheating. I found Gaping Dragon and Sif to also be very easy.

Ornstein and Smough get my vote for the hardest. It's the only boss that took me more than five tries but my view of this game's difficulty might be skewed since I got a Black Knight Sword early in the game and made it much easier than it was supposed to.

The hardest for me was Gwyn. I never parried him. I thought it was cheap and lame and shouldn't have been an option. The easiest was probably Pinwheel.

It's one of the most awe-inspiring fights.

Oh I should mention that I think in NG+ 4 kings becomes the hardest. Not sure why but the scaling on them is tough. I was a real DS monster I think I was on like NG+++++++++++++(somewhere around 10) and its almost impossible to beat the first king before the next one shows, so as you keep playing eventually you will have to fight all 4 at the same time, which is probably the hardest possible thing in DS.

Hardest was O&S while trying to leave Ornstein alive. I technically had a tougher time with Artorias and the Iron Golem on my first playthrough, but they are significantly easier once you beat them once in my opinion. On later playthroughs I've killed those two without getting hit so they became more hit or miss for me. O&S just stays tough assuming you are soloing them. One thing going wrong while they're both alive can screw you over really fast. I'll toss in Manus and Kalameet as well because they can be pretty tough.

Easiest was Gaping Dragon. Unless you leave the mage thats sniping from the wall alive, there's basically nothing that threatens to hit you. The worst is if you get hit by the maw or get that acid on you, but if you do that then you've just plain messed up. He's so slow and lumbering its just a matter of running around til he dies. Moonlight butterfly gets a special mention as well, but he has actually been annoying when I don't have a ranged weapon or spell. Still pretty easy though.

The hardest boss for me (I never played the DLC) was Bed of Chaos. Fuck inscrutable puzzle bosses. Easiest was the butterfly thing, by the time I got around to it, I had cranked my flame spewing hand up pretty high and it went down in two hits.

Anyone who says Pinwheel wasn't the easiest had best come back with either "Oh... Pinwheel? That crap was so easy I forgot it even existed." Or ... "Pinwheel is so simple and easy I don't count it as a boss."

Toughest for me was probably Gwyn because my first time playing through blind, solo, and offline it never occurred to me to parry him. It was a knock down drag out fight from hell, my palms were literally sweating by the time I won and it took me like 6-7 attempts. He was a serious fight. Then I went online, learned you could parry him, and he was a push over joke ever since.

In terms of pure challenge it would be Ornstein & Smough, more than any other boss in the game they require a huge amount of dexterity and skill and were still early enough in the game that it makes for a difficult fight. I think there are other bosses which are hard, but a lot of them can kind of be brute forced and none required keeping track of two powerful enemies at once.

Easiest for me, aside from Pinwheel, was Moonlight Butterfly. It has like 3 attacks, I don't think I got hit once.

@rubberbabybuggybumpers: Holy shit nevermind - it's the four kings for me 2. I literally almost stopped playing because of those bastards.

Man I sucked at the bosses. I summoned everything I could and still had trouble. Ornstein & Smough I summoned another player and the NPC and it still took me a couple of tries. Not only did I summon the witch for the butterfly and died several times, I died simultaneous to defeating him. I didn't even know that could happen.

Oddly, I beat the Capra Demon the first time. The only other bosses I got in one shot were Nito and Sif. Even Pinwheel got me a couple of times I think.