This DLC boss completely overpowers every boss in the base game.

Boss encounters are always exciting and monumental moments in any game. Especially in combat-focused games, you'll memorize the boss's entire attack pattern. Because you'll likely be engaged in intense battles for hours until you defeat the boss. This is just the basic version of the game, as expansions always offer more powerful enemies.

In addition to incredibly easy bosses, you can always count on a place like FromSoftware to offer bosses that only escalate through expansions. This isn't theirs alone, as many other fantastic titles have introduced their best encounters through DLC and expansion packs. If you're a fan of the series, this is a must-play game!

Samur Maker

Doom Eternal: Old Gods – Part 1

Fighting the Maurader a million times in the basic version of Doom Eternal can get very old, but while there are actually some pretty solid encounters, it feels a bit underwhelming overall. That is, until we got The Ancient Gods – Part One expansion pack, which brought us a bloody and thrilling encounter against Samur Maykr (aka Seraphim).

The battle with Seraphim is epic from start to finish. Play through multiple levels, each more complex and hectic than the previous, testing your moving and shooting skills and pushing your limits. This boss encounter is the best encounter in the game and will let you prove that you are worthy of taking control of the Doom Slayer!

Hume Knight

Dark Souls 2: Crown of the Old Iron King

Let's face it: the base version of Dark Souls 2 only has a handful of decent and good bosses, so clearing that bar isn't necessarily difficult. Nonetheless, they cooked it up perfectly with the Fume Knight in the Crown of the Old Iron King expansion, delivering one of the best encounters in the series, let alone the game.

Fume Knight feels like a Soulsborne boss, something that almost every boss in the base game lacks. His design, attack patterns, and arena all combine perfectly to deliver incredibly epic and rewarding battles. We love everything about this meeting!

Knight Artorias, Abyss Walker

Dark Souls: Arturia of the Abyss

When it comes to perfect Soulsborne expansion bosses, we can't leave Knight Artorias, an Abysswalker, off this list. Because he's one of the most iconic fights in the entire series, and even outshines opponents like Ornstein and Smough from the base game.

The first Dark Souls had some banger boss encounters, and so do the rest of the Artorias of the Abyss expansion. Still, there's something visceral and powerful about Artorias encounters that makes everything else in the game clear. The knowledge, the stadium, the music and the meeting itself are special. They participated in this meeting and it showed!

Demifiend

Shin Megami Tensei 5: Return of the True Devil

On a bit of a technicality, the Demi-Fiend boss encounter was added to Shin Megami Tensei 5 via a quest DLC called Return of the True Demon, rather than a full expansion like the other entries. Nonetheless, this is important because it wasn't part of the base game version, it's a really great fight and deserves to be on the list.

Demi-Fiend is easily the most difficult encounter in the entire game, even when faced with a boss found in the Vengeance expansion. The entire encounter is tense, and you'll have to use everything you can to come out on top. One mistake and you will most likely be ruined. I wish there were more encounters like this in the game!

Marchiona, the Puppeteer of Death

P's Lie: Overture

Fresh off the presses, Markiona the Puppeteer of Death is a throwback to the new Prelude expansion pack that Lies of P received earlier this year. If you thought the base game had amazing combat, you're right. But I've never seen a game like this before. This fight is everything you want in a Lies of P boss fight.

Not only will you be fighting Markiona herself, but you'll also be tasked with taking on one of her creations, the Queen's Arche Puppet. This is likely to mess things up more than you can hope for in your first few attempts. Everything about this fight hits its mark, not only competing with everything that came before, but surpassing it quite convincingly!

Freed Sisters

Dark Souls 3: Ash of Ariandel

Dark Souls 3 is a solid experience from start to finish, but it feels strangely easy at times. Most bosses don't offer much of a challenge unless you go off the beaten path and fight a nameless king. And FromSoftware heard our cries loud and clear, dropping Sister Friede on us in the game's first expansion, Ashes of Ariandel.

With three stages, an incredible arena of fire and ice, and captivating attacks, Sister Friede is one of the best encounters FromSoftware has come up with to date. From the fake victory to her regenerating her entire health bar multiple times to Father Ariandel joining the fight, this is one of the most over-the-top moments of all time!

Ludwig, Holy Sword

Bloodborne: Old Hunters

Want another FromSoftware expansion boss fight? We hope you say yes. Because this is the result you get. There is no way to exclude Holy Sword Ludwig from this list. Ludwig is arguably one of the most cinematic and emotional boss fights they've ever made, and he's easily our favorite in Bloodborne thanks to the excellent Old Hunters expansion.

Is Ludwig the hardest fight in the game? Absolutely not. But he's arguably the best overall. Because seeing the amazing, devastating cutscenes that set him up in the base game and then seeing him in this state for the first time in the expansion will be burned into your brain forever. It also helps that the combat itself is a 10 out of 10 because it never misses!

Wise

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade

It's a bit of a curveball, but there's a secret boss encounter in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade that includes Yuffie's intermission expansion. Weiss is a deeply problematic boss, as she was the main antagonist in Vincent's standalone game, Dirge of Cerberus, which has likely been long forgotten by the public by now.

But thanks to Chadley's Combat Simulator, you can battle Weiss on Hard Mode, one of the most intense and incredibly challenging battles the game has to offer. Is it as emotional as the encounter in the base game? no. However, with the slightly improved combat that Intergrade provides and how you have to play almost perfectly to defeat him, this is by far the most satisfying and demanding task in the game!

Promised Spouse Radan

Elden Ring: Shadow of Edtree

Well, you guessed it, another FromSoftware Soulsborne expansion boss has arrived. Add the Promised Consort Radahn to the mix, serving as the final boss in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Again, they never miss, and this encounter is arguably the most brutal and downright vicious boss fight in their library. Yes, I also passed Sekiro's Isshinden.

There are two levels that are visually striking, knowledgeable, and more than just a test of your patience and limits. Shadow of the Erdtree is without a doubt the most demanding work FromSoftware has made since Sekiro, and this encounter feels too much for that. This must be revenge for nerfing OG Lathan, right?

brightness

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Lastly, we have Hades, one of the MMORPG's critically acclaimed Shadowbringers expansions. *ahem* Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes. Encounter Hades from Final Fantasy 14's Shadowbringers expansion. On a more serious note, this encounter will have you in tears by the end.

Shadowbringers builds everything to perfection and delivers some of the most cathartic and emotionally devastating rewards you could ever hope for from an MMORPG. Emet-Selch is one of the best antagonists in all of gaming, and the fight against him after he transforms into Hades trumps everything in the base game and previous expansions!