History ThatOneBoss / Bloodborne

* Father Gascoigne. The Gatekeeper boss for Bloodborne, is awesome but also completely destroys new players. He fights as a stronger version of you, with hard hitting axe attacks, but the most devastating attacks he has are his gun attacks, dealing massive amounts of damage for the early game, forcing you to stay on the aggressive. What balances his out is his weakness to parrying and the fact he can't really onehit you, meaning if you stay on the aggressive and learn the parry system, he becomes much more manageable. In his second phase, he transforms his axe ([[MyRulesAreNotYourRules but unlike you, he can still use his gun with his weapon transformed]]) and gains a truly nasty hit radius. His third phase is the most threatening, where he turns into a feral werewolf and can be best described as an absolute shitshow. He carries over his weakness to parrying but his FERAL attack patterns mean your dodges will have to be on point. Overall, if you can beat Gascoigne, you can beat anything in Bloodborne. It's possible to find an item that leaves him open when used... but the third time you use it, he immediately enters his third phase regardless of his health. And the item only works three times.

* Vicar Amelia. Father Gascoigne was the first boss to show you how punishing the game can be, but Vicar Amelia is made to cause rage. She has a large health pool compared to previous bosses and her attacks cover wide ''and'' long areas, so keeping your distance without being sliced to pieces is difficult. In her second phase she will become much more aggressive and can even ''heal'' if you make the mistake of keeping your distance, forcing you to throw Numbing Mist at her to stop it. As an extra "screw you", her hair tends to completely fill the screen when you're behind her, [[CameraScrew making it impossible to see what you're doing]]. Be ready with Fire Paper and a good Serrated weapon, especially if you're courageous/skilled enough to decide to take her on early.

* Father Gascoigne. The Gatekeeper boss for Bloodborne, is awesome but also completely destroys new players. He fights as a stronger version of you, with hard hitting axe attacks, but the most devastating attacks he has are his gun attacks, dealing massive amounts of damage for the early game, forcing you to stay on the aggressive. What balances his out is his weakness to parrying and the fact he can't really onehit you, meaning if you stay on the aggressive and learn the parry system, he becomes much more manageable. His second phase is the most threatening, where he turns into a feral werewolf and can be best described as an absolute shitshow. He carries over his weakness to parrying but his FERAL attack patterns mean your dodges will have to be on point. Overall, if you can beat Gascoigne, you can beat anything in Bloodborne.

* Martyr Logarius, the FinalBoss of Cainhurst Castle. Just surviving his first phase can be extremely difficult, as he spends it spamming high powered, area of effect magic spells that make even getting within striking distance of him a near-suicide mission, and even if you do manage to get that close, he can unleash on you with a massive melee combo that easily wipes out your health bar if you aren't careful, and can't be parried. The second and third phases are actually mildly easier because he at least can be parried, but only if you're extremely quick on the draw. However, that's also when he gets a lot more mobile, flying up into the air to slam down on you with his melee weapons. If you're even still alive by the time the third phase roles around, odds are you've long since used up your Blood Vials and Bullets...

* The penultimate boss of the DLC, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower is known for her difficulty. With swift and graceful strikes, Maria combines the pure skill of a veteran hunter and is capable of dodging most anything you dish out. While her first phrase can be strafed about, her second and third phases bring the pain whe using her Blood Blades enhances her reach and damage enormously, coupled with increasing aggression. Like Ludwig, she's also considered a high quality and difficult boss, but one of the game's highest challenge.

* The Shadows of Yharnam take precise positioning and decision making to beat, requiring the player to keep tabs on three different enemies, each with their own movement and attack speed. The first phase is relatively easy, as the magic user only occasionally shoots straight-forward fireballs, the candle-wielder is slow and the katana wielder is aggressive and fast, though predictable. All three are relatively simple to stagger and the environment can be used to your advantage. The issues start from the second phase onwards. Once one of the Shadows reaches a third of their health, they will grow snakes, much like the snake parasites in Forbidden Forest preceding the battle. Each Shadow gains extra abilities, with the katana and candle Shadow gaining a rather generous boost to the range of their weapons. It can be difficult to get close to the melee users as they spam their long-ranged melee attacks. Then once only one Shadow remains standing, it will attempt a lengthy spell you must interrupt, as failing to do so has the Shadow summon massive snakes that deal an incredible amount of damage.

* Vicar Amelia. Father Gascoigne was the first boss to show you how punishing the game can be, but Vicar Amelia is made to cause rage. She has a large health pool compared to previous bosses and her attacks cover wide ''and'' long areas, so keeping your distance without being sliced to pieces is difficult. In her second phase she will become much more aggressive and can even ''heal'' if you make the mistake of keeping your distance, forcing you to throw Numbing Mist at her to stop it. As an extra "screw you", her RapunzelHair tends to completely fill the screen when you're behind her, [[CameraScrew making it impossible to see what you're doing]]. Be ready with Fire Paper and a good Serrated weapon, especially if you're courageous/skilled enough to decide to take her on early.

* The final boss of the DLC, the Orphan of Kos is considered one of, if not ''the'' hardest bosses in all of [=FromSoft's=] history and is the page image for a really good reason. He is almost mindlessly aggressive and hard-hitting and while his first phase is comparatively simple to master, his second is the player killer. His attacks are nigh-impossible to parry, with painful and relentless combos, chaining AOE attacks and powerful lightning blasts that are exceptionally difficult to dodge if you stand in the wrong place. Finding windows to attack is hard enough, compounded by his insane health pool. Not for nothing is he known for his psychotic levels of difficulty to cap off the very difficult Fishing Hamlet.
* However. Nothing, ''nothing'' else in the game compares to the sheer infuriating invincibility of '''Martyr Logarius''', the FinalBoss of Cainhurst Castle. Just surviving his ''first phase'' can be extremely difficult, as he spends it spamming high powered, area of effect magic spells that make even getting within striking distance of him a near-suicide mission, and even if you ''do'' manage to get that close, he can unleash on you with a massive melee combo that easily wipes out your health bar if you aren't careful, and ''can't'' be parried. The second and third phases are actually mildly ''easier'' because he at least can be parried, ''if'' you're extremely quick on the draw. However, that's also when he gets a lot more mobile, flying up into the air to slam down on you with his melee weapons. If you're even still alive by the time the third phase roles around, odds are you've long since used up your Blood Vials and Bullets...

* Venturing into [[NewGamePlus New Game+]] will see Laurence, the First Vicar's health pool and defenses skyrocket, making even the strongest and best-built weapons seem like nothing worse than a tickle to the burning beast. Even worse, his erratic moveset in later phases becomes a death sentence, as even the vast majority of attacks, or the [[SplashDamage waves of fire that waft off of his fists]], become [[OneHitKill one-shots]] even if the player chooses to maximize their Fire Resistance through clothes and runes. However, some attacks [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill deal so much damage]] that the player's resistances become simply meaningless. If you didn't manage to get his rewards before entering your second playthrough, expect to have his screams of pain seared into your mind as he repeatedly wipes the floor with you, as Laurence in NG+2 or higher can make even the Orphan of Kos seem easy by comparison.

* Father Gascoigne is the WakeUpCallBoss to end all [[WakeUpCallBoss Wake-Up Call Bosses]]. Potentially the first or second (depending on whether you fight the Cleric Beast first) boss you encounter, he is entirely designed to teach players to adapt to Bloodborne's aggressive combat style and NintendoHard difficulty. He fights the player like an NPC or PVP player would - he dodges your attacks, he tries to parry you with his gun, and he never lets up. He also transforms his Hunter Axe into the two-hand version, giving his attacks serious reach. His third phase is where most players perish within a matter of seconds; he fully transforms into a beast, gaining ''extremely'' quick, aggressive attacks which often combo into each other, leaving you stunned on the ground while he quickly destroys your health bar. Unless you've spent most of the game so far practicing dodging and stunning, good luck. [[GuideDangIt If you found it]], the Tiny Music Box will stun him for a few seconds, which can be a blessing during his beast form (or human forms, if you need the help), but it has its drawbacks. It doesn't immediately stun him, leaving you a sitting duck for a critical moment, and it will only work a few times. Even worse, if you're unwise enough to overuse it ''before'' the transformation, he'll actually turn into a beast early, leaving you to fend off a LightningBruiser with extra HP and no music box to counter him. It's very telling when Gascoigne, the first mandatory boss in the game, only has a clear rate of less than half (45.8% to be precise).

* Most of the NPC hunter fights are pretty challenging, as while they ostensibly use [[MirrorBoss the same tools as you,]] they have unlimited stamina and ammo, and will happily spam range attacks at you all day long. And then, there's [[BossInMooksClothing the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst,]] [[spoiler: who only appears in the Grand Cathedral if you complete Eileen's quest line, after you find her wounded outside the door,]] and could potentially be the hardest hunter NPC fight in the entire game. He has a ''gigantic'' health pool standing at exactly '''3510''', which is the equivalent if not more than some of the bosses you face. Not to mention he also has maxed out stats and deals extreme amounts of damage, [[ThatOneAttack his Repeater Pistol can take half your health]] and he likes to use this constantly after dodging one of your attacks. Oh, and he likes to regularly use Old Hunter's bone which turns his strafing/dodging into outright TeleportSpam. You ''know'' a fight is especially difficult and brutal even by ''Soulsborne'' standards when the most common "recommended" strategy to beat it is by using a GoodBadBug to exploit the Hunter AI with Blue Elixirs...
* The later upgraded version of the [[BonusDungeon Chalice Dungeons]] are filled with this, albeit they are technically optional.
** If you're exploring the following the natural progression of Chalice Dungeons you unlock [[spoiler:on the progression path to the [[BonusBoss Pthumerian Queen]]]], you are very likely to find yourself fighting the Watchdog of the Old Lords, which is [[CanisMajor a dog the way Cerberus is a chihuahua]]. While this beast is not much different from the giant monsters most players have been slaughtering by this point, what makes it an infuriating boss fight is the dungeon type in which it's fought in: a (techcnically Cursed and) Defiled Chalice Dungeon. In this dungeon, your HP is halved, as is the amount of HP you get from healing items. Fortunately, the physical damage you take is also halved. Unfortunately, elemental damage is ''not'' halved, and all of the Watchdog's attacks do Fire damage. This means that even at high Vitality, the Watchdog can and will oneshot you with '''almost all of its attacks''', and because it's so massive, it can obliterate you on the spot just by clipping you.
** And coming right after said Watchdog in the Defiled Chalice Dungeon is the headless Bloodletting Beast. A stronger version of a weaker boss from earlier in the Chalice Dungeon progression (which has a head), this version of the boss is scaled to the point of utter insanity, with its ground slams doing insta-kill amounts of damage combined with [[HitboxDissonance extremely disjointed hitboxes]] that will guarantee thrown controllers. It also ups the difficulty compared to the original version somehow even moreso, because at half-health a giant centipede will grow out of the neck stump and spit Rapid Poison bolts at you, essentially making death a certainty if you are unlucky enough to be hit by said bolts while trying to stay away from the aforementioned insta-kill slams.

** If you're exploring the following the natural progression of dungeons you unlock [[spoiler:in the course of unlocking the dungeon to the [[BonusBoss Pthumerian Queen]]]], you are very likely to find yourself fighting the Watchdog of the Old Lords, which is [[CanisMajor a dog the way Cerberus is a chihuahua]]. While this beast is not much different from the giant monsters most players have been slaughtering by this point, what makes it an infuriating boss fight is the dungeon type in which it's fought in: a (Cursed and) Defiled Chalice Dungeon. In this dungeon, your HP is halved, as is the amount of HP you get from healing items. Fortunately, the physical damage you take is also halved. '''Un'''fortunately, elemental damage is ''not'' halved, and all of the Watchdog's attacks do fire damage. This means that even at high Vitality, the Watchdog can and will oneshot you with ''almost all of its attacks'', and because it's so massive, it can obliterate you on the spot just by clipping you.
** And coming right after said Watchdog in the Defiled Chalice Dungeon is the Headless Bloodletting Beast. A stronger version of a weaker boss from earlier in the Chalice Dungeon progression (which has a head), this version of the boss is scaled to the point of utter insanity, with its ground slams doing instakill amounts of damage combined with an [[HitboxDissonance extremely disjointed hitbox]] that will guarantee thrown controllers. It also ups the difficulty compared to the original version somehow even moreso, because at half-health a giant centipede will grow out of the neck stump and spit Rapid Poison bolts at you, essentially making death a certainty if you are unlucky enough to be hit by said bolts.

* If you're exploring the [[BonusDungeon Chalice Dungeons]] and following the natural progression of dungeons you unlock [[spoiler:in the course of unlocking the dungeon to the [[BonusBoss Pthumerian Queen]]]], you are very likely to find yourself fighting the Watchdog of the Old Lords, which is [[CanisMajor a dog the way Cerberus is a chihuahua]]. While this beast is not much different from the giant monsters most players have been slaughtering by this point, what makes it an infuriating boss fight is the dungeon type in which it's fought in: a (Cursed and) Defiled Chalice Dungeon. In this dungeon, your HP is halved, as is the amount of HP you get from healing items. Fortunately, the physical damage you take is also halved. '''Un'''fortunately, elemental damage is ''not'' halved, and all of the Watchdog's attacks do fire damage. This means that even at high Vitality, the Watchdog can and will oneshot you with ''almost all of its attacks'', and because it's so massive, it can obliterate you on the spot just by clipping you.
** And coming right after said Watchdog in the Defiled Chalice Dungeon is the Headless Bloodletting Beast. A stronger version of a boss from earlier in the Chalice Dungeon progression (which has a head), this version of the boss is scaled to the point of utter insanity, with its ground slams doing instakill amounts of damage combined with an [[HitboxDissonance extremely disjointed hitbox]] that will guarantee thrown controllers. It also ups the difficulty compared to the original version somehow even moreso because at half health a giant centipede will grow out of the neck stump and spit Rapid Poison boltat you, essentially making death a certainty if you are unlucky enough to be hit by it.

* If you're exploring the [[BonusDungeon Chalice Dungeons]] and following the natural progression of dungeons you unlock [[spoiler:in the course of unlocking the dungeon to the [[BonusBoss Pthumerian Queen]]]], you are very likely to find yourself fighting the Watchdog of the Old Lords, which is [[CanisMajor a dog the way Cerberus is a chihuahua]]. While this beast is not much different from the giant monsters most players have been slaughtering by this point, what makes it an infuriating boss fight is the dungeon type in which it's fought in: a (Cursed and) Defiled Chalice Dungeon. In this dungeon, your HP is halved, as is the amount of HP you get from healing items. Fortunately, the physical damage you take is also halved. '''Un'''fortunately, elemental damage is ''not'' halved, and all of the Watchdog's attacks do fire damage. This means that even at high Vitality, the Watchdog can and will oneshot you with several of its attacks, and because it's so massive, it can obliterate you just by clipping you.turned.

* Venturing into [[NewGamePlus New Game+]] will see Laurence, the First Vicar's health pool and defenses skyrocket, making even the strongest and best-built weapons seem like nothing worse than a tickle to the burning beast. Even worse, his erratic moveset in later phases becomes a death sentence, as even the vast majority of attacks, or the [[SplashDamage waves of fire that waft off of his fists]], become [[OneHitKill one-shots]] even if the player chooses to maximize their Fire Resistance through clothes and runes. However, some attacks [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill deal so much damage]] that the player's resistances become simply meaningless. If you didn't manage to get his rewards before entering [[NewGamePlus New Game+]], expect to have his screams of pain seared into your mind as he repeatedly wipes the floor with you, as Laurence in NG+2 or higher can make even the Orphan of Kos seem easy by comparison.

* If you're exploring the [[BonusDungeon Chalice Dungeons]] and following the natural progression of dungeons you unlock [[spoiler:in the course of unlocking the dungeon to the [[BonusBoss Pthumerian Queen]]]], you are very likely to find yourself fighting the Watchdog of the Old Lords, which is [[CanisMajor a dog the way Cerberus is a chihuahua]]. While this beast is not much different from the giant monsters most players have been slaughtering by this point, what makes it an infuriating boss fight is the dungeon type in which it's fought in: a (Cursed and) Defiled Chalice Dungeon. In this dungeon, your HP is halved, as is the amount of HP you get from healing items. Fortunately, the physical damage you take is also halved. '''Un'''fortunately, elemental damage is ''not'' halved, and all of the Watchdog's attacks do fire damage. This means that even at high Vitality, the Watchdog can and will oneshot you with several of its attacks, and because it's so massive, it can obliterate you just by clipping you.turned.

* The final boss of the DLC, the Orphan of Kos is considered one of, if not ''the'' hardest bosses in all of [=FromSoft's=] history and is the page image for a really good reason. He is almost mindlessly aggressive and hard-hitting and while his first phase is comparatively simple to master, his second is the player killer. His attacks are nigh-impossible to parry, with painful and relentlessly combos, chaining AOE attacks and powerful lightning blasts that are exceptionally difficult to dodge if you stand in the wrong place. Finding windows to attack is hard enough, compounded by his insane health pool. Not for nothing is he known for his psychotic levels of difficulty to cap off the very difficult Fishing Hamlet.

* The OptionalBoss of the DLC, Laurence the First Vicar, is a reskin of the Cleric Beast with a fire theme. The bane of many players, Laurence completely ditches the 'tough but fair' challenge in favor of attacks that are just a touch too aggressive and savage, with difficult tells, sweeping range and insane damage that requires a total lack of room for error. His final phase brings with it insane combos, leaving a trail of damaging lava and incredibly few windows for attack. Small surprise he's considered one of the most nightmarish bosses in the game. And to add insult to injury, the run up to his boss arena is the longest in the game and is filled with dangerous enemies, [[ContinuingIsPainful meaning that every time you die, you'll have to trek through hazardous terrain just to try again.]]

* Most of the NPC hunter fights are pretty challenging, as while they ostensibly use [[MirrorBoss the same tools as you,]] they have unlimited stamina and ammo, and will happily spam range attacks at you all day long. Even then, the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst hunter fought at the end of Eileen's quest line still takes the crown among all of them. Despite only being a mini-boss, his damage output easily tramps half of the bosses in the game, has a devious AI that proficiently adapts to most of your moves and will immediately parry you at the first sign of an opening, while his relatively smaller size makes it harder for you to read his attacks. Without resulting to level grinding or cheese tactics, this fight can potentially rival Gehrman in terms of difficulty.

* The OptionalBoss of the DLC, Laurence the First Vicar, is a reskin of the Cleric Beast with a fire theme. The bane of many players, Laurence completely ditches the 'tough but fair' challenge in favor of attacks that are just a touch too aggressive and savage, with difficult tells, sweeping range and insane damage that requires a total lack of room for error. His final phase brings with it insane combos, leaving a trail of damaging lava and incredibly few windows for attack. Small surprise he's considered one of the most nightmarish bosses in the game.

* [[BossInMooksClothing The Bloody Crow of Cainhurst.]] [[spoiler: He only appears in the Grand Cathedral if you complete Eileen's quest line, after you find her wounded outside the door.]] He could potentially be the hardest hunter NPC fight in the entire game, he has a ''gigantic'' health pool standing at exactly '''3510''' which is the equivalent if not more than some of the bosses you face. Not to mention he also has maxed out stats and deals extreme amounts of damage, [[ThatOneAttack his Repeater Pistol can take half your health]] and he likes to use this constantly after dodging one of your attacks. Oh, and he likes to regularly use Old Hunter's bone which turns his strafing/dodging into outright TeleportSpam. You ''know'' a fight is especially difficult and brutal even by ''Soulsborne'' standards when the most common "recommended" strategy to beat it is by using a GoodBadBug to exploit the Hunter AI with Blue Elixirs...

* Laurence, the First Vicar. Basically the Cleric Beast on fire (literally), but with a ton of health, more broken hitboxes, and huge AOE on his every second attack. The first phase is already tough enough, but after you finally whittle him down to about 40% health, he enters the second phase and starts spewing lava everywhere, while simultaneously retaining the same ridiculous degree of reach in his every attack, easily trapping you in a corner with no hope of evading the incoming AOE. To add insult to injury, the run up to his boss arena is the longest in the game and filled with dangerous enemies, [[ContinuingIsPainful meaning that every time you die, you'll have to trek through hazardous terrain just to try again.]]

* Laurence, the First Vicar. Basically the Cleric Beast on fire (literally), but with a ton of health, more broken hitboxes, and huge AOE on his every second attack. The first phase is already tough enough, but after you finally whittle him down to about 40% health, he enters the second phase and starts spewing lava everywhere, while simultaneously retaining the same ridiculous degree of reach in his every attack, easily trapping you in a corner with no hope of evading the incoming AOE. To add insult to injury, the run up to his boss arena is the longest in the game and filled with dangerous enemies, [[ContinuingIsPainful meaning that every time you die, you'll have to trek through hazardous terrain just to try again.]]

* Rom, the Vacuous Spider requires a great deal of patience to beat. Unlike the game's other {{Flunky Boss}}es, her minions are a huge threat--one attack will reduce most players to one-third their HP--requiring you to split your attention between the boss and the minions. Even worse, with each stage she'll summon more. If you want to play it safe, you can try to thin out the spider swarm before engaging Rom herself, but doing so is very time-consuming and open you up to a quick death by Rom's meteor showers while your back is turned.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orphanhardbloodborne_9.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Mercy for the poor, wizened child..."\\
[[ThatOneBoss Are you sure you aren't talking about us being the poor, wizened child?]]]]

* Rom, the Vacuous Spider requires a great deal of patience to beat. Unlike the game's other {{Flunky Boss}}es, her minions are a huge threat--one attack will reduce most players to one-third their HP--requiring you to split your attention between the boss and the minions. Even worse, with each stage she'll summon more. If you want to play it safe, you can try to thin out the spider swarm before engaging Rom herself, but doing so is very time-consuming and open you up to a quick death by Rom's meteor showers while your back is turned.
* The DLC, ''The Old Hunters'' introduces its difficulty with its first boss, Ludwig the Accursed, a gigantic beast with over a dozen unique attacks, incredible speed and strength, a difficult to predict moveset and tells, and savage combos. Ludwig is known as a skill check for the DLC, with several attacks fully capable of [[OneHitKill one-shotting]] a careless, or even careful player. Halfway through the fight, Ludwig enters his Holy Blade phase where he eschews his unpredictable attacks in his first-phase in favor of frenetic and fast-paced strikes and AOE attacks that while much more readable, still deal massive damage. Unsurprisingly, he's considered one of the greatest bosses in the game for his incredible, but fair, difficulty.
* The OptionalBoss of the DLC, Laurence the First Vicar, is a reskin of the Cleric Beast with a fire theme. The bane of many players, Laurence completely ditches the 'tough but fair' challenge in favor of attacks that are just a touch too aggressive and savage, with difficult tells, sweeping range and insane damage that requires a total lack of room for error. His final phase brings with it insane combos, leaving a trail of damaging lava and incredibly few windows for attack. Small surprise he's considered one of the most nightmarish bosses in the game.
* The penultimate boss of the DLC, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower is known for her difficulty. With swift and graceful strikes, Maria combines the pure skill of a veteran hunter and is capable of dodging most anything you dish out. While her first phrase can be strafed about, her second and third phases bring the pain whe using her Blood Blades enhances her reach and damage enormously, coupled with increasing aggression. Like Ludwig, she's also considered a high quality and difficult boss, but one of the game's highest challenge.
* The final boss of the DLC, the Orphan of Kos is considered one of, if not ''the'' hardest bosses in all of [=FromSoft's=] history and is the page image for a really good reason. He is almost mindlessly aggressive and hard-hitting and while his first phase is comparatively simple to master, his second is the player killer. His attacks are nigh-impossible to parry, with painful and relentlessly combos, chaining AOE attacks and powerful lightning blasts that are exceptionally difficult to dodge if you stand in the wrong place. Finding windows to attack is hard enough, compounded by his insane health pool. Not for nothing is he known for his psychotic levels of difficulty to cap off the very difficult Fishing Hamlet.
* [[BossInMooksClothing The Bloody Crow of Cainhurst.]] [[spoiler: He only appears in the Grand Cathedral if you complete Eileen's quest line, after you find her wounded outside the door.]] He could potentially be the hardest hunter NPC fight in the entire game, he has a ''gigantic'' health pool standing at exactly '''3510''' which is the equivalent if not more than some of the bosses you face. Not to mention he also has maxed out stats and deals extreme amounts of damage, [[ThatOneAttack his Repeater Pistol can take half your health]] and he likes to use this constantly after dodging one of your attacks. Oh, and he likes to regularly use Old Hunter's bone which turns his strafing/dodging into outright TeleportSpam. You ''know'' a fight is especially difficult and brutal even by ''Soulsborne'' standards when the most common "recommended" strategy to beat it is by using a GoodBadBug to exploit the Hunter AI with Blue Elixirs...
* If you're exploring the [[BonusDungeon Chalice Dungeons]] and following the natural progression of dungeons you unlock [[spoiler:in the course of unlocking the dungeon to the [[BonusBoss Pthumerian Queen]]]], you are very likely to find yourself fighting the Watchdog of the Old Lords, which is [[CanisMajor a dog the way Cerberus is a chihuahua]]. While this beast is not much different from the giant monsters most players have been slaughtering by this point, what makes it an infuriating boss fight is the dungeon type in which it's fought in: a (Cursed and) Defiled Chalice Dungeon. In this dungeon, your HP is halved, as is the amount of HP you get from healing items. Fortunately, the physical damage you take is also halved. '''Un'''fortunately, elemental damage is ''not'' halved, and all of the Watchdog's attacks do fire damage. This means that even at high Vitality, the Watchdog can and will oneshot you with several of its attacks, and because it's so massive, it can obliterate you just by clipping you.