Elden Ring: 10 Most Annoying Bosses

Elden Ring is a truly massive game, so it's reasonable that it also sports hands-down the greatest number of bosses of any From Software game to date. Despite the world's daunting breadth and depth, you can barely turn a corner in this open-world role-playing game without running into a hulking monstrosity with a giant health bar.

As fun most of Elden Ring's bosses may be, however, a handful have tested the patience of even the most dedicated fans. From otherwise cool fights burdened with aggravating mechanics to completely unbalanced foes who simply suck the fun out of the room, we've all collectively rolled our eyes at some of the choices From Software made for these epic showdowns.

While your mileage may vary, we've compiled a list of 10 of Elden Ring's bosses that the community has deemed especially annoying to face off against. Some of them are mandatory if you plan on seeing the game's credits, while others are totally optional, meaning facing them down is arguably best left for completionists--or masochists, perhaps. Here are the 10 most annoying bosses in Elden Ring.

Fire Giant isn't one of the game's hardest bosses, but it nevertheless earns a spot as one of its most annoying due to its massive size, which can make it tough for melee users to see what his next move might be. Later in the fight, he rolls all around the battlefield like a goofball, making you chase him all over the place so that you can dish out some damage. What a weirdo.

Commander Niall is a frustrating fight due to the fact that it takes place in a very small arena, and he summons in two additional enemies at the beginning that require you to try to take down while dodging around like a maniac. Once they're down, he's a little more manageable, but he remains a formidable foe that can take you down with one or two hits.

Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy is Elden Ring's most gimmicky fight, requiring you to use a special weapon to deal damage to the giant serpent. Though it's an overall cool encounter, it's brought down significantly by wacky hitboxes and camera issues that can quickly turn things from fun to aggravating within moments while you try desperately to dance around and avoid the chaos happening all around you.

Mohg, Lord of Blood manages to be one of Elden Ring's most atmospheric and heart-pounding showdowns, but that doesn't mean it can't feel just a bit over-tuned at times. Most annoying is how he casts a curse that allows him to leech your HP before his second phase, which can drain your flask uses rapidly as you attempt to keep up your health bar. The fight is a solid skill check as it is--was that really necessary?

Crucible Knights are one of Elden Ring's most frustrating mid-tier enemies, so when you walk through the boss door and encounter two of them at once as a boss battle, you know it's going to be an exhausting process. These guys are relentless and nearly impossible to break apart without blind luck, so the entire fight moves extremely slowly while you block, dodge, and whittle away their health bars little by little. Yuck.

You'll come across a wide selection of Ulcerated Tree Spirits as you work your way through Elden Ring, and fighting them never becomes less ridiculous. As the game wears on, it seems to love putting you in tiny little rooms with one of these clumps of junk, making the camera freak out and ruin any fun that could be derived from the fight. Shields work wonders to negate some of the frustration, but the size and speed of this eye-roll-inducing boss usually make for a miserable time.

One of Elden Ring's most cinematic and visually spectacular fights is against Maliketh, The Black Blade. Despite being such a cool fight, though, it can also feel like it belongs in a different game. This boss has some seriously over-the-top movement and speed that makes it infuriatingly difficult for most builds to get any attacks in between his own. To put it simply: He's playing Bloodborne while you're playing Dark Souls.

The Godskin Noble shows up a few times throughout the game, and he's widely considered an obnoxious adversary that most people would prefer to never fight again. This makes stumbling upon the Godskin Duo (Godskin Noble and Godskin Apostle) in Crumbling Faram Azula a deeply maddening moment. These two loathsome dorks are ruthless and make for a truly miserable fight best saved for co-op. Even then, just... Ugh.

Starscourge Radahn is a boss fight against yet another massively oversized enemy that moves way too much, hits way too hard, and has awkward attack patterns that result in a dreadfully unfun encounter. He's been called "the worst designed boss in Souls history" by many genre fans, and the proof's in the pudding. Cheese this jerk however you see fit. He deserves nothing less for being a cheap and shameful foe.

Malenia, Blade of Miquella is what happens when From Software makes an incredibly epic fight and tragically over-tunes it until it's downright exhausting and unenjoyable. Malenia heals any time she hits you, her four-tier slice attack is among the hardest moves to dodge in the Soulslike genre's history, and she requires you to deplete nearly two full health bars. She's so brutal and unforgiving that she's been almost universally crowned From Software's hardest boss. But are we sure it's "hard" and not just "complete nonsense"?