The 10 HARDEST Boss Fights of 2025

Typhon & Chronos

“Hades II” (2025)

Both Chronos and Typhon are hard fights on their own. While you’ll theoretically get used to them eventually, the optional Vow of Rivals fight for Typhon is another matter. Here, the Father of All Monsters calls the Titan of Time to his side. If you thought Typhon’s powerful slams and problematic projectiles were a nuisance before, just wait until you also have Chronos’ moveset to contend with. Adding far-reaching scythe swings and time bubbles that freeze you in place, this duo is an absolute nightmare. And there’s an extra phase where Chronos reverts you back to a child, forcing you to only avoid while waiting for the effect to wear off.

Fulghor, Champion of Nightglow

“Elden Ring: Nightreign” (2025)

Since it's a FromSoftware game, there are a few bosses in “Nightreign” that are sure to give you trouble. But this giant bastard of a centaur sits at the top of the list. Some of his swings may be slow, but they naturally hit like a truck. Other attacks, like a lightning-fast charge and a stomp that lights up a huge area with damage, can spell doom. That’s just the first phase. In the second, he grows another arm, and produces near-endless waves of damage. Whether it’s the gigantic spears of light stabbing out of the ground, or the wide-range swipes and shockwaves, it leaves you little room to land attacks before immediately going back on the defensive.

Demon of Obsession

“Wuchang: Fallen Feathers” (2025)

Like a good amount of other Soulslikes, there’s a bit of a division between players on what the hardest boss in “Wuchang” is. The Bo Sorcerer and Honglan are particularly nasty. But the Demon of Obsession just beats them. It’s a truly infuriating case of oppressiveness on the battlefield. The Demon can easily close the distance between you, with deadly spear thrusts and the ability to teleport, which comes with the additional annoyance of electrified fists. Trying to stay close is obviously dangerous, too; the Demon can produce a red mist that you take instant damage from, and a shockwave that knocks you to the ground. Then there’s the paralysis-granting bow, the giant greatsword, and the massive beams and wave blasts to look out for.

Two Queens of the Dead

“Marvel Rivals” (2024)

2025 saw “Marvel Rivals” get its first limited-time PvE mode, where teams of up to four could take on waves of zombies. Ranging across seven difficulty levels, the final, Nightmare IV, was an absurd difficulty spike. You could grab as many health boost and incoming damage debuff cards in between rounds as possible, and still go down in an instant. And at the end, after 19 rounds of Hell, you’d have to face two zombified Scarlet Witches. Not only could each Queen produce some astoundingly high damage numbers, they also littered the arena with force fields that stunned you. There got to be so many that you could easily get stun-locked, then killed quicker than you had time to think. For an extra challenge, you’d get rewarded for doing this without teammates. While there were fewer zombies, facing two Wandas was insanely tough.

Ozma

“The First Berserker: Khazan” (2025)

Ozma made some big waves when “The First Berserker” released earlier in the year. As you’d expect from someone known as the Master of Chaos, and as the final boss in a Soulslike, this is a huge challenge to overcome. You fight him across three phases, each with huge health bars. And each one has so many varied attacks that it’s hard to get used to a pattern and forces you to adapt on the fly. And that ‘Master of Chaos’ title isn’t for nothing; a lot of his attacks are Chaos-based, so if you don’t rely on some type of resistance…well, you’ll have a bad time regardless. During the final phase, he’ll hit with such force and ferocity that it’s genuinely nerve-wracking.

Takezo the Unrivaled

“Ghost of Yōtei” (2025)

Simply put, if you don’t have a deep understanding of this game’s combat, and pristinely fast reaction time, then Takezo the Unrivaled is going to make short work of you. A highly-skilled master of Dual Katanas, Takezo’s combos come fast and hit hard. He’ll often mix unblockable attacks in with the others, a fun, little terrible way to keep you on your toes. He can also block projectiles and disarm you to be extra annoying. After taking enough damage, a blizzard blows in, periodically shortening your overall health bar and having no discernable effect on Takezo. It gets short enough that any damage will instantly put you down. This environment takes a hard fight, and makes it enraging.

Arlecchino the Blood Artist

“Lies of P: Overture” (2025)

For the final boss in the “Lies of P” DLC, we got something perhaps harder than anything in the base game, with Arlecchino the Blood Artist. Again, it’s a Soulslike, so again, super hard fight. You do have an ally, Lea, which helps in dealing damage. But that doesn’t stop the power behind each and every one of Arlecchino’s attacks from being any less detrimental. The second phase in particular is insane. He grows stronger, faster, and more able to remove your choices in places where it's safe to stand. He’s incredibly aggressive, backing you into a corner. And if Lea goes down, better get her back up quickly, or else all of Arlecchino’s belligerence will be aimed solely at you.

Roaring Knight

“Deltarune Chapter 3” (2025)

Across the, so far, four chapters of “Deltarune,” the Roaring Knight is, without a doubt, the hardest boss fight. Cycling through five attacks, each of which grows deadlier every time it appears, the Roaring Knight instantly puts you on edge. All of their attacks are designed to leave you with little safe space and come so quickly, they force you to react without thinking. Even with the highest defense items you can find, these attacks take off huge chunks of health. And party members can drop only after a few hits. Clearly, it’s extremely hard to gain the upper hand in this fight, so crushing and oppressive is everything to deal with. On a personal note, it took me several hours, a ton of deaths, and when I finally won, two party members were down, and Susie had 1 HP left…it was awesome.

Simon

“Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” (2025)

Simon is like your classic JRPG superboss. Which is to say that he’s an unbelievable hassle to face. It’s recommended players don’t fight him until they’re max level. And even then, it’ll be a struggle. With high health and impressive strength, he can shake off some tremendous attacks and hit you much, much harder. Across three phases, he unleashes combos that are difficult to read, and therefore react to. If you mistime a block or a parry, it’s easy to spiral and lose most of your health. He also has a particularly annoying feature where, if one party member goes down and you don’t get them up by his next turn, there’s a chance he removes them from the fight. Once his health reaches ⅓, he can wipe out your team, forcing you to play as your two back-ups. Of course, if you’re already on your back-ups, it’s an instant loss.

Lost Lace

“Hollow Knight: Silksong” (2025)

Given the reputation of the first game, we all knew that any kind of secret final boss in “Silksong” would destroy us. And sure enough, Lost Lace did, time and time again. Fought across four phases, she has a huge variety of attacks, designed to keep you bobbing and weaving. Or, more accurately, frantically fleeing from everything she throws at you. She can cut you to ribbons with quick slices, made even easier for her since she can dash and teleport around, which also makes her hard to pin down. She can cause deadly tendrils to burst from the ground, fire off projectiles, and produce gigantic waves of damage. Every attack is an explosion that is best avoided. But only by dying over and over again can you get used to any kind of pattern.

Who’s the hardest boss you’ve faced this year? And are there any that we left off? Share your thoughts in the comments, and we’ll see you next time!