Dark Souls Boss Order: The Best Route Through Lordran

The smoothest Dark Souls boss order runs from the Asylum Demon through the Taurus Demon, Bell Gargoyle, Capra Demon, Gaping Dragon and Chaos Witch Quelaag, then the Iron Golem and Ornstein and Smough, then the four great souls the Lordvessel needs, and Gwyn, Lord of Cinder last. That sequence keeps the difficulty rising at a fair pace in Dark Souls Remastered and stops you from wandering into New Londo Ruins or the Catacombs long before your character is ready. Below is the full route, where the optional fights and the Artorias of the Abyss bosses slot in, and the few points where the order genuinely matters.

We checked this route against the Fextralife Dark Souls wiki pages for bosses, the Game Progress Route, the Lordvessel and each covenant, plus the official Dark Souls Remastered store listing, in November 2026.

How Many Bosses You Are Actually Fighting

The wiki counts 22 area bosses in the base game. Thirteen of them stand between you and the ending: the Asylum Demon, Bell Gargoyle, Ceaseless Discharge, Chaos Witch Quelaag, Four Kings, Great Grey Wolf Sif, Gwyn, the Iron Golem, Gravelord Nito, Ornstein and Smough, Pinwheel, Seath the Scaleless and the Bed of Chaos. The other nine are optional: the Capra Demon, Centipede Demon, Crossbreed Priscilla, Dark Sun Gwyndolin, Demon Firesage, Gaping Dragon, Moonlight Butterfly, Stray Demon and Taurus Demon. A few of the "required" ones can be skipped by advanced routes, but a first playthrough should treat that list as fixed.

Remastered also bundles the Artorias of the Abyss expansion, which adds the Sanctuary Guardian, Knight Artorias, Black Dragon Kalameet and Manus. Those four sit outside the main count and are reached through a side door in Darkroot Basin, so you can fit them in whenever you feel strong enough rather than at one fixed point.

Optional does not mean pointless. The Capra Demon and Gaping Dragon guard keys you need to move through Lower Undead Burg and the Depths efficiently, and Quelaag's bell is one of the two Bells of Awakening that open Sen's Fortress. Treat "optional" as "the game will not force you," not as "skip it."

The Opening Stretch: Asylum to Blighttown

The first third of the game is the most linear, and the route the wiki recommends follows it closely:

1. Asylum Demon in the Northern Undead Asylum. Oscar hands you the Estus Flask just before. If you start the fight with only the broken sword hilt, run through the door on the left and come back from the balcony with a real weapon.
2. Taurus Demon in the Undead Burg. Before or after him, buy the Residence Key from the Undead Merchant and pick up the White Sign Soapstone from Solaire, since both come in handy soon.
3. Bell Gargoyle on the Undead Parish roof. Before the fight, Andre in the Parish can take a weapon to +5, and that upgrade matters more than levels at this point.
4. Capra Demon in Lower Undead Burg. Beating him lets you collect the Key to the Depths.
5. Gaping Dragon at the bottom of the Depths. Defeating him gets you the Blighttown Key.
6. Chaos Witch Quelaag past the Blighttown swamp. Ring the second Bell of Awakening beyond her arena.

The guide also suggests a quick detour back to the Northern Undead Asylum after Quelaag, using the key from the roof of Firelink Shrine. That trip gets you the Peculiar Doll, which you need later for the Painted World, and the Stray Demon, who drops a Titanite Slab. He hits much harder than the Asylum Demon did, so treat him as a test of how far your build has come.

Sen's Fortress, Anor Londo and the Lordvessel

Both the upper and lower Bells of Awakening have to ring before the gate of Sen's Fortress opens, and the Iron Golem waits at the top. After he falls, you touch the glowing ring in his arena and a trio of Bat Wing Demons carries you to Anor Londo, and Anor Londo is where the first big wall of the game stands: Ornstein and Smough. Clear the duo and Gwynevere hands you the Lordvessel, which is the single most important item in the game because it lets you warp between bonfires just by carrying it.

Warping changes how you should think about the rest of the route. Before the Lordvessel, every trip is on foot and a bad choice of direction costs you an hour. After it, you can bounce between areas freely, so the remaining order is more about matching your level to each zone than about geography.

Two optional fights sit right around here. The Painted World of Ariamis, reached through the painting in Anor Londo with the Peculiar Doll in your inventory, holds Crossbreed Priscilla. Dark Sun Gwyndolin waits in his tomb deeper in Anor Londo and is tied to the Blade of the Darkmoon covenant. Both can wait until you are stronger, and neither blocks progress. If you plan to collect every covenant later, our guide to the nine Dark Souls covenants explains which bosses lock which ones away.

The Four Great Souls and the Order That Works

The Lordvessel has to be filled before the Kiln of the First Flame opens. The wiki names the four bosses whose souls go into it: Seath the Scaleless, the Four Kings, Gravelord Nito and the Bed of Chaos. You can tackle them in any sequence, but the recommended route goes like this:

1. Moonlight Butterfly and Great Grey Wolf Sif in Darkroot Garden. Sif drops the Covenant of Artorias ring, which you must wear to walk into the Abyss under New Londo.
2. Four Kings in the Abyss. Drain New Londo first with the Key to the Seal from Ingward, and bring a weapon that can hit ghosts or a Transient Curse for the ruins above.
3. Seath the Scaleless in the Crystal Cave. Your first meeting in the Duke's Archives is a scripted loss, so do not waste consumables on it.
4. Ceaseless Discharge, Demon Firesage and Centipede Demon in the Demon Ruins. Cut the Centipede Demon's arm to pick up the Orange Charred Ring, because the next area is lava.
5. Bed of Chaos in Lost Izalith. Grab the Sunlight Maggot from Solaire or the nearby maggot in this area before you leave, because the Tomb of the Giants needs a light.
6. Pinwheel in the Catacombs, which drops the Rite of Kindling, then Gravelord Nito at the bottom of the Tomb of the Giants.

The logic behind leaving the Catacombs and Tomb of the Giants until last is practical. The Tomb is almost impossible to navigate without a light source, and the route deliberately picks up the Sunlight Maggot in Lost Izalith first. The Catacombs also hide three levers and a string of bonfires that are easier to handle with a well-upgraded weapon. Pinwheel drops the Rite of Kindling, which raises how far you can kindle a bonfire, from 10 Estus to 20, and that pays off immediately in Nito's dark maze, where a Large Divine Ember and a White Titanite Slab are also waiting.

One choice in this stretch changes the story. If you want the Darkwraith path, you have to meet Kaathe in the Abyss before placing the Lordvessel with Frampt, and joining him makes Frampt disappear. Our breakdown of every Dark Souls ending covers what that decision means for the finale.

Where Artorias of the Abyss Fits

Getting into the expansion takes two steps that are easy to miss. First, take the Broken Pendant from the Crystal Golem in the Duke's Archives. Second, defeat the Hydra in Darkroot Basin and free Dusk of Oolacile from the golden Crystal Golem there. With both done, the portal opens where the golden golem stood, to the left of the Hydra's lake.

Inside, the boss order is fixed by the map: the Sanctuary Guardian first, Knight Artorias in the Royal Wood, Black Dragon Kalameet (after speaking with Hawkeye Gough in Oolacile Township) and finally Manus in the Chasm of the Abyss. You also face Marvelous Chester in the township after first meeting him in the Royal Wood. You need the Silver Pendant from Oolacile Township for the Manus fight, so do not skip that pickup. The wiki's route saves the whole expansion for after Nito, just before the Kiln, which gives you the most levels and upgrades for what are some of the hardest fights in the game.

The Chasm of the Abyss is also one of the best places in the game to stock up on humanity, which you will want for kindling and for summoning help against Manus. Our humanity farming routes explain why the Oolacile Township Dungeons bonfire is the strongest spot once the expansion is open.

The Full Route at a Glance

This is the order the wiki's beginner route uses, with the optional fights left in where they naturally fall.

Recommended Dark Souls Remastered boss route (Fextralife Game Progress Route)

Step	Area	Boss
1	Northern Undead Asylum	Asylum Demon
2	Undead Burg	Taurus Demon
3	Undead Parish	Bell Gargoyle
4	Lower Undead Burg	Capra Demon
5	The Depths	Gaping Dragon
6	Quelaag's Domain	Chaos Witch Quelaag
7	Northern Undead Asylum (revisit)	Stray Demon
8	Sen's Fortress	Iron Golem
9	Anor Londo	Ornstein and Smough
10	Painted World of Ariamis	Crossbreed Priscilla (optional)
11	Darkroot Garden	Moonlight Butterfly, Great Grey Wolf Sif
12	The Abyss	Four Kings
13	Crystal Cave	Seath the Scaleless
14	Demon Ruins	Ceaseless Discharge, Demon Firesage, Centipede Demon
15	Lost Izalith	Bed of Chaos
16	The Catacombs	Pinwheel
17	Tomb of the Giants	Gravelord Nito
18	Oolacile (DLC)	Sanctuary Guardian, Knight Artorias, Black Dragon Kalameet, Manus
19	Kiln of the First Flame	Gwyn, Lord of Cinder

A few habits make this route far kinder. Upgrade one weapon steadily rather than spreading titanite across several, rest at every new bonfire before you push on, and do not feel obliged to fight an optional boss the first time you see its fog wall. Your starting class shapes how comfortable the early fights feel, too; our look at which Dark Souls class to pick covers which ones handle the Asylum Demon and Taurus Demon best.

Last, remember that beating Gwyn ends the run and drops you straight into New Game+ with no option to decline. Finish any optional bosses, covenant goals and item pickups you care about before you step into the Kiln.

Skipping the Early Grind

If you already know the route and would rather jump straight to experimenting with late-game builds, the store's Dark Souls Remastered modded starter save gives you three fresh characters to start from. Per its product page, the first is a level 5 character with all items, all weapons except boss and special weapons, and 999,999,999 souls; the second is level 1 with all items, all weapons, all magic and the same soul count; the third matches the second and adds infinite health and stamina.

It is a PS4 and PS5 product only, and you must already own Dark Souls Remastered because only the save is sold. You can see the Dark Souls Remastered modded save details or browse everything in the Dark Souls section of the store.

Frequently Asked Questions