2024’s Easiest Boss Battles: Conquering Challenges with Ease

2024 has brought forth a variety of classic game remakes, along with some amazing DLC expansions, eagerly awaited sequels, and innovative new IP. While remarkable storytelling and stunning visuals certainly contribute to a game’s reception, the foundation upon which most excellent games are built is enjoyment, engaging gameplay. Boss battles are a crucial aspect of this design, and 2024 witnessed players challenging some genuinely formidable antagonists.

From legendary characters like Masamune’s vile owner to a humorously cartoonish cobra from PlayStation’s recent bot-based nostalgia journey, here are the top boss fights of 2024. For further details, check out our choices for the 10 best games of 2024 and our favorites that did not make the top 10.

Astro Bot is filled with delightful surprises both large and small, and the final boss of the Serpent Starway nebula certainly falls into the large category. The golden cobra known as Lady Venomara is truly immense, and despite the game’s child-friendly atmosphere, Lady Venomara poses a genuine threat, with a range of attacks that test players’ mastery of the game’s mechanics.

This cunning serpent unleashes everything she has on the player. She spits out eggs teeming with enemies, swipes at players with her massive tail, and brings down rocks from above while covering the ground with toxic venom that can eliminate players on contact. The main challenge isn’t just facing off against Lady Venomara—it’s managing to survive long enough to land a hit.

This boss encounter is heightened by the fact that players must navigate it while using a chicken-powered jetpack.

Scylla and the Sirens are a maritime musical group consisting of a trio of exceptionally challenging bosses that players will encounter while navigating through Oceanus in Hades 2. In addition to Scylla herself, players also need to defeat her Sirens: The Drummer and The Guitarist. The battle itself is enhanced by a delightful soundtrack, which features several of Scylla and the Sirens’ greatest hits.

Throughout the confrontation, Scylla will assault players who get too close, fire spike-covered projectiles at those who stay too far away, strike players with a series of four rotating beams, and “sing” (or rather, scream) at players to inflict damage. Meanwhile, The Drummer and The Guitarist will generate red casts and other AoE attacks to keep Scylla’s focus on their toes. Additionally, there are bubbles filled with musical notes that deal damage if touched, along with various other hazardous environmental threats in the arena. If there’s one thing you should avoid doing in this battle, it’s remaining stationary for too long.

On the plus side, these seafaring songbirds share hit points, so damaging one of them affects all three. The optimal strategy is to concentrate on attacking one band member at a time while dodging the numerous attacks targeting your direction. Taking down Scylla and her Sirens requires patience, strategy, and precision.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is loaded with unique (and often unsettling) foes for players to confront in battle, but the Sphinx—an optional boss encountered after correctly answering 10 of its riddles—certainly stands out from the rest.

This next boss encounter involves battling a menacing (yet undeniably captivating) creature with a jaw that opens just a tad too wide, pupils that inexplicably dilate along with her irises, and a head that tilts slightly too far. Each movement of the Sphinx’s form teeters right on the edge of the uncanny valley, and even her boss fight is an enigma. If players don’t engage her “correctly,” she will take flight into the sunset after growing tired of their lackluster actions.

The key to defeating the Sphinx is to strike her non-human body parts. After solving her final riddle, players are granted a brief moment in which they can attack. Leaving her face and larger body unharmed is crucial here, as the only way to trigger the larger boss fight is by avoiding her human aspects and instead focusing attacks on her hind legs, tail, and wings. Position yourself to hit her in the correct area before she escapes, and the real battle will commence. Again, players can only succeed if they persistently target the Sphinx’s animal features. Even a single hit to her face or chest (through weapons or magic) will cause her to fly away, abandoning the fight prematurely and leaving the player empty-handed.

Tactical Breach Wizards dedicates its entire duration to constructing a set of strategies and obstacles to navigate. Although there are enemy types that can disrupt the player’s ongoing plans, it primarily revolves around a specific area that can be conquered, with the game’s environment tending to evolve based on the variety of enemies introduced. At one juncture, players encounter Liv, who possesses such formidable strength that she seems unbeatable: Defeat her, and she simply resurrects, even more powerful than before. That initial encounter with Liv is in a way a gimmick battle; however, she re-emerges in the final stage, where the challenge escalates significantly.

In this confrontation, Liv not only has the ability to self-resurrect (though a limited number of times), but she will also swap places with another object or even one of the player’s allies upon being attacked. This means players must devise a strategy to effectively strike both the location she currently occupies and her intended destination, ideally without incapacitating a teammate. This creates an intriguing dynamic that encourages the player to utilize every lesson and grasp of character abilities that have been honed throughout the game. Overcoming this battle feels like a genuine achievement, alongside the rewarding narrative consequences of confronting this threat to the world.

Erlang Shen is a hidden boss in Black Myth: Wukong, and uncovering him is literally half the battle. Erlang can only be confronted after players have discovered and completed the essential locations in each chapter of the game (except Chapter 3 and Chapter 6), completed the Hunter’s Care quest (Chapter 3), defeated the Noteworthy Sage’s Broken Shell, and located the Noteworthy Pagoda. After engaging a wall at the Noteworthy Pagoda Keeper’s shrine and initiating a cutscene, players will find themselves battling Erlang on the snowy shores of Mount Mei.

Erlang is no easy opponent, and the subsequent fight is a complex one. He possesses the ability to summon a spectral hound, fire swords at the player, and inflict direct damage that will leave players afflicted by a Horrified condition if struck. As the battle progresses and players chip away at Erlang’s stance bar, he will introduce a variety of complex-to-evade attacks. One attack has him float into the air, manifest a comically oversized axe, and slam it directly at the player’s face. Taking a hit from this attack is anything but amusing, though players who manage to successfully dodge it will get a chance to counterattack Erlang just after the massive weapon strikes the ground.

The combination of the battle’s setting, the game’s satisfyingly smooth combat, and the sheer spectacle of a man wielding an axe the size of a small house makes the key confrontation with Erlang both challenging and enjoyable.

By the time Space Marine 2 players encounter this boss battle, they will have already faced Imurah once. However, at the end of the game, Imurah seeks a rematch and opts to tip the scales in his favor by opening the Warp and summoning a Chaos Demon that can quickly obliterate players who aren’t prepared to confront it. Defeating Imurah might not seem overly difficult—after all, players have vanquished him once by this stage in the game—yet surviving the Chaos Demon’s onslaught long enough to inflict damage on Imurah requires considerable skill.

The Chaos Demon employs a series of extremely challenging-to-evade attacks, including orbs of lightning, columns of hostile light that rush toward the player, and a ground-shattering spear attack (yes, this massive creature wields an enormous weapon) that generates a shockwave players must avoid. Those who withstand the demon’s barrage will find an opportunity to strike Imurah before being teleported back to confront the Chaos Demon again for more life-threatening dodges.

Eventually, one of the Chaos Demon’s eyes will light up red as the ground beneath the player’s feet begins to explode. Evade the explosion sufficiently, and the demon will retreat for a brief period, although Imurah’s tactics become increasingly aggressive each time you confront him.

Ultimately, this boss battle transitions into the final scenes of the game, so we will refrain from revealing spoilers; however, suffice it to say that Imurah and the Chaos Demon represent some of the most challenging adversaries players have faced in 2024.

Stellar Blade boasts an abundance of difficult boss encounters (we’re looking at you, Raven), yet the creature’s organic-alien-meets-military-killing-machine design truly makes it stand out. Referred to in-game as Orca Aerospae Corporation’s “flagship combat robot,” Belial “served as the sword of humanity on the battlefield.” Yet its sacrifices appear to have been forgotten by humanity, leaving Belial to decay among the bodies of other fallen Naytiba.

Unsurprisingly, Belial was not pleased with this fate, and it rose from the ashes like some terrifying robotic phoenix. Demonstrating to thrive entirely on a diet of unfiltered rage, Belial becomes a formidable enemy on the battlefield, combining speed and power to obliterate its foes. Belial dual-wields two swords (one organic, the other metallic), which it occasionally merges into a horrifying chainsaw-like device capable of inflicting massive damage.

This boss’s lore, design, alarming agility, and incredible theme music result in a tough battle as players strive to chip away at Belial’s four(!) health bars.

Metaphor: ReFantazio‘s main adversary serves as an undeniably ambitious foe in battle, and players will confront him multiple times as they progress through Metaphor’s central narrative. Many of the foes players encounter throughout the game exhibit weaknesses to specific types of damage; however, Louis is not one of them. Furthermore, he favors an attack known as Royal Coercion, which diminishes the player’s damage output and defense, making an already challenging opponent even harder to overcome. On the other hand, Louis does not possess resistances to certain forms of harm, providing players with a bit more flexibility when it comes to defeating him.

When players face Louis again at the end of the game, they will encounter a demanding three-phase battle. However, this boss confrontation also has a hidden surprise for players who are thorough. Before the final showdown, players might be encouraged to shatter a number of Melancholia Crystals. Each destroyed crystal will weaken Louis and make him easier to fight; on the contrary, choosing not to destroy the Melancholia Crystals will leave players battling Louis in a more vicious manner. Defeating him without breaking the crystals may also unlock the Megastar Shatterer achievement.

Still, there is a cost to leaving those Melancholia Crystals undamaged. Your party members may not be able to utilize their Archetypes’ most powerful weapons in this encounter, reducing the overall damage output of the team. Even worse, Louis could be much more formidable, possessing greater health and dealing more potential damage. Those undestroyed crystals mean Louis will have eight Turn Icons per round in the final battle, and he will frequently use Soul Recount on his final move, granting him an additional four attacks, leading to an astounding total of 12 turns per round. Needless to say, this is a fight that players will need to prepare for.

Battling the One-Winged Angel is (and has always been) a challenging task. When players confront Sephiroth at the conclusion of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, they will quickly realize he has no vulnerabilities but an abundance of resistances. He cannot be halted, slowed, poisoned, silenced, frightened, or put to sleep. Effects like Berserk, Debrave, Defaith, Deprotect, Deshell, and Proportional Break also fail to impact him, and the battle is a lengthy one. Square Enix does provide some leniency in the form of checkpoints, ensuring that there’s no risk of having to start all over from the beginning should you fail; nevertheless, facing Sephiroth is no small task. Initially, players will have Zack by their side, but after successfully completing the first phase of the fight, the two may become separated, forcing Cloud to tackle this winged villain’s ultimate form—Sephiroth Reborn—without Zack. Fortunately, another familiar ally will arrive to assist Cloud in battle.

Sephiroth’s weapon of choice, the infamous Masamune, is as lethal as ever. While a few strikes from his blade might not be fatal, Masamune has some serious reach, making it easy for players to find themselves on the receiving end of one of his HP-draining combo attacks. Sephiroth possesses a variety of moves in his repertoire, and they are all best avoided if possible. His “Skewer” maneuver can prove especially tricky, as he will disappear from sight only to reappear close to the player, delivering a swift blow.

The key to surviving this battle is to stay close enough to Sephiroth to inflict damage while being ready to dodge at any moment to avoid becoming skewered. His relentless attacks paired with the battle’s beautifully nostalgic soundtrack create an immersive experience that