- For the Dark Souls page, see Boss.
- For the Dark Souls II page, see Boss (Dark Souls II).
Bosses are significant enemies in Dark Souls III. They usually control access to other areas throughout the game. Many bosses are mandatory for the completion of the main quest line, and some are optional.
Upon defeat, most bosses drop individual souls specific to themselves. These may be consumed or sold to acquire a large quantity of souls or may be transposed by Ludleth of Courland for weapons, shields, wings, miracles, pyromancies, or sorceries.
Once an area boss has been defeated, cooperation with friendly phantoms is disabled. However, the player will still be able to summon dark spirits and mad phantoms for PvP.
There are also minibosses in the game that do not respawn once killed. For the purposes of this wiki, those minibosses who drop a unique itemized soul are included in this article.