Lore FortressHow Many Bosses Are in Bloodborne? 22 Plus Chalice Bosses
The Bloodborne wiki's boss list has 22 entries across the story areas: 17 in the base game and 5 in The Old Hunters. Chalice Dungeons add 14 more that aren't story bosses. Here is the count, what each number includes, and which bosses you can skip.
Bloodborne has 22 bosses in its story areas on the Bloodborne wiki's list: 17 in the base game and 5 more in The Old Hunters. The Chalice Dungeons add 14 more bosses that aren't story bosses, which makes 36 if you count everything, or 37 with the Loran Darkbeast. I found no official number, so these totals depend on the counting rules below. (Bloodborne; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
What counts as a boss here?#
The wiki defines a boss as a strong enemy that doesn't respawn and whose name and health bar appear on screen. I'm using its list because it's the only complete one I found. Its entries aren't always one fight each. "Shadows of Yharnam" and "Living Failures" are plural entries counted once, and the Chalice entry "Merciless Watcher and Chieftan" is one entry as well. If you count each body separately, you'll get a bigger number. (Bloodborne Wiki, "Boss")
How many bosses are in the base game?#
Seventeen on the wiki's list. These are Cleric Beast, Father Gascoigne, Vicar Amelia, Blood-starved Beast, the Witch of Hemwick, Shadows of Yharnam, Rom, Darkbeast Paarl, the One Reborn, Amygdala, Micolash, Mergo's Wet Nurse, the Celestial Emissary, Ebrietas, Martyr Logarius, Gehrman and the Moon Presence. (Bloodborne Wiki, "Boss")
Seven of these carry no optional marker: Father Gascoigne, Vicar Amelia, Shadows of Yharnam, Rom, the One Reborn, Micolash and Mergo's Wet Nurse. The other ten are marked optional. The wiki also notes that each of the Cleric Beast and the Blood-starved Beast is optional, but you have to kill at least one to reach the Cathedral Ward. (Bloodborne Wiki, "Boss")
How many bosses are in The Old Hunters?#
Five, all marked as DLC bosses: Ludwig, Laurence the First Vicar, the Living Failures, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower and the Orphan of Kos. The wiki says the DLC's bosses count as optional, and that Laurence is the one boss you can skip while still completing it. Defeating him gets you only Beast's Embrace. (Bloodborne Wiki, "Boss"; Bloodborne: The Old Hunters)
For the story behind them, see The Old Hunters story, Ludwig, Laurence, Lady Maria and the Orphan of Kos.
How many Chalice Dungeon bosses are there?#
The wiki's Chalice list has 20 entries. Five repeat story bosses: Amygdala, the Blood-starved Beast, the Celestial Emissary, Ebrietas and Rom. The wiki treats the Loran Darkbeast as a variant of Darkbeast Paarl. (Bloodborne Wiki, "Boss" and "Chalice Dungeons")
The remaining 14 are Abhorrent Beast, Beast-possessed Soul, Bloodletting Beast, Brainsucker, Forgotten Madman, Keeper of the Old Lords, Loran Silverbeast, Maneater Boar, Merciless Watcher and Chieftan, Pthumerian Descendant, Pthumerian Elder, Undead Giant, Watchdog of the Old Lords and Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen. The wiki's Chalice Dungeons page adds that some of these, such as Brainsucker and Maneater Boar, are ordinary enemies in the main story that serve as bosses in the dungeons, and others, such as the Keeper of the Old Lords, show up as both. Chalice Dungeons themselves are optional. (Bloodborne Wiki, "Chalice Dungeons")
You'll fight more Chalice boss encounters than that list suggests. The wiki says there are 35 named Chalice Dungeons, with each built from layers, and every layer ends in a boss. Even one layer per dungeon is more encounters than the 20 list entries, which is my inference. The wiki doesn't give a total number of layers. (Bloodborne Wiki, "Chalice Dungeons")
Our full Chalice Dungeons page covers the dungeons, and every boss and its lore covers the fights one by one.
Which bosses can you skip?#
By the wiki's markers, ten base-game bosses: the Cleric Beast, Blood-starved Beast, Witch of Hemwick, Darkbeast Paarl, Amygdala, Celestial Emissary, Ebrietas, Martyr Logarius, Gehrman and the Moon Presence, though you must kill one of the first two. Rom isn't marked optional. The wiki's asterisks are the wiki's calls. I'd check any single boss in game before building a checklist around it. Skipping the Old Hunters skips five bosses, and skipping the Chalices skips 14. (Bloodborne Wiki, "Boss")
My read#
I'd say "22" if someone asks how many bosses are in the game, and add "plus the Chalice Dungeon ones". Chalice bosses are real bosses, but most players mean the story's bosses when they ask, and 22 is the cleanest answer to that. If you want a completionist number, use 36. Just know it's a count made from a fan wiki's lists, not a figure FromSoftware published.
Frequently asked questions
- How many bosses are in Bloodborne?
- The wiki lists 22 bosses across the game's areas: 17 in the base game, counting the Moon Presence, and 5 in The Old Hunters. Chalice Dungeons add 14 bosses that aren't story bosses, which brings the total to 36, or 37 if you count the Loran Darkbeast separately.
- How many bosses are in the base game of Bloodborne?
- Seventeen on the wiki's list, of which 7 are not marked optional and 10 are. That includes Gehrman and the Moon Presence, which the wiki marks as optional.
- How many bosses are in The Old Hunters DLC?
- Five: Ludwig, Laurence the First Vicar, the Living Failures, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower and the Orphan of Kos. Laurence is the only one you can skip and still finish the DLC.
- How many Chalice Dungeon bosses are there?
- The wiki lists 20 entries, but 5 of them (Rom, Amygdala, the Celestial Emissary, Ebrietas and the Blood-starved Beast) also appear in the story, and the Loran Darkbeast is a variant of Darkbeast Paarl. That leaves 14 Chalice-only bosses, or 15 if you count the Loran Darkbeast separately.
- Are there optional bosses in Bloodborne?
- Yes. In the base game the wiki marks 10 as optional, and the Cleric Beast and Blood-starved Beast are an either-or choice. The Old Hunters as a whole is optional, and Chalice Dungeons are optional content.
Sources
- WikiBoss (Bloodborne), Bloodborne Wiki, boss list, accessed 2026-11-10, CC BY-SA
- WikiChalice Dungeons, Bloodborne Wiki, accessed 2026-11-10, CC BY-SA
- WikiCategory:Bosses, Bloodborne Wiki category listing, accessed 2026-11-10, CC BY-SA
- GameBloodborne, FromSoftware, 2015
- GameBloodborne: The Old Hunters, FromSoftware, 2015 (expansion)
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Every Bloodborne Boss and Its Lore, Explained
Every boss in Bloodborne, The Old Hunters and the Chalice Dungeons, with who or what each one was and why the hunter has to fight it. Each entry keeps what the game states apart from what players infer.
The Chalice Dungeons: Bloodborne's Pthumerian Labyrinth Explained
The Chalice Dungeons are Bloodborne's optional underground ruins, opened by Holy Chalice rituals in the Hunter's Dream. They are the Labyrinth the Pthumerians carved beneath Yharnam, which Gehrman calls the tomb of the gods. Here is how they work, the four lands inside, and what the chalices reveal.
Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower: Gehrman's Student and the Nightmare's Guardian
Lady Maria is the hunter waiting in the Astral Clocktower in The Old Hunters. She was one of Gehrman's first students, a distant relative of the Cainhurst queen, and the keeper of the Nightmare's real secret. Here is what the game states about her, and what players infer.
Laurence, the First Vicar: Founder of the Healing Church and the First Cleric Beast
Laurence was a scholar of Byrgenwerth who left his master, founded the Healing Church and became its first vicar. He also became the first cleric beast. In The Old Hunters he burns in the Nightmare, looking for a skull that can never give him back his memories.
Ludwig, the Holy Blade: the First Hunter of the Healing Church
Ludwig was the first Church hunter, the man who started the Healing Church workshop and the hero Yharnam's Holy Blades descend from. In The Old Hunters he is Ludwig the Accursed, a horse-like beast in a pit of corpses, until he finds his sword again. Here is what the game states.
Orphan of Kos: the Child of a Dead Great One
The Orphan of Kos is the final boss of The Old Hunters, a child of the Great One Kos found screaming beside its mother's corpse. Killing it ends the curse behind the Hunter's Nightmare. Here is what the game states and what players read into it.
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