Duo boss battles are a videogame’s answer to itw own basic formula: normally, you begin a session, fight enemies, find boss, fight boss. Now, having to work against two overpowered individuals who are, themselves, working in tandem, does bring its own gameplay difficulty factor up quite a bit.
But sometimes, those duo boss battles have cool backstory. Sometimes, you fight game bosses who are lovers, or very close friends. Their common point, at the moment, being the mission to make your day worse and, because of that, bettering the day of their close ones.
So this is a proper list to recognize those relationships since, unlike another, previous list we did, these fights are mostly mandatory. Not that they’ll make our lives easier in saving whatever world that needs saving, but still, love and friendship are two things supposed to be cherished, right?
Beware of minor spoilers for the following games:
The coolest duo boss fights in gaming
Monster Hunter: Rathalos and Rathian (also, Teostra and Lunastra)
Starting out easy, Monster Hunter’s most iconic wyverns are a thing, y’all: look at those heart emojis flying while they…swing those tails with severe poisoning capacities while flying-stomping and biting the daylights out of your character. Nothing says “couple stuff” more than looking at a grounded warrior and thinking “time to eat, hun’!”
And if that wasn’t enough, in the Elder Dragon category, two legendary beings are also coupled together — fiery Teostra and explodey Lunastra have also been confirmed to be paired up as a duo: in fact, they’re the only pair of monsters in Capcom’s series that have a duo attack when they’re coupled together.
You can fight both individually or in tandem, depending on the mission setting, but in paired up fights, you get to see how they work so well together, with Rathian preferring ground-based battles while Rathalos provides aerial coverage and Teostra and Lunastra being…well, legendary, chaotic beings of old that are capable of manipulating the very nature of the battlefield.
Undertale: Dogamy and Dogaressa
One may argue that our previous entry is more akin to “paired up species” than “lovers”, which we’ll own up to. But no one can deny the love aspect of Dogamy and Dogaressa, Undertale’s duo boss since, canonically speaking, they’re married.
You find them in Waterfall, and the fight is taken to great lengths to prove how deep their relationship is: they share hearts, swap axes, and have adorable married banter like calling each other “dear” most of the time.
They’re also trying to kill you, so there’s that. But looking beyond that minor inconvenience, that’s a couple, through and through.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice: Guardian Ape and its mate
There’s no more certain way to be recognized as someone’s “mate” when the game itself explicitly calls you that. The Guardian Ape is already a troublesome boss on his own, due to his massive size and frame.
On the second phase of the battle, though, things get even more complicated, as the smaller, faster, brown-furred ape comes around, working in tandem with its larger counterpart in pseudo wrestling/sumo battle style mix that gives them not only the speed to get to you quickly, but also the sheer power to hit you for massive damage.
Genshin Impact: Coppelia and Coppelius
Ok, we’re admittedly getting away with some things here, as the Icewind Suite duo boss fight consists of two robots that are paired up together. But look at those dance moves! Look at how entangled they are and how they manage to attack you independently, but complementary, when they let go of each other, only to resume their beautiful waltz of death.
You don’t look at someone else like that unless there’s something going on, right?
In Genshin Impact, Coppelia and Coppelius are supposed to be fought together and you cannot find them independently, as they both are already introduced to you as a dancing duo on Fontaine’s main square — be ready, though: their fight is not to be taken lightly.
Oh, and this is actually a 2-in-1 boss fight, as you have to talk to the duo boss’ operator in order to pick a song (one for him, one for her), which vary in fighting intensity and other mechanics.
Illusion of Gaia: Jack and Silvana
What screams “love” more than being a couple? Why, being a couple for eternity, of course: Illusion of Gaia’s Jack and Silvana are not only mates, but vampire mates, who — and this is lore and canon — share an eternal bond.
And like any old couple, their demonstrations of love come through…bickering. A lot.
So much so, in fact, that they’re the only bosses in the game, with story-related exceptions, to have dialog lines and a back story: they were already a couple before becoming vampires, which happened when the comet in the game affected them and stop them from aging. Now, their souls can only be free from this curse (and maybe…from each other?) when the comet is destroyed.
Guild Wars 2: Ralena and Vassar
They say that you’re stronger when you have someone else to emotionally rely upon. Well, Ralena and Vassar, from Guild Wars 2, are actually a great example of that: found in Ascalonian Catacombs, their “stronger together” schtick is actually a game mechanic — they’re tougher when they’re closer, and in order to have a chance at winning, the player must hold them back in separated parts of the battle area for the whole ordeal to become easier.
Note that we said “easier”, not “easy”, as the duo have their own, independent moves that will put you on your back foot if you’re not careful.
Borderlands 2: Bridget Hodunk and Colin Zaford
Wanna have a couple throw a very real tantrum on you? Look no further than Bridget Hodunk and Colin Zaforn, the duo from the Wedding Day Massacre DLC in Borderlands 2. The fight starts with you literally crashing their wedding — which was supposed to represent the union of two clans that bore hatred towards one another.
Oh, but you’re not fighting mere newlyweds, no: they’re your hillbilly, bull sized stereotypes, both of which will give you a run for your money, much like any angry bride who turns to her groom to “fix this, now.”
Dark Devotion: Elinor and Aureus
Dark Devotion is one fun game with an amazing story and you definitely should try it out. One story in particular is that of Elinor and Aureus, two of the many bosses you’ll face in the game’s final area. Theirs is a mandatory fight that allows you to unlock the door to the final boss, the White Queen herself.
We’re prefacing it like this to let you know: they’re tough. Elinor in full plate armor, helmet and jumping abilities, can quickly make short-work of you, since her attacks do pack a punch. Meanwhile, Aureus, clad in leather garments and armed with a bow and a cutlass, is more of a “cut-and-run” type, so you got a double-whammy of speed and power in one single fight. Oh, and Elinor can summon a shield to protect her lover and herself, adding major defense to an already problematic attack capacity.
Their backstory is also one of loyalty: you see, most of these entries are pre-programmed to behave as a duo that attacks you just because. Elinor and Aureus, on the other hand, were servants of the game’s King, and after Aureus lost his arm in battle and could no longer fire his bow, Elinor pleaded with the regent to give him another chance — magical shenanigans ensued and the man now has a blue-hued, ghostly arm that allows him to fire with uncanny precision.
Because of that, even though they’re rational in the senses, their unwavering loyalty cannot be moved.
Hollow Knight Silksong: The Cogwork Dancers
This is a recent game where most of the enemies’ backstories broke a lot of people, and one major example of that is the Cogwork Dancers pair. As a duo boss fight, they go after Hornet in tandem, usually telegraphing their moves in four different phases: I’ll refer to each as “Pretty fast”, “Wow, really fast”, “Losing steam” and “What have I done” phases, due to their behavior in each of those, and I’ll say no more due to spoilers.
According to the lore in Hollow Knight Silksong, the Cogwork Dancers are two constructs fashioned by the binding of the soul of the Green Prince’s lover — the regent of the city of Verdania, the first one to fall when the Grand Mother Silk saw their refusal to adore her. Believing the city could be saved after the Grand Mother’s imprisonment, the prince’s lover was fooled into having her soul bound to the constructs, serving as a warden to the Grand Mother Silk’s prison.
Just by reading, this may not look like much, but Team Cherry has a way of weaving narrative, visuals and gameplay in such a way that its storytelling just shows you how a simple boss fight can be a bit gut-wrenching even when you win.
Honorable mention: Hades 2 — Theseus and Asterius
We’ve decided to run this entry specifically for the “closed ones” part, not “lovers” one. Theseus and Asterius are explicitly stated as two best friends who overcame enmity — they’re the original Theseus from Greek mythology; and Asterius is the Minotaur.
Now, in the original mythology, Theseus killed the Minotaur. In Hades 2, they battled, Theseus won, but they overcame that bad blood and became fast friends, even standing against the player in tandem, bickering like old war buddies (well, Theseus bickers, Asterius…grunts) while dishing out a very intelligent combat strategy — Asterius is the melee, in-your-face aggressor, while Theseus will be the ranged controller.
This means that their friendship is shown not only through dialog lines, but is also featured in gameplay, with one’s abilities being a supplement to the other’s. This details synergy, which can only be obtained when you’ve grown used to performing with someone else, feeding off each other’s abilities.
Shout out to @JessCapricorn, who put out this video on TikTok, from where we got the idea for our list!
