10 Most Powerful Summons In RPG History

3. Black Iron Tarkus - Dark Souls

Black Iron Tarkus - Dark Souls
From Software

There’s a lot of competition for the most powerful souls NPC, and your favourite will probably depend on your build.

Some will insist it’s Jester Thomas, others Amnesiac Lapp, but we’re giving the gold to Black Iron Tarkus. Exemplifying Tarkus’ power best is a 2011 YouTube video from UnlimitedBrettWorks titled ‘Tarkus - He is better at this game than you.’

One of the few NPC phantoms who can happily solo a boss without your help and take no damage, Tarkus is a renowned knight who met his doom trying to visit Anor Londo. His body and armour can be found in the hall of the Painting Guardians.

Don’t feel too bad for him though, because Tarkus is a boss-slaying machine and you don’t have to be a Souls fan to whoop with joy watching him knock the Iron Golem off the fortress to his demise.

I would like to round out this entry by highlighting some excellent Tarkus YouTube commentary. From Shoegazer Complex: “Tarkus was so strong the only way FromSoft could kill him was with Lore.” From Gustave Finney: “Tarkus felt things were getting too easy by the time he reached Anor Londo, so he stripped off his armour, left it beside some weird painting, and conquered the entirety of Lordran naked.”

And from Raka Pratama: “To make the game way more difficult, Tarkus should become the boss in sen's fortress while you summon the iron golem” Incredible.

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Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.