Boss

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A boss is a non-player character that is significantly stronger than standard enemies. They are usually encountered in the climactic points of a game, such as the end of a level or story, or in specific objectives as major challenges. A miniboss is a boss that is weaker than the main boss of a level or a story and is stronger than standard enemies. Bosses and minibosses are sometimes stronger versions of regular enemies.^[1]

One common way to identify a boss is the presence of a health bar, especially in games that display them, such as Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons, and Minecraft Legends. In some games, only bosses have health bars, so the presence of one can serve as a clear indicator. Alternatively, some bosses may lack visible health bars but still feature dedicated boss fights, such as the warden's boss fight in the Craftmine Update. Minibosses lack health bars, as noted by Jens Bergensten when describing the elder guardian.^[2] However in some games like Minecraft: Story Mode where all bosses do not have health bars, they must be identified by definition alone rather than user interface indicators and must be encountered in dedicated boss fight gameplay.

These encounters are known as boss battles or boss fights.^[1] It usually consists of either combat, extensive quick-time events, non-combat tasks, or a combination of all. Some boss battles feature multiple bosses at once, such as Hadrian and Mevia in Minecraft: Story Mode.