Combat | Weapons and armor Bloodborne Guide
Last update: 06 March 2018
Combat is an inseparable element of Bloodborne. In every location, you encounter many opponents, that are represented in multitudes, all around Yharnam. The regular afflicted, larger creatures, giants, hunters, spiders are just a few. At the top of the food chain, there are bosses, which are unique in their attacks, higher strength and lots of health points.
Regardless of the types of opponents that you encounter, there are several useful hints that you need to keep in mind, and which will make it easier for you to survive. First of all, carry around a supply of Blood Vials. With slight exceptions, health in Bloodborne does not regenerate spontaneously so, you need to replenish it on your own.
Another issue is exploiting combat mechanics to your advantage. The most important thing is to remember about the wide variety of tricks and hits that you can use. Using the same pattern of attack, over and over again, does not work in the majority of cases. You need to use combos with skill, combine attacks with dodges and stun opponents with shots. All of the combat elements are useful, there is no useless or unnecessary move here. Mastering the mechanics and controls, timing stuns well, timing attacks or dodges takes some time. Still, the reward is the ease, with which you defeat more and more opponents, as well as the satisfaction from the fight.
In fight, you should remember about the items that you can use to your aid, not only Blood Vials. Pebbles can be used to lure opponents away from the rest of the group, where you can deal with them only. Molotov's Cocktails will allow you to drive down the boss's health bar, or to eliminate weaker of the opponents (the burning effect is additionally increased with Oil Urn that you throw beforehand). Poison knives can cause slow poisoning and drop in your opponent's health, where you can protect yourself with Antidotes against this effect. Interrupt the healing process of the enemy hunter, by using the Numbing Mist, and apply Bolt Paper to your weapon, to increase damage dealt. There are many options, when it comes to the choice of items and various things are good for various occasions. It is a good idea to remember about the wide variety of gadgets.
Do not ever underestimate your opponent. Vicious dogs deal little damage, but they are very fast. The bigger opponents are easier to walk around, but they deal much more damage, after they hit you. Each opponent that you encounter is dangerous, in his own respect and underestimating them may end in losing lots of health. Of course, you can avoid some of the opponents, especially while traveling towards an arena with a boss but, watch out because they do not give up that quickly and they chase you for some time.
Fighting against a group is a different pair of shoes. Even the weakest of opponents may quickly kill you, if you let yourself be surrounded. This is due to the fact that they can interrupt your attacks, if these have not been charged beforehand. Taking hits from several sides at a time, combined with the temporary interruption of an attack, ends in your death, in 99% of the cases. For this reason, try to lure single opponents away from the rest of the group and, if this is not an option, focus on eliminating one of the opponents, as quickly as possible, and take to another one, after he dies.
Hunters are much like yourself and you encounter them in several locations. Some of them are hostile towards you, by default, whereas the others need to be provoked first. Fighting them is different than fighting other opponents - they usually are much faster, can land a quick combo, dash away quickly and counter your attacks. Also, they can use attacks that temporarily stun the opponent. On the other hand, they are just as vulnerable to such attacks so, you can often use your firearm to stun a hunter. Then, you can execute a stronger finishing attack. In the game, you encounter weaker and stronger hunters, much depends on the weapons that they are using and their attacks. Ones packing a pistol or a blunderbuss seem to be especially dangerous, because they can easily interrupt your attack with a single shot.
A bit different is fighting against the living hunters, while invading the other worlds, or if your own has been invaded. There is no one set rule here - you do not know what type of opponent you are going to fight, nor what is his weapon, nor how his character has been developed. However, in such fights, try not to use Blood Vials. It is an unwritten rule that not everybody follows, though. For this reason, remember about the Numbing Mist, which you can cast at the opponent, to prevent him from healing himself. Taking a bow before the fight is also a welcome kind of behavior.
Bosses are the most dangerous opponents that you encounter in Yharnam. Fighting them is often quite a challenge. However, there is a pattern to deal with each of the opponents and things are no different in the case of bosses. All of them, with no exceptions, have their patterns of behavior and attacks that they land during the fight. Learning them allows you to dodge them at the right moment and dealing damage, while the boss is regaining his strengths after the attack, or is getting prepared for another one. Learning those patterns is the most important thing, during boss fights. Also, keep in mind that boss battles have been divided into phases, in which the boss's behavior changes. Usually, the transition depends on how much health the boss still has left. The lower the health, the higher the odds that the boss enters another phase, where he uses new and more powerful attacks.
In many situations, you can try certain tricks with bosses - using the Numbing Mist while fighting Vicar Amelia, or the Tiny Music Box while fighting Father Gascoigne are just some of the options. In case of continuous failing, change your tactics, put on a different attire (e.g. Henryk's attire (it protects you against lightning and will do the job in the combat against Darkbeast Paarl) and pick appropriate runes. In critical situations, some of the (optional) bosses can be defeated later into the game, after you have progressed in your experience.