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Bloodborne |OT+5| Grant Us Eyes!

I like Watchdog, but it usually takes me a couple of tries to get back in the groove with the charge, it's tell is very fast. Better to unlock and roll sideways than dash. It has that nasty lingering hitbox like Ebriatas etc.
 

Jombie

Member
If you keep digging in the defiled dungeons, the watchdog will look like this:

20b44c13291e928f5e1f717775a24e9b.jpg
 

sphinx

the piano man
today I tried Ludwig....

out of +/- 50 tries, I managed to get to the mid cutscene once...meaning, that didn't go well, some tries were basically instakill

I will give it a rest, level up and hopefully deal more damage per attack tomorrow.

guide says I can summon Valtr but I can't find the red skulls.
 
I like Watchdog, but it usually takes me a couple of tries to get back in the groove with the charge, it's tell is very fast. Better to unlock and roll sideways than dash. It has that nasty lingering hitbox like Ebriatas etc.

If you keep digging in the defiled dungeons, the watchdog will look like this:

20b44c13291e928f5e1f717775a24e9b.jpg
it's the random piece of fire that has killed me literally 32 times now. I've had him to a 2 hit finish and puff of lingering fire one shots me. I have barely summoned anyone and at this point fuck this. I just want to summon someone and that won't fucking work for some reason. I'm extremely irrationally angry at this fucking game currently.
 

Teeth

Member
it's the random piece of fire that has killed me literally 32 times now. I've had him to a 2 hit finish and puff of lingering fire one shots me. I have barely summoned anyone and at this point fuck this. I just want to summon someone and that won't fucking work for some reason. I'm extremely irrationally angry at this fucking game currently.

When he got low health for me I played ULTRA safe and cheesed him: I stayed as far away as I could and waited for him to barf lava, then I ran in for a single dash attack and then immediately rolled away and kept my distance til the next lava barf. When he is nearly full screen distance, you constantly backing up and circle around and the dash attack is pretty easy to dodge (he always growls and shakes his head before doing it). It took a long time, but with the Defiled Chalice giving me half health, I was basically getting one shotted by anything he did, so cheese was necessary when he speeds up at less than 25% health.

Another thing that helped me was focusing on his back legs at the beginning of the fight, when his attack pool is smaller and easier to predict. I would bait him by getting close so that he would do his his big head swipe, dodge through it, unlock, then move to the hind leg and give it one or two swipes based on weapon. He would get stunned after two cycles, I would wail away, dodge backward to be out of blast range, then run in for one last swipe. I would then repeat on the other side.

That would leave the front legs open for stunning him when his health was lower and he was faster and less predictable.

Good luck!
 
31 minutes, 39 tries and he's dead. I've never died that many times in any souls game.

Thank you above poster, just being extremely slow and patient helped. Ironically he barely barfed, but he did the leap attack and I would Dodge to the left, swipe, swipe, run.
 

Teeth

Member
31 minutes, 39 tries and he's dead. I've never died that many times in any souls game.

Thank you above poster, just being extremely slow and patient helped. Ironically he barely barfed, but he did the leap attack and I would Dodge to the left, swipe, swipe, run.

Yeah, I had a bunch of problems with him too, so I had a lot of time to figure out his nuances.

If you haven't done the Layer 5 Loran Chalice yet...you are in for a treat/nightmare with the Loran Darkbeast. That was the toughest boss for me in all of the Chalice Dungeons.
 

jviggy43

Member
Holy shit Augur of ebrietas is so good with high arcane. Thing does more damage than my tont right now. And it parrys. Plus it only costs 1 bullet.
 
Holy shit Augur of ebrietas is so good with high arcane. Thing does more damage than my tont right now. And it parrys. Plus it only costs 1 bullet.

I've abused that thing so much. I try to refrain from doing this (at the beginning least) but every hunter I've encountered you can stunlock by hitting them over and over with the Augur
 
today I tried Ludwig....

out of +/- 50 tries, I managed to get to the mid cutscene once...meaning, that didn't go well, some tries were basically instakill

I will give it a rest, level up and hopefully deal more damage per attack tomorrow.

guide says I can summon Valtr but I can't find the red skulls.

What level are you? Valtr is behind the crows in the area right before the boss room if you have Impurity equipped.

Holy shit Augur of ebrietas is so good with high arcane. Thing does more damage than my tont right now. And it parrys. Plus it only costs 1 bullet.

Being able to parry with a 2-handed weapon is quite nice as well :).
 

sphinx

the piano man
What level are you? Valtr is behind the crows in the area right before the boss room if you have Impurity equipped.

I wrote this yesterday

can you guys suggest what should I improve as I level Up?

I am currently before the final boss but trying to up my levels to stand a chance against DLC bosses and Chalice Dungeons Depth 5. Here how it looks right now:

Level 100

VITALITY 23
STAMINA 33
STRENGTH 45
SKILL 27
BLOODTINGE 11
ARCANE 11

What is a good level to try to go for the harder bosses and dungeons??

compared to the videos I've seen in youtube, seems kinda low, specially Vitality, those guys beating Ludwig solo had a huge life bar and could withstand ludwig's jump attack, which in my case is instakill.

not to mention they deal more damage than me, not by much cause I too have strong +10 weapons but in such a hectic fight, every hit counts.
 

h0tp0ck3t

Member
I wrote this yesterday



compared to the videos I've seen in youtube, seems kinda low, specially Vitality, those guys beating Ludwig solo had a huge life bar and could withstand ludwig's jump attack, which in my case is instakill.

not to mention they deal more damage than me, not by much cause I too have strong +10 weapons but in such a hectic fight, every hit counts.

I've heard 30 vit is the minimum you would want for the dlc. Have you tried the Whriligig saw? If you use the NPC hunter to draw aggro from Ludwig the second phase becomes a joke. Beastblood pellet, fire paper, and L2 spam his ass
 

Ferr986

Member
I've heard 30 vit is the minimum you would want for the dlc. Have you tried the Whriligig saw? If you use the NPC hunter to draw aggro from Ludwig the second phase becomes a joke. Beastblood pellet, fire paper, and L2 spam his ass

This.

Get the Saw, level it up to +10, put a fire paper and a Beast Pellet, and hold that sweet L2 button.

You'll laugh at Ludwig (and literally any boss in the game).
 

KuroNeeko

Member
Just spent ANOTHER hour trying to beat Father G. Stage three just wrecks me. Can't hit him with Molotovs and my attacks don't do damage fast enough to down him.

I've probably spent more than four hours just trying to beat him alone. Not even sure if BB is worth it at this point.

Level 22 Skill / End / Vit
Threaded Cane +3
Music Box
 

Ferr986

Member
Just spent ANOTHER hour trying to beat Father G. Stage three just wrecks me. Can't hit him with Molotovs and my attacks don't do damage fast enough to down him.

I've probably spent more than four hours just trying to beat him alone. Not even sure if BB is worth it at this point.

Level 22 Skill / End / Vit
Threaded Cane +3
Music Box

Try the Saw Cleaver, maybe it fares better.
 

Melchiah

Member
Just spent ANOTHER hour trying to beat Father G. Stage three just wrecks me. Can't hit him with Molotovs and my attacks don't do damage fast enough to down him.

I've probably spent more than four hours just trying to beat him alone. Not even sure if BB is worth it at this point.

Level 22 Skill / End / Vit
Threaded Cane +3
Music Box

One viable strategy is to run upstairs, throw a molotov at him when he follows, and then run through the opening in the fence in the opposing end. Rinse and repeat.

The other is to practise parrying. Once it clicks, the timing isn't that hard in the last phase of the fight. It only takes two visceral attacks to down the transformed Father.
 

Nev

Banned
Just spent ANOTHER hour trying to beat Father G. Stage three just wrecks me. Can't hit him with Molotovs and my attacks don't do damage fast enough to down him.

I've probably spent more than four hours just trying to beat him alone. Not even sure if BB is worth it at this point.

Level 22 Skill / End / Vit
Threaded Cane +3
Music Box

To think that Gascoigne is an absolute joke of a pushover for me now and I also hated him at first lol. You'll be the same, keep trying.
 
I wrote this yesterday



compared to the videos I've seen in youtube, seems kinda low, specially Vitality, those guys beating Ludwig solo had a huge life bar and could withstand ludwig's jump attack, which in my case is instakill.

not to mention they deal more damage than me, not by much cause I too have strong +10 weapons but in such a hectic fight, every hit counts.

The jumping attack is really easy to dodge. When he jumps up to the ceiling, just run straight in any direction to clear as much distance between you and him as possible. Your vitality is kinda on the low side, but he's gonna hurt no matter what.

Just spent ANOTHER hour trying to beat Father G. Stage three just wrecks me. Can't hit him with Molotovs and my attacks don't do damage fast enough to down him.

I've probably spent more than four hours just trying to beat him alone. Not even sure if BB is worth it at this point.

Level 22 Skill / End / Vit
Threaded Cane +3
Music Box

Just parry and visceral attack him. He's basically designed to be a test on parrying, similar to Bladewolf on Metal Gear Rising.

Wait until he's about to hit you with an attack with a long start-up animation, then shoot him just as he's about to connect with you. Once he staggers, walk up and press R1. If you need to practice, the trolls down the stairs from the 1st lantern, or the one outside C
leric
B
east
's boss room are good to practice parrying.

For general combat against Gascoigne, use the range of the cane's whip form to your advantage. If you're doing it right, the only thing you should be concerned about is getting trapped behind a gravestone, not about him hitting you.
 
I second using the Saw Cleaver, it's the most rounded weapon in the game, iirc it does bonus damage vs beasts too. Not that the cane is bad, just the cleaver is really good.

Probably means grinding a few shards from the wolfmen around Yarnham, but that's a good opportunity to practice parrying and get a stock of blood vials.
 

Melchiah

Member
I second using the Saw Cleaver, it's the most rounded weapon in the game, iirc it does bonus damage vs beasts too. Not that the cane is bad, just the cleaver is really good.

The Cane's whip mode does the same +20% bonus damage against beasts, and the default mode does +20% righteous damage against some enemies, like those in C
ainhurst.
 

sphinx

the piano man
Hell yeah, I just beat Ludwig

the trick was just getting on its side and stun it with R2 charged attacks from the one-hand massive attack of my Ludwig's Holy Blade +10, charged with fire paper and pellets, it went down fast

the 2nd phase was strange, it barely moved, I just got under/around its legs and punished, it could barely hit me, it was also easily stunned

didn't need Valtr either.

awesome.

This game makes me so happy, not sure how to describe it but for the first time I feel pumped to get back home and turn on my PS4 every day, since I started playing it
 
The Cane's whip mode does the same +20% bonus damage against beasts, and the default mode does +20% righteous damage against some enemies, like those in C
ainhurst.
Did not know that.

Every time I play the game I always say I'll use another weapon btu I always fall back on the Saw Cleaver, the moveset is just perfect for me.
 

KuroNeeko

Member
Try the Saw Cleaver, maybe it fares better.

Thanks for the advice! I did try it a few times, but I found the R1 mode lacked range and the alt mode was too slow. : /

One viable strategy is to run upstairs, throw a molotov at him when he follows, and then run through the opening in the fence in the opposing end. Rinse and repeat.

The other is to practise parrying. Once it clicks, the timing isn't that hard in the last phase of the fight. It only takes two visceral attacks to down the transformed Father.

I can't consistently parry him in
human
, but I can't parry him at all after he
transforms.

To think that Gascoigne is an absolute joke of a pushover for me now and I also hated him at first lol. You'll be the same, keep trying.

All of the other enemies up to that boss are a pushover now--well, except when I get swarmed by 5+ rats.

Just parry and visceral attack him. He's basically designed to be a test on parrying, similar to Bladewolf on Metal Gear Rising.

Wait until he's about to hit you with an attack with a long start-up animation, then shoot him just as he's about to connect with you. Once he staggers, walk up and press R1. If you need to practice, the trolls down the stairs from the 1st lantern, or the one outside C
leric
B
east
's boss room are good to practice parrying.

For general combat against Gascoigne, use the range of the cane's whip form to your advantage. If you're doing it right, the only thing you should be concerned about is getting trapped behind a gravestone, not about him hitting you.

Parry → VA has been working for me in his
human
form, but after that it's impossible for me to keep up with him. Maybe I'll experiment more with the alt form of the whip and see if I can zone him. Thanks for the suggestions!

The trolls are pretty easy for me, though I still get ganked about one out of ten times. In contrast, Father G's attacks, while heavily telegraphed, are really hard for me to parry consistently. I guess I'm missing the window...
 

jviggy43

Member
So I have my fire and bolt weapons, any advice on what I should use for my arcane weapon as a pure arc build? Have the gems for it but not sure what weapon would work best for it.
 
I did try it a few times, but I found the R1 mode lacked range and the alt mode was too slow. : /
The transformed R1 is slow and not really that useful. but the R2 can be useful like when fully charged and going for backstabs the arc is obscene you can be at the side of an enemy and still get a backstab - but the transform attacks (L1 after an attack) are fantastic for combo strings and crowd control.

This goes for any weapon really, the transform attacks are often realy useful and add another layer to your offense beyond just either weapon by itself. Try them out on any weapon.
 

Melchiah

Member
Did not know that.

Every time I play the game I always say I'll use another weapon btu I always fall back on the Saw Cleaver, the moveset is just perfect for me.

It's been the same for me with the Cane. I just like its versatility, speed and reach so much. The whip mode made many bosses and enemy hunters easier for me, and I've found that the hardest enemy hunters are those who use the same weapon. The one in the R
esearch Hall
was particularly a pain in the ass on NG+.


I can't consistently parry him in
human
, but I can't parry him at all after he
transforms.

You might try this as well, if you have trouble with hitting him with molotovs:
I dunno if it's still possible to cheese him in the third phase by going to the upper area, and staying close to the fence. He used to remain stuck on the top of the stairs if you did that, and you could easily throw molotovs at him.

If it helps here's a video of my fight wth him at level 17:
https://youtu.be/AaqgdS4WFm0
The third phase starts around 4:00. Personally, I had more issues with parrying him during the two first phases.
 
When he got low health for me I played ULTRA safe and cheesed him: I stayed as far away as I could and waited for him to barf lava, then I ran in for a single dash attack and then immediately rolled away and kept my distance til the next lava barf. When he is nearly full screen distance, you constantly backing up and circle around and the dash attack is pretty easy to dodge (he always growls and shakes his head before doing it). It took a long time, but with the Defiled Chalice giving me half health, I was basically getting one shotted by anything he did, so cheese was necessary when he speeds up at less than 25% health.

Another thing that helped me was focusing on his back legs at the beginning of the fight, when his attack pool is smaller and easier to predict. I would bait him by getting close so that he would do his his big head swipe, dodge through it, unlock, then move to the hind leg and give it one or two swipes based on weapon. He would get stunned after two cycles, I would wail away, dodge backward to be out of blast range, then run in for one last swipe. I would then repeat on the other side.

That would leave the front legs open for stunning him when his health was lower and he was faster and less predictable.

Good luck!

Sorry but do you even understand what a cheese strat is? What does cheesing mean?

Cheesing would be poisoning the Watchdog or getting him stuck on the geometry and killing with spells.

What you did was a perfectly normal strategy of DODGING his all atacks and waiting for that one where you felt comfortable to punish him. That's a great job and 0% cheese.

---

I never had problems with the Watchdog. The normal one I killed on the first try, the defiled one on my second try. The lava puke and the charge were super easy to punish. The Hunter's Axe has a great range and is the perfect weapon for this fight.

That fiery bitch before him was my doom, though. Must have killed me 30+ times.
 

sphinx

the piano man
today I beat Living Failures and Lady Maria.

on the Living failures fight, damn, the game runs probably at 15 FPS... I was screaming "RUN MOTHERFUCKER! WHY ARE YOU SO SLOW!" lol

Lady Maria = it's all about parrying + visceral, it took several tries but it wasn't that hard.

In her last phase with something like 30% energy, she you lifts herself up in the air to do that area-attack move. Well I just attacked like crazy, had full energy, survived the attack, continued hitting her and she went down..

I love this kind of fights, with human-like enemies, Lady Maria and Father Gascoigne, too bad there aren't many bosses like these.
 

Endo Punk

Member
I'm trying to convince a friend to get Bloodborne, I know he will hate it due to the difficulty but want any excuse to pull me back in to play even if I have sacrifice him to Amygdala 😀
 

KuroNeeko

Member
I finally beat
Father G.
last night! I actually feel kind of bad about how I did it...

I used the alt form of the Threaded Cane to whittle down his life while being careful to keep a wall of gravestones between us.

When he got down to about 40%, I smacked him with a parry → visceral attack.

As soon as he
transformed
I sprinted up the stairs and used the
music box
to stun him. Then, a single Malotov and an all-in attack in Cane form finished him off.

When he was dead, I just kind of sat there dumbfounded. I couldn't believe that I'd actually done it. lol

Thank you for all the advice! It felt good to wander into a brand-new area!
 

Melchiah

Member
I finally beat
Father G.
last night! I actually feel kind of bad about how I did it...

I used the alt form of the Threaded Cane to whittle down his life while being careful to keep a wall of gravestones between us.

When he got down to about 40%, I smacked him with a parry → visceral attack.

As soon as he
transformed
I sprinted up the stairs and used the
music box
to stun him. Then, a single Malotov and an all-in attack in Cane form finished him off.

When he was dead, I just kind of sat there dumbfounded. I couldn't believe that I'd actually done it. lol

Thank you for all the advice! It felt good to wander into a brand-new area!

Congratulations! I used the whip from behind the tombstones on my first time as well. I never tried to stun him with that item, but it's a legitimate strategy. You beat him fair and square.
 

jviggy43

Member
Watching Aegon of Astora lore videos, seeing how content was cut for witches abode so makes me wish the game was delayed to get that in there. Ugh I just want more BB content. Please FROM announce BB 2 at E3.
 

Melchiah

Member
Watching Aegon of Astora lore videos, seeing how content was cut for witches abode so makes me wish the game was delayed to get that in there. Ugh I just want more BB content. Please FROM announce BB 2 at E3.

A link for the video would be appreciated.
 

AndersK

Member
I've got a very particular feeling about the re-playing Bloodborne. It's been on my mind for a month or so. I finally completed all soulsborne games this past year, but I never got around to The Old Hunters.

It's just...I feel almost compelled to play BB again now. Never felt that with the other games (not that that's meant to slight them).

I almost never replay stuff anymore. I have Nier, Nioh abd Persona 5 going currently. I really can't justify going back.

But I'm gonna. It's just so good. I have try try the pimp cane this time around. No more spin to win for me.
 
today I beat Living Failures and Lady Maria.

on the Living failures fight, damn, the game runs probably at 15 FPS... I was screaming "RUN MOTHERFUCKER! WHY ARE YOU SO SLOW!" lol

Lady Maria = it's all about parrying + visceral, it took several tries but it wasn't that hard.

In her last phase with something like 30% energy, she you lifts herself up in the air to do that area-attack move. Well I just attacked like crazy, had full energy, survived the attack, continued hitting her and she went down..

I love this kind of fights, with human-like enemies, Lady Maria and Father Gascoigne, too bad there aren't many bosses like these.

I don't recall any performance drops on Living Failures, although I did focus on killing one at a time, as opposed to letting multiple spawn and attacking all of them.

Lady Maria was fun, if not a bit easy. I'm not sure if it was just the threaded cane, or if all weapons are the same, but I could just mash R1 to stunlock her until my stamina ran low, dodge the counter attack, then rinse and repeat. The first phase was probably the hardest for me.

I've got a very particular feeling about the re-playing Bloodborne. It's been on my mind for a month or so. I finally completed all soulsborne games this past year, but I never got around to The Old Hunters.

It's just...I feel almost compelled to play BB again now. Never felt that with the other games (not that that's meant to slight them).

I almost never replay stuff anymore. I have Nier, Nioh abd Persona 5 going currently. I really can't justify going back.

But I'm gonna. It's just so good. I have try try the pimp cane this time around. No more spin to win for me.

The cane is incredible, but it's sword form only really shines towards the end of the game and Old Hunters. That being said, going Simon Belmont on everything is too much fun.
 

h0tp0ck3t

Member
I feel bad I've heard multiple times now Maria is one of the easier bosses when I could only beat her by Augering her into a corner
 

Matt Frost

Member
I still consider this the best game of this generation. And top5 overall. Trying to convice a couple of friends to play it but no one wants to :( why did i have to platinum it so soon :(
 

jviggy43

Member
I almost made a thread about this but I would contend BB is the only system seller of this generation thus far. BotW would be next but since its on the Wii U too I wouldn't put it in that category.
 

sphinx

the piano man
ok Laurence's fight is absolute BULLSHIT.

is not that it's hard, it's that I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING when I am against it. have no idea who's hitting who or what
 

sphinx

the piano man
Don't lock on, stay mid range and bait out his attacks that leave him open

just beat the motherfucker, first part was relatively easy, it was always the puddle of lava that always fucked me up.

also the charred garb does wonders against fire, I could take more than 2 or 3 hits.
 

Teeth

Member
Sorry but do you even understand what a cheese strat is? What does cheesing mean?

Cheesing would be poisoning the Watchdog or getting him stuck on the geometry and killing with spells.

What you did was a perfectly normal strategy of DODGING his all atacks and waiting for that one where you felt comfortable to punish him. That's a great job and 0% cheese.

---

I never had problems with the Watchdog. The normal one I killed on the first try, the defiled one on my second try. The lava puke and the charge were super easy to punish. The Hunter's Axe has a great range and is the perfect weapon for this fight.

That fiery bitch before him was my doom, though. Must have killed me 30+ times.


I mean, it's not really super spicy pepperjack nacho cheese, but I feel like I'm not playing the boss as intended when I stay a full arena away from him and wait for the one attack that leaves him vulnerable for too long.

I've always wanted the challenge the game on the terms of which I felt it's designed for maximal satisfaction. I'm a designer's wet dream; if I find an attack that crushes any encounter I come across, I actively don't use that attack. If I see a way to spec my character to trivialize future fights, I actively don't spec that way. If I find a simple exploit to overcome limitations of an encounter engine I specifically try not to engage that way. I generally trust designers to create an encounter that is challenging, but able to be accomplished with a proper skillset.

I save the rocket launcher ammo specifically not to use it.
I don't use the megalixers.
I don't equip Havel's set, get my Estus flasks up to 20, cast power within and sit there and hammer R1.

It's not fun, engaging, or interactive.

I honestly don't think that the Dark Souls designers take high magic builds into account, so using a ton of magic on a boss just feels like cheese, even though it's part of the game. Ditto for summoning. Yeah, it's part of the game, but it also robs the boss fights of the elegance of their design. I'd not be overcoming an obstacle, I'd be walking around the side of it.

Theoretically (as in, if I were the encounter designer), the Watch Dog wouldn't use his lava barf at full screen distance because it's got a huge tell before launching and has a long recovery tail. It just seems like a design oversight. The attack in general seems underthought, since the lava doesn't last long enough to be an actual problem in the fight anyway. So circling around the edge of the arena, waiting in excess of 5 minutes between pukes to get one shot in, feels less like fighting the boss and more like exploiting a design oversight.

That's why I call it cheesy. But that's also why I call it cheesy and not cheating.
 
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