Bloodborne by the numbers
No irregular framerate will prevent many from hailing Bloodborne as the greatest game in recent Playstation history. We’re talking about an experience so transcendental that its crown can only fall for a still elusive Bloodborne remaster that runs, well, just a bit more smoothly.
On top of its gorgeous aesthetics and cosmic horror-drenched lore, Bloodborne’s main quest excels in making players feel like they’re growing from babies armed with plastic scissors into real monster hunters. And a hunter is only as badass as the prey that they slay, so let us take a look at the bosses players will have to face if they want to conquer Bloodborne.
Father Gascoigne
This old man lives in the central Yharnam graveyard and is what hardened players describe as a “filter”. In other words, he’s an obstacle capable of getting uncommitted players to immediately give up on the game.
Gascoigne uses an axe and the equivalent of an old-timey shotgun, but he’ll ditch both as he morphs into a huge beast when his health gets low. Always try to put the arena’s gravestones between you and Gascoigne, as that will block most of his attacks. This old man puts up one hell of a fight for a first boss, but he’s actually one of the easiest hunter-type enemies in the game. Buckle up if you want to see Bloodborne through.
Vicar Amelia
Inside the grand cathedral, players will find Vicar Amelia, a huge horned dog who worships an old god. Amelia won’t put up as much of a fight as Gascoigne, but she’s still a challenging opponent. She doesn’t like fire, an unsurprising weakness for a creature that wears only bandages.
The best recipe for an easy win is to use fire paper on your weapon and separately injure her legs and arms. This will seriously weaken and slow her down. Don’t call it a victory just yet, however, as she has the rare ability among bosses in the Souls series to actually regenerate her limbs and health. Her attacks deal a lot of damage, but they’re also easy to evade, so she should be an easy trophy for any cautious player.
Shadow Of Yharnam
We all tremble thinking about Souls boss encounters that involve multiple enemies, but Shadow Of Yharnam isn’t too bad. These three wooded figures that haunt the Forbidden Grave past the Forbidden Woods look a lot like the Ringwraiths from Lord Of The Rings. Fortunately, they lose much of their spookiness courtesy of a gigantic rock in the middle of the arena that we can use to avoid dealing with them all at the same time.
The strategy is simple, try to fight them off one by one. Be mindful that whenever one falls, the remaining ones gain extra powers.
Rom, The Vacuous Spider
Please remember that a tiny-legged spider is still a goddamn spider. Despite possessing no real brawler abilities, Rom might prove to be one of the toughest challenges in the game because it commands a huge army of regular-legged spiders as well as a mighty arsenal of spider-spells.
The best strategy for this boss is to not attack the small spiders. That said, keep an eye on them at all times, because they can be pretty lethal. Rom is very slow and weak on the sides, but it will teleport to a random area of the map once she gets tired of getting brutalized by the player. Rom is also at its most dangerous when far away, as it’ll try to snipe players with some devastating hits.
The best way to beat it is to memorize the animations Rom performs before casting a spell. Each dance signals a different pain in the butt to come. Rom’s spells can easily one-shot players who don’t invest their points in defense.
One Reborn
This boss is a zombified throwback to one classic boss from the original Demon’s Souls, the Tower Knight. The good news is that even though both fights take place in a similar arena surrounded by enemies who’ll cast vile projectiles at the player, the One Reborn puts up much less of a fight. A likely downside of being a rotten corpse as opposed and all.
As soon as the fight begins, players should go around the arena hunting for enemy spellcasters. So long as players get away from the boss when he begins vomiting sludge that will cover most of the arena, there’s not much to worry about here. He’s very easy to stagger and aside from some predictable-but-highly-damaging stomps, he won’t do much. Even when he’s at, well, the best shape that a rotting corpse can be.
Micolash, Host Of The Nightmare
Micolash is the softest-hitting enemy in the game due to his weapon of choice being absolutely no weapon. However, that doesn’t mean players should let their guard down. He also uses magic, and he does it well.
He has two main magic attacks. The first involves lunging a tentacle at the player. The second has Micolash gather a lot of energy to rain down on a very large area of the small boss arena. Do not underestimate that, as it’s sure to cause massive damage.
Mergo’s Wet Nurse
Please ignore what’s likely the most menacing-looking boss in the game, as Mergo’s Wet Nurse is disappointingly easy. In fact, the hardest thing to achieve against the overseer of Mergo’s loft is a game over screen. Yes, even when it performs her special trick and turns into two wet nurses. She heavily telegraphs her attacks, and they aren’t even all that damaging to begin with.
Don’t forget to consume the third umbilical cord you get from her if you want the game’s best ending!
Gehrman, The First Hunter
Gehrman is hard. This is the boss that’ll ultimately put players to the test.
This fight has two distinct phases. In the first one, he behaves as normally as a deranged Scythe-donning hunter would. In the second phase, he becomes an unstoppable madman. Gehrman becomes impossible to parry, and he will gain an array of highly dangerous moves. The arena has no obstacles to hide behind, so it’s time to use all the dodging skills you’ve acquired. That said, we can “defeat” Gehrman via a dialogue choice where we accept his invitation and prevent the entire fight.
Don’t pick that option.
Don’t disrespect Bloodborne like that.
