Index | | | | - Weapons: Simon's Bowblade
| | - Weapons: The Reiterpallasch and Rifle Spear
| | | | - Starting a Playthrough & Progression
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Introduction - Hello~ my name is MyHeartsMistakes, you've probably see me around this sub every now and again. I've been playing Bloodborne for a fairly long time. But definitely not as much as others, however I have made a habit of remembering information while I play. I mostly PvP while doing the occasional challenge run on my favorite bosses. I'm making this guide because I see a lot hunters asking for help on bloodtinge builds. Most of my Bloodborne experience has been using a Bloodtinge build, so I hope to impart some fellow hunters with some insight on how to be the best blood wielding hunter a hunter can be.
| - Small Disclaimer: This guide is meant to help people start a bloodtinge build. It will not go over every move each weapon has. I believe the best teacher is experience and it will help you a lot more then what anyone else can tell you. However of course i'll go over tips and weapon combos for every weapon. But if you want to learn about every move in the moveset I suggest checking a wiki.
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What is Bloodtinge? - Firstly Bloodtinge is a stat the governs the amount of blood damage you deal to enemies. The weapons that do blood damage are all firearms, the Chikage, Simons Bowblade, and the Bloodletter.
| - Luckily for us, many enemies have little to no resistance against blood damage. This means that we will be effective on nearly (if not all) the enemies in the entirety of Bloodborne. Some enemies who are particularly weak to blood damage are, everyone's favorite, brain suckers. These guys will die extremely quickly while using the respective blood attacks on your weapon of choice.
| - However, every build is not without its cons. As i'm sure you've noticed, our weapon selection isn't exactly the biggest collection. By creating a Bloodtinge build you will be limiting yourself to about two weapons (or three depending on your build). Make sure you really do like a certain weapon before choosing to make a bloodtinge build.
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General Information - To start you need to understand that bloodtinge weapons have a very odd scaling. In their untransformed state they exclusively with Skill (Chikage & Bowblade) or Strength (Bloodletter). However when transformed bloodtinge weapons will lose all other scaling a convert to pure bloodtinge. This is why bloodtinge requires a much bigger stat investment to actually see results.
| - This is also why 50 Bloodtinge is required to fully use a bloodtinge build. As well as why you should almost exclusively attack with your weapons transformed mode over their untransformed mode. Normally you will attack with your weapon in blood form 90% of the time. However because of this required heavy investment, your early game will be abysmal. But when you do get to the later stages of the game you’ll delete everything.
| - Note: Bloodtinge weapons, when transformed, will knock dogs onto the ground as if you shot them with your gun. Bloodtinge weapons also cannot be buffed by anything, so keep that in mind.
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Weapons: The Chikage - The Chikage is the only bloodtinge weapon included in the main game and is my personal favorite weapon. When transformed, the Chikage will coat itself in blood and be wielded with two hands. However while transformed the Chikage will constantly drain your health at about 0.85% hp per second. This can be easily managed if you just pay attention and get used to the weapon.
| - The Chikage normally is a Katana that scales with the Skill stat. It has a B scaling in skill and a S scaling in bloodtinge. Like what I said before, its normal mode will only scale the skill stat while its blood mode will only use bloodtinge stat. The Chikage will want 50 bloodtinge to truly shine. Here is an example of a good Chikage build:
| | - VIT 45-50 (required for PvP)
| - END 25-30 (Normally 25, add more if you want)
| | - SKL 25 (higher If you don’t want arcane or stamina)
| | - ARC 7-15 (Only go to 15 if you want use of the hunter tools)
| - That much VIT is pretty much required because on my bloodtinge build, my Chikage can do up to 1000+ damage in a single transformation attack. This means anyone without at least 40+ VIT will be one shotted. As well as helping you manage the health drain in tight situations. Not to mention having lots of VIT is always helpful. The Arcane stat can be helpful to bloodtinge builds, but personally I don’t think it's too great on on them. If you want use of the tools feel free to upgrade that though, just remember you can’t use buff’s on bloodtinge weapons, so the Empty Phantasm Shell will be useless.
| - Tips & Tricks - The Chikage’s bread and butter move would definitely be it’s amazing transformation attacks. The Chikage does 1.6x or 60% more damage on transformation attacks over normal ones. This should be the move that you spam in PvP. To do this do:
| | | | - My normal PvE combo is L1 > R1 > R1 > R1 > L1 or however many R1's it takes till the enemy is almost dead, then finish them with a transformation attack to negate as much health drain as possible. Alternatively you should L1 before your stamina runs out. The L1 > R1 combo has a small step forward as well. This can catch some people off guard.
| - It’s transformation attacks also have insane stagger, especially on hunters. You always want to open with a transformation attack during fights. It can easily stop almost every attack from a weapon. Since it can stop many attacks, you should abuse this and hang back and wait till the enemy attack to get a sweet counter hit while stunning them for a bit. I fought some NPC hunters to demonstrate this:
| | | - Final Comments - Pressing L1 after a combo should become instinctive. You want to have as little health drain as possible at all times. Finally I also recommend playing unlocked, the Chikage does so much better unlocked then locked. If you watch the videos above, you can see me playing mostly unlocked.
| - Remember that lock on is a tool. There are times when it’s the right tool for the job and other times when it will actually hinder you. Learning to play unlocked will give you a lot better control with your attacks and the ability to track multiple opponents.
| - Finally, while using the Chikage, you’re going to want to play in normal mode 80% of the time, but use blood mode to attack 95% of the time. You don't really want to use the normal mode unless you have something like 50 SKL which probably won't happen if you're trying to make a build for PvP. If you don't care about PvP though then it doesn't matter.
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Weapons: Simon's Bowblade - Simon's Bowblade is probably the quickest bloodtinge weapon you can obtain in the story. It is also a DLC weapon, so keep that in mind.
| - The bowblade while untransformed acts as a normal sword. It has an S scaling in skill/bloodtinge and while transformed it will shoot arrows using your quicksilver bullets. It costs one quicksilver bullet per arrow, so I highly recommend taking communion runes which will allow to you take more blood vials. Pressing up on the d-pad will provide you with 5 blood bullets at the cost of health (Note: tapping for blood bullets will take slightly less than a blood vial heals, you can use this to heal for small amounts). You cannot go over 5 blood bullets.
| - The bowblade, unlike its other two bloodtinge friends, will be used mostly in its untransformed state. You don’t want to use arrows for every enemy because it would be a waste of bullets. A normal build for a bowblade main would be:
| | | | | | | - ARC 7-15 (Only go to 15 if you want use of the hunter tools)
| - The bowblade will probably do best in a 50/50 SKL/BLT build. However doing this will force you to sacrifice other stats. I believe the bowblade will shine best while used in the off-hand to compliment your other bloodtinge weapon of choice. Being able to pull out significant ranged damage during fights can be a huge advantage.
| - In my opinion the bowblade’s best move would also be its transformation attacks going both ways. While untransformed, the transformation attack will do a quick backstep while shooting an arrow. This a great for catching people off guard as well as letting you move away. From the bow form the transformation attack will be a long thrusting attack with quite a bit of phantom range.
| - However in PvE be careful of using the bowblade to backstab. While untransformed the bowblade’s charged R2 move is a double spin attack. Since the spin hits twice, you’ll end up knocking the enemy out of the visceral state. However you can backstab someone with a fully charged arrow when transformed. Might be useful in some situations since you can do it from range (incoming co op wombo combos).
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| - Final Comments - You can actually use the monocular to free aim the bow. Good to keep in mind if you’re invading and want to snipe a host or enemy. In bow form the L2 will do a quick slash with a arrow, it does crap damage, but can save you if someone is very close and on low health. Or it can be used like this:
| | - The bowblade can very easily trivialize and cheese many of the bosses in the game, since most were designed without the idea to actually counter someone with range. If it’s not dealing a lot of damage, it can also be used to throw around aggro for some bosses. For example, Ludwig the Accursed will always target the last person who hit him. By using the bowblade from a range when your host/friend gets low, you can switch Ludwig’s aggro to yourself so they can heal up.
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Weapons: The Bloodletter - The Bloodletter will probably take the longest out of all the bloodtinge weapons to get. It requires you to get almost all the way through the DLC before it can be obtained. However do not let this dissuade you from trying the weapon, as it can be a great weapon!
| - The Bloodletter has a A scaling in strength and a S scaling in bloodtinge, like all the other previous weapons, scales with strength untransformed and bloodtinge transformed. The Bloodletter is normally a mace with the majority of its attacks dealing physical damage and the charged R2 dealing blunt damage. This weapon can deal out a ton of damage and in PvE can stunlock enemies hard, however it suffers heavily from lack of range.
| - To transform the Bloodletter you stab yourself in the chest sudoku style. It will deal around 20% of your health instantly, but will take no more health until you un-transform and retransform it again. (Note: You can kill yourself with the bloodletter for a special death animation of you stabbing yourself.)
| - A normal build for the Bloodletter will look something like this:
| | | | | - SKL 10-20 (You might want this to be able to use the Chikage or Bowblade in your off hand. Mind you they won’t be great, but if you only use them transformed they should perform fine)
| | - ARC 7-15 (Only go to 15 if you want use of the hunter tools)
| - When two handed and transformed, the Bloodletter will really shine. Transforming it will give you a tone of extended range and increase that already high damage. Interestingly enough the attack speed on the Bloodletter doesn’t seem to go down at all even though the weapon gets much bigger. This means you can pull off some great combos. For example the Bloodletter’s R1 combo will do two horizontal sweep followed by an overhead smash with great tracking.
| - Now for the weapons star move: the transformed L2. This move will make you smash your weapon into the ground causing an AoE explosion that deals massive damage to enemies stuck in the entire thing. However this move will also begin to frenzy you. When your frenzy meter fills you lose a big portion of your health. Interestingly the Bloodletters frenzy meter will only do 50% of your health, rather than the normal 70% (remember it frenzies your maximum health, not your current health, so if you’re under 50% hp you’ll die from the frenzy).
| - (Side Note: The transformed charged R2 also has a mini explosion from the tip, gives you a little bit of extra damage + range. Just keep it in mind)
| - Final Comments - Consider bring the Deep Sea rune (frenzy resist) when you use the Bloodletter. It will allow you to frequently use the L2 without much worry of being frenzied. You can find the tier two version (+200 frenzy resist) in the forbidden woods, behind the two big viper sphaggeti tangles in a corner (video location: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUyI0NPwko4)
| - Also consider holding onto lots of sedatives just in case you need to pop one in a pinch, so you can L2 again. You can unlock sedatives from the bath messengers in the hunter's dream by obtaining the Cosmic Eye Watcher Badge, found in the Upper Cathedral Ward. (Side Note: Apparently you cannot be frenzied by the Bloodletter if you have over 180 frenzy resist. I cannot confirm this though, so be warned.)
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Weapons: The Reiterpallasch and Rifle Spear - The reason I didn't include the Reiter and Rifle spear in my list of bloodtinge weapons was mostly my personal opinion. I don't consider the Reiterpallasch a bloodtinge weapon at all. Yes, it does have bloodtinge scaling, but it's only used on one move. Not to mention that the move is only a gunshot as well.
| - The Reiters gunshot actually has quite high base damage meaning it can be used quite well on a full skill build without any bloodtinge. The weapons I listed were weapons who all (or half) of their damage comes from bloodtinge. Weapons that require bloodtinge to actually be used effectively. This goes for the Rifle Spear as well. However by popular demand I will include a weapon breakdown for these weapons.
| - The Reiterpallasch - The Reiter can be found inside the first room of Castle Cainhurst. It will located in a chest on the right (coming in from the door) corner, should be fairly easy to find. It has an A scaling in skill and a D scaling in bloodtinge. This means it will do much better in an all skill build over a bloodtinge build.
| - The base damage for the gunshot is quite high and at 50 bloodtinge, it can out damage the Evelyn. If you really want to use it, I would recommend using it in the off hand along with Simon’s Bowblade as your main. This is because Simon's Bowblade will also do better in a build with lots of skill, making the Reiter a good choice.
| - Untransformed it will act as a normal Rapier, using mostly thrusting attacks, which Kin are weak to. When transformed it will lose some range and most of its attacks will become slashing. While transformed the R2 will become a gunshot instead of a normal attack. The transformation attacks from untransformed will shoot a quick gunshot along with a backstep (similar to the bowblade). Good for catching people off guard or getting a quick parry.
| - For builds I recommend a full skill build. However if you plan on using it in the off hand, the build for Simon’s Bowblade will work better. This weapon can also be buffed.
| - The Rifle Spear - The Rifle Spear is a spear found in Old Yharnam, meaning it can be acquired quite early on. It has a B scaling in skill and bloodtinge.
| - The spear has a very long reach and is a great choice for a defensive weapon. In its untransformed mode, like the Reiter, it will use mostly thrust attacks. When transformed the spear will be folded back, reducing the range. The transformed L2 will shoot your gun, like how it is untransformed.
| - Something interesting to note is that the transformed charged R2 will make your hunter charge forward a fair distance. You’ll damage someone all the way along as well if you manage it hit them straight on.
| - The bloodtinge scaling is a lot better then the Reiter’s so I believe it will do best on a build similar (or the same as) the bowblade. It also has a D in strength scaling. This weapon cannot be buffed.
| - Final Comments - Like I said before, these weapons are not really “bloodtinge” weapons. They are more “skill weapons with some bloodtinge”. Using them in the offhand to compliment something like the bowblade could be fairly strong.
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Weapons: Firearms and Tools - Firearms are an extremely important part of bloodtinge builds. Since the bloodtinge stat increases bullet damage, your gun’s will become one of the main damage sources in your build. They will do a lot, I mean a lot of damage as well. Using my +10 Evelyn, I will constantly get 400 damage per bullet and when buffed with Bone Marrow Ash, it starts to become a bit ridiculous. We have a couple choices for Firearms, so I’ll list them all here:
| - The Evelyn - This is the go to gun for all bloodtinge builds. It’s also definitely the best gun for bloodtinge builds as well. It has an S scaling with bloodtinge making it very deadly after you get 50 bloodtinge. However it will only out damage the normal Hunter’s Pistol after 21 bloodtinge, so keep that in mind.
| - Side Note: The Evelyn has an extremely long barrel, so the firing animation shows your hunter holding up the gun then shooting it sideways. While this looks really cool, the Evelyn appears to have a lot of trouble hitting enemies point blank. Be careful when you try to parry.
| - The Repeating Pistol - This is some hunter’s prefered bloodtinge weapon, however personally I don’t think it's very good. It will deal more damage than the Evelyn per click, however it uses two bullets per shot. THis means while it does more per click the Evelyn does more per bullet. If you want the most damage out of all your bullets I would use the Evelyn.
| - This is also the weapon used by the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst and as you know, point blank it will hurt.
| - The Cannon and Church Cannon - These are the “hard hitters” in the firearm collection. The cannon uses 12 quicksilver bullets per shot and can be buffed with Bone Marrow Ash. With high bloodtinge expect to oneshot every other player with this weapon, if you get a direct hit. However it requires strength to use, so it should only be used in a STR/BLT (bloodletter) or QUALITY/BLT build.
| - If you want to use the Cannon, I would recommend switching to the Church Cannon. They are very similar weapons, however the Church Cannon only uses 10 quicksilver bullets per shot. This means, if you tap for blood bullets, you can shoot the cannon at least four times. The Church Cannon does less damage than the normal cannon, but it will still easily one shot someone. While locked on the Church Cannon will have less range than the normal cannon, however if you unlock your camera and aim upwards the Church Cannon can actually fire much further then the normal Cannon.
| | - These guns are not exactly the best guns for bloodtinge builds, but can work in certain situations.
| - The Gatling Gun - Another one of the “hard hitters” of the bloodtinge arsenal, the Gatling Gun is a rapid fire gun that will shoot about 4 bullets for every 1 quicksilver bullet consumed. You can get a ton of damage out of 20 quicksilver bullets, probably around 2000~. Good for finishing off bosses or normal enemies, but also requires strength to use. Can stunlock hunters pretty hard. (Side Note: By using short bursts in PvP, people will be forced to come close to you, so they won’t get hit by the bullets. Use this to bait players in and then attack them yourself.)
| - Like I said with the cannons, this firearm isn’t the best for bloodtinge builds, but can work in certain situations. It also requires a STR/BLT build. If you have a SKL/BLT build I would not level up strength just for this weapon.
| - Final Comments - You should +10 your firearm of choice at some point, since guns will be a vital point in the amount of damage you deal to enemies. However if you decide to use the Cannon or Gatling Gun, I wouldn’t +10 those. I highly recommend the Evelyn though.
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