From Software's Bloodborne

Well, among other things, I got kicked straight to Yahar'gul by a Snatcher and only just managed to get home.

Ever since though I have been straight up farming the Snatchers, got pretty good with the Meme Sword (getting it to +4 helped), and my level is currently 48.

I'm trying to kill enough Snatchers to get 5 Twin Bloodstone Shards to get my Meme Sword to +5. My favorite Snatcher is that one by the Old Yharnam path, facing away - I watched a let's play that shows hitting Snatchers with a charged attack on their backs cheeses them.

I went through the Church Workshop instead of the Hunter Chief Badge, grabbed the Elemental Gem and killed that fucking Brainsucker.

I fucking love the Holy Sword, it outright trivializes those freaky Church guys, and made Henryk a walk in the park.

Current stats are 25 Vitality, 20 Endurance, 20 Strength and 20 skill. I'll start raising Arcane pretty soon.

The moment I get that Fire Gem on the Meme Sword, things are gonna get pretty fun.

Edited by NickTheSwing on Oct 27th 2018 at 5:33:32 AM

...okay so when does the Waning Gem Slot open on the Meme Sword?

I hope its at +6 because I really need that for my big "kill Vicar Amelia with a flaming Meme Sword" plan.

Just use Fire Paper. Actually, Fire and Bolt Paper is very effective earlier than later in the game, so keep using them on bosses etc.

Yeah I just went with Fire Paper.

Saw that putting the gem on there would've drastically lowered the damage at this stage.

Witch of Hemwick is dust - I went in and then Brave Mark'd out, spent all my Insight, and didn't even take damage once the entire fight.

Then I prepped for a difficult fight, summoned in Henriett...and took down Vicar Amelia first try. The Fire Paper plus my +6 Ludwig Holy Blade plus Henriett made Vicar Amelia get riposte'd within seconds of starting the fight, and I only used Blood Vials once.

And now I'm due to head down to Byrgenwerth right? I did hear there was a boss down in the Hypogean Gaol area, and I'm eager to try my hand at that.

there's a boss in yahar'gul, yeah, who's completely optionnal. if you destroyed amelia, you should be okay for that. After that, yeah, next step is forbidden woods/byergenwerth.

...Oh boy Byrgenwerth...

Going by some of the things I've seen of that area, the enemies will really mash all my Nightmare Fuel buttons.

The Garden of Eyes things look delightful. Hopefully I'll be powered up enough to trivialize them, if I can stop freaking out over them.

And Watchdog of the Old Lords down.

That was a damn nervewracking boss. Like, hot damn, this I guess is what people meant when they said Bloodborne is a difficult game.

Still, made it through even after my summon got dusted.

If you haven't cleared or explored the Hypogean Gaol and Yahargul yet, do it before you clear Byrgenwerth because otherwise it becomes inaccessible via that route. You'll find your way there again in the normal course of things, but things will have changed. I don't think it's possible to actually miss anything though.

Edited by artfulscruff on Oct 29th 2018 at 4:56:49 PM

Yeah, I explored through there - got Adella earlier, and now I stormed through, kicking Snatcher ass, and then killed Darkbeast Paarl after a surprisingly difficult fight.

Began my exploration of the Forbidden Woods, got killed once by fire + oil urn stupidity, and then got killed once by a werewolf wielding a rake. Damn I was pissed about that last one.

Killed the Suspicious Beggar with pure cheese - pelted him from inside the hallway using poison knives, in part because I was still feeling the sting of Darkbeast Paarl.

The regular enemies in this area look horrifying, but I think I'll manage.

As far as weapons I am using the Meme Sword as well as the Threaded Cane kitted out to do fire damage. Arcane is now at 20, as is Skill and Strength, Vitality is at 26 or so, Endurance is at 25. May well increase Skill and Strength to 25 or so - that'll put me over Level 70. I know I'm overleveled, but they're just throwing Blood Echoes at me at this point.

Dont wory about overleveling. Theres always something that can kill you.

Yeah, I went through the Forbidden Woods on nails - I am utterly horrified by the snake parasites and the giant snake balls, so I went in not liking the idea of facing them.

I found myself going through the area in full on Not Afraid of You Anymore mode. The horrifying Snake Parasites that burst out of heads? Die to three or four swings of the Holy Sword's greatsword form.

The massive snake balls, spitting venom everywhere, do not handle swings of the greatsword any better. I actually found the boss room but didn't go in because I didn't want to lose out on any content. Found a bunch of new runes, blood gems, and these funny little blue men (felt kind of bad killing the little guys. They're adorable!).

Killed a couple pigs, and tried to find the rumored back entrance to Iosefka's Clinic.

Ultimately went home to level up some more. Once I get Vitality to 30, I'll put some more points into my offensive stats (Strength, Skill and Arcane).

The Tonitrus might be something worth adding to my arsenal.

Right now I've got the Threaded Cane turned into a Fire Weapon. It three hit kills the small snakes, and handles large groups of them admirably well. It also works to keep them away from me, because each hit staggers. I've found a number of other enemies do not particularly like the combination of Fire and Serrated damage.

With Arcane at 20, the Cane is hitting for pretty good damage all things considered. I can only imagine what the Cane will be like with Arcane at 30 or 40.

I'm keeping the Meme Sword purely physical for now, at least until I get more Arcane runes.

Edited by NickTheSwing on Oct 29th 2018 at 10:41:32 AM

And the Shadows of Yharnam are down in one try - I saw Epic Name Bro's Lets Play and the advice that I should focus on downing the Swordsmen first and then the spellcaster, so I put on some Bolt Paper and went to town.

It was a little awkward at first, got myself in a few pickles, but by the end I had my bearings.

The spellcaster was just pinned up against a wall, and couldn't power up any further. I really felt like I was learning throughout that fight.

Now its on to Byrgenwerth, and the horrors lurking there.

Good luck with the real boss of Byrgenwerth.

Well, if what you were referring to was that weirdo with the cane, I beat her pretty handily. She hit like a truck, and I think I saw her going to cast a spell once or twice, like, she started to hold her hands over her head until I stunned her out of it.

Now its time for the boss of the area. I'm gonna save it though for Sunday, when my friend comes over to watch me play.

For now I'm gonna explore the Lecture Hall, which I accessed when a huge spider grabbed me.

That is not the boss he was referring to...

Edited by BadWolf21 on Nov 1st 2018 at 8:40:33 AM

Oh I thought he was referring to that weirdo. Is the real boss the stupid spider I heard about?

Yes, and its army of babbies.

Have fun.

Should I explore the Lecture Building before heading in to face the stupid spider?

The Lecture Building aint too bad. The area after that might prove more daunting, but you can always warp out (and Bold Hunter's Mark) if things get too heated.

Always have the willingness to explore, but be prepared to back out when needed.

Yeah - I always heard something heavy moving when I was in there, like there was something big on a different floor, so I was a bit on pins and needles.

Then I found out the whole place at least the first floor looped back around, and the only enemies were the slime scholars that my Fire Threaded Cane made mincemeat out of.

I should be ready pretty soon to fight Rom the Vacuous Spider.

Got my Augur of Ebrietas, and I am looking forward to A Call Beyond.

So Keeper of the Old Lords and Pthumerian Descendant (who I just called Edward Cullen because he's an asshole vampire looking guy) are down. The first one was hilariously easy the first half of the fight and suddenly gruelling the latter half of the fight, while Edward was really nasty the whole way through.

I tried to find the Hintertombs Chalice but couldn't.

The Keeper's armor is really sweet looking.

And I discovered a really hilarious exploit to get lots of Blood Echoes - the Slime Scholars in a certain area in the first floor of the Lecture Building 1) have hilariously stupid AI 2) are prone to chasing you 3) get nice and bundled up near the door.

So I brought my Flaming Cane and just repeatedly slaughtered them for like 13000 Blood Echoes every single time. Got to like Level 90 just from repeatedly killing them. Arcane is at 28 now, Skill and Strength are at 25. I may up Skill and Strength to 30, and bring Arcane to 40 or 50 pending on my need.

The Augur of Ebrietas does really nice damage, and I think it'll become one of my key weapons for parrying guys. It does a lot better damage than my gun, and knocks em down or back if it doesn't parry, though the range isn't as good.

Empty Phantasm Shell adds really good damage to my Ludwig's Holy Blade - though I probably should use other things considering the buff doesn't scale.

I could do with some Blood Gems that add Arcane damage, which might do a lot of damage considering my build's high Arcane currently.

yeah lecture building is the go to place for quick echoes until later in the game where the hardcore fist club of mensis overtakes it.

Yeah - this place has also had the beneficial effect of maxing out my Quicksilver Bullet inventory because of how intensive Quicksilver Bullet use is in Arcane Builds.

I am really looking forward to continuing to power up my build, both with levels and with Blood Gems.

I've heard you can stun Rom out of teleports by smacking his tail with Charged R2 attacks, and I'm looking forward to trying that.

For the record, when I said the "real boss of Byrgenwerth", I meant the hunter on the way to Rom. I hate her. H.A.T.E. H.E.R.

But anyway, talking about the lecture building, I remember I farmed there while trying to get the Ailing Loran Chalice. That boss kept killing me over and over and over again and I had to get bullets and blood vials somehow, heh.

It's funny how only that boss and the Blood-Starved Beast took me more than 3 attempts. 41 and 18 attempts, respectively. Yeah... I'm not that good at these games.

Yeah I figured that was what you meant - she was oddly hard to kill, my attacks did comparatively little damage to her compared to everything else.

I mean the only enemy with half as good damage sponge abilities was the horrible Great One centipede I killed out there.

Now I've seen how to get it, I should be able to obtain the Hintertombs Chalice, and deal with by all indications the easy bosses located therein.