Whether or not you’ve already finished Bloodborne and are starting your New Game + playthrough, there is a good chance some of the game’s more obscure mechanics may have passed you by. As with From Software’s previous games, the heady days surrounding the release of Bloodborne are when the community experiments and makes exciting discoveries not detailed in any instruction manual or walkthrough.
Beginner’s tips have already been well covered with the likes of this starter guide, so instead, here are some more advanced tips that will help you gain further mastery over Bloodborne’s combat.
Note: This article spoils certain areas and enemy types from the later half of the game.
1. You can attack while climbing a ladder
This is simple to pull off, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve never tried. Just press R1 to punch upward, or R2 to kick downward. It’s rare that you’ll ever need to use this, since NPCs don’t seem to climb ladders all that often, but if you get into a PVP stoush over climbing space, this will definitely come in handy. Just don’t run out of stamina while on the ladder, or you’ll fall to your death.
2. Your Trick Weapon transformation is also an attack
Though pressing L1 to transform your Trick Weapon while idle looks cool, it’s even cooler when you fluidly integrate that transformation into a combo. If you’re in the middle of striking an enemy, you can press L1 to perform an attack that also transforms your weapon into its other mode at the same time. This is especially useful if the distance between you and the enemy suddenly changes, and you don’t want to let up your barrage of strikes.
3. You can restore the health lost from blood bullets
If you press up on the D-pad, you can create some extra bullets from your own blood at the cost of a portion of your health. However, that health lost has Bloodborne’s regain system applied to it–which means you can restore most of that health if you attack any nearby enemy immediately after creating those blood bullets. Free ammo is always useful!
4. You can add gestures to your notes
When using the Notebook to jot down a note, press R1 a couple of times to find more options. You can add a second set of words to your note, and you can also add a gesture which other players will see in spectral form when reading your note. I’ve found that adding the “Point” gesture is most useful here, because it actually saves the direction you’re looking in when you start writing the note. As such, it’s possible to literally point out secrets and specific pathways for other players if you line yourself up just right when writing a note.
5. You can break out of grab attacks
Around the time you reach the Forbidden Woods, you’ll encounter enemies that grab you and deal a lot of damage while you’re unable to move. If you quickly alternate between pressing L2 and R2, you can break out of the grab slightly quicker. Additionally, you’ll be in a different state when breaking out of the grab. Without pressing L2 and R2, you’ll end up knocked to the ground and it takes seconds to get back up. If you do press L2 and R2, you’ll throw the enemy off you and will immediately be able to take action.
6. You can reassign the controls
Thanks to the PS4‘s 2.50 System Software Update, you can now reassign every button on the DualShock 4 controller. This is especially useful for Bloodborne, because it means you can move the sprint/dodge button from circle over to L1. Personally, I’ve always found it frustrating that I can’t sprint and control the camera in the Souls series, because I need to take my thumb off the right stick to hit circle–but now I can! It makes even more sense to do this in Bloodborne because many of the bosses are best tackled without locking onto them, so having full camera and sprint control makes these battles more bearable.
7. You can regain health from dying enemies
Bloodborne’s regain system allows you to restore health by immediately attacking an enemy. For each successful strike, you’ll restore a little bit of HP. It’s natural to assume that once the enemy you’re attacking dies, you’ll no longer be able to siphon health from it–but if the regain system is still active, that’s not the case. Enemies who are performing their death animation can still be attacked to regain health. So, if it’s safe to, keep whacking away at collapsing corpses to maximise your use of the regain system.
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