What Bloodborne’s Toughest Bosses Are (& How to Beat Them)

Though Bloodborne first hit the PlayStation 4 back in 2015, its boss fights and all around difficulty remain legendary. With hours upon hours of content and incredibly high replay value, players continue to discover and return to the game five years later.

With a remastered edition rumored to be in the works for both PC and the PlayStation 5, now is as good a time as any to get into Bloodborne. Whether they’re a seasoned Dark Souls master or a Soulsborne newcomer, all hunters could use a little help when it comes to Bloodborne’s notoriously difficult boss battles.

Here is a comprehensive (and mostly spoiler-free) guide to Bloodborne’s toughest bosses.

Toughest Main Bloodborne Boss: Vicar Amelia

While Vicar Amelia may not seem so difficult to seasoned hunters returning for New Game Plus, it’s important to remember that a boss’s difficulty is relative to when it appears in the game. Amelia marks roughly the one-third mark in Bloodborne, and represents the first boss players encounter without a clear weakness or “trick” to the fight. While Father Gascoigne can be parried and the Blood-Starved Beast can be distracted with Pungent Blood Cocktails, Vicar Amelia’s fight is all about timing and aggression.

Like other beasts, Amelia is weak to both Serrated and Fire damage, but even those only get hunters so far when, in true Soulsborne fashion, she throws a wrench into the fight halfway through by gaining the ability to heal herself. Players can use Numbing Mist to temporarily prevent her from healing, but it’s a somewhat rare item at this point in the game, and players may run out before winning. A new hunter’s best bet is to spend one Insight to summon Old Hunter Henriet for assistance. Henriet will act as a distraction to Amelia so players can attack the boss’ legs, staggering her and opening her up for a devastating visceral attack. Keep in mind, of course, that summoning help in any fight increases the boss’ health, which will give Amelia’s healing ability an extra edge.

Toughest Optional Bloodborne Boss: Martyr Logarius

He may have “Martyr” in his name, but Logarius has no intention of dying. This boss is fast, furious, and ruthless. His combination of magic and melee attacks makes him a fierce and relentless opponent, with no elemental weaknesses or optional NPC summons. Players have to be just as quick to survive this brutal fight, so stick to a light one-handed weapon like the untransformed cleaver or the Kirkhammer’s sword.

When it comes to Logarius, the arena is a hunter’s best advantage. Players can use the various obstacles on the rooftop to dodge Logarius’ magic attacks, and equip their attire with the best Arcane defense for the ones they don’t escape. Hunters should also stick close to Logarius as much as possible, as his melee attacks can be parried, opening him up to a Visceral attack. In his second phase, when Logarius becomes enraged, he will stab the roof with his sword, causing magic swords to hail down on the player. Players can stop this assault by destroying the sword, but watch out — Logarius can (and will) use the spell again. While this boss fight is technically optional, it’s the final challenge in one of the most interesting and fun areas of the game, and the penultimate phase of Alfred’s side quest.

Toughest Chalice Dungeon Boss: Defiled Watchdog of the Old Lords

A multitude of horrors await hunters in Bloodborne’s numerous Chalice Dungeons, but the Defiled Watchdog of the Old Lords remains one of the most notorious. A bigger, badder version of a boss from an earlier dungeon, the Watchdog’s appearance in the Defiled dungeon means players must also take on the beast with half of their usual maximum health.

As a beast, the Watchdog is weak to Serrated weapons, but fire will do hunters no favors here as the boss is literally ablaze. As such, players should equip their Attire with the highest fire defense. Both ranged and melee combat can be effective here, depending on one’s build and weapons of choice. Like many other bosses, the Watchdog is highly susceptible to head damage, and shattering its limbs will briefly stun the monster. Players need to watch out for the explosion it makes when it gets down to 50% health, and stay alert for its charge attacks, which are capable of one-shotting hunters. At up to 28,700 Health, the Defiled Watchdog has the highest HP out of not just Bloodborne’s bosses, but any boss in the Soulsborne series.

Toughest Bloodborne DLC Boss: Orphan of Kos

Bloodborne’s DLC is host to some of the game’s grimmest horrors, including the animated remains of horrific human experiments and a literal river of blood. Though the first of the five DLC bosses, Ludwig (yes, that Ludwig), is more gruesome and brutal than anything encountered in the main game, even he cannot hold a candle to the challenge that lies at the end of the expansion: the Orphan of Kos. Neither Kin nor Beast, the Orphan is an unyielding and vindictive opponent with no elemental weaknesses, capable of one-shotting a player with his melee attacks alone. While there are a variety of guides available for how to defeat or even cheese the Orphan, the following is the most accessible for a variety of builds and play styles.

After battling the Orphan enough times to learn his attack patterns, players should equip their favorite one-handed weapon and the Augur of Ebrietas, a Hunter Tool that can be found in the Lecture Building. As only 18 Arcane requirement, the Augur is extremely useful even without an Arcane build, as most hunters level up their Arcane stat to increase item discovery. Lastly, players should equip Caryll runes that reward Visceral Attacks, such as Blood Rapture, Clawmark, or Oedon Writhe runes. Then, it’s time to return to the boss arena.

When the Orphan storms toward the player and leaps into the air, they should run (not roll or race) underneath the boss, so they will be behind him when he lands. From there, players can quickly backstab him with the Augur, then use a Visceral Attack. Fight on the water so it’s easier to dodge the Orphan’s lightning and AOE attacks, and keep using this backstabbing tactic until he gets down to 50% or less total health, at which point he will enter his second phase.

From this point, it’s all about timing. Backstabs will be far more difficult to pull off in the Orphan’s frenzied state, but running underneath him when he leaps into the air should still allow players one or two hits before he launches his next assault. Using the Augur tactic also leaves players most of their Blood Vials for the second phase, but proceed with caution: one poorly timed heal could mean a one-way ticket back to the nearest lantern.

Honorable Mention: Snatchers

While not technically a boss, these enemies have been known to give hunters more trouble than several Bloodborne bosses combined. These creepy, hulking brutes appear in world after the death of the Blood-Starved Beast, deal devastating amounts of damage, and, once frenzied, move wildly fast. They’re weak to slow poison, a comparative rarity among Bloodborne creatures, and so can be chipped away at from afar using Poison Knives. Poison Knives are a somewhat rare drop in Bloodborne and not purchasable until late game, however, so a hunter’s best bet is generally to sneak up on a Snatcher from behind to deliver a backstab and subsequent visceral attack.

While players can actually bypass these creeps altogether by purchasing the Hunter Chief Emblem from the Bath Messengers after defeating the Cleric Beast, it’s generally not recommended. (Note: they will still appear in Chalice Dungeons.) The emblem allows players to skip the Blood-Starved Beast and head straight to Vicar Amelia, missing out on the fascinating environments and lore of Old Yharnam. Even speed runners don’t generally do this, so best to ignore this skip and follow the narrative path of Bloodborneas it is (more or less) laid out. Though they will likely feel defeated when a Snatcher inevitably brutalizes them just as they were starting to “get good,” new players need not sweat it — they’re in for a fascinating, if terrifying, treat.

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