From Software‘s gothic action RPG Bloodborne offers some of the most strategic and rewarding combat of any game. While most players naturally gravitate towards physical melee weapons, those who take the time to master the eldritch Arcane arts open up an entirely new world of possibilities.
As evidenced by the aptly named "Secret Master" video that serves as the inspiration for this guide, an Arcane-focused build trivializes much of Bloodborne‘s infamously punishing difficulty. By leveraging the manifold hunter tools and unique weapons at your disposal, no beast or abomination can stand before you.
Pumping Arcane to Great Heights
The most important decision when planning out an Arcane build is what origin to select. While Violent Past or Lone Survivor offer tempting boosts to Strength and Skill respectively, only the Cruel Fate starting class provides the Arcane potential we desire.
Choosing Cruel Fate and investing almost all level ups into Arcane allows you to hit the soft cap of 50 quickly. But the true power comes from pushing all the way to 99 Arcane, the hard cap. This not only scales up hunter tool damage into the stratosphere, but also passively boosts item discovery. Being able to routinely locate the rarest ritual materials and blood gems makes farming the top-tier weapons a breeze.
According to player testing, at 99 Arcane the discovery boost equates to a massive 400 points – the equivalent of wearing multiple eye runes constantly! When slaying eldritch horrors in the deepest chalice dungeons, this advantage is absolutely invaluable.
| Arcane Level | Discovery Stat Boost |
|---|---|
| 50 | 100 |
| 75 | 250 |
| 99 | 400 |
As you can see, the item discovery scaling is exponential, with the peak Arcane level nearly quadrupling your find rate. This translates to far higher chances of locating the rarest blood gems or arcane-boosting weapons. Rather than tedious hours of fruitless grinding, an Arcane hunter skips straight to decking themselves out with only the finest of eldritch armaments!
Adapting Your Strategy Against Bosses
One example of how an Arcane build influences boss strategies can be seen in the Ludwig fight. Many players struggle mightily with Ludwig‘s intense aggression and wind-up animations that catch you off guard.
During the first phase it‘s easy to get greedy – Ludwig seems to leave a lot of openings. But in the second phase the nature of the fight changes drastically. His holy Moonlight Sword enables deadly area attacks, while his newfound aggression and speed make it far riskier to approach him directly.
This is where an Arcane hunter truly shines. By keeping your distance and strafing to avoid wide swings of the Moonlight greatsword, you simultaneously charge up a devastating Blacksky Eye or Accursed Brew attack. The key is both avoiding his attacks while waiting patiently for a clearly telegraphed recovery animation. Punish these vulnerable moments with a devastating blood bullet or tiny music box stunning effect. Rinse and repeat while keeping stamina high, and Ludwig will fall quickly compared to a strength/skill melee approach.
Personally I used to fear Ludwig‘s second form desperately, as his erratic delays always caught me off guard. But by leveraging ranged Arcane attacks and properly reading animations, I crushed him my first try on this playthrough! That moment sold me irrevocably on the viability of 99 Arcane.
Surviving the Most Dangerous Attack
While Ludwig has many attacks to watch out for during his chaotic second phase, none are more infamously lethal than his massive Area-of-Effect (AOE) holy wave. Veteran players have nightmares about misreading the startup animation and getting caught by the impending blast.
A level 99 Arcane hunter however can confidently stand their ground while the explosions go off around them. By lining up the impervious Madaras Whistle or Beast Roar animation, you‘ll avoid all damage during the nerve-wracking multi-hit onslaught. Then smoothly transition into a bone marrow-buffed Executioner‘s Glove or Blacksky Eye to severely punish Ludwig‘s moment of weakness.
The first time I successfully poised through Ludwig‘s Holy Wave unscathed, I knew 99 Arcane was my new favorite playstyle. Laughing gleefully as the poor horse beast staggered helplessly through my visceral gun parry, it was a moment of pure catharsis after so many past deaths!
Moonlight Greatsword – The One Trick Pony
While Ludwig‘s own Moonlight Sword has rightfully earned praise as one of Bloodborne‘s most iconic weapons, an Arcane build opens up an even more impressive armory. Weapons like the Holy Moonlight Sword, Tonitrus, Logarius‘ Wheel, and Amygdalan Arm offer exciting transformations and damage types.
Yet among these, the basic Moonlight Greatsword stands in a league of its own. Despite no fancy conversions or bonuses, its elegantly simple moveset enables top-tier crowd control, dps, and even parrying. The versatile long range projectiles and wide swings make short work of mobs, while the strong thrust attacks counter bosses. And few weapons can compete with the style points from launching enemies skyward on waves of glimmering blue energy!
Whether decimating Descendant bosses with transformed strong attacks, or shredding the Orphan of Kos at close range, the Moonlight Greatsword‘s complete movepool caters to any situation. While the whirligig saw and tonitrus have higher damage peaks, nothing matches the Moonlight blade‘s aesthetic beauty and diverse utility.
A basic physical Moonlight sword augmented with elemental blood gems can serve as your sole weapon for the entire new game plus cycle. I never unequipped it once, breezing through all the endgame bosses that had plagued me previously.
Restoring Health with Each Trigger Pull
Those familiar with Bloodborne likely know the basic hunter firearm parry and visceral attack mechanic. But even seasoned players often overlook the L2 function when wielding firearms. Pulling L2 launches a devastating spread shot that knocks back foes and renders them vulnerable.
What makes this technique special for an Arcane build however is satisfying health regeneration with every blast. By attuning the proper Oedon Writhe rune, you literally steal back lost vitality alongside dishing heavy damage. When swarmed by mobs of Yharnamites or celestial larvae, the repeating pistol becomes a fountain of youth.
Against elusive enemies the wide arc and amydala arm metamorphosis work wonders as well. Few feelings in gaming compare with spontaneously restoring full HP while sending multiple foes flying helplessly through the air!
Every time I wade outnumbered into the Hamlet hordes, desperately firing off repeating pistol L2 shots, only to watch health chunks refill with each cacophonous blast. It‘s immensely cathartic – like playing an invincible action hero!
Regain or Game Over
Speaking of health restoration, we would be remiss not to mention Bloodborne‘s unique "Regain" mechanic. After taking damage, immediately counter-attacking allows you to win back lost HP. This encourages aggressive play and risk-taking.
The key to utilizing Regain properly lies in stamina management. Many bosses and enemies will punish excess dodging with delayed combo strings. Should you over commit stamina avoiding damage, you‘ll lack the ability to immediately retaliate. Without stamina for an emergency quickstep or attack, desperately trying to activate Regain will likely result in being stuck in place as a follow up attack finishes you off.
The solution lies in restraint and precision. Memorize exact combos from enemies to avoid panic dodging. Move only when necessary to conserve stamina for counter blows. As long as you have a sliver of green on your bar, you can regain a sliver of red on your health meter. But completely empty and it‘s game over.
It took me far too many deaths before properly internalizing Regain mechanics. Only after specifically analyzing boss combos and planning quickstep locations did I finally ascend to reliable victory. But what a triumph once that clicked into place! The intensely aggressive battles finally start flowing intuitively rather than frustratingly. Internalizing Regain mechanics is absolutely mandatory for surviving the endgame on higher new game plus cycles.
Turning Enemies Against Themselves
While Bloodborne emphasizes fast-paced real time combat, the Arcane arts introduce delicious opportunities for calculated strategy. By attuning the proper hunter tools, you can literally convince enemies to eliminate each other for you.
The tiny music box is particularly evil, forcing certain humanoid bosses into uncontrollable tantrums that tear into surrounding minions. The beast roar knocks foes helplessly towards environmental and trap damage. And raining the tiny tonitrus bolt onto mobs already targeting your summoned allies generates pure chaos.
But the true pinnacle of psychological warfare comes from Madaras Whistle. Nothing compares with the satisfaction of watching once-fearsome beasts turn on their former comrades, jawing viciously at their throats mid-battle. The whistle both divides enemy attention and amplifies damage received. At a mere one bullet cost, it delivers incredible utility.
My favorite move is sicing the Snake Parasites in Forbidden Woods onto the boss Shadows of Yharnam. By agitating the snakes with the whistle before triggering the boss fight, they‘ll relentlessly harass the melee-only Shadows mid-battle. Sit back casually tossing oil urn Molotovs while the AI hopelessly flails at their new serpentine assailants!
Optimizing Your Hunter
While weapon choice serves as the flashy core of any build, optimizing your entire hunter kit reaps massive dividends. Beyond pumping Arcane, every armor piece and blood gem slot plays a multiplicative role strengthening your ascendance.
For attire I recommend the Charred Hunter Garb for sheer style points, with the Old Hunter Cap to complete the look. The modest arcane resist on these perfectly supplements heavier hunters lacking magic armor. Enhancing defense primarily through upgraded runes renders clothing resist largely irrelevant.
Speaking of runes, the Hunter and Formless Oedon runes are mandatory equipped for bullet capacity and health restore. Alternatively consider swapping Corruption for Lake depending on whether you prefer rally potential or decreased stamina costs.
Finally gem slots allow dramatic damage customization. Stock up on elemental radials from Depth 5 FRC Isz or Loran chalices to imbue Holy Moonlight Sword attacks. Rapid Poison and Slow Poison cursed tempering gems add delightful utility against beasts. And striking the perfect balance between stamina curse risk and raw fire/bolt buffs on breakable bosses like Ebrietas or Rom yields tremendous gains. Just be wary of going overboard on weapon durability loss!
Facing the Ultimate Challenge
While Bloodborne veterans debate heatedly over the title of "hardest boss", the Orphan of Kos stands firmly near the top of every list. This screams utter frustration from players facing the orphan‘s intense aggression, indirect movement, delayed attacks, and lethal combos.
Yet by leaning fully into Arcane arts the orphan becomes almost trivial compared to my nightmares of him on past playthroughs. Keeping distance with the augur, then spamming tiny tonitrus and executioner gloves during phase changes prevents even taking damage. And even the infamous lightning slam transitions into a backstab opportunity.
However, I wouldn‘t recommend trying to solely out-tech the orphan through ranged attacks alone. Eventually he will close distance, and that leaping overhead slam catches many by surprise. Instead consider working in transformed holy blade attacks and the Blacksky Eye during close quarters to reliably stagger him. Mixing both ranged offense and critical timing is the recipe that finally enabled me to crush the lightning goat menace solo.
While the cheese potential against Orphan is certainly satisfying, I prefer a balanced mix of gun spells and swordplay to keep the heart rate up. By intentionally limiting ranged attacks early on, his airborne plunges and deceptive dash attacks present a wonderful skill check. But once phase 2 triggers, it‘s time to turn the tables with a blistering combo of tiny tonitrus, accursed brew, and augur traps!
From trivializing notoriously punishing boss fights to enabling delightfully evil manipulation strategies, this guide only scratches the surface of what an Arcane build can accomplish in Bloodborne. I highly recommend all fans of the game revisit it with 99 Arcane – the newfound magical supremacy will astonish you.
Fellow hoonters, may the good blood guide your way, and Great Ones grant you eyes! Let no beast nor god stand before the eldritch secrets laid bare. The mysteries of the Arcane await, for those with the insight to unleash them!