Bloodborne Guide – Find the Blood Rock, Gehrman Boss Fight, New Game +

Find the Blood Rock

Weapon upgrades max out at +10, and you must locate a Blood Rock in order to achieve this. Begin by traveling to the Mergo’s Loft: Middle lamp, walking outdoors and then ascending the steps on the left. Pan the camera right and you’ll see a lift.  Take this lift down and wait until the right moment, then jump off into the opening. Walk down the hall until you discover a chest. Open it and take the Infected Organ. Now walk outside to encounter a Brain Trust monster. We feel it’s a good idea to quickly run away from the creature as soon as it turns around. The less frenzy you experience, the better.

Now you have two Brain Trusts to worry about. Hang out near the left and wait for the closest enemy to walk towards the right of a bridge. When this happens run towards the building. There’s a huge risk doing this, but you can always cure frenzy with a Sedative, or use Blood Vials. If you did this successfully, walk into the room and steer clear of the entryway.

Unfortunately you are not alone. There are spiders with people’s faces, which is all sorts of creepy. Distract these enemies with Pebbles to take them down one at a time, then go through the entryway in the corner. Take the path leading to the next room, beware the hole on the right and exit out the door until you come to a lever. Give it a good pull and you’ll bring the Brain down. Now go back to the room with the hole and fall into it.

Return to Mergo’s Loft: Middle lamp and take the bridge back to the boss battle against Micolash, Host of the Nightmare.  Look left and walk down the steps. Now go down some more steps, walk through the mist and down some circular steps.  

You reach a junction and have two options. You can keep walking down these steps and battle a Lady Gent and some Tiny Gents. For your trouble, you’ll acquire three Sedatives and a Moon rune.

That sounds good, but we want you to go left at the junction. Pass through the mist and walk down two flights. From here, go right and watch the left wall for a tough to find entrance. Go in there and you’ll come to a gate that requires the Iron Door Key that you already have.

Take this path and loot two bodies to collect a Damp Bloodtinge and a Madman’s Knowledge. Walk up some steps and there are more bodies with loot, in particular, an Arcane Damp Blood Gem and four Great One’s Wisdom. If you did not pull the lever from before, there would be a huge brain in here. Feel free to fall into the below area to score a Blood Rock. Now travel through the opening and use the bridge to reach the castle.

Keep walking up the steps and you’ll enter a big room divided by beams directly in the center. There are two spiders on the left, and across from these enemies is a chest and a Brain Trust. Definitely open the chest because you’ll find a Choir Bell, one of Bloodborne’s healing spells.

Go to Mergo’s Loft: Base lamp and enter that castle. Use the lift to go up and then walk down the steps. This leads you to the area with the big holes in the ground. You’ll see a lift in the middle of this place, so walk onto it and take it all the way down to the bottom.  Don’t worry if you can’t see the ground.  When the lift stops, walk straight ahead and destroy the non-lethal Brain to receive the Living String.

Boss Fight with Gehrman, the First Hunter

• Beat Gehrman, the First Hunter to receive the Old Hunter Badge.

Despite Gehrman being your elder, there’s no reason to show this guy respect. Kill him and you beat Bloodborne, simple as that.

After vanquishing Mergo’s Wet Nurse, chat with the doll and learn that Gehrman waits for you near a tree. While in Hunter’s Dream, head to the other side to discover the now open gate. Head though there and confront Gehrman, who offers you a choice. You can die, or refuse to die.

For the sake of this walkthrough, choose life; besides, you’ve come this far.  During this boss battle, Gehrman attempts to cut you with his scythe. How you deal with him heavily depends on the weapon you carry.  We opted to bring a weapon that allowed us to strike quickly.

Naturally, he’ll attempt to hit you whenever your hunter gets too close.  Dodge out of harm’s way and then counter attack. Most of the time you will only achieve two, maybe three successful hits before Gehrman dodges. Should you pin him against a wall, strike the boss until your stamina is almost gone, but you still have enough for one dodge. Since he unleashes two to three hit combos, dodge towards him, which lets you deal some damage just as he finishes attacking.

Keep a close eye on Gehrman’s movements. Not only does he possess impressive range, but you should blast him with a firearm whenever he brings that scythe behind him. Fire at the right time and you can pull off a visceral attack. Doing this too early prevents you from achieving a complete stun, while firing too late won’t allow you to attack at all. Remember, you want to be near Gehrman during this moment. Out of attack range, of course, but close enough to stun the old man and then pull off your own attack.

Gehrman pulls out a Beast Blood Pellet when you get him down to roughly 50 percent health. The item lets him teleport around the area and boosts his attack power. In addition, he’ll leap into the air and pull off an attack that causes the wind to hurt your character.  Dodge like crazy until he lands, and make sure you don’t get trapped against a wall.

The more aggressive you are during this boss battle, the more successful you’ll be. Run up to Gehrman, dodge his attack and the counter attack. Providing you continue this strategy and nail him with the occasional stun, let’s put it this way, you’ve already beaten tougher opponents.

Slaughter Gehrman and the game rewards you with the Old Hunter Badge and the opportunity to restart Bloodborne, this time with New Game +.  You beat the game but there’s still more to go! We’ll tell you how to achieve the real ending and beat the final boss real soon.

Did you start playing the game from the beginning? Read Prima’s free Bloodborne walkthrough.