Bloodborne Weapons Guide

If there’s any game that understands how to create unique weapons, it’s Bloodborne.

From Trick Weapons to Hunter Tools, this game has mastered the art of creating intuitive, fun weapons that make you feel skilled and powerful while wielding them. Bloodborne is also especially good at placing these weapons at reasonable times so that players are not overburdened with tons of weapons at the start or starved of them during the mid/endgame.

Since there are so many weapons available in Bloodborne, I’ll be splitting them down into separate categories:

• General Info
• Trick Weapons
• Firearms

General Info

Weapon Basics and Upgrade Materials

Within the realm of Bloodborne, there are two types of primary weapons you’ll be using to wreak havoc on your enemies: Trick Weapons and Firearms. The prior will be exclusive to your right hand and the latter to your left, unlike other Fromsoft games, like Dark Souls and Elden Ring, where you can two-hand any weapon at any time.

Both Trick Weapons and Firearms can be upgraded with various materials and Blood Echoes to increase their damage output; these come in the forms of:

• Blood Stone Shards (Upgrades weapons from +0 to +3)
• Twin Blood Stone Shards (Upgrades weapons from +3 to +6)
• Blood Stone Chunk (Upgrades weapons from +6 to +9)
• Blood Rock (Upgrades weapons from +9 to +10)

You can find these materials littered everywhere in Bloodborne, but they’ll most likely be guarded by packs of enemies or trapped behind dangerous terrain. But if you’d prefer to obtain these upgrade materials a much safer way (And let’s be honest, who doesn’t?), both the regular and Insight Bath Messengers will sell them to you after you progress through the game. The Chalice Dungeons are a good place to find Blood Stone Shards. But these areas are arguably more complex than the main game, so I’d only recommend doing this if you desperately need the materials.

Types of Damage

As is common in Fromsoft games, there is never just one damage type since that would limit how players approach different situations. With more choice comes more opportunities and more personal experience.

• Physical: Deals physical damage to enemies
• Blood Attack: Deals Blood damage to the enemy, commonly related to Firearms
• Fire: Deals fire damage to enemies
• Bolt: Deals lightning damage to enemies
• Arcane: Deals Arcane damage to enemies
• Poison: Deals damage that slowly saps the enemy’s health
• Damage VS Beasts: Displays the damage dealt to Beasts, the wild-animal-like enemies.
• Damage VS Kin: Displays the damage dealt to Kin, otherwise known as the slimy, alien-like enemies.
• Righteous: Deals increased damage to ‘enemies of the Healing Church.’
• Serration: Deals increased damage to Beasts

Quicksilver Bullets

These bullets will become your best friend during your time in Bloodborne! Not only are they the only source of ammunition for your Firearm, but a fair few Trick Weapons rely on Quicksilver Bullets to make their Transforming Attack. Not only that, but Hunter Tools use them too. You’re able to hold up to twenty at any given time.

You can buy these bullets from the Bath Messengers in The Hunter’s Dream or get them free from enemy drops. Luckily, they have a high drop rate and are easily farmable, so you should never totally run out of them.

Blood Gems

 

Blood Gems are essential as they can give your weapon various secondary abilities, either making it stronger or less taxing to use. To begin equipping these gems, you’ll need three essential things:

• At least one Trick Weapon or Firearm
• At least one Blood Gem
• The Blood Gem Workshop Tool (Can be obtained just before you enter Oedeon Chapel in Central Yharnam)

   

After grabbing the Blood Gem Workshop Tool, you’ll have to travel back to The Hunter’s Dream and select ‘Blood Gem Fortification at the Workbench. Regarding Blood Gems, you’ll gather these valuable items by diving into the depths of the Chalice Dungeons, with each one dropping a particular type of Blood Gem. There are five types up for grabs:

• Radial: Generally provide Physical Attack boosts when attached to a weapon. (Mainly drop from Pthumeru Chalice Dungeons)
• Triangular: Generally provide attribute bonuses and other additional effects, like poison. (Mainly drop from Isz Chalice Dungeons)
• Circle: Commonly used to upgrade Firearms (Can be found in Pthumeru Chalice Dungeons)
• Waning: Usually provides a rare effect, such as providing healing or dealing elemental damage. (Mainly drop from Loran Chalice Dungeons)

Trick Weapons

These weapons will be your bread and butter during your journey through Bloodborne’s grim, dark world. Trick Weapons are known to have two distinct forms, each having a different moveset and even attributes. To fully master these weapons, you’ll need to learn when to transform them and how to manage your Stamina.

Below, I’ve listed a few unique weapons alongside their stats, scaling and locations:

Blade of Mercy

Stats

• Physical: 60
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 30
• Fire: 0
• Bolt: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 7
• Skill: 11

And scales with the following:

• Skill: C
• Arcane: D

This unique Trick Weapon has two different forms, one being a one-handed shortsword and the other a pair of blades. In its sword form, the Blade of Mercy has a unique moveset and has decent speed, but its dual-blade form is an entirely different beast. When split in two, this weapon excels at using quick, successive strikes and even receives a boost in damage if the user performs a quickstep, backstep, sprint or a Transforming Attack.

As you may already know, this weapon is exclusive to the character Eileen the Crow. You can get it from trading in the Crow Hunter Badge, which you can obtain from completing her questline. If you’re in a hurry, however, you can kill her at any point to get your hands on the Blade of Mercy; just be prepared for one hell of a fight!

Hunter Axe

Stats

• Physical: 98
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Bolt: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 9
• Skill: 8

And scales with the following:

• Strength: D
• Arcane: D
• Skill: E

At first glance, the Hunter Axe is a seemingly rudimental-looking weapon, a simple tool for hacking away at beasts. However, this is the weapon’s greatest asset, in my opinion. It’s easy to use and highly effective, even when it transforms, essentially turning it into a halberd. In its one-handed axe form, this weapon is relatively slow but boasts some decent damage; when transformed, the Hunter’s Axe gains much more range and sweeping attacks, making it highly effective at crowd control.

It’s relatively easy to get your hands on this weapon; you can either select it as your starter weapon at the beginning of the game or just purchase it from the Bath Messengers after you’ve obtained the Saw Hunter Badge, which can be found in the sewers in Central Yharnam.

Church Pick

Stats

• Physical: 88
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Bolt: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 9
• Skill: 14

And scales with the following:

• Strength: E
• Arcane: D
• Skill: D

The Church Pick is a Trick weapon that not many hunters use. Usually, it takes the appearance of a large, one-handed sword, but it becomes a war pick when it is transformed. The blade has sweeping attacks with decent range, but it loses this benefit once it turns into the war pick. This is replaced by the weapon doing exclusively Thrust damage, which certain enemies are weak to. The damage output is scarily low regarding its Transforming Attack, but it is brilliant at staggering many enemies at once in exchange.

You can get this weapon by defeating an aggressive hunter locked behind a cell door in the Hunter’s Nightmare DLC. Since you haven’t got much space to work with during this fight, you can hit them once through the door, walk away to de-aggro him and then hit him again. Rinse and repeat until he kicks the bucket.

Kirkhammer

Stats

• Physical: 105
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Bolt: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 16
• Skill: 10

And scales with the following:

• Strength: C
• Arcane: D
• Skill: E

Ah, the Kirkhammer; indeed, the weapon of the gods.

I used this guy to beat the entire base game and even the DLC. As you might’ve guessed from the name, the Kirkhammer is a giant hammer, though it can transform into a shortsword with a Transforming Attack. These two forms let you deal with significant, heavy sweeping attacks and rapid, quick-fire slashes, allowing you to combat just about every situation you encounter. Note that the hammer form is much slower than the sword’s and uses more Stamina per swing.

You can buy this brilliant weapon from the Bath Messengers after you’ve obtained the Sword Hunter Badge by defeating the Cleric Beast, meaning that you can receive this weapon early on.

Ludwig’s Holy Blade

Stats

• Physical: 100
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Bolt: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 16
• Skill: 12

And scales with the following:

• Strength: D
• Arcane: D
• Skill: D

Once wielded by Ludwig, the first hunter of the Healing Church, this sword is steeped in lore. Its basic, one-handed form is a longsword with relatively good speed and range, but its true power is revealed when it changes to its second form, an oversized greatsword. The greatsword is slow but powerful and excels at crowd control with significant damage and sweeping attacks. Both forms of this weapon deal Righteous damage, so it’s advantageous against the various enemies in Forsaken Cainhurst Castle.

You can get your hands on this sword by visiting the Bath Messengers in The Hunter’s Dream and buying it for 20,000 Blood Echoes, but you’ll have to obtain the Radiant Sword Hunter Badge, which can be found within the Healing Church Workshop.

Threaded Cane

Stats

• Physical: 76
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Bolt: 0
• Lightning: 0
• SlowPoison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 7
• Skill: 9

And scales with the following:

• Strength: E
• Arcane: D
• Skill: C

Known as one of the unique starting weapons in Bloodborne, the Threaded Cane is stylish and pretty good at crowd control, especially in the game’s early areas. Being able to switch between what is essentially a shortsword and a notched whip, the Threaded Cane is a good weapon for players who want to keep some distance from their adversaries. Funnily enough, it is also one of the only weapons in the game that deals both Serrated and Righteous damage. And if that wasn’t enough, this weapon uses less Stamina per swing in its whip form.

You can grab these weapons at the start of the game when you first visit Hunter’s Dream or the Bath Messengers after obtaining the Saw Hunter Badge.

Tonitrus

Stats

• Physical: 80
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 0
• Bolt: 40
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 9
• Skill: 8

And scales with the following:

• Strength: D
• Arcane: D
• Skill: E

This unique Trick Weapon is a well-known classic among fans because it isn’t really a Trick Weapon at all. The Tonitrus is simply a blunt mace in its ‘untransformed’ state, but once it changes, it can innately deal Bolt damage without needing Bolt Paper. Overall, it is only helpful on Arcane builds or against enemies who are weak to Bolt.

You can get the Tontirus by obtaining the Spark Hunter Badge by defeating the boss, Darkbeast Paarl and then purchasing the weapon from the Bath Messengers.

Holy Moonlight Sword

Stats

• Physical: 90
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 50
• Fire: 0
• Bolt: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 16
• Skill: 12
• Arcane: 14

And scales with the following:

• Strength: D
• Arcane: A
• Skill: D

The Moonlight Greatsword is a staple of almost every Soulsborne game. A massive heavy sword that is capable of shooting beams of otherworldly light. Within the realm of Bloodborne, this weapon can switch between a one-handed greatsword and a two-handed greatsword; every attack, regardless of the form it’s in, will deal 50% Righteous damage. In its untransformed state, the Holy Moonlight Sword deals heaps of additional Arcane damage.

Also, note that to shoot the iconic and heavy-hitting beams of light, you’ll consume Quicksilver Bullets; if you run out, your hunter will thrust the sword forwards. Still, this attack is rather powerful even without the beam.

The only way to obtain this legendary weapon is to prevail against Ludwig, The Holy Blade, within the DLC, The Hunter’s Nightmare. This extremely difficult fight will test your patience and willpower, so be prepared to die multiple times. But don’t fear, the reward will be so worth it.

Saw Cleaver

Stats

• Physical: 90
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Bolt: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 8
• Skill: 7

And scales with the following:

• Strength: D
• Arcane: D
• Skill: E

The posterchild of Bloodborne weapons, the Saw Cleaver is a trusty all-around good weapon, even during the endgame. Being able to switch between a saw and an extended cleaver, this weapon is handy against both single enemies and crowds; plus, with its ability to deal Serrated damage in both forms, the Saw Cleaver is a quick, reliable beast-killing weapon.

You can grab these weapons at the start of the game when you first visit The Hunter’s Dream or the Bath Messengers after obtaining the Saw Hunter Badge.

Chikage

Stats

• Physical: 92
• Bloodtinge: 92
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 30
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 10
• Skill: 14
• Bloodtinge: 12

And scales with the following:

• Strength: E
• Arcane: D
• Skill: D
• Bloodtinge: C

Being a quintessential weapon for Bloodtinge builds, the Chikage is a reasonably popular melee weapon, thanks to its eastern-inspired design and unique moveset. In its untransformed state, this sword deals decent enough damage, but its true power is only revealed when it switches forms. Once it becomes a two-handed blade, it gains an incredible power boost and deals Bloodtinge damage exclusively, despite not being a Firearm; this comes at a grizzly cost. The user of the Chikage is forced to sacrifice their blood in order to give the blade more power; this means that you’ll be losing a little of your HP for each second it is in its transformed state.

This double-edged sword can be obtained by first joining the Cainhurst Viles and purchasing the blade from the Bath Messengers for 50,000 Blood Echoes. Note that you’ll have to travel through and beat the boss of the Castle Cainhurst area to gain access to the covenant.

Burial Blade

Stats

• Physical: 80
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 30
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 10
• Skill: 12

And scales with the following:

• Strength: E
• Arcane: D
• Skill: C

Wielded by Gerhman, The First Hunter, this Trick Weapon switches between a one-handed curved sword and a two-handed scythe. The Burial Blade rewards your hunter for dodging, sprinting and backstepping as it gives a damage bonus each time you do so. Made out of a legendary material called Siderite, this weapon defined all of the other Trick Weapons of the Hunter’s Workshop.

The Burial Blade excels at crowd control in both forms, as each has a long curved blade and sweeping attacks.

You can only get this weapon by defeating Gerhman, The First Hunter, and then buying it from the Bath Messengers. To start the fight, you’ll have to slay a Mergo’s Wetnurse, head back to The Hunter’s Dream and then trigger the boss fight by refusing Gerhamm’s offer to free you from the nightmare.

Simon’s Bowblade

Stats

• Physical: 80
• Bloodtinge: 80
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 8
• Skill: 15

And scales with the following:

• Bloodtinge: C
• Arcane: D
• Skill: C

Wielded by the firearm-hating Simon, who was one of the first hunters of the Healing Church, this weapon is exactly what you expected it to be. In its untransformed state, the Bowblade becomes a large curved sword and then transforms into a bow when it enters its second form; each time you attack with the bow, you’ll use up one Quicksilver Bullet.

Oddly enough, this weapon is quite infamous in PvP because of its superior Bloodtinge and Skill scaling and the fact that it excels at both ranged and close combat.

You obtain this weapon by either:

• Killing Simon at the Research Hall or The Hunter’s Nightmare.
• Completing Simon’s questline and obtaining his weapon at the Fishing Hamlet.

Kos Parasite

Stats

• Physical: 0
• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 30
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Arcane: 20

And scales with the following:

• Arcane: A

Surely a weapon made from one of the strongest beings in the Bloodborne universe has to be good, right? The Kos Parasite can be an absurdly powerful Arcane weapon if you’re willing to understand how to use it properly. This Trick Weapon has two tentacle forms, the first one being a single-handed tentacle and the transformed version being dual-wield tentacles.

To fully realise this weapon’s potential, the hunter must give up their humanity and become a Lumenwood by equipping the Milkweed Caryll. Doing so will increase the weapon’s range, damage and moveset. This weapon has numerous attacks that allow the hunter to run circles around their opponents, poison and even shoot waves of parasites at them.

You’ll have to best the Orphan of Kos in battle to get this legendary weapon. Easily one of the most challenging bosses in all of the Soulsborne series. You’ll need to be at the top of your game to defeat this otherworldly foe, good luck!

Firearms

Having the ability to parry, lure and whittle down your enemy’s health, the Firearm is a staple weapon for any hunter worth their salt:

Hunter Blunderbuss

Stats

• Bloodtinge: 92
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 7
• Skill: 9
• Bloodtinge: 5

And scales with the following:

• Bloodtinge: D

The Hunter’s Blunderbuss was the Firearm I used for the entirety of the game, thanks to its wide range and fantastic ability to parry enemies at close range. Considering it’s one of the two Firearms you get at the start of Bloodborne, it is compared to the Hunter Pistol, but I’m pretty confident that the Blunderbuss is the better of the two.

As I mentioned, you can get this Firearm when you enter The Hunter’s Dream for the first time, or you can obtain it from the Bath Messengers after you’ve grabbed the Saw Hunter Badge.

Cannon

Stats

• Bloodtinge: 200
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 30
• Skill: 13

And scales with the following:

• Bloodtinge: E

The Cannon is precisely what you expect. A huge, heavy thing that deals an incredible amount of damage at the cost of a slow reload and aiming time. Despite not being to parry, the pure power of this Firearm is nothing to scoff at since it also has the capability of dealing explosive AoE damage; plus, when it’s used alongside the Bone Marrow Ash item, the Cannon is truly a force to be reckoned with.

You can get this weapon deep within the Forbidden Woods inside a large wooden building, behind several snake-infested enemies. This area is also relatively close to the secret passage into Iosefka’s Clinic.

Gatling Gun

Stats

• Bloodtinge: 80
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 28
• Skill: 12

And scales with the following:

• Bloodtinge: E

The Gatling Gun is an extremely powerful Firearm, capable of riddling enemies with numerous bullet holes within a couple of seconds. However, with great power comes great responsibility; the Gatling Gun is slow to reload and easily rips through your Quicksilver Bullet reserves. To properly utilise this weapon, I suggest not having a Trick Weapon that uses Quicksilver Bullets, or you’ll never have any on you.

You can obtain this weapon as a drop from an aggressive NPC in The Hunter’s Nightmare, waiting in the dark of a cave and will fire at you the second you enter. You can attempt to use one of the rocks inside the cavern to LoS his fire or continually stunlock him with attacks.

Repeating Pistol

Stats

• Bloodtinge: 90
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 10
• Skill: 11
• Bloodtinge: 8

And scales with the following:

• Bloodtinge: D

The Repeating Pistol can fire two Quicksilver Bullets at once, allowing it to deal serious damage on its own. Considering it’s a Firearm that you can obtain early on in Bloodborne, it’s a very powerful tool that is a boon at chipping away at your enemy’s health. The only downside to the Repeating Pistol is that it is notoriously difficult to parry with since it requires perfect timing.

You buy this pistol from the Bath Messengers for 3,000 Blood Echoes after you’ve obtained the Sword Hunter Badge.

Evelyn

Stats

• Bloodtinge: 60
• Arcane: 0
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Strength: 9
• Skill: 11
• Bloodtinge: 18

And scales with the following:

• Bloodtinge: B

Evelyn is a very intricate and adorned-looking pistol that is often compared to the Repeating Pistol since they both deal significant Bloodtinge damage and scale very well with the stat mentioned above, the Evelyn in particular. Despite being a bit weaker than the Repeating Pistol, the Evelyn is easier to parry with and deals tremendous damage for only firing a single Quicksilver Bullet per shot; plus, its scaling is much better than the RP to boot.

You can pick up this weapon either in Forsaken Castle Cainhurst, within the sizeable library room or from the Bath Messengers for 16,000 Blood Echoes after you join the Cainhurst Vilebloods covenant.

Rosmarinus

Stats

• Bloodtinge: 0
• Arcane: 30
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Slow Poison: 0
• Rapid Poison: 0
• Damage Vs Beasts: 100
• Damage Vs Kin: 100

This weapon requires the following stat allocation:

• Arcane: 8
• Skill: 8

And scales with the following:

• Arcane: B

Like a flamethrower, the Rosmarinus fires a large, conal AoE of white, arcane-infused mist that lingers and deals damage. Thanks to this, it’s useful for crowd control in small, enclosed areas. The Rosmarinus can also be used when your hunter runs out of Stamina, making it a lifesaver when enemies surround them. On top of this, this weapon has high Arcane scaling, so it’s a popular gun for many Arcane-heavy builds.

FAQs