With Father Gascoigne dispatched, you’ve got a few directions you can head in. You can save up and pay your way into the Cathedral Ward, to take on Vicar Amelia, or go further out to the Witch of Hemwick, but Old Yharnam is definitely my first optional area every playthrough. Good for blood stones and helpful unlocks after beating the boss.
The Blood-Starved Beast at the bottom of Old Yharnam is quite the contrast to the big and bulky Cleric Beast and to the focused fighting force of Father Gascoigne. He’s must more erratic, harder to read at first, comes with very different dangers, and above all else is much, much more gooey.
But like CB and FG, BSB can be beaten, without any major skill. I found this to be a messy fight no matter what I tried, but I could control the fight even with my ineptitude. And without realising the trick that makes the first half very easy.
Preparation
Antidotes. It’s the main danger of this fight, especially in the end. It’s good to have a few cure-alls ready to go. However, I found pushing through the poison, healing more often, to be almost as effective. Trying to get an antidote and a blood vial in your character whilst also dodging attacks is complicated. Just healing more often and fighting through the slow poison worked for me.
Only on my second playthrough did I realise the full potential of Pungent Blood Cocktails. I thought they were a momentary distraction to get out of danger. I had no idea that they could distract certain beast-type bosses for about ten seconds, and that they won’t seem to mind if you wail on them.
However, because I didn’t spot this, I beat BSB without them, and even after testing them on the next playthroughs, I still think you can do without them. the chances of having enough for the fight are low, and they mean nothing in the last phase of the fight. They are a good way of shortening the first half of the fight, but if you get taken down in the second half, which is very likely, it was a big waste.
The main thing to prepare, is the NPC summon. Make sure that you spoke to Alfred before coming down into Old Yharnam, and agree to team up. His read marker will be near the BSB’s entrance (look behind you).
Summoning increases the boss’s health, and in many fights they don’t last very long or do much damage. If you follow my basic strategy, Alfred does one thing very well – drawing BSB’s attention.
Strategy 1 – With Alfred
As long as you stay away from Alfred, he will do an excellent job of annoying Blood-Starved Beast. When your both through the fog, move to the side or behind BSB as Alfred advances. Let Alfred make the first attack so that he aggros BSB, then go in for an attack. BSB’s attacks are all forward facing, so as long as you’re behind him, your okay.
But get ready to jump back, after a couple of hits, he’ll round on you. Just back up, dodge, back up some more, until Alfred annoys him again. Then repeat.
Keeping BSB in between you is the hardest part. He will dance around so much. If you and Alfred are next to each other, his presence means nothing.
Also, try to keep the pressure on as much as you can. Unless you need to heal, get back into hitting BSB as soon as he turns back to Alfred. The more you can share the aggro, the longer he will stay around.
If he does go before the end, see below.
Strategy 2 – Without Alfred
Whether you step in without Alfred, or he is dispatched, it is still possible to manage this fight. I only discovered how straightforward this fight can be (even without Pungent Cocktails) on my third playthrough.
Despite how much he leaps and flails, a lot of Blood-Starved Beast’s attacks are surprisingly easy to avoid. Keep in front of BSB, bait his attacks. When you see him wind up, walk towards and round him. Seriously. Dodge once to be safe if you like, but if your on or past his shoulder when he swings, he’s likely going to miss you.
As long as your at BSB’s side or behind, the rest of the combo will likely miss you. You can hit him a few times in the interim, then dodge away when he’s finished up. If he does connect, immediately dodge backwards and heal; avoid being caught in the whirlwind.
This works consistently if you are in close. If he has leaped away and starts an attack before you’ve got in front of him, dodge away instead. Get settled him front of him before going on the offense.
There’s only one, super obvious attack you definitely need to dodge forward for. I’ll describe that in Watch Out For.
Phases
This method works all the way through. Get in his face, then walk forward through BSB’s attacks, start hitting in the side as he flails. This simple strategy works all the way through, but BSB complicates it a little as time goes on.
After losing a good chunk of health, he will… sort of, burst. From that point on his attacks do poison damage. One hit may or may not be enough to poison you fully. If it does, your health is going down Slowly. My advice, heal first, then antidote if you can. Poisoned or not, if you don’t heal and get hit again, that’s probably you out. If you only get chance to heal before the next attack, do that, then dodge away and try to use the antidote.
However, you can get through this simply by letting the poison work, and healing more often. It’s obviously a risk, but trying to cure each time your hit complicates what you have to manage. And in phase 3, it becomes untenable.
Phase 3 sees his poison bursting from all pores. Just being near him causes you to be afflicted. Whether or not you were curing yourself earlier, it’s really not worth it now. If your going full melee like me, it’s better to grit your teeth and focus on moving in and hitting, healing each time you/he moves away.
Remember, if you die to the poison after you beat him, it still counts as a win. If it’s a choice between a leap backwards and an extra heal at half health or one last swing, it might just be worth it.
Watch Out For
He has a grab attack that’s pretty bad, especially if you’re poisoned at the time. However, if you getting to his side or behind as he swings, as planned, it means nothing. If Alfred’s with you, he is much less likely to avoid it. Keep the pressure on BSB to avoid him doing this, but if he does grab Alfred, use it; that’s a long time for you to get plenty of hits in.
The one attack that definitely needs a dodge is the lunge. Whilst most attacks will only trigger when your close (which is what your hoping for to get around him) the lunge happens a bit further way.
Luckily, it is very heavily telegraphed. BSB holds their hand out to their side, like a wrestler showing the audience their finisher is about to be unleashed. A few beats later, he lunges violently forward. You still want to go forwards and past him at this point, but you will definitely want to spam that dodge button. Don’t worry about conserving stamina. This attacks leads BSB well away from you, across the arena, and its not worth chasing him. Let him come back to you, get some healing in if you need to.
Most importantly, when you see that poison mist start to build up in the third phase, get away from BSB. He will explode with poison, damaging you and immediately inflicting slow poison. Once its happened, your safe from it for a while, but it can happen again. I also noticed he seemed to stop what he was doing just before, getting all slow and sluggish.
In Other Words
- If you bring Alfred, flank BSG and let your buddy distract.
- Don’t let up though, share the fight and Alfred will stay around for longer.
- If you don’t bring him/when he dies, always move towards BSG’s attacks.
- Normal attacks can be avoided with a single dodge or even just a push forwards, then swing at his flank before dancing back.
- Care about being hit, backing up and healing, but only care about antidotes if you’ve got real space. And in Phase 3, don’t bother curing. Just heal more.
- Pungent Blood Cocktails can shorten the fight amazingly, but they don’t help when it the fight gets really tough.
This is a messy fight that can go south so quickly. Watching that health bar is key, burning through vials. The BSB attacks so wildly and inaccurately that as long as keep your health up, neither he or his poison can take you down.
Keep on Hunting!
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Gamer Peak 