Bloodborne is predominantly a single player experience, but most people play online and there are multiple areas in the game that force you to be open to player vs. player (PvP) combat. It also feels good to have a player invade, only to slay them and send him or her back to their own game. With that in mind, we have valuable tips to killing those pesky invaders.
Blood Vials
Everyone is limited to around 20 Blood Vials in Bloodborne. There are a few ways to extend that amount, but it’s rare to find players with more than 24 Blood Vials. Usually when you invade a game or get invaded, you will be in the middle of a level and probably used a few Blood Vials anyway, so it’s safe to assume most players won’t have more than 20 Blood Vials in most situations.
Blood Vials are the primary method of replenishing your health whether you’re being attacked by a monster or another player. A typical PvP battle in Bloodborne consists of the two players dancing around trying to gain the positional advantage, then one player lands a few hits, runs out of stamina and the other person backs away to use a Blood Vial and replenish lost health.
Keep a close count of how many Blood Vials the opposing player used so you know when he or she is close to running out. When a player starts running low on Blood Vials, they’ll either run or become aggressive and attempt to end the fight. This is when you can take advantage of their haste and capitalize on mistakes they make.
Poison Knives
As described above, most players back away and use a Blood Vial after getting hit. Usually you can’t do much about this, especially since you probably have less stamina than your opponent, given the fact that you were attacking them. However, if you throw a Poison Knife at the person just as he or she starts to back away to use a Blood Vial, you can prevent them from recovering all of their health.
While the poison effect of a Poison Knife isn’t huge, it will cause them to use Blood Vials faster. The player who runs out of Blood Vials first is at a severe disadvantage in a PvP battle. It’s also difficult to dodge a Poison Knife, especially when used at close range after you hit an opponent with your normal weapon. More often than not the opponent won’t be able to dodge the Poison Knife.
Stamina
Stamina is extremely important in a PvP battle. Both players can see each other’s health bar, so you’ll know when an opponent is close to death. However, you can’t see the opposing player’s stamina bar. As we already pointed out, most players dodge away right after being hit so they can use a Blood Vial. If you stop your combo before losing all of your stamina, you can dodge forward to chase after the opposing player and prevent them from using a Blood Vial.
The more stamina you have, the better this tactic works, which also means the earlier you cut your combo, the easier it is to chase down your opponent. It is best to feel out the opponent at the beginning of the battle to see how well they can get close to you and attack. If you can move in and attack freely, cut your combo short, wait for the opponent to dodge and then dodge towards them to continue your combo.
Visceral Attacks
You’re fighting a Hunter. That means you can stun them like the NPC Hunters in the game. Chances are you’re familiar with the weapon your opponent wields, so you know the animation for the R1 normal attack and the R2 Charge Attack. It’s easiest to stun another player out of an R2 Charge Attack, even if it isn’t fully charged. As soon as you see the animation, wait a moment and then fire a shot at them. With proper timing you’ll get the same stun you receive on normal enemies, and you can follow with a visceral attack for big damage.
The Environment
One important fact to remember about PvP combat is that there are still normal enemies roaming around the area. You can use these enemies to your advantage by backing your opponent into enemies during the battle. Because of this, it’s important to stop progressing through a level as soon as you see that you’ve been invaded.
On the other hand, if you’re the one invading, you should try to use the environment to your advantage by taking the high ground and potentially sneaking up on your opponent. If they are smart, they will look for you, but that doesn’t mean they’ll actually see you. You can approach from any direction, so try to come at them from an angle they won’t suspect so you can get the jump on your adversary.
Before battling other players, make sure you have the best weapons in the game. Then read Prima’s free Bloodborne walkthrough to defeat such bosses as the Shadow of Yharnam and Mergo’s Wet Nurse.
