Basics

Because Bloodborne tosses you in with little in the way of a tutorial the basics
of gameplay can only be learned through the Messengers in Hunter's Dream. To re
solve this I will be covering the general info you'll need to know to make it th
rough the beginning of the game.
Health & Death
Your character's health is determined by your Vitality, with the red gauge at th
e top left of the screen indicating your overall health. When your health reache
s 0 your Hunter will die and return to the last lamp you activated, dropping you
r Blood Echoes on the ground.
There are two ways to regain your health: Blood Vials and Regain.
Blood Vials are used by pressing Triangle to restore 40% of your health and can
be purchased in Hunter's Dream and/or dropped from enemies that you've killed. Y
ou can only carry 20 Blood Vials at a time before you must find more or return t
o Hunter's Dream to replenish your stock via the Storage.
Regain is a system in which for a short period after being hit you can restore y
our health by attacking an enemy. When hit a white vertical bar will appear on y
our HP gauge, indicating your current health, and the remaining red behind it is
the health that you can regain by attacking enemies.
Blood Echoes & Leveling Up
Blood Echoes are the form of currency in Bloodborne, used for purchasing everyth
ing from items in the Messengers Shops to leveling up your character. They are o
btained by killing enemies and will continue to be stored on you until you use t
hem or you die. If you die, your Blood Echoes will either drop on the ground or
be contained within an enemy near where they dropped, so make sure to pick them
up before you die a second time or you will lose them forever.
In order to level up you'll need at least 1 Insight when you enter Hunter's Drea
m to gain access to the Doll NPC, who will allow you to exchange a certain amoun
t of Blood Echoes for 1 point in any stat. Each time you exchange Blood Echoes f
or a stat you'll be required to exchange more the next time, no matter which sta
t you are leveling because they are based on your level and not the individual s
tat.
Insight
Gained through finding and killing bosses, as well as using items, Insight is an
other form of currency that is used to summon Hunters to your world or to purcha
se things in the Insight Messengers Shops. Note that high levels of Insight redu
ces your Beasthood and your Frenzy resistance, with some enemies becoming strong
er, so holding on to too much can be a blessing or a curse.
Saving & Loading
Bloodborne uses the auto-save feature of the PlayStation 4, saving periodically
at random points in the game. This means that if you die you can not simply relo
ad the game and try again, as you will automatically be saved after the death an
d will need to fight through the area again. The only exception to this is backi
ng up a save file to an external device, such as a USB Flash Drive. This will al
low you to beat the final boss, obtaining the ending trophy, and then overwrite
the save file with your old file and complete another ending, without having to
play through the whole game again.
Weapons & Equipment
There are two types of weapons that you can equip to your Hunter, right and left
-handed.
Right-handed weapons are your primary weapon and although you can equip two, you
can only access one at a time by hitting right on the . These weapons are calle
d trick weapons and have two forms of attack that can be changed by hitting .
You can also equip two left-handed weapons, which can be switched by hitting lef
t on the , and can be either a firearm, torch, or shield. While torches are grea
t for exploring dark area, the firearm will be your primary weapon and is great
for ranged attacks and staggering enemies.
Weapons have basic stats that can be increased by fortifying your weapons with u
pgrade materials or by adding gemstones. In order to upgrade your weapon you'll
need to head to Hunter's Dream and approach the workbench next to Gehrman to sel
ect "Fortify Weapon". Each upgrade requires a certain type and number of upgrade
materials and a certain amount of Blood Echoes.
Lvl Required Material
+1 3 Blood Stone Shards
+2 5 Blood Stone Shards
+3 8 Blood Stone Shards
+4 3 Twin Blood Stone Shards
+5 5 Twin Blood Stone Shards
+6 8 Twin Blood Stone Shards
+7 3 Blood Stone Chunks
+8 5 Blood Stone Chunks
+9 8 Blood Stone Chunks
+10 1 Blood Rock
In addition to upgrading your weapons you can also equip Gemstones, once you obt
ain the Blood Gem Workshop Tool, by approach the workbench next to Gehrman to se
lecting "Blood Gem Fortification". Each weapon takes different types of Blood Ge
ms, with the number of gemstones depending on the weapon, and can attached anyth
ing from Physical ATK to adding Poison to your attacks.
Attire
Attire is the armor you wear in your clothing slot: Head, Chest, Gloves, and Leg
s. Each piece of gear will effect your overall defense either positively or nega
tively, but some will also effect your resistances to things like Poison and Fre
nzy. While armor was a pretty big deal in the Souls series, attire in Bloodborne
barely effects your stats and is more for aesthetic reasons outside of the resi
stances.
Items
There are three types of items: Consumables, Arcane, and Key Items. Key Items ar
e items that you can no accessed for use and are primarily quest related items,
such as keys or Messenger Skins. Consumables and Arcane items are those that you
can be used, either from the main menu or by equipping them to your hotkey bar.
These are often used as offensive purposes, such as throwing a Molotov Cocktail
at an enemy, or as support items to cure Status Ailments, such as an Antidote t
o heal Slow Poison and Rapid Poison.
Character Creation
This section refers to the different elements that make up a character, includin
g their original creation at the beginning of the game and the Stats that make u
p how they ultimately play.
Origin
The origin of your character determines their starting Stats, but you will quick
ly customize these stats to your liking as you level up throughout the game. In
the end the origin you begin with is fairly meaningless, but you might want to r
ead the back story of each for some a thematic selection.