bloodborne notes, part 4
i killed micolash, learning in the process why “kos, or some say kosm” became a meme. i didn’t have an answer to a call beyond in his last phase, i still have an instinct to maintain a safe distance even after all these hours, and i couldn’t keep up enough pressure when i got into his face - the windup for the augur was too slow, the threaded cane wasn’t doing enough damage, couldn’t afford enough time to self-buff the tontirus, beast cleaver attacks had too much commitment. so i cheesed him with poison throwing knives in phase 2
i soon realized that i really had hit a wall. most paths available to me ended in an encounter i felt unqualified to tackle - another chalice dungeon rom, another chalice dungeon bloodletting beast (but with no summons to tank for me this time), the werewolf-infested modern healing church cathedral in the upper ward, greater amygdala in the nightmare frontier, the old hunters dlc in general. maybe an arcane build really was a mistake?
i went back to the workshop and retooled. the flaming beast cutter had been underperforming, so i stripped the gems off of it and tried putting them on the threaded cane - its better innate arcane scaling gave it an edge in fire damage. it’s now my sidearm for fighting beasts, with ludwig’s holy blade (pure physical, buffed with the empty phantasm shell) as my main weapon. the straight sword / greatsword moveset was a dramatic improvement in versatility
this got me through the upper cathedral ward (fire cane for the werewolves, tiny tontirus for the mind flayers), where i discovered a call beyond, the very same aoe bullshit that i had no answer for a short time earlier. i no longer think arcane was a mistake
the high bullet costs of the tiny tontirus and a call beyond have me engaging with the trade-a-blood-vial-worth-of-health-for-5-quicksilver-bullets mechanic for the first time, i’m appreciating the additional concern / sub-loop this adds onto the main gameplay loop. it makes crowds of lesser opponents read as an opportunity to charge up another special attack with the rally mechanic
so i’m once again happy with the decision to go with the fussiest and most delayed kind of build possible. i’ve played so many of these games by now that a strength build that does pistol parries would have made the game disappointingly easy. even so, i can’t do it entirely with fucked-up concept weapons that only appear in this game, i need that old familiar OP straight sword moveset as the challenge ramps up near the end
