Stake Driver Bloodborne Wiki » Weapons » Stake Driver

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Table of Contents

Gallery Page

Basic Information

In-Game Description

Overview

Availability

Gem Shapes and Alternate Weapons

Gem Advice

Key Attacks

Durability

Notes

Merchants

Upgrade Table

Average Physical Attack Increase (Strength & Skill)

Normal Mode Attacks Properties

Transformed Mode Attacks Properties

Key

Basic Information

Image	Name	Damage	QS Bullet Use	Durability	Stats Req. / Bonus	Special Attack	Rally	Buffable
	Stake Driver	85 / - / - / - / - (Phys./Thrust/Blunt)	-	200	18 / 9 / - / - D / D / - / D	- / - / 100 / 100	35 (no upgrade)	Yes

Stake Driver ❘ パイルハンマー	Right Hand Weapon

In-Game Description A trick weapon fashioned by the workshop heretics, the Powder Kegs. Favored by the retired hunter Djura. The stake driver, with its queerly complex design, violently drives thick stakes into the flesh of foes. The stake driver allows for high-damage critical attacks, but is difficult to use and leaves its wielder wide open, but none of this should bother a mere Powder Keg. Note 1: The same in-game description in US & UK versions. ✓ Note 2: Original Japanese text on Original Japanese Item Index page. ✓ Overview The Stake Driver requires 18 strength and 9 skill to use; it scales with strength and skill, but, between the two, it gains more attack power from strength. It has a combination of normal physical attacks, blunt attacks, and thrusting attacks depending on which mode you use. The key characteristic of this weapon is its explosive transformed charged R2 attack. It takes a long time to charge, but it has (by far) the highest damage multiplier in the game. Striking a staggered opponent or an enemy's weak spot with this attack is devastating, but the long charge time makes it challenging to use. Normal Mode: Normal mode attacks are generally stronger, though they tend to be normal physical attacks, but there are some thrusting attacks mixed in. This mode has more horizontal attacks, making it better for crowds. Usually, though, you should look for an opportunity to enter transformed mode. Transformed Mode: The Stake Driver's transformed mode swaps the sweeping physical attacks of normal mode for quick jabs. These jabs cost very little stamina and can be used rapidly. More importantly, transformed mode gains an extremely powerful charged R2 attack (the highest single attack multiplier in the game at 3.55x). Be warned, though, that use of R2 attacks while in transformed mode will automatically return the weapon to normal mode. The only exception is the jumping R2, which can be used normally. Availability Normal: Sold by: Bath Messengers Powder Keg Hunter Badge: This badge can be acquired from (dropped by) Retired Hunter Djura in Old Yharnam. In addition to unlocking the Powder Keg hunter weapons, this badge will make Oil Urn and Rope Molotov Cocktails available for sale, providing you with a backup source of ranged attacks and an extremely helpful means of quick dispatching beast enemies weak to fire. Uncanny: Treasure in (Root Dungeons): Lower Hintertomb; found in False Depth Dungeon, zmqny7wt, Lower Hintertomb L1, side area before layer lamp [tested May 12, 2020] Lost: Treasure in (Root Dungeons): Lower Loran; bf589ptf, F/R/C Lower Loran L1, side area before layer boss [tested May 12, 2020], alternatively found in False Depth Dungeon, wkzxrvfz, Lower Loran L1, side area before layer lamp [tested May 12, 2020] Gem Shapes and Alternate Weapons Right-hand weapons can have up to three gem slots, and some left-hand weapons have one slot. There are different slot shapes, though; not every gem will fit every slot. The slot types are: Radial, Triangular, Waning, and Circle. Your gem's shape needs to match the slot you want to use it in. If you find a really great gem but the shape doesn't properly match your weapon, don't give up hope. There are actually two alternate versions of every right-hand weapon - the Lost and Uncanny versions. They're identical to normal weapons except that they have different slot configurations (► Blood Gems Sockets on the right). These alternate weapons can be found in Chalice Dungeons. There is also an exceedingly rare fifth type of gem shape - Droplet gems. These are "almighty" gems; they can fit in any type of gem slot! Gem Advice The Stake Driver's balanced Strength/Skill scaling values make it a prime candidate for a quality build. As such, the go-to Heavy Abyssal with double Temperings is the best all rounder approach. Striking gems can make for a cute gimmick to take advantage of the weapon's already devastating charged strong attacks, however this set-up renders you a one tricky pony with a very slow payoff. The weapon is also convertible for Arcane builds, and while any element can be used to good effect on it, Fire is the most interesting. Dousing an enemy with an Oil Urn and striking them with the charged strong attack can easily result in damage numbers of 4-5K, and this only goes higher in oil pool environments, against bosses with broken limbs, or even more ludicrously so against enemies naturally weak to Fire. Two Cold Abyssals and a Fire Abyssal with all flat Fire secondaries (Striking secondary only affects Physical damage unfortunately) will yield the best results for this build. Best suited for: Quality builds, Strength builds, Arcane builds Arcane conversion: Yes For more information check the Best Blood Gem Setups page. Key Attacks Normal Mode: The first three attacks of the Stake Driver R1 chain can be useful for hitting multiple enemies at once. The fourth attack is a thrust. These attacks are quick, so using a buff item like Fire Paper can add a lot of damage to long attack strings. These attacks are very stamina-efficient; this is one of the best attack sequences in the game to use buff items with. This also holds true for the transformed R1 chain. The dashing R1 is another attack that can strike multiple enemies; you can use it as an opener against weak crowds. The dashing R2 has a narrower hit box, but it also has more power. Consider using it against tougher opponents when fighting one-on-one. The normal charged R2 doesn't take as long to prepare as the transformed R2, but it also does far less damage. It can stagger enemies from behind, though, so it's good for that purpose. The transformation attack isn't particularly powerful, but you will probably use it often; this is a good way to prepare your Stake Driver's big attack in the middle of a fight. It's fairly quick, so you shouldn't have much difficulty switching modes. It's also worth noting that buffs like Bolt Paper persist through mode changes, so you can go from using it with normal R1 attacks to transformed R1 attacks without interruption. Transformed Mode: The charged R2 is amazingly powerful, and it hits a small area in front of your character. The issue is that it is very, very slow, so it's difficult to use. You can begin preparing it as an enemy approaches from out of range; if your timing is correct, the explosion will trigger just as the enemy reaches you. The force of the blast is massive enough to knock down most enemies. An even more powerful use of this attack is against staggered enemies; they take double damage from attacks, so a fully charged transformed R2 from the Stake Driver will eradicate a staggered opponent. The problem is that the enemy will certainly have time to stand back up and resume attacking before the charge finishes. You can get around this limitation in multiplayer, though! Let another player interrupt the enemy with a gunshot or land a charged R2 with a different weapon to cause a stagger, and the unleash the charged R2 from your Stake Driver! You'll find that your transformed Stake Driver will synergize well if your partner is using a quick weapon like the Blade of Mercy to stagger enemies or a Hunter Pistol for interrupts. Just remember to budget for plenty of stamina if you intend to rely on this weapon, or you'll often find yourself unable to attack or roll. Durability Durability of the weapon depletes when used. This means hitting an enemy, destructible object or bouncing off the walls. Hitting undestructible objects and environment does not deplete your durability. Style of an attack or upgrade of the weapon, even different weapon, does not matter - each count as one hit. Every 10th hit against the enemy/object depletes 1 durability. Exception is Tonitrus, which when in self buffed mode, depletes durability at rate of 2 hits. Hitting an enemy in dying animation still counts as hit. Also hitting multiple enemies/destructible objects at once counts as one hit per enemy - hitting 3 enemies at once counts as 3 hits towards durability counter. Shields lose 1 durability every 10th hit. Bounce means when your hit is bounced back off the wall or other objects. Every 5th bounce depletes 1 durability. Not every weapon can be bounced off, Stake Driver belongs into the category which cannot. Damage reduction when heavily worn. When weapon is at 30% of total durability, it reaches the Risk state and AR is reduced by 30% and when it hits 0% of total durability, weapon is Broken, then AR is reduced by 50%. Stake Driver which has 200 points of durability reaches risk state at 60 Dur. Workshop's Repair: cost of repair depends on the weapon and its upgrade. For Stake Driver +0 it's 3 Blood Echoes per 1 point and for Stake Driver +10 it's 12 (values are rounded), full repair costs for +10 are 2400 Blood Echoes Notes Available for purchase after obtaining Powder Keg Hunter Badge. Unique Coffin Item Treasure (available) in (Root Dungeons): Uncanny Stake Driver in Lower Hintertomb [All Layers] and Sinister Hintertomb [All Layers] and Lost Stake Driver in Lower Loran [All Layers] and Sinister Lower Loran [All Layers], could be found in each bonus room and can only be looted once. For entire unique items list of each chalice follow to the Unique Items in Chalice Dungeons wiki page. Weapon's Rally: A lot of attacks multiply the rally number by their attack damage multiplier. Some of them are special-cased to have a different amount of rally, both multipliers can be seen in the Normal & Transformed Mode Attacks Properties tables below. Rally number (in flat HP) can be raised by upgrading the weapon, as seen in the Upgrade Table below. You can find concept art of the Stake Driver in Bloodborne Official Artworks, on page 233.

Blood Gems Sockets Stake Driver Uncanny Stake Driver Lost Stake Driver

Merchants

Shop	Buy (Day)	(Evening)	(Night)	(Red Moon)	(NG+)	Sell	Requirement
Bath Messengers [Hunter's Dream]	8000	8000	8000	8000	8000	5600	Powder Keg Hunter Badge
Insight Bath Messengers [Hunter's Dream]	-	-	-	-	-	-	None
Chalice Bath Messengers [Chalice Dungeons Common]	-	-	-	-	-	-	None
Patches, the Spider [Chalice Dungeons Rare]	-	-	-	-	-	-	None

Upgrade Table

Name	Blood Gem Sockets	Rally
Stake Driver +0	0 / 3	35	85	-	-	-	-	D	D	-	D	-	-	-	-	-
Stake Driver +1	1 / 3	38	93	-	-	-	-	D	D	-	D	3	-	-	-	320
Stake Driver +2	1 / 3	41	101	-	-	-	-	D	D	-	D	5	-	-	-	380
Stake Driver +3	2 / 3	44	109	-	-	-	-	D	D	-	D	8	-	-	-	460
Stake Driver +4	2 / 3	47	117	-	-	-	-	D	D	-	D	-	3	-	-	520
Stake Driver +5	2 / 3	50	125	-	-	-	-	D	D	-	D	-	5	-	-	600
Stake Driver +6	3 / 3	53	133	-	-	-	-	D	D	-	D	-	8	-	-	680
Stake Driver +7	3 / 3	56	141	-	-	-	-	D	D	-	C	-	-	3	-	740
Stake Driver +8	3 / 3	59	149	-	-	-	-	C	D	-	C	-	-	5	-	820
Stake Driver +9	3 / 3	62	157	-	-	-	-	C	D	-	C	-	-	8	-	880
Stake Driver +10	3 / 3	65	170	-	-	-	-	C	C	-	C	-	-	-	1	960
		(in flat HP)	Damage					Stat Bonuses				Cost

To fully upgrade Stake Driver requires 16 Blood Stone Shards, 16 Twin Blood Stone Shards, 16 Blood Stone Chunks, 1 Blood Rock and 6360 Blood Echoes.

Name
Stake Driver +0	0.40	0.35	0.00	0.41
Stake Driver +1	0.42	0.37	0.00	0.43
Stake Driver +2	0.44	0.39	0.00	0.45
Stake Driver +3	0.46	0.41	0.00	0.47
Stake Driver +4	0.48	0.43	0.00	0.50
Stake Driver +5	0.50	0.45	0.00	0.52
Stake Driver +6	0.52	0.47	0.00	0.54
Stake Driver +7	0.54	0.49	0.00	0.56
Stake Driver +8	0.56	0.51	0.00	0.58
Stake Driver +9	0.58	0.53	0.00	0.61
Stake Driver +10	0.60	0.55	0.00	0.63
	Scaling

Scaling determines how much additional damage a weapon deals. You gain a percentage of the weapon's base damage as additional damage, indicated by a "+" next to the weapon's base damage.

Average Physical Attack Increase (Strength & Skill)

This table will show you the approximate damage increase you will gain per point of a stat with a +10 weapon. There are three main ranges: base to 26, 26 to 50, and 51 to 99. The Damage per Point is how much each point of the stat will raise your attack power in that range. The Estimated Attack Gained is how much attack power will gain from that range in total.

Stat Range (Strength)	Damage per Point	Estimated Attack Gained	Stat Range (Skill)	Damage per Point	Estimated Attack Gained
19 to 25	3.14	22	10 to 25	2.69	43
26 to 50	1.40	35	26 to 50	1.32	33
50 to 99	0.33	16	50 to 99	0.29	14

Normal Mode Attacks Properties

Attack	DMG X	Type	Stamina	Rally X	Impact	Note
R1	1.00	Physical	19	1.00	Light	horizontal sweep; good for crowds
→ R1 (2nd)	1.02	Physical	19	1.02	Light	horizontal sweep; good for crowds
→ → R1 (3rd)	1.04	Physical	19	1.04	Light	horizontal sweep; good for crowds
→ → → R1 (4th)	1.07	Thrust	19	1.07	Light	thrust; good against specific foes
→ → → → R1 (5th)	1.10	Physical	19	1.10	Light	horizontal sweep; good for crowds
R1 (backstep)	0.95	Thrust	15(+10)	0.95	Light	thrust; good against specific foes
R1 (rolling)	0.95	Physical	15 (+10)	0.95	Light
R1 (frontstep)	0.95	Physical	15 (+10)	0.95	Light
R1 (sidestep)	1.05	Physical	15 (+10)	1.05	Light
R1 (dash)	1.10	Physical	30 (+X)	1.10	Light	horizontal sweep; good for crowds
R2	1.35	Physical	45	1.35	Normal
R2 (charged)	1.90	Physical	65	1.90	Heavy	continuously hold the button to execute
R2 (backstep)	1.25	Physical	30 (+10)	1.25	Normal
R2 (dash)	1.25	Physical	45 (+X)	1.25	Normal
R2 (forward leap)	1.50	Thrust	50	1.50	Normal	tap forward on the stick just as you press R2 to execute
Transform Attack	1.10	Physical	15 (+X)	1.10	Normal	press L1 while performing another action to execute; forced Guard Break
Plunge Attack	1.50	Thrust	50	1.50	Massive	press R1 or R2 while falling to execute
Plunge Attack (2nd hit)	0.90	Blunt	-	0.00	Normal	Plunge (AoE)

Note: Damage Multiplier data from official guide checked with http://darksouls2verificationdata.web.fc2.com/motion-bloodborne.html for correction after patch 1.09.

Feb 2022 Update: All attack properties (damage multiplier, damage type, stamina cost & attack impact) verified with datamined game files and added rally values for each attack.

Transformed Mode Attacks Properties

Attack	DMG X	Type	Stamina	Rally X	Impact	Note
R1	0.97	Physical	15	0.97	Light	fast jab; good against specific foes
→ R1 (2nd)	1.00	Physical	15	1.00	Light	fast jab; good against specific foes
→ → R1 (3rd)	1.02	Physical	15	1.02	Light	fast jab; good against specific foes
→ → → R1 (4th)	1.04	Physical	15	1.04	Light	fast jab; good against specific foes
R1 (backstep)	0.90	Physical	15 (+10)	0.90	Light
R1 (rolling)	0.90	Physical	15 (+10)	0.90	Light
R1 (frontstep)	0.90	Physical	15 (+10)	0.90	Light
R1 (sidestep)	1.00	Physical	15 (+10)	1.00	Light
R1 (dash)	1.10	Physical	30 (+X)	1.10	Normal
R2	1.37	Blunt	55	1.37	Heavy	returns weapon to Normal mode
R2 (charged)	3.55	Blunt	150	3.55	Massive	continuously hold the button to execute; returns weapon to normal mode
R2(forward leap)	1.30	Blunt	50	1.30	Normal	tap forward on the stick just as you press R2 to execute
Transform Attack	1.00	Physical	20 (+X)	1.00	Light	press L1 while performing another action to execute; forced Guard Break
Plunge Attack	1.40	Physical	50	1.40	Massive	press R1 or R2 while falling to execute
Plunge Attack (2nd hit)	0.90	Blunt	-	0.00	Normal	Plunge (AoE)

Note: Damage Multiplier data from official guide checked with http://darksouls2verificationdata.web.fc2.com/motion-bloodborne.html for correction after patch 1.09.

Feb 2022 Update: All attack properties (damage multiplier, damage type, stamina cost & attack impact) verified with datamined game files and added rally values for each attack.

Attack: Attacks are named for the input command required to execute them.

Attack Damage Multipliers: Each attack has a different multiplier. Your attack's power is equal to the attack power of your weapon times this multiplier. Higher multipliers mean stronger attacks.

Type: Damage type determines which gems will boost your attack and which defense the enemy will use to reduce the damage. If multiple types are listed, the attack has two separate damage components that are calculated separately.

Stamina: Each attack costs a different amount of stamina. Numbers in parentheses indicate the cost of the additional action required to execute the attack. For example, a backstep attack requires a backstep, which costs 10 stamina.

Impact: When you hit an enemy, it will be stunned momentarily. Impact is an assessment of how heavy the stun will be. The scale is Light > Normal > Heavy > Massive. Attacks with Massive Impact often cause knockdowns.

Key
Damage	Requirements	Stat Bonuses	Special Attack
The Damage stat dictates how much damage the weapon does. The Damage stats for a weapon are V / W / X / Y / Z: V is Physical damage W is Blood damage X is Arcane damage Y is Fire damage Z is Bolt damage	The Requirements determines how high various Stats must be in order to wield the weapon effectively. The Requirement stats for a weapon are W / X / Y / Z: W is the Strength required X is the Skill required Y is the Bloodtinge required Z is the Arcane required	The Stat Bonuses rating indicates the level of bonus you receive based on the associated Stat when you use a weapon. This rating can be S , A , B , C , D , or E (in order from most to least bonus for the associated stat). For more information about the scaling as a whole and its values visit the Scaling wiki page.	The special attack attributes for a weapon are W / X / Y / Z: W is the Slow Poison attack X is the Rapid Poison attack Y is the VS. Kin attack Z is the VS. Beasts attack