Blood Gems - Basics

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Basic Information

In order to attach gems to your weapons, you'll need three things. First, you'll need a gem. Second, you'll need a weapon that can equip a gem; this means you'll need to upgrade your weapon to unlock gem slots. Finally, you'll need the Blood Gem Workshop Tool. It can be obtained just before entering Oedon Chapel. With those elements in place, you can attach gems to your weapon by approaching the workbench in the Hunter's Dream and selecting "Blood Gem Fortification."

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. 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!

List of best version of each weapon to maximize Physical damage can be found here.

Weapon variant considerations: Due to most gems being available in only specific shape, picking up a variant with correct slots can save your upgrade materials and time for farming out-of-shape gems. Generally it depends on the setup you’re going to make.

Physical damage setups (tempering, fools, poormans, striking): always pick up a weapon with radial-radial-triangle slot combination. Waning slots should be avoided since best physical gems never have waning as their native shape which means you will have to settle with weaker gems. Note that starting saw cleaver and saw spear have radial-radial-waning slots so you would want to replace them with uncanny variants as soon as you gain access to chalice dungeons. The only reason to use a weapon with a waning slot is if you’re going to use three labyrinth madman gems, in this case pick up radial-radial-waning weapon variant.

Elemental conversion (arcane builds): here best setups are different depending on which element are you using and if you have access to edited dungeons. Fire and Bolt converted weapons require a waning slot for corresponding elemental abyssal gem; two remaining slots are filled with cold abyssals. If you have access to edited glyphs it is highly recommended to grab a variant with radial-radial-waning slots because edited Pthumeru chalices feature Pthumerian Elder in an oil pool arena which makes farming him on arcane build much easier. Without access to edited glyphs, it is recommended to pick up a lost variant (radial-triangle-waning slots): since Ihyll secondaries are useless on elemental weapons, getting a cold abyssal from Isz which has better drop rate for elemental secondaries will increase your weapon AR in a bit. Arcane conversion requires a triangle slot for Arcane Abyssal; two remaining slots don’t matter if you don’t have access to edited dungeons since neither Pthumeru nor Loran drop arcane secondaries and you will have to settle with some random secondaries. With edited dungeons, picking a radial-radial-triangle variant is advised for easier farm.

Kos Parasite has its own separate gem considerations: generally it wants a triangle slot for an arcane abyssal; filling remaining slots is difficult without edited dungeon access and usually done with gems dropped by npc hunters from Isz (either radials from bone ash hunter or waning from queen killer). Alternatively, brainsucker gems can be used with uncanny variant to maximize L2 explosion attack damage. Edited dungeons provide access to labyrinth madman arc+flat arc gems which can work with normal variant or lost variant (when paired with arcane abyssal).

Elemental conversion (low BL twinks/mules): with only base investments offensive stats, you will mostly rely on flat AR increase bonuses. The highest flat bonuses come as +arc secondaries from gems dropped by brainsuckers which appear in Isz and Pthumeru; for their gems pick up a weapon with radial-radial-triangle slots. Another option with high flat bonus comes from Loran Cleric gems which have high flat Fire secondary. Unfortunately this enemy only appears in Loran, so you’ll have to farm out-of-shape gems if you want full setup; in this case it is recommended to farm them first and then use whichever variant they are fitting in.

Nourishing setups (strength/arcane or skill/arcane builds): weapons with split damage benefit from Nourishing abyssals from Amygdala. Unfortunately this boss isn’t found in Pthumeru Ihyll which severely limits options for radial nourishing gems; for this reason, picking Lost variant is advisable since it only has one radial slot. If you are fine with slightly weaker options, gargoyles are the easiest source of radial nourishing gems. Alternatively, with access to edited dungeons, nourishing/fools nourishing gems from Labyrinth Madman can be used; these gems require a radial-radial-waning variant. Nourishing gems from Merciless Watchers boss are another possibility for which you want to use a radial-radial-triangle variant, but along with nourishing Madman gems, these are very rare, so be prepared to spend a long time farming. The last unique case is Logarius’ wheel which benefits from nourishing brainsucker gems; pick an uncanny variant for such setup.

Poison setups (dirty/murky): without access to edited glyphs, poison gems in radial shape are mostly limited to purple aura scorpions (dirty) and rats/dogs/spiders (murky) from Pthumeru dungeons. Alternatively, bone ash hunters in Loran an Isz can be farmed for a low chance to drop these; loran has slightly better chances. Thus, radial-radial-waning variant is advisable. Access to edited dungeons allows you to farm Merciless Watchers with hintertomb gem pool for top-tier poison gems, which require radial-radial-triangle variant.

Bloodtinge setups: since the only natural shape for bloodtinge gems is circle, you will have to farm a set of out-of-shape gems which will dictate your eventual weapon variant choice. For Chikage, you can grab a Lost variant and use a bloodtinge circle and two tempering radials before you farm a set of bloodtinge gems.

Icon	Normal Weapon	Gem	Gem	Gem	Icon	Uncanny Weapon	Gem	Gem	Gem	Icon	Lost Weapon	Gem	Gem	Gem
	Amygdalan Arm					Uncanny Amygdalan Arm					Lost Amygdalan Arm
	Beast Cutter					Uncanny Beast Cutter					Lost Beast Cutter
	Beast Claw					Uncanny Beast Claw					Lost Beast Claw
	Beasthunter Saif					Uncanny Beasthunter Saif					Lost Beasthunter Saif
	Blade of Mercy					Uncanny Blade of Mercy					Lost Blade of Mercy
	Bloodletter					Uncanny Bloodletter					Lost Bloodletter
	Boom Hammer					Uncanny Boom Hammer					Lost Boom Hammer
	Burial Blade					Uncanny Burial Blade					Lost Burial Blade
	Holy Moonlight Sword					Uncanny Holy Moonlight Sword					Lost Holy Moonlight Sword
	Hunter Axe					Uncanny Hunter Axe					Lost Hunter Axe
	Chikage					Uncanny Chikage					Lost Chikage
	Church Pick					Uncanny Church Pick					Lost Church Pick
	Kirkhammer					Uncanny Kirkhammer					Lost Kirkhammer
	Kos Parasite					Uncanny Parasite					Lost Parasite
	Logarius' Wheel					Uncanny Logarius' Wheel					Lost Logarius' Wheel
	Ludwig's Holy Blade					Uncanny Ludwig's Holy Blade					Lost Ludwig's Holy Blade
	Reiterpallasch					Uncanny Reiterpallasch					Lost Reiterpallasch
	Rakuyo					Uncanny Rakuyo					Lost Rakuyo
	Rifle Spear					Uncanny Rifle Spear					Lost Rifle Spear
	Saw Cleaver					Uncanny Saw Cleaver					Lost Saw Cleaver
	Saw Spear					Uncanny Saw Spear					Lost Saw Spear
	Simon's Bowblade					Uncanny Bowblade					Lost Bowblade
	Stake Driver					Uncanny Stake Driver					Lost Stake Driver
	Threaded Cane					Uncanny Threaded Cane					Lost Threaded Cane
	Tonitrus					Uncanny Tonitrus					Lost Tonitrus
	Whirligig Saw					Uncanny Whirligig Saw					Lost Whirligig Saw

Buffable and Non-buffable Weapons

There are two types of weapons in Bloodborne: weapons that can be buffed (strengthened) with Fire Paper, Bolt Paper, or Empty Phantasm Shell, and those that cannot. Usually, weapons that can be buffed only deal physical damage; the lone exception is the Reiterpallasch. Weapons that cannot be buffed always have more than one damage type. This is an important distinction because some gems work differently depending on the type of weapon in which they are placed. Refer to the following lists when you need a reminder about which category a weapon is in:

Buffable Weapons: Saw Cleaver Saw Spear Hunter Axe Threaded Cane Kirkhammer Ludwig's Holy Blade Stake Driver Beast Claw Reiterpallasch Beasthunter Saif Beast Cutter Church Pick Whirligig Saw Rakuyo

Non-buffable Weapons: Burial Blade Blade of Mercy Chikage Rifle Spear Tonitrus Logarius'Wheel Holy Moonlight Sword Boom Hammer Amygdalan Arm Kos Parasite Simon's Bowblade Bloodletter

Unique Gems

Most Blood Gems are randomly generated when they appear, but there are some preset gems, and even a rare few that you create by using unique items you may acquire. These few unique gems are covered here.

Icon	Name	Shape	Rating	Effects	Availability
	Gold Blood Gem	Radial	7	ATK vs beasts UP +12.6%	This gem is acquired by defeating Vicar Amelia and then using the Gold Pendant she drops. It's a Radial gem that grants a decent boost to attack strength against beasts. The Saw Cleaver and Saw Spear are good candidates for fortifying with this gem, because they both have Radial slots and their serrated damage bonus already makes them your ideal beast-killers.
	Tear Blood Gem	Droplet	8	HP continues to recover +2	You can obtain this gem by giving the Doll the Small Hair Ornament and then talking to her. She'll give you the Tear Stone, which produces this gem when you use it. It's a very useful gem, and worth equipping to your sidearm if it has a gem slot, at least until late in the game when you begin to find powerful Circle-shaped Blood Gems.
	Red Blood Gem	Droplet	4	Physical ATK UP +2.7% Boosts rally potential +1.8%	This unique, Droplet-shaped Blood Gem is acquired by using the Red Brooch, which you can find on a woman's corpse in the Tomb of Oedon. It raises your physical attack by 2.7% and boosts rally potential by 1.8%. This makes it similar to a Lethal gem, and not a very strong one at that, but it still highly useful in the first half of the game.

Positive Effects and Cursed Gems

Gems are, to a certain extent, random. Behind the scenes, each gem has a budget of points. Every positive effect that is added to a gem takes points from the budget, and every negative effect adds points back. What this means is that gems with negative effects can also have stronger positive effects. These are known as "Cursed" gems; they're powerful but have a downside. For example, let's consider a gem with a rating of 10 with an Odd Bloodtinge effect. Let's say the effect is "Blood Attack + 50." If it also had a negative Kinhunter effect of "Attack versus beasts down by 8.1 %," the positive Odd Bloodtinge could go higher; it might be something like "Blood Attack +62.6." If you put that gem on a Hunter Pistol, its attacks would be more powerful in general, but it would do less damage against beasts.

The key point to remember is that Cursed gems have negative effects and often have stronger positive effects to compensate. If you see something like a Cursed Dense effect (weapon durability down), it might actually be a blessing in disguise! The other important point is that not all gems are created equal. For example, a 19-rated Adept (Blunt) gem won't help you at all if you're using a Blade of Mercy, as it has no blunt attacks. Think carefully about which gems you choose, and don't hesitate to test them out on a variety of enemies!

Gem Effect Stacking

You can equip the same effect on a weapon multiple times, and the effects will stack. In fact, this is often the best way to use gems. You can make a weapon for use against beasts that stacks the Hunter effect multiple times, for example. You might be tempted to stack the gem effects of your left- and right- hand weapons, but this won't work in most cases. Effects generally only apply to the weapon you put them on rather than your character overall; an Odd Bloodtinge effect on your Saw Cleaver won't increase the damage of your Hunter Pistol, even if you hold them at the same time.

This even applies to effects like Fool that increase your damage at full HP. One major exception is the Pulsing effect that enables passive HP regeneration; it stacks! This makes it an amazing effect for a left-hand weapon...

Ratings

Gems can have up to three effects, and each gem has a rating that determines the strength of its effects. Higher-rated gems are stronger than lower-rated gems. The weakest gems have a rating of one, and the strongest gems have a rating of 20. You'll pick up some gems in the course of the main game, but if you want the most powerful gems you'll need to spend time in the Chalice Dungeons. Chalice Dungeons with a high Ritual Level are difficult, but they also have the best gems.

Gem Ratings by Ritual Level

Gem Rating	Ritual Level 1	Ritual Level 2	Ritual Level 3	Ritual Level 4	Ritual Level 5
20	-	-	-	-	Chalice Boss	Chalice Boss: These gems drop from the overall dungeon boss. Floor Boss: These gems drop from a boss on the first two floors of the dungeon. Treasure: These gems are found as treasure at the end of side areas within the dungeon. Normal Foes: These gems drop from non-boss enemies.
19	-	-	-	-	Floor Boss
18	-	-	-	-	Treasure
17	-	-	-	-	Normal Foes
16	-	-	-	Chalice Boss	Normal Foes
15	-	-	-	Floor Boss	Normal Foes
14	-	-	-	Treasure	-
13	-	-	-	Normal Foes	-
12	-	-	Chalice Boss	Normal Foes	-
11	-	-	Floor Boss	Normal Foes	-
10	-	Chalice Boss	Treasure	-	-
9	-	Floor Boss	Normal Foes	-	-
8	Chalice Boss	Treasure	Normal Foes	-	-
7	Floor Boss	Normal Foes	Normal Foes	-	-
6	Treasure	Normal Foes	-	-	-
5	Normal Foes	Normal Foes	-	-	-
4	Normal Foes	-	-	-	-
3	Normal Foes	-	-	-	-
2	-	-	-	-	-
1	-	-	-	-	-