Movement

Movement & iFrames Bloodborne Wiki » Game Mechanics » Movement & iFrames

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Basic Information

Rolling and Quickstepping Pressing circle while holding a direction on the analog stick will cause you to roll or quickstep. If you are locked-on to the enemy, you will quickstep, and you'll roll if you are not locked-on. There's no major difference between rolling and quickstepping. During the middle of your roll or quickstep, you'll be invincible. The period of time in which you can't be hurt is called your "invincibility frames," or "iframes." You may instinctively want to dodge away from enemy attacks, but in many cases it's actually better to dodge through them thanks to your invincibility! This minimizes the time that you spend in contact with the enemy's attack and moves you into a better position. Rolling and quickstepping costs 10 points of stamina. With shields being extremely unreliable in Bloodborne, this is your primary defensive technique. Aggressive play is good, but always try to save a bit of stamina to escape after your attacks. Backsteps If you just press circle without pressing a direction on the left analog stick, your character will perform a short backstep. This backstep has no invincibility frames at all. On the other hand, if you hold back on the left analog while pressing circle, you'll perform a longer backstep, and it will have the invincibility frames of a normal roll! Either way, your backstep will cost 10 points of stamina. So why would you ever use the short backstep? The main reason to do so is that you can perform special R1 and R2 attacks from the short backstep, and sometimes these moves are very useful. Attacking from the long backstep is just like attacking from a frontstep. Look at your chosen weapon's attack multipliers carefully and decide if using the short backstep is worthwhile. Both short and long backsleps have the same stamina cost; it's usually better to use the long one and have the invincibility frames. Dashing and Jumping Hold circle while moving to dash instead of walking. This will drain your stamina, but dashing is much faster than walking. This is a critical movement technique in Bloodborne. The enemies are all fast and aggressive, so staying mobile is vital for survival. You can perform special Dashing Attacks by pressing R1 or R2 while dashing. You can also jump by pressing circle while dashing. It's tricky at first, but you need to hold circle to dash and then quickly let go and press it again to jump (alternatively you can double tap the circle button). The command can be awkward, but jumping can let you take some very interesting shortcuts in some areas. Be warned that this will fail if you are very low on stamina. Also note that you can run in circles to build up speed for a jump.

Concealed Dash When fighting against other players, attacks that are fast and cover a lot of ground are very useful Dashing attacks, in particular, are great against human opponents. They're quick and hard to react to; unfortunately, the enemy can see them coming easily if you just dash forward. Luckily, there is a way to start a dash without it being obvious. Lock-on to the enemy, hold down the circle button, and strafe to the side. Just before you want to attack, begin moving forward and then quickly press the attack button. If done with proper timing, the enemy won't even see your character begin dashing before the attack starts! Jump Attack Pressing UP and R2 at the same time will prompt you to leap forth and deliver a jump attack. The main point for this technique is its long range; be careful, though, as you'll be wide-open if you miss! Judge the distance carefully and use good timing to surprise your enemy. Falling Falling short distances will not harm you, but if you fall too far you'll take damage. Falls from great heights will outright kill you. When your character lands after falling a long way, there will be a moment where you can't move; you can avoid this by rolling or backstepping just as you land. Alternatively, you can perform a special plunging attack by pressing R1 while falling. Finally, the Beast Rune has a hidden effect that lessens fall damage; you can use this to your advantage if you want to literally get the drop on the enemy.

Datamined Roll & Dash Frame Data

Movement	iFrames	Roll Cancel	Hyper Armor	Notes
Standard				Roll Cancel: Roll cancel is the moment of the table that allows you to cancel the current animation into backstep, rolls or dashes. Hyper Armor: Also called Super Armor, it's hidden statistic that prevents character from flinching or stumbling. Each of enemy attacks reduces your super armor; when it reaches zero ("breaks"), you will flinch or stumble. The degree to which you are stunned depends on the impact of the attack that breaks your armor. Bloodborne & Dark Souls 3 comparison: DkS3 fast roll = 13 iframes, 21 frames roll cancel, (16 iframes bloodring) DkS3 med roll = 13 iframes, 21 frames roll cancel, 12-20 frames hyper armor, (16 iframes bloodring) DkS3 fat roll = 12 iframes, 28 frames roll cancel, 12-25 frames hyper armor, (15 iframes bloodring) Consecutive BB forward dashes are 3 frames faster than DkS3 rolls. Consecutive BB bone forward dashes are 5 frames faster than DkS3 rolls. Both dashes have 2 frames and 5 frames less i-frames respectively than DkS3 rolls.
Forward Dash	11 iframes	18 frames roll cancel
Other Dash	11 iframes	20 frames roll cancel
Roll	11 iframes	24 frames roll cancel
Old Hunter Bone
Forward Dash	8 iframes	16 frames roll cancel
Side & Back Dash	8 iframes	18 frames roll cancel
Roll	8 iframes	18 frames roll cancel
Beast's Embrace
Forward & Back Dash	11 iframes	22 frames roll cancel
Side & Diagonal Dash	11 iframes	24 frames roll cancel
Roll	11 iframes	24 frames roll cancel
Milkweed
Forward Dash	11 iframes	21 frames roll cancel	11-24 frames hyper armor
Other Dash	11 iframes	23 frames roll cancel	11-24 frames hyper armor
Roll	11 iframes	29 frames roll cancel	11-29 frames hyper armor
Backstep	0 iframes	19 frames roll cancel	0-18 frames hyper armor

Movement In-Game Frame Data [spreadsheet, archive]

Note: I attempted to test everything in this spreadsheet as thoroughly as possible, but things could still be incorrect for one reason or another. It's not easy to test this stuff on a console. If you have any questions, suggestions, comments, or criticisms, message Kanaris#7777 on Discord.

		Roll		Quickstep forward		Quickstep side		Quickstep back		Backstep
	Frame index	iFrame	Damage	iFrame	Damage	iFrame	Damage	iFrame	Damage	iFrame	Damage
Summary Rolling takes the most time to fully complete, moves you the farthest, and has the most iFrames out of any options (by one frame). It also has the fewest instability frames afterwards. If you spam roll, it's easy to get roll caught (because of long ending lag) but without taking extra damage from the catch. Quicksteps all have 1 less iFrame than rolling, but shorter duration. However, 2 more of their ending lag frames are instability frames than what roll's ending lag frames are. The only frame data difference between quickstep directions is that forward quickstep has 2 fewer frames of ending lag (and thus 2 fewer frames of total duration). If you spam quickstep, it's harder to get roll caught than spamming roll (greater iFrame uptime), but if you do, you're more likely to take instability damage. Backstep (neutral stick, tap circle) gives ZERO iFrames, and the greatest number of instability frames. It has low total duration so it can be spammed to back way off from an opponent. Better option is to just unlock and sprint away though. Key iFrames = yes iFrames = no. No instability damage iFrames = no. Instability damage as punishment for mistiming	1	no	1.00x	no	1.00x	no	1.00x	no	1.00x	no	1.00x
	2	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.00x
	3	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.41x
	4	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.41x
	5	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.41x
	6	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.41x
	7	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.41x
	8	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.41x
	9	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.41x
	10	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.41x
	11	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	yes	-	no	1.41x
	12	yes	-	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x
	13	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.00x
	14	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.00x
	15	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.00x
	16	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.00x
	17	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.00x
	18	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.00x
	19	no	1.00x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.41x	no	1.00x
	20	no	1.00x			no	1.00x	no	1.00x	no	1.00x
	21	no	1.00x			no	1.00x	no	1.00x
	22	no	1.00x
	23	no	1.00x
	24	no	1.00x
	25	no	1.00x
		25 frames long		19 frames long		21 frames long		21 frames long		20 frames long
		1 startup frame		1 startup frame		1 startup frame		1 startup frame		2 startup frame
		11 iFrames		10 iFrames		10 iFrames		10 iFrames		0 iFrames
		6 instability frames		8 instability frames		8 instability frames		8 instability frames		10 instability frames
		7 stable lag frames		0 stable lag frames		2 stable lag frames		2 stable lag frames		8 stable lag frames