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Weapon Analysis [DLC Official Guide]

To aid you in comparing weapons, the charts in this section show you visually which of them have the fastest attacks and which take the longest to recover. The scale at the top of each table represents the duration of the slowest attack in frames - use that to work out the relative speeds of each attack based on the lengths of the bars. Bloodborne runs at 30 frames per second, and the average attack takes 15 frames to become active, which equals half a second. The bold unit lines denote every 5th frame while the regular lines denote each single frame. Each bar has three segments; the first is the time until the attack is active, the second red segment is the active frame (the short time in which the attack can hit), and the third is the recovery period. For charged attacks, the blue bar is the time until the flash. During this period you can be knocked out of the attack, but you can also release the attack early. The recovery period ends af the exact moment where you can cancel the animation into another one, such as as Quickstep or another attack.

The recovery time of charged attacks is important when staggering an enemy from behind - the shorter the recovery of the attack that caused the stagger, the more time you'll have to take advantage of it. You can also follow up stagger or interrupt with a powerful strike that will deal extra bonus damage while a visceral attack is possible. The exact values change a little from enemy to enemy, but the table here shows an example from the point when your attack connects against a Huntsman. Huntsman Visceral Attack Possible Until Enemy Recovers Stagger 52 72 Interrupt 56 64

R1 Attacks

Normal R1 Attacks If you look at the table, you'll notice the Saw Cleaver, Saw Spear, Blade of Mercy and Beast Claw have the fastest R1s. The Blade of Mercy is the fastest among them, but deals the least physical damage; this is made up for with its arcane attack, though that won't help against all foes. A key thing these weapons have in common is low range. You'll have to sacrifice speed for better reach, but you still have some good options. The Rifle Spear's R1s reach the furthest, but only strike directly ahead. For shorter, but broader swings with comparable speed, use the Burial Blade, Ludwig's Holy Blade or Kirkhammer.

Transformed R1 Attacks A common advantage of transforming a weapon is increasing range; if you're willing to trade, the Blade of Mercy, Reiterpallash and both incarnations of the Beast Claw have the fastest R1 attacks of all. The Blade of Mercy's R1s will finish before many weapons even reach their first hitbox frame! The Hunter Axe R1s hit fairly quick, but take longer to recover; it's worth it though, as they're versatile with amazing reach. For the best reach possible, use either the Threaded Cane or Beast Cutter. The Threaded Cane focuses on Skill and the Beast Cutter focuses on Strength, so you have options to suit your build.

R2 Attacks

Normal R2 Attacks Again, if you don't mind its short range, the Blade of Mercy has the fastest R2 of any weapon. The Threaded Cane's R2 comes in a close second, and it deals solid damage. If you're looking for something with better reach, try the Holy Moonlight Sword; for a weapon of this size, the speed and damage of its R2 are tremendously good. Ludwig's Holy Blade, the Kirkhammer and Boom Hammer all pretty good, and if you look at the table you'll notice their speeds are exactly the same. The Kirkhammer and Ludwig's are both weaker, but their thrust damage may work out better, since not as many enemies are weak to the Boom Hammer's blunt damage.

Transformed R2 Attacks The transformed R2 chain of the Rakuyo is faster than Blade of Mercy's, but deals considerably less damage. That being said, you'll deal more damage in less time using the Blade of Mercy. You'll still find good use with the Rakuyo's chain though, since it will allow you to deal thrust damage consistently and quickly. Another weapon with a thrusting R2 is the Saw Spear, which is quick with better range. If you need a strong attack for handling crowds, the Saw Cleaver's R2 is the fastest for this. The R2 of the church pick is similarly good for this purpose, but slightly slower; on the other hand, it deals serration and righteous damage, so it may be the better choice yet.

Stamina Usage

While speed is an important factor to consider when choosing a weapon, its stamina usage can be equally, or even more important. R1 and R2 attacks are the bread and butter of a weapon, so we've included the cost in stamina for these in parenthesis after each weapon's name. If you're using a character with low stamina, weapons such as the Threaded Cane, Rifle Spear, Blade of Mercy, and Reiterpallasch are all great options. Weapons of this sort usually have short range; the Rifle Spear and Threaded Cane are exceptions to this, but their start-up durations are comparably longer. Both the standard and Beast's Emb'ace rune movesets of the Beast Claw are low in stamina use - but you'll need to attack almost constantly to take advantage of its damage increase with Beasthood, which means this weapon actually works better for high stamina builds.

Other weapons which work best for high stamina builds are strength weapons, such as the Amygdalan Arm, Bloodletter and Logarius' Wheel; their swings are slow and stamina costs are high, but their damage output per hit is tremendous. Either extreme is not always ideal, so you may instead want to use weapons with more general stamina costs. Weapons like these tend to be for characters balanced in the middle of things, so you'll still have quite a few options if you're not interested in investing heavily into only a few stats. The Saw Cleaver, Saw Spear, Church Pick, Whirligig Saw and Hunter Axe all use reasonable amounts of stamina and swing at a generally good speed for good damage, especially in their transformed modes, which will afford you better range.

Transformation Attacks

Normal Transformation Attacks The quickest normal mode transformation attacks you can use belong to the Beasthunter Saif and Chikage, followed closely by the Saw Cleaver and Saw Spear. They're all good, but the Chikage deals the most damage; beware though, this weapon drains health while transformed. The most powerful transformation attacks are either slow to use, such as the Holy Moonlight Sword or Burial Blade's, or in the Bloodletter's specific case, dangerous. The Bloodletter's transformation attack inflicts self damage, but hits hard with massive impact to make up for this.

Transformed Transformation Attacks The transformation attacks of the transformed Saw Spear and Saw Cleaver are quite similar, even sharing the same recovery times. Comparing the two, the Saw Spear hits first, but deals less damage than the Saw Cleaver, so it's up to you to decide which is more valuable. The threaded cane's transformation attack shares the same recovery speed as these weapons and strikes even faster, but for less damage. Many transformed mode transformation attacks swing in wide horizontal arcs which are great for crowds; the fastest weapon for this is the Beasthunter Saif, and it deals solid damage to boot.

Charged R2 Attacks

Normal Charged R2 Attacks Landing charged attacks can be tricky, especially if you intend to stagger, so speed is an important factor here. The Saw Cleaver, Saw Spear, Beast Cutter and Blade of Mercy will finish charging well before other attacks; the Blade of Mercy is the fastest, but also has the least range, so hitting your targets may be difficult. The Rakuyo may not be as swift, but its charged R2 is a powerful thrust with solid forward momentum. For high damage, the strongest charged attacks you can use belong to the Hunter Axe, Amygdalan Arm and Holy Moonlight Sword. The Holy Moonlight Sword's will deal the most damage of this bunch, and it has surprisingly good speed for an attack of this caliber!

Transformed Charged R2 Attacks Quite a few weapons cannot use charged R2s when transformed, so you may want to pick your weapon based on this factor. The Saw Cleaver and Saw Spear's charged R2s are the quickest of all weapons. The Cleaver hits first but takes longer to recover, while the spear hits later and recovers faster, so you'll need to decide which is more important. What the tables won't show is the amazing forward momentum of the Rifle Spear's charged R2, so don't let the long bar scare you off. The Holy Moonlight Sword's charged R2 takes a while, but it if you want spectacular damage it can't be beat.

Weapon Regain

When you take damage, you have a limited window of time to recover lost health. This is indicated by an orange bar which appears where your total health was previously. To recover lost health, you'll simply need attack to an enemy. You can utilize this system on enemies even after they have been killed, but only during their death animations. There are two terms for this system, which can be used interchangeably: regain and rally. The numbers beside each weapon in the table correspond to how much health its attacks will recover with their full attack rating, both when un-upgraded and fully upgraded. The amount of health you will receive relies closely, but not exactly, on the specific damage multiplier of the attack. The Hunter Axe will net you the highest amount of health recovered per hit across all upgrade levels. At higher levels, the Kirkhammer rivals this weapon, and its normal mode will be able to regain health faster due to its quick swing speeds. The Whirligig Saw regains equally as high, but where it shines is with the rapid shreds of the transformed mode, all of which count towards the regain system! Don't let the small numbers for weapons like the Blade of Mercy fool you - you'll be able to hit twice as fast as heavier weapons and regain similar or even greater amounts. Be aware however; ranged attacks such as gunfire won't count towards the regain system.