Stealth Mechanics Bloodborne Wiki » Game Mechanics » Stealth Mechanics

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Table of Contents

Basic Information

Vision

Hearing

Smell

Summary

Basic Information [by NewLondoLayingHollow]

I've recently discovered that many players aren't aware that there are stealth mechanics in Bloodborne, or at least aren't aware of their depth. I chalk this up to there actually being no clear explanations of how to use stealth anywhere in the game, even in the developer tutorial messages or item descriptions (Blue Elixir is the only description that mentions stealth, and it's a bit misleading). However, the mechanics for stealth are built into the game and clearly intentional, albeit in a few cases they seem unpolished or unfinished.

I haven't found any in-depth guides, or even much discussion, about stealth mechanics by searching through this subreddit, the Bloodborne wikis, or google. So, I have put together my own guide explaining some things I have discovered relating to stealth mechanics in Bloodborne. Some of the things in this guide I have learned from other players, like that slow walking or thrown pebbles will not alert enemies. But much of this guide is actually based on my own independent research and testing. I wouldn't be surprised if other players have already discovered many, if not all, of these mechanics, but many of them I haven't seen mentioned or published anywhere before.

First of all, most enemies in Bloodborne have at least two "senses" for detecting things, vision and hearing. There may also be is also a third sense of smell, it only applies to a small selection of enemies. I know all of this sounds really obvious, but these are important things to understand when it comes to using stealth. These senses are actually statted out for each enemy with distances at which they will "see" the player or "hear" a sound. Avoiding triggering these senses and manipulating the triggers for these senses are the key to stealth. Understanding how these senses work will let you completely avoid risky or pointless fights, end fights with sneak attacks before enemies even notice you, or pick apart groups of enemies one at a time. And any type of build can make use of the stealth mechanics to gain an advantage, but leveling Arcane opens up a few extra stealth options and having the stats to wield Simon's Bowblade will give you another unique option.

Update: Completed all Hunter Tool testing (none of them generate any noise).

Vision

Vision is a combination of distance and an angle that creates a cone in front of an enemy where if you enter it, they detect you and aggro. Once an enemy is aggroed they will home in on you even if you're out of visual range, but if you stay out of their detection range long enough they will de-aggro and return to their initial location. Aggro will also be caused if you deal any damage to an enemy, or if an enemy has a specially scripted trigger for aggroing towards you.

Objects will block an enemy's line of sight, so hiding around corners or behind cover works for stealth. Messenger's Gift also has no impact on visual range. Consuming Blue Elixir will greatly reduce an enemy's visual range, but has no impact on their other senses.

The distance and angle of the vision cone varies depending on enemy type. As a few examples, I can tell you that the visual range of most Yharnamites is a bit shorter than your maximum lock-on range and they only see at an angle of about 60ish degrees to either side ahead of them; Brainsuckers on the other hand have a visual range that is longer than your max lock-on range.

Update: Torches do have an effect on enemy visual range, but only for some enemies and only in "dark" locations. The exact details of how this works and what enemies are affected is unclear, but a good example of this phenomenon are the Rifle and Pickaxe Watchers found in Chalice dungeons, which when found in dark rooms or tunnels will have greatly reduced visual range unless you are holding a torch.

Hearing

Hearing works as a radius around enemies, with the distance varying depending on enemy type. If a sound "flag" is triggered within that radius, an enemy will turn to face it and possibly walk over and inspect it. I say sound "flag" because there are a lot of actions that have an attached sound effect but do not trigger an enemy's sense of hearing: for example, switching between trick modes of a weapon plays a sound effect, but it does not alert enemies. Some enemies are even "deaf" and will not react to any sound triggers: For example the old man in a wheelchair by the Central Yharnam lamp will not react to any sound, you can stand behind him firing your gun over his head all night long and he won't even notice. Maybe he never used hearing protection while firing his own gun... Anyways, sound alone will never trigger aggro, it only causes an investigative response where an enemy will look at the source of sound, but if you happen to be caught in an enemy's gaze when they investigate a sound, they will aggro.

So what kinds of actions do have an attached sound flag?

Most forms of movement will trigger enemy hearing: normal walking, sprinting, rolling, dashing, backstepping, and landing after a long fall within an enemy's hearing range will all alert them and cause them to turn to look at the source of sound, you. The only forms of movement which don't have sound triggers attached to them are slow walking (including moving with Messenger's Gift active), falling short distances (either no stun or light stun on landing), and moving on ladders (although if you slide all the way down to the bottom it does make a sound when you touch the ground). Finally, having the Old Hunter Bone effect active will actually make your dashes and rolls silent, but not your backsteps. This is incredibly useful for stealth, as it allows much faster silent movement than is normally possible. But be careful to not tilt your analog stick far enough that it would make you walk at normal speed instead of slow walk, as a single step at normal speed in between "quickened" rolls or dashes will still alert nearby enemies to your presence.

The only items with any sound triggers are the various Molotov Cocktails, and only when they explode. All other items, even weapons like Throwing Knives or Hunter Tools like Beast Roar, do not trigger enemy hearing ever. If you hit an enemy with them, they will still aggro, but they never trigger enemy hearing and the investigation response it causes. This can again be immersion-breaking, but it provides another type of stealth mechanic. You can use these items to hit a single enemy in a group, aggroing them so that they will come after you by themselves without alerting other enemies in the group.

Swinging melee weapons by itself does not trigger enemy hearing. However, hitting anything (floors, walls, enemies, breakable objects) with a weapon will trigger enemy hearing and cause them to look at the source. The only exceptions to this are bare fists and the Fist of Gratia. Bare fist light attacks do not seem to trigger enemy hearing even when hitting breakable objects or enemies (though this will still aggro the enemy you are hitting). The Fist of Gratia on the other hand is the only melee weapon I have tested that will trigger enemy hearing even if you don't hit anything.

Firing any firearm produces two hearing triggers. The first is the gunshot itself with the trigger centered on you, and the second hearing trigger is the bullet when it impacts an object (a surface such as a wall/floor, an object, or even another enemy). When enemy hearing is triggered by multiple sources sequentially, they will look at each trigger source in the order they were detected, but if they aggro at any point their investigation response will be overridden by the aggro response. This means that if you fire a gun within enemy hearing range it will cause them to turn towards you first, drawing their aggro... unless you are hidden from their vision. If they do not see you after you fire a shot, either because you were hidden behind cover or perhaps used a Blue Elixir, they will then turn their attention towards the second trigger, the bullet impact (assuming its impact point was within their hearing range as well). Or, you can just stand outside their hearing range and aim at something near an enemy in the direction you want them to look. When the bullet impacts, they will turn and look at the impact point for quite a while, giving you the opportunity to sneak by them or sneak up on them. As far as I know, bullets, Molotov Cocktails, and arrows from Simon's Bowblade are the only things you can use to trigger an enemies hearing to investigate a point that isn't centered on your character. That is, they are the only things you can use to distract an enemy and make it look somewhere else (besides certain enemies that are vulnerable to Pungent Blood Cocktails).

Simon's Bowblade is also a special case, as unlike a gun, firing the arrows itself generates no sound. Only the impact of the arrows will generate sound, in the same way that bullets do.

Getting hit by enemies yourself will also not create a sound that alerts other enemies to your presence and few enemies in the game will chain aggro, so if you have only aggroed one enemy in a group, don't panic: you can still back off without fighting the whole group, just make sure you move away without making any sounds. If you need to attack that aggroed enemy (perhaps just to interrupt their attacks while you back away), you can still do so with throwing knives, pebbles, bare fists, and Hunter Tools without alerting the rest of the nearby enemies. And if the enemy you aggroed is using ranged attacks, you can still avoid being hit by them by using the projectile deflection effect of Beast Roar, or by blocking it with a shield, as the Plank Shield is actually quite effective against bullets and the Loch Shield is effective against spells.

Update: At least some enemies in the game have no hearing range. Examples found so far include at least some Wheelchair Huntsman, Garden of Eyes, Chime Maidens in Chalice Dungeons, and Lost Children of Antiquity.

Smell

I suspect, but am not certain, that some enemies also have a "smell" sense. If I am correct in my suspicions, the way it works is as a radius around an enemy where if you enter it, they will aggro. It doesn't require line of sight, the range is not reduced by Blue Elixir, and you will still be detected even if you make no sound. Fortunately, it only seems to be found on a few enemies. Some of the ones I have noticed this behavior on include Carrion Crows, possibly Bloodlickers, possibly some of the enemies (Spiders) summoned by the Bell Ringing Woman in Chalice Dungeons, and at least some of the Scourge Beasts, like the first one you encounter in Iosefka's Clinic which is impossible to sneak up upon. Unfortunately I don't have any other details on this "sense", and I'm not even sure my understanding is correct, but it's my current hypothesis for how a few enemies can detect you even if you approach from behind them without making a sound. The only ways to use stealth on these kinds of enemies are to either just stay out of their smelling range or, for the few that are vulnerable to it, throw a Pungent Blood Cocktail to distract them. Having a very large smell radius could also explain why you can't hide from bosses. Or those damned red spiders in Chalice Dungeons.

Update: At this point I'm 100% certain that enemies have a "Smelling Range" stat that works just as I've described it. The only enemy types that I have encountered which can smell you are: Most bosses, All Scourge Beasts except the reskinned (or skinless?) versions found in Yahar'gul after the Blood Moon, All Carrion Crow variants, Kidnappers in the main game but not in the Chalice Dungeons, the Bloodlickers found in the Hunter's Nightmare DLC area, Mad Ones (at least the ones summoned in Chalice Dungeons), and the enemies summoned by Bell Maidens in the Chalice Dungeons. The only enemies that can smell you at a long range are Bosses and Bell Maiden summons, all other enemies that can smell you will only detect you once you are within a few feet.

Winter Lanterns cannot smell you, but uniquely do actually have 360 degree vision which makes it impossible to sneak up on them. I know that this isn't a case of them smelling you because enemies that can smell you will detect you within a certain radius even if you are behind an object or wall, but Winter Lanterns will not detect you if you are out of their line of sight because you are behind cover. Blue Elixir also works to reduce the radius in which Winter Lanterns can detect you while it has no effect on the range at which enemies smell you.

Summary

Enemies will only aggro if they see you, smell you, or if you hit them, but hearing by itself will never trigger aggro. If an enemy aggros, they will move towards your location with psychic precision even if they can't see you. You can de-aggro enemies by staying out of their detection range for a long enough time, causing them to stop their pursuit and return to their original position. The only other ways that aggro is overridden are if an enemy aggros to another target or if they are distracted by a Pungent Blood Cocktail.

Specific enemy types have a specific visual range determined by a maximum distance and angle of vision, creating a triangle-shaped detection zone ahead of them. Objects in between you and an enemy can block their line of sight. The only effect of Blue Elixir is to drastically reduce the maximum visual range of enemies, and despite the description it does not require you to stay still. Messenger's Gift have no effect whatsoever on enemy visual range.

Enemy hearing is a radius with the distance varying between different enemy types. It creates a circular zone around an enemy. Any sound trigger within that zone will cause an enemy to look, and possibly walk, towards the sound to investigate. The only forms of movement available to you that do not generate detectable sound are slow walking, moving on ladders except for sliding all the way down to the ground, falling short distances, and dashing and rolling (but not backstepping) while the Old Hunter Bone effect is active. Even if an enemy does hear you, they won't actually aggro and start attacking until they see or smell you or you hit them, so you still have a very brief opportunity to hide or prepare an attack.

The only items that generate sound are Molotovs, and only when they explode and at the location where they explode. Other items, including offensive Hunter Tools, can be used to attack and aggro individual enemies in a group without alerting any others. Melee attacks, with two exceptions, will only generate sound if you hit a surface, object, or enemy. Fist R1 attacks never generate sound (and can be used to "silently" get rid of breakable objects in your way), and attacks with the Fist of Gratia always generate sound, even if you don't hit anything. Arrows fired from Simon's Bowblade only generate sound at the point of impact. Firing a firearm generates two sounds, the first one centered on you, and the second one centered on the point where the bullet impacts. So long as enemies don't see you in the first place, you can use Molotovs, Simon's Bowblade, or firearms to distract enemies by getting them to focus on the point of impact. Enemies will be distracted by these impacts long enough for you to either sneak past them or sneak up on them.