Blocking Damage Bloodborne Wiki » Game Mechanics » Blocking Damage

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Basic Information

In Bloodborne there are very few tools provided to you for blocking incoming damage and it is almost always not preferable to do so. Even very few enemies employ such tactics and have blocking animation. In this page you will find all information about blocking be it done by you or the enemy.

Shield Blocking

Wooden Shield: Simply put, the shield will not protect you from much at all. You can block attacks by holding L2, but each attack will still damage you. Each hit will also reduce your stamina; once your stamina hits zero, your guard will be broken and the enemy will hit be able to hit you. Worse still, you'll take additional damage if you are struck by the enemy while your guard is broken.

Shields Damage & Status Reduction [%] Shield Physical Blood Arcane Fire Bolt SP RP Wooden Shield 50 50 40 20 30 55 55 Loch Shield 30 30 70 70 70 55 55 Blocking with shields also reduce Beasthood build-up by 55%.

Loch Shield: Similar to the Wooden Shield, the Loch Shield does little to defend you from physical attacks. The Loch Shield's true purpose is to defend you from all other types of non-physical damage, which it does a tremendous job at. Holding L2 will bring the shield up to block attacks, but it will take off stamina while absorbing hits. Try to keep the shield up only when necessary, since you'll recover stamina by a much slower amount while defending. If you're not careful and run out of stamina while holding L2, your guard will be broken and you'll receive additional damage.

Weapon's Blocking

Kirkhammer & Ludwig's Holy Blade: Being attacked during certain moves causes you to enter a blocking stance, maintained by holding L2. The stance reduces damage taken (blocks 55% Phys/Blood, 30% Arcane, 40% Fire, and 30% Bolt), prevents flinching from most frontal attacks, and deflects weak attacks. It persists until you run out of stamina after blocking an attack, or performs any action other than walking, running, or sprinting. The only moves that can initiate blocking are the transformed backstep R1 of Ludwig's Holy Blade and the Kirkhammer's transformed sprinting R1 and backstep R1. [Blocking Stance + Guard Broken] Weapon Damage Reduction [%] Weapon Physical Blood Arcane Fire Bolt Kirkhammer 55 55 30 40 30 Ludwig's Holy Blade 55 55 30 40 30

Enemy Blocking

Some enemies have blocking animation and will take reduced damage (and status build-up) when hit during the animation. In the table on the right you will find all enemies with blocking animation, there are a few other enemies for which blocking numbers are specified, but they don't have any guarding animations therefore not used (Labyrinth Warrior (Greatsword), Watcher's Gravedigger (all variants), Beast-possessed Soul, Kidnapper, Winter Lantern, and Skeletal Puppet).

Enemy Blocking Damage & Status Reduction [%] Enemy Phys Arc Fire Bolt SP RP Executioner 75 60 70 60 65 70 Children of Rom 90 90 70 50 60 80 Labyrinth Warrior (Sword & Shield) 90 70 85 70 80 85 Huntsman (Torch and Shield) Central Yharnam 90 70 85 70 80 85 Huntsman (Torch and Shield) Forbidden Woods 60 60 80 60 90 90