Skipping Laurence’s final phase in Bloodborne would’ve saved me so much grief

‘Prey Slaughtered,’ and then some

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about Laurence, my one true fear in Bloodborne, and it probably won’t be the last. I just had to share this phase-skipping takedown from Reddit.

If you include The Old Hunters in the conversation, which you absolutely should — it might as well be mandatory! — the howling beast is one of the trickiest bosses in the game.

The Orphan of Kos is more intense as a fast-moving final challenge to try and topple, and things can get dicey in the “defiled” Chalice Dungeon with the Watchdog of the Old Lords. I struggled with both of them, hard. But for me, there’s no boss I’d want to avoid more than Laurence, the First Vicar. He trapped me in a loop of near-despair for hours and hours.

Anyway, here’s s0nicwAve1 from the Bloodborne subreddit making an absolute joke out of Laurence before he can muck up the arena with lava. He’s gone in sixty seconds.

Abusing DLC bosses, part two: Laurence
by inbloodborne

Usually, the whole fight is nerve-wracking. But the final phase of it — the bit where Laurence loses his legs and starts crawling around with a nasty lava trail to narrowly avoid — is where an otherwise promising attempt comes crashing down. In this case, with well-timed limb breaks, that unpleasantness is stopped before it can even begin.

“If you strategically break his limbs, he has to go through recovery before transitioning,” noted s0nicwAve1. “Damaging his head makes him drop into visceral state which also delays it just enough to finish him off.” Also, it just looks cool! That’s how you end a fight.

The feat was done in a New Game file with a +10 Saw Cleaver and a Blood Level of 52. Only “main story gems from Mergo’s loft, +15%, and 2x +18%,” were used. This high-risk, high-reward build is “so much fun,” and I wanna try it out the next time Bloodborne ropes me in again, which feels inevitable now that Halloween candy is back on store shelves.

As s0nicwAve1 puts it, “you obliterate everything but you’re forced to do fights hitless cause of low [vitality].” You know, as hard-hitting as Laurence can be (especially on New Game+), I might as well go hitless. It’s the kind of fight that feels all-or-nothing.

If you’re wondering about the curious “part two” in the title of the video, this player has another smackdown clip — it’s against Ludwig the first boss of The Old Hunters.