bloodborne beasthood guide update

- Beasthood Guide and Explanation -

There is currently no "Beast Mode" or way to transform into a beast beyond what you already get with the Beast Claw weapon in trick mode. The trailer for the expansion The Old Hunters shows what is either a beast mode or some other change to the beasthood mechanic, so it's worth knowing how it all works at least.

AS it is now, beasthood increases your weapon's physical damage and reduces all your defenses based on how much beasthood you have at that moment. Note that this has nothing to do with maxing out the bar, but at what point the meter itself is at. Filling the bar doesn't actually do anything, and the length of your beasthood bar (equal to beasthood stat) simply determines the highest breakpoint you can reach. As you fill the meter and pass each breakpoint, your weapon's physical damage will increase and your defense stats will decrease.

Breakpoints are:
1 beasthood : +20% phys damage, -20% all defenses
25 beasthood: +30% phys damage, -30% all defenses
50 beasthood: +40% phys damage, -40% all defenses
100 beasthood: +50% phys damage, -50% all defenses
200 beasthood: +60% phys damage, -60% all defenses
300 beasthood: +70% phys damage, -80% all defenses

All of these changes can be seen in the character stat screen. There are (currently) no further breakpoints after 300. Note that beasthood only boosts physical damage, so it's entirely useless on an Arcane build. Also, since visceral attacks count as physical damage done with your weapon (even though they don't use the weapon's own stats), it'll boost those as well just like the gems do.

Before beasthood can be used, you must first "activate" it by either consuming a Beast Blood Pellet item or using the trick mode of the Beast Claw weapon. While beasthood is active, a visible aura effect can be seen around your character that resembles greyish/yellow smoke, and your character will give off a constant hissing noise. During this time, any attacks made with your right-hand weapon will cause a meter to appear at the top of your screen and slowly fill with each hit, much like poison or frenzy. While you have any beasthood in the meter, the aura effect changes to look more intense and grey tufts of fur can be seen coming off it.

As a rule, R1 attacks build the least amount of beasthood per hit, and R2, L1 (transformation attacks), and L2 (two-handed special attacks) build more beasthood per hit, often more than enough to make up for the difference in attack speed. Weapons with an uncharged R2 attack chain like the Saw Cleaver in cleaver mode or Threaded Cane in whip mode can build up beasthood very quickly due to this. The Kirkhammer and Ludwig's Holy Blade have a special property where their two-handed R1 attacks build up beasthood as fast as R2 attacks with other weapons, allowing them to generate beasthood at alarming speeds. Weapons with multi-hit heavy attacks like Logarius' Wheel will build up beasthood at a truly preposterous rate, often maxing out a meter of 300 in about 5 seconds, however the Logarius' Wheel does mostly arcane damage while in its trick mode so it won't be able to take advantage of the beasthood benefits until you switch it back to its physical wheel mode.

Beast Blood Pellets allow you to build up beasthood with any weapon, but only have a duration of 60 seconds. Once the duration ends, the meter will completely empty and disappear, along with any bonuses and penalties you may have gained. When using Pellets, there is very little reason to have more than 350 beasthood since just getting to 300 in the first place will likely take the better part of its duration, and the effect itself won't last for more than one fight. The extra 50 is so you don't dip under 300 while dodging attacks from a boss or something.

The Beast Claw is a special weapon that grants an indefinite beasthood effect with its trick mode, allowing the damage boost to potentially last from the beginning of an area all the way through to its boss. The downside to this is that the Beast Claw is kind of a terrible weapon. On the other hand, you can simply use the claws to build up a good amount of beasthood, then switch to a better weapon like the Kirkhammer. You will not continue to gain beasthood while using a different weapon, but the damage gains (and defense drops) will persist until the meter fully depletes, but you can always switch back to the claws and build it up again. While using Beast Claws, it's perfectly reasonable to run around with 500 or more beasthood since, even though there are no breakpoints after 300, filling up the meter past that point gives it more time to deplete without going under 300. This allows you to go from enemy encounter to enemy encounter while maintaining maximum beasthood effects.

Note that Beast Blood Pellets and the Beast Claw do not "stack". They won't cause you to gain double beasthood or anything like that, and all that really happens is the Pellet's timer overwrites the Claw's own effect, causing your meter to suddenly disappear after 60 seconds and undo all your hard work.

If you use beasthood constantly, you might've noticed that the beasthood bar persists through some loading screens but not others. Beasthood will carry over from the Hunter's Dream to the main world or chalice dungeons, and from your world to other player's worlds, but not vice versa. If you are using a Beast Blood Pellet and travel (or are summoned/invade) with either of these methods, the pellet's effect will be lost but your beasthood bar will remain at whatever point it was before. What this means is the meter will no longer be tied to a timer, and its duration will instead be based on how long it takes it to naturally empty on its own, similar to using the Beast Claw and switching to a different weapon. Yes, this can allow you to spawn in another player's world already packing 300+ beasthood, provided you took the time to build it up while waiting to be beckoned (either resonant or sinister).

No, the Beast Roar arcane tool does not gain any additional effects at any amount of beasthood. At all. It is, however, thematically appropriate and also generally useful for players who don't use left-hand weapons, due to its ability to interrupt attacks by knocking people down and its ability to deflect every projectile in the game.

Beasthood is technically a status effect that you inflict on yourself, and it can be "cured" by drinking a sedative. Sedatives remove any beasthood buildup you may have accrued up to that point, but they do not deactivate beasthood; your Pellet timer will not end prematurely and your Claws will remain, and you can continue to build up beasthood again until the Pellet times out or you put the Claws away. The main reason to do this would be if you want all your defense back, or if you wanted to avoid whatever that hairy nonsense was in the trailer for whatever reason (1:12-1:14). It's hard to gauge how useful this trick may be for the DLC without more information, but in the event they introduce a new enemy that inflicts beasthood buildup with its attacks, it might pay to carry a few Sedatives around so you can negate surprise defense drops and possibly avoid a beast mode you weren't planning for. Especially if that enemy turns out to be a boss. I don't know if this is something they'll actually do, but it's something that's technically possible within the game's engine, so it's something they *could* do.

Please RHEEE responsibly.