Bloodborne: Healing Church Workshop to Vicar Amelia

Our Bloodborne guide continues with a new location and a potentially deadly side trip. Sweet.

Return to Hunter's Dream so you can warp to the Cathedral Ward Lantern. While you're in the haven, go speak with your friend upstairs.

From the lantern, move into the next room and take the small passage to the right to take the lift; you need to stand on the plate to make it go.

Run forward into the wall as the lift rises to walk out onto a platform. Follow the path around until you ned to drop down. Go back inside and around the balcony to collect the Formless Oedon Rune from a chest and then the Messenger Urn Festival. Drop carefully back down to the Lantern - don't land on the NPC! - then return and use the lever to summon the lift to continue.

Be careful when you reach the top of the lift; there's a Wheelchair Blunder with a blessed old mini-gun, the little scamp. bait him into shooting by approaching the entrance to the next room then backing away, and when he runs through his first volley go give him a spanking. There's a chest at the back of this room with a Communion Rune.

Go up the stairs and look for the bridge outside; there are a number of Henchmen on the other side and a couple of them have rifles. You can either try sneaking and sprinting over there, or lure them across to you to thin their ranks before you tackle the shooters. Once everyone's dead, go to the chest and grab the Bloodtinge Gemstone. Welcome to the Healing Church Workshop.

Healing Church Workshop

First of all, head up the stairs. There's a Henchman and a Wheelchair Blunder inside on the next level. Outside, you'll face a Brute and a Henchman with a rifle. Circle around and fine the ladder up. Inside the next level, you'll find two Wheelchair Blunders with Flamesprayers as well as a Henchman. Kill them and raid the chest to get the Radiant Sword Hunter badge, which allows you to buy the Ludwig weapons back in Hunter's Dream - really worthwhile investments.

Go back down to the bottom level and go outside, but don't cross the bridge. Circle around the outside clockwise and take out the Imp. It may fall down to the next level, but you're going down there too, so follow. Then just follow the path to the next room, cross the wooden bridge, and look down. See the bridge below? Line yourself up and drop.

Next, look for the item below. You need to drop to a beam and walk a short way to drop again. It's a Messenger Top Hat - a key item. Then drop down to the platform with the torch.

The easiest way to reach the next level is to drop onto the beam with the item - a Madman's Knowledge.

Now go over to the wall and look down again. See that bridge far below? Yeah, that's where we're going, and you'll need at least half health to survive with most builds. We're not even done falling; there's nothing else of note on the way down though, so just do your best with this last one to try and hit a beam half way down.

Look around; you should spot a Werebeast snoozing near the door. definitely, definitely sneak up and use a Charge Attack and Backstrike on this one; it will either kill it outright or bring it down to near death, and you'll score a Beast Rune.

The door behind the Werebeast opens onto a path. An alley leads off to the left; there are two Crazed Crows here hiding in the darkness. Take them down to grab the Rumpled Yharnam Hat and Sweaty Clothes. Ugh.

Be very careful here. Read ahead before proceeding.

Go on further down the path and peek around the corner to spot some stairs and and a path curving off to the right. There's a Hound lurking over by the stairs who may attack, but don't go after it - let it come to you, and fight it further back. You have more serious problems. Look to your right to spot a Death Dealer.

Do not mess with the Death Dealer. We're going to kill this guy but, and this is important, we're going to do it using low, underhand tactics. We will absolutely not take it on face to face. If you do that you will almost certainly die, and if you die at the hands of a Death Dealer you go to Yahar'gul, Unseen Village, which is the worst place for you right now, you dear sweet little baby angel. This is not a dare. It is a promise.

Sneak up on the Death Dealer and hit it with a Charge Attack and Backstrike. You may unleash one combo on it, but then you should leg it back to the Werebeast's room, because some Henchmen and a Hound are on their way. Kill them in the Werebeast's room and wait for the Death Dealer to offski. When it has zoned out again, you should totally backstab it again. Repeat as often as necessary; the Death Dealer cannot make it through that door. Well done you! What a ninja.

With that really very threatening threat out of the way, you can explore the courtyard. There's a Madman's Knowledge you can collect. On the path ahead you'll see two Henchmen; kill 'em, and take the path right and down the stairs.

Down here you'll meet a Leech Warlock. Seriously, this guy: what an ass. He can stun you and the grab you to steal your Insight. Plus he fires magic bolts at you. Personally, I recommend hitting him with a sneaky Charge Attack and Backstrike. If he doesn't go down, hit him then back far, far away while he does his disco routine, then rinse and retreat. Be patient and don't rush it. Once he's dead, you can pick up a Fire Blood Gemstone.

We're done in this awful place for now. Turn back around, go back up the stairs, continue down the path to the lift and nope the heck out.

Bloodborne guide: Cathedral Ward to Vicar Amelia

Cathedral Ward

At the top of the lift you'll find a Thick Coldblood. After grabbing it, drop down into the yard below to kill the three Gravekeepers. If they are too much for you, wait till one wanders off around the corner first. Kill all three before moving on.

One they're dead, pull the lever to open the gate. Don't let the shiny item distract you; two Gravekeepers are waiting. Hold still; one will wander off, and you can safely ignore it. Kill the other before you go after the Wooden Shield, which - I'm sorry - will not supply the reprieve you're looking for.

There's a shortcut here to the Cathedral Ward lantern, down the stairs ahead, but for now go up the ladder to grab six Numbing Mist items, which are great for PvP. Head back down the ladder and go up the stairs to a balcony. There's another Thick Coldblood here. Go up the next flight of stairs and grab six Blood Vials. The third Gravekeeper from before often hangs out here.

You should now see a big central staircase with two flanking balconies of a sort - one of which you are on, and the other has a Gravekeeper on it. In the middle, an Axe Reaper patrols. Our eventual goal is to go up the middle flight, but we need to kill this Axe Reaper, and you better believe we need to clear everything else out to do it.

There are two enemies to deal with. The Gravekeeper on the other side has a shotgun and is very deadly. Cautiously run across the main stairs and take him out, then get away before the Axe Reaper comes for you. You might to do it a few times.

If you go back to the area with the gate and take the other path out, you'll find a lower area. There's a Hound down here, on the far side. If you go for him first, the Gravekeeper shoots you, see. Once they're both down collect the two Thick Coldbloods.

Now that you've cleared out other threats, it's time to face the Axe Reaper. It's immune to Charge Attacks and Backstrikes, and shakes off gun shots. It's super slow, though, so just wait for its swing, dodge the very long-range axe attack, and have at it in the long recovery.

Once it's down, look around for a gate near the base of the stairs. There's a lever to open it but we won't use it yet. Remember it for later.

Go up the stairs but not all the way to the top - two Gravekeepers are waiting to ambush you. They're tougher than usual and can inflict frenzy, so bring one down to you and face them individually. When they're both dead, the path is clear to the Vicar Amelia boss battle.

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