Yharnam is unlike any other setting across FromSoftware’s many games. A land lost to a mindless hunt, Bloodborne shrouds Yharnam in a shadow that only get darker over the course of the game – eventually revealing the horrors that lurk all around the player. Peeking behind Yharnam’s curtains are the Great Ones (literally translated as “Superior Ones” in Bloodborne’s Japanese script.)
Beings beyond any human comprehension or understanding, the Great Ones are not meant to be understood; but instead hunted like the prey they are. Like other beasts lurking throughout Bloodborne, Great Ones can be fought and killed as bosses. There are only a few in Bloodborne, but each Great One offers a uniquely difficult challenge that tests players’ mastery of the game while fleshing out Yharnam’s ever confusing lore.
Rom, The Vacuous Spider
Rom, the Vacuous Spider is the first Great One Hunters will need to fight themselves in Bloodborne, more or less splitting the game into before and after. Upon killing Rom, the Blood Moon sets over Yharnam and the setting changes considerably. NPCs who were left alive are now liable to have been killed (or worse,) and the very fabric of reality seems to be tearing as lesser Amygdala make their presences known – perpetually watching over the people of Yharnam.
As such a turning point in the game, Rom naturally offers a considerable challenge. Rom summons miniature spiders to fight on her behalf, intended to keep players’ attention away from her. Make sure to kill these spiders ASAP, but only when it’s safe and saving enough stamina to dodge to safety. Rom’s rolls do a fair bit of damage and her magic hits even harder, so get ready to dodge or at least equip Arcane resistant gear.
Rom will teleport inbetween phases, raining meteors at Hunters that deal massive damage on contact. Killing Rom will likely take a few tries on a first playthrough, if only for how uniquely designed the boss is compared to earlier fights, but she’s actually weak to both Fire and Bolt.
Celestial Emissary
The fight against the Celestial Emissary props itself up as a group battle, which can make it overwhelming at first sight. Several Celestial Mobs will rush the players at once. While they don’t do too much damage individually, there are more than enough Mobs to tear Hunters to shreds if they aren’t careful.
That said, there’s no need to kill everyone here. Not every Celestial Mob will aggro at the player, with one specifically keeping its distance: this is the actual Celestial Emissary and the only one that needs to be killed. Functioning like a regular Mob at first, the Emissary will grow in size after being dealt half damage, growing tentacles on its head at a quarter health.
A few full length combos can tear down the Emissary before they’re in trouble (and both Fire & Bolt go a long way here,) but Celestial Mobs will keep reviving throughout the fight. Prioritize your time poorly and the Emissary will be alive long enough to become an actual threat.
Ebrietas, Daughter Of The Cosmos
Available to fight directly after defeating the Celestial Emissary, Ebrietas, Daughter of Chaos is bound to give Hunters a fair bit of trouble. She’s an incredibly heavy hitting Great One whose wide variety of attacks make her difficult to predict. Worse, she has a charge attack that’s more or less guaranteed to one shot players if they don’t dodge (although it is telegraphed clearly.)
The key to defeating Ebrietas is making use of Visceral Attacks and always playing. Ebrietas can be comfortably fought between her legs, but staggering her head will create an opportunity to do massive damage right then and there. Ebrietas is also slow enough where Hunters can charge up enough attack to Visceral her yet again.
That said, this is a best case scenario kind of situation. Most players will need to fight Ebrietas carefully, avoiding attacking from behind (she will kill you) and dodging her laser beams carefully. For those who can reliably get Viscerals and have access to the Cannon, however, Ebrietas shouldn’t be too daunting.
Amygdala
Amygdala isn’t actually too bad on paper. It’s weak to Fire, Bolt, and Arcane damage along with having a surprisingly low health pool for when it’s fought in the game. For all intents and purposes, Amygdala should be a respite after the harshness of the Nightmare Frontier; but that’s never the case with Bloodborne.
Amygdala is incredibly resistant towards physical damage and its weak points are generally out of reach for melee characters. Any Hunters who don’t rely on ranged attacks will be fighting an uphill battle the moment they walk into the boss arena. In this case, it’s important to keep close to Amygdala’s head as much as possible while dodging attacks.
A balance between combos and dodging is ideal here. For any Hunters who have access to Hunter Tools or are running a Bloodtinge build, though, just keep away and pick Amygdala down from afar. Low health means Amygdala will go down faster than expected.
Mergo’s Wet Nurse
Although it makes perfect sense, it’s still disappointing that the only other mandatory Great One boss fight other than Rom is also one of the easiest bosses in Bloodborne. Even just following the main story and ignoring side content, the average Hunter will reach Mergo’s Wet Nurse at a high enough level to comfortably combo her whenever she appears while brushing off her relatively low damage attacks.
For how much lore relevance Mergo’s Wet Nurse has, it’s nothing short of disappointing that the last mandatory Great One battle falls flat on its face. The only real attack to be mindful of is when Mergo’s Wet Nurse closes herself. A purple fog will descend over the arena, but her clones can be killed with a single hit and the real boss is always stationed in close proximity. Like other Great Ones, Mergo’s Wet Nurse is weak to Bolt, but also quite vulnerable to poison.
Moon Presence
The Moon Presence is Bloodborne’s real final boss and the last things standing between players & the true ending. The Moon Presence can only be fought after consuming three Umbilical Cords, refusing to awaken from the dream, and killing Gehrman. When all the criteria has been met, the Moon Presence will descend from the heavens to confront the player as soon as Gehrman is defeated. Keep in mind that any Blood Vials used fighting Gehrman won’t replenish while fighting the Moon Presence, but dying here doesn’t respawn Gehrman so there’s little harm in getting killed.
Frankly, if a Hunter can defeat Gehrman, they can defeat the Moon Presence. The Moon Presence’s most dangerous move (bloody rain) locks Blood Vials and prevents healing for the time being, while its combos are aggressive enough where you don’t want to get caught in them. At the end of the day, though, the Moon Presence telegraphs itself clearly and doesn’t hit hard enough to be a major threat. At least not after Gehrman.
