Bloodborne Boss Guide: How to Beat Father Gascoigne

Recommended Level: 20

This duel against Father Gascoigne serves as a reminder that not all hunters are on your team. The brightside is that this boss fight will condition you well for all future hunter encounters. It should be noted that he’ll start off with the short version of his melee weapon and then transform it to a longer blade to signify the second stage of the battle. Plan accordingly by studying his combos and charged moves that leave him open.

If you haven’t read the tips in the initial areas of Bloodborne as well as the notes in Hunter’s Dream, now is the time to do so. By now, you should have already learned the visceral attack. If not, be sure to test it on the townsfolk before taking on Father Gascoigne. Simply fire your gun as an enemy initiates an attack. You’ll know you pulled it off when you hear a metallic chime and the enemy is on its knees. Walk up right up to him and press R1, which will trigger the execution. Given that he’s as agile as you with dodge moves, timing a shot against Father Gascoigne is as tough as it sounds. The good news is that you can also stun him for a visceral attack if you manage to hit him during his forward roll.

Although From Software added the regain system to encourage assertive actions in combat, there’s nothing wrong in applying caution in the first half of this fight. The challenge is having sufficient awareness of your surroundings, since the trees and gravestones can severely limit your range of movement. It’s not unusual to die just because you accidentally backed yourself into a corner.

Father’s third stage is his literal beast mode and applying the tactics so far will not help much. If you have prior experience with Souls games, then you know that some bosses are best addressed using the counter-intuitive move of rolling toward an enemy attack. The idea here is that you’re both moving at different directions, which results in exposing the opponent’s back. Once you’ve defeated him, take comfort knowing that you defeated one of the harder enemies in Bloodborne.

Back to our Bloodborne Boss Guide.