Condition:
- Do not consume any One Third of Umbilical Cords
- Talk to Gehrman in the Hunter’s Dream and select “Refuse”
Gehrman, the First Hunter¶
Fighting Gehrman is a matter of timing and patience, as rushing him will only result in your death from his deadly combos. You need to counter him with your firearm to perform visceral attack to even get a shot at actually dealing any damage, as he is fast and will avoid most of your attacks or simply strike through you for massive damage.
Phase 1
During this Phase Gehrman won’t avoid your attacks much, but he will be extremely fast and can easily kill you with his Scythe Combos or by drawing you close with his scythe followed by a Jumping Cleave attack. You’ll need to backstep any attack you don’t plan to counter with your firearm, because he has an extremely long range and can jump a good quarter or the map with each slash of his scythe.
It is best to simply backstep twice, because you will never know if you are safe with only one backstep, and then wait for him to use his Scythe Charge. This attack has an extremely long delay and you must wait until he fully draws his scythe back, nearly touching the gorund, before you shoot him or you will simply interrupt him.
Keep your distance to avoid Gehrman’s attack, which have extremely long range (left). When he finally uses his Scythe Charge wait until the last second to fire your weapon (right).
Phase 2
When Gehrman reaches below 75% he will change his Brutal Blade into sword mode, gaining a whole new set of attacks, and unlike his scythe attacks his sword attacks have poor tracking and shorter range. While he is easier to avoid in this phase it doesn’t mean you should rush in to strike, as he can still strike through your attacks to do significant damage.
Instead, you’ll want to wait for Gehrman to use a standard roll, which he follows up with a melee attack or a shot from his firearm. No matter which attack he uses after the roll you can shoot him as he exits the roll for an easy stagger, followed by a visceral attack.
Continue to keep your distance while avoiding Gehrman’s firearm (left) and then stagger him when he performs a roll to inflict him with a visceral attack (right).
Phase 3
When Gehrman reaches below 50% he will enter Phase 3 and use his Advanced Quickening spell, making him invisible during his quicksteps. In this Phase he can switch between either weapon and you can use the same strategy, but you’ll need to watch out for his new abilities.
Air Blade: Gehrman will jump into the air with his scythe and hover there for a second before tossing a wave of air. This attack will always come from the right and cross horizontally, meaning your best chance of avoiding this attack is to quickstep back and left multiple times.
Moonlight Wave: Gehrman will face the moon and begin to charge a massive AOE attack that surrounds him. While this leaves him open to attacks it will also destroy you if you are within range when it explodes after 5 seconds, so don’t get greedy. If you wait until after he perform the attack, standing just out of range, you can get in a few hits while he recovers from the charge.
Stagger Shot: Gehrman will transform his left-handed weapon into a sleeker version and fire a laser like bullet, instead of a scattershot, that will instantly stagger you and open you up to visceral attacks. Because of this it is advised that you keep your distance so that you can recover before he reaches you to perform a visceral attack.
Avoid Gehrman’s Air Blade attack, only used when in scythe mode (left). You’ll also want to avoid his Moonlight Wave charged attack, striking only when it is over (right).
Drops: 128,000 Blood Echoes and the Old Hunter Badge
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