Bloodborne: How To Beat Father Gascoigne

As you first explore the cobblestone streets of Yharnam in From Software's Bloodborne, the first challenge that's likely to give you real problems is the encounter with Father Gascoigne. While it's possible to skip the Cleric Beast entirely and just head to Father Gascoigne right away, it's advisable to tackle the games introductory boss battle with the beast first. If you're having trouble with Father Gascoigne, here's how to take down the gun-toting, trick-weapon wielding beast-mode man.

The first thing you're going to want to do is hunt down the music box. It's found via a house-window interaction up the ladder from the sewer area (To be specific, it's the home right before the shortcut into the fountain rotunda area, accessible via the sewer area featuring several gun-wielding plagued men and one beast-man. Simply head down into the sewer area, take the first ladder up that's near the big pile of soggy, drowned corpse-things, hang a left to see a house with an ogre facing it, and head up that ladder. You'll hear the chimes of music faintly coming from the house, interact with the window and the young girl inside to collect the music box. We'll discuss how to use this later - you're going to want to have this, as it provides an interesting story-driven component to the battle)

Next, it's time for a supply check. You're going to want to upgrade your weapon using blood shards as high as you can, and if you're still having trouble after trying this strategy you may want to keep farming shards - you'll find the wolf men that prowl above the sewer area an excellent source of both blood vials and shards. To optimize your chances, upgrade your weapon as high as you can and make sure you're maxed out on blood vials and ammunition. Spend your blood echoes on a few level ups to pad your stats too. Never hurts to be prepared.

You then want to ensure you have a few oils and molotov cocktails. If you're exploring Central Yharnam organically, you'll probably come across more than enough of these to make for a few good attempts. If not, remember that you can always purchase molotovs from the bath in the Hunter's Dream.

Father Gascoigne has three phases that trigger as you whittle down his health bar. Stage one is probably the easiest, but you should know that one of the reasons Father G can be such a stressful encounter early in the game is because he can often kill you with just a few back to back blows. During phase one, Father G will try to land blows and special attacks with his trick axe in one-handed mode.

This is probably the easiest phase to land gun-parries on Father G, so that should be your focus - shooting him with your gun during his attack animations in order to set up a critical attack during a stagger. You'll know you landed it correctly if he drops to his knees for a few moments, allowing you to quickly step up right in front of him and tap R1 in order to execute a powerful visceral attack. You can also quick-step around him after locking on, allowing him to miss you with an attack, then lay into him with a full endurance bar of combo. Make sure you're ready to back out as soon as you're finished or he recovers from the barrage of attacks.

Phase two is trickier because Father G will convert his trick axe to 2-handed mode, allowing him to dish out massive damage from range. Despite this, the strategy is largely the same as phase one and you shouldn't have too much trouble after practicing dodging the swings a bit.

Phase three is where people run into serious problems. The music changes, Father G transforms into a beast (you never go full beast mode), and can dish out massive combos that can kill you if they connect. More importantly, his assualt intensifies in such a manner that it can be extremely difficult to land blows on him safely, and he's prone to jumping on you from afar if you try to get distance or throw things at him. It's time to take out the music box. Don't worry, this item has unlimited uses so if you mess up an encounter it's not an issue. Play the box, using it as a normal item - you can do this while walking slow, so try to be a little bit away from Father G when you execute.

Father G will finish whatever combo or action he's doing and then go into a generous stun state where he'll freak out, painful memories of the past coming back to haunt him. You can use this generous window to land heavy damage on the stunned Gascoigne, or use the opportunity to oil up and start throwing molotovs. Gascoigne is susceptible to fire damage, and the oil will enhance the damage to an extremely high level. A few molotovs and maybe a single strike or two should be enough  to finish off the frenzied father, opening up the cathedral area and a generous amount of new content to explore.