The Cleric Beast is the first optional boss you’ll come across in Bloodborne. He is a huge werewolf-y monster, which seems intimidating at first, but compared to Father Gascoigne, the first main boss, he is a pushover. It is an optional boss, so you can skip it, but it is best to hone your skills with him before the real horrors reveal themselves.
Fret not, Hunter, for I am here to guide you through this ordeal. So follow along with this guide, and you’ll take this dog to the shed!
Fighting Cleric Beast
The Cleric Beast jumps onto the arena and surprises the living hell out of you. You are, most likely, not prepared for this fight. Don’t worry, for he is an uncomplicated boss with a basic moveset and is basically there to show you the ropes of Bloodborne’s combat.
He only has a series of slams and strikes as attacks and a nasty grab attack. Careful, even panic, dodging would render his attacks useless. However, you are likely going to die to this boss as an initiation to the punishment ahead of you. We all died to it, so pick up your Saw Cleaver and get right back into the fight.
Here are some things to give you an edge in the fight against the Cleric Beast in Bloodborne:
- The Cleric Beast is extremely weak to Fire. He will stop to shrug off the burning giving you ample time to lay into him.
- Molotov Cocktails are amazing at setting him ablaze from range. You should use Oil Urns to coat him in flammable oil and then throw Molotovs to sear him real nice. Fire Paper will imbue your weapon with fire, so use that too.
- Serrated weapons are the best choice for this fight. The starting Saw Cleaver will deal a good chunk of damage.
- Keep attacking the boss, and soon his limbs will explode. The recovery window thereafter is long.
- Staying behind him is safer than fighting him head-on.
- Shooting his head (twice with the Pistol and once with Blunderbuss at close range) will bring him down, giving you a chance to perform a lethal Visceral attack.
- You can summon Father Gascoigne (yes, the boss) to fight alongside you during this fight. His summon sign is further away, near the fountain with the Brick Troll banging on the door. You will have to keep him alive till you reach the arena though.
- Lock-on can screw the camera movement, especially when you are close to him, so disable it.
- The arena is very narrow so be extra vigilant when dodging, you never know when you are cornered.
Cleric Beast Strategy
The only strategy you need against him is to glue yourself to his legs, preferably behind him. Most of his backhand attacks do minimal damage that you recover with Rally. Just stay near and keep whaling on him. His more powerful attacks will completely miss you if you follow this.
He does have some leaping moves where he tries to distance himself from you. In this case, dodge any follow-up attack and move behind those legs. He will give you plenty of openings in between his attacks to put some damage of your own. Opt for charged heavy attacks when he starts screaming to stop him from going crazy.
This beast has a series of swipes and slams that are very telegraphed, and reacting to them becomes much more comfortable as you fight him.
He does go in an enraged mode during the fight, although the moveset stays the same, only with a tad bit faster.
You can kill the Cleric Beast even faster if you coat your weapon with fire or set him on fire with Molotovs. The boss is extremely weak to fire damage.
Moveset
Here are all the moves he likes to use:
- Swipe: Uses either of his hands to swipe in front. The left hand has a wider range. He can chain these attacks.
- Reaction: Dodge into the attack or back away.
- Quad Combo: He uses both his hands to perform a four-hit combo.
- Reaction: Back off until the last slam attack.
- Lunge: A leaping attack where he tries to crash down on you. It is relatively short-range.
- Reaction: Roll into the lunge.
- Slam: Slams the ground in front of him.
- Reaction: Roll into the slam at the right time or back off if you are not confident with your i-frames.
- Grab: Pulls back a bit and uses his left hand to try and grab you. This attack can be an insta-kill move because of the low starting health.
- Reaction: When you see him pull back and his arm ready to swing, back off immediately. Or you can keep your HP topped up at all times to survive this attack.
- Slam Jump Attack: Slams the ground and lunges towards you with another strike.
- Reaction: Avoid the slam by backing off and rolling into the lunge.
- 3 Hit Slams: Slam the ground in front with each hand once and then double-fist slams the ground.
- Reaction: Back away from him or position yourself behind.
Rewards for Defeating Cleric Beast
Killing the Cleric Beast in Bloodborne will reward you with the Sword Hunter Badge. With this in your inventory, you can now buy new weapons and items from the Bath Messenger shop in the Hunter’s Dream. These include:
- Kirkhammer
- Repeating Pistol
- Antidote
- Bold Hunter’s Mark
- Hand Lantern
- Hunter Chief Emblem