Trying to get your money’s worth from The Old Hunter DLC for Bloodborne? You must explore every nook and cranny and fight every last boss there is and yes, even the optional ones. Laurence, The First Vicar is the name that comes up on the list of optional bosses since it is the only one included in the Old Hunter DLC for Bloodborne.
Though the moveset resembles a lot of bosses you have fought before, it isn’t without a twist. The boss features tons of new moves that will burn you to a crisp. If you are trying to avoid that then follow along because we have got all the right information that you need.
Fighting Laurence, The First Vicar
The cutscene introducing the boss makes it seem like this is the last boss you will ever fight. Take our word for it, he is not as intimidating as he looks.
Laurence, The First Vicar in Bloodborne has traces of many bosses you have already fought before. The attacks are telegraphed and considering the fact that you are reasonably leveled, you can take him down fairly easily.
From the very first moment, you have to start moving because it spares no time trying to kill you. He will start pounding on the ground with his right arm (shorter one) and create an AoE fire attack. Maintain some distance but not for too long because that is also dangerous since it can jump straight to where you are standing.
If you haven’t noticed already, he fights a lot like the Celeric Beast with the key difference being him being on fire and using fire attacks.
You can take away some points from that fight as well a couple more that we are going to discuss below that will help you take Laurence The First Vicar down much more easily in Bloodborne:
- Stick close to his body and more specifically his right side.
- The boss gets progressively more aggressive after every phase so keep that in mind.
- It is the easiest to get behind during the first phase but after that, he can counter it well so we suggest you avoid that.
- During the second and third phases, you run out of stamina quickly due to constant running and dodging so always keep an eye on when you need to back up and recover.
- The recovery time between each attack or combo is almost similar so you can counter each one equally.
Phase 1
The battle starts off with a bang (literally) when Laurence, The First Vicar, slams his right hand on the ground, creating an AoE fire explosion. Don’t run towards him immediately and wait for a couple of seconds.
From there, throughout the whole first phase of the fight, he sticks close to his right side. If you stick really close to his body, the chance of him hitting you and grabbing you with his left hand will significantly drop.
Get behind him every chance you get and hack away at his legs. If you are carrying a heavy weapon, do a heavy attack to knock him down for a couple of seconds.
Boost your weapon with Bolt Paper to deal more damage. Roll to the right every time he uses his left hand to attack. It is only when he raises his left hand, you need to run away because the AoE attack is incoming.
If your loadout consists of fire protection armor such as the Charred Hunter Set, you will save lots of time; otherwise, you would’ve wasted on healing. Keep attacking his legs and eventually, you will get past the first phase when his health drops down to around 70%.
Moveset
- Pound Attack: A high-pitched scream followed by Laurence pounding his left hand on the ground creating an AoE that causes spash damage. There is a delay between his smash and the AoE generation.
- Reaction: Roll back when you hear the scream and as soon as the attack passes, run forward to attack him because he takes time to recover from the attack.
- Two-Hand Grab: He will retract both of his hands and do sort of like a clap and try to grab you in between. He will first crush you and then chuck you on the ground dealing a massive amount of damage.
- Reaction: Roll forward or backward. Rolling forward is risky because you need to time it perfectly for you not to get caught. At this moment, his head is within melee range, and you can do a heavy attack and deal tons of damage.
- One-Hand Grab: This is similar to the two-hand grab, but this time, instead of using both of his hands, he will try to grab you with either his left or right hand. Sometimes he will try to grab you with his other hand if his first attempt fails.
- Reaction: Roll back and avoid this attack. Countering this one is going to be risky so we suggest you avoid it and wait for another opportunity.
- High Jump Attack: If you are out of his melee range, he will high jump towards you and will try to land on top of you. If he is successful, it will result in an instant death.
- Reaction: Either stay close to him during the entire phase of the fight or the moment he jumps into the air, roll forward to avoid the attack.
- Back Swipe: This attack only comes if you are sticking around his back for too long. He will use his right hand and swing it across his back to get you off.
- Reaction: Roll to the left to avoid the attack.
- Swipe Combo: He will use both of his hands and swing them violently in both directions. There are several variations of this attack with minor changes with each one.
- Reaction: Before the attack, he will raise both of his hands in the air indicating that the attack is coming. It is best to maintain distance when you see this coming.
- Dash Attack: If you are at a medium range from him, he will run towards you and jump at the last moment followed by a swipe.
- Reaction: Either stay close to him or roll in either direction to dodge.
Phase 2
In Demon’s Souls, every boss fight has well-telegraphed phases but the one with Laurence The First Vicar is subtle. Anywhere between 75% to 50% health, the second phase will start. All of the attacks will remain the same but the aggression will be significantly higher.
Other than that, there is no difference between the first and the second phase.
Moveset
The moveset for the first and second phases remain the same minus the aggression of the attacks.
Phase 3
Once Laurence’s health drops down to its final 40%, the final and the most vicious phase will start. After hacking away at its legs for a long, they will explode and the boss will be left crawling without any legs.
Lava will be spewing out of his body and wherever he goes, he will leave a lava trail behind him. This phase is his manic phase and he will muster up every ounce of his strength and will try to kill you. You cannot get behind him anymore because of the constantly leaking lava.
You will have to attack from the front. Things get even trickier because he will also be vomiting lava. There is going to be lava all over the arena. You might take tons of damage but you have to keep healing and get through the final phase.
There is only a little bit of health left. There will be constant smashing using his hands. It is best to stay on his side throughout this phase. Even then, he is quick enough to face you and start spitting lava. Stay on your feet and slowly and steadily whittle his health down.
There is not going to be a very specific strategy for this phase. You just have to wing it and find the window to attack. Too much will be going on and if you want some breathing room, run, and gain some distance.
When Laurence closes the gap, you will be healed and ready to put the final nail in the coffin. This is how you take down Laurence The First Vicar in Bloodborne.
Moveset
- Crawl Rush: Laurence The First Vicar will use both of his hands to crawl towards you while pounding the ground constantly.
- Reaction: His movements are slow and can easily be dodged. Get to his side and attack to counter this attack.
- AoE Hand Smash: Similar to the first phase, he will smash his left hand on the ground and create an AoE explosion.
- Reaction: Roll backwards to avoid and then after the explosion, run forward to attack his hand because it stays there for a bit after the attack.
- Swipe Attack: Using his right hand, he will perform a swipe attack. This is his slowest attack.
- Reaction: Roll to forward and attack his body while he performs this combo.
- Lava Barf: It is in the name. He will vomit lava out of his mouth while aiming in your direction.
- Reaction: Keep running in circles around him to avoid getting hit.
- Lava Trail: While crawling around, he will leave a trail of lava behind him.
- Reaction: Don’t stand behind and stay on his right side to avoid stepping on it.
Rewards For Defeating Laurence, The First Vicar
Taking down this lava-spewing monstrosity a.k.a Laurence, The First Vicar in Bloodborne will net you the following rewards:
- Beast’s Embrace
- 29,500 Blood Echoes