Witch of Hemwick |
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Location | Drops |
| 2611 | 11800 | Hemwick Charnel Lane | Bloodshot Eyeball x4 |
| Defenses | |||
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| 79 | 79 | 79 | -- |
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| 79 | 70 | 73 | 90 |
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| 200 | 180 | No | No |
Witch of Hemwick (ヘムウィックの魔女 Hemuuikku no majo lit. "Witch of Hemwick") is a Boss in Bloodborne. It is a special variation of the Eye Collector.
"'In the outskirts of Yharnam, the city of gravekeeper witches carved by the sunlight, Hemwick. In its depths, an old, gigantic structure and one Old lady lies in wait. Holding suspicious rituals in the deepest of the night, for that very purpose it is said that she gathers the eyeballs of the living. In the city where unwanted corpses would be gathered and disposed of, her outfit might just be befitting of one such place.
Witch of Hemwick Information
- This boss is optional, but is recommended, as it is the only way to obtain the Rune Workshop Tool, which allows you to equip Caryll Runes.
- After defeating her a small cellar room in her abode can also be entered, where the Rune Workshop Tool is located on a corpse.
- The two witches can be told apart based on which one attacks you if you come close enough in front of them. The witch that attacks you upon approach is the one who's health bar is visible. The one who's health bar is not visible will not attack you. (Tested in phase one, unconfirmed when pushed into next phase).
- During Co-op the co-operator (summoned player) cannot see the witches unless the Beckoner (host) is near them. They can still see the glow effects and damage them, though.
Locations
- Hemwick Charnel Lane at the very end of this area.
- Pthumerian Ihyll Root Chalice as regular enemies which can summon Mad Ones.
Drops
- Bloodshot Eyeball x4
- Blood Echoes (11,800), NG+ (77,503), NG++ (?), NG+3 (96,878), NG+6 (155,005), NG+7 (193,756)
NG+9 (332,485) [according to 's video at 33:31, either continues scaling and/or runes involved?] - Gain 1 Insight for finding the boss and 2 Insight for killing it.
Combat Information
- Despite the boss's name, there are actually two witches, which are visually identical. The second witch's HP bar doesn't show up until you kill first one, but you can still deal damage to it. This is why it will sometimes appear that you are dealing no damage to the boss—you are actually damaging the second witch. This damage will be reflected when its life bar does appear. If you have killed the second witch prior to the second phase of the fight, its life bar will still appear, only empty.
- Keep your eyes open for a reddish glow in the room—that's usually where a witch is. Keep running around the arena. When you are close enough to one of them, it will become visible and able to be locked on to.
- The witches can revive each other in the second phase. If you take too long to kill the second witch, it will revive the first one with 20% of its health. It may be best to search for and deal some damage to the second witch before finishing off the first one, making the second half of the fight easier to manage. The witches start casting more spells during this phase, and the two have an incredibly damaging eye-gouge move they can execute together when they are close enough.
- Mad Ones will spawn during the fight. The first one spawns when you enter, and then more will spawn after you have dealt some damage to the witches.
- You can ignore the Mad Ones almost entirely and just search for the Witch. Keep hitting her until she drops below 50% health.
- No Mad Ones will spawn if you have 0 insight during the fight, trivializing it entirely. This is impossible to achieve on the first attempt at the boss, since simply witnessing it for the first time grants insight.
- The witches can damage each other with the arcane nova explosion.
- Very easy to back-stab dealing massive damage to the witch. After hitting the witch into a visceral able state if you wait about 1 second and charge up another backstab dealing more damage and allowing for a visceral attack still.
- Strong to bolt.
| Attack Name | Attack Description & Counter |
|---|---|
| ?? | ?? |
| ?? | ?? |
| ?? | ?? |
| ?? | ?? |
Strategy 1 (Heavy/Transformed weapon and dashing)
This can be a difficult and irritatingly drawn out battle due to the witches' invisibility and revive abilities. This is the best strategy I've found that also applies to NG+. equip a heavy weapon such as Kirkhammer or Ludwig's Holy Blade, if you don't have a heavy weapon then the transformed version of what you have will work. When you enter the room ignore the stalker that is summoned by the witch (recommended.) The witches tend to gravitate towards six specific locations in the room; on both sides of wooden ramp in middle of the room and the left and right corners of the far north and south sides of the room. (Rarely will they be in middle.) With that in mind, immediately start sprinting and start making laps around the room, staying close to the wall, and rotate camera as you sprint so you can see most of the room while your moving.
A great way to spot them also is to roll or attack the barrels and breakable objects and when a witch walks by the debris you will see the pieces of debris move. Sprinting around raises chance that you will come into close proximity to invisible witches, and they will become visible as a result. As soon as you see one use a charge attack then quickly spam R1 with remaining stamina to maximize damage as they will quickly dissapear after taking damage. As mentioned above it can help to ensure you damage both witches equally to avoid repeated resurrections. Repeat the steps above; sprint laps, rotate camera to ensure you spot them quickly when they appear, glow red, or run into debris from broken objects. Charge attack, spam R1, repeat.
Strategy 2
Using some of the combat information given above, and using Kirkhammer, this worked pretty well. 1st ignore stalkers. You can get 2 fully charged R2 attacks and a backstab (in hammer form) before the witch vanishes. repeat until witch's health bar is is at a point you can kill it with just one of the combos i just mentioned. At this point you have to avoid damaging the witch with the visible health bar, and concentrate on the witch with the invisible health bar.
To do this, once a witch appears get in melee range and wait a few seconds. If the witch begins to attack it is the one you want to avoid hitting at this time. Just avoid and wait for it to disappear. Conversely if the witch does NOT attack, start hammering. Now repeat until invisible health bar witch is dead then you can finish off the other with one combo before it has a chance to heal the dead one.
Depending on your damage output this shouldnt take long. was easy mode in NG+ with Kirkhammer +10 total AR 652. good luck.
Videos
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Notes & Trivia
- She propably comes from the Unseen Village as a few of her kin can be found there (this is supported by the fact that there are two Witches of Hemwick). This theory is supported by the removed eyeballs too for the description of the item suggests that the victim could be still alive in the time of the removal.
AnonymousEasy fight. Just go in, get the insight then use a Bold Hunters Mark. Go to the Hunter's Dream and spend ALL of the insight on whatever you want/need and go back in and fight the witches. You'll regain insight AFTER you defeat the witches.
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Definitely averagely-bad puzzle boss gameplay wise but probably one of the least pointless in that they actually teach a gameplay mechanic unlike basically every other puzzle boss, and not just being a shitty boss that guards a mcguffin
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Hardest boss in the game. Took me 4 years and 3562 hours to defeat.
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the statue in the boss room looks like its Laurence getting blood ministration since the man is in the same position as Laurence on the alter in the nightmare
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This probably is the easiest fight in the game, the mad ones were easy to ignore and the witches easy to locate, I even prevented the second one from reviving the first one.
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You can avoid the insight gain from seeing then by using bold hunter's mark and teleporting out.
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One of the easier bosses in the game. Kind of tedious to run around trying to find them after they disappear, but the summoned Mad Ones are super slow and easy to take out. I did get grabbed by a witch once (spamming buttons didn't seem to do anything to get me out of it unlike other grabs) but the damage wasn't really that bad. You can ignore the adds, but I just killed them whenever they popped up. They stagger very easily (even with the Threaded Cane.)
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could be a neat concept if the enemies were actually aggressive, and if the level wasn't a big empty cube that's impossible for the witches to hide in
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I can confirm, having zero insight makes it very easy. Without the mad ones, the difficult part is just to find the damn witches !
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Easily the hardest boss in the game, the fact that she can go invisible makes beating her next to impossible. Took me 3 and a half hours to find her and once I did she instantly gouged my eyes out and killed me. My second try only took me 4 hours to kill the first witch before I realized that there is a second one and at that point it was already a couple hours past my bed time and I have school the next day so I had to quit.
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The Mad Ones' aggro zone is really small here. They don't come after you unless you are standing next to them. They then back off once you run across the room.
I think this boss fight is supposed to be like the Deacons fight in DS3 but was made way too easy.
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Pro-tip to make the fight easier by not spawning any Mad Ones: Use the Bold Hunter's Mark. It says that on your first try with the boss it's impossible to have 0 insight because you gain one by looking at her, so Mad Ones will spawn anyways. Use the Bold Hunter's Mark to escape as soon as you see her. Spend the Insight and go back. I tried this because I had a good amount of insight at the moment and I didn't want to lose it, and it worked!
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Easily the most pitiful boss fight in any souls borne game I’ve ever played
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Is it just me or do these gals look a lot like the servants from Cainhurst? And Hemwick IS the transition level to the castle, so maybe there's a lore connection?
if you're somehow having trouble with their grab/aoe, simply hitting them once is enough to make them teleport which gives you some time to breathe
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I tried pulling out a torch during this fight and the witches appeared in a noticeably larger area from the player. Makes finding the witches way easier.
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It's all fun and games till you get the 1% chance where the madmen actually aggro and 8 hit combo you to death in a corner
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The witches have attacks? They did literally nothing the whole fight. They just wandered around disappearing and reappearing while I just cut them up.
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Love how the combat info is more just trivia about the fight than it is an actual strategy because it's basically just pinwheel with extra steps
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More like the Bi*ches of HemDI*K amirite hahahahahaha my wife is cheating on me
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Enter the boss room > use homeward bone a.k.a bold hunter mark > spend all insight > ??? > Profit (?)
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Not sure if it's worth adding, but if you are caught in one of the witches ranged grab attack, you cannot be hurt by their aoe attack. May be common knowledge.
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.... how the hell does the character not lose their eyes? is that just the hunter's blood healing all the damage as it comes only limited by their willpower to endure the lasting pain, or is it just the nature of the dream itself?
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It is not true that a cooperator cannot see the witch if the host is not near it. I’ve helped plenty of people on this fight and I can see them just fine even if the host is on the other side of the room.
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There seem to be a statue of the witches in darksouls 3. Right out side the curse rotten tree boss. The mad ones popped into my head during londo run through they come out of no where and stab you like ninjas.
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F*cking c*nts in the Dungeons have cost me more echoes than I can count.... all they do is call mad ones, hate them
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I actually wonder if this witch (er, one of them) is actually Runesmith Caryll. I don't really have any evidence to support this other than the fact that we find her workshop tool in the witches' basement... Gotta wonder what happened to the bae.
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The witch can grab you from behind and slit your throat so be careful
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I died on this boss once mainly because i heard its EXTREMELY easy which it is, its more of a threat to GET to the boss itself. I got extremely greedy and i didn't pay attention to my health and stamina bar and i STILL almost won.
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So the witch ignored the two other allies the entire match and keep only spamming her grab spell and then gouging my eyes...wtf is happening I don't see anyone having that problem...
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This fight is bull*****the witch keeps grabbing me and insta killing me.
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I feel like this fight would be more interesting if the mad ones she summons were as quick as those in the chalice dungeons. Those guys act like they're on adderall, while the boss's summons appear to have smoked a pile of weed before showing up to work. They have only a passing interest in attacking you and act like they're on a Sunday morning stroll.
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For the first time yesterday, I saw a witch kill a mad one with its arcane nova attack. Been playing the game since release and I didn't even know they could do that
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"Strong to bolt" no they aren't you imbecile. They are weak to bolt.
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Call Me A Noob, But I Actually Died To This Boss ..... TWICE('Cause I Have 0 Patience).
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It says that the summoned player can't see the witches unless the beckoner is near them, that is not true, I've co-oped this boss a lot for quick insight and echoes and I've seen and attacked a witch with the beckoner on the other side of the room fighting a mad one.
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The fight for me lasted around a minute. Completely smashed them with the kirk hammer. The funny thing is though it says no mad ones will spawn if you have 0 insight when entering the fight. But after i killed the last witch i got 2 insight and a mad one spawned and also died instantly hahaha.
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This fight becomes a joke if you kill Eileen and buy the Blades of Mercy. I would reccomend not doing that if you're running a STR or ARC build, though. DEX build works the best. Anywho, get the BoM up to +3, +4, or +5. Find the first Witch, get behind her, charge your R2 in untricked form and visceral. Time your next charged R2 for right as she gets up. It staggers her forward and leaves her open for yet another R2 into a visceral. Rinse and repeat (don't forget to lather) until the first witch is nearly dead, then go find the other one and do the same thing. The Mad Ones/Stalkers can be ignored for the most part, but always practice caution.Happy Hunting, and I hope this helps someone. May the Good Blood guide your way.
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Fought them in ng+1, unfortunately my weapon has degraded completely so I was doing a third of my damage with my Holy Moonlight Sword(made the fight much longer) but it ended hilariously when one of the witches killed the other by trying to blow me up with a spell. And then I finished the last one off. Good times.
reminiscent of pinwheel
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