Chikage (千景 Chikage lit. "A Thousand Views") is a katana-like sword in Bloodborne. There are 3 versions of this weapon: Normal, Uncanny and Lost. The only known differences being the Gem Imprints and the locations in which they are found
Chikage Description
"Foreign-made weapon wielded by the royal guards who protect Annalise, Queen of the Vilebloods at Cainhurst Castle.
When the intricate, rippled engraving that spans the Chikage's blade is imbrued with blood, the sword sings in scarlet hues.
However, the rite eats away at the wielder's very essence."
Chikage Information
- Transforms from a sword to a two-handed 'imbrued with blood' sword.
- The Normal variant of the Chikage is best for those who wish to use the sword in both modes.
- The Uncanny variant of the Chikage can be used as an alternative to the normal version, but elemental damage commonly found on waning gems is wasted on this weapon.
- The Lost variant of the Chikage is the best for those who wish to maximize damage in the transformed mode, as circular gems that boost blood attack are typically exclusive for firearms. Beware though that in transformed mode, thrusts attacks deal physical damage and therefore do not benefit from the circular gem boost at all and also scale on skill and strength instead of bloodtinge (see "player notes" for more details and video link).
Location
Normal
- Join the Cainhurst Vilebloods covenant available at Cainhurst Castle, and then purchase from the Messengers for 50,000 Blood Echoes.
Uncanny Chikage
- Cursed and Defiled Root Chalice - Fetid/Rotted/Cursed (unknown whether you need these offerings)
- Glyphs: 7h87j4h7 (Layer 1), xy8abwm9 (Layer 2), div596ff (Layer 2)
Lost Chikage
- Pthumeru Ihyll Root Chalice
- Glyphs:
- 89kdkqhd (Layer 1 pre-boss area)
- wic63yn8 (Layer 2 pre-lamp area)
- Sinister Pthumeru Ihyll Root Chalice
- Glyphs: 2ac8vumx (Layer 2)
- Rotted Pthumeru Ihyll Root Chalice
- Glyphs: yrim6m23 (Layer 1 in the pre-boss area)
- Cursed Fetid Rotted Pthumeru Ihyll Root Chalice
- Glyphs:
- kwnp6g7i (Layer 1 in the first bonus area)
- xnrajnz6 - Layer 2 bonus room contains a lost Chikage as well as an Oedon writhe rune on layer 3 bonus room.
Player Notes
- Cannot be buffed with Fire Paper, Bolt Paper, or Empty Phantasm Shell.
- Chikage inflicts Rapid Poison buildup with its attacks whilst transformed (two-handed).
- Chikage deals Physical damage in its untransformed state, and primarily Blood damage whilst transformed.
- Damage whilst untransformed (one-handed) scales with Skill (B) and Strength (E).
- Damage whilst transformed (two-handed) scales with Bloodtinge (S).
- Thrust attacks whilst transformed (two-handed) deal Thrust damage, utilizing physical scaling (Skill & Strength).
- Blood gems boosting physical attack will boost Chikage's blood attack.
- Whilst transformed (two-handed), the Chikage steadily drains (approximately) 0.85% HP/s from the player.
- The player can be killed by Chikage's HP drain.
- In the event that the player is killed while Chikage is in its transformed state, the weapon will remain in its transformed state upon respawn.
- When transforming from the weapon's one-handed state - while the sword is sheathed - pressing R1 or R2 will initiate a unique quick-draw attack into its two-handed state.
- The transformed (two-handed) R2 attack drains 200 to 400 HP from the user, depending on the duration of charge.
- This drain can be alleviated somewhat by performing the R2 attack during transformation (as described above), reducing the amount of HP drained, and shortening the duration for a full charge.
- Enemies that can be knocked down by a firearm (dogs, spiders, etc.) will be knocked down by the transformed state of this weapon, due to the Blood damage that it deals.
- Provides a means of killing yourself, in order to reset your world, reset your Blood Vial & Quicksilver Bullet counts without returning to Hunter's Dream, or to rid yourself of the intense shame accrued from constantly correcting FextraLife wiki pages.
Stats/Scaling
R: Rally/Regain. The amount of HP regained on an R1 attack immediately after taking damage
Move sets & Videos
Results from testing on an unarmored level 120 character with a +10 Chikage with no gems. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 100th.
Regular Move Set
| Move | Damage Type & Modifier | Stamina | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 Combo |  1x, 1x, 1.05x, 1.10x, 1.10x (5 hit combo) |
23 | A relatively quick flurry of slashes. The first slash is on a downward diagonal from right to left, followed by an upward diagonal from left to right, an upward diagonal from right to left, horizontal from left to right, a horizontal from right to left (that drifts somewhat down). If you have stamina to continue at this point, the series repeats starting with the second attack. If you can get an enemy caught in this series, this is a great combo to just not let up on. |
| Quickstep R1 | 1.05x (frontstep), 1.10x (sidestep) |
30 | There are separate moves for each direction, albeit two are very nearly the same. Stepping to the right leads to a right to left downward diagonal attack. Moving left is a left to right horizontal slash that drifts upward slightly. Moving back or forward leads to a mostly vertical slice from the ground to overhead. The windup is shorter on the front step, as the back moves forward a greater distance before attacking. |
| Backstep R1 | 1.00x |
30 | A horizontal slash from right to left after a short hop forward. |
| Dash R1 | 1.10x |
30 (+run) | Right to left horizontal slash with a slight downward trending path. This attack and the backstep can be relied on for crowd control (as best is possible with this weapon). |
| R2 Attack |  1.27x |
40 | A thrusting attack straight forward after a short pause. |
| Charged R2 | 1.85x |
60 | After extending the windup of the R2 by drawing the blade further behind the back, the blade is stabbed forward and down. |
| Backstep R2 | 1.25x |
50 | The sword is raised overhead and brought straight down into the ground. |
| Dash R2 | 1.17x |
50 (+run) | A surprisingly quick forward thrust caps off this running attack. Very useful for getting a quick strike in. |
| Leap | 1.45x |
50 | The sword is placed on the right shoulder during the leap and slashed into the ground vertically. |
| Transform Attack | 1.42x |
35 (+x) | The sword is sheathed and brought out in a slashing attack from left to right with a downward diagonal. This is the move, regardless of the prior action. |
Transformed Move Set
| Move | Damage Type & Modifier | Stamina | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 Combo | 0.95x, 0.98x, 1x, 1.02x, 1.07x |
25 | This combo is very similar to the normal mode R1 combo, except the sword is used with both hands. There are slight variations to angle (most prominent with upward diagonal slashes) but the attacks are roughly the same and in the exact same order. |
| Quickstep R1 | 1x (frontstep), 1.04x (sidestep) |
35 | As with the R1 combo, the moveset is the same as the regular mode, except the weapon is used with both hands. |
| Backstep R1 | 1.02x |
35 | Another small change of angle here. The regular mode drifts slightly up with it's horizontal slash, while this attack does not. |
| Dash R1 | 1.17x |
40 (+run) | A nearly vertical downward slash, that travels somewhat from right to left. |
| R2 Attack | 1.50x |
55 | The sword is sheathed and the attack is from the draw. It is from left to right on an upward diagonal. This is accompanied with a quick loss of health. |
| Charged R2 | 2.25x, 1.92 (follow-up) |
60 | The animation starts similarly to the standard R2 with the weapon being sheathed. However, the sword is drawn up and then down and to the right. The health loss is the same as the R2, as it occurs during the initial sheathing process. The additional windup time has no effect or increased health loss. |
| Backstep R2 | 1.29x |
60 | The blade is raised overhead as the hunter hops back. The left hand comes off the handle and touches the back of the blade, then snaps back to the handle to bring the weapon down vertically into the ground. |
| Dash R2 | 1.15x |
60 (+run) | An even faster forward thrust than the standard mode attack. Deals thrust damage scaling on physical stats, not bloodtinge. |
| L2 | 1.15x, 1.27x |
55 | The sword is cocked back with the blade parallel to the ground. The left hand comes up near the tip and the weapon is thrust forward. This thrust deals physical damage scaling on skill and strength instead of bloodtinge. A second attack is a downward diagonal slash from left to right. this one deal blood damage and scales on bloodtinge. |
| Leap | 1.47x |
60 | Another move very similar to the standard form. The strike is more diagonal (from right to left) than its counterpart but also slashes into the ground. |
| Transform Attack | 0.95x |
20 (+x) | A quick left to right slash that throws the blood from the blade and reverting the weapon back to regular mode. |
- R1: Vertical slashes.
- R2: Forward Thrust R2 (transformed): Quick-draw Slash.
- L1: Coats the blade with blood, inflicting a constant 0.85%HP/s debuff, and switches your damage type to "Blood" and inflicts Rapid Poison, which comes with an increased scaling bonus. The weapon will be kept in the sheath for a couple of seconds and the first R1 attack in this time will inflict double damage.
Trivia
- The Chikage is an allusion to a particular 'breed' of Katanas in the Souls games. While it is similar to both the Hiltless and Chaos Blade from Demon's Souls and Dark Souls respectively, the Chikage bears a stronger resemblance to the Magic Sword "Makoto" (also from Demon's Souls); the Makoto is the only one the bunch to actually drain the user's HP over time, rather than draining it with successful hits.
- The Chikage is is a hybrid of Japanese and European curved sword designs, leaving it somewhere between a Katana and Saber. One can assume this is because Cainhurst knights modified the "foreign-made" weapon to better fit design practices they were accustomed to.
- The name Chikage officially translates as 千景 (Thousand Views), but can be interpreted in other ways:
- chi = 千 (1000), 血 (blood)
- kage = 景 (view, vista), or 影 (shadow)
- 千景 - "A Thousand Views", 千影 - "A Thousand Shadows"
- 血景 - "Vision of Blood", 血影 - "Blood Shadow"
- The transformation attack has the hunter sheathe the Chikage before unleashing a quick-draw swipe. This is Iaijutsu, a traditional Japanese sword technique focused on quickly drawing one's sword.
- The sword is likely a tribute to Chikage Yamamura. He is credited under the "Special Thanks" of the game's credits. With the addition of the Old Hunters DLC, Yamamura is also referenced with the NPC, Old Hunter Yamamura, who wields a Chikage.
Concept Art
- Tested in PvP with naked characters, BL120 with maxed weapon
- Tested in PvP with naked characters, BL120 with maxed weapon
Anonymous
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Chi = blood, Kage = river or stream. Chikage = Bloody stream or Rivers of Blood
- Anonymous
So I know this is best on a skill/bloodtinge build, but is it viable for a str/bloodtinge build as well? To my knowledge the trick form scales only on bloodtinge, so it should still be good right?
Guys we always had that one bloody hell edgy katana in every soulsborne game,it's almost becoming on par with the moonlight greatsword.
DeS hiltless,DS1 chaos blade, DS2 Alonne's sword, DS3 bloodlust, BB chikage, sekiro mortal blade, and finally rivers of blood from the hit game elden souls 4. Makes me proud
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Hot take: this thing sucks. Bad spacing and clunky moveset and the untransformed mode is worthless. The transformed blood attack is some of the best but requires ridiculous farming to get the out of shape gems.
- Anonymous
"Provides a means of killing yourself, in order to reset your world, reset your Blood Vial & Quicksilver Bullet counts without returning to Hunter's Dream, or to rid yourself of the intense shame accrued from constantly correcting FextraLife wiki pages."
I laughed so hard at this.
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All I can say is, Careful with cursed gems that have the durability curse. The 120 Durability gets eaten alive in normal play. I cleared a quarter of the snake half forbidden woods with 1 gem that had -56 durability and it was broken. Deff one you don't wanna keep the durability curse with.
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Are we absolutely sure Chikage is "One Thousand Views" and not "Blood Wind"?
- Anonymous
The amount of bloodstains that appear in completely passive areas because of this weapon is hilarious.
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Can we talk about the absolute cheese this weapon is against certain enemies? Whatever can be stunned by 1 quicksilver bullet will be stunlocked by this weapon's transformed state for as long as your stamina bar lasts. Bleed kicks in the lasts hits just to add salt in the wound
- Anonymous
Great weapon, but sometimes if you try to L1+R2 charge too quickly it wont register and you will just get slaughtered while you’re standing there. Its weird, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. On PS5 tried it with multiple controllers, same issue. May be an issue with the adaptive triggers, either way its very annoying and frustrating
I made an account just for this. Whoever the **** put the glyphs for the chalice dungeons in for lost chikage deserves nothing but eternal suffering. Just ****ing search for 9nhuevvz after killing the first two bosses in the first chalice. Just wasted 3 ****ing days trying to progress enough to do that ****.
- Anonymous
Am I the only one who thinks it makes no sense for the translated name to be "1000 views"? "Blood Shadow" seems like it has much more of a correlation than that considering how it's literally a weapon coated in blood. It'd make a helluva lot more sense to use sen/senbon if they were referring to a thousand of something
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9nheuvvz. A lost chikage is in the bonus room before the lamp. You only need Pthumeru root chalice for this.
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The transformation attacks while sheathed look almost identical to the Moonveil Ash of War.
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To me it’s just looks like a cross between a sabre and a katana, but considering the technique is iaido apparently I think it’s fine to say it’s more katana like, like if it’s 60% katana it’s just easier to call it a katana, and from isn’t exactly known for getting their weapon names right with the types
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Warning! Compared to all other weapons I think the Chikage has pretty low durability. after some small testing in the Hunter's Nightmare Clinic, one hit took one durability point out of 120. NOT one kill, ONE HIT. so be careful cuz I had this thing die on me mid Ludwig battle and had to kill him with a +3 Saw Cleaver because of it... Still a badass weapon tho ngl :p
- Anonymous
Are dirty gems on this weapon worth it? I never used this weapon before and I like the inniate Rapid Poison but I would like to know If I should Focus on the normal damage or Poison buildup. I don't want anything crazy like the bloodattack damage gems, just some fun.
- Anonymous
dear guy named "toxic af"
i was going to hit you with the bowblade but because of your name i tried to use the chikage (cuz people say its broken) and im sorry for one shotting you
it is very broken indeed
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I like how everyone on this page is arguing if whether it’s a katana or not.
- Anonymous
I thought I’d hate this when I first started playing, but it’s easily one of my favorites. Yeah the damage is great, but that’s not why. It has a weirdly engaging, well…engage/disengage mechanic. Transforming and immediately attacking when there’s an opening, then backing off and untransforming to save your health. It was oddly satisfying.
- Anonymous
Not all curved swords are "katana". This weapon is more akin to a Dao if you want to generalise.
- Anonymous
I never thought I'd like this weapon because of the HP drain, but it's easily one of my favorites. I has this weirdly engaging...well, engaging mechanic. I'd transform to attack, then disengaging and untransform when I retreat to save my health. It was super satisfying.
- Anonymous
Can someone tell me, if when he hit normal with this weapon it is purely physical, that is, if I have it at +10, does it hit only 184, or does it also add 184 blood? and when it is transformed it only hits 184 blood + the points you have in bloodtinge?
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People have compared it to a katana, to karabela, to polish sabres, etc.
I think the Chikage most closely resembles a Gunto, specifically those used in the war between Russia and Japan. Katana blade but with a more standard european-styled hilt.
Lore wise, it makes some sense as well. Maria was given a Russian VA (although she is from cainhurst, or descended from cainhurst) a war is, among many things, a place where cultural exchange happens. Something like the chikage could've been created in a place like Cainhurst, with outside influence from a place like Japan.
I'm rambling a little at this point, but to keep it brief, it looks like a gunto, utilizes iaido techniques, and originates from a place that has vague connections to the Russo-Japanese war.
Possible influence?
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It might not be atrue katana, but sure as hell it utilizes the laijutsu a lot for it's transformed state.
- Anonymous
xnrajnz6 no longer works, oedon writhe and lost chikage are not there any more
- Anonymous
Outrageous damage even with less than top gear bloodtinge gems. BROKEN with those 31.5 blood tinge gems. Yes those are rare but even the more common ones are just busted as hell.
Chikage has always saved my back. I was fighting Ludwig with his holy blade and failing, finally saying I give up switched to the chikage first try killed him.
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Final verdict since everyone is debating this and I want to clear this up for the amateur sword experts.
The Chikage:
It’s a katana/kilij hybrid. The Kilij is a Eastern European Sabre most notably used by Hungarian and Romanian knights fighting for Vlad Tepes during the wars with the Ottoman Empire.
The blade IS a classic Japanese katana blade fitted in a Romanian Kilij pommel and grip. Simple. It makes sense Cainhurst would modify the grip/pommel considering they’re canonically inspired by mysterious carpathian royalty like the court of Vlad Tepes and his brother Radu (who betrayed him to the Ottomans) and the Kilij is a similar blade design yet you can also see how the grooved katana blade would be more suited to Cainhurst for their love of blood magic. Such a cool design and East meets West in the most epic way.
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Anyone been able to find the lost variant anywhere else than in a Ihyll root chalice? Really not in the mood to go through the cursed and defiled chalice again..
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I'm asking something interesting , i'm mostly a Skill-Based build having Skill at 40 now , with 15 Arcane... And i'm using mainly the Uncanny Burial Blade as a Main Weapon... However my question is , can i have the Chikage as an alternative 2nd weapon slot. ( But my Bloodtinge is only at 20 , and my Skill is at 40 ). So is the Chikage viable with this way , or do i need more Bloodtinge than my Skill attribute ? My Bloodtinge & Strength is at 20 base now... I'm only having 50 Vitality with 40 Skill with my BL 100 Hunter ( With just 20 Bloodtinge is Chikage +10 good or not ? ).
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This isn't a katana? no **** dude don't try to deny that it's not a katana.
Don't hate me I love this weapon so much I use it as my main weapon but man stop denies that it's not a katana. Chikage is a gothic hybrid katana but it's still a katana none the less
So yeah stop denies that it's not a katana and may the power of eldritch gods and anime be with you
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My theory is that merchant/trader from the far east travel to Cainhurst Castle and offers the katana to Queen Annalise. She accepted the offers but she distastes the traditional handle and guard of the katana. Cainhurst then modifies the handle and the guard so the katana will be fit with the Queen's tastes in the weapons design.
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I wanna name my First daughter Chikage, I Love this weapon so much
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"The stronger swordsman does not necessarily win. It is speed! Speed of hand! Speed of mind."
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"thousand views is a reference to death by a thousand cuts!" sounds about as reasonable as "year 2000 means year of the double torture-execution!"
Death by a thousand cuts isn't even ****ing japanese you absolute tool
Swordologist Wiki sirs ~ "It is erroneous to assert that the Chikage is a katana. It is clearly a karabela. Note the crossguard and the lack of kissaki."
The Chikage: (I really do be a katana though.)
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The L2 thrust and the dash R2 thrust both scale off physical damage for some odd reason. Kinda sucks tbh.
- Anonymous
As a small curiosity, how much HP Regen would be required to mitigate the HP loss in Trick form? Just something i'd like to know for a possible fun build
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i got my friend to play this game cuz i told him that there was a katana in the game then he rage quit cuz he couldint kill the boss (this is when we didnt know that the lost version was a thing) so he rage quit and deleated the game now he wants to play lmao
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If I have a uncanny burial blade and a lost chikage both +3 and my skill and bloodtinge being both 14 which should I bring to +4 first
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To add first I don't have the dlc but would using a build that has chikage and burial blade work like 40 Skill 40 Bloodtinge or should I go for other stats and I plan on using the lost chikage and the uncanny burial blade if this doesn't work what should I use
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CRAAAWLIING IN MYY SKIIIN
Memes aside, it's a pretty good risk/reward weapon with excellent DPS.
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it's not a Katana, those never, ever had a crossguard, it's more similar to a Karabela
- Anonymous
It does look like a katana blade without a kissaki. The hilt is not flat but round, so if one were to make a replica of this sword it would be peened so the blade is not held in place by meguki.
- Anonymous
*New location found*
Lost Chikage
false depth, can be done before unlocking F/R/C chalices.
GLYPH: fzfgu6ju
LAYER 4 pre area
Note: you can hypothetically do this chalice as soon as you start the game, but the bosses would be very difficult for a low level player, or a casual.
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Beast blood pellet + blood mode chikage + +18% bloodtinge damage blood gem + 50 bloodtinge = oof ow damage.
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I had thought that Chikage was chi as in blood and kage as in shadow. Blood shadow is a fitting name after all. Now I'm just disappointed.
Call me crazy but it looks more like a sabre than it does a katana.
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Does anyone know about rolling and make enemies bleed witouth attacking?
- Anonymous
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- Anonymous
Two flat damage gems and a percentile gem seem to give the highest damage results. Already has an "s" in blood scaling, so while scaling does increase damage, I didn't see as much damage for slotting a +65 Blood scaling blood gem for more flat damage. Keep in mind it's 2020, and the most active player ranges now seem to be about 90-110, so I played it safe with 50 vitality, 20 endurance, 50 bloodtinge build so I could hover at level 102.
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"The Chikage isn't actually a katana" * Weebs have left the chatroom *
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While you and Stacy went to the gym to pursue vanity, I studied the blood
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It's pretty much an introduction to the amount of healthdraining cursed gems you're gonna get. At this point, I'm paranoid of going afk the same way you're paranoid of leaving your house unlocked when you leave
- Anonymous
What are the best blood gems for a blood tinge and skill slash strength build? For example 30 strength, 40 skill and 50 bloodtinge.
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What are the best blood gems for a blood tinge and skill slash strength build?
- Anonymous
For the sake of accuracy, the L1 into R1 quickdraw attack deals 1.80x damage, not double. At best you can say it rounds up to double but it’s slightly lazy to just say double when it isn’t.
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Transformed Chikage with 3 HP draining gems or your a scrub who needs to git gud
- Anonymous
Wish there was more about what the transformation actually is. Is there blood in the sheath? Does the hunter cut their own hand to provide the blood? I really wanna know!
- Anonymous
Not the best weapon in the game but quite good. Of course tier *****s wont even touch it.
- Anonymous
Trivia: if you press L1 at exact moment before the Chicage transforms, the hunter will make a spinning motion and will return to normal mode. Pretty cool animation.
- Anonymous
The health drain on this weapon is completely insignificant compared to how powerful it is. I breezed through the game with it and the degen was basically never an issue.
Rivers of Blood… your enemy’s and your own
9
+10
-1