Chikage - Bloodborne

Chikage
Imprints (Normal)
Imprints (Uncanny)
Imprints (Lost)
Damage
92	92	--	--	--
--	30	100	100	120
Requirements & Scaling
10 E	14 D	12 C	-- D	--

Chikage (千景 Chikage lit. "A Thousand Views") is a katana 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.

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)
•  
• Cursed Fetid Rotted Pthumeru Ihyll root chalice
• Glyph: xnrajnz6 - Layer 2 bonus room contains a lost Chikage as well as an Oedon writhe rune on layer 3 bonus room.

Player Notes

• The Chikage deals physical damage in normal mode and blood damage in transformed mode. 
  • The damage in normal mode scales with both Skill (B) and Strength (E), and scales exclusively with Bloodtinge (S) when transformed.
  • Blood gems boosting physical attack will boost Chikage's blood attack.
• When transformed, the Chikage drains approximately 0.85% HP/s from its user; the user can be killed from this drain.
  • The HP drain in the transformed form takes place after every full second spent in transformed form, meaning that cancelling it before a full second has elapsed will not cost any HP. This can be abused by using two transform attacks back to back. This combo takes little under two seconds, costing only a single tick of HP.
  • If the player dies while using the transformed mode, they will respawn with the transformed mode still active, and will continue to slowly lose HP. Try to keep this in mind when going idle \ AFK.
• During the one-handed-to-two-handed transformation (while the sword is sheathed), pressing R1 or R2 will initiate a unique quick-draw attack.
• The transformed R2 attack drains 200 to 400 HP from the user, depending on the duration of charge. This effect can be alleviated somewhat by performing the R2 attack during the transformation (as described above), which reduces the amount of HP drained, and shortens the duration needed for a fully charged attack. In conclusion, it is recommended to use the otherwise costly R2 attack in this manner.
• 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.
• The transformed mode innately causes rapid poison build-up with each attack. Installing dirty gems will cause the weapon to also deal rapid poison build-up while not transformed.
• The Chikage cannot be buffed with fire paper, bolt paper, or empty phantasm shell.
• Provides a means of killing yourself in order to reset your world or to reset your vial/bullet counts without returning to hunter's dream.
• While untransformed the Chikage takes you 23 stamina to swing with an R1

Stats/Scaling

R: Rally/Regain. The amount of HP regained on an R1 attack immediately after taking damage

														R
+0	92	92	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	D	C	D	40
+1	101	101	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	D	B	D	42
+2	110	110	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	D	B	D	44
+3	119	119	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	D	B	D	46
+4	128	128	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	D	B	D	48
+5	137	137	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	C	A	D	50
+6	146	146	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	C	A	D	52
+7	155	155	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	C	A	D	54
+8	164	164	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	C	A	D	56
+9	173	173	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	C	A	D	58
+10	184	184	--	--	--	--	30	100	100	E	B	S	D	60

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.
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. A second attack is a downward diagonal slash from left to right.
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 isn't actually a katana - it is a katana/european sword hybrid. Its short crossguard resembles the one of an early viking sword, or the one of a xiphos (greek sword). The closest european crossguard shape with  this sword is the one of a Karabela (a polish sabre). In other hand, the  hilt and pommel resemble the ones of a longsword (a bit longer, to get easier katana traditional jutsu swings), while the blade shape and the 2-handed fighting style is very similar to a katana. A possible explanation for the origin of this hybrid is that the katana's design was imported to Cainhurst, where some modifications were made to create a sword similar to that commonly used by their knights.
• 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 each successful swing.
• Chikage (千景) translates to "Thousand views". However, Chi Kage (血影), translates to "Blood Shadow". This is likely intentional wordplay, as both names are applicable to the  weapon. "Thousand views" likely refers to "death by a thousand cuts", while "Blood Shadow" is a more literal name for the weapon.
• The transformation attack has the hunter sheathe the Chikage before unleashing a quick-draw swipe. This is a reference to Iaijutsu, a traditional Japanese sword technique that focuses on quick-drawing. At its finest, Iaijutse allows the warrior to both unsheathe and strike at incredible speeds.
• The name is a tribute to Chikage Yamamura. He is credited under "Special Thanks" in the game's credits. With the addition of the Old Hunters DLC, Yamamura is also referenced with the NPC, Old Hunter Yamamura, who also wields a Chikage.
• The name may be a reference to the work "A Thousand Plateaus" by Giles Deluze and Felix Guattari; a famous philosophical essay about fluidity and functionality, perhaps tied to the esoteric nature of the weapon's function.  

Concept Art

1. Tested in PvP with naked characters, BL120 with maxed weapon
2. Tested in PvP with naked characters, BL120 with maxed weapon