Laurence, The First Vicar (初代教区長ローレンス Shodai kyōku-chō Rōrensu lit. "Laurence, The First Vicar") is a Boss in Bloodborne. He was added with The Old Hunters DLC.
"I tell you, I will not forget our adage."
"Fear the old blood."
Laurence, The First Vicar General Information
Laurence is the only strictly optional boss in the DLC, as defeating him does not advance the story of the DLC.
Initially the boss room is accessible very early to get the Eye Pendant key item from Laurence's hand, whose body is inactive on the altar. The arena itself is exactly the same as the one in Vicar Amelia's fight.
Once Laurence's Skull is acquired, coming back to the arena and approaching his body will initiate a cutscene, after which the boss and the player will be put into set positions and the fight starts.
This fight has three phases:
- Phase 1:
- Laurence will look and behave very similarly to the the Cleric Beast, having a similar set of moves, but with fire added.
- He will have the same breakable body parts, with the head also being an opening for a visceral attack.
- Phase 2:
- After reaching about 70% health the second phase will subtly initiate.
- Laurence will suddenly gain new attacks, both from the Cleric Beast and his own.
- Becomes far more aggressive.
- Phase 3:
- Around 40% health the third phase is initiated as Laurence breaks his legs and falls down (watch out) and now crawls on the floor.
- He will now continually leave lava behind him, leaking from his lower body, and gain a completely new set of moves.
- None of the body parts can be broken in this stage.
Location
- Hunter's Nightmare, in the Grand Cathedral after the flaming boulder.
Drops
- Beast's Embrace.
- Blood Echoes: NG (29,500), NG+6 and so on (310,045)
Strategy
- Valtr can be summoned for this fight if you have the Impurity rune memorized. His "lamp" is located before the staircase that leads to the boss. Please be mindful that summoning help increases the health of enemies so if your summon does not do enough damage they are just making the fight harder for you. That being said, summons can provide an excellent distraction for the boss while you attack from behind.
- Very similar fight to the Cleric Beast fight from the main game. Stick to its back and attack a few times before backing off. In the third phase Laurence's legs will break and he will continue to fight crawling. The fire spitting can be easily dodged. Watch out for a swift forward crawling attack while Laurence slashes several times in front of him. Facing him, circle him clockwise and try to get to his side to avoid being comboed by the attack. Magic like Executioner's Gloves can make the third phase easier.
Key Strategies
Target Laurence's head with pistols or the Piercing Rifle to stagger him, then follow through with a visceral attack. Staggering him work in exactly the same manner as with the original Cleric Beast; he will eventually repair the damage to his head, allowing you to injure it and stagger him again. You can also injure Laurence's limbs, but unlike most other bosses this will only stun him temporarily and does not actually increase the damage he receives. The Whirligig Saw's transformed L2 attack will quite figuratively tear Laurence to shreds, especially if you've also fortified it with Beasthunter Gems; fast weapons with serrated bonuses such as the Saw Cleaver and Saw Spear are also ideal for dishing out heavy damage as quickly as possible. If you're having trouble with the lava stunlocking you to death during Phase 2, try using a Lead Elixir - it'll give you enough super armor to walk through the flames without flinching, though you'll need to keep a close eye on your HP. The Loch Shield will absorb the impact and most of the damage from his AoE's, though it is NOT effective for blocking the actual, physical swings themselves.
Close Melee Tactic
- This boss deals fire and physical damage, so I'd recommend using the Charred Hunter set which has very good fire resistance. Level 40 vitality should be enough to withstand 2-3 hits with this attire.
- For runes I use Guidance (rally potential +20%), Fading Lake (Fire reduction +5%), Clockwise Metamorphosis (max HP +10%) and using Hunter Axe for its great regain potential.
- Obviously this setup is focused on aggressive attacks and regaining lost health with regain.
- This boss has 3 phases of combat, first phase similar like Cleric Beast fight, in the second phase it becomes more aggressive, and in the third it employs a lot of area of effect attacks.
- The method I found is effective with this setup is dodge to his right side when he attacks and stick behind him always and hack and slash. This will prompt him to swipe with his backhand but you can easily dodge towards the hand he's using.
- The same tactics are used when he changes to phase 2.
- It will come to phase 3 when it loses its leg and lava coming out of its body. Now its attacks will mostly focused in front of him, so it's clear you'll need to keep to its side and hurt him while cycling every time he moves.
- Things to note is dodge to his right if he's attacking with right hand, same goes for left hand (weak spot).
Phase 1/Phase 2 Dodge/Melee - Phase 3 Lure and Run
- Start off with as much fire and physical damage you can get via bloodgems. Suit up in best physical/fire defense gear.
- I was in NG+, around level 170, +10 Whirligig, and doing about 585 per R1 double handed attack. Buffed with phantasm shell or bolt paper about 750.
- Lock on for the first phase and treat it much like the cleric beast fight. Dodge his attacks by dashing back and then on his final swing while he recovers, dash up to him and get 2 good hits in. I noticed that on any attacks where he leaves his left arm (your right) open after an attack, a good R2 attack can stagger leading to a visceral attack for about 3000 damage.
- When he backs you into a corner dodge under his last swipe to get around him and back to open space to back up. I always dashed around to his left side (your right). I found dodging towards his big arm easier.
Phase 3 - 40% Health
- Things get a bit more complicated when he loses his legs. Try to save all your bullets and most vials for this phase.
- Make sure your Blacksky Eye is equipped. You can whittle down health with good shots from this. I found I was dealing just over 100 damage per hit. If you have all 20 bullets, 2000 ain't bad for whats essentially free hits (if you can connect them all)
- I died countless times to Laurence in this phase being backed into a corner and trying to dash out once getting pinned by Laurence and his lava pool. While he is spitting lava or thrashing in the arena unload the Blacksky Eye on him, make sure you are close enough that your shots connect.
- (1) Wait to attack with your weapon until after he is done with his sequence of crawling slashes. I think they come in 5 slashes or 6 slashes. You can usually get a hit when he recovers his last slash with his big arm. Don't get greedy. I'd stick to one hit max.
- (2) There is a none fire slash that he does where he doesn't crawl, He will curl his big arm around his head while recovering and this is the safest time to attack.
- At some point he will start crawling towards you and you will get backed into a corner, but there is an easier way to get around this than it seems. When he starts his slashing crawl, get into a far corner of the room so as to guide him to the corner. Once, he is getting closer, unlock and run a wide arc around him as far from his arms as you can manage. Then book it to the other end of the arena and wait for your openings to attack him. (2) is much less risky than (1), but you get less opportunities. Laurence seems to favor (1).
- I died countless times to him in phase 2 until I thought to play more of a defense game. His attack have so much range and hit so hard, I think its a pretty good route to take.
- Hope that helps out. I hope that you slaughter Laurence with a little more confidence. Happy hunting.
Hit n' Run Tactic
- Keep enough distance that no matter what the boss does he can't hit you with his first move. Don't hang around too far though. If he does the high jump attack you were too far. The plan is to fish out his close range combos and wait in the distance for him to finish.
- Once Laurence has completed his moves run attack with heavy hitting weapon. If you have time do running R2.
- Immediately after your attack get back to the same distance you were before.
- When above 70% health Laurence is pretty passive after his combos so hit and run is easy.
- After health bar drops below 70% boss starts to fall around and gets more aggressive after finishing a combo. It is safest to hit and run after combos like "two punches to the floor + heavy smash" and "heavy left hand smash + out of the ground pull."
- After he loses his legs just stay in front of him and hit and run mostly when he uses his weak hand swipe. Don't go in when he swipes with his better hand but if he punches the floor with it you can hit it after the explosion.
No-lock, Controlled Panic Strategy
- Extensive observation has indicated the worst place to be around Laurence is the 180-degree arc in front of him (I died probably fifty times to him over three days). And while being a bit behind him is somewhat safer, he can still swipe you from there--and if you're locked on and close enough to hit him, the arc on his attacks is enough to hit you. If you're having trouble evading while locked onto him, forego the lock and run past him on his opening attack and get behind him and to his right. He'll have to turn to hit you, usually, and you can roll past his knees, getting into the safe zone behind him. He'll try to turn, but you can stay behind him most of the time, and evade him more easily there.
- When he flurries attacks, keep rolling to the right to stay behind him and with a touch of practice on timing, you should evade his long attack series. Just try not to get against a wall or corner if you can help it, it makes the camera become unhelpful.
- Your choice moments to attack are his three-hit ground slam (he starts off by punching the ground with his skinny arm, then the large one, then doubles up), his two-handed grab move, and if you can attack him enough, any time he's bleeding out, restoring his limbs or fallen over (which he will do if you're attacking his legs/hips, which are the handiest targets from behind.) If you're feeling daring, his explosive palm slam move also provides an opportunity for a hit or two when he's coming out of it--just don't get too close to him before the explosion happens.
- Always, always, always leave yourself a stamina margin. Don't get greedy, he has a lot of health and won't go down quickly. Don't use more than one-half to two-thirds of your stamina attacking him. Leave yourself some to escape him--you can outrun him if you need to heal.
- It helps to have a weapon with a bit of reach on it. The Threaded cane, the Moonlight Sword, whatever works. It'll help tag him sometimes when your spacing is a bit off.
- Once he's visibly under 50% of his health, I found it useful to disengage, lock onto his head, and try to shoot him into being open to a visceral attack. If you get it at the right point of his life bar, you can shorten phase 3 significantly.
- Once he's in phase 3, then you lock onto him--but only when you mean to attack him or he's crawling. Still stay on his right side and try your level best to stay there. Attack after he attacks with his skinny arm--I used the normal-form Strong Attacks of the Moonlight Sword (a straight thrust with a good bit of reach and good speed for as long as it reaches) to get him once or twice when he gave an opening. Still leave a margin, and don't be afraid to break lock and run well away from him to heal and try to bait him into spewing lava so you can approach him again.
"Ranger of Old" Strategy
Preparation: This strategy requires the use of Simon's Bowblade, primarily the use of its bow form. You'll want some degree of Bloodtinge investment (25-30. 50 is ideal.) If you have high skill, Clawmark Runes are an excellent supplement for this strategy.
- Come alone. Additional summons will only serve to make landing the shots you need much harder and make Laurence far more unpredictable.
- Make sure that you have Simon's Bowblade in bow form when initiating the fight and lock on to the upper portion of Laurence's body. (the white dot should be able to line up with his head with positioning and timing)
- Stay close enough that he does not pounce, but just out of reach of his strong arm. You want to bait out the overhead palm smash followed up by the lift and explosion. When you see him beginning the palm smash, dash backwards out of range of the AoE while staying as centered in front of him as well as you can. Initiate a charged R2 just as his hand is lifted off the ground, if timed correctly, his head should lower directly into the arrow's path just as the arrow is released.
- After enough times (two for this player on NG++ with a +9 bowblade at 50 bloodtinge and three +27% attack bloodgems) he will stagger. Do not hesitate: give him a taste of the strongest attack you have. If you're pure Bloodtinge, this would likely be usage of the Chikage, or just use a few charged shots while he's immobile if you want to keep away. A strength-oriented build will want to simply use the biggest and baddest attack they've got with their best weapon. An arcane build will likely be hitting it with either their strongest spell or the Holy Moonlight Sword. A skill build will simply want to visceral him.
- After the first stagger, you will want to do one of two things: either one, stay at about the same range and wait for the head to regenerate or take a few swings to punish him after his attacks if you feel confident enough to dodge any counters Laurence might employ. Eventually his head will regenerate.
- Rinse and repeat this method until he starts crawling around. At this point, you're not going to be going for visceral attacks any more, just damage. If you've followed well in the last stage, you should still have plenty of blood vials and some extra bullets. You're going to need them.
- Stay to the outside of his weak arm at a slight distance, dodging attempts to counter as needed.
- Keep pumping him with arrows, but watch out for when he attempts to charge. If you're standing outside his weak arm, he shouldn't be able to hit you. Just dodge before his weak hand strikes the ground every time to avoid being damaged by the resulting AoE. Don't worry about him managing to maneuver the charge into you, his turning ability is terrible at this stage. Just stay to his side.
- Whatever you do: do NOT let him get you in front of him. If he charges you while you're in front of him, don't panic. Calmly, but quickly dodge perpendicular to the left of his path in time with each "step" until you're outside his turning radius.
"Fireproof Coward" Strategy
- First, make sure you buff your fire resistance as high as you can with your clothes. Harrowed hat and the Yamamura gear worked for me. Bring a weapon geared against beasts and some fire paper. I used a +10 Saw Cleaver on a Strength build.
- Get to the cathedral and summon Valtr. He is your meat shield, albeit a lousy one.
- When the fight starts, Valtr should draw aggro pretty quickly. Circle around Laurence and punish his hind legs. Back off when he notices you or you run out of stamina.
- The goal for the first phase is to wear Laurence down and keep Valtr alive. Hit his back, then back off and heal when things get dangerous. Valtr will generally keep Laurence distracted enough that you can get away with this. Try to keep at least 10 blood vials available for part two of the fight.
- For the second phase, your goal is again to stay on Laurence's backside. Not directly behind him, but off at a slight angle so that you're only getting stunlocked by his flaming diarrhea half the time. The damage you'll take will be minimal with the right gear, and you'll spend your attacks punishing him. For Saw Cleaver the longer second form is more effective here.
- If Laurence is swinging at nothing or Valtr you're fine. If he tags you even once, back off quickly and heal. Make sure you keep your distance until your health is back up, then wait for Laurence to commit himself and dive around to his side.
- Valtr will die at some point, but if Laurence is down by 2/3 of his health you should be fine.
- I had 47 in HP and was around level 105-115 when I beat Laurence on a first playthrough, so your mileage may vary.
Videos
(( Please respect these video posting guidelines))
Moveset with legs 1:st and 2:nd phase
| Attack Name | Attack Description & Counter |
|---|---|
| Sticky left hand fist pound | Laurence screams a high pitched scream and pounds his large left fist in to the ground in front of him, causing splash damage and the fist gets stuck. About 3 seconds later the fist explodes and Laurence returns to his nominal position. Counter: When you hear the high pitched scream, back off somewhat to Laurence's left (your right). After the explosion you have a small counter window. Run for his large left arm. If you are too slow he typically jumps backwards but he might also counter so be careful. |
| Non-sticky left hand fist pound | Laurence screams a medium pitched scream and pounds his large left fist in front of him, causing splash damage. After a brief while he retracts the hand. |
| Two hand grab | Laurence pulls both hands backwards and contemplates his life choices before swiftly closing them together trying to grab you. This grab tracks you. If he manages to grab you, he lifts you up and inflicts tons of damage before throwing you into the ground. |
| One hand grab | Laurence emits a low pitched scream and performs a grab attack with his left hand. The grab attack has a short wind-up but has also has a short reach. Might be followed up with a right hand grab. |
| High Jump | If you are far away from Laurence he will jump up high in the air and try to land on top of you which is an instant kill. |
| Three fist pound | Laurence pounds his right and left fists quickly in succession into the ground and finishes of with a slow two handed first pound. All of these have splash damage, especially the last. Ensure you maintain proper distance You can roll through the first ones with good timing but best practice is just to back off as soon as you see them coming. Counter: After Laurence has finished with the double fist whammy you have a perfect opportunity to put in some hard hits to his head. If he has received enough damage to his head his skull will crack allowing you to perform a visceral attack. |
| Back swipe | If you are behind Laurence he will perform a back swipe with his right hand and may follow up with a swipe with his left hand. These can be rolled through if you get the timing down. |
| Four hand arm swipe |
Laurence will swipe with his right, left, right and left arm in front of him. |
| Four hand arm swipe with collapse (2:nd phase only) |
Similar to the the four hand arm swipe above but instead of the finishing swipe Laurence collapses forward, flails around with his arms and collapses once again. |
| One hand arm swipe (1:st phase only?) |
Laurence screeches and swipes one of his arms, might be followed up with a swipe with the other arm. |
| Dash (2:nd phase only) |
Laurence backs off into a corner and locks onto you and starts to run against you. After some time he will jump and swipe against you. If he connects this swipe it will shave off a lot of your health. |
| Forward jump (2:nd phase only) |
Laurence performs a forward jump and tries to flatten you. |
Moveset without legs (crawling) 3:rd phase
| Attack Name | Attack Description & Counter |
|---|---|
| Crawling Pound Rush | Crawls towards you, pounding the ground with his hands, alternating with each slam. Left, right, repeat. He delays the last left hand pound slightly. This attack can start at any range but mostly if you are far away from boss. You can outrun him if you have the space. He tracks poorly so circling clockwise helps if he gets too close. |
| Right Hand Swipe | Swipes with his skinny right hand and gives an enormous opening. You can hit him 5 times or more for free. |
| Left Hand Smash | Punches the ground creating a small AoE blast. Heavily telegraphed and easy to dodge. Hit the hand after the explosion. |
| Left Hand Swipe (+ Left Hand Swipe) | Swipes with left hand either normally or does a wide horizontal hook. Can perform series of swipe - pause - hook. Best not to try to attack, back up or quickstep. |
| Lava Spit | Spits lava at you that stays on the ground for a while. Dodge behind him and swing away. |
| Lava Charge | Charges at you, leaving a trail of lava behind him. Either stop locking on and run away, or stand close to him and strafe left or right, which causes you to manipulate his movement and force him to run around you in a circle. |
Notes & Trivia
- He seems to be weakest to Physical, then Arcane, then Bolt (the difference isn't huge though) and very resistant to fire.
- Beasts have been strung up and put to the torch all over Yarnham, which suggests that possibly Laurence met the same fate when he came to turn.
- It could be that he resides in the nightmare trapped and smoldering, much like the blood drunk hunters who are trapped hunting.
- Laurence was the first Cleric Beast ever, as according to Laurence's Skull.
- Beast Laurence was destined to reunite with his human skull, but it's unknown if he attacks out of rage or despair or simple mindless aggression.
Gallery
AnonymousIt's so painful to get One- shoted by him in all his phases. It's pure pain in phase 2 obviously.
- Anonymous
As a bloodborne newbie I actually managed to beat him on first try completely unprepared. Was checking wheather i havent missed some items and sudenly a cutscene... Transformed HLB +10 and it was just an endurance battle.
Few tips, keep your distance, read his attacks, aply hit and run tactic and try to bait his three hit hand combo, after last swipe there is enough time to close distance and get a hit in.
For lava phase, basicly the same, keep your distance, try to bait lava vomit and just circle to your left getting free hits on him. Dont get greedy and dont get cornered! Happy hunting!
- Anonymous
God this boss fight sucked, he's just a recicled boss with more hit points and damage, and ****ing fire. I just got out of fighting the orphan and Laurence took my remaining braincells. At least I got the Beast's Rememberance so I don't have to do this boss ever again.
- Anonymous
Hello, can anyone tell me if im overleveled?? So basically i wanted to check everything before dlc as i supposed it'll be a nightmatre. Im currently level 110 after chalice dungeons (i spend like 3/4 of souls gained from them for consumables lol) and i beat Laurence and Ludwig both 1st try. I feel kinda empty even tho they were awesome bosses?
- Anonymous
By far my favorite boss in the whole game. Should have been the final boss after Orphan; especially when viewed from a story perspective.
I just love this guy so much.
- Anonymous
When I first played through BB i thought this phase 3 was the worst boss I've ever fought. In the past year or so I've replayed through DS1-3, ER and BB. Coming back with a fresh perspective, I have to say this is by far the worst boss. Just ridiculous. I guess just stay to his left (little arm side) and hopefully you can him to keep doing his stampede. Don't worry if Valdr interrupts, Valdr dies pretty fast in this phase. Don't get caught between the lava and a wall
- Anonymous
I don’t understand why people hate Laurence so much, sure he’s tough but he’s not unfa-
*legsplosion*
Oh. I understand now.
- Anonymous
This guys NG+ cycles are pure insanity. I think they cranked his health way too much
- Anonymous
Whirligig Saw +10 with Bolt Paper on a STR build absolutely shreds this sorry Vicar with ease, took me one try after three failed attempts with Amygaldan Arm +10. FYI I have 35 STR.
Be sure to keep it in the transformed state at all times for the Serrated damage bonus (+20&% damage vs. Beasts with Serrated weapons).
- Anonymous
Missing info: during his final phase, he gains the ability to attack your framerate directly
- Anonymous
When I finally beat him after some 15-20 tries my heart was beating extremly fast. The thrill of victory overcame all the frustration.
- Anonymous
What is it about this dude’s three hit swiping combo that kills me so often?? Every other attack I can deal with but that stupid combo just for some reason, always gets me. I think the camera angle doesn’t help where it angles so you can’t see him rev up an attack often until it’s too late
- Anonymous
I like how the cutscene before fighting him makes it look like he drunk off of something with him holding his head like "I had too much blood last night".
- Anonymous
I love that Miyazaki read all our compliments about the Watchdog of the Old Lords and thought "I'll put another 20,000 hp, one shot boss in the game, they'll love this!!"
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
got tips for the 2nd phase.
-stay near his right arm ( the smaller one ) and walk in a circle around him.
- For the left swipe dodge in to the attack
- for the Crawling Pound Rush circle clockwise,If he does 3 pounds he will do a left swipe (same with Left Hand Smash) any more than that he will not.
- ONLY ATTACK HIM 1 to 3 times, It will take a long time but be patient. ( the next list will have how many times you can attack him for each attack, tested with the MLGS)
-Crawling Pound Rush(3 pounds):2 to 3
-Crawling Pound Rush: 2 to 5 ( being his most valuable move)
-Left Hand Swipe:1
-Left Hand Smash:1
- Lava Spit: 1 to 3
-Right Hand Swipe: 2 to 3
-Lava ****: 0 to 1
The key think is don't get greedy,no summons,and listen to the music. I hope this can help you.
- Anonymous
I guess I am the only one who found the boss to be good. Wasn’t anything amazing like Ludwig or Gehrman sure, but still a decent boss. Don’t get the hate at all.
- Anonymous
Bonemarrow ashing your gun and spraying him in the final phase is a good way to shorten the most dangerous part of the fight.
- Anonymous
Same as others, wasn't too difficult for me, but this is one fight where even a npc summon does make a difference and it's well worth the penalty for his health.
In its final phase, 1v1 it's really difficult to find an opening to even hit him. Having a npc summon so he can focus on someone else than yourself, makes the final phase a lot easier as it will provide a lot more opening.
- Anonymous
“laurence don’t do the thing”
>laurence then proceeds to do said thing
- Anonymous
I really beat him first try with a str/arc build using the saw cleaver and ACB, wasn't even too much of an issue, when I finally beat him I was almost disappointed, having heard he was the freak. I still had a really hard time getting good at fighting the Orphan
- Anonymous
Darkeater Midir (from DS3) makes all these bosses look like a picnic
- Anonymous
35 vitality, runes and attite for a total of 450 fire defense and he's doable. It's a hard fight but it's fair. Ludwig was much more frustrating for me
- Anonymous
I struggle with laurence just as anyone else, but i just want to say that his dive attack is the most bs attack in the history of games maybe ever
- Anonymous
Only boss I went out of my way to summon for, and I don't even feel that bad about it. Dude hits harder than a train made of hydrogen bombs...
- Anonymous
Summoning Valtr or anyone online helps a lot i almost killed him 4th try alone and npc/fellow hunter helps a lot, got it my first try after that
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This boss is the only time in any souls game where I had to put down the controller and go watch some **** to calm down before I had an aneurysm.
- Anonymous
Maybe it's because I love Bloodtinge builds, but he honestly wasn't too difficult for me. I used the Chikage and a Beast Blood Pellet for phases one and two, and then I pulled out the Bowblade in phase three, making sure to wait for and opening, and then shooting a charge shot, and once he was one the brink of death, I spammed R1 shots until he died, first try. He's literally just Cleric Beast with explosion hitboxes, so while spacing for attacks, just imagine the hitboxes are Cleric Beast's, but twice as big. Hope any of this helps hunter, may the good blood guide your way!
- Anonymous
This dude made me shake uncontrollably for half an hour straight lmao
- Anonymous
How the **** are you supposed to beat a boss that two shots you and has an exploding arm
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The only thing i can suggest is to really be up close and personal. I’d attack, then dodge into him as close as i can be when healing. Just be patient and aggressive but don’t get greedy. He hits like a truck
- Anonymous
Although I do find this fight to be both very frustrating and difficult, given the choice between this and Vicar Amelia, I'd pick Laurence in a heartbeat.
- Anonymous
This bastard he not that hard He just hit like a fuking truck sometime his big fapping arms can easily.deleted 90% of my hp and he has a so so much HP but there more! If you fcking dead(Yes you will) You will walk all the way back to him. 2 Hunter , 1 rolling ball and 1 Fcking giant with an axe
Yep I love this game
- Anonymous
This guy gave me way more grief than anybody. Here are some tips fellow Hunter.
Charred Hunter garb, cannon or high damage gun.
Dodge into the arm be is attacking with. If he's swinging his huge right arm, dodge towards your right and through it. Alternate the direction of the dodge when he swings his weak arm. Always try to get behind him to get some hits in. If you need to heal roll away and get some distance, he's not too fast. If you can stagger some of his limbs he will go down, even if you're behind him you can get in front for a high damage visceral attack.
The final phase is not as hard as it seems. Keep a short-medium distance to bait his arm swings. The weak arm swing especially leaves him open to a few free hits then back off and repeat. If he spits blood run around it from the side towards his weak arm and you can get a few hits in before backing up again. Use your cannon or gun when he does a swing that is harder to punish. Good luck Hunter.
- Anonymous
the huge ass hitpoints, damage and the hitbox of watchdog + cleric beast = this thing
- Anonymous
Master Slayem, I've come to bid you farewell.
Oh, I know, I know. You think now to yassify me.
No, but you will never listen. I tell you, I will not forget out yassage.
We are born of the RuPaul's Drag Race Superstar. Our queens yet to slay...
Press the old slay button.
Press the old slay button.
I must take my leave.
By the gods, press it, Yassence.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
y'know I am actually thankful that Laurence exists because he is so ****ing unfun that he actually makes all the crap fights like rom funner SOLEY because its not Laurence
so thank you Laurence you screeching flaming pile of cancer
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I never write on these wikis despite having played half of the soulsbourne games, and I just want to say this boss is utterbullshit, so much ****ing he in NG+ and so much damage for no ****ing reason, it's not hard it's just this boss is so artificially difficult by sheer stats it's so ****ing annoying. Kos, Ludwig and Maria are so fun but this guy makes me punch the monitor. And the fact every slight fire and lava he emits staggers u Is so utter bullshit. Died about 50 times now I guess against this guy on NG+. Other enemies or areas have never even gotten me to half of that count. You can go **** yourself Laurence
- Anonymous
**** this ****ing boss. Last phase has literally no openings to attack. Pretty much the only way to beat it is to summon both a good player and Valtr, then hope they won't die before the last phase. If either dies, might as well restart the fight because if the boss decides to target you, you cannot deal any damage. Not even the Moonlight greatsword has enough range to stay safe from his bs moveset.
- Anonymous
I think this and the depth 5 chalices are the only case of artificial difficulty in bloodborne
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
He wasn’t so hard at all. Ok first Playthrough and 14 deaths but his attacks are predictable and after playing passiv it was very easy to dodge his attacks. But in the end I was to greedy xd and died 7 times in the end.
- Anonymous
Garbage. Just not funLudwig and Kos were difficult but fun. But this man is way to difficult
- Anonymous
hey guys lets represent the most important character in the lore as a cleric beast clone ~ Jim from accounting
- Anonymous
Today I learned that Laurence can grab and toss BOTH you and a summoned helper at the same time. was this a known fact? can all bosses do this? I thought it was pretty insane.
- Anonymous
This ****er has more health than Midir and Ancient Dragon holy ****.
- Anonymous
I've beaten this guy two times, but I just finished my NG+++ without beating him. I don't know if it just got that much harder or I got lucky the first two times, but Jesus ****ing Christ. I didn't even manage to get him to half HP, and this mother***er was taking out 75% of mine with one arm swing. Orphan of Kos is a cakewalk compared to this guy, I think.
- Anonymous
After so many attempts, lost blood vials, close victories met with a panicked death, I finally managed to beat this guy. I had a +6 Whirligig Saw with focus on damage and rally potential (had the Guidance rune too so I just regained health quick when I hit him). Good lord did it feel so satisfying. I was shaking so badly and thought I was gonna fall onto my couch lol. All that’s left is to beat the Orphan of Kos, then I’m off to get the platinum trophy. I’m not thrilled for that fight though, and I need to grind up some blood vials for a while, but I will overcome this challenge.
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Laurence, The First Mistake One-Shots You
"I tell you, i will not forget our patterns."
- Anonymous
What an awful boss. They really thought they could just put the cleric beast in a new location just to put fire all over the place and make us pay for it
- Anonymous
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Holy ****, I finally beat this *****ass. I found some strategies to share. If you have around 30 vit, he can one shot you, so i recommend farming in mergos’s loft: middle for around 45 vit. Also, play this boss like a dark souls boss. Don’t be overly aggressive, especially in his second phase. His attacks can hit around him, so i suggest dodging back for some of them, especially his ground slam in his second phase. Try to summon Valtr if you can, just make sure to have the impurity rune equipped. He helps a lot.
Tl;dr: Use bolt paper, and be passive. Level Vit up to 45 ish. Bait punishable attacks.
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this boss is absolute bullshit ... I haven't died as many times in the whole game as I did on this idiot
- Anonymous
Was about to beat him first try, then, i was about to deal the final blow when i got staggered and died. Couldn’t see his health bar anymore. Saddest moment of my whole play through
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On my first try he one shotted me with a single clap, goddamn is that normal?
- Anonymous
People say this is a reskin even though he has an entirely new music, second phase and some new moves in the first phase
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It's funny how everyone hates Laurence but loves Champion Gundyr in DS3
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I got summoned and saw some guy 1 shot Laurence (or kill him so quick that it was all masked by lag), Is that even possible? I was lvl 60 and there was one other cooperator before me, neither of us got a single hit on the boss. Is there some kind of exploit, or are there hackers in Bloodborne?
- Anonymous
Just how much health does he have in ng plus?? I can't remember him being particularly hard on my arcane character, but this time around all my attacks just tickle or at best, annoy him o__O
- Anonymous
I must've took it for granted, but don't you think that statue of the bearded man with the mitre similar to Willem's on the elevator to the Research Hall could be Laurence before he became a beast? It looks too distinct to be a random dude, especially since we never see anyone else with that sort of headwear in the Healing Church.
- Anonymous
This fight is bullshit. 50 vitality and fire resist gear? Nah, you're still getting one shotted son.
- Anonymous
Just beat him after at least 10 tries at level 56 with 1550 hp. Make sure to dodge towards his big arm, and slash his behind a few times. Lava face is basically circling around him to bait lava spew or his forward lunges where you get in and slash a few times at his sides. Beat him with 10% hp and 0 vials left, so I basically face tanked a few hits while trying to rally with mercy blade combo. He's annoying, but you can beat him for sure. This is just what I did, not exactly a flawless strategy by any means.
Remember when they just gave the Stray Demon a fire reskin and called it a new boss? Man that sucked, so glad they never did that again.
Oh wait.
- Anonymous
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"Laurence" is your ass, is just Cleric Beast on fire with a lot of HP and damage. I remember when I went to play Bloodborne people told me about this guy and I was really excited to face him, when I saw it was just a repeated boss I was so disappointed. Even the battle arena is repeated...
- Anonymous
For the life of me I cannot beat this ****er. I just got him down to 1 hit left and his ****ing lava killed me.
- Anonymous
Even Kos wasn't this unfair. This mother****er kills me in one hit
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There's something about this guy...I beat Ludwig and Maria on my first try but I have lost to this dude eight times now. Can't seem to dodge any of his attacks :(
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Beware what weapons you use in last faze as some will pull you into his fire barf attacks when attacking him while locked on
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Someone please help me with him. Name on ps4 is “Sultan_of_Stanky”. Send me a friend request! I’m on ng++, level 255. I can consistently get him to third phase but can close it out.
- Anonymous
If you're having a lot of trouble with with this big boy, think of it more like you're playing Dark souls (3 in particular). Highly recommend not locking on so you can roll through his attacks rather than stepping, and stick in close to his back side. Hitting him with a big stick like Ludwig's holy blade or the kirkhammer works really well. Take it slow and be methodical rather than aggressive.
Also you wanna bring in as many blood vials as possible, so switch out your visceral attack runes for communions.
When he loses his phase stick in at his right side and back far away if you need to heal.
Most of all just be patient, you'll get him! :) good hunting boys
- Anonymous
Hated every second of fighting this sreechy fire goat m*******er. Probably not gud enough, but after beating him I have no desire to ever do it again. I beat Orphan in a reasonable number of attempts, he was tough but I enjoyed trying, but not this dude. Oh well, maybe one day if I decide to get my adrenal glands removed.
Finally beat this mofo in NG+ (first time I played the DLC). 3:rd phase is the easiest once you lock onto him and stay in front of him and dodge his right hand swipes. Took me 10+ hours to learn all his patterns.
In the end I felt like Neo in the matrix as I had mastered all different moves poor Laurence could make. :)
I think the hardest part with him besides his health and damage output is the variety of his moves. Some are common and some are very rare. And a lot of them are designed to be very similar for additional confusion. Also there is no clear indication when he changes phase and he may just fall over you and kill you as the phase change occurs.
My hats off to the bloodborne designers creatating such an abomination. I will live on the adrenaline rush I got beating him all week.
He is truly the Midir of the Bloodborne DLC
- Anonymous
I play this game for over two years now and fought him today on NG+2 again. I learned two new moves today. In his 3rd phase he can slam his left hand on the ground and leaves a great puddle of Lava behind him. Never saw that one. The other attack was a 180° Swipe with a follow up in the other way so basically a 360° swipe in a two hit combo. Let me tell you you do not want to deal with him in NG+2... I am way overleveld with 65 in Strength and Skill and 99 Vit and Endurance. (yep I was the madman who confirmed the Stamina Gain from each level above 40 on the endurance page). I also have 50 Bloodtinge and 50 Arcane so I'm way above LV 300 but DAMN! My Saif did nothing to him. I switched to the Church pick to get more damage because I usually play it safe on this bugger. (my fights take about 5-7 Minutes each try on him, same with watchdog) but I did like 500 with Saif (Transformed) and 800 with Church pick (also Transformed because of the Thrust bonus). It was... Nothing. The HP on this guy rivals Yhorm and I think Laurence is the boss with the second highest HP in any From game. Also he is my most hated Boss in the entire series and the only Boss I don't like fighting. Whenever I have to fight him I am happy when it is over because he just isn't fun. His OST is one of the best and makes his fight a bit enjoyable but whenever he just swings his claws from left to right it drags out the fight like crazy because I'm to scared to close in and only attack when he does moves where his arms and head are open. At least this strategy worked best for me and suits my playstyle in being calm and collected watching the opponents every move looking for an opening but the windows on this guy are so small I sometimes can't even hit him. Anyway it took me 5 tries today to beat him on NG+2 and it was pure pain. Tell me how much health he has in NG+7 please. I never went that high in the game and probably never will because I think this games NG+ Cycles are more complicated than DS3. I played to NG+9 in DS3 so please tell me what NG+7 in this game is like. If you really did read all this... Stay safe fellow hunters. Cheers.
- Anonymous
Not too bad. Hits like a mack truck and some of his phase 1 combos can catch you off guard. Once I was able to get him to phase 3 for the first time the rest of the fight is a cakewalk, just watch out for that dang fire breath if you pull back to heal!
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So, i just beat him in my first try in NG(level 134(41/40/31/38/18/16) with the crow set( eileen), ludwig holy sword+10 and saw spear+10.
It was a good fight, not so hard, but the fire on his back is really annoying . Also great ost
- Anonymous
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This boss fight is pure unadulterated cancer.
The run to him is cancer.
Waiting for the door to open slowly every. Single. Time you go to his boss room is cancer.
Trying not to get hit by Cthulhu Jones every time the door opens is cancer.
His aoe is cancer.
His move set is cancer.
The fact that he can one shot you is cancer.
His enormous healthpool in comparison to his damage output is cancer.
His second phase is stage 4 cancer.
His music...ok it’s awesome. But everything else about this fight is cancer.
- Anonymous
I am in NG+3, BL100. Guys, did you succeed to defeat at this level BL100 in NG+3 and gbeyond? I l mean, I can't even imagine NG+6... Because that's the first time I'm stuck stuck.
BlackskyEye smokes the heck out of this chilipepper! Hits to the head easily bring him down in the 1st round
as much as I hate ol larry the opening cutscene really makes you realize how funny and tiny his wee head is
A genuinely great fight on a first play through becomes a chore on later ng+ cycles. Simply put, his damage scaling is utterly overturned, and at ng+7 he can one shot characters with 99 vigor, a feat almost no other boss can achieve without counter damage. It’s a damn shame as well, the music is arguable the best in the series, the opening cutscene breathes an enormous amount of personality into the beast, his second phase is shocking and tragic, and lore wise, he’s arguably the most important character in the game, but they simply overdid his damage.
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