Chalice Dungeons in Bloodborne Bloodborne Guide

Last update: 06 March 2018

In Hunter's Dream, opposite the graves, you can find 4 tombstones. They are used or generating Chalice Dungeons, i.e. randomly generated (to a large extent) locations with high difficulty level and various opponents, items to find and several new bosses. You can generate 4 dungeons at the same time, without the necessity to close a previously formed one.

To form a dungeon of a given type, you need, first of all, a chalice that allows you to perform the ritual. There are three types of dungeons:

- Pthumeru (you receive the first chalice after you have defeated the Blood-starved Beast)

- Loran (you receive the first chalice after you have defeated Amygdala)

- Hintertomb (you find the first chalice in the dungeons, created with the Central Pthumeru Chalice, at the second depth, in the chest. After you descend to that depth, in the corridor, tale the second door on the left. Then, in the middle, make your way to the drawbridge. On the ladder to the right, there is a switch that lowers the bridge, as well as a door to a large chamber. (note - there are lots of opponents inside) Clear the room and in the chest at the wall, you find the chalice).

- Isz (you receive the first chalice after you have defeated Ebrietas, daughter of the Cosmos)

Chalice Dungeons in a nutshell

1. They are generated with the chalices that you find, with Blood Echoes, Ritual Blood and other materials.

2. They have their own difficulty levels, depending on the depth (1-5).

3. They have four Depths, where you can encounter various opponents and bosses.

4. Descending to a lower level requires opening the gate, by pulling the lever.

5. The Root Chalices always generate random dungeons, the rest always generate the same dungeons. "Sinister" , "Defiled" and "Cursed" provide you with a negative effect for the duration of the exploration (e.g. a decrease in health points by a half).

6. The materials required to generate dungeons of higher difficulty levels can be found in lower dungeons. Starting with the first level of the Pthumeru dungeon, you can get to higher and higher levels, by searching for the necessary materials and Ritual Blood. The latter has its level, which corresponds to the depth of the dungeon -e.g. you can find Ritual Blood (3) in dungeons of the depth of 2 and 3. You can buy the first Ritual Blood from Messengers.

7. In the dungeons, there are lots of rewards and items, as well as treasures hidden in secret chambers. The most valuable items are locked in chests.

8. You can do a dungeon created by someone else - for this, you require a special code (glyph). You can find them using the Makeshift Tomb or by searching them out on the Internet.

9. With root chalices, you can generate dungeons with the most valuable items in them. During the ritual, you can add various materials to them, which alter the interior of the dungeon and, e.g. make it open to an invasion, or strengthen the opponents.

10. The materials that you need can be found in dungeons. Search through chests, kill opponents visit various types of dungeons - some of them can only be found in, e.g. Loran.

What are Chalice Dungeons?

Chalice Dungeon is nothing else than dungeons underneath Yharnam. You can generate them with the chalices that you find. The ones with the "Root Chalice" in their name always generate a different type of dungeons, with different opponents, bosses and items. The rest of the chalices generate the same dungeons each time they are used. Difficulty level of the individual Chalice Dungeons is not scaled to match your progress in the main storyline. Dungeons have their own difficulty levels, which depend on the tier of the chalice (1 - 5, easy to extremely hard).

Random dungeons have been divided into several different parts:

- Starting room - this is where you can light the lantern and get to a lower level, on the lift

- main arena - this is here that you find the lever for the door to the boss arena, there are many branches here, also up and down. The gate glowing in blue needs to be opened with the lever that you can, usually, close to it, surrounded by opponents. Also, you can find secret rooms with treasures here.

- the corridor leading up to the boss - the passage to the boss, sometimes, you can also find a side room with treasures here.

- arena - this is where you fight the boss,

- final room - if you have not got to the lowest level, you can take the corridor to where you light the lantern. Along your path, keep an eye out for door on the left or on the right.

In spite of their diversity, each one of the dungeons comprises the above elements.

What can be found in the Chalice Dungeons?

- bosses that cannot be found anywhere else (or at least some of them) in the main storyline. Each dungeon has three depths with a different boss on each.

- special opponents (red halo). They are summoned by the mages around. Killing the mages kills the opponents automatically. They keep being summoned for as long as the mage is alive.

- several checkpoints lanterns identical with the ones that you find all around Yharnam,

- levers for doors to boss arenas and for doors to lower levels,

- traps, such as blades, projectiles from walls or crushing balls in narrow corridors,

- messengers from whom you can buy, just like in Hunter's Dream. Also, they can sell special items that cannot be found anywhere else.

- ritual materials. It is only here that you can get Ritual Blood of the tier higher than tier one. Apart from that, in the dungeons, there are many commonly found, and some of the rare, items that you need for crafting the highest tier dungeons,

- rewards that cannot be obtained anywhere else (e.g. better weapon types, strong runes or Blood Gems). Exploring Chalice Dungeons is often a good way of strengthening your character.

Cooperation

In Chalice Dungeons, you can cooperate with other players. For this to be possible, you need to meet several conditions:

- create, at least, one dungeon with the chalice that you would like to join. It is impossible to join the dungeon that you have not visited, at least, once..

- in dungeons, it is possible to join in cooperation and to invade the other hunters. It is only possible in Root Chalices and "Sinister".

- dungeons only save the host's progression. The summoned players disappear each time after the enemy boss is killed.

- you can share your dungeon with the other players, using a special code (glyph)that you receive after you generate the dungeon. Also, you can explore dungeons, with lots of treasures, which have been generated by other players.

- after you defeat the last boss in the dungeons, after you use the Hinterlands Chalice, you receive a Short Ritual Root Chalice. You can use it on the Makeshift Tomb to search out dungeons available for cooperation or invasion.

Pthumerian Queen

At the end of the Pthumerian Dungeons, you encounter a special boss, for the defeat of which you receive a special trophy. To reach the boss in the first place, you first need to cross several levels that need to be generated with the following chalices:

1. Pthumeru Chalice

2. Central Pthumeru Chalice

3. Low Pthumeru Chalice

4. defiled Chalice

5. Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice

Additionally, you may have to visit other dungeons to complete the required rituals in the first place (e.g. you need Bastard of Loran that you can find in the dungeon that you generate with the Ailing Loran Chalice).

Before you start fighting with the Pthumerian Queen boss, you first need to obtain Antidotes. Her bloody attacks poison you, which is why a quick way to eliminate this effect will be useful. In the first phase, the Queen attacks with blood projectiles. After her health drops to around 2/3, she starts also using melee attacks. She can near you very quickly and attempt a thrust at you. Dodging this attack allows you to attack her from behind. As soon as her health drops to a half, the third phase starts, where the Queen stats summoning her doubles that are slightly different, through (e.g. they fire one orb of blood, instead of three). You can kill them in one blow. The more important attack is the one that the opponent starts using then - by placing her hand on the ground, she summons blood daggers from below the ground, which deal immense damage. At such a moment, dash up to the queen and attack. While doing that, remember one more thing - as soon as you hear a baby crying, dash away from the boss or you will be caught within a magic ring and you will be unable to move, for a moment. Also, poison daggers are good against the Queen - 4 hits poison her and this may make it easier to win the battle.