Regaining in Bloodborne Bloodborne Guide
Last update: 06 March 2018
Combat is the most important part of Bloodborne. In every location you will find a huge amount of enemies which you will need to defeat. Obviously your enemies will deal you some damage what in result will decrease your Hit Points bar. However there is a way to regain at least some part of your Hit Points.
If you will take any damage a part of your health bar will become "frozen". It is symbolized by turning the basic dark red color into a slightly lighter kind of red. You will also see on your health bar a tiny white line which separates both colors. The damage which you have just taken may result in shortening your health bar to this very line. However you have few moments to reduce the damage income or even cancel the damage taken and return your health bar to its previous state.
To regain your Hit Points you have to act quick. The life bar will stay lighter only for a few moments and if you will miss the opportunity to cancel your damage taken you will be able to heal yourself only with a Blood Vial. To regain your frozen Hit Points you have to attack any opponent as fast as you can. If your attack will succeed for a short time you will see an orange sphere (see screenshot above) what means that you have regain some part of your Hit Points. This way game definitely supports an aggressive playstyle.
However there is one difficulty connected to this mechanic. During the regaining process you can get even half of your health bar if you have taken a strong punch however you can't be hit again while you try to heal. Taking another hit will lock the regaining possibility and will add some more damage to it. Also using a Blood Vail when you could regain your health cancels this opportunity. Another thing is that you can never get more health than you have lost before the last hit. And now something very important: you can regain health only after taking a melee hit. It means you can't use the regaining option after taking a shot from a gun or after taking a damage from a Molotov Cocktail.
All these things are very important during your battles since attacking in a good moment will help you save some Blood Vails and in result you will be able to survive longer fights. From the other hands this mechanic is very dangerous if you try to defeat a group of enemies. Don't try to regain health in these situations since one hit will interrupt your attempts and you will take even more damage without any benefit.