Bloodborne Max Level and Progression Guide
As a fellow hunter and Bloodborne enthusiast, I‘m thrilled to provide this comprehensive guide detailing everything you need to know about max level and character progression in this brilliantly challenging Soulslike masterpiece.
What is the Max Level in Bloodborne?
The maximum level your hunter can reach in Bloodborne is 544.
To level up, you‘ll need to pay Blood Echoes, with each additional level costing more echoes than the last. When gaining a level, you can invest points across various stats like Vitality, Endurance, Strength and more depending on your build and playstyle.
Now let‘s dive deeper into the progression from the starting level to max level 544!
How Many Blood Echoes Needed Per Level
The amount of Blood Echoes required to purchase each new level can be modeled by the equation below after level 12:
y = 0.02x3 + 3.06x2 + 105.6x – 895
Where:
- x = Hunter Level
- y = Blood Echoes Required
To give you a sense of how steeply echoes needed scales:
| Hunter Level | Echoes Needed |
|---|---|
| 12 | 2,795 |
| 100 | 169,070 |
| 200 | 1,379,570 |
| 300 | 6,114,395 |
| 400 | 19,954,750 |
| 500 | 52,781,555 |
| 544 (Max) | 619,337,914 |
As you can see, the echo price tag for those last max levels is astronomical!
To put it into perspective, according to Redditors it takes about 45-50 hours of efficient echo farming to gather enough to level a character from 500 to 544. That‘s nearly an entire standard playthrough‘s worth of time!
Weapon Upgrade Path to Max +10 Level
In addition to leveling your hunter, you can enhance damage and scaling by upgrading weapons up to a maximum of +10.
Here are the upgrade materials needed per upgrade level:
| Level | Upgrade Material | Max Per Playthrough |
|---|---|---|
| +1 to +3 | Blood Stone Shard | 31 |
| +4 to +6 | Twin Blood Stone Shards | 12 |
| +7 to +9 | Blood Stone Chunk | 10 |
| +10 | Blood Rock | 1 |
As you may have noticed, Blood Rocks are extremely scarce at just 1 available per playthrough. So choose wisely which trick weapon you want to invest that precious +10 upgrade into!
What Level Should I Stop At?
This is one of the most common questions new hunters have around optimal leveling. The community recommendations vary based on what kind of online activity you favor:
Co-op Matchmaking Range
For jolly cooperation with randoms across areas and chalice dungeons, stop between 130-150. This range allows you to connect with the widest range of players.
As per the matchmaking formula, you can generally connect with players:
Your Level ± (50 + 0.2*Your Level)
So even at level 150 you can match with hunters between level 100 to 200.
PvP Duels Meta Level
For organized PvP duels with oath runes, the community meta tends to be 120-125. This build variety while keeping matches competitive on both skill and build.
Solo Offline Play
If you generally play solo offline, then feel free to go as high level as you want! Just keep in mind leveling too high early will make much of the base game trivially easy.
I‘d recommend staying below 200 if you still want bosses and NPC hunters to put up a fun challenge.
How Difficult & Long to 100% Complete?
Bloodborne‘s difficulty scales up exponentially after the initial opening areas. The combination of unrelenting enemies with risky melee combat makes it one of hardcore gaming‘s toughest challenges!
As a benchmark, here are average completion times:
- Main Storyline Only: 33 hours
- Full 100% Completion: 76 hours
What ramps up difficulty further is gaining Insight points through progressing and discovering the game‘s eldritch secrets. Higher Insight gives certain enemies new attacks and powers them up further to keep you on your toes!
Let‘s take a look at some of the hardest bosses and enemies you‘ll contend with on the path from zero to max level hero.
Top 5 Hardest Bosses
These menacing monstrosities have tested the skill, grit and controller-throwing restraint of even seasoned hunters pushing towards max level:
Orphan of Kos – Manic pace, high damage, 2-stage marathon. 44.2% player death rate.
Laurence, The First Vicar – Relentless combos and AoEs. 41.2% death rate.
Ludwig, The Accursed/Holy Blade – High health pool, heavy hits. 37.5% death rate.
Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos – One-shot charge attacks and ranged magics. 36.1% death rate.
Logarius, Cainhurst Martyr – Rapid long-range spells and greatsword strikes. 33.1% death rate.
My personal pick for hardest is the infamous Orphan of Kos with his insane flurry swipes in second phase. Maintaining spacing discipline and timings for a full 10 minutes is an endurance trial for even seasoned hunters!
Think you have a different Top 5 or hardest boss based on your experience to max level? Let me know in the comments!
Top 5 Toughest Enemies
While epic bosses tend to get the glory, it‘s often Bloodborne‘s lethal common enemies that will hunt you down again and again on the path to 544:
Brainsuckers – Slow you, steal Insight, hard to stagger. The bane of early Forbidden Woods runs.
Giant Snake Ball – Deceptively fast rolling attack one-shots if caught under it.
Bloody Crow of Cainhurst – Hunter NPC with rapid Chikage blood attacks. Tough skill check late game.
Shark Giants – High damage, lunging grab attacks. Terrifying in groups down chalice wells!
Winter Lanterns – Rush you singing then delivers frenzied grab attack. Stress-inducing.
Blood Echo Farming Guide
Now that you know how many echoes it takes to reach max level 544, let‘s quickly touch on optimized echo farming.
The fastest spot to farm echoes in Bloodborne is…drumroll… the first layer of the Chalice Dungeon glyph Cummmfpk containing two extremely high echo Labyrinth Spirits!
Equip all your Moon runes to boost echoes gained and backstab visceral these two repeatedly. You can net a ludicrous 600,000 echoes per run at high levels!
This will have you gaining millions of echoes per hour to push towards max level 544. Happy hunting!
Transforming into a Beast
An awesome way to roleplay a hunter slowly going mad is using the Beast Embrace rune to take on increasingly bestial transformations!
To embrace your inner beast:
Defeat Laurence the First Vicar in the Old Hunters DLC.
Obtain the Beast‘s Embrace oath rune from the Hunter‘s Dream messengers.
Equip the oath rune and you‘ll morph into a hairy, clawed, more powerful beast form!
As you fight in this form and build beasthood meter with attacks, you‘ll slowly accumulate mutations like antlers and snake tails. Eventually you unlock the coveted Beast Claw weapon too!
Let loose your animal instincts and wail on those bosses with primal fury as you ascend to max level apex predator status!
Well fellow hunters, I hope you‘ve enjoyed this max level guide as much as I have writing it! May the good blood guide your way to 544 and beyond!
