Bloodborne PS4 Guide: Which Starting Class Is Best For You?

From Software's critically acclaimed action-RPG Bloodborne is one of the PlayStation Plus free games of March 2018, which means there's going to be a multitude of newcomers playing the game for the first time. When you start the game, you'll notice that it's not your typical action-RPG in that it doesn’t distinguish its heroes based on class, but rather how their upbringings have shaped them. Known as origins, these categories are analogous to classes in that they vary widely in determining your starting stats. These origins only vary by statistics. No one class is supplied with any additional gifts, items, or gear. The only exception is the bold hunter’s mark, which is given to every origin. It should be noted that gender, age, nor appearance has any bearing on your stats or abilities.

How you shape your character from this point is up to you. As you level up, you can further customize those stats however you see fit. If it turned out you wanted your noble scion to improve his modest starting physical attack stats, you can spend the next 10 levels increasing strength. You can create your own mental narrative, where a hunter with a violent past now has the maturity to temper his aggression by focusing on upgrading stats other than strength.

One of the challenging aspects of choosing an origin in Bloodborne is that a couple useful stats are withheld from comparison until after you commit. HP, for example, is determined by vitality, while endurance determines stamina. Another stat is discovery, which determines the frequency of enemy item drops. Looking over our guide will show you which origin has greater discovery over others.

Like the Souls series, upgrading one primary stat increase various other stats. Here are some of the specifics:

• Vitality: Increases HP and Physical DEF
• Endurance: Increases Stamina, Physical DEF, Slow Poison RES, and Fast Poison RES
• Strength: Increases R-hand ATK and Physical DEF
• Skill: Increases R-hand ATK and Physical DEF (and also increase the potency of secondary offensive items)
• Bloodtinge: Increases L-hand ATK and Physical DEF
• Arcane: Increases L-hand ATK, Physical DEF, and Discovery

Once you've chosen your origin, be sure to check out our guides, detailing the 13 tips you should know before starting the game and how to defeat every boss in the base game.

Bloodborne Origins

Milquetoast

If you lived or admired the life of a middle class upbringing, you can project that middle-of-the-road outlook through the milquetoast origin. No one stat is exceptional, nor are they notably low. If you are a beginner who wants to be well-rounded, but doesn’t want any special treatment with increased strength, go for milquetoast.

Lone Survivor

As the name implies, this class is high in vitality. No matter what genre you play, if you’re the type of play who chooses to boost their HP first, you should like the lone survivor. It has the highest starting hit points out of any class at 659. By comparison, the well-rounded milquetoast only has 594.

Troubled Childhood

It’s likely that someone from a troubled childhood has experienced unspeakable events not unlike that of the lone survivor. This would make a great symbolic pairing in co-op in the name of shared experiences and bonding over the mutual hardships within Bloodborne. Where the lone survivor is average in endurance and skill is made up by partnering with someone from a troubled childhood. If you’re in a co-op session and are dealing with an enemy that deals slow potion, someone with a troubled childhood should be at the forefront, given that this hunter has the highest resistance to slow poison.

Violent Past

Whether the hunters who have a violent past were the dealers or receivers of violence matters not. All that counts is that they’re able to take out their aggression out on all of Yharnam’s hostiles, by having the highest starting strength out of all the origins. That’s even higher than military veteran. If you appreciate the close quarters combat of Bloodborne and if you thrive on dealing with the crowd, go with violent past, especially since this class is weak in firearms potency.

Professional

Talented and educated, this origin brings high skill and endurance to the battle. With no shields in Yharnam's early areas, all creatures great and small will force you to dodge roll often. Having high endurance means having generous stamina to evade enemies, no matter the distance. And if you’re one of those adventurers who finds a lot of value using offensive items beyond the gun and blade, we recommend the professional since his skill makes him adept at items like molotov cocktails and throwing blades.

Military Veteran

Oddly enough, if you’re looking for a version of the milquetoast with a bit more of a kick in physical attacks, we recommend the Military Veteran. It’s one of the more beginner-friendly classes since it’s well-rounded with a strength boost to help you get through the townsfolk of Yharnam. The veteran’s prior experience in battle is the reason why his strength, skill, vitality, and endurance are in the double digits.

Noble Scion

If you picture a military veteran class to be more adept with firearms, you should consider the noble scion. Out of all the origins, this has the highest combination of skill and bloodtinge. You also start with the highest amount of blood echoes: 540. Blood echoes is the game’s version of souls in Dark Souls. If you are confident that you’ll survive, or at least, recover blood echoes after your most recent death, you should be able to make good use of these extra starting allocation..

Cruel Fate

Those born of cruel fate endured many hardships, but those trials have only strengthened their resolve. By choosing cruel fate, you’re picking an origin with some very well-spread stats, with the exception of bloodtinge, which is low and affects the potency of your firearms. It’s a small price to pay because there is one unlisted stat that makes cruel fate one of the best classes to pick: discovery. As stated above, this stat increases the likelihood of enemy drops. Whereas all the other classes’ discovery starts at 100 or 103, Cruel Fate starts at a whopping 119. If you can relate to a thief or explorer class from other RPGs, choose cruel fate.

Waste of Skin

As the game describes, “You are nothing. Talentless. You shouldn’t have been born. There is no benefit.” Waste of skin is for the true masochist, where the only bright spots are that you’re not deprived of the bold hunter’s mark and you start the game with clothes. If you are that specific kind of Souls series veteran who entertains the thought of beating Dark Souls II with a single dagger, this class is for you. It’s the “bragging rights” class of Bloodborne.