Bloodborne Endgame Content#

“The dream continues… even after the hunt ends.”

The “endgame” of Bloodborne does not stop at defeating Gehrman: New Game+ unlocked after clearing the game, the endlessly deep Chalice Dungeons, and the ultimate boss fights of The Old Hunters DLC together form this game’s real depth. This chapter piles up no invented numbers — it explains for each endgame system “what changes, where the difficulty lies, and whether it is worth your time”, so you can make the right calls in the final stretch of the hunt.

Endgame at a Glance#

New Game+ (NG+): What Carries Over and What Changes#

After defeating Gehrman and watching any ending, your save automatically rolls into New Game+ — and unlike the souls series, there is no confirmation prompt to turn back. If you want to finish your collection within a single playthrough, make sure everything is done before you challenge Gehrman.

What NG+ Carries Over and What It Resets#

One thing must be made clear: FromSoftware has never published any data table for cycle difficulty multipliers, and every “NG+ enemy HP +X%” claim is player estimation with no authority behind it. In actual play, the core change of NG+ is — enemies are tougher, hit harder, and press harder, while you hold a fully graduated first-cycle build; the overall pace is faster and the margin for error thinner than the first playthrough.

Practical NG+ Advice#

The Three Endings and the True Ending Route#

The ending system is fully broken down on the endings page; here is only the skeleton that matters for the endgame: the game contains four “One Third of Umbilical Cord” items. Use at least three before fighting Gehrman and choose “Refuse” in the ending dialogue to trigger the true ending and its hidden boss.

The reward for the true ending is the hidden boss fight against the Moon Presence — the story’s true final opponent, with its own page at the Moon Presence guide.

Chalice Dungeon Endgame#

The Chalice Dungeons are a randomized dungeon system running parallel to the main story, with depths from 1 to 5. Shallow layers are for learning the rules and stockpiling materials; the true endgame lives in two places: the depth-4 “Cursed and Defiled” chalice, and the depth-5 Loran and Isz line dungeons.

Depth and Rites: How Difficulty Stacks#

Chalice Dungeon difficulty is set by two dimensions: the deeper the dungeon, the stronger the enemies and bosses; on top of that, rites can be stacked to push difficulty further:

The more rites you stack, the better the farming yield — and the thinner your margin for error. When farming blood gems at the endgame, all three are usually active at once.

The Cursed and Defiled Chalice: the Game’s Famous Watershed#

The “Cursed and Defiled Root Chalice” (known to players as the Defiled dungeon) is depth 4, and its special feature is that your health is halved the moment you enter, and the effect persists through the entire dungeon. Attacks you could tank at full health here kill a hunter outright. The dungeon’s Watchdog of the Old Lords and Pthumerian Descendant bosses have therefore become the roadblocks recognized by countless hunters.

The meaning of this touchstone: it tests neither your level nor your gear — only your mastery of attack rhythm, footwork, and gun-parry timing. Only hunters who can clear the Defiled dungeon consistently have earned the right to talk about depth 5.

Depth 5: Loran and Isz#

The depth-5 Loran and Isz dungeons, with all three rites stacked, are the farming terminus of the entire game:

One sentence sums it up: clearing the first playthrough only buys your ticket into the endgame — depth 5 of the Chalice Dungeons is the real examination hall for a graduated build.

The Old Hunters and the Finale Bosses#

The Old Hunters DLC runs a full notch above the base game on its difficulty curve, and its second half is the pinnacle of this game’s combat design:

None of these fights have shortcuts: their aggression and combo length far exceed the base game, stacking stats pays limited dividends, and they ultimately push your fundamentals — precise dodges and seizing damage windows — to the absolute limit.

The True Ending Finale: Moon Presence#

With three umbilical cords consumed and Gehrman refused, the hunter faces the Moon Presence. This fight’s positioning is “the story’s final examination”: fast attacks laced with Bloodtinge damage, but compared to the Orphan of Kos in the DLC, its moveset is more orderly — a closing battle that checks whether your true-ending run was complete.

For the full index of core bosses (locations and weaknesses for every base-game and DLC boss), see the boss guide overview.

Endgame Build Directions#

The full numerical reasoning unfolds in the builds guide; here are only the four mainstream mature directions for the endgame stage. The values are common target references — don’t copy them blindly; fine-tune to your weapon’s scaling needs.

Stat Targets#

Endgame Weapon Picks#

Endgame Rune Picks#

Self-Imposed Challenges#

Once the endgame content runs dry, the community’s common self-imposed challenges rely on no official numbers — you set the rules and calibrate the intensity yourself:

Summary#

Bloodborne’s endgame is an exam paper of ascending layers: New Game+ tests your familiarity with the base game, the Defiled dungeon tests your mechanical fundamentals, depth-5 dungeons test your farming plans, and Ludwig, Laurence, and the Orphan of Kos push this combat system to its design limits. The hunt has no true ending — the dream goes on, and the next thing to be hunted is your own limit.