Arcane Guide
One of the more mysterious aspects of Bloodborne is the arcane attribute. The game has no magic, but Arcane acts as the closest possible analog. It takes quite a few hours to realize this, but eventually players come across items that require a set amount of point in arcane. For all intents and purposes, these are your spells in Bloodborne.
Arcane has a few others uses though, such as a way to increase elemental damage with various weapons. Listed below are all the possible uses for Arcane in Bloodborne.
Arcane Items
Augur of Ebrietas
"Remnant of the eldritch Truth encountered at Byrgenwerth. Use phantasms, the invertebrates known to be the augurs of the Great Ones, to partially summon abandoned Ebrietas. The initial encounter marked the start of an inquiry into the cosmos from within the old labyrinth, and led to the establishment of the Choir."
- Location: Nightmare Lecture Building
- Requirement: 18 Arcane
- Bullets per Use: 1 bullets
- Hit enemies with giant tentacles
Beast Roar
"One of the forbidden hunter tools made by the irreverent Izzy. Borrow the strength of the terrible undead darkbeasts, if only for a moment, to blast surrounding foes back with teh force of a roaring best. The indescribable sound is broadcast with the caster's own vocal cords, which begs the question, what terrible things lurke within the frames of men?"
- Location: Forbidden Woods
- Requirement: 15 Arcane
- Bullets per Use: 2 bullets
- Knock down enemies, but do no damage
A Call Beyond
"One of the secret rites of the Choir. Long ago, the Healing Church used phantasms to reach a lofty plane of darkness, but failed to make contact with the outer reaches of the cosmos. The rite failed to achieve its intended purpose, but instead created a small exploding star, now a powerful part of the Choir's arsenal. At times, failure is the mother of invention."
- Location: Upper Cathedral Ward
- Requirement: 40 Arcane
- Bullets per Use: 8 bullets
- Shoots magical stars that fly away and target enemies
Choir Bell
"Special hunter tool of the Choir, high-ranking members of the church. Fashioned after a bell that projects an arcane sound across planes of existence. The sound of this smaller, silver version of the bell does not cross planes, but grants vigor and healing to all cooperators."
- Location: Nightmare of Mensis
- Requirement: 20 Arcane
- Bullets per Use: 10 bullets
- Heal yourself and any nearby co-op partners
Empty Phantasm Shell
"Empty invertebrate shell that is said to be a familiar of a Great One. The Healing Church has discovered a great variety of invertebrates, or phantasms, as they are called. Shells with slime still harbour arcane power, and can be rubbed on weapons to imbue them with their strength."
- Location: Byrgenwerth
- Requirement: 15 Arcane
- Bullets per Use: 3 bullets
- Add 80 points of arcane damage to each attack
Executioner's Gloves
"One of the secret treasures hidden in Cainhurst. The gloves of an executioner from a faraway land. Passed from executioner father to executioner son, these gloves can be used to summon wrathful spirits of the past by smearing them with blood. It is said that the nobles found immeasurable delight in the dances of these vengeful specters."
- Location: Cainhurst Castle
- Requirement: 20 Arcane
- Bullets per Use: 3 bullets
- Fire three arcane skulls at an enemy
Messenger's Gift
"A strange gift from the messengers, inhabitants of the dream who revere the brave hunters. Use to envelop oneself in a black nightmarish mist, then transform into a messenger. The illusion is a parlor trick, and any large movement will break the spell. To preserve the guise, proceed very slowly."
- Location: Nightmare Frontier
- Requirement: 10 Arcane
- Bullets per Use: 1 bullet
- Turn into a messenger and fool players in PvP
Old Hunter Bone
"The bone of an old hunter whose name is lost. It is said that he was an apprentice to old Gehrman, and a practitioner of the art of Quickening, a technique particular to the first hunters, carriers of the torch who are sustained by the dream, would tease an old art from his remains."
- Location: Healing Church Workshop
- Requirement: 15 Arcane
- Bullets per Use: 6 bullets
- Increase the speed of dodging (backstep/roll)
Tiny Tonitrus
"Tonitrus is a unique weapon crafted by Archibald, the infamous eccentric of the Healing Church workshop. This is a similar morning star mace that utilizes Quicksilver Bullets. When struck into the ground, it recreates the blue sparks that are said to surround the darkbeasts. Like Archibald's masterpiece, this too is a superb conductor of the powerful blue sparks."
- Location: Yahar'gul, Unseen Village
- Requirement: 25 Arcane
- Bullets per Use: 6 bullets
- Fire a series of small lightning bolts in a vertical line
Regular Items
Two regular items scale with Arcane and do more damage with a higher Arcane attribute. Those two items are the molotov cocktail and the rope molotov cocktail. The former is available at the start of the game, so if you like to set enemies on fire it might be worth putting a few points into arcane at the beginning of the game. Otherwise it's best to save arcane for the second half of the game.
Weapon Scaling
Some weapons scale with Arcane, but that doesn't automatically affect the weapon. Arcane scaling pertains to elemental damage, and the only way to add elemental damage to weapons is to equip the appropriate blood gems.
For example, if you have a weapon that scales S with Arcane and equip a fire blood gem to that weapon, it will do even more fire damage with a higher Arcane stat. Some enemies and bosses are weak to certain elements, so it provides a way to quickly dispatch specific foes. There are also arcane blood gems in the game, and they operate in the same way. The higher the arcane stat, the more damage you do with the blood gem equipped.
Some weapons have better Arcane scaling than others. These are the best weapons for arcane damage (all of the following can get up to B scaling with enough upgrades, with the exception of the top two):
- Rosmarinus (S)
- Ludwig's Holy Blade (A)
- Burial Blade
- Blade of Mercy
- Flamesprayer
- Reiterpallasch
- Threaded Cane
- Kirkhammer
