Father Gascoigne Boss Guide: Complete Strategy for Bloodborne PC Remaster (60fps)

Gascoigne is the filter boss. If you can beat him, you can beat Bloodborne. If you can't, well, the game only gets harder from here. But there's good news: at 60fps on the PC remaster, Gascoigne is honestly a little more forgiving because his parry windows are more consistent. On PS4 the frame pacing made his second phase parry timing feel random. A coin flip. Here it's learnable. I mean, he'll still wreck you. But at least when you die you'll know it was your fault.

Before You Enter

Do not walk into this fight unprepared. Farm the brick trolls near the Central Yharnam lamp for Blood Vials. You want at least 15. Also grab the Tiny Music Box from the little girl in the window above the sewer ladder. I described the exact location in the Central Yharnam walkthrough.

The music box is your safety net. Using it stuns Gascoigne for about three seconds. But there's a catch: you can only use it three times total before it stops working. And using it more than twice in phase one will trigger his phase two transformation early. Save all three uses for phase two.

Upgrade your weapon to at least plus one. The blood stone shards are scattered around Central Yharnam. The easiest one is on the corpse near the first brick troll you encounter. If you missed it, the scurrying beasts in the sewers drop them.

The Saw Cleaver or Saw Spear are your best options for this fight. Both do serrated damage, which gets a 20 percent bonus against beast enemies. Gascoigne counts as a beast in phase two. The Threaded Cane does not get this bonus. The Hunter Axe in transformed mode does, but it's too slow for phase two Gascoigne's aggression.

The Arena

The Oedon Tomb graveyard. It's a wide open space with a few obstacles. The tombstones are your best friend and worst enemy. In phase one, keep a cluster of tombstones between you and Gascoigne. His blunderbuss shots get blocked by them. But in phase two the tombstones become death traps. His transformed attacks clip through them and you'll get stuck on the geometry while dodging. It's honestly kind of unfair when it happens.

Stay in the open area near the gate for phase two. You can also fight on the raised platform at the back of the arena where there are fewer obstacles, but the camera gets weird up there when he jumps.

One thing the remaster mod changes here: the point lights from the lanterns around the arena make it easier to see his telegraphs. On PS4 the graveyard was just this muddy dark mess where you couldn't tell what his arms were doing. Now the lanterns cast actual light and shadows and you can read his silhouette clearly.

Phase One: Hunter Form (100% to 50%)

Gascoigne fights like a player in phase one. He uses a Hunter Axe in transformed mode with wide sweeping attacks. He also has a blunderbuss.

His main combo is a three hit axe swing: horizontal right, horizontal left, then an overhead slam. The first two hits have a rhythm. Swing, pause, swing. The third hit has a longer windup. Dodge into him diagonally on the third swing and you'll end up behind him for a free charged R2.

His blunderbuss is predictable. He always shoots after a roll. If you see him roll, dodge immediately. Don't try to parry his gunshots. You can't.

Parry timing for phase one: watch for his running attack. He sprints at you with the axe held to the side. Shoot when he's about two steps away. At 60fps this timing is consistent. On PS4 I swear it was a coin flip.

His leaping slam attack is the easiest to parry. He jumps and raises the axe overhead. Shoot him as he reaches the peak of his jump. Free visceral.

The second easiest parry is his charged R2. He winds up the axe behind his shoulder. The charge takes about a second. Shoot during the forward swing.

Phase Two: Beast Form (50% to 0%)

At roughly half health, Gascoigne slams his axe into the ground and transforms. His moveset completely changes. He becomes faster, more aggressive, and his attacks leave very little recovery time.

This phase can end in ten seconds if you're not ready. His jump attack covers the entire arena and will one shot you at low vitality. The tell: he crouches low to the ground, arms spread wide. Dodge forward and left. He'll land where you were standing.

His ground combo is six hits. Six. You cannot tank this. You cannot out heal it. When he starts swinging, dodge backward twice and just wait. The combo ends with a two handed ground slam that leaves him vulnerable for about one second. Hit him once or twice and back off.

The music box strategy: as soon as phase two starts, use the music box. He'll stagger and clutch his head. Run behind him for a charged R2 and visceral. This should take off about a quarter of his remaining health.

Use the second music box at about 25 percent health. Same thing, charged R2, visceral. That should leave him with a sliver.

Save the third music box for the finish. Or don't. If you use it three times, the third use might trigger his transformation into an even more aggressive state before he reaches zero health. Sometimes it's safer to just throw Molotovs for the last bit of health. He's weak to fire in beast form.

What Kills Most Players

Panic dodging. Gascoigne's beast combos are designed to punish backward dodge spam. He has forward momentum on every attack. Dodging backward puts you at the edge of his reach where his next lunge catches you.

Always dodge forward and to the side. Through his attacks, not away from them. This is Bloodborne's core lesson and Gascoigne teaches it with a brick to the face.

And greed. Greed is the other killer. You can get one, maybe two hits in phase two before you need to move. Three hits and he'll trade with you, and his damage output is way higher than yours. So take your hit. Get out. Wait. I know it's hard to be patient when he's at five percent health and your heart is pounding. But he'll punish every extra swing. Every single one.

After the Fight

Light the Oedon Tomb lamp. Grab the Oedon Tomb Key from the corpse in the back of the arena. This key opens the gate to Cathedral Ward. Talk to the chapel dweller when you get there. He's creepy but harmless, and sending NPCs to the chapel is how you progress several questlines.

Also, don't be surprised if Gascoigne killed you ten times before you got him. He's designed to do that. On my first playthrough I died to him more than any other boss in the game including the final boss. Tbh I think I died to him more than every other boss combined. The remaster makes the fight fairer with the improved parry windows, but he's still Gascoigne. He'll still delete you if you panic. And honestly, that's kind of why he's great. No other boss teaches you Bloodborne's combat philosophy as efficiently. I'm not gonna list every trick people use to beat him because there are dozens. But the ones above are what actually work consistently.