The Bloodborne Identity with JanThe Bloodborne Identity with Jan: Part 20

Lady Maria stream

West Side Story is a classic! I was in a production of it once, in high school. (I didn't have a speaking role).

My favorite fight in the game. Between the dual swords, the theme, and the big crazy clock in the back, this felt like a climactic battle (like Ebrietas, Martyr Logarius, and some bosses to come).

When a boss is at low health, using a cannon generally helps to do some chip damage. Jan has this.

Thats my favorite Bloodborne weapon! In Maria's hands

Dodge in and get behind. That works for almost every boss and was how I beat her. Maybe it's me but I don't like the heavy two-handers, especially not against her because of her quick, sweeping attacks. Also, bolt paper helps. You'll get her next ep, Jan. Hopefully it's tomorrow so you don't lose the timing. Keep it up!

I loved Lady Maria as a boss along with Martyr Logarius. She didn't give me too much trouble considering the remaining 2 bosses brought my progress to a screeching halt. Jan, when in doubt remember to shoot her as much as possible in the last remaining 1/4 of health she has left. You can play it safe and mitigate so much damage. It's what I did to defeat her IIRC.

• Phase 1: dodge around her, parry.
• Phase 2: heal, dodge, parry her attacks.
• Phase 3: dodge around her, get a few hits in, shoot to finish the job off. Heal when you can.

I used a fully upgraded Saw Cleaver +10 though so different weapon but the same strategy. I echo the sentiment to use bolt paper if you're struggling since most bosses are weak to it. I'll also add to use Bone Marrow Ash to buff up your gun damage. The worst is yet to come. You got this Jan.

She's my favorite Bloodborne boss. Does Jan know the lore on her yet?

She's a really fantastic boss, and was an absolute gut check for me. That third form in particular requires a degree of precision and poise that most bosses in the game do not demand up to that point. Took me a ton of attempts, more than any other before her. You are so close, don't give up! This is from a guy who beat Ludwig on the first try, which didn't feel like luck but might have been! It probably just depends on build style / weapon choice... In hindsight, I see the seeds of the Sekiro design philosophy being planted with bosses like Maria and the next friend you will meet.

That next friend..... I have quite the history with the next friend on your journey. I cannot wait for you to meet them.

Hey Jan if you want to switch from drop bars to a flat bar it's a fairly easy thing to do on a single speed bike as long as your brakes are cable operated rather than hydraulic (you mentioned yours was a single speed I think?). If your brakes are cable style, you can just remove road bike brake levers, put on flat bar levers, adjust the length of the cable if needed, and you're set. Cable brake levers are cheap. And the bar itself + grips are also cheap. You may or may not need to adjust length of the cable housing as well, depending.

Tools required: metric allen keys, cable cutters

You got this Jan! Also consider this there is always at least one boss from FromSoft games that give each individual player troubles seeing as your seems to be a very tricky boss from the difficulty charged dlc that isn't to shabby.

You almost had her Jan. You can beat her next time for sure.

You'll get it. there's always summoning!

Jan definitely has got this. He gonna pop off like a king when he finally gets the W.

I really figured Maria was gonna be an easy boss for Jan considering he's pretty decent at parrying since he's been doing it the whole game. Maria is absolute parry bait. Its almost unfair once you figure it out.

It looked like Jan wasn't being aggressive enough during the third phase. There were several opportunities there where he was backing off instead of hitting her while she recovers after an attack. Bloodborne expects you to trade blows with bosses on occasion especially when using some of the heavy two-handed weapons.

Jan was also asking about bosses in Sekiro in the last video. I haven't played that game but Dark Souls 3 definitely has some bosses that are very similar to the ones in Bloodborne. The DLC for Dark Souls 1 also has a bit of a Bloodborne feel to it. Artorias in particular has some very similar moves to Maria. Although not a From game, The Surge 2 has bosses that demand parrying and plays at a pace that is somewhere between Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

Damn, Jan, so close! I'm sure he's got it next time!

If he reads advice from the comments, I would personally suggest taking a slower approach and prioritize stamina. Maybe it was just the tilt, but at the end there a lot of the time you were going in for really risky attacks and not getting any reward; a lot of bosses in these From games require you to get in, attack once or twice and then get back out before you're left standing in the path of an attack with no stamina to dodge away with.

Also, with some of Maria's bigger attacks I found it possible to slip in behind her and get in a charged heavy which will also allow you to do a visceral attack (remember you can spin 180 degrees during a charged attack). Lots of damage and you get your health back at no Quicksilver cost!

Stick with it Jan, you can do it! Orphan on the other hand is a different story...

The ending to this stream is the most amazing thing. Thank you Jan!

You gotta heal when you’re below 50% health.

Hey Jan, you've got the moves down to beat her. So here's an idea:

Tape off her health bar and just follow your routine. When you're not able to see how low her health actually is, then there's no pressure. It's like they say in basketball, "Don't play the score."

For what its worth, I found Maria's third form fairly easy to parry on those big lunging attacks. Beat her my second or third try that way.

Not to say I'm good at this game, but it does make me feel better about taking literally two weeks to beat Ludwig.

I have a suggestion...

Get a piece of tape and cover the Health Meter below the words "Lady Maria of." Whenever you get below that line, your strategy and patience go out the window.

You can't get aggressive at the end. Remember: Make sure the dodge works, then go for the 3 strikes. And don't forget to back out after the overhead third swing. STAMINA.

Also, don't rely on the counter hits to regain health. It always puts you in danger.

But most importantly, STOP LOOKING AT MARIA'S HEALTH METER.

I promise I'm not engaging in schadenfreude, but I'm a little gratified to see this boss fight giving Jan so much shit after he strolled through not one but TWO fights that I banged my head against for hours. And hours. And hours.

I think his good habits cost him, cause I beat Maria on my 3rd try, and the only thing I can account for is that she's one of the few bosses where dodging toward her becomes a viable strat. She rushes forward before striking, so dodging forward puts you behind her where fewer of her moves hit.

I also know this is pointless for him at this time, but for anyone else FROM THE FUUUUUTUUUUURE: there's your sick strat.