Are the Chalice Dungeons the most challenging content of the SoulsBorne series?

[hanselthecaretaker]

So now that I?ve cleared the main game and acquired all the main Chalices, I started researching them a bit to help wrap my brain around their cryptic structure. I?ve also read that some of the deeper layers have a ?make or break you? level of difficulty. As in, apparently they make the rest of the game feel like a cakewalk.

For whoever?s played through them and without really spoiling anything, what are your thoughts on them? I think regardless of the Platinum I?d still go through them for the fun of it, but so far they?ve felt more repetitive than difficult. I?m sure that will change once I get to the fourth or fifth layers though. I think my biggest obstacle will be getting the ingredients to reach the Pthumarian Queen.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Not sure about the most challenging content, but I frankly did not enjoy them. I didn't even get to the hard parts, I just found the level design really lacking and uninteresting. With From Software titles one of the big draws for me is specifically the level design, and the randomize layouts just didn't do it for me. The levels were confusing, intuitive, and not very visually interesting, so I never mustered enough enthusiasm for the chalice dungeons to finish them. I don't think I made it more than halfway through, if that.

 

[Saelune]

Well, I got stuck on chalice Rom and that made me stop playing.

Fighting Rom in cramped corners sucks.

Edit: I should add, I did not even start them until I beat the entire rest of the game. Alot of the early stuff was super easy, but it might have expected me to play them alongside the main game.

 

[stroopwafel]

I enjoyed the chalice dungeons and I'd say yeah the Rom spider and curse defiled watchdog are definitely among the hardest parts. I would also put Ludwig, Laurence and Orphan of Kos from The Old Hunters in that category as well as that particular well with the two shark monsters in the fishing village. According to the trophy for Laurence only 10% of players beat him.

 

[bluegate]

I would say that the later Chalice Dungeons and their bosses are of a higher level than the main game's end game enemies on your first playthrough. But on higher New Game Plus runs, the difficulty will even out a bit, or even tip into favor of the main game as Chalice Dungeons don't scale with New Game Plus. Chalice Dungeons do offer the extra ability to augment them with curses such as rotten or fetid which give them an extra bite.

By the way, personally I find the ideal way to play through the Chalice Dungeons to be to rush through the floors, rush to the boss switch, flick it and then rush to the boss door. Don't bother exploring them too much as 99% of the time you'll only find ritual items in the dungeons.

Rushing through them will turn them into a sort of boss rush mode which I find to be the "true" nature of the Dungeons.

Also a nifty tip; Did you know that once you've opened a particular Chalice Dungeon that you can reopen it at NO COST by searching for its password and then opening it through that? This is crucial when farming for the little amount of ritual materials you need to open new dungeons. So take note of the passwords of the Dungeons you have created.

 

[gigastar]

I think i had more trouble going through the Fishing Hamlet than at any point on the way to Yharnam.

Also the Iron Passage in Dark Souls 2, though mercifully short, was far more of a challenge than any chalice dungeon.

And the Fume Knight game me far more shit than any boss in Bloodborne ever did.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I would say that the later Chalice Dungeons and their bosses are of a higher level than the main game's end game enemies on your first playthrough. But on higher New Game Plus runs, the difficulty will even out a bit, or even tip into favor of the main game as Chalice Dungeons don't scale with New Game Plus. Chalice Dungeons do offer the extra ability to augment them with curses such as rotten or fetid which give them an extra bite.

By the way, personally I find the ideal way to play through the Chalice Dungeons to be to rush through the floors, rush to the boss switch, flick it and then rush to the boss door. Don't bother exploring them too much as 99% of the time you'll only find ritual items in the dungeons.

Rushing through them will turn them into a sort of boss rush mode which I find to be the "true" nature of the Dungeons.

Also a nifty tip; Did you know that once you've opened a particular Chalice Dungeon that you can reopen it at NO COST by searching for its password and then opening it through that? This is crucial when farming for the little amount of ritual materials you need to open new dungeons. So take note of the passwords of the Dungeons you have created.

Yeah I?ve been killing everything so far, but have noticed that most enemies don?t drop more than bullets or vials either. I?ve also read that dungeons are a good farming resource for leveling up, which I?d like to do a bit of at least for the later bosses.

Are the passwords the random numbers/letters in the bottom right corner when you?re at a marker (gravestone)? I?ve already had to remove a couple chalices so hoping my progress won?t be lost in them if it matters. They were the earliest ones though, and it seems this is bound to happen as there are only six markers available.

My main goal here is to get to the Queen for the trophy but it sounds like there?ll be some farming involved. If bosses alone can provide enough ingredients then all the better.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I think i had more trouble going through the Fishing Hamlet than at any point on the way to Yharnam.

Also the Iron Passage in Dark Souls 2, though mercifully short, was far more of a challenge than any chalice dungeon.

And the Fume Knight game me far more shit than any boss in Bloodborne ever did.

Is the fishing village the warf area in DS2? I remember that place taking a while. Yeah Fume Knight was tough but I feel pretty good if the Chalices aren?t any tougher.

 

[Erttheking]

Well they were designed like shit, so I guess it depends on your definition of challenge. I personally put more stake into challenge than arbitrarily high difficulty. If I walk out my front door and get punched in the face out of nowhere, I do not consider that a challenge to be overcome, I consider that being dicked over. Half of the dungeons are just spawning lackluster enemies and enemies you've already fought. It's janky as all hell, and I stopped playing them because I was freaking bored.

 

[bluegate]

Yeah I?ve been killing everything so far, but have noticed that most enemies don?t drop more than bullets or vials either. I?ve also read that dungeons are a good farming resource for leveling up, which I?d like to do a bit of at least for the later bosses.

Are the passwords the random numbers/letters in the bottom right corner when you?re at a marker (gravestone)? I?ve already had to remove a couple chalices so hoping my progress won?t be lost in them if it matters. They were the earliest ones though, and it seems this is bound to happen as there are only six markers available.

My main goal here is to get to the Queen for the trophy but it sounds like there?ll be some farming involved. If bosses alone can provide enough ingredients then all the better.

Yes, the passwords are the numbers and letters in the bottom right corner of the screen, I believe they are marked as "Chalice Glyph". When I played the game, all main "story" dungeons had set passwords, sadly I never bothered creating a list back then and I removed the game a little while ago so I can't double check.

Once you remove a dungeon from its altar your progress in it will be lost so you'll have to run through it again, but items and such should respawn in chests, making for easy farming for certain items.

Don't worry if you don't know the passwords to your previous dungeons anymore, aside from using "Search by Chalice Glyph", you should also be able to use "Chalice Dungeon Search" to find dungeons of the same type that you have already created.

Sadly, bosses alone can't provide all the ingredients, you'll have to do a little chest grinding and minor monster farming to get to the Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice Dungeon.

I hope you enjoy your trip through the depths 😜

By the by, what level is your current character?

 

[CaitSeith]

Personally I love them and passed a lot of time playing them (specially the randomized ones). But, yeah. They become repetitive after a while, they can become hard (deeper dungeons have the option to make them harder for better rewards too) and some bosses are from the main game but with increased difficulty. Thankfully it's pretty easy to grind for blood echoes in the deeper levels (specially with the proper runes equipped) and if you require insight, you can farm it by fighting the first chalice's bosses. This is also the only place in Bloodborne where you can find illusory walls.

Spoiler: Tips

- Root Chalice Dungeons are randomized, change their loot and rotate their bosses. They are optional.
- You theoretically only need to complete the non-Root Pthumeru Chalice Dungeons (Pthumeru, Central Pthumeru, Lower Pthumeru, Defiled, and Great Pthumeru Ihyll) to get the trophy. But you need to explore the Loran and Lower Loran Chalice Dungeons for ritual materials for the Defiled Chalice Dungeon.
- The Defiled Chalice Dungeon cuts your max HP by half.
- The last Chalice Dungeon requires a ritual material that you can only get in the Nightmare of Mensis (it involves a major lobotomy)

 

[gsilver]

Yeah Fume Knight was tough but I feel pretty good if the Chalices aren?t any tougher.

I beat Fume Knight without too many tries
I quit one of the early chalice dungeons in frustration (I believe it was the first one with half health), and they get way, way harder once the modifiers kick in.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I think i had more trouble going through the Fishing Hamlet than at any point on the way to Yharnam.

Also the Iron Passage in Dark Souls 2, though mercifully short, was far more of a challenge than any chalice dungeon.

And the Fume Knight game me far more shit than any boss in Bloodborne ever did.

Is the fishing village the warf area in DS2? I remember that place taking a while. Yeah Fume Knight was tough but I feel pretty good if the Chalices aren?t any tougher.

No, the fishing hamlet is part of the bloodborne dlc. The DLC is a much better investment of your time than the chalice dungeons if you haven't played it yet

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I think i had more trouble going through the Fishing Hamlet than at any point on the way to Yharnam.

Also the Iron Passage in Dark Souls 2, though mercifully short, was far more of a challenge than any chalice dungeon.

And the Fume Knight game me far more shit than any boss in Bloodborne ever did.

Is the fishing village the warf area in DS2? I remember that place taking a while. Yeah Fume Knight was tough but I feel pretty good if the Chalices aren?t any tougher.

No, the fishing hamlet is part of the bloodborne dlc. The DLC is a much better investment of your time than the chalice dungeons if you haven't played it yet

I will, but want to Plat the main game first. I consider the dlc icing on the blood cake.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Spoiler

Yeah I?ve been killing everything so far, but have noticed that most enemies don?t drop more than bullets or vials either. I?ve also read that dungeons are a good farming resource for leveling up, which I?d like to do a bit of at least for the later bosses.

Are the passwords the random numbers/letters in the bottom right corner when you?re at a marker (gravestone)? I?ve already had to remove a couple chalices so hoping my progress won?t be lost in them if it matters. They were the earliest ones though, and it seems this is bound to happen as there are only six markers available.

My main goal here is to get to the Queen for the trophy but it sounds like there?ll be some farming involved. If bosses alone can provide enough ingredients then all the better.

Yes, the passwords are the numbers and letters in the bottom right corner of the screen, I believe they are marked as "Chalice Glyph". When I played the game, all main "story" dungeons had set passwords, sadly I never bothered creating a list back then and I removed the game a little while ago so I can't double check.

Once you remove a dungeon from its altar your progress in it will be lost so you'll have to run through it again, but items and such should respawn in chests, making for easy farming for certain items.

Don't worry if you don't know the passwords to your previous dungeons anymore, aside from using "Search by Chalice Glyph", you should also be able to use "Chalice Dungeon Search" to find dungeons of the same type that you have already created.

Sadly, bosses alone can't provide all the ingredients, you'll have to do a little chest grinding and minor monster farming to get to the Great Pthumeru Ihyll Chalice Dungeon.

I hope you enjoy your trip through the depths 😜

By the by, what level is your current character?

Lvl 84 as of now, with a fully upgraded saw cleaver and decent gem infusions. It seems the leveling is a bit slower here than in earlier Souls games. I haven?t really farmed anything yet for more than an hour at a time if that. Build is strength focused with endurance and some skill accents. Secondary weapon is the rifle spear at lvl 9.

I have a depth 3 dungeon open so far but am now going through a depth 2 Hintertomb.

 

[Fappy]

I'll be straight up... some of the deeper Chalice dungeons gave me a good spook. The level design is nothing stellar considering it is procedurally generated, but some of the environments and enemy types (that don't appear in the main game) got my heart racing when I encountered them the first time.

Some of the bosses are super unforgiving as well. I ended up cheesing a super high chalice level ROM by combing beastmode with the pizza cutter and fire paper. I killed him in under a minute but would get one-shot by practically anything that hit me.