How to summon help in Bloodborne – and how to offer it

Since its recent PlayStation Plus release, the streets of Yharnam have seen a sizable income of new Hunters, making it the perfect time to hunt together! Want a Hunter to help you with a particular boss or clear out a tough area? Here’s a quick guide on how to play online in Bloodborne.

Insight

The Insight system is the Lovecraftian mechanic at the very core of Bloodborne. This stat represents the amount of inhuman knowledge you have acquired by exploring the world and defeating bosses. Accumulating Insight points will lead you on your path towards the eldritch truth, seeing the unspeakable, and a lot more.

When it comes to playing online, Insight is also the main currency you’ll need. For the cost of one insight, you can summon players to your world to assist you in the hunt, and you won’t be able to play online until you get your first bit of Insight.

For this, however, you have a few options. The easiest way to get Insight early on in the game is to encounter a boss for the first time or consume Madman’s Knowledge, which you’ll find scattered across Yharnam or as a drop from certain enemies.

Getting help from others (the Beckoning Bell)

Once you have you have some Insight, you’re (almost) good to go. The item you need to summon help in Bloodborne is the Beckoning Bell.

After you’ve obtained your first point of Insight, you’ll buy the Beckoning Bell from the Messengers in the Hunter’s Dream.

Ringing this Beckoning Bell while playing online will grant you the ability to summon helpful players to your world.

Once rung, the bell will open your world and connect you to players who have offered to assist and that are within range of your in-game level and position. A good tip to find helpful players is to use the bell either at the beginning of a level or just before a boss room.

You can have two guests summoned in your world at once. When you play online, enemy health bars will adjust to reflect the extra Hunters in the mix, but co-op has a lot of benefits – for example, other players might distract the boss’s attention, letting you get in behind for some easy attacks.

Online, be wary that opening your world to friendly hunters might also attract unwanted attention from blood-starved Hunters. You will be notified in game if an adversary has invaded your world, so you have a little bit of time to prepare to fight (or to hide).

Helping other players (the Small Resonant Bell)

To be able to help other players, you will need the Small Resonant Bell. This item can be purchased in the Hunter’s Dream from the upper Messenger shop, which will appear once you’ve collected your first Insight.

All you need to do to help other players is ring the Small Resonant Bell and your game will connect to players who are ringing the Beckoning Bell in their world. Once again, a good tip is to use the item before bosses’ rooms or at the beginning of a level. Helping other players and helping them defeat bosses is a great way to gain Insights so you can summon players to your world later on!

Playing with friends

If you want to play with a friend, both the person using the Beckoning bell and the person using the Small Resonant Bell will need to put the same password in the settings under Network. Make sure you are both in the same area and try to stand as close as possible to each other in your respective worlds.

Ending a session (the Silencing Blank)

If for one reason or another you need to put an end to the co-op hunting session, you will need to use the Silencing Blank. You’ll get this item from the same Messenger that gives you the Beckoning Bell. When firing it up, you will end the online session and either return to your world or send the players helping you back to theirs.

Summoning The Old Hunters

After gaining your first point of Insight you’ll find an item known as the ‘Old Hunter Bell’ sitting on the steps of the Hunter’s Workshop, inside the Hunter’s Dream. This special bell can be used to summon the spirits of legendary hunters all around Yharnam and even within the Chalice Dungeons.

The summoning points will appear as small, glowing wells that resonate with a high-pitched chime. Stand over them and press ‘X’ to ring the Old Hunter Bell. Doing this will consume one Insight and summon to your world a friendly NPC hunter who will follow you around that area of the game, helping you to dispatch enemies and – in particular – tough bosses.

Share Play

If Beckoning Bells, Insight and cooperative play are not quite what you had in mind – if you just need to pass the controller to a friend for a moment so they can show you a cool hidden secret or a smart boss strategy, then why not fire-up Share Play?

This unique PlayStation 4 feature allows you to hand to control to a friend via the PlayStation Network and wherever they are in the world, they can take control of the game using their own PS4 as though they were sitting right beside you.

You can continue to chat via parties while you’re using Share Play, meaning you’re free swap strategies or point things out as you go. If, on the other hand, you’d really rather tackle things yourself, you can even simply invite someone to simply spectate and offer hints and tips rather than taking direct control.

#BuddyUpForBloodborne

So now you know how co-op works, what next? Well, you can put a call out to your fellow Hunters across social media, using the hashtag #BuddyUpForBloodborne. Are you a veteran wanting to guide newcomers through those tougher areas of Yharnam? Offer up your services using the hashtag. Fresh to the game and need help on a boss? Do a social shout-out including the hashtag and see if an experienced Hunter’s in the area to lend you their expertise.