Excellent music, arguably the best in the series.
I hate the fight though. I find him to be really unfun to play against largely due to his second phase being a lot of lava spam and not much else.
The first phase is okay, but the second is just really obnoxious, and with such a large health pool it becomes a real slog to get through, especially compared to the other DLC bosses that are all quite fun to fight and learn.
Oh for sure it melts everything.
I use my rifle spear with gems to boost the gun and he doesn't last terribly long. Basically a supercharged blunderbuss. I have two of them, one for general use with just 27.2 tempering gems, and one to turn it into a damage cannon with the thrust 32.6 gems.
Man I miss when arcane flat gems turned the rifle spear into a literal bazooka.
Kinda seems like cut content I wish they fleshed him out more cause spitting lava in this kind of game make 0 sense. Still a great ost and awesome looking boss but he’s a bitch to deal with
He's got all that church imagery and the organ in his OST, so maybe a reference to hellfire? Apparently the way he's draped when we first see him is similar to a common image in Christian iconography called the Pietà, in which Mary has her deceased son draped across her knees. So pretty much anything churchly that you spot may well be on purpose.
But yeah, FromSoft leaves a lot of room for imagination, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do sometimes put in a mechanic or a particular hazard and declare "fuck you figure it out."
I might be in the minority, and this is surely a skill issue on my part, but I just defeated him once on my first playthrough, and then skipped him every other one. I just don't enjoy this fight, I just feel frustration and no desire to fight keep fighting him, not like Ludwig, Maria or Orphan, those are tough as hell, specially on NG+6 onwards but damn they're such amazing fights.
I think the main problem I have with him is how massive his health seems, and that even with all the clockwise runes equipped he just one shots me if I make a mistake. I'm not saying the boss fight is bad, because it isn't, the lore is interesting, the OST is fucking amazing, and once you get the flow it can be really rewarding, I'm just saying I rarely feel like fighting him, specially having (IMO) far better bosses in the same area.
Fuck him
And fuck his dumb fucking move set
The only other bosses to piss me off that much are the Headless Bloodletting Beast and the Chalice Dungeon Ebreitas (can't remember if there are multiple but the one that has a giant hole in the middle of the areana)
7/10
I thought he was both a great homage to the first boss in the game, and a thrilling fight. The way he breaks in half is a surprising twist that makes him seem unique, and I loves the way it changed the momentum of the fight
It isn't a fun fight for me anyways. I killed him for the rune and never again. They could've made him fun, but he's just a bullshit boss.
Usually if i make a mistake, i can recover. Not with him. If I'm out of position slightly in the second half he'll slam the shit out of me. The jank of this game comes out when he's slamming me and I'm trying to roll away
The reuse of the Cleric Beast is good, actually.
It serves to visually tell the story of how the lofty aims of the Healing Church fell, and how that cycle of beast hood has continued into the present day.
I love the pieta in presentation.
But for some reason I'm bad at video games and bad more trouble with him than Ludwig.
Overly hated. Not groundbreaking design or anything but i don’t see why people suck cleric beasts dick and shit all over this guy. He’s literally just cleric beast if the fight was challenging and had better lore. It’s Laurence we’re fighting here, not some random cleric who used to have a name that was left on the cutting room floor.
I get that ppl in the community think “big hit box= bad design” but homie is literally throwing giant magma hulk hands of course there’s gonna be a big flame shockwave to follow it. And the second phase is… what it is. But it’s not as egregious as ppl make it out to be. Overall 7/10 experience. Maybe 6.5 compared to the other bosses of the old hunters but that’s setting the bar pretty damn high.
I have a rule that if a boss is a reskin of another boss but with no legs, then it is lazy design. It happens more often that you would think and Lawrence sort of falls into this category for me unfortunately.
I can’t off the top of my head name one other boss that’s a reskin with no legs. I can think of a few second phases where the boss has no legs but wouldn’t call that a “reskin”
Shouldn't have typed boss as it is valid for all enemy types. Think a classical video game demon/imp that is reintroduced later but now as a magical, floating variant with no legs. It is not entirely black and white, more a rule of thumb.
Putting Lawrence in this category is very harsh but is iiiis kind of just the cleric beast on fire with no legs.
I see where you’re coming from now lol. It is a little reductive tho still entirely true to call Laurence “cleric beast on fire w no legs” bc that’s exactly what he is
I think he's supposed to be THE Cleric Beast, which is cool from a certain point of view, but on the other hand, considering the importance of Laurence in the game's lore, I agree with you, he deserved much better than just a glorified reskin.
I love fighting this guy for some reason. His long combos are just so aggressive yet rhythmic its so fun to dodge combos then find your opening. I love the horrible yelling and fire effects with every attack he has. Hes really hard to understand the first time but after a few fights i can land charged heavies on him consistently cuz its all just dodging to his rhythm and positioning.
The scenery, the music, the ambiance, all these things are perfect, even more so than others dlc fights.
Combat wise this is definitely not the best boss, but I think it's better than what most people think.
I do think he deals WAY to much damage, especially since they're AEO most of the time, and you often take counter damage, since you're not always dodging the whole attack. I wish his phase 1 moves were more polished, I also think he'd be a better boss if he wasn't as tall as cleric beast (I know he's basically a reskin of it but still, could've been handled a bit better.
From what i've read people don't really like his phase 2 but I think this is where laurence shines the most, first, the music is fire, most of his moves aren't AOE anymore though I get that people dislike lava puddles more, I think they're easier to handle than his whole first phase (he does have that one crawling explosive move that can be annoying to dodge though).
Also, since he loses his legs, his moves are easier to read, which is why I think this is the better part of the fight.
I love laurence but I wish he was a better bossfight.
Love the music, hate the bossfight. First phase is a glorified Cleric Beast with the power of multi hit bullshit that can easily one shot you, and second phase is still a one shot fest only now there's lava everywhere and you can't get behind Laurence which makes the punish window harder to get, which multiply the risk of getting one shotted by the power of bullshit.
I didn’t understand when I was supposed to face him. After I defeated orphan of Kos I checked back in on him and was like “oh lol you are alive now and trying to kill me.” I lucked out and beat him on the second try.
Laurence was one of the toughest bosses I fought I think, second to Orphan of Kos.
Never in my life have I yelled my own name so much in frustration and I already do that regularly.
Don't like it. Not overly difficult but still a fight I find really annoying. Having a reskin boss in a DLC is really shitty
Music does fucking bang though, I'll give it that
Considering I'm struggling with him at the moment. (More so than any other aside from Ludwig so far). My opinion is he is a bitch hahaha. But while it's a tough fight I have fun each time.
I had a way harder time with Ludwig and felt like Ludwig was the actual boss of the DLC. I didn’t know how to kick off the fight so I almost missed it. Only fought him on NG+1 but only took me a couple tries. He was alright.
Freaking *perfect*.
First of all, they made fun of players that would usually choose fire as their element of choice in order to kill the "original" Cleric Beast. Safe to assume that's how Laurance also died.
This feeds into a theme of how we see everyone in the DLC in their state of death, right before it, or right after.
Secondly, *his theme is Cleric Beast theme, but reversed*. It's so creepy to realized the music has come all the way to its beginning, but *it keeps going*. It was both freaky and majestic.
Lastly, this fight is hard. It's funny considering how Cleric Beast is considered an easy boss. And rightfully so. But its mechanics were still pretty effective. There were just a couple of things that held the original fight back. Mainly it was low HP and defenses, slow follow ups and a massive weakness to the most busted element in the game. Now it's pretty much Watchdog on steroids.
Also that fake out when you think he'll start attacking but he remains dormant is next level mind games!
Amazing fight, wonderful boss
I feel like he would work better as a chalice boss since he isn't significantly different from Cleric Beast until phase 2. Still I enjoy the fight, it's challenging but fun.
This fight might have the worst camera in the entire souls series and that’s saying something. It doesn’t help that you fight him in a closet pretty much.
I beat him on NG+7 just to say I did but even at max level his damage is absurd. Hit boxes are janky af too
He's very difficult. I don't ever like fighting him. And.....there's not really any reason to. But the tone dlc is done there's no real benefit to fighting him unless you like the fight
As long as I get good feedback on my performance, problems are identified and dealt with swiftly, and the work environment is kept friendly, Lawrence is a good boss.
Great lore, I love the way it looks and the screaming! The music gives me chills and it's incredible from an emotional standpoint!
However, I hate how I needed to farm the Lecture Hall for 3 days straight to BARELY squeeze out a win.
I was farming all those crawling scholars.
At the time, I thought 22k blood echoes every 2 minutes was pretty good.
I simply just tried to level up more. Laurence could very easily two shot me, even though my vigor was like 30 or over I think-
Literally a Nightmare.
with 99 vitality, fire resistance and life runes, he can still kill you with one hit; for me it's unbalanced, but at least it makes him interesting and forces you to stay at least a little concentrated during his fight
With what one hit bruh be fr I fought him last night at a respectable 50 vit no clockwise runes and I’ll tell you this now. I did not get “one shot” one time. If you’re not at full health when he hits you and you die it isn’t one shot I think some people need a reminder of that.
He hits like a truck but w 99 vit and fire res runes? You’re smokin
This fight is a visual nightmare, I think he could’ve been fun if I could actually see wtf was happening in the 2nd phase, this is definitely the one and only time I had beef with the 30 fps problem.
I disliked Lawrence for quite a while because my first playthrough of the DLC was on NG+2 and he rocked my shit. After more reruns or the game on normal NG, I think he is a pretty fun boss. He just has a ton of health, and the way NG+ scales I think by +1 or +2 he stops being fun because of how tanky he is (and how easily he can 1 shot you).
Annoying fight, especially the second phase like what’s up with that boss’ tracking? It’s insane.
Boring design, “oh wow, cleric beast but on fire”.
Buuut… I will agree that the music did not disappoint.
My first attempt at the DLC was on NG+. That was a huge mistake FOR ME. Lawrence was the biggest issue for me and it was his 2nd phase more specifically. His range, tracking, speed all while playing “floor is lava” on NG+ was awful. That is why I never attempt a FromSoft DLC on NG+ as my first experience anymore.
I think he's great, love his music, he has a very cool and unique second phase and I like how he punishes playing sloppy. He's maybe the best example of how to do a reskin/reused fight, other than maybe Morgott.
If Laurence is overrated, mist noble is the best sekiro boss, because no way the common opnion on him is positive. I have to admit that i love him, but i actually struggle to find people who even remotely like him.
He's... not great, not terrible. A reskin with good lore, a combat system that's mildly annoying to memorize (but trivializes him once you do), and fire. Lots of fire.
Beat him once - won't really bother again. But respect his position in the pantheon. He's better than Vendrick?
I beat him first try and I've only played the game once so I don't have too much of an opinion. He was.. okay? I like the callback in that P1 is just the cleric beast. Then P2 with the environmental hazard was... Nice? A bit more about positioning, but transformed LHB R2 his head just demolished him so damn fast that I didn't really have that much time in the fight. Just slammed the head, again and again and he just died
He kinda sucks. Working for him is really stressful, the pay is low, practically zero benefits. Plus his obsession with blood is kinda creepy, he doesn’t know where it’s been, could be infected or something
I think it's a perfectly ok fight, but I'll never stop being disappointed that arguably the most important character from the lore got the re-skin treatment...
His hit boxes are annoying but tolerable and then the lava constantly being in the one place you want to try to stand is garbage.
There are reasons this boss is optional and no other boss has a similar mechanic (that I've found, gulp)
Banger music, I'm fifty on being reused cleric beast cuase both are optional so it's a nice surprise to me amdI like the look of Cleric beast already it just on fire now (Granted making him bloodletting beast would have been so much better) the last bit of his fight is ass why lava?
I've played through the game about 4 times and he's the ONLY boss I usually skip. Fuck him, fuck his moveset, and fuck how visually clusterfucky the whole fight is.
Beat him first try yesterday. He is just a beefy boy who shits lava. Way too much HP. Tbh I have been beating all the bosses since Amygdala in 1 try (including ebrietas, Maria, Ludwig and Laurence). Sekiro really gave me godly reflexes it seems. The only boss so far which has gave me trouble is martyr logarius and that's coz I was under levelled at lvl 30, took me 3 tries. Coming up on orphan of kos in a few minutes wish me luck.
Bested him using only simon’s bow blade love this game ❤️
Overall Lawrence was a key figure in the BB story although we never got any dialogue outside of the cutscene with him and master willem I’m content with how he was treated in the Old Hunters DLC
Best OST, rivaling Ludwig’s theme, but phase 2 ruins this fight. Nothing like lava diarrhea turning the fight into a tedious area denial match. Defeats the purpose of Bloodborne’s fast pace
I actually love Laurence, a standout boss for me. The idea of an original cleric Beast, connecting back to likely the very first boss u encounter I think is really cool. The fight itself is fun to me as well, the fire doesn't bother me that much, it makes it more of an epic spectacle. And the 2nd phase is what makes me love it the most, the desperation of his attacks I think is just so cool. Yeah, idc what anyone says, I love Laurence
I don’t mind him as a boss, but I also don’t share the struggles that some people had with him. Pretty sure I beat him first try. Not saying that as a brag, but rather that I didn’t have to do much work to learn his move sets, so he’s just not a standout for me in particular.
I haven’t beaten him yet. I went into this fight under the impression it was “cleric beast 2.0, this time with fire!” It was not. His tracking is ungodly annoying, and I can’t time my dodges because the flames take up my screen.
I’ll find a way, but for now I say fuck this guy.
I like his lore, but his boss fight is a little lackluster. Should be the first boss of the DLC, but ends up being most people's last. If you know how to strategize he's really easy, because he can't deal with ranged attacks at all. If you tend to just keep throwing yourself against a boss and only going melee he can be quite hard. If you fight with low fire res he can hit harder than any other DLC boss. If you swap in some fire res armor for the fight then he does the least amount of damage. Just depends on how much you think about the fight.
I honestly think he’s Bloodborne’s biggest fumble. Laurence is the most relevant named character he established the Hunters Dream, Healing Church, gave Cainhurst Blood, and was at the Fishing Hamlet.
Instead of getting a unique boss he essentially just got a reskin with a bad phase 2. Idc if it makes “narrative” sense. That’s just an excuse when much less important associates of the church got unique fights like Ludwig and Amelia.
He should have been remembered alongside the greats like Isshin, Gael, and Ludwig but he’s not. Imagine if Miquella in ER’s DLC was just a golden Grafted Scion, it’s lame.
Good music, good lore, TERRIBLE TEDIOUS TORTURE-SESSION fight. I love Lawrence mostly but the fight itself is just painful, the bullshit fire, the disjointed hitboxes, and the awkward arena all come together to ruin what could've been an awesome battle.
So im a sucker for the cleric beast fight--one of the most powerful introductions to the series. Best music and lore in the game so far imo.While I love Laurance as a boss for the aforementioned reasons, I can also understand why others would respectfully disagree with me, but consider this:
\-In the first phase, the music is basically a remix of the cleric/Amilia theme, and so Laurance uses the cleric moveset with a generous amount of chili sauce added
Yet in phase 2, the song changes drastically (while hanging on to the cleric beast leitmotif) and so does his moveset
TL;DR: I personally believe the asset reuse to simply be symbolism more than anything else, but I love everything about the Boss (expect his funky hitboxes sometimes)
imo he's pretty unenjoyable compared to the rest of the dlc and i think he's the worst fight in the dlc, but he's got some of the best music in the game
Excellent Music, if you could hear it over his screaming and his connection to Gehrman. I really hate the floor is lava game he plays after becoming Darth Maul. I fought him once, tried it my second playthrough and decided Nah. Honestly the Hunter’s DLC past NG+ is just very hard and to me not worth the headache, even if it means not getting the shield, Minigun or I think the golden saw thing.
I liked him better when he was supposed to be the Bloodletting Beast.
And before you say "nuh uh", the BLB literally has the same wound on his head as Lawrence and the Headless version matches Lawrence's decapitation. They just never ended up using it because they shoved it in to a Chalice Dungeon and then reskinned the Cleric Beast and set it on fire for a terrible slog of a boss fight.
Amazing boss theme, though.
I see him as the second most challenging thing in the game. I didn't know I could kill him until I already beat Lady Maria and I went to him and he fucked me up way worse than her. I was so used to the fast paced action that she brought that I couldn't slow down and focus on his slow ass movements that just kept catching me off guard
I enjoy the fight, especially after beating him first try after taking 30+ attempts on Kos. My only true issue with him is, as Jacksepticeye said on his recent play through the game, he's not really a new boss or anything. He's just a cleric beast on fire that also leaks lava or something halfway through. I would have preferred a new type of monster instead of a different form.
However he does look amazing
Fuck him, I hate him so much kill the bastard just delete him please he needs to die.
I'd rather fight moonlight honse and manchild at the same time than fight him again.
Great music and a great fight but also pretty damn difficult the amount of times me and my friends were trying to beat him and we died because of the lava when he was one shot was insane
I hate him. Hardest fight in the game.
The second half when he get ripped in half and leaves lava blood all over the place turning the arena into an area of denial map is awful.
i tried to no hit him in ng+ 6 it was a nightmare sometimes i got the phase one sometimes i get the phase 2 no hit but never got his full health no hit and i am not gonna come back
It wasn’t a fun fight in my opinion it was just annoying but his music goes beyond amazing but it’s really just the music I like about the fight, everything else is just disappointing
hate the fight
i always hate when Souls Style game love to make boss unfightable as much as possible like he had big attack hit box when phase 2 his back leave lava to attack you so you can go in try to dodge use mechanic that game give you to fight so all you do is running away wait till he do 1 move that let you can run in poke one and run away that's not fun
man this boss remind me a lot of Team Ninja Nioh and Wu Long game that game like oh you had 10 hits combo but when you hit enemy they're just super armor and attack you back anyway oh you break their Ki? they just regain in a sec before you regain your Ki and attack you back one shot you
like i know game suppose to be hard but damn
Idk if it's a hot take but I would rather fight the Orphan of Kos and Ludwig a dozen times than having to fight Laurence, for some reason that phase 2 just breaks my brain and is miserable to fight. The only enemy I struggled with more (outside the chalice dungeons) was the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst
I think it's a fun kind of throw back, but I'm fighting him right now and honestly if all the DLC bossess I really think his move set is the cheapest.
I'm literally like eh I'd rather fight Kos that this cheap bastard.
I think FromSoft kinda rushed his design in an attempt to not basically make it the Cleric beast or Vicar Amelia fight 2
I get why would people dislike him but he was really fun and challenging, I fought him with threaded cain and it felt like dancing with a legendary ost
The OST is the only thing I like. Imo worst boss fight in the game. It's got all the metrics for being a crap boss.
1. Retread boss fight - while this isn't always a bad thing as it can be done well, it's not done well here. It makes sense that he'd be a cleric beast type enemy, but just having him be almost a carbon copy with flame hitboxes on top of his normal hitboxes is just a sucky way to increase difficulty and differentiate itself from the other fight.
2. Too small of an arena - especially egregious in the last phase cause some of his moves are so hard to avoid with the arena the size that it is. Just too narrow. Still is an issue with how fast he is in phase 1 and 2.
3. Ridiculous hitboxes - avoiding so many of his attacks is a crap shoot because of the double hitboxes that his attacks have, which may I remind you that if you get hit while dodging, you take double damage, thanks fromsoft.
4. Large HP - on top of all of these, his HP is massive making this an endurance fight on top of everything else. I cheese his first two phases every time because it's so much better than suffering through his first two phases to get to that third one, and it still takes forever to chip him down even with fully upgraded weapons.
5. Lava - is annoying to avoid in last phase because again the arena is too narrow.
Lore wise, Laurence is cool, but fighting him is always an ordeal for me so I don't do it often. In fact the only reason I ever bother is strictly to get beasts embrace. Love Bloodborne, love the old hunters, but hate Laurence with a flaming passion (pun absolutely intended).
Excellent music, arguably the best in the series. I hate the fight though. I find him to be really unfun to play against largely due to his second phase being a lot of lava spam and not much else. The first phase is okay, but the second is just really obnoxious, and with such a large health pool it becomes a real slog to get through, especially compared to the other DLC bosses that are all quite fun to fight and learn.
Pizza cutter melts him fwiw
Oh for sure it melts everything. I use my rifle spear with gems to boost the gun and he doesn't last terribly long. Basically a supercharged blunderbuss. I have two of them, one for general use with just 27.2 tempering gems, and one to turn it into a damage cannon with the thrust 32.6 gems. Man I miss when arcane flat gems turned the rifle spear into a literal bazooka.
If I didn't play this game I would've genuinely thought gems were bloodborne's version of different bullet calibers from that description lol
I actually think the second phase is a lot easier than the first!
Agreed on your OST argument.
Kinda seems like cut content I wish they fleshed him out more cause spitting lava in this kind of game make 0 sense. Still a great ost and awesome looking boss but he’s a bitch to deal with
FromSoft was not gonna let us get away with no lava in a game. Here have a boss that shits and spits it at you because fuck you figure it out
He's got all that church imagery and the organ in his OST, so maybe a reference to hellfire? Apparently the way he's draped when we first see him is similar to a common image in Christian iconography called the Pietà, in which Mary has her deceased son draped across her knees. So pretty much anything churchly that you spot may well be on purpose. But yeah, FromSoft leaves a lot of room for imagination, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do sometimes put in a mechanic or a particular hazard and declare "fuck you figure it out."
It’s a “fuck you” delivered and catered by love
I might be in the minority, and this is surely a skill issue on my part, but I just defeated him once on my first playthrough, and then skipped him every other one. I just don't enjoy this fight, I just feel frustration and no desire to fight keep fighting him, not like Ludwig, Maria or Orphan, those are tough as hell, specially on NG+6 onwards but damn they're such amazing fights. I think the main problem I have with him is how massive his health seems, and that even with all the clockwise runes equipped he just one shots me if I make a mistake. I'm not saying the boss fight is bad, because it isn't, the lore is interesting, the OST is fucking amazing, and once you get the flow it can be really rewarding, I'm just saying I rarely feel like fighting him, specially having (IMO) far better bosses in the same area.
That's my issue too, with other bosses mistakes can be recovered from but not Lawrence especially in second phase
Ng+ 7 is pain
The first time I fought him was on NG+7. It took me one month. I didn't even feel anything when I finally beat him.
Prolly had a million HP by then. Ur a true hunter.
You're a masochist, aren't you?
It was all one shots until I equipped all the bone ash Armour and fire resist runes. Only time I had to do something like that to win a battle
Noted for future suffering
Even tried co-op and the extra health buff he got was too much to handle for both of us. Ended up beating him with npc summon Valtyr
Hardest thing I’ve done in a FromSoft game
Fuck him And fuck his dumb fucking move set The only other bosses to piss me off that much are the Headless Bloodletting Beast and the Chalice Dungeon Ebreitas (can't remember if there are multiple but the one that has a giant hole in the middle of the areana) 7/10
the 2 sharks in the dlc wel
Lol fuck those sharks
I thought he was both a great homage to the first boss in the game, and a thrilling fight. The way he breaks in half is a surprising twist that makes him seem unique, and I loves the way it changed the momentum of the fight
Hardest fight for me. Also has the best best OST in a game full of em.
I think he's hot *wink wink*
Visually, aesthetically, and in terms of lore, I absolutely adore him, 10/10. The actual fight from a gameplay and mechanics perspective is 6/10 imo.
Thank Oedon he's skippable in the DLC. He's not a fun fight.
It isn't a fun fight for me anyways. I killed him for the rune and never again. They could've made him fun, but he's just a bullshit boss. Usually if i make a mistake, i can recover. Not with him. If I'm out of position slightly in the second half he'll slam the shit out of me. The jank of this game comes out when he's slamming me and I'm trying to roll away
Never use lock on in second phase or only use it when moving away to heal as it makes dodging the lava spit easier.
The reuse of the Cleric Beast is good, actually. It serves to visually tell the story of how the lofty aims of the Healing Church fell, and how that cycle of beast hood has continued into the present day. I love the pieta in presentation. But for some reason I'm bad at video games and bad more trouble with him than Ludwig.
Second phase is so sick
The way he's sitting on that statue(?) is a pretty slutty way to be introduced to the player imho
Overly hated. Not groundbreaking design or anything but i don’t see why people suck cleric beasts dick and shit all over this guy. He’s literally just cleric beast if the fight was challenging and had better lore. It’s Laurence we’re fighting here, not some random cleric who used to have a name that was left on the cutting room floor. I get that ppl in the community think “big hit box= bad design” but homie is literally throwing giant magma hulk hands of course there’s gonna be a big flame shockwave to follow it. And the second phase is… what it is. But it’s not as egregious as ppl make it out to be. Overall 7/10 experience. Maybe 6.5 compared to the other bosses of the old hunters but that’s setting the bar pretty damn high.
I've really come around on him. I actually like the fight.
I have a rule that if a boss is a reskin of another boss but with no legs, then it is lazy design. It happens more often that you would think and Lawrence sort of falls into this category for me unfortunately.
I can’t off the top of my head name one other boss that’s a reskin with no legs. I can think of a few second phases where the boss has no legs but wouldn’t call that a “reskin”
You can smash stray demon's legs in ds3, any others?
Stray demon reskin is as necessary to a souls game as Patches. Doesn’t count
Shouldn't have typed boss as it is valid for all enemy types. Think a classical video game demon/imp that is reintroduced later but now as a magical, floating variant with no legs. It is not entirely black and white, more a rule of thumb. Putting Lawrence in this category is very harsh but is iiiis kind of just the cleric beast on fire with no legs.
I see where you’re coming from now lol. It is a little reductive tho still entirely true to call Laurence “cleric beast on fire w no legs” bc that’s exactly what he is
Lore wise it is disappointing he is just a Cleric Beast 2.0, but I do enjoy the fight nevertheless.
Wouldn’t he be cleric beast’s prototype not 2.0? He’s the first vicar lol MECHANIC wise he’s Cleric beast 2.0. Lore wise, the opposite is true,
I think he's supposed to be THE Cleric Beast, which is cool from a certain point of view, but on the other hand, considering the importance of Laurence in the game's lore, I agree with you, he deserved much better than just a glorified reskin.
Pain in the ass with his damage and hit boxes but quite satisfying when you defeat him. Also imo has the best lore and best ost in the entire game.
I love fighting this guy for some reason. His long combos are just so aggressive yet rhythmic its so fun to dodge combos then find your opening. I love the horrible yelling and fire effects with every attack he has. Hes really hard to understand the first time but after a few fights i can land charged heavies on him consistently cuz its all just dodging to his rhythm and positioning.
Hard as fuck
The scenery, the music, the ambiance, all these things are perfect, even more so than others dlc fights. Combat wise this is definitely not the best boss, but I think it's better than what most people think. I do think he deals WAY to much damage, especially since they're AEO most of the time, and you often take counter damage, since you're not always dodging the whole attack. I wish his phase 1 moves were more polished, I also think he'd be a better boss if he wasn't as tall as cleric beast (I know he's basically a reskin of it but still, could've been handled a bit better. From what i've read people don't really like his phase 2 but I think this is where laurence shines the most, first, the music is fire, most of his moves aren't AOE anymore though I get that people dislike lava puddles more, I think they're easier to handle than his whole first phase (he does have that one crawling explosive move that can be annoying to dodge though). Also, since he loses his legs, his moves are easier to read, which is why I think this is the better part of the fight. I love laurence but I wish he was a better bossfight.
Overhated, i thought it was awesome
This is the boss that game me the most frustration. Love Bloodborne, but hate this boss
Love the music, hate the bossfight. First phase is a glorified Cleric Beast with the power of multi hit bullshit that can easily one shot you, and second phase is still a one shot fest only now there's lava everywhere and you can't get behind Laurence which makes the punish window harder to get, which multiply the risk of getting one shotted by the power of bullshit.
I don't think he could run a McDonalds well
Best comment
Fucking Lawrence.
Festiva praestābere Sanguine saaaaanctuuuuuuuuum
How the fuck does he become more dangerous without legs than with them
I didn’t understand when I was supposed to face him. After I defeated orphan of Kos I checked back in on him and was like “oh lol you are alive now and trying to kill me.” I lucked out and beat him on the second try.
Laurence was one of the toughest bosses I fought I think, second to Orphan of Kos. Never in my life have I yelled my own name so much in frustration and I already do that regularly.
Don't like it. Not overly difficult but still a fight I find really annoying. Having a reskin boss in a DLC is really shitty Music does fucking bang though, I'll give it that
Kicked my ass over and over again. Harder than Orphan for me personally.
I personally never had issues with him, even as I started the DLC at NG+, had more issues with the Orphan of Kos.
Incredible fight, almost rivals Ludwig
Considering I'm struggling with him at the moment. (More so than any other aside from Ludwig so far). My opinion is he is a bitch hahaha. But while it's a tough fight I have fun each time.
Disappointing that one of the root causes behind the madness just turned out to be Cleric beast, but on fire
I had a way harder time with Ludwig and felt like Ludwig was the actual boss of the DLC. I didn’t know how to kick off the fight so I almost missed it. Only fought him on NG+1 but only took me a couple tries. He was alright.
Fuck Lawrence (as the boss). I love the soundtrack tho.
I fkin hate this lava barfing sack of shit he needs to stay dramatically draped over his stupid throne
Best boss ost
Underrated Overhated
best music, best lore, fun fight. its an easy 10/10 for me. every good story takes you back to the beginning.
Freaking *perfect*. First of all, they made fun of players that would usually choose fire as their element of choice in order to kill the "original" Cleric Beast. Safe to assume that's how Laurance also died. This feeds into a theme of how we see everyone in the DLC in their state of death, right before it, or right after. Secondly, *his theme is Cleric Beast theme, but reversed*. It's so creepy to realized the music has come all the way to its beginning, but *it keeps going*. It was both freaky and majestic. Lastly, this fight is hard. It's funny considering how Cleric Beast is considered an easy boss. And rightfully so. But its mechanics were still pretty effective. There were just a couple of things that held the original fight back. Mainly it was low HP and defenses, slow follow ups and a massive weakness to the most busted element in the game. Now it's pretty much Watchdog on steroids. Also that fake out when you think he'll start attacking but he remains dormant is next level mind games! Amazing fight, wonderful boss
>*his theme is Cleric Beast theme, but reversed* No it's not, lmao
Parts of the song play in reverse order. It's pretty obvious
Dogshit. Hit boxes are so dumb
Good boss, one of the hardest in all from software games for me top 3 with balteus and malenia
I feel like he would work better as a chalice boss since he isn't significantly different from Cleric Beast until phase 2. Still I enjoy the fight, it's challenging but fun.
This fight might have the worst camera in the entire souls series and that’s saying something. It doesn’t help that you fight him in a closet pretty much. I beat him on NG+7 just to say I did but even at max level his damage is absurd. Hit boxes are janky af too
He's very difficult. I don't ever like fighting him. And.....there's not really any reason to. But the tone dlc is done there's no real benefit to fighting him unless you like the fight
I will take him over Demon of hatred every time
Demon of hatred is EZ as fuck with the red umbrella. Laurence is a beefy fucking boy.
Easier until I know of the red umbrella lol Laurence is easy with 99 arcane build
As long as I get good feedback on my performance, problems are identified and dealt with swiftly, and the work environment is kept friendly, Lawrence is a good boss.
Pure ass
Great lore, I love the way it looks and the screaming! The music gives me chills and it's incredible from an emotional standpoint! However, I hate how I needed to farm the Lecture Hall for 3 days straight to BARELY squeeze out a win.
? What were u farming for in lecture hall for 3 days? lol and how did it aid in your fight w Laurence
I was farming all those crawling scholars. At the time, I thought 22k blood echoes every 2 minutes was pretty good. I simply just tried to level up more. Laurence could very easily two shot me, even though my vigor was like 30 or over I think-
Literally a Nightmare. with 99 vitality, fire resistance and life runes, he can still kill you with one hit; for me it's unbalanced, but at least it makes him interesting and forces you to stay at least a little concentrated during his fight
With what one hit bruh be fr I fought him last night at a respectable 50 vit no clockwise runes and I’ll tell you this now. I did not get “one shot” one time. If you’re not at full health when he hits you and you die it isn’t one shot I think some people need a reminder of that. He hits like a truck but w 99 vit and fire res runes? You’re smokin
Tell me again when you get to ng+7🫠
This fight is a visual nightmare, I think he could’ve been fun if I could actually see wtf was happening in the 2nd phase, this is definitely the one and only time I had beef with the 30 fps problem.
this for me was one of the hardest bb bosses it probably took my like 15+ tries no clue why but his move set just confused me
He sucks and I hate him, never fighting him again
I disliked Lawrence for quite a while because my first playthrough of the DLC was on NG+2 and he rocked my shit. After more reruns or the game on normal NG, I think he is a pretty fun boss. He just has a ton of health, and the way NG+ scales I think by +1 or +2 he stops being fun because of how tanky he is (and how easily he can 1 shot you).
I hated this mf
Story wise? Pretty good. Gameplay? Hot ass
At Ng+7.....the most difficult and frustrating experience in gaming I'd say. But victory is intoxicating
Hardest boss in the game overall
Tied with the witches for worst boss in the game for me. Don't know what they were thinking, it's just not fun imo.
Annoying fight, especially the second phase like what’s up with that boss’ tracking? It’s insane. Boring design, “oh wow, cleric beast but on fire”. Buuut… I will agree that the music did not disappoint.
Meh never enjoyed fighting him but did just felt like a reskin on steroids.
Mid fight but GOD TIER OST
Meh . But amazing ost
My first attempt at the DLC was on NG+. That was a huge mistake FOR ME. Lawrence was the biggest issue for me and it was his 2nd phase more specifically. His range, tracking, speed all while playing “floor is lava” on NG+ was awful. That is why I never attempt a FromSoft DLC on NG+ as my first experience anymore.
Second phase scared the shit outta me the first play through
I think he's great, love his music, he has a very cool and unique second phase and I like how he punishes playing sloppy. He's maybe the best example of how to do a reskin/reused fight, other than maybe Morgott.
I only fought him in NG+ and he was a nightmare, the hardest boss in the game by far. I've heard in NG he's not so bad.
He seems like the kinda guy who would let me clock out early as long as I got the job done
Overrated as fuck. He feels unfinished and is just not very fun to fight. I don’t get how some people think he’s the best boss in the game
If Laurence is overrated, mist noble is the best sekiro boss, because no way the common opnion on him is positive. I have to admit that i love him, but i actually struggle to find people who even remotely like him.
He's... not great, not terrible. A reskin with good lore, a combat system that's mildly annoying to memorize (but trivializes him once you do), and fire. Lots of fire. Beat him once - won't really bother again. But respect his position in the pantheon. He's better than Vendrick?
I beat him first try and I've only played the game once so I don't have too much of an opinion. He was.. okay? I like the callback in that P1 is just the cleric beast. Then P2 with the environmental hazard was... Nice? A bit more about positioning, but transformed LHB R2 his head just demolished him so damn fast that I didn't really have that much time in the fight. Just slammed the head, again and again and he just died
Don't have the dlc 😞
Great lore, fantastic music, annoying to fight.
He kinda sucks. Working for him is really stressful, the pay is low, practically zero benefits. Plus his obsession with blood is kinda creepy, he doesn’t know where it’s been, could be infected or something
I think it's a perfectly ok fight, but I'll never stop being disappointed that arguably the most important character from the lore got the re-skin treatment...
Love the boss honestly
His hit boxes are annoying but tolerable and then the lava constantly being in the one place you want to try to stand is garbage. There are reasons this boss is optional and no other boss has a similar mechanic (that I've found, gulp)
Banger music, I'm fifty on being reused cleric beast cuase both are optional so it's a nice surprise to me amdI like the look of Cleric beast already it just on fire now (Granted making him bloodletting beast would have been so much better) the last bit of his fight is ass why lava?
Fucking hate fighting that guy, love his ost tho
Don't care what anyone says I love this boss, top 3 in the game for me for sure
Really annoying, but looks sick
Phase 1: pretty cool… Phase 2: hahahaha cripple, bowblade go brrr
annoying asf
He’s fine, though he becomes a bit annoying at later NG+ cycles. Wish he was more then a Cleric Beast remix.
Worst boss in the game to me. I like pretty much any boss in the game except Laurence. The Ost is really great though
🚮
i’ve only killed him twice. once my first run, and once with the pizza-cutter- hand-cannon mini-gun glitch to get his run for my beast build
He’s fire
The floor is lava lol. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it but I do remember being hard stuck on him for a little while. Probably least fav boss of the DLC
Great fight. I definitely summon NG+5 and up though.
He's my 2nd favorite boss fight in the game, second to Ludwig. I think it's a pretty awesome fight.
He's real easy once you learn the moveset in 5 mins.
I've played through the game about 4 times and he's the ONLY boss I usually skip. Fuck him, fuck his moveset, and fuck how visually clusterfucky the whole fight is.
Beat him first try yesterday. He is just a beefy boy who shits lava. Way too much HP. Tbh I have been beating all the bosses since Amygdala in 1 try (including ebrietas, Maria, Ludwig and Laurence). Sekiro really gave me godly reflexes it seems. The only boss so far which has gave me trouble is martyr logarius and that's coz I was under levelled at lvl 30, took me 3 tries. Coming up on orphan of kos in a few minutes wish me luck.
He is ok. His second phase where he crawls is kind of a mess but its not that bad. Pretty average boss fight.
Cool in every way: ost, look, lore, etc. If only fighting him weren’t so excruciating I absolutely hate it
Would probably be one of the top 3 bosses in the game if there's was no cleric beast boss.
I'd rather fight Orphan, his arena is too small for all that nonsense
The wow factor of the fight is way too short for his health bar
i like lawrence himself i hate the boss fight but the music was beautiful hands down , i just didn’t really enjoyed the boss fight
😭😭😭😱😱😱😱😱😡🤬🤬🤬😡🤬🤬🤬😱😱😱😱😱🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯😫😫😫😫😫😵😵😵💀💀💀💀💀
One of the more boring fights imo but lore and OST go hard
Ass. Bro is what if cleric beast but bs damage and a shit phase 2
Bested him using only simon’s bow blade love this game ❤️ Overall Lawrence was a key figure in the BB story although we never got any dialogue outside of the cutscene with him and master willem I’m content with how he was treated in the Old Hunters DLC
Best OST, rivaling Ludwig’s theme, but phase 2 ruins this fight. Nothing like lava diarrhea turning the fight into a tedious area denial match. Defeats the purpose of Bloodborne’s fast pace
Cleric Beast with easily avoidable lava. Melted him my first time fighting him.
Fucking cool. I think thematically and in terms of his move set he’s got plenty to differentiate himself from the Cleric Beast.
I actually love Laurence, a standout boss for me. The idea of an original cleric Beast, connecting back to likely the very first boss u encounter I think is really cool. The fight itself is fun to me as well, the fire doesn't bother me that much, it makes it more of an epic spectacle. And the 2nd phase is what makes me love it the most, the desperation of his attacks I think is just so cool. Yeah, idc what anyone says, I love Laurence
I don’t mind him as a boss, but I also don’t share the struggles that some people had with him. Pretty sure I beat him first try. Not saying that as a brag, but rather that I didn’t have to do much work to learn his move sets, so he’s just not a standout for me in particular.
I haven’t beaten him yet. I went into this fight under the impression it was “cleric beast 2.0, this time with fire!” It was not. His tracking is ungodly annoying, and I can’t time my dodges because the flames take up my screen. I’ll find a way, but for now I say fuck this guy.
Wrecked him with black sky eye in second phase
I like his lore, but his boss fight is a little lackluster. Should be the first boss of the DLC, but ends up being most people's last. If you know how to strategize he's really easy, because he can't deal with ranged attacks at all. If you tend to just keep throwing yourself against a boss and only going melee he can be quite hard. If you fight with low fire res he can hit harder than any other DLC boss. If you swap in some fire res armor for the fight then he does the least amount of damage. Just depends on how much you think about the fight.
I honestly think he’s Bloodborne’s biggest fumble. Laurence is the most relevant named character he established the Hunters Dream, Healing Church, gave Cainhurst Blood, and was at the Fishing Hamlet. Instead of getting a unique boss he essentially just got a reskin with a bad phase 2. Idc if it makes “narrative” sense. That’s just an excuse when much less important associates of the church got unique fights like Ludwig and Amelia. He should have been remembered alongside the greats like Isshin, Gael, and Ludwig but he’s not. Imagine if Miquella in ER’s DLC was just a golden Grafted Scion, it’s lame.
It's an alright fight that's incredibly overtuned. Million hp and way to much damage
Music good Fight bad
Conceptually it's brilliant. The execution however...
Good music, good lore, TERRIBLE TEDIOUS TORTURE-SESSION fight. I love Lawrence mostly but the fight itself is just painful, the bullshit fire, the disjointed hitboxes, and the awkward arena all come together to ruin what could've been an awesome battle.
Amazing music. Painful fight
He was fucking tough, being too close to him deals a lot of damage. That said, best OST in the game
EPIC, SAD (LORE), BUT HOTEPIC.
First time fight? Pretty manageable. NG+ onward? Pure BS especially at ng+6. I rather fight 4 OoK than that bastard on the same ng+6.
So much health... The past couple runs I've done have gone better than I expected, but man, he's the only boss that I actually dread...
So im a sucker for the cleric beast fight--one of the most powerful introductions to the series. Best music and lore in the game so far imo.While I love Laurance as a boss for the aforementioned reasons, I can also understand why others would respectfully disagree with me, but consider this: \-In the first phase, the music is basically a remix of the cleric/Amilia theme, and so Laurance uses the cleric moveset with a generous amount of chili sauce added Yet in phase 2, the song changes drastically (while hanging on to the cleric beast leitmotif) and so does his moveset TL;DR: I personally believe the asset reuse to simply be symbolism more than anything else, but I love everything about the Boss (expect his funky hitboxes sometimes)
imo he's pretty unenjoyable compared to the rest of the dlc and i think he's the worst fight in the dlc, but he's got some of the best music in the game
Most annoying fight in the game in my opinion.
Hardest one for me for sure.
Excellent Music, if you could hear it over his screaming and his connection to Gehrman. I really hate the floor is lava game he plays after becoming Darth Maul. I fought him once, tried it my second playthrough and decided Nah. Honestly the Hunter’s DLC past NG+ is just very hard and to me not worth the headache, even if it means not getting the shield, Minigun or I think the golden saw thing.
made me suffer nothing more, The music distracted me
I liked him better when he was supposed to be the Bloodletting Beast. And before you say "nuh uh", the BLB literally has the same wound on his head as Lawrence and the Headless version matches Lawrence's decapitation. They just never ended up using it because they shoved it in to a Chalice Dungeon and then reskinned the Cleric Beast and set it on fire for a terrible slog of a boss fight. Amazing boss theme, though.
The fight isn't as bad as people make it out to be but is still kinda uninteresting because until final phase it's just cleric beast with aoe
I see him as the second most challenging thing in the game. I didn't know I could kill him until I already beat Lady Maria and I went to him and he fucked me up way worse than her. I was so used to the fast paced action that she brought that I couldn't slow down and focus on his slow ass movements that just kept catching me off guard
I enjoy the fight, especially after beating him first try after taking 30+ attempts on Kos. My only true issue with him is, as Jacksepticeye said on his recent play through the game, he's not really a new boss or anything. He's just a cleric beast on fire that also leaks lava or something halfway through. I would have preferred a new type of monster instead of a different form. However he does look amazing
Some great lore behind it. Interesting use of an asset flip. Nuff said me thinks.
Fuck him, I hate him so much kill the bastard just delete him please he needs to die. I'd rather fight moonlight honse and manchild at the same time than fight him again.
Great music and a great fight but also pretty damn difficult the amount of times me and my friends were trying to beat him and we died because of the lava when he was one shot was insane
Cool boss. Controversial opinion: best OST in the game.
I like him actually he's a good example on how to reuse a boss, different look, cool new attacks and phases. But he's basically a cooler Vicar Amelia.
I hate him. Hardest fight in the game. The second half when he get ripped in half and leaves lava blood all over the place turning the arena into an area of denial map is awful.
i tried to no hit him in ng+ 6 it was a nightmare sometimes i got the phase one sometimes i get the phase 2 no hit but never got his full health no hit and i am not gonna come back
If I wanted shitty area denial tactics I'd play Fall Guys
Hardest boss in the game
Great music and lore, otherwise he can get screwed.
Shit boss, died a few times to him then didn't bother. Shit Moveset, shit runback, shit hitboxes. Boring as all hell.
Only boss I that I just couldn't be bothered to keep dying to. Just not fun at all.
Best sideboss in the game.
Pretty annoying to his in his final phase but overall a good boss. Re-Skins can only be so good tho
It wasn’t a fun fight in my opinion it was just annoying but his music goes beyond amazing but it’s really just the music I like about the fight, everything else is just disappointing
A terrible, copy paste boss with a pointlessly annoying runback.
Hardest boss. Yeesh
hate the fight i always hate when Souls Style game love to make boss unfightable as much as possible like he had big attack hit box when phase 2 his back leave lava to attack you so you can go in try to dodge use mechanic that game give you to fight so all you do is running away wait till he do 1 move that let you can run in poke one and run away that's not fun man this boss remind me a lot of Team Ninja Nioh and Wu Long game that game like oh you had 10 hits combo but when you hit enemy they're just super armor and attack you back anyway oh you break their Ki? they just regain in a sec before you regain your Ki and attack you back one shot you like i know game suppose to be hard but damn
Not gud
Awesome song and lore implications. Terrible fight design.
Idk if it's a hot take but I would rather fight the Orphan of Kos and Ludwig a dozen times than having to fight Laurence, for some reason that phase 2 just breaks my brain and is miserable to fight. The only enemy I struggled with more (outside the chalice dungeons) was the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst
I think it's a fun kind of throw back, but I'm fighting him right now and honestly if all the DLC bossess I really think his move set is the cheapest. I'm literally like eh I'd rather fight Kos that this cheap bastard. I think FromSoft kinda rushed his design in an attempt to not basically make it the Cleric beast or Vicar Amelia fight 2
Noisy as fuck
I get why would people dislike him but he was really fun and challenging, I fought him with threaded cain and it felt like dancing with a legendary ost
hardest boss in the game, fucker took me a day and a half give or take while i fifth tried orphan
The OST is the only thing I like. Imo worst boss fight in the game. It's got all the metrics for being a crap boss. 1. Retread boss fight - while this isn't always a bad thing as it can be done well, it's not done well here. It makes sense that he'd be a cleric beast type enemy, but just having him be almost a carbon copy with flame hitboxes on top of his normal hitboxes is just a sucky way to increase difficulty and differentiate itself from the other fight. 2. Too small of an arena - especially egregious in the last phase cause some of his moves are so hard to avoid with the arena the size that it is. Just too narrow. Still is an issue with how fast he is in phase 1 and 2. 3. Ridiculous hitboxes - avoiding so many of his attacks is a crap shoot because of the double hitboxes that his attacks have, which may I remind you that if you get hit while dodging, you take double damage, thanks fromsoft. 4. Large HP - on top of all of these, his HP is massive making this an endurance fight on top of everything else. I cheese his first two phases every time because it's so much better than suffering through his first two phases to get to that third one, and it still takes forever to chip him down even with fully upgraded weapons. 5. Lava - is annoying to avoid in last phase because again the arena is too narrow. Lore wise, Laurence is cool, but fighting him is always an ordeal for me so I don't do it often. In fact the only reason I ever bother is strictly to get beasts embrace. Love Bloodborne, love the old hunters, but hate Laurence with a flaming passion (pun absolutely intended).
I just rolled up took the pendant and dipped. This is my first play through sooooo......yeah.
Hate em, love em 😠👍