Blueblood Sword Build SL 124
rating: +98+–x
Build summary A standard BBS build…done right
Recommended starting class(es) You can start with any class you want basically, Because you have to level up luck no class wastes stats.
Recommended Soul Level **

Recommended stats (Leave at default (**) if not raised)
Vitality 50
Will/Intelligence 15
Endurance 35
Strength 18
Dexterity 18
Magic 30
Faith 18
Luck 20
Recommended equipment

Latest setup:
Vit 50
Int 15
End 31
Str 18
Dex 18
Mag 30
Faith 18
Luck 25

This is what I've been fooling around lately, 31 end is still enough if you manage stamina a bit better, and the extra 5 luck makes your BS's take like 1100 hp, which is more than enough to ohko BP's.

By priority:

Right hand:
- Blueblood Sword
- Talisman of Beasts/ Talisman of God
- Moon weapons for when you get bored

Left hand:
-Moon Uchigatana +5
- Dark Silver Shield +5
- Insanity Catalist
- Morion Blade ( I don't really recommend this)

Armor:
Anything light that won't affect your stamina regeneration rate.

Rings:
Body form: Clever Rat's Ring, Eternal Warrior's Ring.
Soul form: Cling Ring, Friend's/Foe's Ring.

Consumables:
I generally equip the following for this build:
-Full moon grass
- New moon grass
- Fresh/Old Spice
- Blue/Red/ Black Eye stone
- Widow's lotus
Recommended spells/miracles

Miracles
-Second Chance

Spells
-Light Weapon

These are both all you need and all you can afford. Try to keep Light Weapon on at all times and remember to cast it with the insanity catalyst.
Gameplay tips and progression

Basic Progression:
Check EWGF's guide for general progression. I recommend beating 1-1, 4-1 and get the crescent falcion. Farm a little in 4-2 and then go beat world 5 to get your BBS.

As for stats: Level up Vitality to 15, then Endurance to 15. Then level up your faith, magic and dexterity to be able to wield the BBS. After you can wield it go for more Vitality and Endurance. When you are comfortable with your HP you can level up Str to 18 to be able to one hand the weapon.

Explanation of stats:
50 Vitality: So you can match other builds in terms of survivability.

15 Will/Intelligence: Pretty obvious, otherwise you can't cast Light Weapon.

35 Endurance: Wait what? But you need 38 at least for the full combo! I know that, but the metagame has changed since a while ago and the probability of actually hitting the full combo is pretty much nonexistent. Switching Endurance for Vitality gives you the extra edge you need while fighting tough opponents.

18 Strength: Because 2H style sucks for approaching, 1H on the other side is pretty cool.

18 Dexterity : You need this to wield the weapon.

30 Magic: To scale with light weapon, 60% of your total DAMAGE comes from here.

18 Faith : Again, you need this to wield it

20 Luck: 20 is the first choke point for luck, dumping more stats into it does not make that much of a difference as those stats can do in other places (Namely Vitaliy)

About the build

Pros:
-High damage output with high speed. You are looking at 400-500 Damage per swing in soul form.
- Practically immune to warding.
- The two handed combo can kill through SC in 4-5 swipes.
- Has one of the most severe punishments against Pivot BS.

Cons:
- Reliance on Light Weapon
- Low HP, you will still find yourself dying in very few hits.
- Little to no variety in the weapons you can use. BBS is your best weapon, but anything else you throw instead will have mediocre damage.

General Tactics:

Contrary to popular belief, a BBS build is most dangerous when played methodically and using the one handed style most of the times. Your basic strategy is getting them to a low enough health that a 2-3 hit combo will kill them. I know this sometimes isn't possible so you have to settle for SC.

We all know about the stunlock, but not many people use the 1h swings to get chip damage before using the combo to guarantee a kill.

Your swings, when so use them:

1H R1: This is your standard swing, because of lag and phantom range can hit even after they roll backwards once, use this to your advantage. This hit is also absurdly hard to roll BS while spamming it so don't be shy to abuse it every now and then.

1H R2: This hit is perfect to try when your opponent is getting up, it has relatively good lock on so you can try to aim it to hit after a roll. Alternatively, this can work sometimes as an unexpected attack. Do not try to use it head on though as it will more often than not result in you getting Backstabbed.

1H Running R1: This is perfect for poking and you will be getting most of your hits from this. You can time it to hit after a roll or to hit with the phantom range it has.

2H R1: Great for following up combo, not so much for starting it. Generally ends up in you getting backstabbed if you do it recklessly.

2H R2: Great combo starter, has a wide arch and can get enemies caught relatively easily. This move is also THE best punishment for people who mindlessly try to BS you. Just hit them with this and combo them to death.

Honorable mention to the second hit of r2 when two handed, it works nice as a mixup.

2H running R2: This attack is not really that good, use it very sparringly since it is very slow and has horrible locking properties (Does not follow opponent). It does seem however to have some hyperarmor near the end of the attack. Even though it might be due to lag, it is useful sometimes regardless.

Hit after roll: This is basically the same 1H or 2H so I will treat them as one. While not a really good swipe, it is surprisingly useful because people rarely expect it.

Push: A really good starter in both 1H and 2H. With 2H you make them eat a combo, with 1H you get some neat extra damage on your swap. Particularly vicious if you are using a left handed moon uchi.

Variations in setup:
In the time I have used the BBS, there are basically two setups worth trying.

1. Right hand BBS, left hand DSS or other shield.
This is the one I see most often, but it is usually misused. If you equip that shield you might as well use it. Turtling a bit with the BBS is surprisingly effective because as soon as you get them over-aggressive and trying to get a pivot BS in you can punish pretty hard with Your lighted BBS. Also, try going for parries every now and then. Even more hurtful than the riposte afterwards you can quickly 2H and initiate a stunlock if they are low on health and have SC.

2. Right hand BBS, left hand moon uchigatana.
This one is even more dangerous because it is like your own version of dual kats. You can effectively poke at your opponent with the old left hand slash to roll. Quickly following up with a BBS swing if it connects. 650-700 damage pokes are nothing to laugh at.

Additionally, if you catch them in a push you can kill people really quickly, just adding some numbers:
Left hand moon uchi slash: 170 Damage as a phantom
Push: 120 Damage
Right hand slash: 550+ damage.

This means that with each push sequence you add 290 damage, and can finish up with a 550 swipe. This guarantees at least 860 damage, which means that just hitting once and then doing this will kill most phantoms.

Matchups

So now I know my own attacks with the BBS. However I have a bit of trouble with poles, and DBS, and katanas, and axes and…well almost everythng. Anyway how do I fight other stuff with this thing? It seems as if everyone is out-ranging me, out-speeding me or out-damaging me.

If you occasionally have trouble beating *Insert weapon* look no more, I will do my best to explain srategies that work best against most popular setups. Because you can have the same weapon in different builds I will separate by builds and then by weapons.

Fighting strength builds

Strength builds are arguably the hardest hitters in the game, anything they have will two shot you at the very least so getting hit is not an option in this matchup.

Great Axe Recommended setup: Left kat and BBS, one handed

One of the deadliest weapons you will encounter, if you have 45 vit or less you will die in just one shot of this thing (One of the reasons I recommend going to 50) so you most definitely want to focus on evading. For this matchup I recommend using a left handed moon kat because of its speed, and because the axe eats through shields as if they were nothing.

Due to hyper armor in virtually every hit your running r1 while 1 handed and the whole 2H stance are basically useless in this matchup.

The strategy that works best for me is poking away with the left handed kat and rolling immediatly afterwards, looking for openings to BS. Also, watch out for those grund pounds, they are both your biggest concern and your greates opportunity to get a safe hit in. Because both your weapons have more range than this attack you can hit him safely as long as you hit with the very tip of the sword. Remember, if it connects and stuns follow up with a BBS swing; if it misses or it hits hyper armor roll immediatly afterwards.

Finally, timing is crucial when trying to punish ground pounds. In general try to swing as early as possible, because if you swing too early you will hit invincibility frames from the roll and roll out unscathed. However, if you swing too late you will trade your measly 170 damage kat hit for your SC or your death. The perfect timing is when you hit just as he leaved invincibity frames, you hit him and still have time to roll away before he hits you. While this works best against groundpund because it is usually all people use, it can be applied just as well to r1 and r2 hits. With the difference that these attacks give you a lot of time to hit and then roll away.

PS: Ground pound has a ridiculous phantom range that can hit even after you roll. If you rolled expecting a ground pound and you see him not attack, immediatly make the command to roll again because you WILL get hit otherwise.

Pole (Mirdan Hammer, Halberd) Recommended setup: Shield or left kat and BBS

This weapon only has one attack with hyper armor, so poke away with 1H running r1, just be sure to hit with the phantom range or else you will eat their combo. Because they significantly out-reach the sword itself I don't recommend trying to go for a 2H combo unless you trick them into going aggro and have them run into it.

If you opt for a shield your best bet is to play keepaway with it and just punish his attacks. Your basic mixup will be either trying a setup parry (Shield first hit, immediatly parry to get the second one) or going for a roll BS (Roll to them as they hit, then quickly turn around and press r1). However, against more experienced players who don't mindlessly spam you will have to work a bit more for your kill. Try poking with running r1 and pretend you are trying to stay away, make them feel safe about trying to hit multiple times so you will actually get a chance to do your thing.

If you want to use the kat then try even harder for roll BS, if you are just next to him and see no delay in your hits feel free to hit l1 to beat his attacks and transition into a pushlock.

A strategy that works wonders if you don't mind taking hits is trading your running sweep with his r1, then using a kat sweep after you both are out of stunlock. You will probably trade hits again the first time (and lose SC in the process). However, after that you will beat their attack and get a free pushlock pass.

In general just don't run into his attacks, play keepaway for the entire match, poking with running r1 from far away and looking for your chance to roll BS.

Claymore Recommended setup: Left kat and BBS or Shield

This is pretty similar to fighting a pole. You either try to parry, try to roll BS or die in the attempt.

One difference however, is that they very rarely use the second sweep; so setting up parry is practically impossible. However, you can easily blind parry this attack. Also, they have even more range so even poking away with the running r1 is not so effective.

Again, the left handed kat is a god send because you can out-speed their swing and follow up with a BBS swing. Do not attempt to blindly pivot BS because you will eat a claymore swing.

One advantage is that you can actually use the 2H style relatively effectively here. Roll through their hit and use rolling hit, even if they roll away you are now in frame advantage and can swing before they do.

DBS Recommended setup: Shield and BBS

Do not be afraid of shielding that gigantic thing, it is not as bad on the shield as gaxe. Try to BS a lot since BS is about the only thing you can do safely. Do not use the running r1 unless you see they are not executing an attacks, you really don't want to trade hits in this matchup since they can easily grass after they hit you.

The simple 1H r1 can interrupt BBS normal hits so if you get him into close quarters do not be afraid to spam it a bit. However, if he rolls away you should too; especially if you see him with the sword in one hand.

About the 2H stance, if you force him to go into offensive it can be useful. Watch out for his running r1 and if you see him to close to execute it you can start your combo with a 2H r2.

I can't stress this enough but try to get backstabs in, they are your best bet in this matchup. One hit from BBS and one BS will kill any phantom and prevent excesive grassing.

Guillotine Axe Recommended setup: Anything you want
This is like a crappier version of your own weapon. You have 2.5x its range and better attacks (Particularly 2h r2 and 1h running r1). Just abuse your range superiority, don't do anything too stupid and you should wasily beat any guillotine you encounter.

That almost wraps it up for strength builds. Additionally, check for morion in the left hand and if you see them be sure to BS or combo to skip their hyper mode.

Coming soon:
Dex builds, Faith builds, NR, BBS mirror match and mages.

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