Orphan of Kos

"Mercy for the poor, wizened child...
Mercy, oh please..."

— Fishing Hamlet Priest

Orphan of Kos
Affiliation	Great Ones
Locations	Coast
Drops	Kos Parasite
Health
NG	NG+
19217	25757
Blood Echoes
NG	NG+
60,000	177,900
Defenses
183	183
183	228
205	183
274	999
999

The Orphan of Kos is a boss and Great One in Bloodborne's The Old Hunters DLC.

Description

The orphan appears to be a Human/Great One offspring of the deceased Kos; the Orphan is a tall, skeletal humanoid. Its mouth is permanently fixed in a rictus grin and it constantly screams throughout the fight. A thin membrane is draped across its back like a cape, this transforms into a pair of wings when the Orphan enters its second form.

The Orphan wields its placenta in combat akin to a club or flail, and it can tear pieces off to use as explosive projectiles. After it transforms, the placenta mutates into a weapon resembling a gigantic axe or glaive.

Upon encountering the Orphan, it will initially ignore the player and stare up at the sky mournfully. However, once the player approaches, it will fly into a fit of rage and begin the final battle.

After its "death", it will drop the Kos Parasite, and its black phantom can be found near the “head” of Kos' corpse. Attacking it will result in it dissipating and a "NIGHTMARE SLAIN" message (similar to Mergo's Wet Nurse).

This black phantom is "technically" the true Orphan of Kos, and simply manifested itself as a physical being within the Nightmare.

Location

• Coast:
  • On the left side after having accessed the lift shortcut near the Lighthouse Hut lamp, in the Fishing Hamlet.

Lore

Mentioned as the "poor wizened child" of the being Kos, it can be theorized that the desecration of Kos by the old hunters lead to the death of this infant Great One, causing it to fade into a plane similar to limbo. In retaliation for that saddening fate, the devoted mother Kos laid the curse of blood upon the old hunters responsible for their earthly deaths, and upon those who followed in their blood-lusting footsteps. Drunk with blood, the later hunters would join the old hunters in the limbo of the Orphan of Kos, referred to as the Hunter's Nightmare.

Once it has died, the spirit will linger with the corpse of the mother until slain, which pleases Kos to the point of her lifting the hunters' blood curse of the Nightmare. Why she does this is uncertain, but a voice declares with relief that the child has returned to the ocean, implying either the child has returned to life on earth or that killing it within limbo now frees it to traverse the cosmos unhindered by the limbo inflicted on it.

​Attack Patterns

1st phase/33%+ health

• Slash: Swings placenta for heavy damage. Dodge to HIS right side.
• Plunge: Jumps & slams weapon into the ground, small AoE. Dodge backwards or sideways, it leaves him vulnerable.
• Blood Orb: Swing & throws a single volleyball-sized projectile that staggers & gives medium damage. Dodge sideways.
• Leaping Slam: Jumps & slams into the ground. Knocking down the player & dealing considerable damage. Roll forward & get behind him.
• Placenta Spin: Swings the placenta around like a yoyo. Dodge forward, as the string he swings it by does not have a hit box, or run back if you need to heal or buff. Attempting to dodge backwards however is inadvisable.

2nd phase/low health

• Blood Scattershot: Launches 4 blood projectile in 1 swing. The orbs scatter & none go straight forward. Dodge forward & attack.
• Swing: Swings repeatedly, but doesn't turn much. Dodge behind & attack. Dodging into him can also work.
• Leaping Slam: Often overshoots. Roll forward when his jump breaks your lock-on. Attack from behind.
• Heavenly Thunder: Creates a small storm for high bolt damage. Targeted & announced by static electricity. Avoid area for 3-5 seconds.
• Blood explosion: Like Lady Maria, screams and causes a wave of blood to explode from the ground. Stay back.

Strategy

Orphan of Kos is one of the hardest bosses in Bloodborne and he heavily punishes players with passive playstyle. Play aggressively.

It is advised not to duo co-op against this boss as his health pool will be increased and his move set in phase 2 becomes more unpredictable especially his blood orb attack.

If you need time to buff yourself, or psychologically prepare, the boss won't attack you unless you cover 2/3 of the distance between the entrance and him, giving you plenty of time to use paper and beast-blood pellets. You can also easily fill your beast meter by killing the passive enemies outside the arena.

When fighting him, avoid the beach and fight him in the water as the terrain is less uneven. Also, the lightning starts from the corpse of Kos, his mother, and it spreads thinner the further it travels, so it's best to fight him off-shore.

In his first phase, he's less aggressive, and players can safely attack him from a distance with their ranged weapon or hunter tools and try to keep an eye on his plunging attack. When he performs this move, he's open and vulnerable for a backstab, simply quick step forward a little, and perform a fully charged attack on his back. Also, players can use Augur of Ebrietas on his back to perform a backstab. Most of his moves still have a fair enough parry window, which can be learned with some practice.

In his second phase, players must play aggressively as his moves will have further reach and speed. Use a fast weapon and quickly close in to attack him after dodging his attacks. If possible, use weapons with Bolt or Fire damage or buff it with Fire Paper or Bolt Paper as he's weak to those elements.

When the orphan holds his placenta with both hands and starts his rushing attack, do not dodge backward as the orphan will continuously chase the players, try dodging sideways.

When he stops and calls for help from his mother, players should get offshore as fast as possible to avoid the lightning, which can one-shot low vitality player at close range, but is well-spaced enough to be easily avoidable at far range. Alternatively, the players can run toward the entrance, as the lightning cannot reach there.

If you are in any way religious, it is also heavily advised to pray as much as possible to your god of choice for help, as killing this boss will most likely be the most painful thing you’ll ever have to do in your life. Losing faith in god during the fight due to the mental anguish caused is not uncommon. Having a therapist close by for immediate emotional assistance is also wise, as emotional co-op will not affect the Orphan’s damage or health pool and you will probably need it.

Notes

• One of the few true Great Ones the player battles. It is not classified as a Kin enemy.
• When dressing for this battle remember the 4 types of damage the orphan deals most: physical, blunt, blood, and bolt in descending order. Any fast to draw gun is recommended for those who are skilled at parrying. If this is planned, the Clawmark rune is recommended, as well as Blood Rapture, for restoring health or Oedon Writhe for restoring Bullets.
• Albeit very difficult, it is possible to loop Orphan into an attack animation in which is prepares to slam his weapon down overhead while screaming. It can be done by parrying his attack, taking a few steps back, and attacking him twice. It is best done with weapons that have good range, such as an untricked Whirligig Saw. This loop also prevents Orphan from entering his second phase.
• Interestingly, when he is killed during this loop, Orphan won't disintegrate, instead standing in place even after the victory prompt is played. This happens because he was never expected to die while in phase 1, meaning there isn't a dedicated death animation for it.
• If the player lands a parry and then throws a knife at the Orphan before it recovers from the stagger animation, it will stand still for some seconds, as the Orphan probably has a set of animations missing for this scenario as well. This can allow for a charged attack onto its back for a backstab, but the Orphan can still rotate towards the player while standing in place, meaning this isn't completely free, but can still be abused if done with proper timing.
• If the Orphan enters phase 2 while standing on some of the rocks in the sea, there's a chance it can freeze during the animation where it slams the placenta on the ground. The reason for this is unknown, but probably the small elevation causes the Orphan to be slightly above ground level, which is seemingly required to trigger the phase 2 transition.

Trivia

• It's unknown how Kos became pregnant and who the father of Orphan was, but most likely he would born dead anyway because the Great Ones cannot have children and need a human surrogate.
• It sobs as it stands next to the corpse of Kos and views the moon, possibly to reveal just what suffering was inflicted by the old hunters that caused the curse of blood.
  • This crying is actually a distorted version of Gehrman's crying heard in the rare dialogue.
  • It is also connected to Gehrman in that after killing it (before the Dream catches on fire), The Doll will state that he is no longer restless in his sleep, implying that he was aware of the child's fate and is at peace when he feels the curse is lifted.
    • This implies that he was one of the hunters that desecrated the village, but was made unable to enter the Nightmare when he died, possibly because the Moon Presence bound him to the Dream instead of letting him meet that fate. This is supported by one of the promotional videos for The Old Hunters DLC where we can see a character model, dressed like Gehrman (Charred Hunter Set and Top Hat), with a peg leg and the Burial Blade.
• Both Orphan of Kos and Ebrietas face away from the Hunter, until approached.
• Orphan of Kos' name in Japanese is 'ゴースの遺子'.
  • '遺子 (ishi)' is the archaic way of writing 'orphan' in Japanese, the modern way would be '孤児 (minashigo)'.

Gallery

Orphan of Kos concept art

Double Visceral Attack on Orphan of Kos

Unused tiny Orphan Model

Videos

Bloodborne First Blood (24) - Fishing Hamlet & Orphan of Kos

Orphan of Kos - Bloodborne - The Old Hunters Part 12

Orphan of Kos NG++ - Skill build

Music

Tsukasa Saitoh - Orphan of Kos (Extended) (Bloodborne Full Extended Soundtrack, OST)