Giant Fishman

Giant Fishman

Affiliation	Fishmen
Locations	Fishing Hamlet
Drops	Blood Vial, Tempering Blood Gems, Adept Blood Gems, Radiant Blood Gems, Rakuyo
Health
NG	NG+
Unarmed- 3176 Anchor- 6352	???
Blood Echoes
NG	NG+
Unarmed- 4514/4861 Anchor- 4166/4514	???
Defenses

195	90

150	270

118	150

114	200

180

The Giant Fishman is an enemy in Bloodborne's The Old Hunters DLC.

Description

Monstrous beasts with gaping maws and incredible strength, Giant Fishmen are powerful opponents who can easily kill an unprepared player. Despite their size, they are capable of a vicious sliding tackle to close the distance rapidly and their attacks are fast and brutal.

These brutes are arguably the most dangerous enemies in the DLC, as well as the entire game, with a huge selection of deadly attacks and colossal amounts of vitality.

Two variants exist:

An unarmed variant with a dangerous grab attack and lower health. This variant is much easier to deal with.
A variant armed with a huge anchor. This one has extremely powerful attacks with the largest wind-up on their attacks that will throw even the best players off their game. They also usually combo their attacks.

Only 4 Giant Fishmen are encountered in the DLC.

One is found in the central square of the Hamlet; he hides on the left of the area and would attack the Hunter as soon as he/she is seen.
One is found beyond the Hamlet, near the Lighthouse Hut.
Two are found beneath the well; one of these Fishmen wields an anchor and will attack the Hunter immediately, the other is hanging on the ceiling and won't attack until the first reaches half of its health.

Location

Fishing Hamlet:
- ^(Unarmed) Hiding behind a corner with explosive barrels near the well.
- ^{(Both unarmed and anchor-wielder)} Down the well.
Lighthouse Hut:
- ^{(Anchor-wielder)} Near the path to the lamp.

Strategy

General Information

Buffing with Fire Paper and using any neighboring explosive urns in the vicinity are highly recommended as these enemies are weak to fire.
Players that focus on Arcane and do not have very powerful physical weapons or gems can also utilize the Oil Urns and a Fire infused Saw Spear/Cleaver in order to deal tremendously powerful blows. Note that the Oil Urn is a damage multiplier for one attack only, as such, players should use charged attacks to deal the most damage per use of the Oil Urn.
The Giant Fishmen are susceptible to the effects of the Shaman Bone Blade and use big moves which leave them open to charged attacks.
These enemies are in fact parryable, but their attacks have such long wind ups and are so devastating, that most will discard the option entirely. However, for those bold enough, this is a viable strategy.
Dodging through an attack and moving to the rear before unleashing a charge attack will open these enemies up for backstab viscerals, beware as it is difficult to land these properly.

Rakuyo Fishmen

Down the well where the Rakuyo is obtained, there will be a roaming Giant Fishman with an anchor. Once it reaches roughly 50% health, he will begin to run near the ladder, where a second Giant Fishman (this one is unarmed), will enter the fight. Using the Shaman Bone Blade at this point will cause these two to fight, giving the player great opportunities for charged attacks, to watch them fight it out, or to use Poison Knives or Molotovs to aid a particular side, for example. The recommendation is to let the one wielding the anchor die as he has the biggest damage potential.

Blood Gem Farming

The unarmed Giant Fishman can be easily farmed for 19.5/20% Physical Atk Up Radial Blood Gems. All players must do is equip as many Eye Runes as possible and also the Milkweed Rune (it grants +10 Item Discovery), and use the strongest weapon they have in their arsenal. They must also unlock the shortcut back to the Fishing Hamlet Lamp, by kicking the ladder.
1. Start at the Fishing Hamlet Lamp and walk to the ladder.
2. Kill the villager that is near the shortcut ladder (use weapon with reach).
3. Climb the ladder and drop down.
4. Hide in the place where the villager was, and wait for the hidden villager to approach the player.
5. Kill the villager without leaving the spot.
6. Walk slowly towards the Giant Fishman, backstab him and perform a visceral attack, pick his drop.
7. Kill the villager that was next to him for a guaranteed drop of 5 Blood Vials.
8. Either run up the ramp on the left to go back to the lamp, or use a Bold Hunter's Mark to repeat.
The anchor-wielding Giant Fishman that guards the Lighthouse Hut, can be farmed for Bloodtinge Blood Gems, albeit not the best, they are certainly high tier. The most common drop grants Bloodtinge scaling and a static increase to Blood ATK, but there is a variant that increases about 17% Bloodtinge ATK UP and also a static increase to Blood ATK. To farm him do the following:
1. Equip Throwing Knives, Eye Runes, Milkweed Rune and a strong weapon.
2. Spawn at the Lighthouse Hut Lamp and immediately run and kill to the Fishman Mage that creates homing Arcane orbs.
3. If done properly and quickly enough, the Giant Fishman will take notice of you; if not, use the Throwing Knife to get his attention.
4. Run back to the open area in front of the hut and fight him.
5. There is no real strategy but to learn his moveset and his parry windows to kill him.

Notes

These enemies can be parried, but their attacks have incredibly long wind-ups and often only begin at almost the moment of the strike, and they even have multiple follow-up attacks, making it extremely difficult to pull off parries.
Physical Attack Up blood gems are rare drops from these enemies. However, they can be farmed if the players item discovery is high enough or they are using item discovery runes such as the Eye Caryll Runes.

Trivia

They resemble humanoid shark hybrids, with a loose and hanging lower jaw.
They have white corals growing out of their bodies.
- The ones found inside the well of the Fishing Hamlet have even their heads covered in corals.
Their Japanese name 瘤あたま mean "Swelled Head".