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Bloodborne: kill the Witch of Hemwick in the Witch's Abode

How to ill the Witch of Hemwick in Bloodborne.

This article explains how to kill the Witch of Hemwick in the Witch's Abode in Bloodborne, following on from Hemwick Charnel Lane, kill the Soot Monsters and find the Witch of Hemwick.

If you're interested in more advice, our complete Bloodborne walkthrough and for the DLC our The Old Hunters guide and walkthrough can help.


Time to take down the intimidating Witch of Hemwick. This fight can either be the easiest thing in the world or the toughest, and it largely depends on your ability to zip around and get the boss dealt with in good time.

We made a Pungent Blood Cocktail from BloodborneWatch on YouTube

How to kill the Witch of Hemwick

The fight will begin with the spawning of a Soot Monster, but you should know this isn't the main fight. Your main target is actually that harmless-looking old lady over to your left. Dart in and start beating her up until she vanishes, but make sure you get out of the way if you ever see a purple glow appear beneath her. Don't mix this up with the harmless aura that appears around her when she disappears though.

When she disappears, hunt around the room to find her new location. She'll turn up again pretty quickly, but she can reappear anywhere, and you'll need to be quite close to her in order to see her. If you've got a Torch about you it'll help for a bit.

Keep killing and hunting her for as long as it takes to get her down to 50 per cent health, at which point a second version of her will turn up with its own individual health bar. This new arrival fires magic missiles at you - a bit like the Leech Warlock from earlier - and if they hit you, you can end up taking a great deal of follow-up damage.

After a little more time, a third Witch will turn up and join the fight, again with its unique health bar. Critically, you need to make sure you kill all of the witches within about a minute of one dropping, or they'llstart coming back to life. Thankfully, they have less health when they re-spawn, so it's not a complete disaster if it happens.

Dealing with the Soot Monsters in the Witch's Abode

As well as fighting the Witches, you also have to think about that Soot Monster in the room. You can kill this creature if you wish, but if the fight wears on, even more Soot Monsters will appear. Better to just circle the room, hugging the walls and hunting the Witches until all three of them are dead. If you've no choice but to engage a Soot Monster, kill it quickly and then return to the hunt. Don't let these creatures gang up on you though, as together they can pack a devastating punch.

Once the Witches are dead, light the Witch's Abode lamp, then go into the next corridor and head downstairs. When you reach the end, simply open the door and move into the next room along. Take the Rune Workshop Tool from the corpse in the chair, which will allow you to use the Memory Altar back at Hunter's Dream. This allows you to use the runes you've been picking up: Lake, Beast and Communion, for example.


- Read on to discover how to find the Forbidden Woods in Bloodborne.

- You can find the rest of our Bloodborne walkthrough from the first page of this article.