- When you hit an enemy, it will be stunned momentarily. A very brief stun is called a "flinch" and a longer stun is a "stumble." Whether the enemy flinches or stumbles depends on the impact of your attack. While the enemy is flinching or stumbling, you have time to begin your next attack; this is the basis of combo attacks in Bloodborne. Higher levels of impact will stun the enemy for longer and allow you more time to perform another attack (or escape if need be). Some attacks have massive impact and can knock an enemy down.
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You can stun enemies by hitting them multiple times consecutively. Use a high impact attack to create the biggest stun. If you wait more than 4 seconds between attacks, the enemy will be harder to stun, but rolling or quickstepping into the enemy will reset the timer. Not all enemies can be stunned by a single attack. Many foes have a hidden statistic called "super armor" that prevents them from flinching or stumbling. Each of your attacks reduces the enemy's super armor; when it reaches zero ("breaks"), the enemy will flinch or stumble. The degree to which the enemy is stunned depends on the impact of the attack that breaks its armor. A light impact attack will stun the enemy as if it was a normal impact attack, a normal impact attack will act as a heavy impact attack, and so on. Always try to use the highest impact attack possible just as the enemy's super armor breaks
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- Different foes have different amounts of super armor, and each of your attacks deal different amounts of super armor damage. Learning how many attacks each enemy can withstand from a specific weapon is a matter of practice. Particularly make a note of how many R1 attacks you need to use to break a foe's armor; once you remember that, you can use an R2 attack or a transformation attack for the final hit.
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- Once an enemy's super armor is broken, it is instantly refilled. Only one hit benefits from the upgraded impact before the process begins again. Some weapons are able to break the armor of enemies that have low amounts of super armor in a single strike; in that case, every hit will stun the enemy.
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- As you attack an enemy, its super armor will decrease, but it will regenerate if you wait too long between attacks. Furthermore, enemy super armor does not regenerate gradually; it is instantaneous. If you wait four seconds between attacks, the enemy will recover its super armor. Some enemies are very aggressive, so attacking constantly can be difficult. There are some tricks that you can use, though.
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- The most important trick is to roll or quickstep into the enemy. Whenever you touch the enemy with a roll or a quickstep, it counts as an attack and resets the countdown to armor recovery! You can use your roll or quickstep's invincibility to dodge the enemy's attacks while preventing the opponent from recovering super armor. If you stay close and aggressive, you can dominate otherwise tough foes with this technique - particularly in co-op. If you need to get away from the enemy for a moment but don't want to allow armor recovery, gunshots and throwing knives can reset the timer as well.
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