Killing the Brain of Mensis (one Blood Rock only) Insight Farming in the Chalice Dungeons (infinite Blood Rocks)
Both methods can be difficult and complicated. So we’ll break down the easiest ways to get through these methods alive.
Method 1: The Brain of Mensis
The easiest way to find a Blood Rock is by killing the Brain of Mensis, found in the Nightmare of Mensis towards the end of the game. The tricky part is figuring out how to reach it. Once you beat Micolash, Host of The Nightmare, you’ll unlock the Mergo’s Loft: Middle Lamp. Start from here, head outside, and climb up the two flights of stairs ahead of you. At the top of these stairs, turn right and you’ll see a birdcage hanging over the edge of the balcony. Stand inside it and it’ll start to descend. While it falls, pay attention to the building in front of you, and look for a doorway big enough for you to jump through. Once you’ve spotted it, take the birdcage back up and carefully time your roll through the doorway. Note: be sure not to roll too early or late – this will lead to a death by falling. Once you’ve safely rolled into the building, follow the corridor until you reach a long bridge covered in rocks. This is the most dangerous part of the route, and possibly the entire game, so be prepared. The biggest danger to you on the bridge is Frenzy, the status effect that will start to tick up for every second you’re in the line of sight of the enemies that roam this area. Using the rocks to guard you from the Frenzy, sprint across the bridge as fast as you can. Don’t stop to fight the Winter Lanterns, as you’ll probably become frenzied, losing a huge chunk of health in the process. Once you’re at the end of the bridge, you’ll enter a room where you will finally be free of the increasing Frenzy. Ignore the spiders here and run to the back end of the room. Head through the stone doorway here, run down the stairs, onto the balcony, and pull the lever. This will start a cutscene in which the Brain of Mensis falls into the abyss below, opening the route to the Blood Rock. With the Brain gone, turn around and enter the hole in the floor to your right. From here you’ll see a lit-up stone doorway that leads to another bridge. Head through here and out onto the bridge. Get your Blood Vials ready, as your Frenzy meter is going to start to tick up again. Run quickly across the bridge until you reach the enclosure that once held the Brain of Mensis. Then walk between the pillars and look over the edge to see an item on a corpse. This is your Blood Rock. Carefully step off of the ledge to fall down to the level with the Blood Rock and collect it. If you’ve got a Bold Hunter’s Mark, use it to warp back to the Lamp. If not, head through the gap in the brickwork to find yourself on a familiar bridge from earlier in the level, and navigate your way back to your preferred Lamp from there.
Method 2: The Hunter’s Dream (Unlimited Blood Rocks)
The only way to get extra Blood Rocks in the main game is through the Insight Shop in the Hunter’s Dream, located up on the outcropping next to the workshop. Once you beat Mergo’s Wet Nurse, the area boss of The Nightmare of Mensis, this Messenger shop will start to sell Blood Rocks for 60 Insight each. Obviously, this is an enormous fee. So it’s going to take some serious farming if you want to gather up the Insight to purchase one. To gather all this Insight, we’ll have to head into the Chalice Dungeons – these are procedurally generated mini-areas that house Insight-granting bosses at their ends. Before you can start using this farm, you’re going to need a few materials:
Pthumeru Chalice, found by defeating the Blood-Starved Beast in Old Yharnam 2x Ritual Blood (1), found infinitely in the main Hunter’s Dream shop 1000 Blood Echoes
Once you’ve gathered the materials, head over to a Chalice Dungeon Altar on the left-most hill in the Hunter’s Dream, and interact with it to open the ritual menu. Select ‘Chalice Ritual’, and then ‘Pthumeru Chalice’. In the next menu, choose ‘Conduct Ritual’ to use your materials and open a gateway to the Chalice Dungeons. With the gateway open, interact with the altar again to enter the Chalice Dungeon. The goal here is to reach the end boss of each floor as fast as possible. The first step is to find the massive lever placed randomly throughout each floor. Since each Dungeon is semi-randomly generated, I won’t be able to guide you to where your levers are. Sprint past any enemies you see and search each room thoroughly and you’ll find the lever in no time. With the lever pulled, the door to the boss will open. You probably will have already seen the boss door during your search for the lever, but if not, you’re looking for a metal gate lit by two blue lanterns. Sprint back to the boss door and quickly deal with the boss. Since the Pthumeru Chalice spawns the lowest-level Chalice Dungeons, you’ll most likely breeze through any bosses that you come up against. Each boss kill will grant you 2 Insight. So work your way through all 3 floors of the Dungeon using this method to farm 6 Insight per run. Once you’ve defeated the third floor boss, use the nearby Lamp to warp back to the Hunter’s Dream. Back in the Dream, head over to the altar you used to create the gateway and choose to ‘Remove Chalice’. Doing this will close the now-completed Dungeon. Now repeat the steps from earlier, opening a Chalice Dungeon by choosing the Pthumeru Chalice and paying in the Blood Echoes and Ritual Blood. This method will still take some time to get you a Blood Rock, with it taking around 2 hours to get to 60 Insight. Despite this, it’s still by far the best way for you to gather infinite Insight, and hoard some extra Blood Rocks.
