[Top 5] Bloodborne Best Rakuyo Builds That Are Excellent

Updated:

16 Aug 2022

In the realm of Skill-based weapons, the Rakuyo is one of the best of them. With its elegant moveset, it dominates PvE combat to overwhelm any enemy you come across. When traversing the labyrinth that is the Research Hall, eventually you’ll come across the Living Failures, who guard the Astral Clocktower, where Lady Maria resides. She wields the Rakuyo to deadly efficiency. You can obtain this weapon in the Fishing Hamlet in the well, guarded by the sharks. Some think that this weapon is one of the hardest to obtain, especially in the early levels, because of the insanely powerful enemies in the well. Like other weapons, the Rakuyo can be modified for a different experience. This article will cover some of the best Rakuyo builds you can use.

5. Poorman’s Rakuyo

Video is for Poorman's Gems

Damage is damage. Often, we can just scrap the nuances of combat to dish out as much damage as possible. To this end, Poorman’s Gems are ideal. In case you don’t know, Poorman’s Gems increase your damage output massively when your HP is under a certain threshold, adding a layer of risk as well as a rewarding damage boost.

What the Poorman’s Rakuyo excels at:

Huge damage numbers
Another layer of difficulty
Relatively easy setup

4. Fire/Bolt Rakuyo

The enemies in the game are weak to a myriad of things, but a special emphasis is placed on Bolt and Fire. Beasts are weak to Fire, Kin are weak to Bolt. For this purpose, you can slot these types of gems into your Rakuyo at various stages of the game, to suit your needs. When an elemental gem is slotted into a weapon, it transforms all of its physical damage into the gem type. Ideal if you want to add some Arcane scaling to an already powerful weapon.

What the Fire/Bolt Rakuyo excels at:

Very high versatility
Arcane scaling
Useful for most situations
Unlocks the potential of Hunter Tools as well

3. Quality Rakuyo

Being a high Skill weapon, you usually want to put most of your points into Skill and milk it for what it’s worth. But sometimes, you can alter your gameplay to include some Strength scaling as well, perhaps if you’re using two weapons and want to get the most out of both of them. Equip Heavy blood gems to increase your Strength scaling and deal damage from both fronts!

What the Quality Rakuyo excels at:

Versatility
More opportunity to use more than one weapon
Balanced damage between stats

2. Rapid Poison Rakuyo

Rapid poison builds are few and far between, but when utilized properly you can’t really go wrong with it. This build suits the Rakuyo, mostly because of its innately high attack speed, which will make sure that the poison procs very frequently. Builds like these are also great for some bosses susceptible to Rapid Poison, such as Mergo’s Wet Nurse. Pick this build up if you’d like to freshen things up with an alternative playstyle.

What the Rapid Poison Rakuyo excels at:

Very rewarding for an aggressive playstyle
Smaller damage bursts
Great for some bosses (Mergo’s Wet Nurse)

1. Skill Rakuyo

When considering any build for a weapon, you usually can’t go wrong with the build that the weapon was intended for. That is why the standard Rakuyo build is at the top of the list. The sheer damage output you can attain is insane, especially coupled with visceral attack damage. To make this build work, you simply need to put a bunch of levels into Skill, and slot the highest Tempering gems you have. To additionally increase your damage, you can also consider Clawmark runes, for devastating viscerals. This will ensure you get the most out of the weapon, and it's just fun to cosplay as Lady Maria!

What the Skill Rakuyo excels at:

Incredible damage
High visceral attack damage
Reliable in any situation, for any enemy

In terms of sheer efficiency, the Rakuyo is probably one of the best weapons you can use. It has insane damage output and a very satisfying moveset, so it offers very rewarding gameplay. The builds provided in this list are some examples of how you can modify this weapon for some alternative gameplay, but many gems can work on it, you just have to be creative and have fun!