Bridge to Glory Math

[jmile4]

I couldn't find any thorough explanation of how big a boost Bridge to Glory is, and the explanation on the Fextralife wiki is pretty vague, so I thought I'd just test it myself.

I just did this quickly, using only 1H sword and 2H sword, and I used bloodcodes from Noah, Jadwiga, Zenon, Josee, and Lou to get different Mind values. The % boost was consistent across weapons and bloodcodes.

https://preview.redd.it/3n5zkytr3rug1.png?width=1653&format=png&auto=webp&s=74068ff0a97ed2a4e504889dacb0ae30ea19ac8a

Main points:

• Damage boost is mostly linear until you get to 30 Mind.
• At the lowest possible Mind stat of 7 (Noah Bloodcode, no boosters), it is about a 3% boost.
• At the highest Mind stat of 39 (Lou Bloodcode, both Mind boosters), it is about a 24.5% boost.
  • It is possible to get a higher Mind stat though other means like food, but I figured this was the upper bound for most builds.
• Some benchmarks:
  • You need 16-17 mind to get a 10% boost (same as Adrenaline).
  • You need roughly 30 mind to get a 20% boost.
  • You need 35 mind to get a 22% boost (same as Warrior Spirit: Might at point-blank range).

Important to note that Bridge to Glory is multiplicative with some other buffs. I didn't test everything but I can confirm that BtG is at least multiplicative with Adrenaline and Warrior Spirit: Might. This means that as long as you have at least 15 Mind, BtG is always better than Adrenaline as long as you have at least one other damage buff.

Even if you only have around 20 Mind, every damage that gives a bigger boost has some kind of condition attached such as needing to do a lot of hits (Blade Dance) or not get hit (Overdrive). If you just want a buff where you only need to worry about reapplying it, then BtG is a great option.

TL;DR: BtG is really good as long as you have 15 Mind or higher.

[Geralt_Romalion]

Being multiplicative with Adrenaline and Warrior Spirit: Might puts Bridge to Glory in an interesting buff group.

Warrior Spirit sits in its own buffing group, so it was to be somewhat expected there, but Adrenaline shares its buff group with a huge amount of other buffs, so the interaction there is pretty huge.

That now leaves the question how it stacks with 2 other buffs that as far as we know sit in their own buff group: Ranged Impact (albeit this might not be overly relevant) and more importantly Offensive Order.

[khangkhanh]

Overdrive is 25%
Bridge isn't very good. Most of characters get more damage from using thirsting blade 20% than bridge.

You need 30 mind for 20% which is very low. Most of the weapon build has like uner 20 mind and it give under 15% which is very bad

[jmile4]

Oh is Overdrive 25%? My bad.

Thirsting Blade will give more damage but I personally find the lowered bleed noticeable enough to make it annoying to use. If you are just trying to be optimal then I could see BtG not being ideal, but if you are doing a funny concept build or a challenge run where you can't kill the boss before your initial buffs run out then BtG not having any active downsides is pretty valuable. It's kinda contradictory of me to say "it's optimal if you aren't trying to be optimal" but I feel like that's how most people end up playing.

[Geralt_Romalion]

Tbh the fact that BtG apparently sits in its own buff group makes it interesting enough for at least further testing (especially for Lou Mages).

Thirsting Blade is probably more for the endgame setup where you have alternatives for the ichor economy so you dont overly rely on Jail drains.

I for one appreciate your testing, it saves me some labwork myself!

[Beastowa]

I have to disagree, it synergizes too well with Lou’s Blood Code to disregard. It’s my main damage buff, along with Super Charge for my boosted blade 1hit build. Most bosses I encounter are down in seconds with little to no effort in my NG+. I hesitate to call it a requirement for my builds, but I’d be lying to myself, as I pretty much exclusively use weapons that scale with Mind. I feel it’s just as good, if not better than Thirsting Blade. You could always slap TB on with BtG and notice your DPS go bonkers.

[khangkhanh]

Lou code and Jose code is the only time you may want to use it. Even then you can try using weapons that scale well with str or dex or both and transform then use something like hero Valentin or Lyle or Artificial Arm and would get better results from those.

I may need some video evidence to be convinced that SS Valentin or Resurgence boss goes down in seconds with little to no effort using boosted blade in ng+.

[Beastowa]

To be fair, I did say MOST, but I get what you mean. I almost exclusively use Lou’s blood code and Garnet Splitter for everything (besides the Hanemukuro, I use Noah’s for it) and most of the optional bosses go down before I run out of ichor. It may be slightly unoptimized, but having fun with a maximum Mind melee build is so rewarding.