The Church Pick is often overshadowed by the flashy Holy Moonlight Sword or the iconic Rakuyo, yet for those who prioritize clinical efficiency and raw mathematical advantage, it stands as the undisputed king of the Old Hunters DLC. This weapon is not merely a tool for slaying beasts; it is a meticulously engineered instrument of destruction that exploits the most common weaknesses in Bloodborne’s ecosystem. To understand the Church Pick is to understand the mechanics of damage types, hidden modifiers, and the sheer power of the thrust.

The Triple-Threat Damage Profile

What sets the Church Pick apart from every other trick weapon is its unique combination of damage modifiers. While most weapons offer one specialized bonus, the Church Pick offers three, often active at the same time. This convergence makes it an outlier in terms of potential damage output per swing.

The Dominance of Pure Thrust

In its transformed state (the two-handed war pick), every single attack in the Church Pick’s moveset deals Thrust damage. This is a critical distinction. In the world of Yharnam, physical resistance is split into blunt, thrust, and standard physical. A vast majority of enemies—including some of the most frustrating foes like Brainsuckers, Celestial Emissaries, and many Kin—have significantly lower resistance to Thrust than any other damage type. By locking the weapon into a pure Thrust profile, you are essentially bypassing a large portion of enemy defenses by default.

The Beasthunter Bonus (Not Serrated)

A common misconception is that the Church Pick is a serrated weapon. It is not. Instead, it possesses a unique "Beasthunter" modifier. While serration provides a 20% bonus against specific large beasts, the Church Pick’s Beasthunter bonus applies a 20% damage increase to almost anything that can be classified as a beast, including crows, dogs, and even some enemies that don't trigger the serrated bonus. Crucially, this bonus is only active on Thrust attacks. Since the transformed mode is 100% Thrust, you have a permanent 20% damage buff against the game's most common enemy type.

The Righteous Modifier

To round out its utility, the Church Pick carries a 20% Righteous modifier. This bonus applies to enemies of the Healing Church or those found within Cainhurst Castle, such as Bloodlickers and Bound Widows. While the Righteous bonus is usually less universally applicable than serration or Beasthunter, having it on top of the other bonuses makes the Church Pick a Swiss Army knife of slaughter. Whether you are in the nightmare, the dungeons, or the castle, the weapon is likely dealing bonus damage to whatever stands in your way.

Mastery of the Moveset

The Church Pick’s design revolves around versatility. It transitions from a large, one-handed sword to an extended war pick, changing its reach and stagger potential without sacrificing speed.

Untransformed: The Large Sword

In its standard form, the Church Pick functions as a swift, vertical-focused sword.

  • R1 Combo: The initial strike is a thrust, followed by horizontal and diagonal slashes. This mix allows for decent crowd control in tight corridors, though the range is noticeably shorter than the transformed mode.
  • R2 Thrust: The uncharged R2 is a powerful, direct poke. It is one of the fastest ways to trigger a counter-hit, which occurs when you hit an enemy during their attack animation, dealing significantly increased damage.
  • Charged R2: This is a wide, arching uppercut. It has a surprising amount of vertical reach, capable of hitting the heads of larger bosses like Amygdala or Ebrietas to trigger a visceral state.

Transformed: The Extended War Pick

This is where the Church Pick truly shines. By extending the handle and locking the blade into a pick configuration, it becomes a polearm with exceptional reach and a rhythmic, fluid moveset.

  • R1 Chain: The overhead slams and horizontal sweeps are faster than they look. Because they are all Thrust-based, they benefit from the highest-tier Adept Blood Gems, which can push the damage to absurd levels.
  • L2 Stagger: The L2 attack is a short, horizontal swipe. While its damage is lower than the R1s, its stagger potential (impact) is remarkably high. It can effectively stun-lock mid-sized enemies, such as the snake-headed shadows in the Forbidden Woods, preventing them from starting their attack animations.
  • The Follow-up R2: A fully charged R2 in transformed mode performs a devastating overhead slam. If you press R2 again immediately after, you perform a follow-up pull-back move. This two-hit combo has some of the highest damage multipliers in the game and is capable of pancaking human-sized opponents.

Optimizing Stats and Builds

The Church Pick is primarily a Skill-scaling weapon, making it a natural fit for players who enjoy high-visceral damage and fast recovery frames. However, its versatility allows it to fit into several different character archetypes.

The Pure Skill Build

For a standard level 120 meta build, aiming for 50 Skill is the priority. At +10, the Church Pick has a B scaling in Skill (often bordering on A in hidden values). Combined with the high visceral damage that comes from 50 Skill, this build turns the Church Pick into a boss-killing machine. You rely on the weapon’s speed to find openings and its Thrust damage to exploit them.

The Quality Build

With a D scaling in Strength, the Church Pick still gains a respectable amount of Attack Rating (AR) from investment in Strength. A 25 Strength / 50 Skill split is ideal for maximizing the weapon’s physical potential without over-investing in diminishing returns. If you are at a higher level, pushing Strength to 50 and using a "Heavy Abyssal" Blood Gem from the Chalice Dungeons can actually outperform a pure Skill setup, as the S-scaling provided by the gem drastically boosts the base damage.

The Arcane Conversion

This is perhaps the most underrated way to use the Church Pick. Because it has a C scaling in Arcane, it can be converted into an elemental weapon (Fire, Bolt, or Arcane) using specialized Blood Gems.

If you slot Fire gems into a Church Pick, it becomes the ultimate beast-slayer. It retains its Beasthunter modifier even when dealing Fire damage. This means against an enemy like Vicar Amelia or Laurence, the First Vicar, you are dealing Fire damage (which beasts hate) combined with a 20% Beasthunter bonus. It is mathematically one of the most powerful elemental weapons in the game for PvE content.

Blood Gem Selection: Pushing the Limits

To make the Church Pick truly "broken," you must look beyond the standard Tempering gems. While 27.2% Physical gems are great, the Church Pick’s pure Thrust nature allows for a much higher ceiling.

Adept (Thrust) Gems

Since the transformed mode only deals Thrust damage, you can use Adept Blood Gems that specifically boost Thrust. These gems can reach up to 32.6% damage increase, which is significantly higher than the 27.2% limit of general physical gems. If you slot three of these, your transformed R1s and R2s will deal monstrous damage. The only downside is that your untransformed horizontal slashes (which deal physical but not thrust damage) will become very weak, but most players using this weapon stay in transformed mode 90% of the time.

The Heavy Abyssal Setup

As mentioned, for Quality builds, one Heavy Abyssal gem (+65 Strength scaling) combined with two 27.2% Physical gems (or two 32.6% Thrust gems) provides the highest possible AR. This setup is the gold standard for high-level dungeon diving.

Elemental Setups

For Arcane builds, look for Cold Abyssal gems (+65 Arcane scaling) to fix the weapon's natural C scaling. A setup with one Cold Abyssal and two Fire/Bolt/Arcane percentage gems will turn the Pick into a primary elemental tool. Fire is generally recommended for the Church Pick to stack with its Beasthunter properties.

How to Acquire the Church Pick

The weapon is exclusive to the The Old Hunters DLC. It cannot be found in the base game.

  1. Obtain the Underground Cell Key: This is found in the Research Hall area. After shifting the staircase, you can access the balcony where a patient gives you the key (or you find it on a corpse depending on your progress with the Saint Adeline questline).
  2. Locate the Cells: Return to the area just after the Ludwig the Accursed boss lamp (Underground Corpse Pile). Go down the hallway with the various locked cells.
  3. The Yahar'gul Hunter: Unlock the cell containing the hunter wearing the Yahar'gul set (often identified as Defector Antal). He is hostile.
  4. The Fight: This hunter can be dangerous in the cramped cell. A safe strategy is to use a weapon with long reach (like the Threaded Cane or a transformed Ludwig's Holy Blade) to hit him through the bars or the open door, then back away as he retaliates. Once defeated, he drops the Church Pick.

Uncanny and Lost Variants

For those looking to optimize their Blood Gem slots, the Uncanny and Lost versions are found in the Chalice Dungeons.

  • Normal Version: Radial, Radial, Triangle slots. (Best for physical/thrust builds).
  • Uncanny Version: Radial, Radial, Waning slots. (Easier to find high-tier Bolt/Fire gems in Waning shape).
  • Lost Version: Radial, Triangle, Waning slots. (Ideal for specialized Arcane conversion builds).

You can purchase these from the Bath Messengers in the Chalice Dungeons after you have obtained the normal version in the DLC.

Tactical Application: Boss Strategies

The Church Pick excels in boss fights because of its ability to punish recovery windows with high-damage pokes.

Against Large Beasts (Ludwig, Laurence)

Stay in transformed mode. The overhead R1 attacks are perfect for hitting the head or limbs. Because of the 20% Beasthunter bonus and Thrust damage, you will find yourself breaking their limbs much faster than with a standard sword. Use the L2 swipe if you need a quick hit to finish a combo and get out before they swipe back.

Against Kin (Ebrietas, Living Failures)

Kin are notoriously weak to Thrust. The Church Pick makes these fights trivial. A 50 Skill build with Thrust gems can often kill the Celestial Emissary in just a few hits. Against Ebrietas, stay behind her or at her side and spam transformed R1s. The damage numbers will be significantly higher than almost any other weapon in your inventory.

Against Hunter NPCs and PVP

The Church Pick is a nightmare to face in PVP due to its deceptive range and timing. The transformed R1 has a slight delay that often catches players at the end of their dodge frames. Furthermore, the L2 attack has enough stagger to interrupt most light weapons, allowing you to reset the engagement or follow up with a quick R1 poke.

Comparison with Similar Weapons

Church Pick vs. Burial Blade

The Burial Blade has better crowd control and higher Rally potential (regaining health by attacking). However, the Church Pick has faster attack speed, lower stamina consumption, and much better damage modifiers. While the Burial Blade looks cooler to many, the Church Pick is objectively more efficient at killing bosses.

Church Pick vs. Ludwig's Holy Blade

Ludwig’s Holy Blade has higher raw AR and better stagger on its R2 overhead. However, it is much slower and lacks the specialized Thrust/Beasthunter/Righteous stack. The Church Pick allows for a more aggressive, nimble playstyle while maintaining similar damage per second (DPS) due to its speed and enemy weaknesses.

Conclusion: The Ultimate Utility Tool

In the grand hierarchy of Bloodborne weapons, the Church Pick occupies a unique space. It is a weapon designed for the player who understands the game's internal logic. It doesn't rely on gimmick transformations or flashy explosions. Instead, it relies on the fact that most things in Yharnam are weak to being stabbed by a giant, righteous, beast-hunting metal spike.

Whether you are a newcomer struggling with the DLC bosses or a veteran looking to maximize your damage in Depth 5 FRC Chalice Dungeons, the Church Pick is a mandatory addition to your arsenal. Its reliability, speed, and sheer mathematical superiority make it not just a good choice, but perhaps the most practical weapon ever forged by the Healing Church workshop. Invest in your Skill, find the right gems, and let the pick do the work.