| “ | A dagger useful for both offense and defense. | „ |
Main Gauche is a Dagger in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Description[]
The Main Gauche is a "thrust-motion" weapon with the anti-flier Thrust damage attribute and a +29 ATK boost that puts it above the +24 ATK Swordbreaker. Rather than preserving the Swordbreaker's unique capacity to inflict a damage-down debuff on the target, the Main Gauche offers a hefty +10 DEF bonus when held, which is novel for a piece of equipment that occupies the weapon slot.
Notably, the Main Gauche becomes available at Dominique's supply post for 16,800G after defeating Glutton Train around midway through the game even if you have not crafted it yet. In order to craft one yourself, you must "upgrade" a Swordbreaker using one Steel (fairly commonly dropped from early "large" enemies) and one Gold material (ideally acquired for free from blue chests in Hidden Desert). Swordbreaker, in turn, is a "Damascus-tier" crafted weapon unlocked once you have gotten Damascus Equipment/R using Reflector Ray. For the Main Gauche itself, you will need to collect Gold Equipment/R from a green chest in later Livre Ex Machina; this is found much earlier than the Gold material needed for the craft.
Swordbreaker and Main Gauche can be considered the first two "stages" of a four-stage series of upgrade-oriented crafts that will eventually result in the strongest dagger in the game, the Mandau Pasir. To upgrade a Main Gauche into a Carnwennan, you simply need one Crimsonite found in the Oriental Sorcery Lab and the Crimsonite Equipment/R recipe book in said zone, and the Carnwennan can then be upgraded into the Mandau Pasir once Legendary Equipment/R is found.
Main Gauche is one of the daggers that comes pre-loaded with the Surprise Gift technique (↓ ↘ → +ATK, 30 MP); if you master it on this dagger, it can be used with earlier daggers like the Swordbreaker. However, both the Carnwennan and Mandau Pasir are capable of both Dagger-series techniques by default, the other being Assassinate.
Availability[]
- Arvantville:
- Crafted at Johannes's laboratory by spending the following Materials (requires Gold Equipment/R):
- Swordbreaker ×1
- Gold ×1
- Steel ×1
- Purchased from Dominique's supply post for 16,800G after defeating the Glutton Train.
- Crafted at Johannes's laboratory by spending the following Materials (requires Gold Equipment/R):
The Main Gauche is primarily limited by the requirement for Gold in its recipe, a tricky material to acquire regardless of the method used. The Swordbreaker is easily made using common materials, and the other requirement, Steel, is dropped by several common enemies in early areas including Blood Grinder Knight and Sabnock, and the player will most likely already have plenty. Crafting it requires the recipe book Gold Equipment/R found in Livre Ex Machina.
Usage[]
Main Gauche is a Material used in crafting the following item:
- Carnwennan (Main Gauche ×1, Crimsonite ×1)
Trivia[]
- A main-gauche (French for "left hand") was a type of parrying dagger used by duelists in the late middle ages. As the name implies, it was designed to be held in the user's off-hand (typically their left) while a one-handed sword like a rapier was held in their strong hand. The weapon was usually made from a cut-down basket-hilted rapier, and had a comparatively long blade for a dagger, along with extremely wide qullions.