Mild SPOILERS below for anyone who isn't far into Bloodborne.

I'm getting beat down horribly by Father Gascoigne. I'm playing a skill build at level 17. I have no problems when he's in human form as I can just run around a group of tombstones to get enough time to use a blood vial. When he wolfs out my stick-and-move tactics don't work very well. FAQs say to just spam him with molitov cocktails but he's too fast and takes me out with his two hit combo.

Is my character just too low level for him? Any other tips on how to kill him?

Thanks in advance.

Use the parry, the window is large and you'll do significant damage on riposte. Also the music box is another thing people use but it only works once in wolf form.

It's been quite a while (Also played with starting axe in mind) , but I succeeded more when relying on aggressive positioning- Gascoigne is wicked fast, more so in beast form, and can easily punish ranged builds and habitual "retreaters" that constantly move away from enemies. If you're gonna use ranged attacks or just be generally backing away from him, make sure to know the layout of tombstones well; otherwise, see if dodging into and around him to exploit the AI isn't more effective?

Tiny Music Box from the Girl in the Window stuns him -- couple of uses.

Molotovs and fire helps, especially in beast form.

Environment is good for separation.

Dodging towards the enemy to get to the side or behind usually helps most of the bosses.

It's a fight for you to practice parry, since it's helpful for the rest of the game.

It took me one try to beat him, but it took me a lot of tries for other bosses. Half of it is easy breaks; half of it is being in the zone. You'll get it. Every boss I had trouble with -- including DLC (especially the final DLC boss) -- eventually went down. Sometimes it takes a few. Sometimes it will take 20. Keep at it. You'll get it. Like I said, it's a fight to help test your skill and be better at it.

Parry and music box the fucker