10 things I wish I knew before I started V Rising

I play an Apex Predator in V rising, and I’m only a few paces from my fortified dwelling when the sun comes up. Just before I manage to open the gate door, a carnivorous plant shoots a mouthful of dirt at me, draining my last remaining health. [Record scratch. Freeze frame.] You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation.

in the V rising, you begin as a fragile new vampire in a world where anything can kill you from deadly plants to the mere act of the sun moving through the sky and clearing the patch of shadow where you stand. You are weak, you have no resources, and you may be confused by the world that now stretches out before you. V rising is a wonderfully systematic game that lets you playfully decide how you want to grow your powers and influence. However, there is one major caveat: the game teaches you how the game works very easily, preferring to teach you through repeated failure. If dying a dozen times in the first hour doesn’t sound appealing to you, read on for some of the most valuable lessons I learned as a young vampire.

Choose the right place to build your fortress

This is the most important decision you will make in the early game. While you can always dismantle your castle and try again, you’ll only get back a percentage of your resources, so relocating can be just as prohibitive as it is in real life. Since there’s no automatic way to move resources across the map, the majority of your time is spent running back and forth between enemy keeps and your own keep.

Don’t calm down too quickly. Your map will indicate what types of resources can be harvested in each location, and you should seek out a location where you can access as many different types of resources as possible. Enemies will reappear in this game, so also make sure the property you’re eyeing isn’t next to any particularly deadly creatures.

Use the right tools for the right resources

Your sword is ideal for harvesting crops, your ax is most efficient for chopping wood, and your mace is best for mining stone. But you can’t collect higher tier material if your weapon isn’t the right level. If you want to mine copper, you’ll need to upgrade to the enhanced bone weapons. If you want to mine gems then your weapon must be copper or better. By keeping all of these weapons up-to-date, you can save yourself from having to return to your base whenever you find a rare node of supplies.

Build smoke fire pits as soon as you are able

in the V rising, Sun exposure can kill you in seconds. Once you’ve built a fortress, you can craft smoke fire pits that cast artificial shadows from the sunlight. Best of all, they use bones for fuel, which is one of the easiest materials to get in this game. It takes a few seconds for the shadow they cast to expand, so you’ll still want something to hide behind while the brazier activates its effect. Don’t forget to pause them when the sun goes down or you’ve wasted a lot of bones.

Spend the day crafting and the night hunting

There’s nothing worse than having to wait for the sun to go down while trying to hunt down a big boss. Try to plan your activities so that the night has just started. During the day, a more efficient use of your time is to turn on the Smoke Fire Pits and turn all your hard-earned resources into gear, structures, and better crafting reagents.

Avoid the Treants and the Golems at all costs

don’t be like me I built my first base next to these two creatures, and now I have to dodge certain death every time I try to sneak back into my own castle. The golems are pretty easy to ignore, but the treants look a lot like real trees. Here’s a tip. If you see a short, light-colored tree in a clearing, then it’s probably a Treant. Avoid it as much as possible because it kept hitting me with a shot whenever I got within its attack range.

These mini-bosses usually stand motionless, but they can be attacked by wild animals or bandits. So be extra careful if they aren’t where you expect them to be.

You cannot fast travel while carrying resources

Don’t be like me and spend a lot of time collecting loot far away only to find you can’t transport your loot back to base right away. The only way around this is to throw away everything you’ve collected or keep it in a treasure chest.

Use wolf form to run around the map faster

The Alpha Wolf is the first V-Blood you will have to fight in the game. Tracking it down can be a hassle, but the payoff is well worth it. If you defeat it and draw its blood, you can turn into a wolf by going into the skill wheel. Wolf form has the added benefit of ensuring that wild wolves don’t attack you as you traverse the wilderness, although you’re still fair game to the roaming bandits.

Consider ambushing a boss instead of going to his lair

Some bosses like to hole up in their hideouts, but there are also some who like to take a midnight stroll. In fact, you’re probably better off trying to fight the Alpha Wolf while exploring the wilds, since he won’t stay in one place long enough to have a “hideout.” I was able to kill Lidia the Chaos Archer despite being underleveled because she accidentally got into a scuffle with Goreswine the Ravager. Use the chaos where you can, but don’t get cocky. Otherwise, you could end up fighting two bosses at once.

I actually recommend sniffing Goreswine while he’s out for a walk instead of trying to fight him in the graveyard. The graveyard is full of necromancers who can summon countless enemy skeletons. Believe an expert: it’s much harder to kill Goreswine when 20 undead warriors are chasing you at once.

You can throw away plant fibers

I’m one of those people who keeps a record of everything in case it comes in handy later. Go ahead and throw away your plant fiber. You’ll end up accumulating a lot of these while harvesting other materials, and you won’t use them very often except to occasionally repair some gear.

Blood quality matters

Each enemy has a percentage that represents the potency of their blood. Elite enemies generally have higher numbers. You get better combat bonuses as you drain better blood, and drinking from a new victim overrides your previous blood quality. Different blood doesn’t stack, so you’ll have to un-suck your blood if you find your loot quality is too low (left-click during blood draw to kill your victim instantly). This also means that if you are carrying high-quality blood, you should be careful not to use your blood to restore health. You want these bonuses to last as long as possible.

Plan ahead when attempting to make someone your servant

Later in the game you will gain the ability to turn hostile foes into your loyal minions. There are just a few catches: you have to build a coffin for them to sleep in, and you can’t turn into a wolf while controlling their minds. That means you’re both vulnerable to being ambushed by enemies. If they die, you have to try again with someone else. Try to figure out the easiest way home in advance.