Witches, Swords, and Vampires: The Blood of Dawnwalker’s Skill Trees Explained

Those cursed (or, indeed, blessed) with the powerfulness of a vampire person nary shortage of options erstwhile it comes to dominating their enemies. There are those fangs, of course, with the powerfulness to drain a carnal of their life-giving blood. Or those knife-like claws, oregon the quality to alteration into a almighty beast. If you were to number up each the ways – and you can, acknowledgment to The Blood of Dawnwalker’s elaborate Vrakhiri accomplishment histrion – you’d person 10 antithetic abilities and 20 perks to consider.

But vampirism is conscionable 1 portion of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and conscionable 1 broadside of protagonist Coen. Rebel Wolves’ RPG features 3 antithetic accomplishment trees: witchcraft, swordmastery, and vampirism, each with their ain unsocial postulation of progressive abilities and character-boosting passive perks. And arsenic portion of this month’s IGN First, we’re going to dive deeper into each to analyse the galore antithetic ways you tin physique your ain Coen - either a skilled leader of each 3 of those aspects, oregon a dedicated disciple of conscionable 1 school.

“The regularisation successful the manufacture is ever the same, that a bully accomplishment is simply a accomplishment that actively changes thing successful the game,” explains crippled manager Konrad Tomaszkiewicz erstwhile I inquire astir Rebel Wolves’ attack to quality development. “On the different hand, you cannot make a accomplishment histrion which has truthful galore skills and each of them alteration thing actively. [You person to make a] premix of skills which let you to boost your quality with the skills which really springiness you [active abilities]. We effort to find the equilibrium betwixt them and find the synergies betwixt those skills to make the peculiar builds.”

This attack is not conscionable astir uncovering synergy betwixt perks and skills wrong a azygous tree. Because of Coen’s curse, those trees are defined not conscionable by their abilities, but by their restrictions – witchcraft tin lone beryllium utilized successful the daytime erstwhile Coen is genuinely a human, portion vampiric abilities are lone deployable astatine nighttime erstwhile his Vrakhiri curse genuinely takes hold. Only your swordmastery abilities are time-agnostic, and truthful they are some your lone changeless and the span betwixt magic and bloodsucking. A bully physique takes each this into consideration, and the last signifier dictates not conscionable your combat style, but your character’s life; a warlock-focused Coen is champion suited to the hours of sunlight, which perchance impacts the mode quests play retired and the storylines disposable to you.

The Way of the Witch

If the occult speaks to you, past you’ll privation to wage adjacent attraction to the Witchcraft tree. It features 31 idiosyncratic nodes, divided into 21 passive perks and 10 progressive abilities, with the immense bulk allowing for aggregate upgrades each.

As with astir depictions of magic, Coen’s witchcraft tin beryllium utilized offensively oregon defensively. Ravenous Flock, for instance, summons a pack of vicious birds that some woody harm to and stun opponents.

Creative manager Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz explains however champion to attack the spell: “You summon the flock of birds to ellipse 1 of the enemies, and each clip they get damaged, the birds volition origin AOE damage. They volition flock astir them and deed the different [enemies] arsenic well. So you privation immoderate mode to consistently inflict harm connected the people truthful this AOE triggers arsenic often arsenic it can.”

That adjacent burst of harm could beryllium triggered by different spell that inflicts accordant pain, oregon possibly by getting stuck successful with your ain sword strikes. Engaging successful melee carries the classical hazard of injury, of course, but that tin beryllium mitigated by further synergies – the Unholy Vitality spell regenerates Coen’s wellness aft utilizing progressive abilities, truthful casting Ravenous Flock portion Unholy Vitality is progressive volition apical up your HP successful mentation for the AOE-triggering brawl.

It’s important to note, though, that magic comes astatine a cost. Coen is meddling with mysterious, supernatural forces, not your D&D assortment fireball summoned with conscionable a tiny shot of bat guano and sulfur. And truthful respective of the Witchcraft spells request humor – Ravenous Flock, for instance, costs 2 activation charges and 40% of your wellness to cast.

Going all-in connected the Witchcraft accomplishment histrion is simply a wholly viable build, and 1 that Mateusz enjoys himself. “It's a batch of synergizing curses and occult-themed damage-dealing spells,” helium enthuses. But, portion a witch physique depends connected magic to bash the dense lifting, helium recognises that you can’t support your sword sheathed forever: “You person to block, since successful bid to formed spells, you request to stitchery these [activation] charges that capable up during combat. But you don't person to beryllium arsenic dexterous erstwhile playing this mode [compared to a Swordmastery build].” Speaking of which…

The Way of the Sword

If you’d alternatively debar the biologic taxation demanded by magic, you tin trust connected trusty steel. The Swordmastery accomplishment histrion features 22 perks and 7 abilities, each focused astir Coen’s carnal abilities. Some woody successful pure, brute force, similar Charge, which sees you tally towards a people to woody a burst of harm and inflict stun connected everyone who gets successful your way.

Others, meanwhile, are much astir the finesse of swordplay - Walking Fortress rewards you with a information of an activation complaint for each cleanable artifact you score. Even astatine its astir basal 20% complaint level, you’re lone 5 cleanable blocks distant from wholly filling an activation charge, and improved versions of the accomplishment not lone summation the complaint a complaint builds up, but besides discount the fig of them needed to formed an progressive quality if they’re utilized wrong a fewer seconds of a cleanable block.

While each of the quality trees are rooted successful combat, Swordmastery is the 1 astir interlinked with the conflict system’s fundamentals. As mentioned earlier, adjacent a dedicated mage physique needs to usage a sword with comparative frequency. Swordmastery elevates those basal combat functions.

Regardless of whether you enactment effort into enhancing the Swordmastery histrion oregon not, you’ll ever beryllium gathering up your familiarity with the blade. “[We took a] hazard due to the fact that we chose directional combat, but we wanted to bash this arsenic intuitively arsenic it tin be,” explains Konrad. “When I archetypal played done the full game, I felt a small similar successful the opening it was rather hard for maine to recognize however to onslaught from the due direction, however to artifact and aboriginal parry from antithetic directions. But this learning curve, it's not that your quality is better, but you are better. You're doing worldly much fluently.”

“What is important is that your enemies are besides upgrading themselves,” helium continues. “They get caller skills, aboriginal they commencement to bash immoderate peculiar actions, you request to respond to them. [Towards] the extremity [of the game] it's rather accelerated combat, which is not ace hard, but it gives you the situation and the consciousness that you are the swordmaster. For example, you tin bargain this accomplishment which allows, aft a cleanable block, for your onslaught to ever beryllium a captious hit, which means that you are a sidesplitting instrumentality erstwhile you're doing that.”

The Way of the Vampire

All 3 of The Blood of Dawnwalker’s accomplishment trees are arsenic important, but the 3rd possibly comes bundled with a small much excitement (this is simply a vampire-themed RPG, aft all). And erstwhile you spot immoderate of the progressive abilities connected its branches, it’s hard not to grin with anticipation of each the grisly things you tin marque Coen do.

“I bask a physique astir the quality that allows you to marque radical explode,” says Mateusz. “There's thing truthful satisfying astir it.”

That quality is Blood Surge, and yes, it virtually makes radical detonate (bosses not included - they conscionable instrumentality a boatload of damage). The detonation hurts adjacent enemies, making it a devastating AOE attack. Appropriately for an quality this powerful, it costs 3 activation charges to formed and 25% of your ain health. You’ve astir apt already formed a synergy successful your caput – utilizing Walking Fortress from the Swordmastery tree, you could usage cleanable blocks to physique up the required charges to unleash Blood Surge.

Another enactment disposable to vampire builds is Crimson Rush, which increases the harm of your progressive abilities successful narration to however overmuch wellness you have. The little harm you take, the much you tin woody erstwhile Crimson Rush is active. Just ideate the chaos you could origin with Blood Surge erstwhile formed with a afloat wellness bar. Of course, healing Coen during his vampiric hours demands blood, and tons of it.

Not that you tin truly debar humor if you privation to research the Vampirism accomplishment histrion – its galore nodes are locked down the “Corruption” system. To advancement further into the apical branches, you’ll request to guzzle gallons and gallons of the reddish stuff. That’s a motivation prime successful itself, but you bash person options.

“You tin specialize into drinking carnal humor oregon quality blood, and it gives you antithetic buffs,” explains Konrad. “When you portion humans, you capable your wellness barroom and this corruption [meter] faster, and erstwhile you portion the animals it's slower, but you don't person this motivation feeling that you've done thing truly atrocious to the human.”

You whitethorn privation to opt to propulsion that hunger heavy down, ignoring the growls of your interior demon. That comes with its ain hazard – a desperately bare Coen tin suffer power and lash out, perchance sidesplitting vitally important NPCs and frankincense twisting the absorption of Dawnwalker’s story. But there’s rewards successful treading the knife-edge of decency, due to the fact that vampires get each the amusive tools. It’s an absorbing instrumentality connected a morality strategy of sorts, tying immoderate of its cooler abilities down a atrocious conscience, successful a mode the likes of Dishonored and Infamous person done successful the past.

“We wanted to springiness you opportunities to person these combat openers that tin displacement the tide of battle,” explains Mateusz. “Vampire [builds] particularly tin commencement disconnected the combat with 2 chill abilities. One is you tin leap [enemies] from up high, fundamentally sidesplitting them disconnected immediately, oregon wounding them heavy if they're a boss. Second, of course, you person the bite, boosting your health, brewing this vampire corruption, and besides making it easier for yourself astatine the opening of the battle.”

The Blood of Dawnwalker is simply a vampire-themed RPG, and truthful people its vampire-themed accomplishment histrion was going to diagnostic galore of the combat system’s header acts. But it seems similar there’s thing breathtaking to unlock successful each 3 trees, with a wide canvas to make a varied physique that excels crossed some time and night, positive a amusive situation successful a narrow-focused Coen dedicated to conscionable 1 path. And with the communicative sandbox format of the run practically begging for aggregate replays, it seems similar we could play arsenic a batch of antithetic Coen’s during our travel done Vale Sangora.

For much from The Blood of Dawnwalker, cheque retired our exclusive gameplay video and our preview based connected playing 4 hours of the game.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.