One could almost be mistaken into thinking V Rising was only about killing bosses. There is plenty to go around. Even one of them I even wanted to get some revenge on, and others I was just meeting for the first and hopefully last time.

It was time to get some revenge. While there are still many vampire hunters I need to hide from and even run from. There has been one that has caused me a lot of trouble over time. Today was the day I stopped running from Tristan the Vampire Hunter.

As always, Tristan was wandering around the woods, I'm sure hoping to ambush me at some point. This time, however, the tables were turned. I spotted Tristan from a distance and hid behind a tree to be the one doing the ambushing this time around.

There was quite a struggle. Lots of fire, downed trees, and even a bear wandered into the fight. I knew the moment my skeleton army skill was off cooldown for a second time, the fight was over. I had the win in the bag.

A lot of upgrades require Greater Blood Essence as an ingredient. Before now, the only way I could get my hands on any was if it dropped. After taking Tristan the Vampire Hunter down, I could now use lesser blood essences to make it.

There was still a low-level boss I needed to fight. It, however, needed to be summoned, and that could be done from anywhere. It was a giant rat, and defeating it just gave me the ability to transform into a rat. Not a form I found myself using more than a handful of times, if that. While there are a couple of little areas that allow you to get into. Along with being less noticeable. I never found it to be that worthwhile to use.

Before now, most of my adventures have been happening down in Farbane Woods. I’ve done some exploring and boss hunting in Dunley Farmlands, which is up north a little bit. With Triston out of the there might only be one remaining high-level boss down in Farbane. All my attention now needs to be put on Dunley.

This also includes scouting out a new location for a base. This has been something I've been a little lazy about. I found a few possible locations I might consider. It’s kind of hard to want to give up where I am at even though it’s becoming less and less worthwhile to be there.

Perhaps one of the more annoying fights I'd be encountering for a bit was a Cavalier. His being on a horse presents a new challenge, and he had quite a hard time using melee to land a hit.

This is also why I'm glad I switched over to using a mace over a sword. I could use the mace's leap slam ability to land some better hits. I had to time things just right. With a sword, I'd just be missing most of my attacks, and this fight would have been way more challenging.

Cavalier had a charging at you ability, along with just wanting to ride around you in circles. At least when he was running around me, I could get a few hits in. A lot of the fight was just me getting out of the way of his more powerful hits, buying some time for when I could get in a few quick blows.

Defeating him unlocked the ability to tame horses and to build a stable back at my base. I found riding horses, despite there being a little bit of a speed increase, to not be a great experience. For some reason, they just move around in a funky manner, which feels wrong and a little disturbing. Totally putting me off using them. I also tend to use waygates to teleport around the map for adventures. So having a horse that I have to ride around to and from a location is not ideal either, unless I've never explored an area before.

I then found myself, as no one should be shocked, yet again in the iron mine. This time, I was not there to mine any ore. I was there to take down an undead general. I did not know it at the time, but defeating him would unlock my new favorite weapon for quite some time, the reaper. It has an amazing bonus to undead and a spinning stack that I'd learn to love.

As far as how that boss fight went. Despite running into him before, and it ending in death. He was already quite damaged when I found him. A few quick hits and he was down before I could even get any proper screenshots.

Alright, so I might have lied. There was some iron ore gathering. How could I go into the mines without mining some? It would be unthinkable and a crime! I, however, only farmed ores that were along my path in and out.

As if getting garlic on me was bad enough as of recently. I also learned that some priest areas are now protected by holy radiation. While this stuff fades as soon as you leave an area that has it as a protection, ’s damage over time really limited my time in any area that has it. I’d say it did a good job, just not good enough to keep me out of any areas.

Thankfully, in any areas I had to deal with radiation in it I only needed to dash in to steal loot out of coffins. There were some crafting materials called Scourgestone that I badly needed, and this was the best way to get them since I couldn’t craft them yet.

There ended up being another location to farm some at that did not have the holy radiation. The drop amounts were, however, quite a lot less. Making it not really worth my time unless I was already heading that way.

What was worth my time was downing the Shadow Priestess that was at the top of that area.

Final Thoughts

While I've downed many more bosses. I’m still on the hunt for a higher blood quality than what I've captured and brought back to my castle. It’s kind of funny how many times I've found 90-100% quality, and now I'm lucky to get anything in the high 60% range. It’s like they are all hiding from me as if I were a vampire or something.

Information

Screenshots were taken, and content was written by @Enjar about V Rising (Tracking link that takes you to the game's Steam page. I receive no commissions on sales. It’s simply a request to be used by the game publisher).

Disclosure: A review copy of the game was received for free.