V Rising has finally released its 1.0 version after a couple of years in early access, and as a long-time player of the game, I can already see the flood of new players struggling to beat certain bosses. In this guide, I’ll give you a few tips to deal with boss fights in the game. Go get your V Blood and recipe drops!
How to Approach a Difficult Boss + Beginner Tips (Update 1.0)
Just in case you are really new to the game, you should know that boss fights are essential in this game to unlock all sorts of new abilities and recipes for further progression.
Even the first bosses, such as the alpha wolf, can trip up newbies because these enemies aren’t simple DPS checks. In the sections below, we’ll go through a few tips that I have for you based on my experience with the game since its early days.
NOTE: I mainly play on PVE servers, and as such, I can’t really give you advice for when you get crashed mid-fight by another player. If that’s what you need help with, I got nothing for you, unfortunately.
Learn The Patterns / Take Your Time!
Every boss in the game follows a specific attack pattern, and they become incredibly predictable when you become familiar with the cues. Because of this, you should take your time and figure out everything they do before you focus on damage.
With enough practice and familiarization, you can avoid all damage completely or find openings to use healing items or abilities and not have the regeneration effect get cancelled mid-fight.
Keep your distance and let the boss go through two or three cycles of their attack pattern if you want to be really safe about it. Just know that most bosses have additional phases that will introduce new attacks.
Watch Out for Adds
Some bosses will summon adds either in the first or second phase, and the earliest example of this is actually one of the very first bosses that you have to face. The alpha wolf calls for backup every now and then, so this should be your introduction to boss minions.
In most cases, you want to focus on the adds first whenever they popup. This is because they will get in the way of your projectiles and just be a nuisance in general.
Ungora the Spider Queen is a good relatively later game example of this. Her spiderlings will constantly block your view and cause you to potentially get hit by her projectiles that would otherwise be easy to dodge.
More advanced players can take advantage of the fact that you can use a well-timed feed on low HP minions to avoid certain attacks, and I would highly recommend you learn how to abuse this whenever possible. Basically, you feed and then immediately cancel for a pseudo dodge.
Pick The Right Blood Type
If you are reading this guide, then I don’t expect you to have a prison full of 100% blood minions at base yet. With that said, this doesn’t mean you should be neglecting your blood types.
Figure out the best blood type for your specific build and make sure that you have it on you before you go to the boss. Newer players tend to neglect this mechanic, but it can significantly boost your DPS or ability to dodge attacks.
Unless you are following a self-imposed challenge, do not go into a boss fight with the Frailed blood type. At the very least, go and bite a weak deer or wolf for the bonus movement speed from Creature.
On that note, keep your blood percentage high before going into a fight. In certain boss fights, especially if you have other players with you, there will be openings where you can use Blood Mend for a small heal when needed.
Don’t Be Afraid of Level Differences
This one is for more experienced players or those who are confident in their ability to be an absolute gamer. Basically, V Blood units that are a higher level than you are not impossible to kill.
In fact, in the old days, I would have suggested that you fight Lidia the Chaos Archer way before you even reach her level range to unlock Chaos Volley. However, there is a new spell unlocking system that changes things a bit.
Now, I believe you can achieve this by beating Errol the Stonebreaker to get a Tier 1 Chaos Spell Point. With that said, I would still recommend that you fight Lidia the Chaos Archer early for the Devourer recipe.
This idea applies to any other boss throughout the game. If you are gunning for a certain recipe or spell point, don’t be afraid to fight something above your level. As long as you learn their patterns, any boss can be piss easy to beat.
Bring Emergency Supplies
Always bring some emergency healing supplies with you whenever you face any boss in the game. Even a simple Vermin Salve can come in clutch if you make a mistake in later fights. Heck, Blood Mend can be an option if you are experienced enough.
Don’t forget to bring extra doses of other necessary potions with you as well. For example, you need Holy Resistance in order to fight Raziel the Shepherd or Azariel the Sunbringer. Make sure to have an extra potion with you in case the effect somehow runs out before you can end the boss fight.
Take Advantage of Your Surroundings
Finally, there are certain bosses that you’ll need to fight in tight spaces, and this can actually work in your favor. This is especially true for wandering bosses.
If you find a solid object that you can take cover behind, abuse the hell out of it during the fight. Ziva the Engineer, for example, will practically force you to do this due to her machine gun barrages.
Trees and rocks can be used as makeshift cover when fighting bosses such as Lidia the Chaos Archer or even Jade the Vampire Hunter, among other environmental objects that might be present wherever you run into them.
As an additional tip in this regard, when you come to the point where you can fight Kriig the Undead General and Meredith the Bright Archer within the iron mines, wait for them to fight each other.
These two bosses in particular love to engage with each other in the mines, and this can make it very easy for you to get both of their V Blood unlocks as their adds will likely not focus on you.
Finally, just a quick bonus tip, but I highly recommend getting Ward of the Damned and just focusing on a summoning build in general if you struggle with most bosses. For most fights, skeleton minions can be amazing meat shields and even very slightly help with damage.
And those are all of the boss fighting tips that I can give you off the top of my head as somebody who has played since early access. While you are here, go and check out our guide on the passive system in V Rising as well, since there’s a lot of new content to explore with the full release!
