The Blood of Dawnwalker has four major Vampire Court boss encounters, each with its own location, mechanics, and story choices that can affect the finale. This guide covers how to find and defeat Ambrus, Bakir, and Xanthe, along with the different encounters with Brencis, helping you clear all the major content even if you're completely new to The Blood of Dawnwalker . You’ll also find the key mechanics to watch for, useful preparations before each fight, and what you can gain or change depending on your choices.

If you’re a busy player who wants to get through the preparation stages without being tied to your PC, OSLink lets you remotely play The Blood of Dawnwalker from your mobile device. This makes it easier to farm gold and items, complete side quests, and handle other preparation tasks without being stuck at your PC.

The Blood of Dawnwalker All Bosses

The main Vampire Court bosses are Ambrus, Bakir, and Xanthe, each tied to a different region of Vale Sangora. As a Dawnwalker beginner, you raise a Boyar's Anger by disrupting their territory until their boss quest becomes available. Brencis is separate from these three encounters and serves as the main antagonist, appearing at several points throughout the story before the final battle.

All Boss Locations

Boyar Choices: After defeating a Boyar, you can kill them, drink their blood to gain a unique vampiric skill, or invite them into Coen. Invited Boyars can remain involved in the story and may appear during the final Brencis encounter, so your choice can have consequences later.

Things to Know Before Fighting Any

There are a few mechanics and preparations worth keeping in mind before starting any major boss fight in Blood of Dawnwalker:

• Learn to watch out for combat indicators. Shield icons signal attacks you can Perfect Block and counter, while Skull icons indicate attacks that should be dodged or avoided with Shadowstep. Holding your guard for too long will quickly drain your stamina.

• Use Death from Above when appropriate. Leveling it before your first Court fight gives you an additional source of damage against the Boyars.

• Make use of the time of day. Your combat options change between night and day, so choose your approach based on the abilities available to Coen at the time of the fight.

• Learn each boss's special defenses. Some mechanics punish you for attacking at the wrong time. For example, Ambrus's Scarlet Shield can turn attacks against you, while Xanthe's Life Orbs restore her health if you leave them alone.

• Save before important choices. Boss quests often include dialogue and story decisions that can affect the encounter or the finale, so a manual save before those moments can save you from having to replay a large section.

How to Defeat Ambrus in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Ambrus is the Right Fist of the Knyaz and one of the three Vampire Court bosses. You can draw him out by disrupting his territory and raising his Anger until The Gilded Gauntlet becomes available. The resulting fight takes place at the bell ruins in Maragir at night.

Poison Ambrus Before the Fight

The easiest way to make this fight more manageable is to poison Ambrus before the duel. Complete Iulian's poison setup before ringing the bell:

1. Follow the servant to Iulian's home and agree to the plan.

2. Go to Vera's hut and interact with the alchemy table, altar, and ritual scroll.

3. Complete the Astral Communion objectives and clear the specters.

4. Make sure Iulian gives Ambrus the poison before starting the duel.

5. Start the fight within three days so the setup remains available.

The poison continues to drain Ambrus's health during the fight and can also cause him to stagger. Those poison-induced staggers are some of your safest opportunities to attack, so you don't need to force damage constantly.

The dialogue during the toast can also affect how long the poison lasts:

• “I don't trust anything you offer” — only Ambrus drinks, giving him the full poison effect for the fight.

• “Gladly! To a juicy slaughter!” — both characters drink, but your poison wears off sooner while Ambrus remains poisoned.

• “I don't drink from humans.” — Ambrus's poison lasts for only part of the fight before he recovers.

For the easiest version of the encounter, use the first option.

How to Beat Ambrus

Ambrus rewards a more defensive approach than some of the other Court bosses. Stay relatively close so you can respond to his attacks, but don't try to trade through his multi-hit sequences. When the red attack indicators appear, use repeated dodges to get clear, then return to him once the attack ends.

Directional blocking and Perfect Blocks are particularly valuable because they give you safe opportunities to counterattack. When the poison causes Ambrus to stagger, take advantage of the opening to deal damage rather than constantly attacking into his defenses.

His Scarlet Shield is especially important to recognize. When the red ward appears, stop attacking instead of trying to break through it. The transcript also indicates that Ambrus can activate an armor-like defense that takes some effort to break, so don't waste stamina attacking while his defenses are active.

Ambrus also likes to create distance with jumps and teleports. Your right-trigger gap closer can help you get back into range, although it consumes a significant amount of stamina, so use it selectively. A weapon art can interrupt some of his attacks, while a charged attack that applies Bleed can provide additional damage if you have it available.

As Ambrus gets closer to defeat, he becomes more aggressive, but the poison continues draining his health. This is a good time to become more patient rather than forcing the final hits. Survive his dangerous sequences, punish safe openings, and let the poison continue doing its work.

Rewards and Choices

After defeating Ambrus, you can choose how to deal with him. Drinking his blood grants Scarlet Shield, while his other rewards include Ambrus's Cuirass and the Sword of Valor. Inviting him allows him to appear later in Anachora and can add Eightfold Slice to the final encounter.

If you choose to drink Ambrus’s blood while he is still poisoned, the poison can continue affecting your health afterward. If you want to avoid that, recover at a Shrine or execute him instead.

How to Defeat Bakir in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Bakir, the Mad Khan, is challenged through The Lunar Game rather than a conventional boss quest. Raise his Anger by disrupting his territory, including pillories, distilleries, and headhunter activities, until Farkas gives you access to the quest. The encounter eventually takes you to Lunar Manor, where the boss fight takes place.

Before the Treasure Room

There are several choices during The Lunar Game that can affect how the encounter plays out:

• Cockroach: Use the herbs in the cauldron to have him poison himself.

• Porcupine: Tell him that you are there to kill Bakir.

• Marten: Ask her for help. The Tatzelwurm encounter still results in her death.

• During Bakir's speech, cheer rather than using your more aggressive dialogue options.

• Save the sword-icon dialogue choice for the treasure room.

• For the coin riddle, take the left path.

When you reach the treasure room, Bakir asks what you want. Choose the sword-related response, “I just want to rip out yours,” to begin the boss fight.

How to Beat Bakir

Bakir has a very large health pool, so this is a fight where consistent damage and good positioning matter more than trying to burst him down. The safest general strategy is to stay relatively close to him. When you give him too much space, he tends to back away and repeatedly use his ranged attacks, which makes the fight considerably more frustrating.

When he uses the ranged attack with an audio cue, listen for the sound and dodge to the side rather than reacting too early. His parry timing is also relatively predictable, so once you become familiar with his attack pattern, you can use parries to create additional openings.

Slow is particularly effective against Bakir because it gives you time to land several attacks while he struggles to react. Piercing Shriek is another strong option and works well as an engagement tool when he creates distance. Pocket Sand is also useful, although the transcript suggests it is less effective than Slow and Piercing Shriek.

At around half health, Bakir begins using his raven attack. The timing is tighter than his earlier ranged attack, and there is no equivalent audio cue to rely on. Wait until the ravens are close to your character before dodging; moving too early can cause them to catch you.

The other attack you need to watch closely is his red ground AoE. If you remain inside it, Bakir can grab and stun you, leaving you vulnerable to significant damage. Move away as soon as the red area appears. If you do get caught, use your healing as needed rather than trying to fight through the stun.

The key to the encounter is therefore to stay close whenever possible, avoid his ranged attacks when he creates distance, use Slow and Piercing Shriek to maintain pressure, and learn the delayed timing of the ravens once he reaches half health.

Rewards and Choices

After defeating Bakir, you can choose what to do with him. Drinking his blood grants Shadowstorm, while the encounter also provides Bakir's Armor, Vrakhiric Bracers, and access to the Lunar Manor vault. If you invite him instead, he can appear later during the Brencis encounter and provide access to Flying Kick.

How to Defeat Xanthe in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Xanthe, the Dark Mistress, is one of the three Vampire Court bosses. Raise her Anger by clearing her Blood Guards and disrupting her territory until Leonard gives you the quest The Cycle of Love. The quest leads to Howling Keep, west of Tantari Woods, where you'll find the main Xanthe encounter.

Xanthe can also appear in Svartrau Cathedral at night as part of another encounter, but that does not replace the main fight at Howling Keep.

Lanterns, Then Chariklea 

Inside Howling Keep, you'll need to use the lanterns held by the statues to clear the growth blocking your route. Carry the lantern through the main hall, Iasmina's room, the side chambers, and the yard outbuilding, then use the lanterns at the end of the second-floor hall. This eventually opens the Painted Door.

Chariklea is behind the door. Speak with her to trigger the encounter in the yard and begin the Xanthe fight.

How to Beat Xanthe 

Xanthe is a fight where parrying and aggression work together. Stay close to her and look for her whip attacks. The different directions of the tendrils make directional blocking important, and successful blocks can help build toward a posture break. If you get a Perfect Block, use the opening to keep the pressure on.

Not every attack should be blocked, however. Xanthe also uses attacks that are easier to avoid with a dodge. When she creates floor effects or uses her area attacks, move out of the affected area rather than trying to maintain your position. Her health-drain attack can also be avoided by continuing to dodge until you escape it.

Once you break Xanthe's posture, attack immediately. A successful posture break removes one segment of her health bar, so these openings are the main way to progress through the fight.

Destroy the Life Orbs

After losing a health segment, Xanthe can summon Life Orbs that restore her health. Run around the arena and destroy them as quickly as possible.

Don't panic if she manages to recover a large amount of health. The fight's health-segment system means that your previous progress isn't necessarily wasted. Once you break her posture again, you can continue removing her remaining segments.

The important part is not to stand back and let the healing continue. The faster you destroy the orbs, the less health Xanthe can recover and the sooner you can return to the normal fight.

Final Phase

Xanthe becomes more aggressive during the final part of the encounter and can repeatedly use her red area attack. The basic strategy does not change: stay close when it is safe, look for opportunities to Perfect Block her tendrils, and dodge away from attacks that create area effects.

Her mobility can make the fight feel longer than it actually is, so don't chase recklessly. Close the distance when she moves away, then return to the parry-and-punish rhythm.

A close-range Weapon Art can also be useful here, especially one that provides invincibility frames while dealing damage. Use it during dangerous openings rather than saving it for a perfect moment.

Rewards and Choices

After defeating Xanthe, you can choose whether to spare, drink, or invite her. Sparing her allows her to help during the Greifberg section of the story. Drinking her blood grants Blood Surge, along with the Corrupted Pendant, Potent Aetheric Attunement, and Vrakhir's Treads from Chariklea's chest.

Inviting Xanthe allows her to appear later in Anachora and gives you access to her tendril ability during the final encounter. Chariklea's fate is handled separately through the choice available in her room after the fight.

How to Defeat Brencis in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Brencis, the Knyaz of Vale Sangora, is the central boss of the story and can be encountered at several points before the final battle. The first two encounters are optional or serve as story challenges, while the battle in Greifberg Castle and Anachora is the true endgame encounter.

Prologue

Your first encounter with Brencis takes place after Bad Blood and is designed as a scripted loss. You can still fight back using Perfect Blocks and Shadowsteps, but defeating him here sends you into Anachora as Grotesque Ascendant with your starting equipment.

This is essentially a challenge route rather than the intended way to progress. If you are trying to complete the campaign normally, there is no need to force a victory here.

Parley at Shrike's Crag

Brencis can challenge you again after you reach the required Infamy and are called to Shrike's Crag.

The choices during this encounter affect what happens afterward:

• Sword-icon dialogue: leads to a fight against humanoid Brencis followed by Vidmo waves and the Anachora sequence.

• Dialogue options: allow you to clear specters with Brencis before he offers a deal involving your family and the Manumits.

• You can delay accepting the deal and continue toward Greifberg later.

If you intend to make a different choice for the final outcome, make a manual save before the parley. Winning this encounter can have consequences for the family members you leave behind.

Finale — Greifberg Castle

The final Brencis encounter begins at Greifberg Castle. Entering at night gives you several ways to reach the castle, including using Shadowstep to traverse the rocks and wall, taking Father Florin's side passage, or entering with Lacra or the Manumits if you have completed those quest chains.

Your earlier choices with the three Boyars also affect the route through the castle. If Ambrus, Bakir, and Xanthe are still alive, you can encounter them inside the castle along with two Unblinking Blasphemy fights. If you defeated the Court bosses earlier, you can reach Brencis without having to fight them again.

How to Beat Brencis

Brencis's humanoid form is highly mobile and frequently creates distance with jumps and teleports. Because of this, gap-closing abilities are extremely useful. Don't spend the entire fight chasing him across the arena; use your gap closer when he teleports away and continue applying pressure.

Piercing Shriek is particularly effective because it can stagger him and create an opening for your gap-closing attack. Slow is another strong option, especially when combined with Piercing Shriek. The combination gives you a window to land several attacks while limiting his ability to respond.

A silver sword is also highly effective against Brencis because of his vampiric nature. Continue using your Weapon Art whenever it is available rather than saving it indefinitely, as it provides another source of damage during this mobile encounter.

Brencis uses multi-hit attacks that are better avoided than traded through. Blocking remains important, but when he begins a long attack sequence, creating distance is usually safer than trying to absorb every hit. If he begins a health-draining attack, focus on surviving the sequence and heal afterward rather than trying to force damage through it.

If Xanthe is present during the fight, she can attempt to restore Brencis's health. There is also a useful interaction where attacking Xanthe can stun her and, under the interaction shown in the fight, stun Brencis as well. This can create a valuable opening, although it may be an interaction that could change with a future patch.

Conclusion

That wraps up this The Blood of Dawnwalker boss guide. Ambrus, Bakir, and Xanthe each require different strategies, while the choices you make after defeating them can affect the final encounter with Brencis. Prepare the right skills and equipment, learn each boss's mechanics, and make your choices carefully before heading into Greifberg. If you want to continue preparing while away from your PC, OSLink also lets you remotely play The Blood of Dawnwalker on your mobile device, making it easier to farm items, complete side quests, and get ready for the next boss fight.