Blood of Dawnwalker Prologue Guide: What to Do First

The prologue of The Blood of Dawnwalker opens the wider world and gives you complete freedom over where to go next. That freedom can be daunting, particularly with only 30 days remaining before Brencis’ coronation and some activities offering much more value than others.

This spoiler-filled guide outlines the most useful early activities, abilities and quests to prioritise. For more gaming coverage, browse the RETROCADE Arcade Blog or explore our arcade machine buying guide.

Spoiler warning: The recommendations below reveal story details from after the prologue.

Early priorities after the prologue

Start by improving your movement, building corruption and exploring regions that are less dangerous for a newly turned Vrakhir. These steps make the following quests easier without consuming valuable time.

Explore safer regions. Begin with Briar Sloughs, Maragir Wealds, St. Tyna’s Grove and Svartrau City. Map skull icons indicate more dangerous areas, so avoid pushing into heavily protected regions too early. At night, climb and interact with marked watchtowers to reveal points of interest. Using a watchtower does not advance time.
Unlock Mercurial Fervour and Shapeshift. Mercurial Fervour is a witchcraft ability that provides haste during the day, while Shapeshift is a vampire ability that does the same at night. Both make travelling considerably faster and unlocking them does not require a time segment.
Build corruption whenever possible. Use Voracious Bite on animals, monsters and human enemies to drain blood and increase corruption. Reach corruption level 1 at minimum, as this unlocks Shapeshift’s useful travel ability. Corruption requires a large amount of blood, so continue raising it whenever opportunities appear.
Spend time on skill upgrades. Skill improvements do use time, but upgrading several abilities will not prevent access to essential quests. Broadly useful choices include Vigour, Endless Effort and Sustained Focus in the swordmastery tree, regardless of your preferred play style.

The Blood of Dawnwalker map showing the best early game quest locations.

Which open-world quests should you do first?

The following missions begin in or near the easier regions around Laslea Glen. They are useful early choices because they either open larger quest lines or provide abilities and items that help with later encounters.

“The Firebrand”: Begin in Laslea Glen, north of the Laslea Centre shrine. Visit the ruined house behind the yellow banner from the end of the prologue. If you have already completed that step, continue at Mert’s Mill south of Laslea Glen. This quest leads into numerous additional missions, making it a strong first choice.
“A Pilgrimage for Power: Bear Trouble”: This short mission unlocks Ravenous Flock, a witchcraft area attack that is particularly useful against groups during daylight battles. It also opens the wider “A Pilgrimage for Power” quest line, although its remaining objectives do not need to be completed immediately.
“A Pilgrimage for Power: Fanatics”: Pick up this brief quest while travelling towards “Echoes of the Silenced Bells”. Completing it awards the second Ravenous Flock Manual.
“Echoes of Silenced Bells”: If Anca is alive, collect this quest at the old inn, also called Crossroad Inn, on the eastern side of the map. It leads to several follow-up missions, including some that are valuable against Brencis. Strengthen a few combat abilities before starting it.
“A Friend Like This”: Travel to Svartrau City and enter the alley north of Svartrau Cathedral. The quest begins automatically there. Although its opening appears small in scope, it eventually develops into a substantial and important quest line.
Ambrus sabotage missions: Missions such as “Ambrus’s Collectors”, “Ambrus’s Cellars” and “Ambrus’s Dungeons” are short and increase Ambrus’ anger, eventually unlocking another quest line. You can sabotage Xanthe or Bakir instead, but concentrating on one member of Brencis’ court lets you reach the first Vrakhir quest sooner. Ambrus is the recommended target because he operates in the less dangerous northern regions.

Make the most of the 30-day limit

The Blood of Dawnwalker is a time-sensitive narrative RPG in which decisions and actions have consequences. After the prologue, use the safer regions to build your abilities, raise corruption and begin the quest lines above before taking on more dangerous parts of Vale Sangora. Your wider objective is to confront Brencis’ boyars and become a more powerful vampire before the coronation.