Stunlock Studios’ V Rising is a huge commercial success. With over 1 million sales within its first week, it's safe to say this ARPG indie has grabbed a lot of attention recently. If you are unfamiliar with the game's premise, you can find out more here. For all the newly awakened vampire lords out there, let's stop wasting time and get to the bloody details. Here are the top 5 things for new players to know.

1. Basic Survival Necessities

This tip will be the most obvious and yet the longest of the five because there is a lot to cover. V Rising can be played offline or online. However, if you play online you do have the option of choosing a PVE or PVP server. I strongly encourage you to start out on the PVE server to learn the ropes and to avoid suffering from a total loss. Progression in this game is only tied to your character in the specific server. Whatever you unlock or gather will only be tied to that server. So, when you get raided and lose everything to a high-level clan, you can kiss all of your hard work goodbye. 

Now, that being said, PVP will have its fun moments and I see the appeal of the thrill of surviving in such a harsh world, but it may be a little too hardcore for most, especially when first trying to learn the mechanics. Don't say I didn't warn you, but if you insist on the PVP server, these tips will still be useful.

Every vampire needs a coffin, castle heart, blood altar, and a castle. These essentials are needed in order to get the game moving. V Rising makes this very simple with its mission-based tutorial and does a great job of showing you the ropes. Just make sure you build your castle somewhere near the middle of the starting area. This is recommended so you do not have to travel as much on foot, but beware that other vampires may be thinking the same thing. Be sure to look at your map and get an idea of where other castles are located before building yours.

Once you find the location, start building your castle walls, blood altar, and coffin. The coffin will be your safety net when it's time for you to log off. You must head back to your coffin before logging off the session that way you are not vulnerable on the server. Your body stays exactly where you left it so make sure you protect it!

Finally, the blood altar is the essential structure you will need to progress in the game. This item allows you to track different bosses, known as V Bloods, to unlock rewards. This can be anything from powers, skills, recipes for crafting, and improvements for your fortified castle. In the beginning, you want to complete the V Bloods in order until you gain access to more options, as you increase your gear score.

2. Loot Everything And Anything

Gear score is the sole way to progress your character as opposed to XP. So be sure to grab any and all gear, especially when you first start out. V Bloods also drop different recipes for armor and weapons that will help increase your gear score and make you stronger. However, a large amount of crafting recipes are randomly found throughout the world so be sure to keep your eyes open and your fangs sharp.

On your journey, you will pick up an ungodly amount of plant fibers and bone. Please do not avoid these. They may not seem useful now but they will become handy later. Resource hog everything you can and make storage bins for specific items, that way you can organize much easier.

Any weapon can be used to gather resources but its a good idea to have a variety of weapons at your disposal to keep durability high on average for all of your weapons. Use the Sword for plants, the ax for trees, and the mace for hard stone and metal.

3. Track V Bloods To Unlock Workshops Quickly

Many of the V Bloods unlock different crafting tables for your castle that will help you on your journey of tyranny and evil. If there is ever an item or resource that you do know where to find or how to obtain, chances are it can be crafted. Go through your list of V Bloods and track the one you need for the appropriate workshop crafting table.

You won't be able to track all V Bloods if your gear score isn’t high enough. Be sure to complete more V Bloods if you can't find the unlock reward you are looking for in the blood altar. The game lets you track V Bloods about 10 levels higher than your current score so if it's a high level and your on a PVE server, then reach out to your fellow vampire neighbors for some assistance. Type “/global” to use global chat and make some new undead friends!

4. Gather As Much Copper As Possible

This one is a bit straightforward but copper will be a main ingredient, especially in the beginning hours of your journey and it seems like it's just always needed. Be sure to harvest this as frequently as you can. The Copper Mines are a great way to build up stacks of copper ore when you are getting low. Just make sure you have a Mace to knock out that copper as quickly and efficiently as possible. Look into getting a furnace for your castle so you can melt the copper into useful copper ingots. They are used for everything from crafting weapons, structures, and repairing gear.

5. Kill Tristan The Vampire Hunter ASAP

So this one is very specific and I do not recommend attempting this unless you are able to tackle him with some help from other fellow vampires in your server. He is level 46, but you can start tracking him around level 38. This vampire hunter drops two very important things that you will need in order to upgrade your castle efficiently. Recipe for Greater Blood Essence and The ability to see Blood types easily.

Greater Blood Essence is typically attained by gathering four unsullied hearts. They are a rare drop that is found in the world and typically V Bloods drop them once defeated, but it's usually just one. When taking on a V Blood with multiple vampires, you can see how that is a major problem. So, crafting them is definitely the way to go and will save you a lot of time and grinding. It requires 200 Blood Essence or 150 if you have all the matching castle bonuses for it. Not a bad deal because Blood Essence is everywhere!

The ability that unlocks after killing Tristan allows you to easily see different blood types and their blood quality. This is a huge quality of life skill to have, especially when you are running low on blood and hunting for a new buff. The entire screen has a blood-red filter and highlights every enemy you can see, with their blood type and quality percentage. I suggest using it on your way to a mission to quickly scan potential victims. If you have a horse, then this ability works even better, allowing for fast traversal and quickly finding good blood quality.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and there's so much more to V Rising as you progress. We will be sure to make more tips for you as we carry on through the game, but let us know if this was helpful or if there's something else you want us to look into!

V Rising is available now in early access on PC via Steam.