How to get Blood Essence in V Rising
Learn how to find or craft all types of Blood Essence in V Rising
Want to know how to get Blood Essence in V Rising? Blood Essence is a key resource in V Rising, as you use it as fuel and upgrade your Castle Heart. If your Castle Heart runs out of Blood Essence, it will start to decay, stopping your various crafting structures from working and lowering your castle durability. With that in mind, you’ll want to know where to get every type of Blood Essence in V Rising.
Below, we’ll cover everything you need to know to get Blood Essence in V Rising, including the more powerful Greater Blood Essence and Primal Blood Essence variants.
On this page:
- How to get Blood Essence
- How to get Greater Blood Essence
- How to get Primal Blood Essence
- How to use all types of Blood Essence
How to get Blood Essence in V Rising
Regular Blood Essence drops regularly from low-level enemies that have blood. That means any creatures in the Farbane Woods that have blood, such as bandits, bears, deer, and moose, can drop Blood Essence when you kill them. It won’t drop with every kill, but a short killing spree in the woods should provide you with an ample supply.
If you’re struggling to find Blood Essence, you can also craft it at a Blood Press. You can either use 4 rats to get 10 Blood Essence, or 4 Tainted Hearts to get 60.
How to get Greater Blood Essence in V Rising
You can loot Greater Blood Essence from higher level enemies, such as those found in the Dunley Farmlands. Many of the enemies there range from level 20 to level 50, and we found plenty of Greater Blood Essence while slaughtering enemies in this region.
If you aren’t getting lucky with Greater Blood Essence drops, the good news is that you can craft it. However, you will need to defeat Tristan the Vampire Hunter, one of V Rising’s many bosses. You will find Tristan the Vampire Hunter roaming around the Farbane Woods, but since he moves around often it's hard to place an exact location.
Tristan is a particularly tough foe, so you’ll want to reach around level 45 before challenging him to a fight. If you manage to win, you’ll be able to craft Greater Blood Essence at a Blood Press using either 4 unsullied hearts or 200 regular Blood Essence.
Unsullied hearts are another rare resource in V Rising, so it's much easier to hoard regular Blood Essence to use when crafting Greater Blood Essence. If you do want to find unsullied hearts, the process is very similar to gathering Greater Blood Essence from enemies, as they tend to drop from enemies between levels 20 and 50 as well.
How to get Primal Blood Essence in V Rising
Primal Blood Essence is the rarest form of Blood Essence, so don’t expect to find it until very late in the game. Fortunately, if you suddenly need Primal Blood Essence, we know how to get it.
You can craft Primal Blood Essence in V Rising, but you’ll need to defeat Jade the Vampire Hunter first. Like Tristan, Jade the Vampire Hunter is a roaming boss, so it's hard to pinpoint her exact location, but you will find her moving around in the centre of the Dunley Farmlands.
Jade is a particularly high level boss, so don’t face her until you reach around level 60. Those who survive the fight will unlock the ability to craft Primal Blood Essence at the Blood Press using either 4 exquisite hearts or 12 Greater Blood Essence.
We assume you can get Primal Blood Essence and exquisite hearts from fighting high-level enemies and bosses, such as those found in the Silverlight Hills, but we have yet to verify this. Once we spend more time in late-game regions, we'll update this page to let you know.
How to use all types of Blood Essence in V Rising
Regular Blood Essence is used as fuel in your Castle Heart. To do this, simply head to your Castle Heart and place some Blood Essence in the small grid in the centre. Each piece of Blood Essence lasts for 8 minutes, so you’ll want to put plenty in your Castle Heart before heading out on an adventure. This isn’t the only purpose for Blood Essence, though. You can also use it to make Greater and Primal Blood Essence, which are rarer variants that you will use to upgrade your Castle Heart.
Greater Blood Essence is a stronger variant of Blood Essence that you’ll use to upgrade your Castle Heart and build Servant Coffins. Unlike the regular type, Greater Blood Essence can not be used as fuel in your Castle Heart, so make sure you have plenty of both in storage.
Primal Blood Essence has fewer uses, but it's still very important. At the end of V Rising, you will get the crafting recipe for the Blood Key. This is a high-level piece of gear that is currently the only legendary item available in V Rising's early access. Fortunately, since the Blood Key is an endgame item, that gives you plenty of time to hoard the regular and Greater variants of Blood Essence. That means you should be ready to easily craft Primal Blood Essence at a Blood Press when necessary.
That wraps up everything you need to know to get Blood Essence in V Rising. There are plenty of other materials you'll need to upgrade your Castle Heart, though, so take a look at our guides on how to get leather, how to get copper, and how to get iron in V Rising. For more useful tips and tricks, check out our V Rising beginner's guide.