V Rising is a great new game for people who love crafting, but sometimes it isn’t all that clear how to get certain resources that you need to progress in the game. One of the tutorial missions tasks you with upgrading your castle heart – and for that, you need leather.
To get in V Rising, you process animal hides in the Tanning Rack. This is unlocked after beating a V Blood Carrier called Keely the Frost Archer. The easiest way to find her is by activating her hunt via the Blood Altar in your Castle.
The problem is, V Rising only holds a player’s hands to a point, dropping you in the deep end abruptly and leaving you to figure a lot of things out on your own. If you need a little help getting the ball rolling and have no idea what a Blood Altar is, read on for a simple explanation of what you need to know about these things to progress in the game. Be sure to check out our beginner’s guide if you’re struggling with any other gameplay basics.
Get Your Base Set Up
The first few objectives on V Rising have you crafting weapons and equipment. Once you’ve crafted all of your basic gear, you will find yourself tasked with constructing your Castle Heart and first few refining stations allowing you to process lumber into planks and raw copper into ingots.
The furnace and the sawmill are unlocked via the tutorial missions, while the elusive tanning rack is not. This is about where the game stops holding your hand as much, and leaves you to figure things out. Players will want leather as an ingredient required to perform the first upgrade to the Castle Heart – but there is no explanation on how to get it.
Getting through these first few missions is a good start, and the easiest way to get your leather is to use your Blood Altar. If you are upgrading your Castle Heart, you should already have one. If you haven’t built it yet, or have destroyed it, open your Build menu and put one down somewhere in your Castle
I happened to set my castle up in a spot where Alpha Wolf hangs out
What Is a Blood Altar in V Rising?
Perhaps one of the more important stations in your castle will be the Blood Altar. This is where you can start tracking V Blood Carriers, strong enemies that will grant you new powers and crafting recipes once felled. It costs x this and x that to build.
To get your Blood Altar, simply play through the tutorial missions until you unlock it. You will then need Stone and Blood Essence to construct it, so keep that in mind as you are preparing your base.
Interacting with your Blood Altar opens a menu that allows you to view and activate available hunts. Selecting “Track Blood” on one of the targets will initiate a hunt, and you will now see a blood trail drawing you towards the target.
You can track V Blood Carriers using the Blood Altar
Finding The Encampment
You can just head straight for the encampment where Keely hangs out and beat her before you even unlock the Blood Altar, but it is advisable to upgrade your equipment as much as possible before doing so. It’s also preferable to beat the Alpha Wolf first due to the mobility his powers grant, but this isn’t necessary either especially if you happen to catch Keely wandering around the map.
Approach the encampment carefully and systematically. When approaching the gates, be wary of returning patrols when engaging the guards at the gate. try lure the guards away from their stations, into some brush if you want to gather some resources at the same time.
It might happen that Keely shows up before you’ve taken out all the mooks, in which case I would suggest running away. There are a number of enemies in the encampment, and if you aggro enough of them you won’t stand a chance.
Make sure your gear is up to the task
How to Beat Keely the Frost Archer
Keely can be a tough nut to crack if you aren’t prepared. Isolating her and employing close range battle tactics will give you an edge. Her main attack is a volley of icy arrows that spread out in a V formation, not the least bit reminiscent of Ashe from League of Legends. Taking damage from her arrows slows you, leaving you more vulnerable to attacks from other mobs.
When she is about to attack, Keely will draw her bow and anchor herself taking aim, usually at the player. Circle strafe around her and wait for her to stop, then use Blood Veil to pass through and behind her to attack her from behind. It will take a little patience, but the fight will be very one sided in your favor
When Keely’s health drops to about half, she will begin using an alternate Area of Effect attack where she fires a volley of arrows into the air. She telegraphs her attacks strongly, she even shouts “Freeze!” to let you know she’s about to attack. This is very easy to avoid, but again if your fight is interrupted by other mobs you may find yourself taking a chunk of damage when slowed by this attack’s effects.
The slowing effect makes you vulnerable to other enemies
Other Tips to Easily Beat Keely
Stunlock made this area quite fun to play through, giving players loads of interesting opportunities to cause chaos in the camp. While you are sneaking around, you can open the wolf cages and transform into your wolf form. This will cancel their aggro, and the now free wolves will proceed to attack their captors.
While you might enjoy watching the wolves take down a few mooks, they still aren’t going to take down the stronger enemies so you will have to step in and take them out yourself – much easier with the rabble distracted by wolves and bears.
You can also lure Keely into one of the tents by aggroing her and running inside. She will chase you inside, ensuring some privacy during your fight. Be careful – some of the tents are occupied by other strong enemies, so it’s best to clear the tent out before you get Keely’s attention.
Using your environment to help is a big-brain play
The Frost Archer? You Mean The Lost Archer?
Once you’ve downed Keely and taken her blood, you will have unlocked the Tanning Rack. You also unlock a few other recipes, and gain some new powers to use. Now you can go build your tanning rack and slap some hides in it. From there, you will be able to upgrade your Castle Heart, and some more of your equipment.
