Defeating Tristan the Vampire Hunter yields some generous results. Aside from taking down a major threat to vampires everywhere, you’ll earn a much faster recipe to create Greater Blood Essence. This is a powerful ingredient in loads of recipes, including merciless weaponry, servant coffins, and more powerful castle hearts. Time to take our castle to the next level!
With dedicated vampire hunters like Tristan roaming the world, you have to be the cleverest, most shrewd vampire that you can be. So why not check out some top tips to get you going!
- 13 Beginner Tips to Help You Sink Your Fangs Into V Rising
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Where can you find Tristan the Vampire Hunter?
Tristan the Vampire Hunter roams around the center of the Farbane Woods. If you’ve ever undertaken expeditions to the Dunley Farmlands from your base in the woods, there’s a good chance you’ve seen him before. Usually, Tristan walks somewhere between the Forgotten Cemetery, the Bandit Copper Mine, the Bandit Armory, and the Bandit Stronghold.
You regularly find Tristan the Vampire Hunter near the Forgotten Cemetery.
Since it’s impossible to pinpoint Tristan’s exact location beforehand, make sure to use your Blood Altar to chase his scent. It’s possible that he doesn’t appear in your Blood Altar yet. This means that you are too low level. Focus on some earlier bosses and upgrade your armor to unlock him. Should you encounter Tristan the Vampire Hunter by chance, you’re still able to fight him and reap the benefits of beating him.
How can you defeat Tristan the Vampire Hunter?
When you encounter them, Tristan the Vampire Hunter will be level 46. That means that your level should be the same, or preferably even a little bit higher. As you can reasonably expect from a foe who specifies in fighting vampires, this battle won’t exactly be easy.
Make sure both your gear and weapons are iron level and check their durability beforehand so you prevent anything breaking mid-battle. Especially fast weapons, like swords and spears, are very useful. The range on spears makes it easier to dodge Tristan’s powerful slashes. For a reliable supply of iron, hop on over to the Haunted Iron Mine in the Dunley Farmlands. This battle is tricky, so bring plenty of potions, hearts, and Vermin Salves to heal. Furthermore, you can spend some time finding high-level blood carriers. Brutes, Rogues, Warriors, and Scholars are all excellent choices to confront Tristan with. You also may want to consider taking a Fire Resistance Potion with you to minimize the effect of his fire attacks.
The spells to make your life a lot easier
Tristan the Vampire Hunter is a mid-game boss, so you’ll have quite the arsenal of strong spells at your disposal already! Based on Tristan’s moveset, the following spells will certainly be of use to you.
- Veil of Chaos is very useful to quickly dodge Tristan’s powerful attacks. Not only do the clones you leave behind explode and deal magic damage, but you can also recast the spell after doing it once. Essentially, it gives you a double dash. You can get Veil of Chaos by defeating Clive the Firestarter, who is located at the Bandit Sulfur Quarry.
- Chaos Volley is a spell I almost always recommend, and for good reason. It’s a powerful and fast ranged attack that also inflicts a temporary burn. You can get Chaos Volley by defeating Lidia the Chaos Archer, who roams the Farbane Woods, often near the Forgotten Cemetary and the Logging Camp.
- Ward of the Damned is a crucial spell in this fight. It’s a shielding spell, that blocks all melee and ranged attacks for 2 seconds. Furthermore, each absorbed attack spawns a skeleton, so it distracts Tristan a lot. You can get this attack by defeating Nicholaus the Fallen, who is located in the Forgotten Cemetary.
By the time you’re finished, your spells should look something like this:
Whenever you’re close, don’t forget to block!
Now it’s time to find Tristan the Vampire Hunter. Engage early at night, so you minimize the chances that the fight drags on until daylight. The advantage of this fight is that you can choose your battleground. This is a huge advantage! You don’t have to engage Tristan if he’s in an unfavorable position. Like areas there are lots of people that can interfere with your fight, or in an area where you lack maneuverability. Engage him where you can lead him off the road, into a large open field. Here, you’ll be enjoying the maximum advantage!
Fighting Tristan the Vampire Hunter
Let’s engage! Tristan the Vampire Hunter is fast and strong, but there’s a lot of time in between his attacks. He stands still a lot. You can use this to your advantage – hit him hard when you can, but watch out when he attacks. He’s got the following attacks at his disposal:
- Tristan is a fairly conventional fighter. Essentially, he’s the kind of protagonist you would be if you were the vampire hunter in this game. His most common attack is a slash attack, especially when you’re in melee range. He can roll towards you and hit you with a powerful strike, with either ice or fire effect. It’s easy to dodge, but punishing if your timing is off.
As long as you don’t stand where I stand, you’ll be fine. Or use Ward of the Damned to block the attack!
- Of course, Tristan can do faster sword attacks, too. He’s pretty fond of jumping. When he’s further away, he can jump toward you with his sword aimed directly at your position. This is a fast attack and can be quite hard to dodge. If he does this, use Ward of the Damned to turn this move to your advantage. You’ll also be fine if you don’t stand in a straight line from him.
You don’t want to be on the receiving end of this sword thrust!
- Tristan doesn’t just use the sword, he also uses a crossbow. It can shoot both fire and ice arrows, but they’re overall fairly easy to dodge. Be wary though that the arrows can bend slightly in their trajectory, so standing outside a straight line isn’t a necessary recipe for safety.
Tristan takes a while to fire his crossbow, so you have more than enough time to react.
- By far Tristan the Vampire Hunter’s most threatening attack is his bomb throw. He tosses a bundle of dynamite into the air, which then shatters into a multitude of explosions. There are small indications of where the explosives will land, but they appear only very briefly. Your best bet is to get out of immediate range when he does this attack. It hits hard and can cause burning. So if this attack is giving you trouble, make sure you have a Fire Resistance potion with you.
Ideally, the way to fight Tristan the Vampire Hunter is to exploit his two greatest weaknesses. The first is that you get to decide where the fight takes place. If you’re in a large, open area, you can dodge Tristan’s attack much more easily. His second greatest weakness is his inability to deal with multiple enemies. With the exception of the bomb attack, all of Tristan’s attacks focus on a single enemy.
With Ward of the Damned, you can spawn a skeleton to distract Tristan. While he is distracted, you can hit him hard with Chaos Volleys. Alternatively, you can use your sword to go in for some quick damage or use your spear to pierce him from a distance. The fight against Tristan is long, but by exploiting these weaknesses consistently you will be able to defeat him.
What are your rewards?
Honestly, defeating a Vampire Hunter kind of feels like its own reward – but let’s be real, that would be immensely lame. Fortunately, we get some better rewards. First of all, a Recipe for Greater Blood Essence. Prior to this, you’d have to find a bunch of Unsullied Hearts to make a single Greater Blood Essence. This process was long and grinding, it took hours to get the drop. Now, you can simply exchange 200 Blood Essence and put them in your Blood Press. Presto! Now you can build Servant Coffins way faster, upgrade your Castle Heart way more easily, and get access to Merciless Iron weaponry.
You will also gain the useful Blood Hunger ability. This lets you immediately spot the blood type and blood quality of potential prey around you. That way, you can easily get the creme of the crop for you to feed on! Who knew that after slaying a Vampire Hunter, life would be so much easier.
I hope you found this V Rising guide helpful! Leave a comment for suggestions, comments, or tell about me your favorite weapon!
