News

The Blood of Dawnwalker Lets You Fight Brencis Minutes Into the Story

The opening encounter normally ends with Coen's defeat, but a no-damage victory against Brencis, Grotesque Ascendant is possible.

0 6 2 minutes read

Brencis, a bald vampire antagonist, appears in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Knyaz Brencis is not a late-game problem in The Blood of Dawnwalker. Coen can confront the chief vrakhir only minutes after becoming a Dawnwalker, and the encounter offers a brutal optional chance to cut the story short.

After Brencis turns Coen in the mines of Laslea, Coen returns to find his village burning. Rather than simply escaping, players can immediately challenge the vampire responsible for destroying his home and taking his family hostage.

The opening fight becomes far more dangerous

The first phase gives Coen a fighting chance. Learning Perfect Block and timing dodges consistently can help him withstand Brencis’ attacks while his newly discovered vrakhir claws deal damage. Keep the pressure on and Brencis will eventually be pushed into a corner, but victory only sends the story into a cutscene before the encounter takes a much darker turn.

Brencis pulls Coen into a nightmarish alternate dimension and takes on the form of Brencis, Grotesque Ascendant, who also serves as the game’s final boss.

In this form, Brencis is the most powerful enemy in the game, and a single hit will kill Coen even after health upgrades. The normal outcome is a scripted defeat, but the fight is not completely unwinnable. Anyone who wants to take the harsher path must defeat Grotesque Ascendant without suffering any damage at all.

Equipment available during the first day does very little damage to the transformed boss, and Grotesque Ascendant becomes harder across the second and third health phases. There is no quicksave between the two battles, so every attempt at the later fight requires Coen to defeat regular Brencis again first.

Preparing for the second battle

Damage upgrades are the sensible priority for this challenge. Extra health offers little protection when one attack can end the attempt, while higher damage gives Coen a better chance of surviving long enough to reach the later phases. The vampire claws are useful for their faster attacks, and Shadow Step, activated with E, can move Coen behind Brencis during unblockable attacks and flurries.

Switching to Story difficulty can also make the transformed battle more manageable, although it does not turn Grotesque Ascendant into an easy fight. Reaching the boss again still requires patience and another clear of the opening duel.

Preparation competes with the prologue’s clock. Laslea’s day is divided into eight parts, and choices move time forward, so spending daylight on upgrades and practice can affect what Coen reaches before sunset. Our coverage of Laslea’s time limit explains why this optional boss challenge can become a costly detour.

What happens after the two fights

Skipping the battle at the start does not remove the threat. Coen will still have to defeat the Grotesque Ascendant version of Brencis when the story brings them together again later.

Losing to regular Brencis triggers a cutscene and lets the story continue along its intended path. Dying to Grotesque Ascendant instead lets you load a save, making the second battle the real test for anyone trying to force an alternate result. It is possible that defeating Grotesque Ascendant would let you finish the game during the prologue, but that outcome has not been confirmed.

For now, the clear result is that Brencis can be beaten once, while the battle waiting after that victory remains an exceptionally difficult challenge. The opening encounter is a sharp example of how The Blood of Dawnwalker uses player choice, even when the merciful option is probably the one most people will take.

Would you attempt the no-damage victory against Brencis at the beginning of the game? Tell us what you think in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

The Blood of Dawnwalker is an open-world dark fantasy action RPG set in 14th-century Europe. You play as Coen, human by day and vampire by night, fighting to save your family in a story shaped by your actions and the secrets you uncover.