Can You Fight Brencis Immediately in The Blood of Dawnwalker?

Decide Before You Commit

• 1
  Want the full game?

  Lose Phase 1 on purpose, or just get hit enough. The story continues as intended. A Phase 1 death is the designed path, not a failure.

• 2
  Want the early ending and Realm Walker trophy?

  You must beat both phases with starting gear. Players report Phase 1 taking a few tries and Phase 2 taking 6+ hours, sometimes two days of attempts. Extra dialogue exists for beating him on first meeting, but the epilogue still references events you never saw.

• 3
  Do not treat Phase 2 as the next tutorial.

  Dying there is a real game over, not a scripted cutscene.

1How Players Actually Win Phase 1

• 1
  Switch to vampire claws as soon as you can.

  Players wasted hours on the starting sword. Claws are faster and hit harder at night. Learning the stance swap was the turning point for several Challenging-difficulty clears.

• 2
  Match directional blocks. Do not hold omniblock.

  Matched blocks cost no stamina. Holding the catch-all guard drains you into Fatigued. Watch the direction arrow, then time the color shift for a Perfect Block.

• 3
  Skull and unblockable icons mean dodge or Shadowstep, never block.

  The far-range blood projectile and close blood-weapon slashes punish greedy swings. Shadowstep through the flurry and punish from behind.

• 4
  Wait for him to come to you.

  He dashes and teleports if you chase. Let him commit, Perfect Block or Perfect Dodge, then a short combo. Use his dash-away window to recover stamina.

• 5
  Chip, do not get greedy.

  If you die here, the intended lose-and-continue cutscene plays. If you empty the bar, you go to Anachora.

2Phase 2: Grotesque Ascendant, What Actually Works

• 1
  Assume you redo Phase 1 every death.

  Budget for that mentally. Do not experiment in Phase 2 until Phase 1 is muscle memory.

• 2
  Stay in vampire form, claws only.

  Same reason as Phase 1: speed. One hit kills you even on Story, and successful runs take 15-20 minutes of clean play.

• 3
  Save Dirty Trick (pocket sand) for the big AoE.

  It interrupts any of his attacks, including the ground slam that is hard to dodge consistently. Do not waste it on filler swings.

• 4
  Shadowstep the unblockable flurries and long-range hits.

  Same input as Phase 1. Do not try to tank or omniblock them.

• 5
  Play reactive, not aggressive.

  Perfect Block or Perfect Dodge, short punish, reset. He punishes stamina mismanagement hardest here.

• 6
  Learn one attack at a time.

  The long reset between attempts is miserable. Pick one move, especially the AoE, and solve it before adding damage.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• ✗
  Treating a Phase 1 death as failure. That is the intended path.
• ✗
  Using the starting sword the whole time. Claws are faster and hit harder.
• ✗
  Holding block instead of matching directions. Omniblock drains stamina.
• ✗
  Chasing him when he teleports. Wait for him to commit.
• ✗
  Burning Dirty Trick on safe attacks instead of the Phase 2 AoE.
• ✗
  Expecting a mid-Phase-2 checkpoint. There is none.
• ✗
  Attempting this on a first playthrough if you care about story. You skip almost everything: side quests, boyars, Infamy routes.

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