I did not mean to kill Xanthe in The Blood of Dawnwalker. At least, not yet. As a fledging Level 11 or 12 vampire trying to explore Svartrau Cathedral at night, stumbling right into the withered palms of the game's highest-difficulty boss fight seemed like suicide. Yet it turned out to be the smartest move I've made so far in the RPG.
Killing Knyaz Brencis' formidable lieutenants, known as boyars (or boyaresses, in Xanthe's case) is a fundamental part of the action loop. Usually you'd need to anger them first by disrupting their duties in their respective parts of the map. Xanthe seems to be the exception to the rule; despite holding dominion over the most challenging portion of the open world, you can and should ambush her early in Coen's 30-day push to dismantle the vrakhiri claim to Vale Sangora and rescue his family. Especially if you, too, want an early unlock for the most overpowered and best Blood of Dawnwalker perk in the whole RPG: Blood Surge.
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Blood Surge is no joke – it's a favorite of our Games Editor in his Blood of Dawnwalker review, if you won't take my word alone for it. Ironically, the sheer might of Xanthe's personal perk – which can only be unlocked by defeating her in combat and drinking her blood – is what makes her so formidable when the tables are turned.Capable of exploding a lower-level enemy in one shot, it's the kind of power Coen can only dream of at Level 11 – and one she can use to pop a Coen like a blood bag when challenged as part of The Court side-quest to take out vampiric ruler Brencis' supernatural allies.
It's also something I know nothing about when, during a quest called A Monk and a Saint, I make her acquaintance by falling off some scaffolding. I'm here to investigate the murals inside Svartrau Cathedral on the hunt for a powerful sword, expecting a slice of Sherlockian vampire detective work rather than a claws-out brawl. Even Coen himself whispers that he'd best stick to high ground, inspect the artwork from a distance, and avoid the boyaress below. That's precisely what I intend to do, assuming an encounter this early on would mean instant death, or that Coen would even take control away from me and refuse to enter her sight.
But, The Blood of Dawnwalker isn't the kind of game to say 'no'. I find that out through sheer clumsiness – I have never been the most dextrous of gamers, so while aiming my vampiric shadowstep ability to teleport across the cathedral scaffolding, I overshoot my target by a hair's breadth and watch in dismay as Coen falls right into Xanthe's path.
A short cutscene plays out – my first time actually hearing the wizened crone speak – in which Xanthe dismisses the puny, insignificant Coen as not being worth her time. She's not wrong; I have barely any notoriety at this point and have been foregoing a lot of side quests in favor of seeking out ways to weaken Brecis (see again: big scary sword quest). The cutscene flows into combat and I immediately regret everything.
But there's one thing on my side. My favorite thing about The Blood of Dawnwalker's combat, specifically the direction block mechanic, is how much it reminds me of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. That game, too, is all about timing, and despite being two very different action-RPGs, they have one thing in common: If you can parry it, you can defeat it.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/rpg/killing-the-blood-of-dawnwalkers-hardest-boss-extremely-early-gave-me-a-devastating-ability-that-carried-me-through-the-whole-rpg
