Ever wanted a bit of hardcore anime injected into the Dark Souls Genre? What about with a slight vampiric twist? Well, that's a really specific and odd request, first of all. But, oddly enough, Code Vein is exactly that. Code Vein is to Dark Souls what Scarlet Nexus is to Persona 5. Unlike other games of this genre, Code Vein does a fair amount to separate itself from the pack. Honestly, it feels a bit more like Bloodborne with a bit of anime mixed in and we're loving it. One of the most unique mechanics is the Blood Code system. Basically, it's the "classes" of the game, just using vampire terminology. Though, nowadays, vampires aren't exactly as popular as they used to be.
And, because the player character is the "special chosen one" they can switch between Blood Codes at any time. Within each of these codes are a variety of skills that can be unlocked and "inherited" so they can be used with other Codes equipped. There's a whole lot of them, and grinding out their mastery takes a fair bit of time. So, we'll be letting you know which are the ones to focus on and which to ignore.
Updated Augst 1st, 2021, by Jacob Buchalter: It's been quite a bit since Code Vein first came out, almost 2 full years now. But, the title constantly goes on sale, and new players are trying it out all the time, especially if they're wanting a Souls-like game to fill their time until Elden Ring. So, with the consistent influx of new players, the constant updates and patches they were released until about the end of May 2020, and the DLC additions, a lot of active and passive Gifts have changed. With that in mind, let's take another look through them all and pick some of the best of the best.
10 Quality-Of-Life Exploration Gifts
Obviously, the Gifts that should be unlocked first are the ones that passively optimize the overall experience of Code Vein. Luckily, there are quite a few skills like this spread throughout CV's Blood Codes. Gifts such as:
- The Hunter Blood Code's Gift IFF Radar which detects enemies
- The Survivor's Treasure Tracker Gift which pings items on the map
- The Revenant's Hunger Gift that increases overall Haze gain.
Basically, if the Gift description sounds like it'll make exploration easier, grab it. Sure, players can only have four passives active at once, but since each Blood Code saves the loadout of skills set to them, it's quite easy to create an exploration and combat build and switch between the two.
9 Mastery Passive Gifts
This article should work as a helpful resource for all builds of Code Vein, which is why the entries are a bit grouped up as opposed to focusing on singular Gifts. Bayonette Users, Casters, and even Heavy Weapon fanatics are all welcome to peruse these choices.
And so, let's put a special spotlight on the Weapon Mastery Gifts spread throughout a number of different Blood Codes. These are amazing passive buffs that increase damage with specific weapon types by 20% each, including:
- Prometheus Blood Code: One-Handed Swords
- Atlas Blood Code: Two-Handed Swords
- Dark Knight Blood Code: Halberds
- Fionn Blood Code: Hammers
- Artemis Blood Code: Bayonets
Sure, they cost a big chunk of Haze to unlock in the beginning, but for people who plan to use the same weapon type throughout Code Vein, these passive buffs are tantamount to their build.
8 Max Ichor & Ichor Recovering Gifts
Even in most melee builds for Code Vein, Ichor is incredibly important. Sure, it’s much more important on Caster Builds, but the Active Gifts for melee builds like Flashing Fang use a fair amount of Ichor as well.
This is exactly why certain skills like Vow of Ichor or Blood Sacrifice are so important, as players can use them in a pinch to trade HP for Ichor. But, Max Ichor Boost, a Passive Gift found in the Harmonia Blood Code is even better. When a player uses Vow of Ichor/Blood Sacrifice, they trade a chunk of HP for about 4 Ichor. But, with Max Icchor Boost, they can just hold 4 more Ichor in general, which serves the same purpose without the inherent risk. But, it's up to the player themselves to choose which one is their favorite.
7 Blade Dance & Eternal Blade Dance
- Blade Dance: For 30 seconds, each successful weapon attack increases weapon damage by 5%.
- Eternal Blade Blade Dance: When Blade Dance is active, each successful dodge increases weapon damage by 5%.
Blade Dance and its upgraded form, Eternal Blade Dance, are both found in the Prometheus Blood Code and are also sadly locked to it as well. So, with that in mind, this is a pretty specific recommendation for those who are open to experimenting with a Prometheus build.
But, for players who are confident in their doing abilities, using both of these at once (well, Eternal is by default active while Blade Dance is after unlocking it) can do increase their damage by 5% for every successful attack and dodge without getting hit.
6 Overdrive & Concentration
Now, most of the Gifts in Code Vein have a time-limit or restricting factor to them. The damage-reduction, attack damage, and evasion-based buffs are all on a timer once they've been activated, as most buffs do in games like these.
However, there are a few key Active Gifts in Code Vein that increase stats depending on how long the player can avoid damage or how many times they strike the enemy. Blade Dance/Eternal Blade Dance is the most obvious example, but they're both tied to the Prometheus Blood Code
But, the Concentration and Overdrive skills in the Assassin Blood Code aren't locked to one specific Code. These abilities are both dependent on the player avoiding damage in order to remain active, but their stamina and damage benefits are well worth it, though they grant a flat 25% damage increase while Blade Dance/Eternal Blade Dance has no upper limit on their damage increase while they're active, so both have their validity.
5 Severing Abyss & Chariot Rush
One of the biggest downsides for a pure melee build is the fact that they struggle to reach enemies across the room. Casters can just launch some blood or fire their way, but melee builds have to, understandably, get into melee range.
So, to help with this, grab either Severing Abyss and/or Chariot Rush. Both of them have some insanely high damage multipliers, have multiple steps to the move, and are a great way to close a bit of distance and attack an enemy a the same time.
While Severing Abyss is assuredly riskier and has that backstep animation, Chariot Rush is a lot faster in its animation and can be canceled by rolling after any of the hits, making it the safer choice overall. But, if players are struggling with which one to use, then the simple answer is just to use both, as these Active Gifts actually work pretty well when used in sequence.
4 Baba Yaga’s Gaze & Walpurgis Fire
Unlike Final Journey, a lot of Active Gifts in Code Vein actually got buffed in patch 1.21 instead of nerfed, such as Baba Yaga’s Gaze. The Queens Blood...Blood Code was already really good, but with a 100% increase to the damage modifier for both Baba Yaga's Gaze and Walpurgis Fire, they're now one of the top-ranked choices. And, since the last patch was over a year ago, it's safe to say these two gifts won't get knocked down from being a top choice anytime soon.
To better explain both spells, Baba Yaga's Gaze is a Dark-type Ice attack that unleashes a big wave of pure cold energy. To contrast it, Walpurgis Fire is basically the exact same spell, but with fire damage instead of ice.
A lot of Code Vein players don’t use these two spells because of their absurd 20-second cooldown and the slightly longer cast-time, choosing to use weaker but quicker spells to substitute. But, once again, why not just use both? These two spells are fantastic for getting a big burst of damage at the start of a boss fight or cleaning up an annoying enemy/group you don’t want to get to close.
3 DLC Gifts Hoarfrost Stream, Savage Dive, & Radiant Barrel
When this piece was first released, a whole none of the DLCs were out yet for Code Vein. Now, after the fact, the DLCs are generally hated by the player base thanks to their rampant asset reuse and overall lack of new content.
But, a bunch of new Gifts, Blood Codes, Blood Veils, and Weapons dropped in these three pieces of content as well. So, here are the best Active Gifts from each of the primary new Blood Codes, Sure, Ymir, and Vali.
- Surt: From Surt’s Blood Code there's Savage Dive, another gap-closer type Active Gift that works fantastic as either a supplement to Chariot Rush or in combination with it. But, with the cooldown for Savage Dive being a bit long (15 seconds), it's recommended to use them in combination.
- Ymir: Now onto the Frozen Empresses Blood Code. In this Blood Code is Hoarfrost Stream, one of the more interesting spells both visually and in application. Basically, with it, the player characters summons a big beam of pure ice energy firing forward, which then does a full 360-degree spin. So, it can be used efficiently both against a single opponent and against a group of weaker mobs. And, if aimed correctly, this Gift can even hit an enemy twice with the start and finish of the circle. That said, the maximum damage potential of Hoarfrost Stream isn’t the best in comparison to other Caster-type spells. Still, a very interesting choice for a tankier caster.
- Vali: Last up is Vali’s Active Gift, Thunderclap Impact. This might be one of the better Gifts to use while exploring the map (likely in a NG+ run because of the stat requirements to use it and it being part of the DLC). Basically, with it, the player character jumps up, then slams back down unleashing a big orb of electric damage around them. It’s not a great option for boss fights, surely, but if a player gets surrounded on all sides by mobs while exploring (which happens a fair amount), there's no much of a better response than this.
2 Flashing Fang
There are a few skills that increase the damage, armor penetration, or stagger amount of the next attack. Sure, Adrenaline is an overall buff, but the strength of said buff is pretty weak. Most of these single-attack skills can be found in the:
- Fighter Blood Code
- Hermes Blood Code
- Atlas Blood Code
- Berserker Blood Code
Obviously, they were intended for the players who like to use slower, single-hit, and higher damage weapons. But, out of all of them, there's one that's the best, and that's Flashing Fang. This is a fantastic Gift found in the Atlas Blood Code that increases the damage of the next attack by 100%.
Now, for those wondering why Flashing Fang was picked and not Blow of Madness, that's because the latter only increases the power of the next attack by a flat 400 damage. Meanwhile, Flashing Fang uses a percentage increase based on the damage of the swing itself.
1 Final Journey
Ah Final Journey, the riskiest play someone can make in Code Vein for style point. In fact, this risk-reward Gift was so useful to skilled players that it got hard nerfed but still manages to be useful even after the fact.
In exchange for Final Journey's amazing effects, the player character will 100% die once its effect runs out unless they can kill any boss in the game and get their status removing effect once they're defeated. Because of this stipulation, it was the be-all and end-all move that Queenslayer builds would use against every boss.
Sadly, after the nerf the time limit for Final Journey was reduced from 3 minutes to 1, which makes it a lot riskier to use. But, with other Gifts like Vivication that allow players to return to the last Mistle without losing any Haze, once that timer starts getting low they can just escape with no consequences.