Building a castle is essentially half of what V Rising is all about. Any guide that detailed every part of the process would naturally be as long as a full-blown novel. The good news is that the basics are much easier to understand. Once grasped, players should be able to figure the rest out.

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Not everything is entirely self-explanatory, though. The first steps are easily the toughest parts, the advanced stages are nothing more than expanding on the knowledge already gained from starting out. With a couple of tips, players will be constructing elaborate castles in V Rising in no time.

Gather Blood Essence, Stone, Lumber, And Plant Fibre

V Rising Gathering Stone From A Rock By Striking It

The two starting elements are also two of the most plentiful. By merely killing enemies, vampires will loot Blood Essence, the first of the two ingredients needed. Eventually, players will need to find tougher enemies to get ahold of some Greater Blood Essence, but, for now, the basic Blood Essence will suffice.

For the rest, attacking the rocks, plants, and trees will yield the necessary resources. Much like with the Greater Blood Essences, there are special versions of these, but they won't be necessary until later. With these four resources in hand, it's time to start the construction process.

Find A Suitable Location

V Rising Ideal Location For A Base In The Farbane Woods

The number of castles is limited per server, but even the most liberal servers allow for five castles. Due to this limitation, it's important to find a good spot, even for an initial practice castle. On a PvP server, finding a place out of the way is smart, but PvE players will likely want to build right next to a settlement or a bunch of resources.

It also should be somewhat flat. There is a way to build a castle up and down stairs, but it takes planks to make these. They have to be crafted, unlike iron, which can be found. Try and get a nice, even plain or mesa inhabited by nothing but wilderness and basic monsters.

Clear Out The Area

V Rising Harvesting Sulfer By Attacking A Stone

Plants, stones, ruins, trees, and enemies will all prevent the player from building on the area. Before getting started, clear out a sizable chunk of the area. This vegetation can be cleared out later, so it doesn't have to be perfect, just enough to get started.

Stumps do not prevent building at the location, so don't worry about those. However, water cannot be built upon and there is no way to make more land, so the corner of a cliff will remain there forever. Trim everything down to the dirt.

Plant A Castle Heart In The Center

V Rising Great Place For A Castle Heart

Near the center of this cleared area, click 'B' on the keyboard. Under the 'Fundamentals' tab, click the Castle Heart and then look for a spot to place it. The safest bet is to build in the middle, giving the vampire the chance to expand in every direction as the castle grows.

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​​​​​There is a recommendation here that is sometimes misleading. A message will approximate how much buildable area is around. Sometimes this number will read something low, like 50%, but this is factoring in obstacles that haven't been torn down yet, so don't give up on a good spot due to this number being low.

Lay Down Some Borders

V Rising Putting Borders Around A Castle Heart

The next step is right next to the Castle Heart on the building screen. Borders must be placed before players can build anything at all and all construction must be placed on the borders. At some point, these borders should be at the maximum possible to fit everything the vampire can make.

However, for now, keep it small. Anything made also has to be defended from opposing players, so don't do anything too exquisite yet. Just enough to make a base of operations.

Make One Coffin

V Rising Reading The Description On The Wooden Coffin

Speaking of going against other players, PvP servers will feature enemy vampires. Some of them are hardcore gamers, looking to kill others and take their stuff. Death isn't always avoidable, even in PvE, running out of the Blood Pool or accidentally finding the Alpha Wolf can mean an early end.

Thankfully, outside of loot dropping, death doesn't have to be a major setback. Make a coffin from the 'Fundamentals' menu, then, on death, players can choose to resurrect here instead of all the way back at the beginning. Eventually, players can make coffins that are built indoors, but the initial coffin must be built outdoors on the premises, so keep that in mind as far as placement.

Build A Mist Brazier

V Rising Building A Mist Brazier In The Castle

The Mist Brazier does the opposite of what braziers do. Instead of generating light, they block the light. At this point in the process, sunlight will likely be a problem, weakening the vampire as the day goes on. This should help cure that issue, at least while working on the castle.

The Mist Brazier requires Bones as an energy source. These should have been naturally acquired with the Blood Essence, so go ahead and plop a few of them in there. Take them out when leaving the castle to save on resources, then put them back in when returning.

Construct A Small Stash For Excess Items

V Rising Putting A Small Stash Down In The Middle Of A Room

There are roomier options than the small stash, but since players only need four resources to get going, one or two Small Stash chests (also in the 'Fundamentals' menu) should hold everything needed to get this castle off the ground. The Vampire's inventory should be about full, unload excess resources here.

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Be warned that opposing players can steal from a chest, so valuables should be kept safely on the vampire (or in a Vampire Lockbox, which requires planks to make). Never leave resources behind, even the easy to come by items have value later on.

Build Palisade Walls (And One Entrance)

V Rising Making A Palisade Wall Indoors

The reason for keeping things small is realized when it's time to build the Palisade Walls, which take up a majority of the lumber and plant fibres gathered. But it is a critical step in keeping enemies out. Even wandering beasts will start to ravage the castle unless they've got a wall in their way.

These can be expanded later. Holding the space bar over an object will delete it and refund a portion of the cost to make it, so don't feel the need to build too much too early. Make one Palisade Entrance and put a Palisade Gate on top of it, otherwise even the player can't get in or out of their own castle.

Finish With A Blood Altar

V Rising Finding Bosses With The Blood Altar

The last critical listing in the 'Fundamentals' tab is the Blood Altar. The Blood Altar, when activated, will put a sporadic line of blood on the screen that directs the player toward the boss specified. Defeating these bosses is a huge part of the game and unlocks a variety of upgrades, from abilities to structures for the castle.

Plop in some Blood Essence into the Castle Heart to make all of the constructions inside of the castle function. From here, it's all about upgrading on this foundation. Walls can be made into stone, floors can be tiled over, and better materials can be acquired through various workbenches.

V Rising is available in Early Access on PC.

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