Code Vein 2 may be on the easier side of soulslikes, but that doesn’t mean it’s a cakewalk. So it’s best to go in prepared. That’s why we’ve put together a guide to give your Revenant Hunter a strong start to their journey. Code Vein 2 throws a lot at you early on, but the following points highlight crucial considerations and direction. Without further ado, here’s what you need to know before getting started.
1. Focus on Boosting Regeneration Early
Early on, players are introduced to Recovery Amount and Regeneration Count. The former dictates how much healing is applied when Regeneration is used. The latter sets the number of Regenerations that can be used before they need to be refreshed at a Mistle. To boost Regeneration Count, you’ll need to collect Golden Nectar, a resource scattered around the map. View the map and you’ll see blue glowing dots designating the location of Golden Nectar—if a jammer is present in the area, it will need to be destroyed first in order to see these marks. The first upgrade only costs a single Golden Nectar, but that rises as successive upgrades are applied. So hunt these items down as soon as you enter an area. As for the Recovery Amount, it can be improved with an entirely different resource: Golden Blood Bead. Those are tucked away in Towers of Regeneration.
2. Master Assimilation vs. Summoning
The AI companion serves two purposes, and it’s up to the player to decide which is essential in a given moment. Not all fights call for the same approach, meaning it’s important to utilize your digital buddy to their fullest. Sometimes it’s about more than extra damage; it’s about survival management. When summoned, the AI partner fights alongside the player. This mode is perfect for general exploration, as they’ll catch sneaky enemies moving through the brush or closing on your flank. It’s also valuable during boss fights when you need a breather to heal; the summoned follower can tank some hits while you get that HP back up to a safe level. Assimilation sees the AI sidekick absorbed into the main character, greatly boosting their stats. This maneuver makes it easier to rapidly burn bosses if you’re feeling confident in understanding their moveset (or simply want to try to end the fight as soon as possible).
3. Haze for Days
Haze is the resource provided upon every kill, fueling the level ups obtained at Mistles. If you want to shave down those difficulty spikes, focus on farming Haze as much as possible. Early game grinding can quickly trivialize challenging encounters awaiting on the horizon. Instead of worrying about which individual stats Haze should be spent on, the leveling process here is streamlined to provide a general stat boost across the board. This means you can spend more time hoarding haze and less time figuring out how to use it. There are a couple early game areas that make for great farming spots. Gorge Cave and Seized Substation can be accessed fairly early on, providing exceptional Haze gains in a small amount of time. Plus, continually re-running the same enemy mobs will provide you time to familiarize yourself with your kit and/or experiment with other equipment configurations.
4. Swap Out Blood Codes
Speaking of experimentation, there is a vast selection of Blood Codes awaiting your Revenant Hunter. Blood Codes are essentially slottable classes that you can swap out at your leisure. The stat distribution changes between each, supporting different playstyles. Find one that aligns with your desired approach and level it through continued use. Once maxed out, have Lavinia in MagMell extract a booster to gain a passive skill. Maxing out multiple Blood Codes will grant access to many passives, further boosting your character’s effectiveness. This is just another system that incentivizes players to test out everything on offer. You’ll be rewarded for it.
5. Grab the Reaper Jail Immediately
Code Vein 2 presents players with a piece of equipment called Jails. These back-mounted tools enable the execution of Drain Attacks, a move that refills Ichor (read: mana). While the starting Ogre Jail is fine, it pales in comparison to the Reaper Jail that can be obtained very quickly with minimal effort. It is tucked away in a chest within the Underground Water Plant on the starting area of MagMell Island. It’s not a particularly convoluted space, so hunting down this Jail won’t be tedious. What makes the Reaper so good? Early on, it can be challenging to avoid damage consistently as you build out the right equipment, stats and skills. The Reaper Jail adds an invaluable tool to your arsenal: a built-in parry. Before it performs a wide, spinning slash, a generous parry window is activated that can block much of what enemies throw your way. With this item, you’ll be keeping Ichor topped off and deflecting damage all at once without breaking a sweat.
If you haven’t done so yet, see what we had to say about the latest soulslike in our full review of Code Vein 2.
