The Blood of Dawnwalker gives you 30 in-game days to take down the vampire lord Brencis and save Coen's family from Greifberg Castle. How you spend those days, and who you choose to trust or betray along the way, determines which of the game's 8 endings you see. Some require completing full companion questlines. Others can be triggered within minutes of finishing the prologue. This guide breaks down every ending, what unlocks it, and what actually happens when the screen fades to black.
How many endings are in Blood of Dawnwalker?
There are 8 endings total. Six of them award trophies or achievements. The 30-day failure ending and the secret prologue ending do not. Four endings are considered full story conclusions, two are early exits, one is a nightmare trap, and one is the secret prologue kill. The early endings and the nightmare ending still count as completing the game for the base story achievement, but they do not satisfy the requirements for Duelist difficulty, which specifically requires saving the people of Laslea through one of the four full endings.
Can you get all endings in one playthrough?
Yes, and the cleanest method is to keep manual saves at two key points. First, save before the final quest triggers. Second, save again after completing both Lacra's and Crake's questlines. From that second save, every full ending is accessible. The only caveat is the 30-day limit: if you let it expire, Coen's family dies and the In the Nick of Time achievement is locked out for that run. Focus on the three Court Activity bosses (Ambrus, Bakir, and Xanthe) first and you can clear them in under 10 days, leaving plenty of time for companion quests.
Good endings
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: All Endings & How to Unlock Each One
The Folk Hero: how to beat Brencis alone
This is the solo ending. After defeating the three main bosses and hitting maximum Infamy, skip time to trigger the Infamy Edicts cutscene. You'll receive a message from Brencis inviting you to parley, which adds the final quest A Deal with the Devil to your journal. During that quest, choose "Enough. Time to end this." in the first dialogue to fight Brencis without any allies.
There's also a faster route: storm Greifberg Castle directly after the prologue without waiting for the parley. At night, use Planeshift and Shadowstep to climb the outer walls. You'll get a warning dialogue before the ending sequence triggers. Alternatively, use the side entrance by either completing Father Florin's In the Name of the Father quest (he'll explain the secret knock) or by defeating the miniboss Georghe, "The Rabid Duke," at Racovitza's Bandit Camp on the east edge of the map and looting the Side Gate Key to Greifberg Castle from his body.
Beating Brencis solo via the A Lone Wolf's Hunt route also rewards the Gladius, a level 37 Legendary Shortsword.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: All Endings & How to Unlock Each One
The Patricide: how to beat Brencis with Lacra
Complete Lacra's full questline in order:
- A Friend Like This
- Song of the Mountain
- Hive and Seek
- Our Rotten Roots
- Midnight Reckoning (the final quest)
After finishing Our Rotten Roots, the Midnight Reckoning quest becomes available. Speak to Lacra with that objective active and choose "Just Draw Your Blade, Brencis." during the confrontation. Lacra fights alongside Coen and nearly falls during the fight, but heals herself. After defeating Brencis, Coen heads to Anachora alone for the Grotesque Ascendant phase. Your family survives, though Lunka is turned in every full ending regardless of which path you take.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: All Endings & How to Unlock Each One
The Knyazmaker: how to beat Brencis with Crake
Complete Crake's full questline:
- The Firebrand
- Shadows in the Woods
- Where Loyalty Lies
- What Hunts the Night
- What Moves the Dead
- Who Pulls the Strings
- Rise at Dawn (ending quest)
- Fall Before Dusk (ending quest)
After completing A Closer Look (an optional quest that awards The Manumit achievement), the Rise at Dawn quest triggers. Progress through the remaining quests until you confront Brencis. When the choice "Try, then, you bald fuck" appears, select it. Crake, the Manumit, and Knyaz Skender's son Catalin all participate in the assault. This route involves the most combat of any full ending, including a hive of kobolds in the castle tunnels and a magical loop trap set by Xanthe. The Rise at Dawn path runs during daytime, which means Coen cannot use his Vampiric form for most of the assault.
For players who want to dig deeper into the companion-driven side of the game, the Blood of Dawnwalker combat guide covers how to handle the castle's tougher encounters using Perfect Blocks and Activation Charges.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: All Endings & How to Unlock Each One
Bad endings
The Turncoat: betraying your allies
This ending has two setup paths. The first: reach maximum Infamy, trigger A Deal with the Devil, meet Brencis at Shrike's Crag, and choose "I just want my family back." He'll ask you to mark the Manumit hideout with blood. Do it, and watch the fallout.
The second path works if you've already completed Lacra's or Crake's questline. During the final confrontation, Brencis offers you the chance to betray your companion in exchange for your family's freedom. For Lacra's path, choose "I accept your offer. I'm sorry, Lacra." For Crake's path, choose "Please, maybe we can come to an agreement." Coen saves his family but loses the loyalty of everyone who trusted him.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: All Endings & How to Unlock Each One
Time runs out: the 30-day failure
Let all 30 in-game days elapse without defeating Brencis and a cutscene triggers showing Brencis slaughtering Coen's entire family. Your objective shifts to Avenge your family. You can still free-roam after this. No trophy is attached. You can trigger it deliberately by resting at a shrine repeatedly until the timer expires.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: All Endings & How to Unlock Each One
Early and secret endings
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: All Endings & How to Unlock Each One
A Hero They Deserve: escaping Vale Sangora
Head to the Briar Sloughs on the west side of the map, west of the Coward's Path Shrine. Find the broken bridge leading to an open gate. At night, use Planeshift and Shadowstep to climb the canyon wall and reach the path beyond. Follow it to the gate and choose "Leave the valley forever." Coen abandons his family and walks away. This ending works immediately after the prologue.
Together Forever: the nightmare trap
Go to Aurelius's Tower (also described as Silts Tower in the source material) in The Slits and clear its occupants. Interact with the peculiar door at the top of the tower and choose to open it. This starts the Home Sweet Home quest, which drops Coen into a looping dream sequence. Each loop involves defeating two groups of enemies followed by an insect boss. A well appears from the second loop onward that lets you escape, but ignore it. Complete 4 full cycles, then speak to your family at the start of the 5th cycle. Coen stays trapped in the dream forever.
To escape afterward, reload the autosave from before the 4th boss kill. Use Focus Mode (hold L2/LT) to inspect the well, which appears highlighted yellow. Follow the resulting cave to a portal, enter a church flashback, and interact with characters in this order: Alin > Esme > Coen, then the locked church door opens. Go through the next portal, inspect the red glowing tree stump, clawride down to the river, and finish the conversation. Defeat the enemy that spawns and loot the legendary ring Astrologer's Ring from his body.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: All Endings & How to Unlock Each One
Secret ending: beating Brencis in the prologue
This is the hardest ending to unlock. During the Bad Blood prologue quest, defeat Brencis in both his humanoid and Grotesque form. His attacks deal massive damage in phase one, and phase two abilities can kill Coen in a single hit. Pulling it off skips the entire 30-day campaign and sends Coen directly to the epilogue in Laslea. Notably, since Coen was just turned, he has no knowledge of Anachora, vrakhiri souls, or vampiric abilities, which changes several epilogue beats: Lacra and Vicho don't appear, Anca gets a happy ending with the villagers, and Father Florin meets a grim fate with no chance of redemption.
What happens in the epilogue?
Every full ending, the Turncoat path, and the secret prologue kill all lead to the Things Will Be Different Now epilogue in Laslea Glen. Coen completes mundane tasks to help villagers prepare for winter, then enters a cave where Lunka is hidden, turned into a vrakhiri regardless of which ending you chose. A mysterious character named Neberu arrives and reveals he is a dawnwalker, telling Coen the Augurs have an offer for him. Coen leaves the valley with Lunka hidden in a cart.
After that, a series of character fate slides plays out, covering Coen's family, Svartrau Castle, Anca, Lacra, Father Florin, Vicho, and Ocha. Each character's fate shifts based on your choices across the whole playthrough, not just the final quest. A post-credits scene then shows a present-day Coen, badly wounded, receiving a blood bag in an apartment while a shadowy figure floats outside a window covered in red tendrils of Anachora corruption.
Which ending is the best?
The Folk Hero, The Patricide, and The Knyazmaker are the three endings that give Coen the best outcome: family saved, Brencis defeated, and no betrayals. The Patricide and Knyazmaker add ally-driven story beats and are worth pursuing for the companion questlines alone. The Folk Hero is the cleanest solo path and the fastest route to the epilogue if you use the castle side entrance early.
The Turncoat saves the family but costs Coen every meaningful relationship he built. The nightmare and escape endings are worth seeing once for completionist purposes. The 30-day failure is the only ending with no redemptive angle at all.
For more on the quests that feed into the companion endings, check the full Blood of Dawnwalker guide collection covering everything from Haunted Sites to Ancient Circles. If you're still working through the companion questlines, the Father Florin quest guide is a good starting point since his quest feeds directly into the solo castle entry route.