Should You Drain Or Kill Bakir In The Blood Of Dawnwalker

There are a lot of terrible people in The Blood of Dawnwalker, but some of the worst are the three vampires in Brencis' court. One of these is Bakir, the huge vampire who is in charge of entertainment, booze, and torturing humans. One of the tougher foes in the games, you typically won't fight Bakir until you're around Level 30 due to his region being quite dangerous to explore. Similar to Amrbus, his quest is filled with some key choices you'll need to make to give you an advantage in the battle against him. Here is everything you need to know about surviving The Lunar Games, killing Bakir, and what you get for defeating him. How To Unlock The Bakir Boss Fight To unlock the Bakir boss fight, you will need to disrupt his plans in the southeastern regions. Specifically, you can find Bakir's operations in Rockfalls, Svartrau City, and The Silts. This can be anything from stealing his gold shipments, destroying distilleries or killing his Rebel Hunters. Each action you take against Bakir will fill up his Anger meter in the court submenu. Once the Anger meter for Bakir is maxed, a unique quest will trigger that allows you to finally come face to face with this boss. The quest is called "The Lunar Games" and, after it unlocks, an NPC called Farkas will approach you. He will explain that Bakir hosts a labyrinth race and offers to sneak you into the festivities as a contestant. While you can deny his help, I strongly advise you to agree to assist Farkas in defeating Bakir during The Lunar Games. The Lunar Games Quest Walkthrough Before starting this quest, I recommend only going to where Farkas is during the day, with a minimum of four time segments available to spend. This is because we will be using these time segments to sabotage the other contestants, which will make your life much easier. When you arrive, speak to Farkas to learn that he is helping you because Bakir has his family heirloom and he wants it back. He will also explain that you will need to remain anonymous and cannot use vampire powers during the competition. Using them will cause Bakir to realize you're not some ordinary contestant and Farkas entire plan will fall apart. Once you are ready to actually begin the event, agree to travel to the game with Farkas. Doing this will cost you a single time segment. Talk To The Contestants Upon arriving, your first goal is to speak to all the contestants throughout the camp. To start, head along the left wall and speak to the man with the mask covered in needles. This is The Porcupine. Starting a conversation with him will cost you a single segment of time. Here are the dialogue choices you should pick when talking to The Porcupine: "What made you join this tournament?" "No dragons here, but plenty of other monsters to slay..." "I was being more literal" "Fair enough" Picking these dialogue options will sway The Porcupine to not stand in your way during the competition. Moving on to The Cockroach, you can find him along the right wall sitting under the tent. Don't bother speaking with him, as the man will refuse to help or even stay out of your way during the competition. Instead, activate your Focus Mode and look towards the glowing yellow bush near the guards. Inspect and collect the leaves before returning to where The Cockroach is sitting. Behind him will be a vase filled with alcohol that you can poison with the leaves to make him sick during The Lunar games. Poisoning this vase will cost you a single time segment. All that's left is The Marten, who is along the back wall. Speak to her and choose the following dialogue options during your conversation: "Ready for a challenge?' "No, it's a nice change after Farkas." "I heard the boyar can't shut up either." (This will cost a single segment of time). "What if I told you I want to kill him?" "I can hold him down while you rip his head off." Doing this will sway The Marten to your cause, and you won't need to worry about her during The Lunar Games. Assuming you allotted enough time to talk to everyone, this should end the preparation segment, and night will fall, starting the competition. Win The Lunar Games Once night begins, Bakir and his men will arrive at the maze. Up on a podium, he will begin welcoming his guests, and you will be given several options, including outright attacking Bakir. If you want to follow through with Farkas' plan, select the following dialogue options when prompted: [cheer] [cheer] You spoil them. [cheer] When the game begins, you will be stripped of all your gear and given a low-level sword. Additionally, all vampiric powers, except for using Voracious Hunter on rats, are forbidden. I guess it's easier to believe someone below Bakir would consume a rodent. Make sure to check the boxes and barrels around you for any healing items, a torch, and some money. Go through the crack in the wall on the left and kill the vampiric dog. Remember, you have very bad gear, so play defensively and always parry whenever possible. Once the dog is dead, check the body near it to find the Knightly Longsword, and then go through the door behind you. There will be a chest along the wall with some chest armor you can wear. Make sure to equip both. Continue through the fortress until you reach a large open courtyard with four dogs waiting for you. Despite your slightly better gear, this can still be an annoying fight given their mobility and fast attacks. Because of this, always be ready to dodge when you see a red line appear along the sides of your HUD. This indicates an enemy off-screen is about to hit you. After killing the dogs, check the bodies and crates for any supplies before going through the hole in the wall. Oh look, more enemies. This time you will have to fight four undead humans. This will be much easier than the dogs, and when you're done, make sure to inspect the woman's body in the middle of the area to find a ring that will give you some much-needed stamina cost reduction. You'll now have the option to go right or left, so pick the left hole and shimmy through it. Inside this storage room will be a chest that contains a Master-tier bracer to give you a bit more protection in the coming fights. Push open the doors to the next room and continue through the labyrinth. Climb up the small ledge to trigger a cutscene where The Porcupine runs into you. Agree to go your separate ways to avoid fighting your ally, and then proceed up the stairs. There will be a chest with a Master-tier sword you can use, so make sure to equip it before hopping down to the lower level where the mini-boss is. Murohn, Malformed Monstrosity, may seem like a challenge, but he's basically just like any normal vampire you've fought before. While you will be weaker, Murohn is super easy to beat. Focus on playing defensively and executing perfect parries on his claw swipes to provide openings. Additionally, watch out for his long-range unblockable attack where he shoots a sonic wave in front of him. With Murohn defeated, look at his body for a shiny new ring and continue through the maze until you reach a box with a note on top. This is a small riddle that presents you with the choice of right, middle, or left. Picking the right one will see Coen safely move onto the next area, while selecting the wrong option causes him to suffer some damage. The riddle reads: "Silver coin shimmers on the right, Middle feels like a summer light, Left reeks of blood and fear, Choose wisely, or you will scream." Surprising absolutely no one, the two options that sound safe are a trap. The correct answer to The Lunar Maze riddle is: "The Left one it is..." Now that the gate has opened, make your way to the next area where you'll find that The Marten has been killed by a mini-boss known as the Great Bog Worm. Much like Murohn, this enemy doesn't have any unique attacks or gimmicks; it's just a tankier, slightly stronger Tatzelwurm. All that means is that, as long as you dodge backwards once it emerges from the ground to bodyslam you, there should be no issue defeating it. The Great Bog Worm is incredibly slow, and its attacks are some of the easiest to parry in the game. Just keep an eye out for the body slam and long-range poison spitball, as those can be pretty lethal if you're hit in succession by them. Once the Tatzelwurm is dead, progress through the next area until you run into The Cockroach. If you poisoned him, he will be lying next to the door, unable to fight or do anything. You can either kill him or leave him there if you want. The final area has The Porcupine tied to a tree, and Bakir will ask that you kill him. It doesn't really matter which one you pick, as deciding to not kill your fellow contestant will just annoy Bakir, and he will get a guard to do it for you. Feast With Bakir With The Lunar Games over, you will now have a meal with Bakir. This is a dialogue exchange, and picking the wrong one can result in angering him. To make sure to sway him to take you to the vault alone and still incognito, pick the following dialogue options as they appear: "I'm sorry, but I'm not taking the mask off." "With pleasure." "Cheers!" "To friendship and good fortune" "I want to die in my sleep at a ripe old age" "Is that all? Can I get my reward now?" "I saw no need to cruel." Defeat Bakir Once you're in the vault and have told Bakir you want to kill him, the real fight begins. Switch to your claws and be ready; Bakir is a hard-hitting enemy that has a surprising amount of mobility for his size. Specifically, his most deadly attack is a series of unblockable stomps that send a vertical wave of blood at you. When you see him swirl blood around him, be ready to dodge either left or right. Getting caught in this can take an entire chunk off your health bar, so if he puts some distance between you, get ready to dodge this move four times. His other unblockable attack sees him rush towards you and then attempt to hit you with a kick. Similar to the blood wave, dodge to the left or right when this happens to position yourself beside him for some free hits. His main attacks are a series of close-range claw swipes that can all be parried. If you fail to perform a perfect parry, he will end this attack string with an unblockable kick. Focus on trying to constantly parry his standard attacks, as he has a pretty generous stun window when this happens. However, always be ready to dodge, as he will sometimes start the blood wave when you're right beside him. Once he loses a third of his health, Bakir will launch a new attack where he summons five blood hawks that are launched one by one at you. Just like the blood wave, these are avoided by moving to the left or right before they strike Coen. Attacking or teleporting behind Bakir during this move will not interrupt the attack, so just play defensively and dodge them. The rest of the fight can be a bit annoying, as Bakir will rely more on his ranged attacks than fighting up close. Because of this, rush at him to get a few hits in before he teleports away after he's finished with the blood wave or blood hawk attack. When Bakir drops to just one third of his health left, get away from him as fast as possible. His final move will be a blood AoE (area of effect) attack that will cause him to grapple Coen and pummel him silly. If you are caught in this, expect to lose over half your health bar! For the rest of the fight, he can do this move, so not being greedy is key to success. If you do get caught in his close-range unblockable move, you can actually spam healing blood vials through it to negate some of the damage! Employ hit-and-run tactics on Bakir, moving in to strike a few times before backing up. This will both protect you from this ultimate move and let you easily dodge his blood-ranged attacks. Keep this up, and you will eventually fell the mighty khan. Just like with Ambrus, once you defeat Bakir you will be given the option to either kill or drain him of his blood. Picking the former will give you nothing for your troubles, while deciding to drain Bakir will gift you with some Corruption progress, send you both to Anachora, and you will receive the Shadowstorm ability. I strongly recommend draining Bakir since the Shadowstorm ability is quite strong and there's no real story ramifications to draining him of his blood. Otherwise, Coen will just kill him, and you can proceed with looting the treasure room and Bakir's corpse. If you do decide to drain Bakir, you'll be sent to Anachora where Bakir asks to stay, instead of being invited to join you as Ambrus did. Again, choosing what happens to Bakir here has no impact on the story, so pick whichever dialogue option suits you. Once you're back in the treasure room. Farkas will appear and ask you to find his amulet. Search the treasure room for the ring, and also don't forget to loot Bakir's body to get his legendary chest piece! You can also find a ton of goodies to sell at the merchant, along with the Vrakhiric legendary bracers in a chest along the wall! When you find the ring, go talk to Farkas and give it to him to end the quest.