David Ledbetter 
Image: Stunlock Studios
David is our resident Warhammer 40K and V Rising expert.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
Throughout V Rising, you’ll go on a journey from sickly bloodsucker to vampire lord. Along the way, you’ll come across dozens of spells and abilities that make it a bit easier to vanquish enemies and harvest their “V Blood.” It can be hard to know which ones are worth adding to your limited toolbar, though! In this guide, we’ll go over the best abilities in V Rising, covering where to find them and how to use them.
Let’s get started!
Best Abilities and Spells in V Rising
Just like with most things in V Rising (or any kind of character driven RPG, for that matter), the best loadout and equipment for you is going to depend on your playstyle. Despite that, there are certain spells and abilities that significantly outshine the others (sometimes literally).
However, not every one of these abilities is available from the start. Getting to this point might mean equipping some less than optimal spells until you get the strength required to defeat all the bosses.
That said, V Rising is a game about customization and style. Even without the most optimal loadout possible, you should still be able to do some damage. More importantly, you can still look good doing it.
Best Travel Ability: Veil of Chaos
Travel abilities are important for getting out of danger quickly. Of the five movement abilities available to you in V Rising, Veil of Chaos is by far the most useful, especially for solo players.
As the description says, Veil of Chaos can be used twice in quick succession. This allows you to cover more ground than any of the other travel abilities. The explosive illusions it leaves behind can also be vitally important to distracting enemies in order to put distance between you and your attackers.
It can take some practice to time the dashes without wasting your second charge. When done well, it can mean the difference between taking a big hit and giving yourself an opening to do some damage.
How to Unlock Veil of Chaos
To unlock Veil of Chaos, you’ll need to defeat and consume Clive the Firestarter. You can find him at the Bandit Sulphur Quarry in the southwestern Farbane Woods. At Level 30, Clive is no pushover. He’s surrounded by about a dozen or so bandits that can easily swarm you or overwhelm you with projectiles. Be sure to have a plan for this going in, or you’ll find yourself trudging back from the nearest waygate.
Best Damage Ability: Chaos Volley
For doing raw damage as quickly as possible, there’s no better skill than Chaos Volley. It’s reliable, easy to use, and unlockable at fairly low level. Chaos Volley fires two bolts of chaos damage in quick succession, each dealing 125% of your magic damage stat. It also inflicts “Chaos Burn,” which will do a small amount of damage over time to enemies. Enemies that have the Chaos Burn debuff will also be visible even when using stealth abilities due to the flaming aura it creates around them, giving Chaos Volley a wide variety of use-cases.
The only downside to this ability is that casting both bolts slows your character down significantly for about 1.5 seconds. Make sure nobody is lining up a shot on you before you start casting!
How to Unlock Chaos Volley
To unlock Chaos Volley, you’ll need to defeat Lidia the Chaos Archer. You can find her patrolling the eastern side of Farbane Woods. You’ll need to use your Blood Altar to point you in the right direction, since she won’t sit at a fixed location for long. Lidia is Level 26, so be sure you’ve made yourself a few pieces of gear before going looking for her.
Best Shield Ability: Ward of the Damned
Each school of magic in V Rising has a “Shield Ability.” Most of these abilities activate for a few seconds and block damage while causing some kind of tertiary effect. Ward of the Damned, for example, will block all incoming melee and projectile attacks in front of you. It also increases your movement speed by 10% and knocking back melee attackers. What makes Ward of the Damned truly great, though, is that for every hit you take, you’ll summon an allied skeleton swordsman.
These skeleton allies can be crucial to draw attention off of you during boss fights or when you’re severely outnumbered by enemies. This is helpful in general, but especially as a solo player.
How to Unlock Ward of the Damned
To unlock Ward of the Damned, you’ll need to defeat Nicholaus the Fallen, a Level 37 V Blood carrier. You can find him at the Forgotten Cemetery at the center of Farbane Woods. He’s surrounded by Skeletal Priests that summon their own skeleton hordes to fight you. Be sure to target them first, otherwise you can quickly end up surrounded.
Best Ultimate Ability: Arctic Leap
Each school of magic also has two “Ultimate Abilities,” which are devastating spells that have a much longer cooldown than anything else in your spell bar. These abilities can easily wipe out an entire group of enemies in one fell swoop.
The best of these by far is Arctic Leap, both in terms of power and “cool factor.” Arctic Leap shoots you high into the air and slams you down into the ground, creating shockwaves of frosty spikes in all directions. Any NPC you hit will be frozen for an entire 6 seconds, provided they survive the initial blast.
What makes this ability truly top of the line, though, is its ability to freeze any enemy players it hits for 2 seconds. The versatility of the effects of Arctic Leap means you can use it as an opener to ambush some unsuspecting players, as a finisher to get that last chunk of health bar down, or even as an escape. The “Leap” portion of Arctic Leap means you can use it to jump up ledges and out of danger.
How to Unlock Arctic Leap
One of the reasons Arctic Leap is so powerful is that it’s a near-endgame ability, earned by defeating a near-endgame boss. To unlock Arctic Leap, you’ll need to defeat Terrorclaw the Ogre. Even without telling you what level he is, the name alone should show that this guy is in an entirely different league from chumps like “Clive” and “Lidia.” You can find Terrorclaw in the Frozen Cave in the southeastern Hallowed Mountains region.
Join the High Ground
That’s it for our breakdown of the best spells and abilities in V Rising — thanks for reading! With this loadout (and some of that pure vampiric audacity), you should be able to take on any threat that dares cross your path. Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on more content like this.
Happy gaming!
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