In the survival title V Rising, you play as a lowly vampire trying to survive and become a ruler of a hostile world. But what is a Vampire Lord without their own, full-fledged, personalized, blood-drenched Castle? If you need any help constructing one, then look no further. Here’s a guide on how to build and find a location for a Castle in V Rising.

How to Build The Castle Base/Foundation in V Rising

Before you start building your own spooky vampire Castle, you need to build the base or the foundation first. For that, you will need two materials:

  • Castle Heart.
  • And Blood Essence.

As you might’ve guessed, the fountain of blood called the Castle Heart is the core and will power everything inside the building. Place down a Castle Heart by pressing the B key, select the Fundamentals tab, then place it down on the ground. Eight squares surrounding the Castle Heart mark the boundaries of your base. To power the Castle Heart, simply walk near it, press F, and put Blood Essence into it.

You must sustain your Castle by providing Blood Essences obtained by slaying people and creatures. The Essences will be used up over time, and if it runs out, the Castle will begin to decay and become vulnerable to other players’ attacks. Destroying the Castle Heart will also instantly destroy a Castle.

Things and Locations To Consider Before Building a Castle in V Rising

Video courtesy of Strange Religion.

Before you place down a Castle Heart, though, you have to keep in mind a few important tips:

  • Castle boundaries can be obstructed by various geometries, including plants, trees, stones, ruins, bodies of water, and even nearby enemies. For that reason, you should try cutting them down before you begin.
  • Nevertheless, vegetation can be trimmed down later. Stumps also do not prevent building.
  • The number of Castles anyone can build is limited; most servers allow only five Castles at a time.
  • PvE players will want to build one next to resource points and settlements for loot or Cave Passage entrances for quick access to different locations.
  • Dunley Farmland is a great location for a V Rising Castle if you’re still around level 20-50 since it’s in the middle of the map.
  • Meanwhile, Silverlight Hills is a good endgame location because it has the best resources and farming spots, including Silver Mines.
  • PvP players will want to have one away from any hotspot and other blood-thirsty players.
  • At the time of writing, the Cursed Forest area seems to be the most isolated place for this purpose.
  • Surrounding yourself with higher-leveled enemies also helps deter invasions from other players as long as you can survive.

How to Furnish and Expand Your Castle in V Rising

  • Dunley Farmland is a great location for a V Rising Castle if you’re still around level 20-50 since it’s in the middle of the map.

  • Meanwhile, Silverlight Hills is a good endgame location because it has the best resources and farming spots, including Silver Mines.

  • At the time of writing, the Cursed Forest area seems to be the most isolated place for this purpose.

  • Surrounding yourself with higher-leveled enemies also helps deter invasions from other players as long as you can survive.

Now that the base has been covered, it’s time to build your Castle into a full-fledged Vampire Castle. First, you will need three materials:

  • Stone.
  • Lumber.
  • And Plant Fiber.
  • These can be easily gotten by attacking rocks, plants, and trees.

These materials are needed to make Palisade Walls (requiring Plank x6 and Stone Brick x10) and Roof, protecting your cozy undead cabin from unwanted pests and into a proper fortification. Craft them from the Build menu. Hold the Space Bar over an object to delete it. After you’ve built the Walls, don’t forget to make one Palisade Entrance and a Palisade Gate on top of it to make sure you can get in or out of your own Castle.

  • These can be easily gotten by attacking rocks, plants, and trees.

Aside from the walls, other essential structures in the Fundamentals menu are:

  • Coffin: Place for respawning on death. The first Coffin you make must be built outdoors, but you’ll eventually be able to make an indoor one, safe from any prying eyes.
  • Small Stash Chest: This is your item box, a handy tool for when your inventory is full. Make one or two at the start, and you can edit their names/categorize them by pressing the pencil icon in the top-right of the window.
  • Mist Brazier: Instead of generating light as Braziers do, these block the light (when the sun is up). This is useful when building the Castle and creating safe outdoor spaces. It needs Bones as fuel, which you should get along with Blood Essences of innocents in the wild.
  • Blood Altar: This will leave a trail of blood to the location of a boss, a way to track down V Blood Bosses without relying (too much) on internet guides.

Upgrading Your Castle Heart

Once the basics are set in stone, you’ll want to upgrade your Castle, right? Well, you have to get your Castle Heart to level 2 before you can start putting in more furnishings. For a Level 2 Castle Heart, you will need:

  • Copper Ingot x12
  • Leather x12

Aside from being able to put in and power more structures such as the Research Table, Crafting Station, or Servant’s Coffins inside your Castle’s boundaries, you can also start making reinforced walls and floors with Wood Planks and Stone Bricks using the Whetstone and Grinder. Later on, you will also need to farm Greater Blood Essence and better versions of other materials to build and power Castle structures more efficiently.

V Rising is currently available as an Early Access game via Steam.