Mastering The Gilded Gauntlet in The Blood of Dawnwalker: A Complete Guide
Facing Ambrus in the Blood of Dawnwalker’s The Gilded Gauntlet quest marks your first encounter with one of Brencis’s boyars. This flamboyant Vrakhiri governs the provinces you’ll explore right after departing from Laslea and is notorious for extracting blood from the often unwilling residents of Vale Sangora.
As with any boyar confrontation, you have multiple strategies to take him down. Here’s a breakdown of your options and the potential outcomes of each.
Unlike Xanthe and Bakar, Ambrus won’t send anyone to confront you when you provoke him. Instead, you’ll need to head to Maragirin in the Maragir Wealds, where a new ? symbol will appear on your map. There, you’ll find that Ambrus has crucified some villagers to grab your attention and left a note challenging you to a duel at the ruined castle above the town at night.
Soon after, a servant of Lulian Codric, the former ruler of Maragir, will approach you with a plan to poison Ambrus as part of The Bittersweet Toast quest.
While you can engage Ambrus at any time, if you follow The Bittersweet Toast questline, Lulian Codric will poison himself. Since he’s revealed to be Ambrus’s blood cow, the boyar will consume him before your fight, thus contracting the poison.
During this encounter, Ambrus will become suspicious and attempt to make you feed on Lulian first. You can counter this by saying, “Letting a peasant drink first, what kind of Boyar are you?” which will prompt him to drink instead. Codric will die, but as he confides in you during the quest, that’s his intention.
Poisoning Ambrus has its perks:
However, there’s a significant downside: if you drink his blood, you’ll also get poisoned. If you finish the fight with less than one segment of health, you’ll be compelled to feed on Ambrus, making this a risky strategy, especially since the poison is quite severe and lingers for multiple cycles.
If your plan is to eliminate Ambrus without drinking his blood, using the poison can be a viable tactic if you’re struggling in the fight. If you opt not to use the poison, the main difference is that Codric will survive, though he won’t be particularly pleased about it.
Upon defeating Ambrus, provided you have more than one segment of health, you’ll have two choices:
If you drain his blood, you’ll be given the option to invite Ambrus in, but this will also grant you a couple of levels of Corruption and unlock his Scarlet Shield vampiric ability, as you’ve consumed some Vrakhiri blood. This ability is quite powerful, offering healing whenever you execute a Perfect Block.
If you choose to kill him, you won’t gain access to his ability or the invitation option, but you can still loot his sword and legendary armor set. Additionally, killing Ambrus will increase your infamy, which could be beneficial if you’re pursuing the Where Loyalty Lies quest.
