Hopefully this guide will be useful to both new players and veterans alike. However, new players might find it a little jolting to start on Hard Mode. Everything in this guide was written assuming that you're playing in Hard Mode, but there's nothing here that won't work in the normal game. In fact, you'll crush it.

A quick note about Hardcore mode: The Hardcore option doesn't mean much in this game. In the old days it meant that your character was deleted after you died the first time. That's not for everyone, though. When I play, I choose to delete my character when he dies in Hardcore. It makes the stakes higher and that makes it more fun for me personally. You do not have to do this.

Haemimont's spin on Hardcore characters in this game centers around the stash that they have access to. Normal characters can access the normal stash. Hardcore characters can access the hardcore stash. When you die in Hardcore, you lose access to the hardcore stash with that character and he becomes normal.

It makes it more difficult to accumulate items for Hardcore characters, since you'll likely be wearing your best items when you die. If you plan on making multiple attempts and you want a leg up after each attempt, remember to regularly store items that you're not using in your hardcore stash.

NOTE: I designed this guide for the Overkill Edition of Victor Vran (Motorhead and Fractured Worlds). Without the expansions, much of this will not work, but there is a level 50 end game build that I included at the end of the guide for those who only have the base game without the expansions.

Here's the short version. I'm pretty wordy so I was advised to include this section.

• Start in Motorhead.
  -Pick Hunter's Outfit.
  -Rush to Bedeviled Vault.
  
  
• Farm the Champion Essence of Fire in World of Wars that's right outside the entrance to Bedeviled Vault.
  -Restart the area after each kill.
  -Sell all useless common items until you can buy the Zealous Tome of Vampirism from the GebaN merchant in Fractured Worlds.
  -Buy the Zealous Hammer of Vampirism from the GebaN merchant in Motorhead pub (Run this in your offhand)
  
  
• Run a build that uses maximizes the value of Zealous weapons, tower cards, and demon powers.
  -Focus on obtaining Tower and Obelisk cards as you level (Sold from Patriarch and Lloyd).
  -Use the best versions of Death Machine and Heartbreaker that you can find.
  -Use the Zealous Tome of Vampirism in your main hand with a luck/extraordinary luck weapon in off hand if you can find one, otherwise stick with the Zealous Hammer of Vampirism in your offhand.
  -Don't forget to spam your Demon Powers.
  
  
• Farm the Champion Essence of Fire when you need loot or greens for vending, but otherwise just play the game.
  
  
• Work on Zagoravia until level 25, then head back to Motorhead to gather secrets. That's when outfits can drop. You want for Mikkey's Outfit so that you can heal each time you use a demon power.
  
  
• At level 28, Use Lightning Gun & Hammer with Heartbreaker demon power.
  -Choose Lightning Destiny Card at level up screen.
  -If you don't have a Zealous Lightning Gun, buy the one from GebaN (For tactics, see my video below).
  -Use Mikkey's Outfit (if you have it).
  -You might also consider equipping a Hope card to reduce the chance of being one shot.
  
  
• Continue playing the game, Motorhead first, then Zagoravia, and then Fractured Worlds.
  -Max out the damage of your weapons every level at the transmutation station.
  -Farm the Champion Essence of Fire for loot when you need it.
  -Do Treasure / Bounty quests when you have them.
  -Farm all secrets in both Motorhead and Zagoravia once per day.
  -Do Cauldron of Chaos and all of its challenges once per day.
  -Work toward the level 60 end game build at the end of this guide.

It's time to jump into Victor Vran. Start up a new game. Make sure you switch world to Motorhead and then hit start game. You can't select Hard Mode or Hardcore options until you complete the Warpig Machine encounter and enter Lloyd's pub.

OPTIONAL: If you want to maximize the amount of loot you can get before starting Hard Mode, do your first tutorial in Zagoravia instead. There are 3 secret chests here for you to obtain. Quit right before you would enter the castle and then go back to do the Motorhead tutorials. Break everything (boxes, benches, trash cans, pumpkins, etc) that you encounter in both tutorials. Sometimes gear will drop from the breakables, but potions will for sure.

After you complete the tutorial and enter Lloyd's pub, it will be time to select your game options. Choose Hard Mode and choose Hardcore. I would suggest picking Hunter's outfit, but Cavalier is also a good option. I would stay away from Vigilante. It's best used for New Game+ runs (where you use imported gear from your stash).

Cavalier is great if you plan on running a Lightning Gun / Hammer / Heartbreaker build all of the time (more about this in the "The Starter Builds" section of this guide). Hunter's outfit is usually my choice because it generates more overdrive in the midst of battle. It works better with a Tome and allows you to carry a farming weapon (with "Luck" or "Extraordinary Luck") in your off hand.

Choose the outfit you want.

NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, always go for Gift Boxes when leveling up. Save them and transmute them up to rare quality (yellow). Don't open them until later, level 28+

Inside Lloyd's Pub, talk to him and wait for a moment to receive your random Motor Power. Hopefully it's Death Machine, but it's not a big deal if it's something else.

Open the map and travel to World of Wars. Your goal is to rush to Bedeviled Vault. It's pretty easy to do. If you have a hammer, use it strategically for knock backs (Smash), otherwise you can use the sword's Dash attack to peel creatures off of you as well.





Try to pick up every shrine of healing that you can along the way. Enter Bedeviled Vault and then pause the game and Return to Hub.

There's a video at the end of the next session that shows the route that I take.

You now have the best loot grinding location in the game (in my opinion). It's a good thing that it was so close by! Simply travel to the Bedeviled Vault and then immediately exit World of Wars. A Champion Essence of Fire always spawns directly forward from the entrance.





It will be a little hard to kill at first, but it drops gear each time you kill it so eventually it will get easier as you get better stuff. After you kill it, reset the map and kill it again. This is the loot grind loop.

The Essence will give you the greatest amount of loot per experience point, which makes this the most efficient place to farm for random gear for all levels. You'll be using it a lot, and I'll refer to this location a lot in the guide.

Farm here until at least level 3. You want to get enough gear to sell to make about 35k. Only common items will drop for now, unless you're lucky enough to get an "Extraordinary Luck" weapon. Keep all the demon powers you come across, especially Death Machine and Heartbreaker. Even the common demon powers are useful in transmutation. Sell all of your common weapons that you are not using, except your best "Luck" weapon and any "Extraordinary Luck" weapons that may have dropped.





I find that the best combo is to use Wicked Solo from a guitar to get the Enraged condition, then pause, switch out to a hammer, and then walk over and use a fully charged up Crush on the Champion Essence of Fire. Sometimes you one shot it this way, especially if you have a devastating hammer. At anytime you can pause the game and switch your main weapon out. It's a good way to rotate cooldowns before you gain access to a second weapon.





After you've farmed enough gear worth about 35k, exit to main menu, switch worlds to Fractured Worlds, and go to GebaN, the reaper merchant there. Purchase the Zealous Tome of Vampirism. This should be your main weapon from now on.



Something to note: I suspect that the developers had issues programming Essences with the Blink demon power. This means that this Champion Essence of Fire will never randomly have Blink and therefore he won't drop it.

Luckily if you need Blink desperately, MeSako put together a great guide: https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=530338606 I would suggest Mausoleum of Bones for Blink.

Here's a short video showing my run to Bedeviled Vault and farming the Champion Essence of Fire. At the end of the video, you'll notice how one hit took me from 95% health down to zero. If you're playing on Hardcore Hard Mode, that's how fast it can end if you're not watching your surroundings.

Your very first build should be this:

Weapon: Zealous Tome of Vampirism
Consumable: Healing Potion
Demon Power: Death Machine is best. Heartbreaker is second; Shockwave is third; Meteor is fourth.
Destiny Cards: Equip any hope destiny cards you have, otherwise go for damage (Strength, Rogue, or Archer). Cards like swarm can be useful, but they won't generate you overdrive. Just use what feels right to you for now.

Tactics: Run around spamming Magic Missiles as much as possible. Spam click or button mash it instead of holding the button down, since this will make your attacks faster. Each hit will heal you, so this is how you keep your health up. Keep your Arcane Orbs condition stacked up at all times. Try not to empty it unless you are in trouble. Use your demon powers as much as possible. The Zealous aspect of your weapon will allow you to use them very often.

Eventually you'll transition into this build, which you'll use until your late 20s to mid 30s:

Outfit: Hunter's Outfit
Weapons: Zealous Tome of Vampirism / Any weapons with "Luck" or "Extraordinary Luck"
Consumables: Double Healing Potions
Demon Powers: Death Machine / Heartbreaker
Destiny Cards: Tower, Obelisk, Archer, Beast

As you level up, check with the merchants for the following (buy them all up):

• Barbarian Cards
  
• Tower Cards
  
• Obelisk Cards
  
• Wildcards
  
• Archer Cards
  
• Beast Cards

You want as many tower cards as you can equip. Once you have Tower [3] and Tower [2] equipped, you'll likely be generating overdrive as fast as you can spend it, which means that wearing a Barbarian card becomes viable. Obelisk will make Death Machine hit like a truck and get you plenty of AoE damage, and it will also extend the duration of Heartbreaker.

Archer, Wildcard, and Beast increase your damage done and make your normal attacks more deadly. Prioritize Archer until you have access to at least 4 destiny slots, and then Wildcard starts to become more useful. Beast loses effectiveness as you level, but really helps in the 12-20 range, when you have to depend on your weapon attacks for kills instead of Death Machine.

As you level up, you'll want to obtain an off hand weapon with either Luck or Extraordinary Luck on it. Extraordinary Luck is my preference, since it turns all of your common weapons into uncommon ones.

If you chose the Cavalier's outfit at the beginning, consider using the following build.

Outfit: Cavalier's Outfit
Weapons: Efficient Lightning Gun of the Wolf / Zealous Hammer of Vampirism
Consumables: Double Healing Potions
Demon Powers: Death Machine / Heartbreaker
Destiny Cards: Tower, Tower, Tower, Obelisk

You can buy the Efficient Lightning Gun of the Wolf from this GebaN in Fractured Worlds and you can purchase the Zealous Hammer of Vampirism from the GebaN merchant that it is in the bathroom back at Lloyd's pub.

Tactics: Throw down Heartbreaker at the beginning of every fight and keep it up. You might have to recast it if the monsters are no longer in the radius. Spam Ball Lightning on lightning gun, weapon swapping to hammer after you use it. Keep the Hammer equipped as much as possible, as all of the lightning balls will calculate their damage off of the hammer as long as it's equipped. Dodge around the edge of the Heartbreaker radius. Spam Death Machine to keep monsters grouped around the Heartbreaker and for damage, or to pull them away from you.

MAGIC MISSILES



If you hold this down it channels some quick firing missiles. If you're on a computer, it's actually better to spam click, since it will cast 1 time per click. You can do massive damage with it this way. Holding it down might be better with a controller, but I suppose you could button mash.

This attack drops arcane orbs. Picking up these orbs applies a condition to you that can stack up to 5 times. Each time you use either Dimension Wave or Singularity Orb, the game removes 1 stack of the condition and resets the cooldown for the ability just used. With 5 stacks, you can use Wave or Orb (or any combination of the two) up to 6 times in a row.


SINGULARITY ORB



Singularity Orb ability shoots out a sphere into the distance. When it touches an enemy, it disappears, vacuuming up enemies to that location, dealing damage to them and applying the Frailty condition which causes those enemies to take 100% damage for a few seconds. It's common to stack up Arcane Orbs and then unleash multiple Singularity Orbs for massive single target and aoe damage.


DIMENSION WAVE



You need to learn the range of this attack. It dazes opponents it touches, but also leaves a deadly zone right where you land at the end of the attack. If an opponent is standing in it, this does a lot of damage. It also does damage based on what weapon you have equipped and in your hands currently. This means that if you Dimension Wave into a monster and swap to hammer, then you'll be doing more damage than even Singularity Orb spamming can do.

It also has the exact same range as Singularity Orb (at full range), which allows you to do this tactic: Launch a Singularity Orb beside an enemy (make sure that it doesn't hit anything on it's path); this will cause the enemy (and any others in range) to be vacuumed to that location. Immediately after launching the Orb, use Dimension Wave. If you did this properly the Orb and the Wave will end at the same location. Every enemy that was vacuumed will now be taking massive damage from Dimension Wave.


Lightning Gun is all about Ball Lightning.



Ball Lightning targets anything that has the Electrocuted condition and deals damage to them, removing the condition. Heartbreaker works really well with Ball Lightning, since it reapplies the Electrocuted condition. Ball Lightning also does damage based on the currently equipped weapon, so swapping to something like a hammer increases its damage done.

Your strategy should be this:

1. Drop Heartbreaker
2. Use Ball Lightning when it is off cooldown
3. Switch to Hammer when not using Ball Lightning
4. Dodge around and spam your demon powers
5. Repeat

Heartbreaker also applies weakness, which halves the damage that monsters do. It's great for survivability.

Here's a short video where I demonstrate both Tome and Lightning Gun tactics.

After you get your first build settled, it's time to play. Restart World of Wars from the beginning and beat it. You can start doing the other map areas that are connected to it (I would hold off on the Warpig Machine, since that is a pretty tough fight). Do all of the Monuments of Rock, but don't bother with secrets. Wait to pick them up if you're planning on hitting 25 today. Secrets can only be looted successfully once per day.

You're trying to get a decent Heartbreaker and Death Machine while leveling up to 10. At level 10, greens will start to naturally drop more often. After you reach it, you might consider grinding some gear at the Champion Essence of Fire.

At level 15, choose either the Hunter's Outfit or the Cavalier's Outfit (whichever you don't have) when leveling up.





It's a good time to go back and farm the Champion Essence of Fire. At level 16 you'll get access to Transmutation and you'll need a good number of rare (yellow) weapons bring your Tome (or Lightning Gun / Hammer) up to your current level.

This wiki https://victorvran.gamepedia.com/Transmutation has some great details about transmutation. If you would like me to make a video demonstrating these, leave a comment and let me know, otherwise I think the wiki is great.

NOTE: A weapon's level is tied to its damage. I'm not sure if it's a glitch, but lower level weapons will show their transmutation bar as maxed out for their damage even when it's not. You can still continue increasing a weapons damage up to your current level.

At level 16, transmute the best Heartbreaker and the best Death Machine that you can. Max out the Tome's damage. It's now time to check in with the Patriarch in Zagoravia and GebaN in Fractured Worlds. Focus on buying Tower and Obelisk cards. Any rare cards are also good since you can transmute those on your weapons for extra crit chance. Sell your uncommon weapons (green) as needed for cash. Keep your rare (yellow) weapons since you need those for transmutation.

NOTE: The earliest I've seen a Legendary weapon drop was level 17. I was wearing both Luck and Extraordinary Luck weapons. If you want to farm motorhead some more, that fine. Typically I'll farm the Champion Essence of Fire until about level 20. Then solidify my build and move on.

Your build should be strong enough to take on the Warpig Machine now. Travel there and down him. Use Heartbreaker on him as much as possible to half the damage he deals. Something to note: you can still get Vampirism healing even you attack him on his side where he is immune to damage. It's a good way to heal in a pinch.

After he's down, switch to Zagoravia and start working on the story line there until level 25. You can loot secrets here, since Mikkey's outfit (the one we want) only drops from motorhead secrets.

After every level, check with the Patriarch. Right now you're trying to get the destiny cards you want. Tower and Obelisk are pretty commonly sold by him. By doing maps in Zagoravia, you're making his inventory change regularly (every 30 minutes or so), and that gives you a better chance to get what you want.

Once again, here's your card buying priorty list:

• Barbarian Cards
  
• Tower Cards
  
• Obelisk Cards
  
• Wildcards
  
• Archer Cards
  
• Beast Cards

Level 22 is only note worthy when leveling up. The Wicked Beast is preferable to the gift box. I highly suggest choosing it and wearing it.

After you hit level 25, secrets will start dropping outfits. Head back to Motorhead and start looking for the secrets in every map that you've done so far. Your goal is Mikkey's Outfit. At this point, I would also suggest staying in Motorhead. Finish every level. Beat every boss. You don't need to worry about challenges, focus mainly on secrets and Monuments of Rock.

At level 28, choose the Lightning Card when leveling up.



Now it's time to start shifting your build away from Tome and towards Lightning Gun / Hammer / Heartbreaker. With 15 Destiny Points, your cards should look something like this:

• Lightning [3]
  
• Wildcard [8]
  
• Tower [3]
  
• Obelisk [1]

You can substitute the Wildcard [8] for and Archer [5] and increase the Obelisk if you desire.

You should now be in pretty good shape to complete the game. Just play cautiously as you go. Your priority now is to work toward the level 60 end game build.

If you need to equip a Hope card, go for it. I would actually suggest it at this point. The Barbarian card is great for resetting your cooldowns if you're running multiple Tower cards, and you might go back to Hunter's outfit if you find one. When leveling up, go for Gift Boxes. Again, transmute them up to Rare, and then open them.

Finish Motorhead first if you haven't already, then finish Zagoravia, and then Fractured Worlds. Don't go too high in The Fracture. Epic can stack up to 100 there and you WILL DIE if you climb too high. Avoid the Bottomless Pit as well. It's a death trap and not meant for Hardcore.

Max out the damage of your weapons every level at the transmutation station, and farm the Champion Essence of Fire for loot when you need it. Don't be afraid to sell some uncommon weapons (green) and buy up the good consumables, such as Ambrosia, Vampire's Blood, and Aether Vials. You're priority is not dying, and since the game levels up with you, you'll need every advantage to stay ahead of it.

Complete Treasure / Bounty quests when you have them, since they drop power stones and other loot, which helps the grind a bit.

Farm all secrets in both Motorhead and Zagoravia once per day, and do Cauldron of Chaos and all of its challenges once per day as well.

The following is a list of options that I would suggest you choose at certain levels when at the level up screen.

• Level 32: Choose the Vampirism Power Stone. It's a good extra property to put on a weapon now or later (Cursed Tome of the Duelist + Vampirism would be really great!)
  
  
• Level 37: Piercing Power Stone. Add this to the Zealous Hammer of Vampirism for extra killing potential with your Ball Lightnings.
  
  
• Level 50: The Devil isn't a bad option in the short term, but I think The Seer is your best bet. Devil isn't needed with this kind of build, since overdrive is generated on deflection anyway. Plus most of your damage comes from Demon Powers. The Seer is my suggestion.
  
  
• Level 51: Flame Recipe. Transmute it and hope for a brute trigger. Make sure you have a hammer equipped when you activate it, since it does damage based on the weapon in your hand.
  
  
• Level 52: Powerstones for Accuracy might be the better pick here over the Gift Box.
  
  
• Level 55: Divine Wildcard. It's perfect for this build.

Feel free to make your own variation of this build. I do different substitutions all the time, just depending on what I'm doing or what my mood is.

Mikkey's




Holy Warrior's Gadget




1. Zealous / Cursed / Duelist Hammer




2. Zealous / Efficient / Mauling Lightning Gun




1. The Lightning [3]




2. The Barbarian [5]




3. The Oak [2]




4. The Tower [2]




5. The Obelisk [4]




6. The Wildcard [8]




1. Armor Penetration +27
2. Armor Penetration +27
3. Gain 3.90% of max overdrive on overkill
4. Gain Speed for 7 sec. on kill
5. Gain Brutality when overdrive is filled (29% chance)
6. Increased Dodge Distance OR another Brutality at 21% chance or better.

1. Lucky Rabbit Foot
2. Lucky Rabbit Foot




1. Death Machine




2. Heartbreaker




Strategy: You should have already been getting used to the strategy for this build. The only difference is the Talisman. Oak allows it to be up almost 100% of the time. You might have to Smash with the hammer occcasionally to get that last bit of energy. Gadget will generate a ton of overdrive, especially with Lucky Rabbit Foot going.

Otherwise the tactics are basically the same: Spam your demon powers, spam your lightning balls, and keep hammer equipped as much as possible.

Without Motorhead and Fractured Worlds expansions you won't have access to Heartbreaker, Death Machine, or Obelisk cards. That might sound like it's a deal breaker, but there's still a variation of the build that you can use. I've tested it on a few of my friends who only have the base game and they've never gone back.

Hunter's Outfit

1. Zealous / Cursed / Duelist Tome
2. Zealous / Cursed / Duelist Hammer

1. Barbarian [5]
2. Hope [6]
3. Tower [3]
4. Tower [3]
5. Wildcard [3]

1. Gain 3.90% of max overdrive on overkill
2. Brutality (29% chance) when overdrive is filled
3. Brutality (29% chance) when overdrive is filled
4. Focus for 10 seconds on overkill
5. Heal 280 health when overdrive is filled

1. Healing Potion
2. Healing Potion

1. Shockwave
2. Shockwave

Strategy: Hope [6] allows you to have a larger Health Pool to play with, making you a lot more survivable. When your health goes down, your overdrive also goes up. Spam Shockwave both defensively (knock back and cripple) and offensively (AoE damage). Use the Tome and Hammer to supplement your damage and gather overdrive. The Barbarian card will reset your cooldowns every 10 seconds in times of heavy stress, allowing you to use a potential 2 healing potions every 10 seconds. Health Potions are cheap, so make sure you have a a bunch of stacks of 99 of them on you at all times.

There are a lot of variations on this build but this is the base form. Some of my friends use Shockwave and Blink, or Shockwave and Boomerang, or Shockwave and Sunray for demon powers, or change up the consumables or wicked/divine effects. It's easy to put your own spin on it. Let me know what you come up with.

Hardcore Hard Mode is pretty much all I play on Victor Vran now. This is the culmination of hundreds of attempts. I've played well into level 60 using these tactics (200 or so renown), enough to grind and complete the level 60 end game build listed here a few times over. I've also died at level 2. Expect to restart. Embrace the pain, lol.

With that said, hopefully this helps anyone who is attempting it. I'm still in the process of polishing the guide (adding screenshots and videos). Any feedback you have is appreciated. I like to learn. Teach me if you know something that I don't.