Code Vein II - 10 Beginner Tips by Fextralife

This article is based on insights shared by Fextralife whose expertise should help you gain a deeper understanding of the game’s basic mechanisms, allowing you to progress smoothly throughout your adventure.

Additional resources and tips will be available on his website :

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At first glance Code Vein II can seem complicated and overwhelming.

You get a lot of different mechanics introduced to you very early on, and it will take you awhile to master them all.

In this Guide I aim to provide some useful information that in order to streamline your start to Code Vein II, so that you can focus on only the important things, until you get a better grasp on how to play.

Weapons Have Different Movesets 

Firstly, weapons in Code Vein II have different movesets, even within the same type.

This means not all One-Handed Swords, for example, will attack the same way as one another.

Some have slight variations in their combo chains, while others have completely different attacks all together. 

When acquiring a new Weapon, don’t only look at its damage, scaling, and Weapon Formae, make sure to also test out its weak attack, weak attack chain, strong attack and charged strong attacks to see if you like their attack patterns.

Some weapons just have inherently better attacks than others, and some will fit your playstyle a bit more, so make sure to test all new weapons you acquire, even if they don't look better on paper. 

Combat Formae on Weapons Cannot Be Transferred 
 

The next tip is that Attack Skills, more commonly called Combat Formae, cannot be reassigned from one weapon to another.

That means if you like the Combat Formae on a Weapon, but you dislike other aspects like its attack pattern or stats, you will have to find another Weapon with the same Formae on it, or find the Formae itself that you can then slot on other weapons. 

Do note, however, that you can remove Formae from Weapons, you just cannot then slot the removed Formae onto a different weapon.

This is useful if you like the damage, attack pattern or stats of a weapon, but don’t like its Formae and want to replace them with others you have acquired.

Farm the Enemy at MagMell Island Pier 

One really good enemy to farm near the beginning of the game is located at MagMell Island Pier, which is on the southern bit of MagMell Island.

He’s a solo enemy that provides just under 500 Haze each time you defeat him, and he’s located right next to Mistle, making it very easy to respawn him. 

Fighting this enemy is a great way to become more familiar with the game’s controls, and also the weapons and Formae you have, while simultaneously gaining Haze you can use to level up and purchase things from the nearby Merchant (Jadwiga's Minion).  

This Merchant has Weapons, Formae and Ammo (if you need it). I like to farm the enemy until I’ve purchased all weapons and Formae from the merchant, and I’m at least level 10.

This gets you off to a great start, and Haze doesn’t decrease from defeating enemies as you get higher in level, so it doesn’t take long.

As it happens, this enemy is also the Boss of the nearby Ruins, so learning his attack patterns will actually help you through this Boss fight as well. 

Use The Right Ammo 

Bayonets are not new to Code Vein II, but Ammo is.

In the previous game, players would use Ichor to fire their Bayonets at range, but in Code Vein II, you need Ammo in order to use their ranged attacks.

This makes using Bayonets a bit easier since you are free to use your Ichor on other Formae, but it also means you need to manage your Ammo. 

Code Vein II will automatically send extra Ammo to your storage when you are carrying too much, and will replenish it whenever you interact with a Mistle if you have extra ammo in storage.

You can turn this off it you want in the game settings, but it’s probably best to leave it on, since you will want to top up when you reach each checkpoint. 

Additionally, each Bayonet can use 1 of 3 different types of ammo. Rifle, Shotgun or Grenade. These operate about how you would expect, them to, with Rifle having the longest range, Shotgun being good at close range, and Grenade doing AoE damage.

Make sure you have the correct Ammo for your Bayonet type if you’re using them, and stock up on Ammo at Merchants (Jadwiga's Minions) when you see them, since its not very expensive. 

Use The Longbow Liberally 

You will gain the Statesman's Longbow Bequeathed Formae rather early into the game in the Ruins on MagMell Island, and it can be slotted into a special slot for Bequeathed Formae, which are a special type of Weapon that have their own attacks which cost Ichor to use.

These can be upgraded like weapons, but cannot be used if you don’t have the required amount of Ichor. 

The Statesman's Longbow is incredibly good.

It has exceptional range, can be charged for increased damage, pierces through multiple enemies, and only costs 1 Ichor to use. This gives you a ranged option, even if you’re not using a Bayonet or ranged Magic Formae in your loadout. 

Code Vein II likes to throw lots of enemies at you at once, and you can overcome a lot of these situations by simply picking off an enemy or two with this Longbow before you engage.

It rarely notifies other nearby enemies, allowing you to even the odds before anyone is even aware you are there. 

Additionally, many Map Jammers are located in places that will take you much longer to get to if you need to melee them, but you can destroy them from a distance with a few charged shots from the Longbow, making your life easier, so make sure to do that when needed. 

Don’t forget to upgrade it with Heart Remnants for even more damage. 
 

Use Bleeding Shield (100% Block) 

Code Vein II features a slot for a Defensive piece of equipment, and these have various properties, like allowing you to Block, allowing you to Parry or even changing your Dodge animation.

They also provide you some defense should you get hit lowering the damage you take.

Early on you will find the Bleeding Shield (Light) within the Ruins on MagMell Island, which allows you to Block Physical Damage completely, without taking any chip damage.

Your starting Shield cannot do this, so I highly recommend swapping to this as soon as you get it to make your life a bit easier, and to allow you to Block most attacks without needing to heal afterwards. 

You cannot Parry with the Bleeding Shield (Light), but enemy attacks are hard to read when you’re just learning the game, and Parrying is something you should really be attempting after you have more game time under your belt.

Be on the look out for other Defensive items that have 100% Physical Mitigation that may have better stats as well. 

Use The Trait List to See Active Effects 

It’s not uncommon in Code Vein II to have many active Buffs and Debuffs at the same time, which are displayed below your HP bar.

However, you cannot mouse over these to see what they are, which can be frustrating if you’re trying to understand why you have said Buffs and Debuffs. 

However, if you go to your Blood Code, or your Stats, and use the "Trait List" button, the game will show you all your active effects, both positive and negative, and tell you where you are getting them from. This is a great way to better understand exactly what is happening with your build. 

Additionally, if you have Traits that you don’t meet the requirements for, you will also see this here as well, allowing you to better understand what you need to change about your build in order to min/max it.

Look at this often, particularly when you change Blood Codes and aren’t sure if you are getting the benefits of all of its Traits. 

Farm Enemies & Master Blood Codes if You Want Boosters 

Boosters in Code Vein II are the equivalent of Talismans in Elden Ring, or Rings in Dark Souls.

They are essentially passive effects that are permanently active once slotted, until you unslot them and slot in other Boosters. You can have up to 4 slotted at once, and these can be found as loot in the game world, but the most common way to acquire them is by farming enemies. 

Enemies drop unique materials that can be traded with Merchants (Jadwiga's Minions) for a number of different Boosters, with varying effects, ranging from Increased Stamina, to making it harder for enemies to detect you.

You will need a specific number of each unique materials they drop in order to trade them in for any Booster, so you will likely have to farm specific enemies in order to have enough.  

You can see which enemies need to be farmed for each Booster at any Merchant, making it easy enough to figure what needs to be farmed.

You can also see how many of each material you have when at the Merchant so you know if you’re close to unlocking one, or you still have a ways to go. 

Additionally, after you progress a little ways into the game, Lavinia will provide you with a unique Booster each time you master a Blood Code.

To do this equip said Blood Code and defeat enemies in order to progress its bar to full, then speak to Lavinia in MagMell.

Note that even higher level Blood Codes from the same person will provide unique Boosters, so be sure to level them too. You can acquire more Blood Codes by mastering one, and then speaking to the corresponding NPC to get the next rank. 

I-Frames & Combat Formae 

A few select Combat Formae in Code Vein II have i-frames during a portion of their animation, allowing you to use them to teleport through attacks unscathed and deal damage at the same time.

Two early ones are Phantom Assault and Looming Slash. Phantom Assault is on the weapon you begin the game with, while Looming Slash is on another One-Handed Sword you can purchase from Jadwiga's Minion in MagMell. 

I highly recommend using at least one of these, as it allows you more margin for error when facing tough enemies and Bosses, as you can use these Combat Formae when an attack is coming in at the last second in order to avoid damage.

Phantom Assault only costs 3 Ichor, which is quite cost effective, but Looming Slash costs 5 and will require a Blood Code with more Ichor in order to use frequently. 

Staggering Enemies 

Enemies in Code Vein II have a hidden “Stagger Guage” that fills up when you strike them, not unlike Elden Ring.

Each enemy has a different sized “Guage”, with some enemies being much easier to Stagger than others, and each attack and Formae you use fills a different amount of this Guage. 

You can tell when an enemy is Staggered by the Red Diamond on your lock on reticle, and they will typically stop moving and attacking for a few seconds. This gives you an opening for a special drain attack that will replenish lots of Ichor, and should be the primary means of replenishing Ichor in most Boss battles.

Playing aggressively, and learning which or your Combat Formae and attacks deal the most stagger build up can make some fights go much more quickly, and can often top off your Ichor before moving on to the next set of enemies.