Crafting in The Blood of Dawnwalker is not an optional busywork system — it is how Coen keeps healing stocked for the parts of the day and night when nothing else will save him, and how he turns a mid-tier weapon into something that carries the back half of the game. Two separate systems share the word "crafting" in the community: the Crafting Panel (consumables made from Recipes and Ingredients) and equipment Upgrades (pouring Denarii into gear at a smith). They work differently, they live in different menus, and new players routinely ignore both until a boss wall forces the issue. This guide covers how each one works, where to do it, and the handful of forged items worth planning your route around.
Quick answer: Coen crafts consumables in the Crafting Panel using Recipes (learned from the world or bought from vendors) plus Ingredients; most consumables cap at 5 crafted at a time. Separately, you upgrade weapons and armor for Denarii at three NPCs — the Armourer in Maragir, the Blacksmith in Parlita, and Vera the Witch in the swamp west of Maragir Wealds. Upgrade cost rises with each level. The best gear in the game — the Enhanced Armor of the Arbiter and the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai — is forged through quests, not bought or dropped.
What is the difference between crafting and upgrading?
They are two different menus with two different currencies, and conflating them is the most common new-player mistake.
Crafting happens in the Crafting Panel and produces consumables — healing ointments, stamina tonics, and combat enhancements. It costs Ingredients (herbs, mushrooms, animal and monster parts, blood vials, alchemical reagents) and requires that you already know the Recipe. Per Fextralife's crafting breakdown, "Coen can craft strong consumables in the Crafting Panel. Unlike food, crafted consumables' effects are not reduced in combat." That single line is the reason crafting matters: the stat foods you pick up lose potency the moment a fight starts, but a crafted ointment does not. Most recipes have a craft limit of 5 — you can hold five of each at once — with the high-end Razkovniche Elixir limited to one at a time.
Upgrading happens at a smith and produces stronger versions of gear you already own. It costs Denarii, the in-game money, and the price climbs with each upgrade level. You do not need a recipe to upgrade; you need coin and the right NPC. This is where you sink gold once your questline weapon or armor is locked in — not into buying a fresh piece every few levels.
How does the Crafting Panel work?
Crafting consumables comes down to three things: a known Recipe, the Ingredients it calls for, and an open Crafting Panel. Coen finds new Recipes out in the world and can buy more from vendors — Vera the Witch, covered below, is a reliable Recipe and Ingredient source. For a full ingredient list the wiki points players to its Ingredients page, but the pattern is consistent: cheap health and stamina items use common foraged herbs and mushrooms, while the strongest brews demand monster parts and refined reagents.
The consumable catalogue is organized by what it buffs:
- Health — the ointment and salve line. A Minor Mending Ointment is just Canteen of Water plus two Ribwort Plantain; a Potent Vitality Balm needs Strong Spirits, three Aconite and a Tansy. Blood Infusions (Animal, Mortal's, Supernatural's) are the heavier healing tier and pull from blood vials and Tainted Marrow.
- Stamina — Revitalising Tonics and Vigour Infusions, built from Saffron Milk Cap, Parasol Mushroom, Green-Gilled Mushroom and Slippery Jack.
- Utility — Balms of Fortitude and the "Bane Brew" line (Beast's, Mortal's, Supernatural's) that tune your defenses to a specific enemy type, plus the one-at-a-time Razkovniche Elixir.
- Melee (Enhanced) — weapon coatings like Fortitude Paste, Razor Claw Vial and Keen Eye Potion that buff your attacks for a fight.
- Active Abilities (Enhanced) — powders and attunements (Powder of Sharp Mind, Aetheric Attunement, Vrakhiri Attunement) that feed your Witchcraft and Vampirism kit, built from Dust of Anachora, Vial of Aether and alchemical salts.
The practical takeaway: keep your five healing slots topped up before any quest marked as a point of no return, and craft the enemy-specific Bane Brew when you know a boss type is coming. Because crafted effects survive combat, a stocked panel is worth more than a backpack full of looted food.
Where do you upgrade weapons and armor?
Equipment upgrades happen at smiths, and there are three of them, each with the same menu layout but in different places:
The Armourer in Maragir. He sits on a stool in his shop in Maragir and also trades goods — you can sell to him and buy from his stock. Choose "Improve my equipment" to open the Upgrades menu. Your gear is listed on the left, the upgrade level and its Denarii cost sit in the middle, and a preview of the result is on the right.
The Blacksmith in Parlita. He is at the center of Parlita Town, in a shop on the street across from the Shrine. He upgrades weaponry and equipment and, usefully, sells the Growing Momentum Manual — a Swordmastery manual worth grabbing while you are paying him a visit. Per the wiki, "the Blacksmith's Upgrade menu shares the same appearance as the Armourer's," so once you have used one smith the interface is identical everywhere.
Vera the Witch. She is in the swamp to the west of Maragir Wealds, and she is the most valuable of the three because she does more than one job. As Fextralife's upgrades guide puts it: "Vera not only offers upgrades for your equipment, but you can also buy Recipes and Manuals that you can use to learn Perks and Abilities, and Ingredients that are used for crafting Recipes." In other words, Vera is where the two systems meet — she upgrades your gear and sells the Recipes and Ingredients that feed your Crafting Panel.
Because upgrade cost scales with the item's current level, the money-efficient play is to commit to a piece before you pour Denarii into it. Upgrading a weapon you are about to replace from a questline is wasted coin. Lock in your main-hand weapon and your day/night armor split first — see the best weapons and best armor sets guides for which pieces are worth the investment — then upgrade.
Which items are forged through quests?
The strongest gear in The Blood of Dawnwalker is not bought and not upgraded from a common base — it is forged as a quest reward, and these are the items to plan your route around.
The Enhanced Armor of the Arbiter is widely treated as the best armor in the game, and it works for both of Coen's personas — human by day, vampire by night. It is unlocked through the quest "A Bulwark Against Darkness," which becomes available at Infamy Level 4, and it is forged, not dropped: per launch coverage from GamesRadar and Eurogamer you gather its components — reported as Large Lizard Moult, Flask of Quicksilver, Silk Threads and a Relic of a Saint — and take them to a smith to complete the set. The flagship legendary weapon, the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai, is likewise forged — not found — through the "Forge It Anew" quest, which restores a broken blade in stages (Partly Restored, then Mostly Restored, then the Imbued version) into the highest-damage weapon on the board. If you are deciding where to spend the back half of the game, these two forges are the destination.
There is a second reason forging matters: with no respec and a 30-day time budget (in-game time only advances on significant action, so this is not a real-time countdown), you cannot afford to chase every piece of gear. Knowing which items are forge-locked lets you spend your days on the quests that actually produce the endgame set instead of grinding loot that a forge will outclass.
How do Perks and Abilities "upgrade"?
Worth clearing up, because the game uses "upgrade" for this too. Perks and Abilities level up with your character, not at a smith. You earn a Skill Point each time you level up and spend it at a road Shrine to rank up a Perk or Ability, which strengthens its effect. Before a rank becomes available you have to meet its condition: Swordmastery and Witchcraft ranks usually need you to find or buy the relevant Manual (another reason to visit Vera and the Parlita Blacksmith), while Vampirism abilities unlock by raising Corruption. Shrines double as your crafting-and-management hub — some need repairing first, which costs a segment of time — and that is also where you manage inventory, fast-travel and wait. For the full progression picture, the skill tree guide and how to level up fast break down the trees and the time-cost of each rank.
FAQ
Can you craft weapons in The Blood of Dawnwalker? The Crafting Panel is primarily for consumables — healing ointments, stamina tonics and combat enhancements — and the wiki describes crafting as "the process of crafting consumable items or weapons." The headline gear, though, is forged through quests (the Enhanced Armor of the Arbiter and the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai) rather than built from scratch in the panel, so treat crafting as your consumable engine and quests as your weapon source.
Where do I upgrade my gear? At any of three smiths: the Armourer in Maragir, the Blacksmith in Parlita (who also sells the Growing Momentum Manual), or Vera the Witch in the swamp west of Maragir Wealds. All three open the same Upgrades menu via the "Improve my equipment" option, and each upgrade costs Denarii that scales with the item's current level.
What is the best way to spend Denarii? On upgrading gear you intend to keep, not on buying replacement pieces. Because upgrade cost rises with each level, commit to your main weapon and your day and night armor sets first, then invest. Spending Denarii on a weapon you are about to replace from a questline reward is wasted money.
How many consumables can I craft at once? Most recipes have a craft limit of 5, so you can hold up to five of each. The high-end Razkovniche Elixir is the exception and can only be crafted one at a time. Keep your healing recipes topped up before any quest flagged as a point of no return.
Do crafted items work better than food? Yes — and this is the whole point of crafting. Per the wiki, "unlike food, crafted consumables' effects are not reduced in combat." Looted food loses potency once a fight begins, while a crafted ointment or coating keeps its full effect, which is why a stocked Crafting Panel outperforms a backpack of gathered snacks.
Can I respec after upgrading my skills? No. There is no respec in The Blood of Dawnwalker — you cannot reset or redistribute spent Skill Points. Because ranking up skills also spends time segments that permanently advance the 30-day budget, plan your Perk and Ability investments before committing, rather than expecting to undo them later.
Want more? Browse our Blood of Dawnwalker guides for builds, bosses and progression.
