The Blood of Dawnwalker features an interesting take on a day/night cycle, turning it into into more of a resource than a timer. Here you will learn how this system works and a number of recommendations and tips how to use it to get the most out of it.
What are Time Segments?
Time Segments are how The Blood of Dawnwalker handles it’s day/night cycle. Instead of being a strict timer, each day and night are broken into 8 segments each, for a total of 16 for each in-game day. This is shown as a bar in the top right with the main quest and tracked quests directly below it.
After completion of the Prologue, the story will impose a 30-day limit to complete the main story. Combined with the Prologue of the story, means you’ll end up with 496 time segments to work with over the course of the story.
This will determine what quests you can do, when you can do them, or even if you should do them. It also works into your character progression, such as your Skill Points, where you’ll want to prioritize the best early skills to unlock.
While you’d assume that’s enough to do absolutely everything, it will go a lot quicker than you’d expect. Some quests will take multiple segments, while a small handful will use none.
When and How Time Segments are Consumed
In almost all cases, Time Segments are used when you choose to. This gives you full control over when these segments get used up.
Activities that will consume a Time Segment are clearly marked, whether it’ a quest step, or even a reward step like the image below.
However, there are certain quest objectives and combat events that will progress time as you approach, or complete them. You’re still given the choice, just in a slightly less direct way. These are indicated by the Time Segments glowing, as well as the sound of a ticking clock.
In addition to quests, Time Segments are also spent upgrading Perks and Skills. Not all of them will require them immediately, but most advanced levels, in particular ranks 3 and 4, will consume them. These are shown next to the Perk and Skill details, as well as in the bar below those details when viewing perks.
How many Time Segments are used for each Activity?
While the frequency of usage within quests can vary fairly wildly, there are just a handful of categories and costs you need to keep in mind. As such, we’ve created a simple table below showcasing these costs.
| Activity | Segment Cost |
|---|---|
| Waiting | 1 or more Time Segments |
| Minor Quests | 1 or more Time Segments |
| Major Quests | 3 or more Time Segments |
| Assigning Skill Points | 1 Time Segment |
| Max Level Skills / Ultimate Perks | 2 Time Segments |
There are a few exceptions to the rules above. Most notable many of the skills available early will not consume Time Segments.
The Journal Page will display the Time Segment requirement of the current steps, as well as the time remaining for any time limited quests!
How to Plan Your Days and Nights
It’s worth noting that in addition to having to manage your Time Segments, there are certain activities and content that can only be done during specific times of day.
You’ll want to keep this in mind as you use your Time Segments, and plan around the time-restricted activities below.
Daytime-Only Activities
The two biggest things you can actively seek out during the day are Astral Communion and Compel Soul Locations. These provide permanent bonuses to your character on completion, but require access to your Witchcraft skills which are only available during the day.
Beyond this, most shops in the game will be closed at night. If you looking for new Crafting Recipes, Crafting Materials, or even upgrading or purchasing new gear, do it during the day. This means it can be much easier to boost your power just from shopping during the day.
Lastly, some quest are also locked to daytime as well. This is due to many NPC retiring to their homes at night and locking their doors, making them inaccessible. Other will be in accessible or at least unable to be completed without the use of the Compel Soul Witchcraft skill.
Nighttime-Only Activities
If you’re looking to get at much done in as few time segments as possible, then one of the best thing you can do at night is to seek out Scouting Towers. These reveal several locations, as well as many of the high value Points of Interest in an area, giving you far more information to work with.
The main city of Svartrau as has some Curious Houses that are only open at night. In addition, after reaching Max Infamy, it will only be possible to enter Svartrau at night.
There are also a handful of Quests, Puzzles, and Combat challenges only available at night. many of these will involve or require the use of your Vrakhiri Skills to be able to complete.
Tips for Managing Your Time Segments
Given that you cannot complete everything in the game with the limited time you’re given, you do have to make choices. There are a few good ways to mitigate the downsides.
As a good general rule of thumb Waiting is the worst possible action to take at any given time. There’s always something that can be done at any time of day to boost character power instead of wasting the limited time you’re given.
Questing
Don’t be afraid to cheese the game by save scumming. Saving before a quest is always wise. Not every zone will offer highly rewarding quests, particular those in early zones. So it’s best save beforehand, and if the quest or quest chain doesn’t provide enough reward to be worthwhile, then it can be skipped in favor of more rewarding options.
Many quests that appear to “unlock” certain skills, also have alternative options through Skill Manuals scattered around the map. This can mean saving several Time Segments, as many of these quests will often consume several Time Segments, rather than the single one or possibly none used looting chests with Skill Manuals.
Regarding the final quest of the game, Time will stop progressing once crossing the “Point of No Return”. So if you were to trigger the Point of No Return with your final segment of a day or night, it will be locked that way until Brencis is defeated.
Your playthrough will also immediately end following Brencis’ defeat, you’re not released and given a chance to finish up any quests. There is a New Game+ coming, at which point what you’ve done will carry over to some extent, but otherwise your journey comes to a full stop.
Time will continue to progress even after the 30-day timer has elapsed, you’ll just be locked out of one of the game’s several endings. This can allow you to explore more of the map and do more quests. This lets you plan a more precise route for future playthroughs if achieving every ending for 100% completion is a goal.
Skill Points
Paying attention to where you are Time Segment-wise can also be very beneficial. if you’re playing a more general style, try to allocate Skill Points with the last few segments of the day or night. This makes it so as you go into the next half day, you’re making that style stronger so you can handle harder combat with it while giving you more time with that power boost.
Keep in mind that Skill Points are far more limited than time segments, with a Level cap of 50 and limited extra points from Quests. Without the ability to reset spent passives other than loading a previous save, it can be actively detrimental to toss points into whatever you currently have access to.
If your goal is to get an Ultimate Perk online ASAP, prioritize spending your Skill Points and Time Segments on Passives, as Ranking Up Skills will not count toward unlocking these potent passives.
