This guide will show you how to complete The Gilded Gauntlet and The Bittersweet Toast, the two quests required to defeat Ambrus. As well as the possible outcomes, rewards, and missable events.
How to unlock The Gilded Gauntlet Quest
The Gilded Gauntlet is unlocked after gaining enough notoriety with Ambrus. To do so, you can disrupt Blood Transports, Prisoner Transports, Leech Collectors, and Blood Cellars/Draining Dungeons. Any of these quests have Ambrus’ crest, which looks like a twin-headed dragon.
Important things to consider:
- Boss fight: Yes
- Item rewards: Yes
- Legendary rewards: Yes
- New abilities: Yes
Once Ambrus is angry enough, you must head to Maragir; this village is located on the east side of the vale. Freeing some of the people (Blood Transports) could also unlock a cutscene where these poor peasants will tell you about the challenge Ambrus wants to throw at you.
Once at Maragir, you learn that Ambrus is publicly challenging you to a duel. This unlocks the side quest The Bittersweet Toast.
The Bittersweet Toast Quest Walkthrough
You are approached by Erdene, a servant of Iulian Codrin. Iulian is a former noble who is now a trusted Ambrus’ vassal, but he wants the boyar dead. His idea is to perform a ritual to weaken Ambrus right before the duel.
If you happen to visit Iulian at night, he’ll offer a blood vial, but it’s no different from any other blood vial. It’s something more like a peace offering or an attempt to keep you from feeding on him.
Can you save Vera: All Possible Outcomes
In order to perform this ritual, Coen and Iulian need the help of Vera, a witch who lives near a swamp. You might have met her before doing this quest, but that does not affect the outcome.
After not finding her in her hut, you and Iulian look for her and eventually find Vera’s body. Fortunately, you can still find her notes in her hut. Meaning that the ritual can still be performed; all you need to do is find the missing ingredient.
In case you were wondering, there is no way to save Vera after you agreed to help Iulian. The only way for Vera to live is if you decline Iulian’s request during the conversation at his house. Doing so also unlocks her as a merchant.
Using Focus Mode reveals a slimy trail left by the creature who killed Vera, which also happens to be the source of the missing ingredient. The Pale Ravager is stronger and faster than other Tatzelwurms, but nothing excessive.
All you have to do is be careful about its jump, which deals area damage. The rest of its attacks are exactly the same as regular Tatzelwurms. Don’t forget to loot it to get the Tatzelwurm Gland.
Return to Iulian for the final preparations of the ritual. The idea is to create a poison that he will drink. Ambrus will drain his blood before the fight to feel strong and refreshed, but the poison will cause the exact opposite.
Should you add the Gland to the Brew?
Adding the gland to the brew would save Iulian from the poison. He is aware of this, but the loss of Vera hurts him immensely, and he doesn’t want to keep living. You must decide if you honor his death wish or prevent your new ally from dying.
If Iulian survives your entire playthrough, you’ll be able to talk to him during the Epilogue.
Perform The Ritual
Iulian makes it very clear that you should not stop or abandon the ritual, no matter how much he begs for it. After he drinks the brew, you must use Focus Mode to know which pillar should be activated with Astral Communion.
Each pillar will summon spirits that must be defeated before continuing with the next pillar. This is basically a more powerful Ancient Circle, meaning that you can only perform the ritual during daytime. The only difference between this ritual and regular Ancient Circles is that this challenge spawns more enemies.
The last pillar will spawn a Fallen Witch; she is the strongest enemy. However, there isn’t anything particularly dangerous about her since she just attacks with a knife. Think of a weaker version of Leonica.
With the Fallen Witch defeated, all that remains is for Iulian to finish the rest of the brew. This is the moment when he’ll beg you not to do this.
Ideally, you will force him to drink it. When it’s finally over, he’ll thank you for what you’ve done for him.
If for any reason you don’t want to force him, the ritual won’t be completed and it will count as a failed quest. Obviously, this also means that you won’t have an advantage against Ambrus.
Iulian tells you that you have a week until the effect wears off. However, you have to show up to the duel within a few days, or Ambrus will learn aboutIulian’s condition and bring another victim.
Talking to Ambrus: All Choices & Outcomes
As promised, Ambrus will be waiting, and he’ll even have a welcome committee with himself. Despite what you may think, Ambrus happens to have some honor and will fight you 1v1.
As Iulian said, Ambrus will feed on him right before the duel begins; the Boyar will ask if you want the first bite. This can be tricky because despite all the trouble you went to perform the ritual, it’s still possible to screw things up.
Here are all the possible outcomes for this conversation:
| Dialogue option | Result without Bittersweet Toast completed | Result with Bittersweet Toast completed |
|---|---|---|
| Gladly. To a juicy slaughter! | Ambrus and Coen feed on Iulian | Only Coen gets poisoned, and Ambrus laughs at you |
| I don’t drink from humans | Ambrus kills Iulian | Ambrus gets poisoned after stabbing Iulian |
| Letting a peasant drink first? What kind of a boyar are you? | You don’t feed on Iulian | Ambrus gets poisoned |
| I don’t trust anything you offer | You don’t feed on Iulian | Ambrus gets poisoned |
What makes this whole interaction funny is that no matter what you choose, after making your decision, Coen always has blood on his mouth. There’s no need to worry; this won’t affect your gameplay. It’s just a visual bug.
If you choose to poison him and drink his blood after winning the boss fight, you will be poisoned for the rest of the night. As a result, you lose health gradually (DOT damage), healing abilities and items are less effective, and you are staggered in the middle of the fight.
The poison debuff lasts 10 hours, but it does not persist into daytime or the following night. Any activity that involves spending time will help you get rid of it.
Fighting Ambrus: Mechanics & Tips how to beat him
Ambrus has an unblockable that consists of swinging his blade in a way that he’s able to hit you no matter where you are positioned. Obviously, this only applies if you are at close range.
The easiest way to counter this is by simply playing patiently. Despite the flashiness of this attack, it becomes easy to dodge once you have determined its range and speed. Time it correctly and you won’t have to worry about it.
Voracious Bite isn’t effective against Ambrus; he’ll prevent you from biting him regardless of how much health he has left. However, it is one of the few actions you can use to interrupt his unblockable attack.
You have to do 2 perfect blocks in a row to interrupt his attack chain instead of one like non-boyar enemies and enable a perfect riposte (if you have it).
After the first segment of his health bar is depleted, Ambrus can start casting Scarlet Shield. This ability absorbs damage and also heals Ambrus. You can use something like Dirt Trick to stall for a few seconds or simply try to avoid combat until it runs out.
When Ambrus is on his last health segment, he will summon clones that appear and attack in very fast sequences.
Despite the fact that they have a visible health bar, you don’t hurt Ambrus by dealing damage to them. I recommend that you simply dodge or block their attacks until the real Ambrus appears again.
Should you invite Ambrus?
There are two things that can happen after defeating Ambrus, depending on how you choose to defeat him. The first option is to simply kill him, which doesn’t come with additional consequences. He’ll just die like any other enemy.
Then, it’s the draining blood option, which is the one that interests us and is only available at night. Draining Ambrus’ blood will grant you the Scarlet Shield ability. This choice also takes both Coen and Ambrus to what is revealed to be the Vrakhiri hell, also known as “Anachora”.
This place is one that even Vrakhiris are terrified of. There is clearly someone or something wandering around, observing everyone who comes to this dreadful place, but the answer to that mystery is not revealed here.
What matters is the fact that Ambrus will ask you to “invite him in”. If you refuse, Ambrus will suffer for eternity in the Vrakhiri hell, and you’ll never hear from him again.
But if you let him in, his soul will live inside Coen. Every now and then, you’ll hear Ambrus react to your actions.
Rewards
Defeating Ambrus will grant you his Cuirass, the Crimson Shield ability (if you drained his blood), 500 XP, and one Skill Point. If you also completed The Bittersweet Toast, you gain an additional 250 XP.
How the Ambrus’ quest outcome affects the fight against Brencis (Spoilers!)
When you finally fight against Brencis, Ambrus will briefly assist you against his former boss. However, Brencis will reabsorb him, and you’ll need to fight Ambrus again.
This also applies to Bakhir and Xanthe. In the worst-case scenario, you fight against all three of them. Though I have to admit that it makes the fight a lot more interesting.
If for any reason you haven’t defeated Ambrus by the time Coen fights Brencis, you’ll have to defeat Ambrus at the Greifberg Castle. Absorbing him will not be an option anymore.
