4 ways to visit Svartrau in The Blood of Dawnwalker at max infamy

In preparing to fight Brencis within The Blood of Dawnwalker, you’re probably going to want to take out his court, composed of Ambrus, Xanthe, and Bakir.

Doing so will increase your infamy level and by the time you’ve killed all three Boyars, you’ll be at max infamy - even if you’ve only done enough court activities to activate each Boyar quest.

Being at max infamy within The Blood of Dawnwalker isn’t exactly fun.

In the early stages of the game as your infamy rises, Brencis may just erect new guard posts or raise prices in the valley.

Later, he’ll deploy headhunters but it’s when you reach maximum infamy that he’ll finally shut the walls to Svartrau, the map’s main city.

That can be a nuisance as there are many quests and activities featured within Svartrau’s walls, plus it’s where the vast majority of vendors are based.

Firstly, I’d recommend that you don’t take out your third and final Boyar until you’re confident that you won’t have to venture to Svartrau very much.

If the damage is done though, here are four ways you can travel to the city even at max infamy.

There’s a hidden shrine that is key to accessing Svartrau

If you haven’t yet read our top tips to avoiding wasting time, you most definitely should. There, destroyed shrines are highlighted as one of the game’s more time-wasting activities.

There are more than enough working shrines to facilitate travel around the map without you having to sacrifice one time segment for no real benefit.

There is, however, one exception and that’s the quest titled ‘Destroyed Shrines: A Hidden Shrine’ which appears on the map in Svartrau as a Curious House quest, located near the south-eastern entrance of the city.

You can only complete this quest at night as you need to shadowstep into the house via an upper floor balcony. Once inside, it won’t take you long to follow the quest’s instructions to restore the shrine, consuming one block of time.

The idea here is that Brencis doesn’t know about this shrine as it's located indoors so while all other shrines within Svartrau will become unusable at max infamy, this one remains working.

Once restored, you’re then free to use it as a human and a vampire, fast travelling in and out of the city even when its gates shut.

To state the obvious, you can shadowstep into the city at night

Brencis can’t do anything to prohibit your powers as a dawnwalker, so you’re still free to shadowstep into Svartrau at night, scaling the city’s walls.

It’s one thing to enter Svartrau at max infamy, it’s another to navigate the city as every guard will recognise you and try to kill you, prompting endless skirmishes as you try to make your way around.

It’s easier, then, to shadowstep across the city’s rooftops to avoid said guards. This technique is only useful if you have quests that can be done at night as vendors will not be open.

There’s a hole in the city’s wall that allows for access to Svartrau as a human

If you need to access Svartrau during the day and you haven’t yet restored the hidden shrine, worry not.

This tip also helps those who reach max infamy while in Svartrau as a human and are struggling to escape.

Near the south-eastern entrance of the city, near to where that hidden shrine quest is located, you’ll find a hole in the city’s walls - not too far from Greifberg Castle.

If you can spot that aforementioned shrine on the map, the hole is located near the two green trees illustrated nearby.

Alternatively, there’s some scaffolding and ladders you can make use outside of the city walls east of the shrine in The Middens which also allows for human access into the city.

There’s only one ‘solution’ when it comes to facing the city’s guards

None of these tips eliminate the problem of every guard recognising and wanting to kill you once you’re in the city.

In fact, there is no clear cut solution to that, otherwise there would be no tangible punishment from Brencis for reaching max infamy.

However, if you’re really stuck, the only advice we can offer is this: temporarily lower the difficulty to story mode.

You’ll still have to slog your way through fighting every single guard; once you’ve fought one, it feels like every other one in the city hones in on your location.

In story mode though, you should be able to scratch and slash your way through them without too much struggle.

Once every guard is wiped out, you can readjust your difficulty settings if required and carry on going about your business with no guards left to bother you.