Blood West

Blood West

43 ratings
Grimm's notes and tips.
By Mr. Grimm
A collection of my notes taken while playing this game. Made out of spite because this game is terribly documented and information online is disjointed and all over the place. Also contains some tips and such for the inexperienced or timid people.
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Contributor Credit
Oddly enough you can't add people as contributors unless they're on your friends list so I've decided to make this a section instead.

GabThatGuy: Prodigal Daughter and Wendigo bestiary locations
Foreword and what to expect
This is the first guide I've made, I'm also inexperienced with writing and structure that is legible (even to myself) so bear with me.

This guide at it's conception will mostly contain very dry notes on loot of interest, namely legendary weapons, key and safe locations and some bestiary locations (I have yet to go back and document chapter one extensively). It also contains tips for newer or timid folk as I see much debate over the game's difficulty so I figured I'd share what works for me.

This guide is also a work in progress, and will be updated as I play.

With all that being said, we may move on.
The Skill Tree
This game is mostly gear based, skills just make certain playstyles easier. Don't be shy to bring along some serious firepower even if you're doing stealth, and don't forget to bring along a melee weapon no matter the situation. It's always nice to have a backup in the worst circumstances.

To be frank, the skill tree is rather ♥♥♥♥. Why, you may ask? It's because skills are not additive. Meaning that 'Self Taught' gives a meagre +15% xp at max level rather than +30%. Once you know this it's pretty easy to see how much you're getting ripped off per skill point. It does not help new player confusion that the skills use the words "further increases" as if they stack. Should probably change that.

Universally useful

That being said, there are a few skills that are valuable no matter what, namely gold prospector, strong back, medical training, thick skinned, bloodless, pitcher and comfort weapon.

Skill prices will be shown in brackets for each level, if there is a question mark it means I haven't bothered levelling the skill up enough to see the final upgrade cost.

- Gold Prospector (1/1/1) can be maxed out as early as your first level (and i recommend doing so) costing only 1 skill point at each tier. It's primary usage is for its tier 3 bonus: +30% chance for loot on monsters. This helps get your economy going via sold items, helped by the first tier of +10% shop prices. It also means getting more artifacts of off rarer enemies such as wendigos and wraiths. This will very likely be your primary means of making money throughout the game.

- Strong Back (2/2/3) offers something unique and universally valuable: storage space. It does this by giving you more storage directly as well as making previously unstackable items like bird feathers and wendigo hearts stackable. It also allows you to stack bullets and bandages higher as well. Pretty pricey at 2/2/3 but well worth it in my opinion as you will scavenge and hunt so much stuff that storage is constantly at a premium.

- Medical Training (2/3) Also quite pricey, but well worth it and combos well with Strong Back. At max level it doubles bandage healing from 10 to 20 and stacks up to 7, meaning 140 points of healing per stack with the added bonus of stopping bleeding AND it does all that over just 2 seconds! A stack of 3 bandages can be bought for around 1/3rd of the price of a healing potion and on top of that take up half the space. Highly recommended, it gives you *so* much more endurance before a rest.

- Bloodless and Thick Skinned (1/1/? for both) Pretty simple to see why, -25% from common damage sources for only 1 point is a pretty easy pick. Bloodless becomes incredibly valuable in chapter 2 especially. Again, diminishing returns at higher levels but it's a pretty cheap skill, I usually get the first level in each and then leave them til later.

- Pitcher (1/1/?) Throwables are quite handy when you need to crack a hard target, namely wendigos, later death stalkers and skin collectors. Optional but nice to have, especially in chapter 2 with how tough the big dudes are. (Quick tip, you don't have to put points into this until chapter 2, 1 dynamite stick is enough to 1-shot a wendigo from full health. Death Stalkers will eat that ♥♥♥♥ for breakfast and then have you for brunch.)

- Comfort Weapon (2/1/?) This one is good but optional tbh. It's one of the ripoff skills giving you most of the utility at first level. I use it mostly as a means to facilitate faster travel via stamina regeneration so I spend less time travelling to murder ♥♥♥♥ and more time murdering ♥♥♥♥.

Build Specific

- Gunslinger (2/2/3) and Quick Fingers (1/1) These depend on whether you prefer to use guns or bows/crossbows (<-- these show up in chapter 2) and are rather self explanatory, helping with reload speed for both along with utility.

From my extensive playtime during chapter 2 I can say with complete confidence that these skills are absolutely worth taking. Quick Fingers practically removes the chance that bolts and arrows will break. Gunslinger meanwhile gives you a really solid chance of landing a crit for HUGE damage. Use with the buffalo rifle for absurd results, i bullied the boss because of this skill. Fanning for revolvers doesn't sound like much until you get it and realise you've pretty much turned it semi-auto. They fire *so* fast, you can easily kill 3 cultists in as many seconds or less with good aim.

- Gotcha! (2/2/?) and Steady Aim (2) Great for ranged, terrible for melee (how shocking).

- Fast Hands (1/2/?) A rather small bonus that nonetheless allows you to swing at a more comfortable speed letting you stunlock chapter 1 enemies easier. This is mostly useful in the event you miss their head as most common enemies you can one shot headshot with the rusty knife.

- Practice Makes Perfect (1/2/?) Lets you swing like a maniac for longer.

Begrudgingly useful

- Alive and Kicking! (2/3/?) I felt the mirth leave my body when I took this skill. It says +15% max hp but that is a LIE. It's actually just +15% of your BASE hp, which may as well be +15. I tested this with a fully upgraded gold coin necklace (+100 hp) and it was still only giving +15. The only reason that this isn't going in complete trash is because permanent extra health is useful, even if it's overpriced and underwhelming.

Complete TRASH

- High Tolerance (who/♥♥♥♥♥♥♥/cares) is so bad. Alcohol increases weapon sway, which is negated by Steady Aim which you'd want anyway for ranged stuff. But guess what? You can just wait a bit and the booze will wear off on it's own! Hell, it might just wear off before you get to wherever you're travelling! It also has no effect on melee builds! This skill ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sucks and if I catch you spending points into it I will feed you to the leeches.

The others

If they're not listed here I have not used them extensively and cannot attest to their efficacy and how good they are on the skill point/gain ratio.
Starting tips for combat; A primer on righteous fury (WIP)
This all applies for chapter 1. Later chapters are different beasts all together and require more grace, though I will say that once you get your footing in them they're quite manageable.

Let's get one thing straight; murder is easy. It's piss easy. You can clear whole cave systems with the rusty knife if you know what you're doing. It's mostly a matter of knowing how to pick fights and managing equipment, but all this is obvious so let me be more specific.

- Stealth is reliable, but time intensive. You can clear damn near any location completely undetected but it'll take a looong time to do so. Stealth in this game boils down to playing red-light green-light with the detection bar and most stealth items just serve to make it less tedious.

- Stealth is flexible in this game. You can get away with charging enemies with a knife and stabbing them in the face, it's quite fun and is my preferred method of clearing act 1 with melee. Gun sounds have a surprisingly short distance at which they notify enemies, but it's something you get a feel for.

- Straight combat is viable, so long as you know what you're doing. That means hitting headshots is a must as most enemies can take a decent few body shots before they go down. It also means taking the right gear such as buffs from liquor and potions and packing the right ammo for the job. Make sure you bring spare bandages and a couple red potions in case things go sour.

Ammo types

As I have yet to use the buffalo rifle or the crossbow extensively I can not give their ammo a proper review.

- Standard rounds can be fired in a relatively liberal manner as they drop from birdmen and Prodigal Daughters fairly often.

- Gold rounds are highly valuable problem solvers. Save these for wraiths, large monsters and bosses, anything else is does these beasts a disservice.

- Silver rounds are used for killing ethereal enemies, mostly spirits, however these can also be killed from one short range shotgun blast (make sure most/all the pellets hit) and thus silver ammo is best saved for usage in later chapters or for spirit adjacent enemies such as birdmen.

- Flame rounds are good for chapter 1's armored enemies aka the coffin zombie as it bypasses the armor and burns them directly. This can be achieved with 2 rounds of short or shot ammo.

- Throwables: Dynamite is good for clearing hordes and for killing big beasts and can 1 shot the big boy of chapter 1 (the wendigo). Molotovs are weaker across the board in comparison, being quite poor at area denial due to having a small pool of fire and being unable to kill big beasts. They're still useful for common tough enemies like coffin zombies and skin collectors (ch.2) and can be used decently on the rare occasion enemies bunch up in one spot.

Potions and Booze and Buff Items (WIP)

- Bowler Hat: Quite useful with minimal drawbacks, recommend keeping 1 or 2 in case of ambient spirit swarms or a wendigo encounter and bring a couple for the chapter 1 boss

- Gold Mead: A favorite. One of the few items that directly increases your movement speed, and it does so for quite a while. I like to keep one on me in case I don't feel like spending time travelling but don't want to use a chicken head.

- Red Steed: It's kinda meh but the others are so good it's not really a fair comparison. The whole buff package is nice a bit niche as single targets in melee will likely be stunlocked to death and prolonged melee with more than one target is downright suicidal.

- Healing Potion: Worth carrying around even if you have upgraded bandages as it allows you to stack their healing.

- Yellow River: Great potion, useful in all circumstances whether that be traversal or hectic combat.

- Green Snake: This ain't no snake oil. A great choice for melee users, allows you to do ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like walking up to a wendigo and beating it to death* (*without fear of reprisal, you can beat them to death without these but it's much less safe).

- Purple Revival: I tend to save these for cursed artifacts (ch.2) or for when I get one of the really ♥♥♥♥ curses (stuff like -XP or -Stamina), usually I take blessing of the cat to ignore the curse mechanic completely.

- Sure Shot, Rose Bonbon, Owl's Shadow: These are all pretty straightforward buffs. Fairly rare out in the world, so save them for a special occasion. These are wasted on chapter 1.

- Long Jack Cigars: These are only useful for ranged people, and aren't even really worth it in my opinion. Fairly rare, you can smoke 'em to feel cool or before a boss fight, just make sure you have enough as the debuffs are insanely debilitating.

- Whetstones: A nice buff to melee damage. Not really worth wasting on chapter 1 enemies as they're just so weak.

- Golden oil: Fantastic buff for melee people and a nice amount of cash for everyone else. If you waste this stuff on chapter 1 big G will look upon thee disappointed. Use for bosses and big boys in chapter 2 and beyond exclusively.
Tips for enemies; Chapter 1
Common

- Animated dead: Can be killed by anything, even a rusty knife to the skull. Can cause bleeding and do a lunge attack, dangerous in numbers, non-threatening on it's own. You can charge these guys head on, most of the time they'll roar at you and get their head split for the trouble.

- Miners: Even more pathetic than animated dead, these poor bastards can't even leap. Complete fodder, nothing notable.

- Coffin dead: deceptively tanky and sneak attacks have a decent chance to hit the coffin and alert them by accident. Easily dealt with via 2 flaming rounds of either type or a molotov as the fire will burn them through their armor. Can throw stakes from the coffin, loses this ability and speeds up when the coffin breaks.

- Birdmen: The bane of new players methinks. Predicts where you're going to go and fires there instead. Can be baited into firing six shots at which point they will reload leaving them vulnerable. Dodges on occasion and seems to do so more frequently when aimed at. Considered a partial spirit and is thus vulnerable to silver though they're not really worth it.

- Prodigal Daughter: Wields a shotgun in one arm and vicious claws in the other. Highly damaging, can be baited into firing both rounds (though it is quite dangerous to do so) at which point she will reload. The front of her face is protected from headshots by a mask, knocking this off will enrage her and cause her to run constantly. If you run up and heavy stab her in the mask you'll have enough time to do her head in before she can fire.

- Humanipede: Spits gobs of acid upon noticing the player, predicts where you'll move and aims accordingly. Missed shots turn into puddles of acid which do light damage. I'm unsure if these puddles can do friendly fire or not. They also have a melee attack at close range, but are more likely to run away and put some distance between you and them.

- Spirit: Common ethereal enemy, vulnerable to silver and difficult to kill until a shotgun (or the orb of night) is acquired, these can kill with regular bullets.

- Wendigo: Not quite as tough as they seem, but still respectably dangerous. Can sprint on all fours and cause bleeding on a swing. Usually summons spirits upon sighting the player. You can fire on its chest cavity to destroy the skulls there and nullify the ability, though this will enrage the beast and cause it to sprint constantly. Can be easily killed with a stick of dynamite, 2 golden shotgun shots to the head or a few more golden short rounds to the head* (*When alerted. I've 1-shot a wendigo with surprise damage before).

Uncommon

- Wraith: located in the top left corner of the map along the ridge these dudes are mean as hell. Will chase you for ages, wields twin guns and I personally haven't seen them reload. Vulnerable to silver, but more than that has a vulnerability to gold. Only engage with silver or gold and bring a Bowler's Hat just in case.

- Scallywag: Only one is seen at the farm. Wields a sawn-off and molotovs, has a thick skull. Honestly I can't say much about them, they become a common enemy throughout chapter 2 but they die so fast I've never seen them actually throw a molly. Major source of shotgun ammo and mollies in chapter 2.

The giant tree that makes all of the rules

Beware that killing the boss immediately takes you to chapter 2 and you CANNOT RETURN. Finish your business before you fight it.

Collecting all of the cursed gold gives you a unique artifact that becomes quite handy during the fight. Skull will also tell you of a passage to the left where you can find seeds of evil. Destroying these hurts the boss before you actually have to fight him, making it much easier. Beware the sheer amount of enemies between you and the seeds. At the bottom is a chamber with a raven skull totem that will teleport you into the boss arena.

Pretty easy boss fight, bring some Bowler Hat, plenty of flame and golden rounds and you should be set. Attacks with easily avoidable floor spikes, the major threats are all the spirits it summons and the wendigos later on. I don't think they can summon more spirits, they just sprint at you and claw you to death.
Loot notes below, spoilers
I haven't played this game since chapter 1 was still the sole chapter you could play. One thing I learned upon returning is that legendary weapons were changed so that they can be at random preset spots within a local area; meaning that if an item is specified to be in a certain zone but not precisely where I noted it, it's still in the area and just takes some searching. Extensive testing and documenting of all spawn points is a pain in the ass since it requires multiple playthroughs which do not guarantee a different result each time, so this info will likely not be fleshed out with my knowledge alone.

Additionally, these notes are mine copy+pasted from steam's relatively new notes feature with no regard for readability beyond basic info, so if you notice them unformatted or like they were written by the mentally ill that's why.

Read this.

One more thing I figured I'd drop here in case you skip over the rest, the stash is unlimited. Double-click to transfer items and the stash will automatically expand.
Chapter 1 notable loot (Bestiary incomplete)
Keys

- 1 in the top left canyon camp in the second tent from the ramp near the wendigo's patrol route

- 1 under the railway bridge at the north end, and by 'under' i don't mean in the canyon but on the platform. this can be accessed safely via the destroyed crane on the south side, there is a rope you can use to climb down.

- 1 near the eevil pit, from the fort entrance go to the left into the cave, it's guarded by a wendigo

Safes

- 1 in town upper saloon floor, contains 4 cigars and $500

- 1 in the fort's south west warehouse (building facing the wooden bridge) contains $444 and Depths of Tahoe (Enemies dont respawn on death, each attack on esoteric enemies heals 5 hp, esoteric enemies deal 50% more damage)

- 1 by the crashed train, contains golden oil, a rusty lever-action rifle, and a few of each type of short round.

Legendary weapons

- Living Vines (axe) is in the canyon cave under the bridge (yes it's there one time there was a bug with the spawn)

- Hermit Stick (shotgun) is in a small nook near the boss door at the end of the canyon, you need to go up above the door then drop down behind the fence.

- Decapitator (sawn-off shotgun) is located in open grave behind the church

- The others are sold by Jim Hooper and the Shaman

Bestiary (Incomplete, Spirit missing)

- Animated Dead - in the tutorial area right after you get the axe and face the 2 animated dead near a skeleton

- Coffin Zombie - located near fort safe (small building on south west facing the wooden bridge)

- Humanpede - mining town left most building (the destroyed hotel)

- Miner - cave near the first safe point before the bridge

- Birdman - Jim Hooper's safe zone

- Prodigal Daughter - south side of the bridge past the crane and animated dead near a skeleton. Credit: GabThatGuy

- Wendigo - In the altar room under the church. When first entering and facing the altar it will be to the left on the bottom floor on one of the shelves. Credit: GabThatGuy

Black Raven Skull(s?)

- in the cave near the first safe point before the bridge. much quicker to access from the "secret" rock path leading down to the canyons. from the "secret" entrance head to the left path all the way. it's behind the crate with the clock on it. don't use it unless you're ready.
Chapter 2 notable loot (Bestiary incomplete)
Keys

- 1 located at the sawmill on the second floor of the red building

- 1 in a secret cavern towards the north. from the intersection that creates an X, go to the bottom right fork to the end of the bridge, then jump down to the water. there will be a moss covered cave entrance with bones nearby. within go to the left then right through the broken boards, then into the first hole on your right.

- 1 north of the alligator farm in the cultist camp by the tied up skeletons

- 1 north-east of the alligator farm (more east than north) at a red shack surrounded by 2 death stalkers.

- 1 at the fort in the building to the right of the main (eastern) entrance on the ground floor to your left after you walk inside

- 1 at the fort in the southern side of the crane/barrel room under a stool

- 1 located on the top floor of the golden herring, a ship docked to the northwest past the town. it's on the top floor in the captain's quarters on a book on top of a stand.

- 1 located inside the easternmost entrance to the cultist caves (the one guarded by a wendigo). go up the ramp and it'll be on a barrel near the first encountered cultist

- 1 deep inside of the eastern cultist cave entrance (the one that leads to the lower caves)

- 1 being sold by The Madame (aka Annabelle)

Safes (Complete?)

I'm not sure if I got all of them. There are a ♥♥♥♥ load of keys and I think that's because one of the main missions requires a golden key but I might be wrong and just missed them.

- 1 at the sawmill, can't miss it. right next to Twen's doll in the cellar. contains gold shotgun ammo, 1 gold coin, 1 gold nugget and nitro ammo.

- 1 at the northern ship. go to the bed symbol, then to the top floor, it's right next to it. contains silver short and shotgun ammo, various silver sellables, a raven skull and $300.

- 1 at the fort in the building to the right of the main (eastern) entrance on the ground floor directly in front of you once you walk inside. contains silver short rounds, a crow skull, cigar box and $250

Legendary weapons

As far as I can tell there's no legendary revolver in this chapter (I'm sad too, we can cry together)

- Bloody Hunt (bow) is located at the sawmill on the second floor of the red building on the left crate right as you enter through the doorway

- Second Coming (buffalo rifle) is located at mark stone's house, aka the burned down building to the west of the sawmill. bonus: the fireweed plant is also located here! BEWARE; THIS LOCATION IS SURROUNDED BY NO LESS THAN 3 DEATH STALKERS.

- Last Breath (shotgun) is located on the top floor in the engine room of a ship to the east of the sawmill. can be found easily by going to the bed symbol. it's surrounded by wraiths and spirits, so bring silver ammo.

- Hedera (lever-action rifle) is located at the alligator farm on the west side in front of the building with the sign "buying-in and storage". it's on the very top of the building, you'll have to climb some barrels and crates to reach it. Alternative spawn point is in an open top barrel to the right of the gunsmith.

- Emerald Eyes (sawn-off shotgun) located north-east of the alligator farms (more east than north) at a red shack surrounded by 2 death stalkers.

- Iron Thorn (crossbow) located to the south-east of the alligator farm (or north of the skin seeker fort) at the rock formation near a boulder with a partially crushed skeleton.

- The Left Hand Path (Axe) located to the east of the fort in a mine built into the cliff. go all the way down til you reach the boarded up paths then continue straight and to the left into an area with 2 skin collectors. the axe will be at the far side of the pool of water.

- Endless Hunger (Knife) located to the south of the hub on a farm where the red line ends on the map. once inside the main house just go up the ladder and it'll be right there.

- The Edge (Saber) located on a ship docked northwest of the town on the top floor through a ladder located towards the back end near the propeller. go up and to your right and it should be right there.

- Four Winds (Tomahawk) located within the cultist caves at the point that is lowest on the map on top of a crate

Bestiary pages (Incomplete, Cultist missing)

- Depths Hunter (called leech in game, it's the gator enemy) is at the northern ship next to the bed symbol. go to the top floor and it's right there.

- Death Stalker and Skin Collector are both within the starting safe zone, just search around a little.

- Wraith is located at the alligator farm. i forgor to right it down immediately so the specifics elude me.

- Skin seeker is located beside the bed at the fort. go into the underground area from the western entrance then up the ladder to your right.

- Rougarou is located in the church of the town to the west.

- Scallywag is northwest of the town in a saloon across from the Golden Herring (the big ship). on the second floor you need to head behind the bar into the kitchen then down the ladder and it'll be right there

- Drowner is in the tree fort near the west cultist caves entrance. one of the trees has a rope leading up top, climb that then go to the opposite side of the structure you just climbed, the page will be right on the ground by some animal skins

Black Raven Skull location(s?)

From what I've read one of these is randomly spawned around the map. Much like with legendary weapon random spawns these would be a pain in the ass to personally verify on my own so if you spot one elsewhere and want to contribute just show me a screenshot or some form of proof and I'll add it to the guide.

- 1 is to the north of the top hub entrance/exit (yellow dot) in a stump along the hub's bank. you can actually see the stump in question if you stand at the entrance and look directly north. it's the first to the left from where you're looking.

- 1 is in the fort safe room on the top of the shelf, you need to jump to see it.

Secret passages

- 1 at the sawmill on the south side to the east of the docks. leads right into the cellar near Twen and her doll.

Special Items

- Fireweed (Annabelle's favorite flower) Located at the burned shack to the far northwest

- The Cure Located to the north of the skin seeker fort (which can be found following the north road on the map) at a large rock formation with spirits swirling around it. Be warned, there are 3 wraiths here.
21 Comments
Mr. Grimm  [author] 22 Oct @ 4:26pm 
Hey folks just FYI; a case of (LIFE) happened and I couldn't update for about 9 months. I have NO IDEA how up to date any of this info is so take it with a grain of salt. I can dig back through patch notes and use personal experience for when I give this game another whirl but if you can offer up some info about what's changed that'd be appreciated.
♥ Remi Kat ♥ 16 Jun @ 9:50pm 
Bro thank you so much for this guide man, crazy how much of the legendary weapons are missiable
Majber 30 May @ 4:15am 
is Self-taught now viable after rebalance?
bloodninja 29 Mar @ 4:17pm 
Thank you so much for putting in the work for this amazing title we had all been waiting almost 2 years to release from early access. I can't wait for your Chapter 3!! Did you know there are no guides for key locations for Chapter 2 online? Either there isn't any keyed safes or this game is criminally underrated to the point where information is just that sparse! Hope all is well with you, Mr. Grimm! :comradepuss:
Sinister Thoughts 25 Mar @ 12:41pm 
I also have had the living vines bug. very lame, I REALLY don't want to start a new game, I already have 13 hours in this play through.
sidneyc1990 6 Feb @ 2:29am 
The Coffin zombies are easily stealth killed just like any other zombie. You just need to aim for the legs when slashing. Try to avoid hitting the coffin.
Og-the-Trog 27 Dec, 2023 @ 8:40am 
btw the raven skull necklace in ch1 is in the northern burial ground, on a burial skiff at the southern tip of the area.
Wild Dice 26 Dec, 2023 @ 6:45pm 
Chapter 3 changed a lot of things.
Og-the-Trog 25 Dec, 2023 @ 1:09pm 
Anyone know where to find the raven skull necklace in ch1?
D3SSTROYER 15 Dec, 2023 @ 4:50pm 
Heads up Molotov really shines when it comes to boo hags in chapter 3 all it takes to kill one is just one Molotov and they will burn up and die. If you're having difficulty with the game try a stealth melee approach, it takes a little bit longer but most enemies can't damage you as easily in super close range/get staggered with charged melee plus 0 ammo cost.