Blood of Dawnwalker Mounts Guide: How to Travel Faster Explained

Exploring a huge open-world RPG is one of my favorite parts of the experience. There is something satisfying about spotting a strange ruin in the distance, wandering into a forest you have never visited before, and somehow ending up fighting something that definitely looks like it should have been left alone.

The Blood of Dawnwalker seems built around exactly that kind of exploration. Its world is packed with gloomy forests, forgotten locations, monster-infested areas, fortified camps, mysterious shrines, and plenty of vertical terrain. The problem is obvious: all of this space needs to be crossed somehow.

And that leads to a question I kept seeing from players: Does The Blood of Dawnwalker have mounts?

If you’re expecting to find a horse, vampire beast, giant wolf, or another traditional RPG mount, there is some bad news. But honestly, after looking at how the game’s traversal systems work, I don’t think the lack of mounts is necessarily a problem.

Instead of giving the protagonist a horse and calling it a day, the game uses supernatural abilities and fast travel to make movement fit its dark fantasy setting much better.

Does The Blood of Dawnwalker Have Mounts?

Let’s get the most important question out of the way first.

No, The Blood of Dawnwalker does not feature traditional rideable mounts.

You won’t be buying a horse from a stable, taming an animal in the wilderness, or unlocking a special creature after completing an important quest. There isn’t a conventional mount system where you summon your favorite animal whenever you need to cross the map.

At first, that might sound like a strange decision for an open-world RPG.

Personally, though, I think it makes sense.

The protagonist isn’t exactly a typical fantasy hero. Vampirism and supernatural abilities are at the heart of the experience, so giving the character a magical transformation that improves mobility feels much more appropriate than throwing a saddle on a horse.

The game essentially replaces the traditional mount with character-based traversal abilities.

And one of the most useful options comes from your vampiric powers.

The Wolf Transformation Is Your Closest Thing to a Mount

If you’re looking for the fastest way to travel manually, the wolf transformation is the ability you need to pay attention to.

Rather than riding an animal, your character can actually become one.

The transformation comes from the Shapeshift ability in the Vampirism progression system. You can access this progression through the Shrines scattered throughout the world.

Once you’ve unlocked Shapeshift, traveling at night becomes a completely different experience.

To transform, you need to be in the appropriate nighttime conditions, begin sprinting, and press L3 by clicking the Left Stick on your controller. Your character then changes into a fast-moving wolf form.

It’s a simple mechanic, but it makes a surprisingly big difference.

Running through a dark forest as a wolf just feels right for this game. It is considerably more immersive than watching your character ride a generic horse across another fantasy map.

How to Unlock the Wolf Form

The basic process looks like this:

1. Find a Shrine somewhere in the world.
2. Open the Shrine’s progression or perk menu.
3. Enter the Vampirism skill path.
4. Unlock Shapeshift.
5. Wait until nighttime.
6. Start sprinting and press L3 to activate the wolf transformation.

The important limitation is that the wolf form is tied to nighttime.

That restriction is actually one of the more interesting parts of the system. Instead of simply giving you a permanent speed boost, the game makes the day-night cycle matter.

Why the Wolf Form Is So Useful

Speed is obviously the main reason to use the wolf transformation, but that’s not the only advantage.

The wolf form also makes navigating difficult terrain much more comfortable because it comes with reduced fall damage.

That might sound like a small bonus on paper. It isn’t.

Open-world games love cliffs.

You see a marker on the other side of a mountain, realize the road is taking you in the completely wrong direction, and immediately start wondering whether jumping down the slope is going to save time or send you to the loading screen.

With reduced fall damage, the wolf form becomes much more forgiving when you’re moving through rocky and uneven environments.

For me, that’s one of the biggest reasons I would use it even when the destination isn’t particularly far away.

Nighttime Is Basically Traversal Mode

The connection between nighttime and movement goes beyond Shapeshift.

If you invest in the right abilities, the night becomes the best period for exploration in general.

One particularly useful skill is Shadowstep. This ability allows you to climb vertical surfaces during nighttime, opening up routes that simply aren’t available during the day.

Put the two abilities together and you get a pretty impressive traversal combination:

Wolf form for speed + Shadowstep for vertical movement.

Suddenly, the environment stops feeling like a collection of obstacles and starts feeling more like a playground.

You can move quickly across open terrain, deal with steep areas more easily, and reach elevated locations that would otherwise force you to search for a conventional path.

That’s especially useful if you’re trying to clear the map rather than simply rushing through the main story.

Monster Lairs, Bandit Camps, collectibles, mysterious locations, and other exploration objectives become much easier to reach when you’re not constantly forced to follow roads.

What About Traveling During the Day?

This is where things get slightly less exciting.

The wolf transformation isn’t available whenever you want. During the daytime, you’ll have to return to your normal form and rely on conventional movement.

Fortunately, there is another skill that helps.

The Witchcraft progression path contains a passive ability called Mercurial Fervour. This skill improves your basic running speed during the day.

It doesn’t turn you into a supernatural racing machine, and it obviously doesn’t completely replace the wolf transformation. But it helps reduce the difference between daytime and nighttime exploration.

And honestly, I like this setup.

It gives the player a reason to think about when they’re exploring instead of treating the day-night cycle as nothing more than a visual effect.

Day vs. Night Travel

Don’t Ignore Shrines

If you’re exploring the world of The Blood of Dawnwalker, I’d recommend activating every Shrine you come across.

Seriously.

Even if you’re not interested in changing perks at the moment, unlocking these locations can save you a ridiculous amount of time later.

Shrines function as important points on the world map and can be used as part of the game’s fast travel system. Once you’ve discovered and activated the relevant locations, you can move between them instead of manually crossing the entire world.

This is particularly useful when side quests start sending you back and forth between different regions.

There is nothing worse than finishing a quest, receiving another objective on the opposite side of the map, and realizing you’re about to spend ten minutes running through terrain you’ve already seen.

Fast travel exists specifically to prevent that kind of repetition.

Vrakhiri Transport Adds Another Layer of Fast Travel

Shrines aren’t the only way to reduce travel time.

The world also contains Vrakhiri Transport locations, which function as another transportation option between important areas and regions.

I would strongly recommend using these systems together rather than relying on just one.

Think of it like this:

• Wolf form is for getting around quickly yourself.
• Mercurial Fervour makes daytime movement less painful.
• Shadowstep lets you bypass vertical obstacles at night.
• Shrines handle fast travel between unlocked locations.
• Vrakhiri Transport helps connect larger regions.

That combination is much more flexible than a basic horse system would have been.

The Best Way to Explore the Map

If your goal is simply to finish the main story, you probably don’t need to worry too much about optimizing movement.

But if you’re the kind of player who wants to explore every corner of the map, the difference is huge.

My preferred approach would be to treat nighttime as the primary exploration window.

Use the wolf transformation to cover large distances, combine it with Shadowstep when the terrain gets vertical, and take advantage of the reduced fall damage when navigating rough areas.

During the day, rely on Mercurial Fervour and conventional running for shorter trips.

Then, whenever the destination is genuinely far away, stop running entirely and use fast travel.

That sounds obvious, but it’s surprisingly easy to fall into the open-world habit of simply running everywhere because the game allows you to.

Don’t.

You’ll save a lot of time by making the transportation systems work for you.

Are Mounts Really Necessary?

This is probably where my personal opinion differs from some players.

I understand why people want mounts.

A horse is practically an open-world RPG tradition at this point. You see a giant map and immediately think, Where’s my horse?

But I don’t think The Blood of Dawnwalker needs one.

The wolf transformation fits the setting better, and the fact that it is restricted to nighttime gives the game’s world structure more personality.

There’s also something much cooler about becoming a supernatural creature and tearing through a dark forest than sitting on a horse while gothic architecture passes by in the background.

Would I complain if the developers eventually added another traversal option? Absolutely not.

But I wouldn’t consider the absence of horses a major weakness.

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Tips for Faster Travel in The Blood of Dawnwalker

If you’re trying to minimize wasted time while exploring, keep these habits in mind:

• Activate Shrines whenever you discover them. They become extremely valuable later.
• Unlock Shapeshift if fast nighttime travel is important to you.
• Use wolf form for long manual journeys at night.
• Invest in Shadowstep if you enjoy exploring difficult or vertical terrain.
• Pick up Mercurial Fervour if you’re spending a lot of time exploring during daylight.
• Use fast travel for major cross-map journeys instead of running everywhere.
• Don’t be afraid to take advantage of the terrain. The movement abilities are designed to let you approach the world from different angles.

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Final Thoughts

So, are there mounts in The Blood of Dawnwalker?

No traditional rideable mounts are available. There are no horses waiting in stables and no fantasy creatures to summon when you get tired of walking.

But after looking at the alternatives, I don’t think the game is really missing them.

The Shapeshift wolf form gives nighttime exploration a completely different feel, while Shadowstep adds vertical mobility and Mercurial Fervour makes daytime travel faster. Once you start unlocking Shrines and using the Vrakhiri Transport network, long-distance travel becomes much less of a chore.

Personally, I think this approach suits the game far better than simply adding another horse.

The world of The Blood of Dawnwalker is dark, supernatural, and dangerous. Moving through it should feel like part of that fantasy. Turning into a wolf and sprinting through the night certainly does.

And if you’re planning to explore everything the map has to offer, I’d make Shapeshift one of the first movement-related abilities you prioritize. Once you get used to it, going back to ordinary running during the day feels painfully slow.

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