Blood Welkin — Complete Strategy Guide

Overview

Blood Welkin is a first-person roguelite shooter developed by DeviousGlizzy, released June 24, 2026 on Steam at $3.99. You play as a soldier of the Royal Canadian 18th Infantry Battalion in a bleak alternate history where the Great War with France erupted in December 1899. The tagline "YOU. ARE. NOT. CRAZY." hints at a narrative where reality and madness blur.

The core loop: fight waves of cultists and Ascended Abominations in procedurally assembled arenas, collect upgrades between waves, build your kit, die, unlock meta-progression, and try again. Three weapon types, dozens of unique items, 23 Steam Achievements.

What makes it different from other roguelite FPS games:

• Three distinct weapon slots (melee, rifle, special) with no overlap — you must master all three
• Upgrades that fundamentally change weapon behavior rather than just boosting stats
• Abomination bosses with unique move sets requiring different strategies
• A dark narrative revealed through environmental storytelling
• Procedural arenas with exploitable environmental hazards

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Getting Started (First 30 Minutes)

Initial Setup

Blood Welkin has no tutorial. The game drops you into the arena with three default weapons. Here's what to do immediately:

1. Adjust mouse sensitivity. The default sensitivity is fast — expect to overshoot your aim. Start at 0.8x and adjust up as you get comfortable.

2. Remap dodge to a side mouse button if possible. Spacebar works, but binding dodge to a thumb button lets you keep all four fingers on WASD while dodging.

3. Play the demo first. A free demo covers the first 2 Abomination cycles. Beating it once before buying confirms the game runs well on your hardware.

4. Accept that you will die on the first Abomination. Every player does. The Abomination's wind-up animations are learnable — you just haven't seen them yet.

Beginner Mistakes That End Runs

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Core Mechanics Explained

The Three Weapon System

You carry one weapon from each category. Switching mid-combat is essential.

Melee weapons include knives, batons, and heavier bladed tools. They deal 2-3x the DPS of your rifle but require you to be in kissing distance. Use them only when enemies are staggered or locked in attack animations.

Rifles are your primary weapon. They come in semi-auto, burst, and full-auto variants. Semi-auto rewards precision (headshot damage bonus), full-auto trades accuracy for sustained fire. Pick one style and stick with it.

Special weapons include rocket launchers, grenade launchers, energy cannons, and summoning artifacts. They have the highest per-shot damage in the game. You will find approximately 3-4 special ammo drops per full run. Each shot must count.

Upgrade and Kit-Building System

Between waves, you access the upgrade terminal. A random selection of 3-4 items appears. Each item fits one of five categories:

Damage upgrades — Increase fire rate, reduce bullet spread, add headshot damage multiplier, give critical hit chance. These are your bread and butter.

Elemental modifiers — Incendiary (burn DoT), shock (stun chance), void (bonus damage to elites). Apply these to your primary weapon first. Elemental effects stack.

Mechanical transformations — These fundamentally change how a weapon works. Examples: rifle shots chain to nearby enemies, melee swings create shockwaves, special weapons fire seeking projectiles. These are the most powerful upgrades in the game. Prioritize them over raw stats.

Defensive upgrades — Health regen, damage resistance, dodge cooldown reduction, max HP increase. You need at least two defensive upgrades per run to survive past Abomination tier 2.

Utility upgrades — Movement speed, loot radius, ammo capacity, summon abilities (holy beams, void spikes). These enable specific builds.

The Roguelite Loop

Each run follows this flow:

1. Arena Phase (waves 1-3) — Slow cultists, easy kills. Build your initial upgrade foundation.
2. Upgrade Terminal — Pick 1 of 3-4 items. Spend all currency.
3. Arena Phase (waves 4-6) — Elite cultists appear. Enemy density increases.
4. Upgrade Terminal — Continue building your kit.
5. Arena Phase (waves 7-8) — Abomination warning. Final preparation.
6. Abomination Boss Fight — Unique boss with distinct patterns.
7. Advance or Die — Survive → next tier (harder enemies, better upgrades). Die → meta-progression currency earned.

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Progression Strategy

Meta-Progression Unlock Priority

Currency earned from deaths unlocks permanent upgrades. Prioritize in this order:

Upgrade Priority by Wave Phase

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Build Archetypes (Tier List)

S-Tier: Chain Lightning Rifleman

Core items: Chain shot on rifle, fire rate increase, shock elemental effect Playstyle: Rifle shots chain to 2-3 nearby enemies. Add shock to stun them. Fire rate boost keeps the chain going. Pros: Clears waves faster than any other build. Single rifle shot can kill 4-5 clustered cultists. Cons: Weak single-target damage. Abomination fights take longer. When to pivot: If you see chain shot in your first or second upgrade terminal, commit immediately.

A-Tier: Holy Paladin (Melee + Summon)

Core items: Melee shockwave, holy beam summon, damage resistance, movement speed Playstyle: Melee creates area shockwaves. Holy beam automatically strikes nearby enemies. Stack defense and let the beam do work. Pros: Extremely durable. Minimal aiming required. Great for beginners. Cons: Requires getting close. Some Abomination attacks one-shot at melee range. When to pivot: If you see holy beam + melee shockwave by wave 4, this build is online.

A-Tier: Void Sniper

Core items: Headshot multiplier, void elemental (bonus vs elites), bullet pierce, critical hit chance Playstyle: Precision rifle shots. Void damage deals bonus to elite enemies and Abominations. Piercing rounds hit multiple targets. Pros: Best boss-killing potential. Void damage scales into late game better than fire or shock. Cons: Misses are punishing. Requires good aim. Poor against swarms. When to pivot: If you find void modifier + pierce by wave 3, lean into precision.

B-Tier: Explosive Specialist

Core items: Special weapon ammo capacity, explosive radius increase, damage resistance (for self-damage) Playstyle: Special weapon becomes your primary. Rocket launcher or grenade launcher clears waves and damages boss. Pros: Highest burst damage in the game. Screen-wide clearing potential. Cons: Ammo scarcity. Self-damage from explosions. Completely useless if you run out of special ammo. When to pivot: Only if you find ammo capacity upgrade in the first 2 terminals.

C-Tier: Generalist

Core items: Whatever you find Playstyle: Spread upgrades across all weapons. No clear direction. Pros: Flexible. Adapts to what the game gives you. Cons: Mediocre at everything. Struggles in late-game Abomination fights. When to pivot: Never aim for this build. It's a fallback when RNG gives you nothing coherent.

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Step-by-Step Strategy Sequences

Sequence 1: Surviving Your First Abomination

1. During waves 1-6, conserve special ammo. Do not fire a single special round.
2. By wave 7, you should have: at least 2 damage upgrades on your rifle, 1 defensive upgrade, full special ammo.
3. When the Abomination spawns, immediately create distance. Do not engage yet.
4. Watch the first attack animation. Every Abomination has a 1-2 second wind-up. Memorize the visual cue.
5. After dodging the first attack, land 2-3 rifle shots. Do not overcommit.
6. When adds (cultists) spawn, switch focus. Kill all adds before returning to the boss.
7. Use your special weapon only during the Abomination's recovery animation (after a missed attack).
8. Repeat: dodge → rifle → clear adds → special → create distance → repeat.

Sequence 2: Building a Chain Lightning Run

1. Wave 1: Kill all cultists. Check the upgrade terminal. If chain shot is available, buy it. If not, buy any damage upgrade.
2. Wave 2: If you have chain shot, buy fire rate or shock. If not, keep looking for chain shot.
3. Wave 3: By now you should have chain shot. If not, pivot to another build.
4. Waves 4-6: Focus fire rate upgrades and elemental damage. Chain shot + shock = screen clears.
5. Wave 7-8: Buy defensive upgrades. You'll facetank some damage while the chain does work.
6. Abomination: Stay at medium range. Let the chain clear adds automatically. Rifle DPS the boss.

Sequence 3: Beating the Melee Abomination

The melee Abomination charges directly at you and has a close-range AoE slam.

1. Stand at maximum rifle range. The Abomination will start charging.
2. Dodge forward-left when it's 3 meters away. It will overshoot past you.
3. Turn 180 degrees and fire 4-5 rifle shots into its back.
4. It will turn around and charge again. Repeat.
5. If it raises both arms (AoE slam wind-up), sprint backward immediately. The slam has a 5-meter radius.
6. After the slam, it's stunned for 2 seconds. Unload your special weapon here.
7. Never stay within melee range for more than 2 seconds.

Sequence 4: Beating the Ranged Abomination

The ranged Abomination fires homing projectiles and teleports.

1. Keep moving laterally. The projectiles track but can't turn sharply.
2. When the Abomination glows purple, it's about to teleport. Immediately look behind you.
3. It always teleports to your flank or back. As soon as you see it, dodge sideways.
4. The teleport is followed by a point-blank burst. If you dodge correctly, you have a 3-second window to attack.
5. Use your special weapon during this window. Rifle fire during normal phases.
6. The Ranged Abomination has less HP than the melee variant. Sustained pressure wins.

Sequence 5: Speedrunning the Early Waves

1. Wave 1: Kill all cultists in 20 seconds by staying in the center of the arena. They converge on you.
2. Wave 2: Don't bother with cover. Run and gun. Kill efficiency > survival here.
3. Wave 3: Start kiting (running backward while shooting). Group enemies for multi-kills.
4. Between waves: Spend currency in under 5 seconds. Don't agonize over choices.
5. Target time for waves 1-3: 90 seconds total.
6. Target time for waves 4-6: 3 minutes total (elites take longer).
7. Target time for Abomination: 2-3 minutes.

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Advanced Tips

• Reload cancel. Swap weapons during the last 30% of a reload animation. It shaves 0.2 seconds off every reload. Over a full run, that's minutes saved.
• Audio tells beat visual tells. The Abomination's wind-up sound plays 0.3 seconds before the visual cue. Play with audio on. Muting the game makes bosses significantly harder.
• Explosive barrel priority. When you enter a new arena, note every explosive barrel's location. You can use them to kill elite cultists instantly. One bullet to the barrel is cheaper than 10 rifle shots.
• Dodge i-frames. The dodge roll has 8-10 invincibility frames at the start. Use this to roll through enemy projectiles, not just away from them.
• Currency from destructibles. Crates, barrels, and environmental objects drop currency. Break everything. A full arena clear of destructibles yields 15-25 extra currency per wave.
• The first upgrade terminal is the most important. Your choice here determines your build for the entire run. If you see a mechanical transformation upgrade, take it over a stat boost every time.
• Enemy scaling is per-tier, not per-wave. The difficulty jump between tiers is sharp. The difficulty within a tier is gradual. Use the gradual waves to practice for the sharp jump.
• Stacking the same elemental effect. Two fire upgrades stack the burn DoT. Two shock upgrades increase stun duration. Specialization beats variety. Pick one element and stack it.

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FAQ / Common Mistakes

Q: How long does a full run take? A: 30-45 minutes if you clear all Abominations. Early runs typically end in 10-15 minutes.

Q: Is there meta-progression? A: Yes — permanent unlocks including new starting weapons, starting upgrades, and difficulty modifiers.

Q: Can I play with a controller? A: Partial controller support. Keyboard and mouse is recommended for precision. Xbox and DualShock are supported.

Q: Are there difficulty options? A: Meta-progression unlocks higher difficulty tiers. Base game starts at approachable difficulty.

Q: Is the story important? A: Told through environmental storytelling and journal entries. Atmosphere-enhancing, not required.

Q: How many Abominations are there? A: At least 5 distinct Abomination types, each with unique attack patterns.

Common Mistake #1: Not spending currency between waves. The #1 reason beginners struggle is they enter their first Abomination fight with 200+ unspent currency. Spend everything after every wave.

Common Mistake #2: Using special weapons on normal waves. That rocket launcher shot that killed 3 cultists felt good, but now you're entering the boss fight with zero special ammo. Special ammo = boss ammo.

Common Mistake #3: Standing still while shooting. In most FPS games, you stop to aim. In Blood Welkin, never stop moving. Constant lateral strafing reduces incoming damage by approximately 40%.

Common Mistake #4: Building generalist instead of specialist. A rifle with 3 damage upgrades kills 2x faster than a rifle with 1 damage upgrade. Specialization compounds. Spreading upgrades dilutes power.

Common Mistake #5: Dodging backward from charges. Forward dodge through attacks is safer than backward dodge. Practice this on wave 1 cultists before trying it on an Abomination.