One of the few gameplay mechanics that helps set Code Vein II apart from other Soulslike games are Blood Codes. Blood Codes function essentially like classes, gifted by various NPCs as you form bonds with them, these Blood Codes will, when equipped, alter your stats and give you traits to make your character play a bit more like the NPC in question. This page will cover how Blood Codes work in Code Vein II, including how to unlock new Blood Codes, how to equip them, how to level them up.

Page Breakdown¶

Blood Code Effects¶

Blood Codes are effectively a quasi-class system in Code Vein II, but instead of referencing some sci-fi or fantasy archetype like classes typically do, in Code Vein II Blood Codes are related to a specific NPC… who in turn is often some anime trope that heavily references some sci-fi or fantasy archetype. The little pink-haired anime girl who wields a giant hammer will give you a Blood Code that largely improves your Strength, Balance and HP at the expense of Dexterity and Ichor, the greatsword wielding berserker vampire girl’s Blood Code will improve your Strength and help you recover Ichor but also drain your health while your Ichor is full, and the giant, mysterious, rune-covered robed lady’s Blood Code will boost your Willpower, Ichor and increase the rate at which you afflict debuffs.

Effectively Blood Codes are the foundation of your build in Code Vein II, manipulating your stats and attributes and potentially applying various traits to make your character function, to some degree, more like the NPC the Blood Code is derived from.

Blood Code Stats and Attributes¶

The most obvious change Blood Codes make when equipped are to your stats. When you level up you don’t gain an attribute point to distribute as you please, you just gain derived stats, like HP, LP and Stamina… for the most part. Useful, but grinding up isn’t going to decrease your attribute burden or anything. Equipping Blood Codes, however, will, as different Blood Codes boost different attributes - the higher the rank, the more your attributes increase. This can have a variety of knock-on effects, like raising or lowering attribute burden, activating Blood Code traits and even changing your dodge effectiveness.

Blood Code Traits¶

In addition to - and perhaps more importantly than - altering your attributes, Blood Codes also give you a variety of traits. Lou’s Blood Code will reduce the Stamina cost of guarding, Josee’s Blood Code will cause you to gain Ichor when you land attacks but also damage you if you deal damage when your Ichor is full for example. The exact effects of each Blood Code can be seen on the bottom-middle of the screen, so if something weird is happening after equipping a new Blood Code… this is probably why.

Of course, things can’t be quite that straight-forward, as these traits also have various requirements, often relating to Burden. The qualifiers for a trait have golden text while the effects of said trait have white text - if you don’t meet the requirements, the trait won’t be active, for better or worse. Some common trait qualifiers are as follows:

• No condition: This trait is always active if the Blood Code is equipped.
• No Overburden Effect: This trait will be active if you don’t have any overburdened attributes.
• Any Overburden Effect: This trait will be active if you have any overburdened attribute.
• Margin: After burden is applied, the listed attribute must have at least X points left over. For example, Lou’s Blood Code has the trait “Mind Margin 14”, meaning you need 14 points in the Mind attribute free after burden is applied for the trait to trigger. At E-rank Lou’s Blood Code give you 14 Mind, meaning you need 0 Mind burden, while at A-rank Lou’s Blood Code gives you 26 Mind, allowing up to 12 burden before you lose this trait.

Unlocking New Blood Codes¶

Blood Codes effectively influence your build by tweaking your stats and giving you traits to match the playstyle of the NPC they represent. As such it should be no surprise that Blood Codes are given to you as you form bonds with said NPCs. In other words, attaining new types of Blood Codes is almost always going to be story-specific thing. Advance main quests, meet new NPCs and you’ll get new Blood Codes. Just keep in mind that you may have to take an NPC with you as a partner before you’ll get their Blood Code - we didn’t get Iris’s Blood Code until a bit later in the game because we simply never had her accompany us!

Not only do different NPCs yield their own unique Blood Codes, but each Blood Code can have numerous variants that can be leveled up, a topic which will be discussed below, under the “Leveling Up Blood Codes” header.

Leveling Up Blood Codes¶

Not only do different Blood Codes have varying effects, but Blood Codes can also be leveled up. The level of a Blood Code is indicated by a letter grade under the icon (and a number grade next to the Blood Code’s name itself): level up Superbia Bloodline: Lou 1 (E rank) and you may be able to upgrade to Superbia Bloodline: Lou 2 (D rank). This seems like a simple enough process at first: kill enemies and you’ll gain Blood Code EXP (you can check your progress in the Blood Code menu, the same way you equip them - the EXP bar is called “Proficiency”), but Code Vein II wouldn’t be a Soulslike if it wasn’t purposefully obtuse for no good reason.

First, note that Blood Code proficiency is NOT correlated in any meaningful way with Haze earned. Even if you’re banking thousands of Haze fighting enemies of varying difficulty along the Sunken City, you’ll stop earning proficiency in all but the lowest-ranked Blood Codes (E-rank and D-rank) sooner rather than later. Meanwhile if you head to the Undead Forest, you’ll be able to somewhat easily rank up Blood Codes until they hit B-rank!

Once a Blood Code has maxed out its proficiency you may be able to get an upgraded version of the same Blood Code. There are generally two ways to do this: if the NPC the Blood Code is based on is your partner, just activate any Mistle and they should, after some chatter, give you the new Blood Code. If they’re not your active partner you’ll have to find them, talk to them, and pick the “Catch up” option. If neither of those works, their Blood Code upgrade is probably gated by story progression.

It’s also worth noting that not all Blood Codes level linearly. Lou’s Blood Code dutifully progresses up E-Rank, D-Rank and C-Rank… before skipping B-Rank and going right to A-Rank. Josee’s Blood Code starts at E-Rank and skips to C-rank for its first upgrade, and Valentin starts at D-Rank before promoting to B-Rank. There is no hard rule, at play here. Once you get an upgraded Blood Code you can still equip the lower-rank one whenever you wish - they will typically have the same traits, varying only in their stat allocations. Generally the higher-ranked Blood Codes will be better, but if, say, you wanted to keep a trait deactivated by breaking its “Margin” requirement, it may be easier to do on lower-ranked Blood Codes.

Equipping Blood Codes¶

So you’ve made a new friend and unlocked a new Blood Code - great! For it to actually have an effect, you need to equip it. To do this, press the button to bring up your menu and note that you’ll get two rows of icons. The Blood Code icon is in the upper row, right in the middle! Just select it with and you’ll bring up an inventory menu with all the Blood Codes you possess - just select the one you want to use. Keep in mind that equipping new Blood Codes can change your HP, Stamina, Ichor and stats, so you may be better off not messing with this until you’re near a Mistle, in case you need to switch around equipment!