Code Vein

• The items you can exchange valuables for called "<NPC Name's> Ichor" that say they increase your maximum Ichor, are not permanent increases. They are buff items to use if you want to top off your capacity before a boss without backstabbing dudes on the way.

• Related: You will be able to buy Valuables with a repeatable-item-drop a few hours in, so don't feel like they're truly limited trade items. Also different items are worth different amounts of points (1-5) for different people, you can Google a guide if you really care about optimizing it.

• Even if items share the same weapon class, they may operate differently; a broadsword and katana are both one-handed swords, but their attack patterns are wildly different. Very very relevant to this is that there are spears, which are polearms with a much better attack pattern than the big beefy halberds and shit.

• Early-tier crafting materials drop like candy. Upgrade anything you want to at least +6/+7 without fear of running out of mats.

• The fastest roll is a dash that you don't have recovery/standing-up time from. It's most easily reached by using a spell (Hasten) from one of the earlier class unlocks, and is well worth prioritizing for a number of boss fights.

• ALWAYS LOOK OFF THE SIDE OF LEDGES. Like a third of the secret areas and even progression I've found by mid-game maps is from little drop-falls.

• Note that overleveling can have some negative side effects. The main way you unlock gifts for permanent use is by killing enemies while they are equipped in their own blood code. If you level up too high, though, then the amount of gift-progress you get dwindles and eventually disappears, so you can't passively progress towards unlocking gifts without either going to a higher level area or grinding for specific material drops in depths which can take a while and is boring. You can avoid this by just not leveling too high. About 10-15 levels per boss killed should keep you on target, or just always focus on unlocking gifts before increasing your own level as a rule of thumb if you don't want to worry about counting.

• Keep an eye out for vestige fragments after they get introduced, they are usually in hidden locations but you can hear them whispering. In some late game areas you will need to find every vestige in the area BEFORE fighting the boss if you want the 'better' version of the blood code they unlock. So don't just beeline for the boss, search around first. But you can get them on NG+ if you miss them the first time.

• There are some imbue materials (the "chrome" items) that you can't get infinite of on a single playthrough because they are only available to get in limited amounts from trading with npcs. I dont remember which ones specifically are limited, just dont go hog wild imbuing every weapon. They also reset after going into NG+

• But a good investment is imbuing a zweihander with the atlas chrome because it makes it blocks 100% of all physical damage. Its one of the very few (like 2 throughout the whole game) viable "shield" type weapons and you find it pretty early.

• Also if you prefer playing solo you can tell your NPC party member to stop following you if you talk to them at the base.