In this Code Vein Guide, we’re going to take a hard look at the Blood Codes of the game, and see just which ones are the best to use. Not all Blood Codes in Code Vein are created equal, and many you find later in the game simply out perform those found earlier. It’s not always clear which Blood Code is the best to use, because there are many variables that can make things complicated, and sorting through it all takes an unhealthy amount of time. Luckily for you, I have not slept in over a week, and have done a lot of testing and math during that time.

Code Vein: Best Blood Codes

There are many things that may make you decide to use a Blood Code in Code Vein, but it really boils down to about 2 reasons. First is the scaling of the Blood Code, and how that will affect your Weapon & Gifts. And second is the unique Gift that some Blood Codes have, that you cannot use if you don’t use that specific Blood Code. There are other factors of course, most notably Mobility, but these are the primary two reason to select a Blood Code.

Each Blood Code in Code Vein is usually going to excel at either Strength, Dexterity, Mind or Willpower. Some Blood Codes excel at more than one of these things, or don’t excel at anything in particular, but generally each Blood Code has a theme. Determining what the theme is is pretty straightforward in many cases, but wading through all the details, and comparing them to other Blood Codes that share the same theme can be difficult. Let’s begin with Strength Blood Codes first, and which are the best in that category.

Best Strength Blood Codes

There are many good Strength Blood Codes in Code Vein, and you can’t get them all right away, so you’ll need to use one early on until you can gain one of them later. For this reason I’ll begin with the best early game Strength Blood Code, and that is: Atlas.

Atlas allows you to use Adrenaline, Overdrive, Gift Extension and Blood Sacrifice with just one passive into Willpower/Mind. This frees up all other passives for Weapon Mastery, Swift Destruction, and Strength/Dexterity Up, taking you all the way to S rating, and later S+ when you get Somatic Zeal. You will also be in the Normal Mobility range with lighter Blood Veils, which makes Dodging much easier. The downsides of this Blood Code is that you cannot use Bridge to Glory without sacrificing other passives, and you have very low Ichor (10).

Later in the game, when more Blood Codes become available, you’ll look to replace Atlas with either Hades or Ishtar. Hades has more overall damage per swing by about 8%, since it can reach S+ scaling, and it has more weight allowing for heavier Blood Veils and still remaining in the Normal Mobility range. However, it has half the Max Ichor than Ishtar, making it a toss up on which you’d rather use. Do you want more damage per hit, or more Ichor to spend on Skill Gifts? It’s really up to you.

Best Dexterity Blood Codes

Like Strength, there are many good Dexterity Blood Codes, but there are a couple that stick out from the rest. Let’s take a look at what the best early game Dexterity Blood Code is first, and that is Prometheus. It has the stat spread to get all the buffs you need, out performs Artemis by about 20% in terms of damage, and has better Mobility.

Later in the game both Queenslayer and Scout are excellent choices, as is Heimdall. Queenslayer will dominate with any Weapon that has good Dexterity Scaling unless you are running Heimdall and using Sacrificial Edge. However, Final Journey in Queenslayer outperforms even this when activated, but you cannot use it all the time. Scout allows for high damage with lesser Scaling Dexterity weapons and better Mobility and Ichor. You can use any one of these, but it will be regulated by which weapon you choose to use. Queenslayer should always be used for Boss fights.

Best Willpower Blood Codes

When it comes to Willpower Blood Codes, early on in the game you’re going to want to look for Artemis. It has A in Willpower Scaling and has exceptional all around stats that help meet the requirements of many different Weapon types. It’s unique passive also allows you to gain Ichor via dodging if you want to use it, which is nice.

Late game there are really a few choices you can go with: Queen’s Throat, Queen and Harmonia. You will not be able to get all these in a single run because you cannot gain Queen or Harmonia until NG+ if you get Queen’s Throat, and vice versa. Of the three, Queen’s Throat is the best suited for maximum pure spell casting damage because you can have Quick Mobility, which increases damage from Swift Destruction. This is about 5% more damage than Harmonia.

Harmonia has better all around stats than Queen’s Throat, allowing you to use a few more Weapons, but not many. The Queen Blood Code has even better all around stats, allowing for the use of even more weapons, but has the lowest spell casting damage of the three and is about 5% less than Harmonia, and 10% less than Queen’s Throat. This means you’ll have to decide what is more important to you, pure spell damage, or more weapon variety.

Best Mind Blood Codes

Mind Blood Codes are a bit different than others because they boost some melee attack buffs in the game, and high Mind is a requirement for Bridge to Glory which is one of the best of these. This means that if you use a Mind-based Build, you naturally gravitate to some sort of melee Build, or you loose out on a huge chunk of what makes Mind such a great Stat. For this reason, it’s a bit more complicated when selected and Mind Blood Code, but let’s take a look at what are arguably the two best early game Blood Codes for Mind: Hermes and Darkseeker.

Of these two Blood Codes, Hermes is more oriented for Strength/Mind Builds and Darkseeker is the better option for Dexterity/Mind Builds. What weapon type you use will very much determine which of these is best for you, so select either of these based on your Weapon’s Scaling.

Late game there are really two Blood Codes that work and these are Eos and Queen’s Throat. Eos has much better all around stats, making it ideal for hybrid Builds that use spells and weapons. You can also find it much earlier on in the game, making it more appealing. Queen’s Throat does roughly the same thing, it just needs different Gifts to set it up. Of the two I highly recommend Eos, because it gives you a better weapon selection for the same damage, and the extra Mobility from Queen’s Throat is wasted because you can use the Noble Silver Blood Veil with either and still be Quick.

Final Thoughts

The best Blood Code in Code Vein is somewhat dependent on the weapon you select, because though both Scout and Queenslayer are excellent Blood Codes for Dexterity Builds, you’ll find that which one is better will vary depending on which DEX weapon you use. I’ve narrowed down which are generally the best here, but be sure to test each of the ones I’ve listed to see what works best with your exact setup.

There are other workable Blood Codes that, though not quite as good as the ones I’ve listed, are a small percentage from being there. You will not have access to every Blood Code until you have completed the majority of the game on NG+, so sometimes the best Blood Code for you will be one that you have access to. It’s totally fine to use these and then “upgrade” when you get the ones I’ve mentioned.

Lastly, Queenslayer is the pound for pound “queen” of Blood Codes in Code Vein when it comes to Boss fights. It will out perform any other Blood Code while you have Queenslayer exclusive Gift: Final Journey activated, and that’s not just for Strength and Dexterity Builds. That also includes Mind and Willpower Builds as well. It will increase the damage of Builds by about: 25% (Dexterity), 50% Strength, 25% (Mind), and 15% (Willpower), over the Blood Codes I’ve listed earlier. However, you will die when the effect ends so this Gift cannot be used easily outside of Bosses. For this reason, it’s best to find a Build that works for levels, and then switch to Queenslayer for Boss Fights.

---

Stay tuned for more Code Vein Build Guides and be sure to check out our Getting Started Guide if you have basic questions or confusions about the game! We also have a Code Vein Scaling Guide that explains how it works.

Visit the Code Vein Wiki, check out our Code Vein Review, or read the Adrenaline Rush Build, Judgement’s Shadow Build, Bayonetta Overdrive Build, Queen’s Gambit Build, Dark Mage Pure Caster Build, Silver Spellblade Build or  “Immortal Blade” Tank Build for Code Vein.