How to Beat Bakir in The Blood of Dawnwalker (Full Boss Strategy)

Bakir is the second of the three Boyars in The Blood of Dawnwalker — the Mad Khan, game master of the vampire court — and his boss fight is buried inside his own tournament, The Lunar Game. Where Ambrus hands you a formal duel and Xanthe offers you a deal, Bakir turns his death into an event with an audience. This is a different kind of fight: half social engineering, half arena combat. This guide walks through the entire quest — recruiting allies, winning the bracket, surviving the riddle maze, and isolating Bakir for the cleanest possible kill.

How The Lunar Game Unlocks

The court system gates Bakir the same way it gates the other Boyars: work through his court activities — his chains of prisoners, collectors, transports, and dungeons — until his anger meter in the Court menu hits “Angered.” Roughly three-quarters of his activities is the threshold. The quest then appears on the map, but it does not start with a sword — it starts with Farkas pulling you aside at Lunar Manor.

The whole event runs on a tournament bracket. Several warriors compete; the winner earns the right to face Bakir himself. Most players walk in thinking the combat is the hard part. It is not. The hard part is everything that happens before the bracket.

Phase 1: Recruit Allies Before the Tournament

You get three time segments before the bracket begins to work the room. Four competitors matter, and they respond very differently:

• The Rat — cannot be allied with. Do not waste a segment on him. He fights for himself regardless of what you say.
• The Cockroach — cannot be allied either, but you can sabotage him. His alcohol is sitting behind where he lounges; a bush on the left side of the area (spot it with Focus Mode) hides the poison. Dose his drink and he spends the tournament fighting his own stomach. A weakened bracket is a won bracket.
• The Marten — recruit with two specific lines. First: “No, it’s a nice change after Farkas.” Then follow up with: “I heard the boyar can’t shut up either.” Get both lines right and he fights beside you.
• The Porcupine — the easiest ally in the room. Tell him straight: you intend to kill Bakir. That is the only pitch he needs.

The optimal spend is one segment on the Cockroach’s drink, one on the Marten, one on the Porcupine. The Rat fights alone regardless.

During Bakir’s opening speech, cheer with the crowd. Do not draw attention to yourself. The bracket runs smoother if the host is entertained.

Phase 2: The Odd Riddle in the Maze

Midway through the tournament, the bracket narrows to a maze under Lunar Manor, and a locked gate blocks the route. Beside it, a mechanism with three openings and a note titled “Odd Riddle”:

“Silver coin shimmers on the right, Middle feels like a summer light, Left reeks of blood and fear, Choose wisely, or you will scream!”

The wording is a trap. The silver shimmer on the right sounds like the reward, the summer light in the middle sounds like the safe sensible pick. Choose the left. Bakir loves tormenting people, and in his twisted game the answer that reeks of blood and fear is the one that opens the gate. The other two switches spring a trap. Pick left, walk through, and the tournament continues.

If you want the long-form breakdown with screenshots of all three switches, see our dedicated Bakir riddle solution guide.

Phase 3: Isolate Bakir — The Mask Choice

After you win the bracket, Bakir invites you to discuss your victory and asks you to remove your mask. This is the single most consequential decision in the quest:

• Remove the mask — Bakir recognizes you immediately and the fight starts with him plus all of his soldiers in the room. Beatable, but tedious and far riskier than it needs to be.
• Keep the mask on and celebrate — Bakir relaxes, the room empties, and later you catch him alone in his treasure vault. A clean 1v1 with no interference.

Keep the mask on. The whole tournament structure exists to engineer this exact isolation — use it.

Phase 4: The Duel Itself

Isolated in the vault, Bakir fights as a high-aggression curved-sword duelist — community testing describes him as a stamina management exam. He has no long wind-ups and presses constantly, so the natural instinct to swing back gets punished. The discipline is to wait for the reset after a missed combo finisher, then perfect-parry the finisher for your punish window.

Around 40% HP he pulls a second weapon and switches to a dual-wield stance with noticeably smaller attack windows. The community-tested answer is Piercing Shriek from the Vampirism tree — it stuns him out of dual-wield combos and re-opens the parry rhythm. Two warnings:

• Spamming vampire powers pushes your Corruption up fast. Manage it between phases.
• The vault is enclosed. Do not let him pin you against the walls; his pressure strings are built to corner.

What You Get for Winning

Killing Bakir during the games removes the second Boyar from the board and pays out the same structure as the other duels: XP, a skill point, and his equipment. More strategically, it brings you one step from maximum Infamy — and maximum Infamy is what forces Brencis to summon you for the final quest. Two Boyars down means the endgame is one campaign away; the main quest order shows what remains.

After the kill you also face the same choice Ambrus offered: drain him or finish him. Draining grants his Flying Kick ability and — if you accept — lets his soul ride along and assist later in Brencis’s fight and the Grotesque Ascendant phase in Anachora. The endings guide covers how the soul-invite choices interact with every ending.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Lunar Game in The Blood of Dawnwalker? Bakir’s boss quest — a tournament he hosts at Lunar Manor. You recruit or sabotage competitors, fight through a bracket, solve an odd riddle in a maze, and finally duel Bakir himself. Winning the bracket earns the right to face him.

How do I make the Bakir fight easier? Three levers: poison the Cockroach’s drink to weaken the bracket, recruit the Marten and Porcupine as allies, and — most importantly — keep your mask on after winning so Bakir isolates himself in the treasure vault. The 1v1 there is far cleaner than fighting him plus his soldiers.

What is the answer to Bakir’s odd riddle? The left switch. The riddle’s wording is a trap — the pleasant-sounding middle and right switches spring a trap, while the “blood and fear” left switch opens the gate.

Who is the Mad Khan? Bakir’s title in the vampire court — the game master who runs the Lunar Game. His death is itself one of his games, which is why the entire quest is structured as a tournament.

What is Bakir’s weakness? Stamina management on your side, and Piercing Shriek on his. Wait for the reset after his combo finisher and perfect-parry it; around 40% HP use Piercing Shriek to stun him out of the dual-wield stance.