We just reached the new content in V Rising, the first boss available in the new Gloomrot region. Ziva the Engineer is a fun boss with a cool gimmick and great rewards. We’ll cover where and how to face Ziva and why players should prioritize it. Read on for our V Rising Ziva the Engineer boss guide.
V Rising Ziva the Engineer Guide
Gloomrot South has enemies around level 58 and up, and Ziva herself is level 60. You’ll want Merciless Iron weapons (level 18), Merciless Hollowfang Armor (level 6), and a level 18 Pendant such as Pendant of the Knight. The blueprints for these items can be found on enemies and bosses in the Dunley Farmlands, which is just south of Gloomrot.
If you haven’t yet, you’ll want to face these Dunley Farmlands bosses first for their crafting blueprints:
- Tailoring Bench: Beatrice from Dawnbreak Village
- Study: Maja the Dark Savant from the Forbidden Tower
- Artisan Table: Leandra the Shadow Priestess from the Church of the Damned
We also suggest the following spells:
- Spectral Wolf from Polora the Feywalker: Northwest Farbane
- Ward of the Damned from Kriig the Undead General: Center Dunley
- Veil of Chaos from Clive the Firestarter: West Farbane
Ziva the Engineer Location
Ziva is in Gloomrot South, in the Transcendum Machine Factory. The Factory is straight north from the ominous closed-off area between Gloomrot and Dunley. You’re looking for a big square building at the area’s North end. If you need to disengage from the fight, the area just below the stairs is relatively safe once you clear the workers. It’s worth fighting your way in for the Tech Scrap that enemies will drop.
Ziva the Engineer Boss Fight
Ziva’s attack patterns vary depending on her current weapon. She will use each weapon briefly before it breaks down, forcing her to get another. She often uses her jetpack when switching weapons, coming close, or moving further away, depending on the weapon.
As she loses health, she will start using her jetpack to fly above the battlefield and rain incendiary bombs; use your Dash spell if needed, and she’ll be left stunned once the attack ends. She’ll also summon sentry bots with their own lightning attacks, but they’re less dangerous than hers.
Unlike many bosses in V Rising, Ziva’s less capable at close range. She can’t turn well, and many of her attacks have blind spots to the left or right of her current facing. The weapon skills Frenzy (from dual axes) and Great Cleaver (from the greatsword) are good gap-closer attacks. Try to save these for when her weapon breaks. Use Spectral Wolf if you’re at risk of being hit; the Weaken effect will save you some pain.
Her lightning weapon fires homing spheres. These ignore obstacles, including your shield, and will pursue you for a long duration. She will also fire bolts that split upon hitting walls or objects. These bolts incapacitate your vampire and leave you open to the spheres. It’s hard to dodge at close range because it travels quickly; make distance or be ready with a shield spell.
Her flamethrower works better at shorter ranges. She will either wave it back and forth to hit a cone-shaped area or do a spin that makes a ring of burning ground around her. This deals heavy damage both from the initial hit and from burning over time. If you’re running a melee build, using any ranged weapon skills or spells here is safer.
Her last weapon is a large gun. It will fire volleys of spread-shot or a steady stream of bullets. The extra dash on Veil of Chaos can be useful if caught in the open. A risky but rewarding strategy is to block some of these attacks Ward of the Damned; this will spawn several skeletons to deal extra damage. Remember to recast it to inflict Condemned even more.
Rewards for beating Ziva
Ziva gives a new spell in the Storm section: Ball Lightning. This is a projectile that is thrown a short distance and deals damage over time, like Howling Reaper but with magic. She also gives the recipes for the Fabricator crafting station, the Empty Canister, and Radium Alloy. That last one is critical for the Ancestral Forge and repairing ancient weaponry.
This was a fun fight, and we’re psyched for the ones yet to come.
See our V Rising section for more content on the game.
