Choose the ability for the current time of day
| Time | Ability | Tree | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Mercurial Fervour | Witchcraft | Grants Haste in exploration by briefly slowing the surrounding world |
| Night | Shapeshift | Vampirism | Turns Coen into a wolf for Haste in exploration |
The IGN movement segment at 2:27 shows the separate Day Only and Night Only panels. Learning one does not provide the other form’s ability.
Check the gate, then learn at a shrine
At a shrine, open the relevant skill tree and inspect the named node. Check that the rank is learned, rather than merely visible or available. IGN and All Things How describe Shapeshift opening at Corruption level 1; the ability still needs to be learned.
Guides disagree about the Mercurial Fervour manual gate: Game8 says a manual is required, while All Things How assigns manual gates to higher tiers. Use the requirement shown on your current rank panel. This guide does not promise that every rank or every save has the same entry requirement.
If your rank requires the manual, the Matriarch is a documented seller of the Mercurial Fervour Manual. Method places her vendor access along the quest chain beginning with A Friend Like This and warns that combat choices can kill her. This is a conditional lead for saves where she survives and her shop is available; inspect her actual stock before travelling solely for this purchase.
Start a normal sprint, then press sprint again
- Move into an open exploration area and begin a normal sprint.
- While still running, press your sprint input again. Use the binding shown by your game; All Things How identifies Left Shift in its PC example.
- Look for the matching result: daytime Haste’s visual trail or the wolf form at night.
- Watch stamina as you continue. The first unlocked version should not be treated as unlimited sprinting.
The video discusses later upgrades that reduce or remove stamina costs. Those later benefits are not evidence that the first rank is free to sustain.
If Haste does not trigger or ends quickly
- Wrong time of day: check the ability’s Day Only or Night Only label.
- Node available but not learned: return to the shrine and verify the learned rank.
- Only one press: begin sprinting first, then use the second press.
- Stamina runs out: allow it to recover and inspect the stamina effects of your current rank.
These checks explain the documented activation route. They do not establish a speed record, controller repair, or fastest build. For travel between discovered destinations, see fast travel and shrine restrictions.
Related guides
Sources and coverage
- IGN: Things to Do First — Checked 7 September 2026; game build unverified. Used for: Choose the ability for the current time of day, Check the gate, then learn at a shrine, Start a normal sprint, then press sprint again, If Haste does not trigger or ends quickly.
- The Blood of Dawnwalker: How to Unlock Haste for Faster Sprinting — Used for: Check the gate, then learn at a shrine, Start a normal sprint, then press sprint again, If Haste does not trigger or ends quickly.
- How to Use Haste | The Blood of Dawnwalker｜Game8 — Used for: Check the gate, then learn at a shrine, Start a normal sprint, then press sprint again.
- The Blood Of Dawnwalker: How to Upgrade Items (All Witchcraft Vendor Locations & Items) — Used for: Check the gate, then learn at a shrine.
Reviewed September 7, 2026. This guide combines the attributed launch-version walkthroughs and footage; it is not a report of a separate playthrough by this site. Check your current quest journal and action-cost prompts when a patch or choice changes the route.