The Gilded Gauntlet is the duel that ends Ambrus, the Right Fist of the Knyaz and the boyar who runs blood harvesting for Brencis’ court. Almost everything about the fight’s difficulty is decided before a single blow lands, in one cutscene where Ambrus offers a toast and asks Coen to drink first. The reply you pick decides who walks into the duel poisoned, and the choice you make over his body decides whether part of him rides around in your head afterwards.
Quick answer: Finish The Bittersweet Toast first, ring the bell at night within three days, then answer “Gladly! To a juicy slaughter!” to poison Ambrus and Coen both, or “Letting a peasant drink first? What kind of boyar are you?” to poison only Ambrus. After he falls, pick [drain Ambrus’s blood], then “Don’t worry, I’ll invite you in.” in Anachora.
What has to be true before the toast choice appears
The poisoned-blood option only exists if you did the setup work. Without it, Ambrus feeds on an unrelated villager, Raluca, and you fight him at full strength.
Note: the objective carries a time-sensitive icon, but the duel itself will not fail. The three-day window applies to Iulian’s poison, not to your ability to fight Ambrus at all.
The toast: all four replies and what each one does
Ambrus arrives with his soldiers and Iulian in tow. The insults traded beforehand change nothing. The decision point is the toast, and if you arrived on time with the poison in place, Ambrus catches the glances passing between Coen and Iulian and demands that Coen drink first.
| Reply | Result |
|---|---|
| “Gladly! To a juicy slaughter!” | Coen drinks first, then Ambrus. Both are poisoned. Ambrus stays poisoned for the whole fight; Coen carries a health-draining poison out of the duel. Iulian survives the drinking. |
| “Letting a peasant drink first? What kind of a boyar are you?” | Only Ambrus drinks. The poison lasts the entire battle and Coen is unaffected. Iulian survives the drinking. |
| “I don’t trust anything you offer.” | Same as above — Ambrus alone is poisoned for the full fight. |
| “I don’t drink from humans.” | Ambrus grows suspicious and guts Iulian on the spot. He still absorbs the poison through the blood, but because he did not swallow it the effect only covers about one health segment before wearing off. |
If you skipped The Bittersweet Toast entirely, none of this applies. Ambrus feeds on Raluca, your reply is irrelevant, and the duel proceeds with him at full power.
Beating Ambrus with the poison active
A poisoned Ambrus loses health on his own. His bar turns green and ticks down, and he periodically doubles over in pain. You can dodge for the entire fight and never swing once — the poison will finish him and the ending cinematic still plays when his health bottoms out.
All you have to do is survive his three unblockable attacks. Two of them start from range with a ready stance and a shadowstep: one lands as a spinning overhead slash, which a backwards dodge avoids, and the other comes up in a straight rising slice, which needs a quick sideways dodge. The third is a figure-eight sword pattern that walks toward you and requires several dodges in a row. Lock on so he cannot reappear behind you.
If he is not poisoned, you need Perfect Blocks into Perfect Ripostes to damage him reliably, since he blocks ordinary attacks well. Two break points on his health bar change his behaviour. Past the first, he uses Scarlet Shield — a diamond indicator appears under a greyed-out health bar, and hitting him while it is up heals him, so keep dodging until it expires. Past the second, he glows blood red and teleports around you in a flurry, sometimes appearing in two places at once. Defend until he returns to his normal pattern.
Drain or kill: the reward is in the drink
When his health is nearly gone, Ambrus drops to his knees and you get two options, [drain Ambrus’s blood] or [kill Ambrus]. Draining is the option with mechanical value.
Feeding on him unlocks the Scarlet Shield ability, which restores part of your vampiric health after a Perfect Block and can also trigger from directional blocks and omniblocks. If you already found a vial of Ambrus’ blood elsewhere, drinking from the source adds a point to the skill instead — that is how the fight can end with a “New Ability Unlocked: Scarlet Shield” notice or a jump straight to Scarlet Shield Level 2. Drinking straight from Ambrus also projects Coen into Anachora and awards the bronze Realmwalker trophy if you do not already have it. Killing him skips all of this and the game treats it as if you never invited him in.
Inviting Ambrus in inside Anachora
Anachora is the red-lit realm where lost vrakhiri souls are consumed. Ambrus’ spirit begs Coen to spare him that, and the accepting reply is “Don’t worry, I’ll invite you in.” Doing so keeps a fragment of his soul alive inside Coen.
In practice, Ambrus becomes an occasional voice commenting in your head as you explore, and he later helps during the confrontation with Brencis. There is no drawback attached to accepting, and refusing does not change the endings.
Clearing the poison Coen picks up
Drinking the poisoned blood yourself carries a cost. Back in Vale Sangora, Coen’s health drains continuously until it stops a little above half of the last health segment, and the debuff hangs around for roughly nine to ten time segments after the duel ends. No item removes it — you spend time instead.
The clean fix is a shrine. Sit down at the nearest one, put the time into perks or skills, or simply wait until morning, and the status effect clears once enough time has passed. Non-combat quests work the same way. What you should not do is walk into another fight while your health is capped and falling.
Rewards and loot from The Gilded Gauntlet
| Reward | Details |
|---|---|
| Quest completion | 500 XP and 1 Skill Point |
| Scarlet Shield | Vampiric health restoration after a Perfect Block, with a chance to trigger from directional blocks and omniblocks. Only granted if you drain Ambrus |
| Ambrus’s Cuirass | Legendary heavy chestpiece, 329 armour, with reduced vampiric ability cooldown and attack stamina cost plus Activation Charge restoration from attacks and Perfect Blocks |
| Song of Valour | Level 21 Epic shortsword with damage against mortals and Activation Charge restoration from actions and passively |
| Ambrus’ remains | Also holds Denarius, a Golden Platter, and the Note for Ambrus |
What happens to Iulian Codrin
Iulian’s survival depends on how The Bittersweet Toast was brewed and who drank from him. If he lives through the duel, having the Tatzelwurm Gland in the mix, he has some bitter words for Coen afterwards — and Coen can answer with “I won’t apologise for saving your life.”
If he does not make it, walking up to his body opens the option to bury him for one time segment. It is not a tracked objective and it grants nothing, which is rather the point.
One last thing worth knowing: killing Ambrus darkens his slot in the Court tab, but his remaining activities stay active and still raise Infamy when you complete them. Some NPC dialogue continues to talk about him as though he is still scheming in Maragir. He is not.
