V Rising Grethel the Glassblower: How to Beat, Location & Rewards

Are you wondering how to beat Grethel the Glassblower in V Rising? You're in luck! We've spent hours grinding through all the V Blood Carriers in the game, learning the best strategies to defeat them, including the best weapons and abilities you should use. And yes, that means the contents of this V Rising Grethel boss guide are based on real gameplay, not a regurgitation of nonsense we found online.

As a mid-game V Rising boss, many players might struggle to beat Grethel in V Rising. As a result, many players might turn to guides like this one to help them out. And that's perfectly alright. So here, we'll detail how to find and defeat Grethel the Glassblower in V Rising and all the rewards she unlocks. So, what are you waiting for? Let's jump right in!

Updated on 26 May 2023: Grethel the Glassblower is a new boss in V Rising: Secrets of Gloomrot update.

V Rising: Where To Find Grethel The Glassblower - Location

Grethel the Glassblower is located in the Quartz Quarry of the Dunley Farmlands region, bordering the Silverlight Hills and Gloomrot South regions. While it isn't particularly challenging (at least not compared to some of the other bosses), you would do well to come prepared, as the militia guards the Quartz Quarry.

The nearest Vampire Waygate lies just northeast of the area in Gloomrot; there's also one in the south, right next to the Dunley Monastery. It's worth activating at least one of these to allow you easy access to the area in the event of your (highly probable) demise.

V Rising: How To Beat Grethel The Glassblower

Grethel the Glassblower is a Level 47 V Blood Carrier in V Rising. As such, we recommend having a comparable Gear Score of 45+ before initiating the fight. Note also that we used a Sword build for this fight; however, a ranged build using Dual Pistols, Crossbow, or alternative melee weapons like the Reaper and Mace are also possible (preferably with Iron or Merciless Iron variants).

Blood Types

Regarding Blood Types, you have much more leniency in this fight, in which case we will provide a range of options. Scholar Blood is perhaps the most effective, given that Grethel is fairly slow-moving and has a large character model. This makes her an easy target for landing spells. As such, the boosted spell damage and potential cooldown reset offered by the Scholar Blood make it a must-have. Alternatively, Rogue Blood of 60% or higher Blood Quality is great if you plan to go melee against Grethel the Glassblower in V Rising. It will allow you to move faster and get in more crits that deal more damage. 

Travel Abilities

We have two recommendations for movement abilities based on how you wish to take this fight. First, we recommend Veil of Chaos if you plan to take this fight at range and use spells to keep Grethel the Glassblower down. This is because Veil of Chaos will allow you to jump twice, allowing for easy repositioning so you can resume your volley of range attacks. However, there is only one recommendation for a melee fight: Veil of Blood, as the added sustain after attacking when your jump cannot be overlooked.

Defensive Abilities

Here, your best defense is honestly mobility. This is because Grethel the Glassblower has many AOE attacks instead of actual projectiles, in which case barriers won't help. As tanking and blocking the attacks are out, you effectively have to dodge as much as possible. You can use Phantom Aegis to lessen the damage you receive, at least, which allows you to handle some of the attacks you couldn't dodge. Blood Rage is also a solid choice here, as it increases your attack speed and has a heal built in, which applies to all allies in an AOE. This will help mitigate some of the damage Grethel the Glassblower does while giving your damage output yourself.

Offensive Abilities

For offensive abilities, we are going to look at some high-damaging spells that can beat Grethel the Glassblower down. The first is Shadow Bolt. Although it has a slightly slower wind-up than others, this spell does substantially more damage. Shadow Bolt deals 180% magic damage and will give you Leech Life to varying degrees, depending on what Jewels you have equipped to the spell. We recommend a Tier 2 or 3 Jewel equipped with a damage boost and extra Leech Life, if possible.

Grethel's Moveset

Let's discuss the actual fight with Grethel the Glassblower and the strategies to defeat her. The encounter begins with Grethel performing a blowing attack, which includes lifting her foot, stomping the floor, and propelling any characters caught in the blast across the room. This attack inflicts moderate damage and stuns briefly. It's a relatively ordinary move until combined with her second attack.

Grethel then initiates her second attack, causing the molten glass to fall at multiple target locations throughout the arena, dealing significant damage. The molten glass lingers, continuously inflicting high damage to those standing on it. Even after stepping away from it, there will be lingering fire damage. Grethel then combines this with her first attack, blowing you into the previously laid molten glass, which burns and temporarily stuns you. The arena will gradually fill with molten glass, necessitating a quick defeat of Grethel.

Once Grethel's HP drops below 50%, she initiates the next phase of the fight. Here, she transforms the molten glass puddles into glass domes that explode, inflicting massive damage. While this eliminates the molten puddles, it can prove deadly if you aren't careful. This is an opportune moment to land your Shadow Bolt on her as she blows the glass. The arena becomes significantly more navigable during this phase, so seize this opportunity to defeat Grethel the Glassblower before she reignites the entire battleground.