V Rising is Stunlock Studios' vampire survival game. It entered early access in May 2022 and reached its full release in May 2024 on PC, with a PlayStation 5 version following. You wake as a weakened vampire after centuries of sleep and rebuild your power the way a vampire should: by hunting, feeding, raising a castle and defeating the V Blood bosses that stand between you and Dracula.

In March 2026 Stunlock said it is not developing further content updates for V Rising, calling the journey to Dracula complete, and that it will keep supporting the game with balance and bug-fix patches while it works on a new game set in the same gothic universe. Official servers keep running, but the real variety is on community servers, where owners set the rules, the rates and the raid times.

Blood, Sunlight and Stone

Everything in V Rising runs on blood. Feeding on enemies gives you blood types with their own bonuses, so what you drink shapes how you fight. Defeating V Blood carriers unlocks new spells, forms and technology, and the bosses grow from bandit leaders to creatures that test a whole clan. Sunlight burns, so moving between shadows is part of every daytime trip.

Your castle is your progress. It grows around a Castle Heart that must be kept fed, and humans you convert become servants who staff it and go out hunting for you. On PvP servers that castle is also a target: enemy clans bring siege golems to break your walls and take what is inside.

What to Look For in a V Rising Server

PvP or PvE on the Road to Dracula

PvE servers let you clear the whole road to Dracula without other players getting in the way. PvP servers turn every road and every castle into contested ground. Check what a server makes you drop on death, since full-loot PvP and lighter rules feel very different after a lost fight.

Castle Raid Windows

Many PvP servers only allow castle damage during set hours, so your castle cannot be breached while you sleep. Compare those hours with your own time zone. If you cannot defend during the window, you will eventually lose what you build.

Clan Size

Clan caps decide who you fight. Solo and duo servers give small groups a fair chance; large clan limits favor organized groups who can siege around the clock. Look at how alliances between clans are handled, since a cap means little if allied clans work together.

Rates and Progression Speed

Owners tune resource yield, crafting and refining speed, blood drain, sun damage and more. Boosted rates suit players who want to reach the late-game bosses and castle sieges quickly; settings near default keep the slow climb that makes the early game tense. Read the listed numbers rather than just the word boosted.

Mods, Wipes and Admins

Community mods run on PC servers, though Stunlock has dropped its plans for official mod tools, so check that a modded server keeps its mods working after patches. Ask how often the server wipes, since fresh starts keep PvP level. Then look for admins who answer on Discord, enforce raid rules and deal with cheaters.

Getting Started

Pick PvP or PvE first, then a raid window and clan size that fit how and when you play. Join close to a fresh wipe if you can, build your first castle somewhere defensible, and learn which roads stay in shadow. The ranking below lists the V Rising servers players vote for here. Vote for the server your clan haunts - rankings start again every month, so the list follows where vampires are hunting now.