Stunlock Studios just dropped a one-two punch for V Rising fans: a Free Weekend on Steam from May 14 to May 18, 2026, paired with the full Patch 1.1.1 balance notes published ahead of release — and the patch is already playable on the Public Test branch right now. If you run or are thinking about running a dedicated server, this is the busiest weekend the game has seen in months.
When Does V Rising Free Weekend Start?
Free Weekend opens at 19:00 CET on May 14, 2026 and runs until 19:00 CET on May 18, 2026. Anyone with a Steam account can install the full base game at no cost during that window. Saves and characters made during Free Weekend carry over if a player buys the game afterward.
The sale stacks on top of the free trial — V Rising itself is 55% off through May 21, every DLC is 20% off, and the Complete Edition bundle takes another 20% off the bundled price. That's the deepest discount the game has had since launch, and it's the cleanest possible on-ramp for new players to join your server.
V Rising Patch 1.1.1 Notes (Public Test Now, Live Next Week)
Stunlock pushed the full Patch 1.1.1 notes out the door at the same time as the Free Weekend announcement, but the patch itself is deliberately held back until next week — they don't want to introduce instability mid-influx. The patch will not require a save wipe, which matters a lot for community servers.
If you want to feel the changes early, switch your Steam install to the Public Test branch: right-click V Rising → Properties → Betas → select Public Test. Note that on the test branch you can only play with servers running the same build, so it's mainly for solo or guild testing.
The Big Fix: Corrupted Blood No Longer Triggers Counters
The headline change is to Corrupted Blood. The hostile ghost it spawns has been a long-standing complaint in both PvP (free counter triggers) and PvE (overwhelming for casual players). After 1.1.1, the ghost has reduced dash speed, pierces enemies instead of stopping on them, no longer triggers counters, and can never deal a fatal blow. That last clause alone removes a recurring death source for newer players on PvE servers.
PvP Balance Pass: Spell Variety, Not Power Creep
Stunlock's stated goal is more build variety without nerfing things into the floor. The most notable PvP-facing changes:
- Sanguine Coil — projectile speed -20%, cooldown +1s, but ally healing jewel buffed from 14-30% to 20-40%. Pushes it into a real support role.
- Wraith Spear — cancel-cast cooldown penalty raised from 50% to 65%. The mobility exploit is what most PvP top players were abusing.
- Wisp Dance — cast time tripled (0.15s → 0.4s). The Scholar Blood combo that made it feel un-reactable is finally addressed.
- Blood Rite — duration and damage on the follow-up trimmed slightly to make other counter-spells competitive.
- Veil of Storm + Veil of Chaos — dash durations adjusted; Veil of Chaos also gets +0.5 distance.
Underused Tools Buffed
- Spectral Guardian attacks 15% faster — gives it real offensive value alongside the defense.
- Mosquito now scales with bonus minion damage (was bound to the player's character stats — never felt like a real summon).
- Corrupted Skull sub-threshold damage 40% → 50%, Veil of Bones jewel 20-40% → 30-50%, Cyclone jewel toned down from 20-40% to 14-30%.
- Ice Block shield buffed from 500% to 550% of spell power, Blood Fountain initial heal up from 50% to 55%.
One Bug Fix Worth Calling Out
Pistol's Explosive Shot dodge roll has been taking damage from some effects mid-roll for ages. Fixed in 1.1.1. PvP duelists will notice immediately.
What This Means for Your V Rising Server
The Free Weekend is going to roughly double your server's potential player pool overnight. A few things to do before Friday evening:
- Cap and capacity — bump your slot count if your tier allows it. Friend invites tend to come in 3-4 player clusters.
- Backup before the patch — Patch 1.1.1 doesn't require a wipe, but always snapshot your save before a balance patch rolls live. Bad gear stats can be reverted if needed.
- Don't switch to Public Test on a live community server — the test branch silos you from default-branch servers. Keep your community on Default Public until 1.1.1 ships next week.
- Refresh server settings — Free Weekend players are new players. Consider easing PvP raid windows for the weekend if you run a PvP server, or lower offline raid damage temporarily on PvE realms.
- Pre-stage Discord & rules — most new players will ask the same five questions. A pinned "first 30 minutes" message saves moderation time.
Is V Rising 1.2 Coming?
Short answer: no. Stunlock confirmed in Dev Update #32 (March 2026) that V Rising will not receive a 1.2 content update — they're working on a brand-new game set in the same Vardoran universe. V Rising will continue receiving balance and bug-fix patches like 1.1.1, but content drops are done. The free weekend is, in a sense, V Rising's victory lap before the next chapter.
That makes 1.1.1 important — it's the version most servers will be running for the next year. Getting your config tuned for this balance state pays off.
Host Your V Rising Server with DoomHosting
If you're spinning up a dedicated server to catch the Free Weekend wave, DoomHosting's V Rising servers run on Ryzen 9 hardware with one-click setup, full FTP access, DDoS protection, and 24/7 support. Pricing starts low and scales by RAM, so you can grow with your player count instead of paying for slots you don't use.
Free Weekend traffic is unforgiving — laggy first impressions are how communities lose new players in the first hour. Lock in your specs before Friday night.
Happy hunting, Vampires. The blood moon rises this weekend.
