Uncle Gary remembers: how to reach the Nosferatu warrens in Hollywood easily

I was invited by Gary Golden last night in his damp living room in Hollywood for some blood and sympathy. Do not be mistaken. I considered myself a misanthrope long before my Embrace and since then this feature of mine is expressed towards vampires too. The last thing I care about is public relations. Gary however is an exception. Interesting Kindred with taste for fine warm blood. Too bad he decided to live in the gutter while that mollycoddle Isaac Abrams rules Hollywood from his couch. Anyway, we reminisced about that time when a Tzimisce flooded the sewers with silly minions thus blocking my fellow Nosferatu's means of transport and communication. He filled my cup with some fine rodent blood and put a tape in the video. The film showed a legendary vampire who once resided in L.A., and her efforts getting past the Hollywood sewers in a quest for reaching the legendary Nosferatu warrens. «If you were planning to pay us a visit back then, you would be for an interesting surprise, boss. Ah, those were nights!» Gary grinned and, through his yellow piercing eyes, I could see the glory of a faded movie star. I will thoroughly share with you my conclusion regarding what I saw in that particular tape.

The baddies in the warrens

• Acrobats

(not their official name, merely a nickname my buddy and I used to give them)


There is a cunning strategy for beating them. Just duck with left ctrl (by default) before they attack you. Since their main attack targets your middle and upper body parts, you will be unharmed. If you have a high defense feature it's possible to stay tucked without being hit for hours. Don't get cocky though. After ducking, aim with a shotgun and blow them to pieces with 2 shells. If you are a melee-oriented Kindred, just use the 1-2 punch combo and hear them squeal.

• Big poppa

(nickname inspired by a certain musician of the '80s)

They have an ugly face (trust me, I'm a Nosferatu, I know), an aggravate damage dealing right claw and a left hand which can shoot a slowing projectile.I can't think of a more accurate way of showing that these meanies are slow than how Andrei crafted them. Herein lies the way to their obliteration. Keep moving around them while shooting with a firearm. They aren't so durable. A few shots will do the trick. A brawler with a blood buff or potence discipline can dance around their corpses with ease. Whole family entertainment in case you are a (level 5) protean Gangrel.

• Maiden

(another nickname back in the day)

Stop staring at their rotten breasts, you pervert! Dear Caine, their insides are exposed too. Sigh... Run. No, seriously, just run. Even if you end up being followed by 30 of them, just run. They do not possess such a body for decorative purposes. If killing one would ensure me an experience point I would think of a reason to stand and fight. Otherwise, if you have invested even a few points in sneaking, you can crawl past them. Despite their size, they suffer from myopia.

Warrens 1 (The valve)

Welcome to the Hollywood sewers! Before reaching the Nosferatu warrens you have to get passed four vast areas. I will guide you safely to my Kindred's home. Just follow my instructions and pay attention to the screenshots. After beating Andrei, open the double doors next to you, drop in the hole, follow the broken pipe until its end. Examine the dead Malkavian. Right next to him lies a journal; read it. Raise the lever to your right and go through the risen gate. Defeat the acrobat and turn left until you reach the dead end. To your left there is a circular opening. Enter and follow it to its end.Exit and defeat the acrobat. To your right there is a lever. Raise it, neonate. Walk past the gate and follow the path to the point it splits. To your left there are two doors. The southern one holds some ammo (lock difficulty 5) while the northern takes you back to Hollywood through an office with an interesting ledger on it. To your right lies the end of the area. Head there. Turn left but beware of an acrobat behind you. Follow the descending path and right before it ends enter the circular opening to your right. Follow the tunnel (screenshot). Get out of the narrow passage and head down. Greet the acrobat politely and keep going on until you reach the flooded pool. To your right there's a valve. You know what has to be done.

Unofficial Patch 9.5 Speed-run note
If you have the plus version of the Unofficial Patch installed, you will notice that a locked metal door has appeared at the former screenshot's location. Beside it you shall find an electronic device which gives you the opportunity to unlock the heavy hatch (provided that you have a hacking skill of 5; otherwise the password is sesame). By doing so, you will skip the rest of the sewers and you will only have to walk past a couple of rooms, in which a Big Poppa and a Maiden reside. In the last area, you will find a ladder and a letter from your Nossie friend Mitnick, encouraging you to jump into a chasm ahead. Do so, and you will be in our brethren's grotty embrace in a jiffy.


→Unofficial Patch 11.1Notice←
As of 11.1 Unofficial Patch, the aformentioned shortcut is no longer available in the location shown in the screenshot above. It has been moved: in the office in the first warrens map you will find the computer and in the Hollywood sewer section the door itself.
(Many thanks to Steam User NFO for the heads-up)

Warrens 2 (The strong current)

Time for some action! Swim quickly to your left. “Kiss” the left wall and keep swimming until you see a ladder. Ascend or continue towards the turning blades and meet a wondrous Final Death. Blow some steam off with the four acrobats and jump to the right side of the pool. Enter either of the vents and defeat two more acrobats. At the far end of the room there are three barrels. Take one and carefully place it between the 'teeth' of the 'mill'. Or throw it brutally onto the blades in case you are a Kindred with no manners. The machine will stop and you can use the blades as a ladder. Thus you can reach the vent above. Follow the tunnel and be ready to run right after exiting. There is a nest of acrobats down here. Head left, through the vertical pipes, and turn right towards a bridge. Under the bridge there is an empty pool. Jump immediately and drop in. Follow the trail into an empty narrow chamber. Open the heavy door. Ascend the staircase and open the door. Cross the bridge to your right and by the time you reach its middle, jump to the other end thus avoiding the collapse of the crumbling bridge. Pet the two acrobats and be sure not to mess with anything else. Save your progress at this point. There is pool at the far end with strong currents. Your goal is to stop the current and at the same time flood in the pools beyond. Many Kindred find it confusing but the key here is timing. Stand in front of the devise shown in the screenshot and throw the switch to the off position. Eventually the indication “safe” is turned green. Wait until you can return the switch to the on position. Press it and immediately turn left, jump from the balcony into the pool and start swimming towards the turbine. By the time you enter the narrow pipe the turbine will start spinning again. However, the current is not yet strong enough to push you back, so keep swimming and eventually turn right. Follow the pipe, swim upwards, turn right again and keep swimming. Now that's how it's done.

Warrens 3 (Leap of faith)

Right after the cut-scene, you will find your undead existence in front of a big poppa. Turn him to dust and open the gate behind him. Duck through and continue to the intersection. By heading right you will have to face some acrobats and a big poppa. There is a door there that connects the sewers to the Hollywood streets. By heading left you can continue your mission. Descend, defeat the lonely acrobat and turn left for some rat sucking. Go back, go straight ahead and turn right to see a door in the far end. It's guarded by two hiding acrobats. Unlock the door (difficulty 5) and walk towards a second door to the far end. Save before entering the next area. Here you can meet the 'maiden'. No, she's not a boss. Just run to your left past the first column and jump across the chasm. Break the glittering ventilation cover (screenshot) and crawl into the darkness beyond. Thrilling but easy at the same time, don't you agree?
IMPORTANT:
In case you have installed the unofficial patch, you will notice that the blood buff has been significantly weakened. If your lockpick skills do not reach level 5, even with the usage of blood buff, there is another way of entering the maiden's nest. Instead of heading towards the locked door, keep going straight ahead and turn right. You will have to fight two acrobats and a big poppa. Defeat them and look at your right. Raise the lever, walk through the barred gate and jump on the bridge. Even if you fall down in the pool, you can always use the pipes to climb up again.

Warrens 4 (The intricate labyrinth)

I love how Kindred hate this part, but here is your guardian vampire to guide you through this nightmare. Be glad that you can't smell the air down here. Exit the tunnel and climb down carefully to the bottom. Use the ladder and the various pipes to descend like a feather. Pay attention to the spinning turbine and drop down safely. Otherwise, you can jump deep down, right after exiting the vent, like a fool and lose half your health. Then grab those wandering rats, suck them dry and admit that you are a savage. Kill the acrobat and sneak past the maiden. Obliterate both of the acrobats and turn left. Keep going on by sneaking past the two maidens. Keep descending until you find an intersection. There is an uphill path to your right. Keep walking until you see a Nosferatu passing by. Follow him until he's ambushed by two big poppas. Take advantage of the situation and grab the keycard from the corpse to your right. Head back to the intersection and turn right through the sector 32 (The numbers can be found on the bottom of the arches as shown in the screenshots). Sneak past the maiden and head down to sector 29. Turn right and then left. You have finally reach the main gate control room. In the back there is a console. Insert your keycard and push the red button. I've been informed by some neonates that they have experienced a bug on the console when trying to push the red switch. Instead of pressing the switch, just hover your crosshair above it and it will be magically pushed by itself. A cut-scene follows. The entrance to the Nosferatu warrens is finally open. Now, since you had such a hard time getting here, be sure to drop in like a boss by doing a spectacular jump. Welcome to our smelly home!

Individual advice for each clan separately

• Brujah

Celerity, Potence and Presence. With all these disciplines and you are having a hard time down there? Is this why the Sages laugh at your face all the time?

• Gangrel

What did Gnarles Barkley sing? “Essentially I'm an animal, so just what do I do with all the aggression?”. The answer lies in level 5 Protean, Outlander.

• Malkavian

Choose auspex, use utica M37, select “Goodbye horses” on the player, start dancing naked like Buffalo Bill in “The silence of the lambs”. Now that's a good Lunatic.

• Nosferatu

Our obfuscate doesn't help much, neonate. However, your sneaking attitude... well, that's a whole different story. Oh, and don't forget feeding on the rats down there. 3-4 rodents and the blood pool floods!

• Toreador

You possess the most wonderful discipline of all. Use your celerity and try getting to the warrens in under 12 minutes. And then we will get fingers involved, boss.

• Tremere

Do you know how I can smell the stink of a fledgling Warlock from far away? She dropped dead without knowing how to use her Blood shield.

• Ventrue

Your blood pool is empty but you can't suck any of these rats down there? There are two doors leading to the upper streets. Go suck a mollycoddle's neck and quickly into the gutter once again. Also, do not forget to use your fortitude discipline in case of an emergency.

When everything is said and done

1. Generally using disciplines down there is not a bad idea, especially if you have celerity, auspex, or fortitude in mind. Just don't overdo it.
2. Many Kindred characterize the final part as difficult and hellish, but the truth is it's easy and fun to play, as long as you have raised your stats properly. It might be hard the first time you are thrown down there, but after a few tries, you will compete with your friends in speed-runs.
3. Sneaking is a good strategy but be ready to fight.
4. Stay crouched to avoid most of acrobats' attacks.
5. Blood buff utilizes a lot of our blood pool; my advice is to use it only if it's completely necessary, such as unlocking doors.
6. By saving the ambushed Nosferatu you will receive absolutely no reward, so feel free to use him as bait. Otherwise, save him and you will have my respect.
7. Finally, this guide is 100% reliable in case you are playing the game unpatched or you have the "golden patch" intalled. However, I had the latest unofficial patch [www.patches-scrolls.de] installed while playing so take it into consideration, in case you want to try it out.

Breaking the masquerade for a bit

• This is the second of five guides I've published on Steam up to this point:
  http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=175885447
  http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=215066276
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2342240194
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=741725311
  
  The others were met with positive comments from you all. I'm therefore obliged to all the steam users who found the time to read this guide as well. Thank you Troika Games for offering us the sweet vitae we call Bloodlines and thanks to you too White Wolf Publishing for introducing us your wonderful vampiric universe. I must not forget Wesp5, our honorable antediluvian who managed to make this game free of glitches and bugs, and who also created extra content for it!

• I'm open to creative criticism for making this guide even better.

• This guide may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of the author.

Good evening.

Updates, fixes, author notes

• 19/1/2014: fixed typographical errors

• 20/11/2014: replaced some screenshots

• 12/2/2015: fixed the introduction

• 4/6/2015: fixed typographical errors

• 25/1/2016: The guide has reached 2000 views. Thank you all for the support!

• 1/6/2016: Speedrun note added. Tested with the 9.5 UP installed.

• 17/7/2022: The sewer shortcut has changed location as of 11.1 UP. Editted the guide accordingly thanks to Steam User's NFO feedback

[MarinaJane]

My first run of the game was as a ventrue, and thankfully I had focused on raising my melee and firearms prior to this or it would have been hell. I do remember running out of ammo in the last section which got a bit dicey. My strategy was to melee the small ones, shoot the big ones, and spend as little blood as possible. It was much easier in my second run (malkavian). I came prepared with a lot of fire power and heavily raised auspex. That was a strategy that panned out very well for most of the game.

[Jakalor]

I love the Gangrel notes here, they're perfectly correct.

You have Protean 5 and you give no fucks.

[Unchangeling]

I'm using Unofficial Patch 11.4 - the readme/changelist mention a Warrens Shortcut, but I'm pretty sure that refers to the one you describe under Speed-run Note

[Unchangeling]

Not to resurrect an old guide! but there's a shortcut you haven't listed at the start of Warrens 4 that lets you skip the spinning fan (I'm assuming this is Plus Patch only but haven't checked).

At the bottom of the very first ladder in the shaft, the one you have to jump to, there's a smashable grill on the wall, that leads to a long ladder which completely bypasses the rest of the shaft, including the fan - you still have to drop the final distance. I took screenshots if you need a clearer explanation.

[Aviose VeAvara]

Note: Obfuscate works very well, especially at level 4+, against all but the acrobats. The acrobats are in groups that can be tackled without worrying about the other two most of the time.

[The vintage feeling]

Thank you for the feedack @FNO
I will check it myself and edit the guide accordingly.

[Cobra Verde]

I believe the position of the plus patch shortcut was changed recently and is now in the Hollywood sewers.

[steemy gaymer]

pro tip: stealth at maybe level 5 lets you skip ~70% of the entire thing, pretty much giving you blood to spare for any encounters you get into

[Kothana]

lmao i did this as ventrue without knowing about the quick exits...
let's just say i didn't exactly do it first try :P

[The vintage feeling]

Thanks for reading my gide @Cyberprank2077
No hate, only well-intentioned teasing!