Vampires are a staple in fantasy books, movies, and games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which lets players become sanguine creatures of the night. The game originally made vampirism a disease that forced players to cope or find a cure, but it became an asset when the Dawnguard DLC dropped. Being a vampire comes with bonuses to some of the player’s skills and powerful new spells and abilities. While it does have some drawbacks, the advantages may be worth the hassle for some Skyrim players.
Vampirism in Skyrim is officially known as a sickness called Sanguinare Vampiris, which the player contracts when an enemy vampire casts Vampiric Drain on them. This spell has a 10 percent chance of infecting the player with vampirism. The disease changes the player’s appearance and reduces the value and regeneration of their health, magicka, and stamina when they’re exposed to sunlight. However, Skyrim's Dawnguard DLC has a special weapon that nullifies this effect and gives the players the chance to be a fearsome Vampire Lord.
The Advantages of Playing a Vampire in Skyrim
The main benefit of being a vampire is that it gives the player strong abilities and active effects, which include Nightstalker’s Footsteps. This makes the Dragonborn 25 percent harder to detect when they’re sneaking, which is great for Skyrim players going the stealth archer route. Vampirism also offers advantages for spellcasters, as its Champion of the Night active effect improves one’s illusion spell potency by 25 percent.
When it comes to abilities, the player can absorb HP from enemies with Vampiric Drain, revive companions with Vampire’s Servant, and see in the night with Vampire’s Sight. Vampires are also completely resistant to diseases and poisons, and they become more resilient against frost as they grow stronger.
Players gain a stage of vampirism when they go a full day without feeding, with stage four being the maximum. However, this makes the player character look sickly, which makes some NPCs hostile and terrified. Players can feed to keep appearances, but they’ll go back to stage one every time they do so, making them less powerful. As such, they should manage their feeding times to ensure they’re at the right stage of vampirism for every situation.
When the player gets to the later stages of vampirism, they get 100 percent frost resistance and new skills like Embrace the Shadows, which lets them become completely invisible once a day. They also gain Vampire’s Seduction, which lets them feed on NPCs who are fully conscious. Without this skill, Skyrim's vampires can only feed on sleeping targets.
Why Dawnguard is Essential to Unlocking the Full Potential of Vampirism in Skyrim
Players who want to get the full benefits of being a vampire should have the Dawnguard DLC installed because its quest line unlocks the Vampire Lord form in Skyrim. Those looking to become one must be given vampirism by Lord Harkon or Serana, who will only appear if the expansion is installed. When the player switches to this form, they get 50-point bonuses to health, magicka, and stamina.
Vampire Lords also gain new abilities, like Vampire Claws, which lets players do massive unarmed damage and allows them to walk on water. There’s also the Bats special ability, which lets one evade attacks by turning into a swarm of bats. The Dragonborn Vampire Lord can also use their newfound Raise Dead spell to reanimate any corpse to do their bidding in combat.
This form significantly weakens the player's stats when exposed to sunlight, and makes guards immediately hostile to them. Rather, one can solve the first issue with Auriel’s bow, a Dawnguard DLC weapon that they can use to block the sun during the day. Vampire Lords can also sneak past guards easily with their improved stealth abilities. These workarounds make being a vampire viable choice for those looking to role-play as a creature of the night or players who want to make their Dragonborn even more overpowered.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
