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An in-depth explanation on the streanghts of vampirism in PvP
Sublime
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You probably know that there are currently a lot of people playing a vampire, especially in PvP. It is however not easily visible why this skill line is so strong, therefore I decided to try to explain it in an easily understandable way. This post is based of the patch 1.5.7 so it is rather a reflection than a guide. Some things may change with 1.6 some may stay, it is always hard to predict the future, so I decided to write about pre 1.6 only.
This post is split into two parts, the first is about the skill line itself, and why certain skills are worth using for their properties alone. The second half is about synergies with other class trees where it really becomes visible why it is more beneficial for one class than for another. This is also the part where the strenghts of vampirism really show off.
Each section has a text segment at first and a list of all mentioned skills below in a spoiler. Some skills are listed more than once, this is because the give benefits to several aspects at once.
I want to point out that I focus on how certain abilities interact with each other, and not about adding two strong skills to make a stronger built. An good example is Blazing Shield and Bat Swarm, both fairly strong skills which support a similar playstyle, but none of them has an effect on the other skill, the combo might still work because both skills are strong individually but it's not a real synergy.
So let's take a look at the vampire skills:
1. Vampirism
Passive:
• Your health regenerates 75% slower
• You take 50% more damage from fire attacks
• Your vampirism abilities cost 21% less to cast
• Feeding reduces your vampirism stage, sneak up behind an enemy humanoid to feed on them
Bat Swarm (Ultimate)
Summon a swarm of bats which surround you and deal X Magic Damage to enemies every 1.0 seconds for 6.0 seconds.
This skill basically deals strong AOE magic damage for 6s with a 10m radius, there are however a few things that make it more powerful compared to others.
Unlike most other ultimates, the AOE moves with the character, this opens up a lot of zoning potential and also allows the player to reposition himself without losing any damage from the ultimate. This makes it really hard to escape from somebody using Batswarm.
It is basically desirable to have Batswarm up at all times, this is because of the AOE damage, which applies a lot of pressure, and the defensive benefits, either invisibility or healing. In the end it provides the caster with a window of Immortality, therefore all sources of ultimate cost reduction are very beneficial to all vampires.
Clouding Swarm (Ultimate)
Summon a swarm of bats which surround you and deal X Magic Damage to enemies every 1.0 second for 6.0 seconds. Grants additional invisibility every second.
This is the only skill in the game that allows you to be invisible and deal damage for an extensive amount of time. This can be good or bad, good because it denies a lot of visual cues from your opponents, especially because Clouding Swarm is rather hard to notice. It can be bad because the caster himself gets the cues denied as well, but since he's the one initiating he gets a huge advantage (surprise factor).
Devouring Swarm
Summon a swarm of bats which surround you and deal X Magic Damage to enemies every 1.0 seccond for 6.0 seconds and drain X Health for each target affected.
The additional healing is really strong, comparable to crit surge but not reliant on critical hits, it basically ensures that the caster does not die while the ultimate is active.
Drain Essence
This skill is only on average streanght so I won't go into it too much, the additioan ultimate gain from Invigorating Drain might be interesting for 1.6, but that's not of our concern yet.
Mist Form
Take 75.0% reduced damage from all sources and gain invulnerability to healing magic and control effects for 3.0 seconds.
75% damage reduction is a lot, and it synergizes really well with the built in CC-immunity. The healing immunity is not too big of a problem because, the healing can easily be timed between two casts, but it is certainly necessary to avoid abuse in PvE boss fights.
In addition to that, the visual effect is really hard to notice, especially in dark places, this makes this skill excellent for surpise engages, or disengages.
Elusive Mist
Take 75.0% reduced damage from all sources and gain invulnerability to all healing magic and control effects for 4.0 seconds. Increases movement by 30.0%.
The additional 33% movement speed make it really nice to use it as a fast-travel tool, it is basically a "run" button that consumes Magicka instead of stamina, while granting 75% damage reduction and CC-immunity. The inability to use skills as well as the healing immunity require good timing, but they are not so noticable because of the damage reduction.
Poison Mist
The damage from this ability is just too low to matter, so I won't go into this skill either.
Savage Feeding (Passive)
Feeding is used to reduce the stage of the vampirism, but since the skill cost reduction is favourable a reduction in the vampire stage is not desired, which means feeding and all related perks are useless.
Supernatural Recovery (Passive)
Increases Magicka and Stamina Recovery by 10%.
The strong part of this passive is the fact that, unlike Werewolf, it is not only Magicka or Stamina, but a bit of both. This is an advantage because less regeneration gets eaten up by the Softcaps. 10% regeneration is already strong itself, but the additional hybrid factor gives it an additional edge.
Blood Ritual (Passive)
No explanation needed I guess. (It's the vampire bite passive, for those who don't know the skills by heart and are too lazy to check)
Undeath (Passive)
Increases damage mitigation when player is below 50% Health. Damage mitigation can increase up to 33%, as health decreases.
This skill synegizes really well with the dive-heavy playstyle usually associated with vampire, the fact that the damage reduction only starts at 30% is not too grave, since executes can be really punishing, so a safeguard against them is always desired. The 33% mitigation is obviously against all forms of damage, but executes are really frequent from 25%/20% on and also deal a lot more damage than anything else so mitigation is more needed. The fact that there are no fire damage based executes, makes it even better.
Unnatural Resistance (Passive)
Health Recovery is improved in Vampirism stages 2 through 4.
The health recovery is so too small to matter. Base health regen is mostly useless in PvP anyway, so there's not much to get here.
Dark Stalker (Passive)
Increases movement speed while sneaking and allows player to enter stealth more quickly at night.
While not giving any direct benefits, it is really useful when you have to move around and have hostile players nearby.
There are obviously some skills that are already fairly strong as they are, but as ESO is you can combine them with other skill to get the full power out of it. The following part will be about some of the most powerful synergies in the game, it should explain why some classes get more benefits than other, as well as help you understand what makes it work. And remember, understanding your enemy is your first step towards victory.
2. Class Synergies
2. 1.Dragonknight
The Dragonknight has a very stationary skill kit, forcing him to rely more on defensive stats, luckily Devouring Swarm, is exactly what is needed. It provides healing, AOE damage which pressures all surrounding attackers and stays around the player, creating a no-go zone for enemy players. While it only lasts 6s it has a really low cost, which allows for more constant use, additionally you get the full 6s, anybody can leave a Standart in <1s, but escaping a Bats Swarm is much harder. Especially when the aggressor is using Burning Talons to keep all enemies around him close.
Devouring Swarm and Burning Talons are both circular AOE's with the caster in the center, they however do have a different radius, but the main synergy remains and enables the DK to pull out sustainable and reliant AOE damage. Sustainable because of the ultimate regeneration from Combat Frenzy, Burning Talons, an occassional Molten Armaments and Inner Light, and reliant because it is consumes a lot of stamina to get out of Burning Talons, especially when one cast can drain several thousand stamina from different players combined.
On top of that the DK gets Magicka, Stamina and Health (based on the unreduced ultimate cost) returned upon ultimate activation, which makes the use of ultimates even more desirable, since it vastly increases the overall ressource management. The fact that the return value is calculated with the original ultimate cost gives Bat Swarm a up to 21% advantage over all other ultimates. And if a DK should ever get low while using Devouring Swarm an Ingenous Shield can put him back to 100% through a small damage shield, +30% healing done, +12% healing received from Burning Heart and two bonus ultimate through Mountain's Blessing, or a simple use of Green Dragon Blood.
Which leads us directly to the next synergy, GDB and the up to 33% damage mitigation when at low health. Green Dragon Blood is a super strong heal that gains in efficiency the lower the caster's health is. Additional damage mitigation makes it easier to get the maximum out of GDB.
As fire mage and tank the Dragonknight probably benefits the most from the Dunmer race, which also grants passive fire resistance making a fire resistance glyph almost redundant, and that at a very low if not non-existant opportunity cost. On top of that the amount of Fire Resist is one of the highest sources in the game, and because Spell Resistance and Fire Resistance have different softcaps, additional Fire Resistance gives double benefit.
One of the biggest drawbacks of being a tanky class, is the lack of escape options. With the vampire skill tree and Elusive Mist, which can be combined with Retreating Maneuver for a total of +66% speed and immunity to all forms of CC, this problem gets solved almost completely.
As a summary, vampirism completes the DK's skill arsenal by providing a much needed escape, as well as another damage type than fire, which everybody is wearing resistance against. Additionally many vampire skills synergize with Dragonknight abilities, making them either easier to cast or increasing their efficiency.
2. 2. Nightblade
Nightblades are less tanky than Dragonknights, but they gain vast boni to healing through Swallow Soul, Sap Essence and Soul Siphoner from their Siphoning skill tree. This gives the NB enough sustain to go for Clouding Swarm, which gets boosted through Master Assassine for increased damage, an occassional Concealed Weapon to a stun nearby target and Shadow Barrier, which extends the defensive window of the ultimate from 6s to 10s.
Sap Essence might not have a built in root like Burning Talons, but it has some other really nice perks that are just as useful. First it provides fast ultimate regeneration, which gets boosted through Pressure Points. Second it increases the casters damage based on the targets hit and third it heals the caster and surrounding allies for a vast amount of HP. The top property of Sap Essence is, that it allows the caster to build ultimate and heal himself at the same time, a crucial capability for a vampire.
NB's also have Impale + Combat Frenzy + Soul Harvest, to finish of low health targets, an important capability for a damage oriented dive build, it ensures the supply of ultimate in prolongued fights and an enemy less is always favourable.
Another reason for Nightblades to get vamprirism are Scroll runs, Twisting Path allows them, combined with Elusive Mist, Retreating Maneuver, Speed Potions and the passive movement speed bonus from the Scroll, to outrun any other player in the game, which ends up with the carrier literarily running away from the fight.
As a summary, Nightblades deal more damage with vampirism than Dragonknights thanks to their aggressive class skills, they get less synergies than DK's but more powerful ones, which might make it easier to play since there are less skills involved. NB's also have Shadow Image + Dark Cloak in their poket giving them an easy way out where others have to rely on linear solutions. Thanks to Twisted Path vampirism enables Nightblades to get the highest speed possible, which makes them the go-to class for scroll carriers.
2. 3. Sorcerer
Sorcerers are much more fragile than Nightblades or Dragonknights, which makes Clouding Swarm a mandatory choice. Luckily the loss of healing can be circumvented with Restraining Prison, Exploitation and Critical Surge. This alternative rapidly looses efficiency as soon as you are fighting enemies that are wearing impenetrable, which makes it a bit inconvenient. Also note that the Restraining Prison morph is important, since the snare prolongs the Exploitation bonus.
While Power Stone, an occassional Mage's Fury + Combat Frenzy and Exploitation increase the uptime of Clouding Swarm, however keeping Clouding Swarm up at a acceptable rate is still problematic because of the conal AOE of Restraining Prison and the rather slim AOE of Streak, as well as their high cost. Against closely grouped players it works like a charm, but as soon as opponents start to spread out, other skills are needed.
Razor Caltrops can be used as an alternative to Restraining Prison but it's cost is so high that Supernatural Recovery isn't enough to supply the amount of Stamina which is required to survive a prolonged fight, and requires the Racor Caltrops + Clouding Swarm + Streak surprise initiation to be almost flawless, in order to actually benefit from the skill choice.
As a summary, the Sorcerer skill arsenal gives up some sustainability for increased kite potential in the form of Restraining Prison and Streak, making the vampire playstyle much more of an all-in all-out experience. There are very few direct synergies, which makes vampirism more an escape to an AOE damage ultimate, than an actual choice for more skill diversity.
2. 4. Templar
With Bat Swarm + Blinding Flashes + Illuminate being the only real synergy for Templar vampires, there are only very few incentives to choose this skill line. Some 2h users might like Supernatural Recovery to get a bit more recovery for their hybrid build or the increased sneak speed. Similar to Dragonknights Templars have no escape, so Elusive Mist really helps out there, but it's rather an escape to a certain skill than an actuall choice.
2. 5. Other Synergies
In the end Dragonknights get by far the most out of vampirism, followed by Nightblades, with Sorcerer and Templar at the back end. For Dragonknights it completes their skill kit with some missing mechanics and a couple of very nice synergies putting them in a rather strong position.
Nightblades do not get as much benefits, but Clouding Swarm synergizes nicely with the stealth aspect of the class, while the Siphoning tree takes care of the survival part of the kit.
For Sorcerers the real benefit is to finally get an AOE damage ultimate, that even supports the use of Streak, which is nice for solo PvP, it however still gets massively outclassed by Negate in group play.
Templars are really left behind in this case, all they getapart from the normal boni is a single synergy, in the form of Bat Swarm + Blinding Flashes + Illuminate, which is rather hard to get to work because of the small AOE of Blinding Flashes. They however also get a decent escape in the form of Elusive Mist, helps them a lot.
Edited by Sublime on February 23, 2015 7:17PM This post is split into two parts, the first is about the skill line itself, and why certain skills are worth using for their properties alone. The second half is about synergies with other class trees where it really becomes visible why it is more beneficial for one class than for another. This is also the part where the strenghts of vampirism really show off.
Each section has a text segment at first and a list of all mentioned skills below in a spoiler. Some skills are listed more than once, this is because the give benefits to several aspects at once.
I want to point out that I focus on how certain abilities interact with each other, and not about adding two strong skills to make a stronger built. An good example is Blazing Shield and Bat Swarm, both fairly strong skills which support a similar playstyle, but none of them has an effect on the other skill, the combo might still work because both skills are strong individually but it's not a real synergy.
So let's take a look at the vampire skills:
1. Vampirism
Passive:
• Your health regenerates 75% slower
• You take 50% more damage from fire attacks
• Your vampirism abilities cost 21% less to cast
• Feeding reduces your vampirism stage, sneak up behind an enemy humanoid to feed on them
Bat Swarm (Ultimate)
Summon a swarm of bats which surround you and deal X Magic Damage to enemies every 1.0 seconds for 6.0 seconds.
This skill basically deals strong AOE magic damage for 6s with a 10m radius, there are however a few things that make it more powerful compared to others.
Unlike most other ultimates, the AOE moves with the character, this opens up a lot of zoning potential and also allows the player to reposition himself without losing any damage from the ultimate. This makes it really hard to escape from somebody using Batswarm.
It is basically desirable to have Batswarm up at all times, this is because of the AOE damage, which applies a lot of pressure, and the defensive benefits, either invisibility or healing. In the end it provides the caster with a window of Immortality, therefore all sources of ultimate cost reduction are very beneficial to all vampires.
Clouding Swarm (Ultimate)
Summon a swarm of bats which surround you and deal X Magic Damage to enemies every 1.0 second for 6.0 seconds. Grants additional invisibility every second.
This is the only skill in the game that allows you to be invisible and deal damage for an extensive amount of time. This can be good or bad, good because it denies a lot of visual cues from your opponents, especially because Clouding Swarm is rather hard to notice. It can be bad because the caster himself gets the cues denied as well, but since he's the one initiating he gets a huge advantage (surprise factor).
Devouring Swarm
Summon a swarm of bats which surround you and deal X Magic Damage to enemies every 1.0 seccond for 6.0 seconds and drain X Health for each target affected.
The additional healing is really strong, comparable to crit surge but not reliant on critical hits, it basically ensures that the caster does not die while the ultimate is active.
Drain Essence
This skill is only on average streanght so I won't go into it too much, the additioan ultimate gain from Invigorating Drain might be interesting for 1.6, but that's not of our concern yet.
Mist Form
Take 75.0% reduced damage from all sources and gain invulnerability to healing magic and control effects for 3.0 seconds.
75% damage reduction is a lot, and it synergizes really well with the built in CC-immunity. The healing immunity is not too big of a problem because, the healing can easily be timed between two casts, but it is certainly necessary to avoid abuse in PvE boss fights.
In addition to that, the visual effect is really hard to notice, especially in dark places, this makes this skill excellent for surpise engages, or disengages.
Elusive Mist
Take 75.0% reduced damage from all sources and gain invulnerability to all healing magic and control effects for 4.0 seconds. Increases movement by 30.0%.
The additional 33% movement speed make it really nice to use it as a fast-travel tool, it is basically a "run" button that consumes Magicka instead of stamina, while granting 75% damage reduction and CC-immunity. The inability to use skills as well as the healing immunity require good timing, but they are not so noticable because of the damage reduction.
Poison Mist
The damage from this ability is just too low to matter, so I won't go into this skill either.
Savage Feeding (Passive)
Feeding is used to reduce the stage of the vampirism, but since the skill cost reduction is favourable a reduction in the vampire stage is not desired, which means feeding and all related perks are useless.
Supernatural Recovery (Passive)
Increases Magicka and Stamina Recovery by 10%.
The strong part of this passive is the fact that, unlike Werewolf, it is not only Magicka or Stamina, but a bit of both. This is an advantage because less regeneration gets eaten up by the Softcaps. 10% regeneration is already strong itself, but the additional hybrid factor gives it an additional edge.
Blood Ritual (Passive)
No explanation needed I guess. (It's the vampire bite passive, for those who don't know the skills by heart and are too lazy to check)
Undeath (Passive)
Increases damage mitigation when player is below 50% Health. Damage mitigation can increase up to 33%, as health decreases.
This skill synegizes really well with the dive-heavy playstyle usually associated with vampire, the fact that the damage reduction only starts at 30% is not too grave, since executes can be really punishing, so a safeguard against them is always desired. The 33% mitigation is obviously against all forms of damage, but executes are really frequent from 25%/20% on and also deal a lot more damage than anything else so mitigation is more needed. The fact that there are no fire damage based executes, makes it even better.
Unnatural Resistance (Passive)
Health Recovery is improved in Vampirism stages 2 through 4.
The health recovery is so too small to matter. Base health regen is mostly useless in PvP anyway, so there's not much to get here.
Dark Stalker (Passive)
Increases movement speed while sneaking and allows player to enter stealth more quickly at night.
While not giving any direct benefits, it is really useful when you have to move around and have hostile players nearby.
There are obviously some skills that are already fairly strong as they are, but as ESO is you can combine them with other skill to get the full power out of it. The following part will be about some of the most powerful synergies in the game, it should explain why some classes get more benefits than other, as well as help you understand what makes it work. And remember, understanding your enemy is your first step towards victory.
2. Class Synergies
2. 1.Dragonknight
The Dragonknight has a very stationary skill kit, forcing him to rely more on defensive stats, luckily Devouring Swarm, is exactly what is needed. It provides healing, AOE damage which pressures all surrounding attackers and stays around the player, creating a no-go zone for enemy players. While it only lasts 6s it has a really low cost, which allows for more constant use, additionally you get the full 6s, anybody can leave a Standart in <1s, but escaping a Bats Swarm is much harder. Especially when the aggressor is using Burning Talons to keep all enemies around him close.
Devouring Swarm and Burning Talons are both circular AOE's with the caster in the center, they however do have a different radius, but the main synergy remains and enables the DK to pull out sustainable and reliant AOE damage. Sustainable because of the ultimate regeneration from Combat Frenzy, Burning Talons, an occassional Molten Armaments and Inner Light, and reliant because it is consumes a lot of stamina to get out of Burning Talons, especially when one cast can drain several thousand stamina from different players combined.
On top of that the DK gets Magicka, Stamina and Health (based on the unreduced ultimate cost) returned upon ultimate activation, which makes the use of ultimates even more desirable, since it vastly increases the overall ressource management. The fact that the return value is calculated with the original ultimate cost gives Bat Swarm a up to 21% advantage over all other ultimates. And if a DK should ever get low while using Devouring Swarm an Ingenous Shield can put him back to 100% through a small damage shield, +30% healing done, +12% healing received from Burning Heart and two bonus ultimate through Mountain's Blessing, or a simple use of Green Dragon Blood.
Which leads us directly to the next synergy, GDB and the up to 33% damage mitigation when at low health. Green Dragon Blood is a super strong heal that gains in efficiency the lower the caster's health is. Additional damage mitigation makes it easier to get the maximum out of GDB.
As fire mage and tank the Dragonknight probably benefits the most from the Dunmer race, which also grants passive fire resistance making a fire resistance glyph almost redundant, and that at a very low if not non-existant opportunity cost. On top of that the amount of Fire Resist is one of the highest sources in the game, and because Spell Resistance and Fire Resistance have different softcaps, additional Fire Resistance gives double benefit.
One of the biggest drawbacks of being a tanky class, is the lack of escape options. With the vampire skill tree and Elusive Mist, which can be combined with Retreating Maneuver for a total of +66% speed and immunity to all forms of CC, this problem gets solved almost completely.
As a summary, vampirism completes the DK's skill arsenal by providing a much needed escape, as well as another damage type than fire, which everybody is wearing resistance against. Additionally many vampire skills synergize with Dragonknight abilities, making them either easier to cast or increasing their efficiency.
Draconic Power (DK): Burning Talons
Immobilizes nearby enemies for 4.0 seconds and deals X Physical Damage, then deals X Flame Damage over time. An ally can activate the Impale Synergy, damaging enemies held within the talons.
Draconic Power (DK): Green Dragon Blood
Heals for 33.0% of missing health. Increases Health Recovery by 40.0% and Stamina Recovery by 29.0% for 20.0 seconds.
Earthen Heart (DK): Battle Roar (Passive)
Restores Health, Magicka, and Stamina. Restore amount increased by 70.0% of the Ultimate's cost.
DK boni to Ultimate generation
Draconic Power (DK): Burning Talons
Immobilizes nearby enemies for 4.0 seconds and deals X Physical Damage, then deals X Flame Damage over time. An ally can activate the Impale Synergy, damaging enemies held within the talons.
Earthen Heart (DK): Molten Armaments
Increases Weapon Damage of nearby allies by X for 1.2 minutes. Caster recieves an additional X Weapon Damage for 1.2 minutes. Affected targets gain 27.0% Critical strike chance with weapon attacks for 6.0 seconds.
Earthen Heart (DK): Mountain's Blessing
Grants 2 additional Ultimate when activating an Earthen Heart ability.
DK boni to Healing Received
Draconic Power (DK): Burning Heart (Passive)
Increases healing received by 12% while a Dragon ability is active.
Earthen Heart (DK): Ingenous Shield
Creates X point damage shield for 24.0 seconds on all nearby allies. Shield strength is increased by 100.0% on caster. Increases the healing you do by 33.0% for 6.0 seconds.
DK boni to Resistances
Draconic Power (DK): Scaled Armor (Passive)
Increases Spell Resistance by 250.0.
Dunmer (RACIAL): Resist Flame
Increases Flame Resistance by 1575.0. Increass maximum Magicka by 3.0%.
Immobilizes nearby enemies for 4.0 seconds and deals X Physical Damage, then deals X Flame Damage over time. An ally can activate the Impale Synergy, damaging enemies held within the talons.
Draconic Power (DK): Green Dragon Blood
Heals for 33.0% of missing health. Increases Health Recovery by 40.0% and Stamina Recovery by 29.0% for 20.0 seconds.
Earthen Heart (DK): Battle Roar (Passive)
Restores Health, Magicka, and Stamina. Restore amount increased by 70.0% of the Ultimate's cost.
DK boni to Ultimate generation
Draconic Power (DK): Burning Talons
Immobilizes nearby enemies for 4.0 seconds and deals X Physical Damage, then deals X Flame Damage over time. An ally can activate the Impale Synergy, damaging enemies held within the talons.
Earthen Heart (DK): Molten Armaments
Increases Weapon Damage of nearby allies by X for 1.2 minutes. Caster recieves an additional X Weapon Damage for 1.2 minutes. Affected targets gain 27.0% Critical strike chance with weapon attacks for 6.0 seconds.
Earthen Heart (DK): Mountain's Blessing
Grants 2 additional Ultimate when activating an Earthen Heart ability.
DK boni to Healing Received
Draconic Power (DK): Burning Heart (Passive)
Increases healing received by 12% while a Dragon ability is active.
Earthen Heart (DK): Ingenous Shield
Creates X point damage shield for 24.0 seconds on all nearby allies. Shield strength is increased by 100.0% on caster. Increases the healing you do by 33.0% for 6.0 seconds.
DK boni to Resistances
Draconic Power (DK): Scaled Armor (Passive)
Increases Spell Resistance by 250.0.
Dunmer (RACIAL): Resist Flame
Increases Flame Resistance by 1575.0. Increass maximum Magicka by 3.0%.
2. 2. Nightblade
Nightblades are less tanky than Dragonknights, but they gain vast boni to healing through Swallow Soul, Sap Essence and Soul Siphoner from their Siphoning skill tree. This gives the NB enough sustain to go for Clouding Swarm, which gets boosted through Master Assassine for increased damage, an occassional Concealed Weapon to a stun nearby target and Shadow Barrier, which extends the defensive window of the ultimate from 6s to 10s.
Sap Essence might not have a built in root like Burning Talons, but it has some other really nice perks that are just as useful. First it provides fast ultimate regeneration, which gets boosted through Pressure Points. Second it increases the casters damage based on the targets hit and third it heals the caster and surrounding allies for a vast amount of HP. The top property of Sap Essence is, that it allows the caster to build ultimate and heal himself at the same time, a crucial capability for a vampire.
NB's also have Impale + Combat Frenzy + Soul Harvest, to finish of low health targets, an important capability for a damage oriented dive build, it ensures the supply of ultimate in prolongued fights and an enemy less is always favourable.
Another reason for Nightblades to get vamprirism are Scroll runs, Twisting Path allows them, combined with Elusive Mist, Retreating Maneuver, Speed Potions and the passive movement speed bonus from the Scroll, to outrun any other player in the game, which ends up with the carrier literarily running away from the fight.
As a summary, Nightblades deal more damage with vampirism than Dragonknights thanks to their aggressive class skills, they get less synergies than DK's but more powerful ones, which might make it easier to play since there are less skills involved. NB's also have Shadow Image + Dark Cloak in their poket giving them an easy way out where others have to rely on linear solutions. Thanks to Twisted Path vampirism enables Nightblades to get the highest speed possible, which makes them the go-to class for scroll carriers.
Assassination (NB): Master Assassin (Passive)
Increases Weapon and Spell Damage while invisible or stealthed by 10.0%. Successful stealth attacks stun for 100% longer.
Shadow (NB): Concealed Weapon
Deals X Magic Damage to target. If stealthed or invisible, attack sets target off balance and stuns them or 4.0 seconds. Passively increases stealthed movement speed by 25.0% while slotted.
Shadow (NB): Twisting Path
Enemies in front of player take X Magic Damage every second for 10.0 seonds. Increases movement speed 50.0% for duration.
Siphoning (NB): Sap Essence
Deal X magic Damage to nearby enemies. Weapon Damage is increased by 6.0% for each enemy damaged, for 20.0 seconds. Nearby allies are healed for X. This value is increased 20.0% for each enemy hit.
[/b]NB boni to Ultimate generation[/b]
Assassination (NB): Soul Harvest (Ultimate)
Deals X Magic Damage while reducing target's healing received by 50.0% and increasing your damage to the target by 20.0% for 6.0 seconds. Passively increases Ultimate recharge from successful kills while slotted.
Assassination (NB): Impale
Deals X Magic Damage. Low Health targets take 300.0% additional damage.
Assassination (NB): Pressure Points (Passive)
Increases Critical Strike rating by 3.0% for each Assassination ability slotted. Current bonus: X%
Siphoning (NB): Sap Essence
Deal X magic Damage to nearby enemies. Weapon Damage is increased by 6.0% for each enemy damaged, for 20.0 seconds. Nearby allies are healed for X. This value is increased 20.0% for each enemy hit.
Siphoning (NB): Transfer
Bestows 2 Ultimate when dealing damae with a Siphoning ability.
NB boni to Healing Received
Siphoning (NB): Swallow Soul
Deals X magic Damage and heals player for 25% the damage inflicted every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Player also receives 10% more healing from all sources while ability is slotted.
Siphoning (NB): Sap Essence
Deal X magic Damage to nearby enemies. Weapon Damage is increased by 6.0% for each enemy damaged, for 20.0 seconds. Nearby allies are healed for X. This value is increased 20.0% for each enemy hit.
Siphoning (NB): Soul Siphoner
Increases Healing from Siphoning abilities by 15.0%.
NB boni to Resistances
Shadow (NB): Shadow Barrier (Passive)
Increases Armor and Spell Resistance by 1750.0 for 4.0 seconds when coming out of stealth or invisibility.
Increases Weapon and Spell Damage while invisible or stealthed by 10.0%. Successful stealth attacks stun for 100% longer.
Shadow (NB): Concealed Weapon
Deals X Magic Damage to target. If stealthed or invisible, attack sets target off balance and stuns them or 4.0 seconds. Passively increases stealthed movement speed by 25.0% while slotted.
Shadow (NB): Twisting Path
Enemies in front of player take X Magic Damage every second for 10.0 seonds. Increases movement speed 50.0% for duration.
Siphoning (NB): Sap Essence
Deal X magic Damage to nearby enemies. Weapon Damage is increased by 6.0% for each enemy damaged, for 20.0 seconds. Nearby allies are healed for X. This value is increased 20.0% for each enemy hit.
[/b]NB boni to Ultimate generation[/b]
Assassination (NB): Soul Harvest (Ultimate)
Deals X Magic Damage while reducing target's healing received by 50.0% and increasing your damage to the target by 20.0% for 6.0 seconds. Passively increases Ultimate recharge from successful kills while slotted.
Assassination (NB): Impale
Deals X Magic Damage. Low Health targets take 300.0% additional damage.
Assassination (NB): Pressure Points (Passive)
Increases Critical Strike rating by 3.0% for each Assassination ability slotted. Current bonus: X%
Siphoning (NB): Sap Essence
Deal X magic Damage to nearby enemies. Weapon Damage is increased by 6.0% for each enemy damaged, for 20.0 seconds. Nearby allies are healed for X. This value is increased 20.0% for each enemy hit.
Siphoning (NB): Transfer
Bestows 2 Ultimate when dealing damae with a Siphoning ability.
NB boni to Healing Received
Siphoning (NB): Swallow Soul
Deals X magic Damage and heals player for 25% the damage inflicted every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Player also receives 10% more healing from all sources while ability is slotted.
Siphoning (NB): Sap Essence
Deal X magic Damage to nearby enemies. Weapon Damage is increased by 6.0% for each enemy damaged, for 20.0 seconds. Nearby allies are healed for X. This value is increased 20.0% for each enemy hit.
Siphoning (NB): Soul Siphoner
Increases Healing from Siphoning abilities by 15.0%.
NB boni to Resistances
Shadow (NB): Shadow Barrier (Passive)
Increases Armor and Spell Resistance by 1750.0 for 4.0 seconds when coming out of stealth or invisibility.
2. 3. Sorcerer
Sorcerers are much more fragile than Nightblades or Dragonknights, which makes Clouding Swarm a mandatory choice. Luckily the loss of healing can be circumvented with Restraining Prison, Exploitation and Critical Surge. This alternative rapidly looses efficiency as soon as you are fighting enemies that are wearing impenetrable, which makes it a bit inconvenient. Also note that the Restraining Prison morph is important, since the snare prolongs the Exploitation bonus.
While Power Stone, an occassional Mage's Fury + Combat Frenzy and Exploitation increase the uptime of Clouding Swarm, however keeping Clouding Swarm up at a acceptable rate is still problematic because of the conal AOE of Restraining Prison and the rather slim AOE of Streak, as well as their high cost. Against closely grouped players it works like a charm, but as soon as opponents start to spread out, other skills are needed.
Razor Caltrops can be used as an alternative to Restraining Prison but it's cost is so high that Supernatural Recovery isn't enough to supply the amount of Stamina which is required to survive a prolonged fight, and requires the Racor Caltrops + Clouding Swarm + Streak surprise initiation to be almost flawless, in order to actually benefit from the skill choice.
As a summary, the Sorcerer skill arsenal gives up some sustainability for increased kite potential in the form of Restraining Prison and Streak, making the vampire playstyle much more of an all-in all-out experience. There are very few direct synergies, which makes vampirism more an escape to an AOE damage ultimate, than an actual choice for more skill diversity.
Dark Magic (SR): Restraining Prison
Immobilizes enemies in front of you for 5.4 seconds. When effect ends, enemies recover their movement speed over 6.6 seconds.
Storm Calling (SR): Critical Surge
Increases weapon damage by X for 20.0 seconds. Critical strikes heal player for 65.0% of damage inflicted.
Storm Calling (SR): Streak
Teleports player forward and deals X Shock Damage to enemies moved through, disorienting them for 2.0 seconds. Out of Combat Magicka recovery is halved 4.0 seconds. After casting, the next Streak cast within 4.0 seconds costs 50.0% more.
Sorcerer boni to Ultimate generation
Dark Magic (SR): Restraining Prison
Immobilizes enemies in front of you for 5.4 seconds. When effect ends, enemies recover their movement speed over 6.6 seconds.
Dark Magic (SR): Exploitation (Passive)
Increases Critical Strike chance by 15.0% when attacking enemies affected by Dark Magic.
Daedric Summoning (SR): Power Stone (Passive)
Reduces the cost of Ultimate abilities by 15.0%
Storm Calling (SR): Mage's Fury
Deals X Shock Damage to target. Explodes for an additional X Shock Damage if the target falls below 20% health within 4.0 seconds. The explosion deals X Shock Damage to enemies within a 4m radius of the target.
Storm Calling (SR): Streak
Teleports player forward and deals X Shock Damage to enemies moved through, disorienting them for 2.0 seconds. Out of Combat Magicka recovery is halved 4.0 seconds. After casting, the next Streak cast within 4.0 seconds costs 50.0% more.
Immobilizes enemies in front of you for 5.4 seconds. When effect ends, enemies recover their movement speed over 6.6 seconds.
Storm Calling (SR): Critical Surge
Increases weapon damage by X for 20.0 seconds. Critical strikes heal player for 65.0% of damage inflicted.
Storm Calling (SR): Streak
Teleports player forward and deals X Shock Damage to enemies moved through, disorienting them for 2.0 seconds. Out of Combat Magicka recovery is halved 4.0 seconds. After casting, the next Streak cast within 4.0 seconds costs 50.0% more.
Sorcerer boni to Ultimate generation
Dark Magic (SR): Restraining Prison
Immobilizes enemies in front of you for 5.4 seconds. When effect ends, enemies recover their movement speed over 6.6 seconds.
Dark Magic (SR): Exploitation (Passive)
Increases Critical Strike chance by 15.0% when attacking enemies affected by Dark Magic.
Daedric Summoning (SR): Power Stone (Passive)
Reduces the cost of Ultimate abilities by 15.0%
Storm Calling (SR): Mage's Fury
Deals X Shock Damage to target. Explodes for an additional X Shock Damage if the target falls below 20% health within 4.0 seconds. The explosion deals X Shock Damage to enemies within a 4m radius of the target.
Storm Calling (SR): Streak
Teleports player forward and deals X Shock Damage to enemies moved through, disorienting them for 2.0 seconds. Out of Combat Magicka recovery is halved 4.0 seconds. After casting, the next Streak cast within 4.0 seconds costs 50.0% more.
2. 4. Templar
With Bat Swarm + Blinding Flashes + Illuminate being the only real synergy for Templar vampires, there are only very few incentives to choose this skill line. Some 2h users might like Supernatural Recovery to get a bit more recovery for their hybrid build or the increased sneak speed. Similar to Dragonknights Templars have no escape, so Elusive Mist really helps out there, but it's rather an escape to a certain skill than an actuall choice.
Dawn's Wrath (TP): Blinding Flashes
Pulses every 2.0 seconds, causing nearby enemies to have a 50% chance to miss and be set off balance for 7.2 seconds.
TP boni to Ultimate generation
Dawn's Wrath (TP): Prism
Bestows 2 additional Ultimate when using a Dawn's Wrath ability.
Dawn's Wrath (TP): Restoring Spirit (Passive)
Reduce ability Magicka, Stamina, and Ultimate costs by 4.0%
TP boni to Resistances
Aedric Spear (TP): Balanced Warrior (Passive)
Increases Weapon Damage by 4.0% and Spell Resistance by 200.0.
Dawn's Wrath (TP): Blinding Flashes
Pulses every 2.0 seconds, causing nearby enemies to have a 50% chance to miss and be set off balance for 7.2 seconds.
Dawn's Wrath (TP): Illuminate (Passive)
While using a Dawn's Wrath Ability. Spell Resistance is increased by 500.0 if the attacker is affected.
Pulses every 2.0 seconds, causing nearby enemies to have a 50% chance to miss and be set off balance for 7.2 seconds.
TP boni to Ultimate generation
Dawn's Wrath (TP): Prism
Bestows 2 additional Ultimate when using a Dawn's Wrath ability.
Dawn's Wrath (TP): Restoring Spirit (Passive)
Reduce ability Magicka, Stamina, and Ultimate costs by 4.0%
TP boni to Resistances
Aedric Spear (TP): Balanced Warrior (Passive)
Increases Weapon Damage by 4.0% and Spell Resistance by 200.0.
Dawn's Wrath (TP): Blinding Flashes
Pulses every 2.0 seconds, causing nearby enemies to have a 50% chance to miss and be set off balance for 7.2 seconds.
Dawn's Wrath (TP): Illuminate (Passive)
While using a Dawn's Wrath Ability. Spell Resistance is increased by 500.0 if the attacker is affected.
2. 5. Other Synergies
Assault (ALLIANCE WAR): Retreating Maneuver
Increases movement speed of nearby allies by 33.0% for 20.0 seconds, removes all snares and immobilizes and grants immunity to additional snares and immobilizations. Effects end when an attack is made.
Retreating Maneuver into Elusive Mist is an almost unbeatable escape combo, which grants you a total of 66.0% bonus movement speed, that's only beaten by streak or other, more expensive, combos.
Assault (ALLIANCE WAR): Razor Caltrops
Throws caltrops at target location, dealing X Physical Damage very 0.95 seconds to enemies in the area of effect for 30 seconds. Affected enemies are snared for 30%. Deals 5 Physical Damage and snares enemies in the area 70% for 3 seconds when caltrops are initially deployed.
If used right before engaging with Batswarm, it makes targets really vulnerable, the base snare is already strong but the additional 40% from the morph leaves them almost no escape.
Other boni to Ultimate generation
Fighter's Guild (GUILD): Banish the Wicked (Passive)
Bestos 9 Ultimate when killing an undead or Daedric enemy.
Mage's Guild (GUILD): Inner Light
Summons a light that reveals hidden and invisible enemies within 12 meters. Reduces Max Magicka by 5.0% and increases Spell Critical strike chance by 20.0%. Toggle to activate.
20% Spell Critical strike chance is too much ultimate regeneration to ignore.
Assault (ALLIANCE WAR): Combat Frenzy (Passive)
Bestows an additional 25 Ultimate when killing an enemy player.
This is the passive that can enable you to keep Batswarm up 24/7.
Emperor (ALLIANCE WAR): Authority (Passive)
Increases Ultimate gains by 100%, and decreases ultimate costs by 5%. For former Emperors, decreases Ultimate cost by 5%.
Less Ultimate cost means more time in Batswarm.
Other boni to healing received
Emperor (ALLIANCE WAR): Monarch
Increases the magnitude of healing effects on Emperors by 50.0%, and on former Emperors by 1.0%.
Support (ALLIANCE WAR): Combat Medic
Increases healing done by 20.0% when near a keep.
Argonian (RACIAL): Quick to Mend
Increases healing received by 6.0%
Other boni to Resistances
Breton (RACIAL): Spell Resistance
Increases Spell Resistance by X:
Dunmer (RACIAL): Resist Flame
Increases Flame Resistance by 1575.0. Increass maximum Magicka by 3.0%.
Increases movement speed of nearby allies by 33.0% for 20.0 seconds, removes all snares and immobilizes and grants immunity to additional snares and immobilizations. Effects end when an attack is made.
Retreating Maneuver into Elusive Mist is an almost unbeatable escape combo, which grants you a total of 66.0% bonus movement speed, that's only beaten by streak or other, more expensive, combos.
Assault (ALLIANCE WAR): Razor Caltrops
Throws caltrops at target location, dealing X Physical Damage very 0.95 seconds to enemies in the area of effect for 30 seconds. Affected enemies are snared for 30%. Deals 5 Physical Damage and snares enemies in the area 70% for 3 seconds when caltrops are initially deployed.
If used right before engaging with Batswarm, it makes targets really vulnerable, the base snare is already strong but the additional 40% from the morph leaves them almost no escape.
Other boni to Ultimate generation
Fighter's Guild (GUILD): Banish the Wicked (Passive)
Bestos 9 Ultimate when killing an undead or Daedric enemy.
Mage's Guild (GUILD): Inner Light
Summons a light that reveals hidden and invisible enemies within 12 meters. Reduces Max Magicka by 5.0% and increases Spell Critical strike chance by 20.0%. Toggle to activate.
20% Spell Critical strike chance is too much ultimate regeneration to ignore.
Assault (ALLIANCE WAR): Combat Frenzy (Passive)
Bestows an additional 25 Ultimate when killing an enemy player.
This is the passive that can enable you to keep Batswarm up 24/7.
Emperor (ALLIANCE WAR): Authority (Passive)
Increases Ultimate gains by 100%, and decreases ultimate costs by 5%. For former Emperors, decreases Ultimate cost by 5%.
Less Ultimate cost means more time in Batswarm.
Other boni to healing received
Emperor (ALLIANCE WAR): Monarch
Increases the magnitude of healing effects on Emperors by 50.0%, and on former Emperors by 1.0%.
Support (ALLIANCE WAR): Combat Medic
Increases healing done by 20.0% when near a keep.
Argonian (RACIAL): Quick to Mend
Increases healing received by 6.0%
Other boni to Resistances
Breton (RACIAL): Spell Resistance
Increases Spell Resistance by X:
Dunmer (RACIAL): Resist Flame
Increases Flame Resistance by 1575.0. Increass maximum Magicka by 3.0%.
In the end Dragonknights get by far the most out of vampirism, followed by Nightblades, with Sorcerer and Templar at the back end. For Dragonknights it completes their skill kit with some missing mechanics and a couple of very nice synergies putting them in a rather strong position.
Nightblades do not get as much benefits, but Clouding Swarm synergizes nicely with the stealth aspect of the class, while the Siphoning tree takes care of the survival part of the kit.
For Sorcerers the real benefit is to finally get an AOE damage ultimate, that even supports the use of Streak, which is nice for solo PvP, it however still gets massively outclassed by Negate in group play.
Templars are really left behind in this case, all they getapart from the normal boni is a single synergy, in the form of Bat Swarm + Blinding Flashes + Illuminate, which is rather hard to get to work because of the small AOE of Blinding Flashes. They however also get a decent escape in the form of Elusive Mist, helps them a lot.
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"Again, we’re not really a traditional MMO, we are much more of a hybrid, kind of like an ‘online RPG’." - Matt Firor
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Panda244✭✭✭✭✭
✭As well thought out as this entire thread was, and as amazing as a lot of the little tad bits are, hopefully we'll see a lot less vampires in PvP come 1.6, due to the fact that Ultimate generation has been hosed, and that was really the only reason to roll a vampire, I see no reason to be one as a Dragonknight, the Ultimate is good, but it isn't better than Ice Comet, or Standard, because while it's hard to get away from the damage comes in "ticks" so it's pathetically easy to heal through, as opposed to Standard (Reduces Heals) or Ice Comet (Hits Like A Semi-Truck)
I loved how you pointed out that Dragonknights weren't necessarily overpowered, but the combination of vampire and Dragonknight was downright unbalanced out the poo hole. As far as Ultimate Cost Reduction goes you got almost all of it, only two things you missed was the Scales of the Dragon set (-15% Cost) and Dominion's Potentate. (-10%)
Anyways, fantastic post man!
Aldmeri Dominion For Life!
Crassus Licinius II - DK - V14 - Former Emperor of Blackwater Blade NA (The Dragonknight that refuses to go Vampire.)
N'tel Arlena - NB - V14 - Retired Sap Tank of Haderus NA, Harasser of Many (Also, not a vampire. Goes by nickname Nutella.)
#FreeZazeer
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Officially Resigned From Cyrodiil As Of 4/15/15 10:24 PM EST.1 -
Ffastyl✭✭✭✭✭As having only extensively played a Templar, you have shown me why Dragonknight Vampires are so popular. Thank you for the post."A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."
PC NA
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Ffastyl - Level 50 Templar
Arturus Amitis - Level 50 Nightblade
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Arcturus Leland - Level 50 Sorcerer
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Aldmeri Dominion
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Member since May 4th, 2014.0 -
Satiar✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Steel Tornado + Bats + Shadow Disguise... Just Sayin!Vehemence -- Commander and Raid Lead -- Tri-faction PvP
Knights Paravant -- Co-GM and Raid Lead -- AD Greyhost0 -
Subtomik✭✭✭✭✭Templar vampire is not only extremely useful in its current state but I find it to be a necessity for any templar who is magicka and not just playing a heal bit.
Until zos addresses our offensive ultimates swarm has no replacement imo. Nova is too expensive and easily negated, the others are basically useless for us.
I think about less with what synergies we gain and more about what we really lack that bats makes up for.4 -
Valnas✭✭✭✭nice write up. Your bit on nb/clouding synergy is spot on. Not nearly enough ppl taking advantage of that build and its about to be gone. insane dmg. popping clouding before ambush/concealed/killerblade and then not even ambushing but using the low health targets near me to chain concealed->killer kbs from the aoe low healths with rabbit on crack vamp + concealed weap speed while bats are up. i had bats hitting for 320/500~ w/ max sp dmg and still 420+ w/ a sustain build using shadowy.
imgur.com/nFrLOU5
Edited by Valnas on February 23, 2015 5:27PMFluph Head EP sorc dank magus
valnäs EP nb
opHotterslol AD dk0 -
Armitas✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭If I recall correctly, or heard correctly Dk's are getting battle roars based on the original cost rather than the reduced cost. Giving us a greater recovery than we paid for. This is probably ok with other ultimates, but monster ultimate's start way higher than normal and reduce down quickly. Can someone confirm this to be sure?
Spot on analysis of DK-Vamp. With Banner nerfed to 250 ultimate in 1.6 it makes vamp an even more obvious choice.Edited by Armitas on February 23, 2015 5:27PMRetired.
Nord mDK0 -
Sublime✭✭✭✭If I recall correctly, or heard correctly Dk's are getting battle roars based on the original cost rather than the reduced cost. Giving us a greater recovery than we paid for. This is probably ok with other ultimates, but monster ultimate's start way higher than normal and reduce down quickly. Can someone confirm this to be sure?
Very interesting, I asked a friend and he said it's calculated based on the original cost. I updated the OP a bit to represent this observation accordingly.Keepers of Cyrodiil | Aether | The Achievement Seekers
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"Again, we’re not really a traditional MMO, we are much more of a hybrid, kind of like an ‘online RPG’." - Matt Firor0 -
WraithAzraiel✭✭✭✭✭
✭Vampires wouldn't be a problem in PvP if the Devs had just put a hard cap on Ultimate Cost Reduction and increased the cost of Bat Swarm and it's morphs.
Shendell De'Gull - V14 Vampire Nightblade
Captain of the Black Howling
"There's no such thing as overkill..."
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frozywozy✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Great writting overall, it was very interesting to read.Shadow (NB): Shadow Barrier (Passive)
Increases Armor and Spell Resistance by 1750.0 for 4.0 seconds when coming out of stealth or invisibility.
This passive is crazy. As long as the nightblade spam Roll dodge and stealth, he is into beast mode. Another reason why dodge rolling, running, blocking, bashing and cc breaking should use a different ressource bar.Edited by frozywozy on February 23, 2015 9:46PMFrozn - Stamdk - AR50
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“Small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas.” -Eleanor Roosevelt- Fix Volendrung (spawn location - weapon white on the map causing the wielder to keep it forever - usable with emperorship)
- Remove / Change CPs System, remove current CP/noCP campaigns and introduce one 30days with lock, one with no locks
- Fix crashes when approaching a keep under attack because of bad / wrong rendering prioritization system
- Change emperorship to value faction score points and not alliance points - see this and this
- Fix long loading screens (mostly caused by players joining group out of rendering range)
- Add 2 more quickslots to the wheel or add a different wheel for sieges weaponry only
- Fix Balista Bolts not dealing damage on walls or doors if deployed at a certain place
- Release bigger battlegrounds with 8 to 16 players per team and only two teams
- Fix the permanent block animation - see examples : link1 link2 link3 link4 link5
- Gives players 10 minutes to get back into Cyrodiil after relogging / crashing
- Add a function to ignore the Claiming system of useless rewards
- Improve the Mailing System / Rewards of the Worthy stacking
- Assign specific group sizes to specific campaigns (24-16-8)
- Make forward camps impossible to place near objectives
- Make snares only available from ground effects abilities
- Change emperorship to last minimum 24hours
- Fix body sliding after cc breaking too quickly
- Remove Block Casting through Battle Spirit
- Fix the speed drop while jumping - see video
- Fix loading screens when keeps upgrade
- Fix Rams going crazy (spinning around)
- Bring back dynamic ulti regeneration
- Fix speed bug (abilities locked)
- Introduce dynamic population
- Lower population cap by 20%
- Add Snare Immunity potions
- Bring resurrection sickness
- Fix character desync
- Fix cc breaking bug
- Fix gap closer bug
- Fix health desync
- Fix combat bug
- Fix streak bug
- Fix server lag
0 -
sKorcheD✭✭✭Templar vampire is not only extremely useful in its current state but I find it to be a necessity for any templar who is magicka and not just playing a heal bit.
Until zos addresses our offensive ultimates swarm has no replacement imo. Nova is too expensive and easily negated, the others are basically useless for us.
I think about less with what synergies we gain and more about what we really lack that bats makes up for.
This. You'd figure they'd address this in 1.6 but even with the minor buff to tickleball it just has no utility vs batswarm.
Larrdok - Pact
Filthy Barbarian0 -
Joy_Division✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Very thoughtful post.
I will echo what Subtomic said. Although I disagree with his assessment of Nova (all ultimates suck if negated...), the strength of a vampire in PvP is no so much how it synergizes with the class kit as it you are basically getting a lot of useful stuff for an occasional drawback.
I don't need talons and battleroar to inspire lots of complaints on these forums about how OP vampires are. I just pop blazing shield, charge into a group of enemies and pop batswarm and profit. As a healing templar in light armor, one might think I have zero use for the Dark Stalker passive. Not so. It opens up many options of maneuverability that would be simply unavailable otherwise. Increased regeneration and damage mitigation are cherries on the top of the vampire pie. Lots of good stuff independent of the class or build.
That being said there are drawbacks. Fire vulnerability the most obvious but also the most easily addressed. It is almost mandatory for non dark-elf vamps to slot fire-resistance and it does cost a valuable jewelry slot, but after doing so fire goes from a killer to an inconvenience. Slow health regeneration may be annoying to solo PvEing if you are not a healer, but is almost inconsequential in PvP as there is so much healing flying around. Evil Hunter is actually a very good counter against Vampires and I was shocked just how much damage caltrops does by an opponent who uses that ability. If you are a vamp, you will get killed by Evil Hunters at times you otherwise would have survived. A Silver Bolt proc can also wreck a vamps day. In my experience as a vamp, I have found that not enough players in Cyrodiil use these abilities to make the drawbacks outweigh the benefits that come with being a vampire.1 -
Xexpo✭✭✭✭✭I appreciate the detailed post OP.
But, like others have already brought up, your take on templar+vampire is a little off.
(and there are even more sexy bits but, I don't see any need to share
)
I hope your lengthy post isn't taken as gospel by newer players, hopefully they experiment for themselves.Edited by Xexpo on February 24, 2015 5:10PMKiki Dickson ~~~ Dixmanian Devil ~~~ Cornelius Buckshank Jr.
Histy-Fitz ~~~ Boozemer ~~~ Chace X'expo
Lluvia De'Fuego ~~~ Shakes Spear
Macro and Cheese NA/PC0 -
Faugaun✭✭✭✭✭My vampire magicka Templar is pretty amazing ....Edited by Faugaun on February 25, 2015 2:41PMMy new startup social network for Theorycrafting
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Sharable samples:
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http://asolutionaday.com/test/Thief.htm?a=5&b=22&d=2&e=18&h=8&ma=0&mo=5&sh=9&sp=19&te=12&tu=13&w=1
http://asolutionaday.com/test/Mage.htm?bla=5&ble=1&bo=6&ele=2&elf=3&h=7&m=9&pi=10&pr=20&sp=4&st=8&t=400 -
Sublime✭✭✭✭I have to admit I don't have as much experience on templars as I'd like, therefore I'm really glad when you guys give a different imput. I'm certainly going to do a lot more cross-class comparisons once veteran ranks are gone, but there's no ETA on that as you probably all know. Until then I'm reliant on other people and my theorycrafting.
EDIT: Does anybody know if the next attack damage buff from Solar Barrage works on Bat Swarm?Edited by Sublime on February 25, 2015 3:11PMKeepers of Cyrodiil | Aether | The Achievement Seekers
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"Again, we’re not really a traditional MMO, we are much more of a hybrid, kind of like an ‘online RPG’." - Matt Firor0 -
Rook_Master✭✭✭✭✭I guess this was informative if you didn't understand why 50% of the people in Cyrodiil are Dunmer DK Vampires.0 -
Erondil✭✭✭✭✭
✭
I guess you got troubles with mathRook_Master wrote: »I guess this was informative if you didn't understand why 50% of the people in Cyrodiil are Dunmer DK Vampires.
Very insightful post Sublime!
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Resipsa131✭✭✭Two Questions;
1.) Does the passive reduction (21%)in cost apply to Drain/Mist Form, or also a reduction on Bat Swarm Ultimate, or a 21% reduction on all spells the vampire casts.
2.) Does the Speed passive from vampire line stack with the Item bonus from Night's Silence and the NB ability Concealed weapon?0 -
Sublime✭✭✭✭Resipsa131 wrote: »Two Questions;
1.) Does the passive reduction (21%)in cost apply to Drain/Mist Form, or also a reduction on Bat Swarm Ultimate, or a 21% reduction on all spells the vampire casts.
The passive affects all skills, i.e. Bat Swarm, Drain and Mist Form.Resipsa131 wrote: »2.) Does the Speed passive from vampire line stack with the Item bonus from Night's Silence and the NB ability Concealed weapon?
It stacks with Concealed Weapon, not ure about Night's Silence, I think no.Keepers of Cyrodiil | Aether | The Achievement Seekers
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"Again, we’re not really a traditional MMO, we are much more of a hybrid, kind of like an ‘online RPG’." - Matt Firor0 -
Lava_Croft✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭Having spent a
Dark Stalker does not stack with Night's Silence since this combination resulted in Vampires sneaking faster than a horse or Bolt Escaping Sorcerer.It stacks with Concealed Weapon, not ure about Night's Silence, I think no.
Edited by Lava_Croft on June 16, 2015 2:17AM0 -
ScruffyWhiskers✭✭✭✭✭Actually, Dark Stalker and Night's Silence do the same thing so both stack with concealed weapon. But this is because they changed Night's Silence to just remove the stealth movement penalty when 5 pieces are equipped. It used to be that Night's Silence gave a movement bonus that stacked with Dark Stalker and Concealed Weapons.
I really miss those halcyon days of running stealthed with the horses on a scroll run. I used to kill myself every once and a while with fall damage from flying off stairs or rocks.
Ah good times. Those were days of high adventure.0
