Vampire Walkthrough by Lex Talionis

lex-talionisub17_ESO

Greetings, gamers! I'm Lex Talionis and I am here with the hopes of not only unraveling at least some of the mystery around becoming a Vampire in Elder Scrolls Online, but also showing you how to complete the entire quest chain as low as level ten.

Credit for ALL of the strategies used herein goes to @Blackwing_Soul. Unable to find enough information on the process he doggedly worked it out on his own and after completing the chain at level eleven, was kind enough to walk me through it.

Personal thanks go to @Aeodir, guild leader of Bloodmist, who graciously offered his bite to me free of charge. Roleplayers interested in a Vampire focused guild setting will do well in Bloodmist and should speak to either @Aeodir or @WillBeFine. And now... to the guide!

Preface: Prep Work

If you are well below the recommended level of the quest, the only thing that will get you through this are the three P's: preparation, practice and patience.

You will need at least one instant disabling ability in order for this guide to be effective for you. Abilities that cause Disorient, Knock Down, Stun or Unbalance effects may be used, though Unbalance works best as a strong attack (holding down your attack button until the character swings) will then cause a Knock Down, doubling your ability to disable the NPCs and safely adding to your damage. That said, a bow is by far the best weapon for this quest, as disabling and damage can be done from a safe distance.

• Dragonknight: Stonefist+Morphs (Earthen Heart Rank 1) 3 second Stun
• Nightblade: Shadow Cloak (Shadow Rank 1), Veiled Strike+Morphs (Shadow Rank 4) 4 second Unbalance
• Any Class: Venom Arrow (Bow Rank 2) 3 second Unbalance

There are also several items you should bring with you. One or two drinks which increase your Stamina regeneration if you are using the Venom Arrow ability or Magicka regeneration for any other ability listed. You will also need a small supply (I brought ten and used three) of repair kits appropriate to your level. This is because when you reach 'Step 4: Slaying Worms' of this guide, you will not be able to leave the instance you are in or log out. If you do, your kill count -WILL RESET-, forcing you to start the long grind back up from zero. Finally, a large supply of healing potions comes in quite handy for saving your skin. I recommend at least twenty and that you ensure they are properly mapped to your quickslot action key before you begin.

Step 1: Reaching the 'Vampire Zone'

Aldmeri Dominion - Fort Sphinxmoth Wayshrine, Reaper's MarchDaggerfall Covenant - Eastern Evermore Wayshrine, BangkoraiEbonheart Pact - Fallowstone Hall Wayshrine, The Rift

The first step to becoming a Vampire is getting to your faction's Vampire zone. By far the easiest way to do this if you have not yet explored your faction's Vampire zone is to group up with another player who has, let them use a Wayshrine to return there and then travel to that player. Once your assistant is where they need to be, you can travel by opening your [P]Group pane, right clicking their name and selecting 'Travel to Player'. With this done, you too will have the Wayshrine for this area and may return at any time in your quest to become a Vampire or after. The Wayshrines listed here are those closest to the Altar used later on in the quest chain, as well as Vorundil who is part of the 'Step 2, Method 1: NPC Infection' section of this guide.

Step 2: Acquiring the 'Vampirism' Buff

The buff will show up in your [C]Character pane under 'Active Effects' and lasts for seven real time days. You must complete all steps of the quest lines that follow within that time frame or be forced to start over from scratch. There are two methods that a player may use to gain this buff.

Step 2, Method 1: NPC Infection

• Aldmeri Dominion
  
  • Bloodfiends - South of Little Ozur's Camp, Northwest of Dune Wayshrine, East of Thizzrini Arena, Southwest of Old S'ren-ja's Docks
  • Vorundil - Fort Sphinxmoth Wayshrine
  • Altar - Ushmal's Rest
• Daggerfall Covenant
  
  • Bloodfiends - Northeast of Pelin Graveyard, Southeast of Silaseli Ruins, Northeast of Silaseli Ruins
  • Vorundil - Eastern Evermore Wayshrine
  • Altar - South of Eastern Evermore Wayshrine
• Ebonheart Pact
  
  • Bloodfiends - (ToDo: Add Bloodfiend locations)
  • Vorundil - Fallowstone Hall Wayshrine
  • Altar - North of Linele Skullcarver's Camp

This method requires you to search out a Bloodfiend NPC. Rumors abound as to the spawn rules of these illusive creatures. The only clear facts right now however are:

1. Bloodfiends only spawn at night.
2. They can spawn at any time between midnight and dawn, in game time.

When you've found your Bloodfiend, allow it to attack you until you receive the 'Vampirism' buff. Generally there are a great many players seeking the Bloodfiends and these NPC's -DO NOT- respawn on the same night if killed, so it is considered polite not to attack them. Unequipping your weapons may help with this. If the Bloodfiend is not attacking you, just be patient. As other players are killed by it or receive their buff and leave, it will eventually turn its attentions to you.

Once you have the 'Vampirism' buff, you must find Vorundil in order to begin the quest line. This NPC will be located at the Wayshrine closest to your faction's Altar. After speaking to him, head on over to your local Altar.

At the Altar you will find an NPC named Rahaja. Speak to her. Afterward the Altar itself will have an [E]Use function labeled 'Monument'. Use the Altar to enter the Crypt of Lamae Bal and continue on to the 'Step 3: Basins and Symbols' part of this guide.

Step 2, Method 2: Player Infection

Aldmeri Dominion - Ushmal's RestDaggerfall Covenant - South of Eastern Evermore WayshrineEbonheart Pact - North of Linele Skullcarver's Camp

In the event you cannot find a Bloodfiend, another player who has already leveled their Vampire tree enough to acquire the 'Blood Ritual' ability may turn you. This ability has a seven day cooldown, so a single player may only make one new vampire per week. In order for this to happen, both the Vampire player and their victim must go to their faction's Altar.

When you've reached the Altar the Vampire character will do an animation in which they feed from your character and you will gain the 'Vampirism' buff. On the Altar in front of you there should now be a 'Ceremonial Scroll'. [E]Use the scroll and read the text contained in it to receive the 'Scion of the Blood Matron' quest. Although you now have a quest arrow on your map -DO NOT- run towards it, as the quest area is actually underground. Instead, the Altar itself will now have an [E]Use function labeled 'Monument'. Use the Altar to enter the Crypt of Lamae Bal.

Step 3: Basins and Symbols

Once in the crypt, you will speak to an NPC named Rahaja. She will task you with learning the history of the Vampires and their progenitor, Lamae Bal. To do this you will need to drink from two basins and profane two symbols.

The first is the Basin of Suffering, located on the northeast side of the room. After watching a short cut scene, you will move on to profaning the Symbol of Molag Bal. Next is the Basin of Loss and another brief cut scene. And finally, profaning the Symbol of Arkay. Now you must enter the black pool in the center of the room. Once there, several vampires will appear and drain your character to very low health. After they have vanished, Lamae Bal herself will rise from the water and the next leg of your journey will begin.

Step 4: Slaying Worms

BE FOREWARNED: Once you have reached this stage of the quest chain, leaving the instance or logging out of the game will reset your Worm Assassin kill counter!

Now, exit the room using the northeast doorway and run along the hall until you reach a wooden overhang that drops into a pool of water. Leap down and swim up to the stairway ahead of you. If you are below the recommended level of the quest, this is by far the best place to kill your ten Worm Assassins. Otherwise, you can just merrily jog around and slay whatever is in sight. This guide, however, will continue with the assumption that you are level ten.

There are two NPCs by this stairway that we are interested in. One patrols the second landing of the stairs at the very top and the other walks around the inside of a make shift tent at the bottom left of the stairs.

These two NPCs can be safely kited in a circle by running up one set of stairs, across the landing, down the other set of stairs and back around to the first set of stairs. While doing this, you will need to watch out for a few obstacles on the ground that your character may get stuck on, allowing the Worm Assassin to catch up to you and stab you in the spleen. While many are obvious, there are two rocks in particular that do not 'look' like they would stop you... but they do, so I've marked them here in red.

The ones at the top of the stairs look small enough to be no bother, the large one at the bottom appears to be something you could climb over, like a ramp. Do not be fooled.

These obstacles also cause issues with NPC pathing and you may find that when you attack your target, you miss. This isn't necessarily because you actually missed your attack, but because the server sees the Worm Assassin as being stuck on a rock ten feet away from you, even though your client is displaying the NPC right in front of you. It is essential to time your disables so that you attack just as the NPC 'catches up to itself'. This will be obvious, as they will either run backwards for a few seconds as they realign or simply vanish and reappear somewhere else. NPC position reset occurs most often when they reach the top of the stairs on an ascent or the bottom of the stairs on a descent. This is the prime place to attack.

Another side affect of the NPC pathing issues is getting too far away from your target and causing them to de-aggro. This is easy to do when you can't tell where the server believes they actually are, so be sure to stop after each ascent and descent of the stairs and allow the Worm Assassin to realign.

If you should find yourself in trouble, you may run into the pool of water that you jumped down into from the entrance. NPCs cannot swim, so after a few moments, the Worm Assassin will de-aggro and run back to their area. You can then take the time to heal up, mana up or stamina up without needless death and repairs.

And now, finally, to the meat of the quest chain. Be sure to drink your Stamina/Magicka regeneration beverage before beginning. This will allow you to stun your enemy far more often than otherwise. Pick your first target and use your disable ability right off the bat.

Bow wielders have it easy, as all you need is a small lead on your target and you can often run sideways and peg your mark. If the Worm Assassin gets too close, just use Venom Arrow followed by a strong attack and run along your merry way.

For Nightblades the first Veiled Strike may be done from sneak, but all subsequent Veiled Strikes will require you to use your Shadow Cloak to become invisible first. After Veiled Strike, immediately hold down your attack button and perform a strong attack. If you achieve a Knock Down on the first try, start running. If not, you may continue to hold down the button for at least one more swing and potentially still Knock Down the NPC, but -DO NOT- linger after that or you will die.

Finally we have the Dragonknights who have a stun, but no Unbalance. Your strategy will rely on using the absolute strongest attack you have during that three second stun and then running like there's no tomorrow.

Step 5: Victory!

With ten dead Worm Assassins under your belt, you are ready to return to Lamae Bal and receive her final blessing. After speaking with her you will gain the Vampire skill line. While you remain in her crypt your character's appearance will not update, but do not fret. As soon as you step outside your pale skinned, red eyed facade will appear to frightening affect. Congratulations! You're undead! Now bite me. ^_^

Falmer

I have heard a rumor that there is a village of bloodfiends in Cyrodiil that can also infect. Does anyone have any confirmation on this?

Apparently the 3 day maintenance cycle currently seems to be preventing the bloodfiends from spawning in the 'normal' zones

lex-talionisub17_ESO

While there is an NPC village of Bloodfiends in Cyrodiil they do not, as far as I've heard, have the ability to give you the 'Vampirism' buff.

Blackwing_Soul

Approved!

lex-talionisub17_ESO

Whoo! Lot of updating. All sections of the guide except the 'Step 2, Method 1: NPC Infection' now have maps for every faction with 100% accurate locations for everything, confirmed in game by myself. For the NPC Infection guide, the Bloodfiend locations are in red because I have not yet personally confirmed them. They are simply second or third hand info to help you get started.

As I am able to confirm locations for Bloodfiends their icons will change to green. The only other future updates I intend are for how spawning works. I'll be doing some in depth research into the rumored connection to moon phases, server resets, etc.

lindechene

lex-talionisub17_ESO wrote: »

While there is an NPC village of Bloodfiends in Cyrodiil they do not, as far as I've heard, have the ability to give you the 'Vampirism' buff.

Late Game Spoiler about an area with a lot of bloodfiends:

In Coldharbour in the Orchard Area I encountered a LOT of bloodfiends.

Is it the same limitation as with the Cyrodil bloodfiends? Meaning they are not intended to give the buff?

I assume it must be that way because it seems almost impossible to get through that area without getting attacked by bloodfiends.

I cannot try it out because I got randomly bitten in Reapers March. I say randomly because I was just there questing without actually looking for spawns...

High_Marshal

I can tell you first hand from doing the quest at 19 as a DK, that CC will do nothing but empty your bar and allow you to die with 3 empty bars most likely.

Blood Craze, Dragon Blood and Unstable Flame along with Drain Essence is all you need. Get the best armor and weapons for your level. I was all in heavy. Buy or make health enchantments and put them into your armor. Put flame damage on your weapons. Try to sneak up on them and get a sneak attack on them. Don't bother with feeding as it does nothing. Hit with unstable flame and blood craze. Do fast weapon attacks. When you get down to half health, hit dragon blood. Refresh unstable flame and blood craze as needed. When you get down to half again, hit drain essence.

I went from almost giving up on the quest because I listened to other people's advice to CC the mobs and dying so much I had to replace my armor to beating each mob with half health let.

lex-talionisub17_ESO

@lindechene‌ - As far as I know, that is correct. Because Vampirism is 'supposed' to be a rare mechanic, it's quite likely that any place you run across with an excess of mobs called 'Bloodfiend' will not cause the Vampirism buff.

@High_Marshal - First hand, I have done the quest as described above at level 10, and as mentioned the person who showed me these tactics did it at level 11. Kiting through the area described allows your bars ample time to regenerate if you need them to. Preparation, practice, patience.

Phinix1

EDIT: This does work, once you get the hang of it. If you summon your minion too soon or in the wrong place it can get stuck in the stairs, plus their taunt can sometimes miss if you are too low level. But it definitely does work. Thanks for the guide!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsbWrt2IfoI

lex-talionisub17_ESO

@AlienDiplomat - A belated 'No problem!' Congrats on your vampness and thanks for putting up the video of the bow method. ^_^

theHollow

Great thread - thanks for the help. I was able to suffer through and make it on a level 15 NB. Mostly used funnel health, with an occasional bow hit or stealth ambush.

Zhi_Long

It does not tell you the actual Vamp Shrine location, what a shame this is one of the first post that appear via google search.

redcloud1187_ESO

A WARNING TO EVERYONE GETTING A BITE FROM A ANOTHER PLAYER MAYBE RISKY AS THEY MAY WANT U TO PAY 10 or 15K AND THEN NOT BITE U ALSO THOSE SAME PLAYERS MIGHT KILL THE NPC SO U WILL HAVE TO BUY A BITE

Fazmerir

I've just done it in my L10 alt Magicka Sorc. A guildie friend bit me for free.