Vampire Feeding/Drain Essence

ADarklore · August 2015

I'm curious... does using Drain Essence count towards reducing your Vampire stage progression or is the sneak up behind and 'Feed' option the only way to reduce progression?

Willy8257 · August 2015

Only the sneak feed reduces stage, not drain

ADarklore · August 2015

Willy8257 wrote: »

Only the sneak feed reduces stage, not drain

Thanks! I was hoping for that because it would be tough to use the skill AND maintain level four vampirism.

Also, is it true that the cost reduction of Vampire abilities at stage four is now 21% versus the 60% some online sites still claim?

lolzbuckets · August 2015

Holy crap, it was 60%?

Yes, it's 21% now.

lolzbuckets · August 2015

Also, the timer is no longer 30 minutes, and the fire damage is 40%.

Emma_Overload · August 2015

No, you should be safe to use Drain Essence whenever. I don't remember ever losing my Stage 4 that way.

ADarklore · August 2015

lolzbuckets wrote: »

Also, the timer is no longer 30 minutes, and the fire damage is 40%.

Sadly, the timer IS still 30 minutes... every time I fed last night the timer reset to 30 minutes... and thankfully fire damage will be reduced to 25% with the next update. Some nice updates coming to the Vamp line:

Vampire

Reduced the fire damage you receive to 25% from 40%.
Drain Essence: This ability now restores 10% of your health every second, and stuns your target on activation. It can be used on CC-immune targets, and can be used all the time (it no longer activates the Feed debuff).
Supernatural Recovery (passive): This passive now only works while any Vampire ability is slotted in your ability bar.

Willy8257 · August 2015

ADarklore wrote: »

Supernatural Recovery (passive): This passive now only works while any Vampire ability is slotted in your ability bar.

Does this count if I have Bats?

lolzbuckets · August 2015

o.O Weird. My timers reset to 90 minutes last time I ever had a timer up.

Also, way to make Drain Essence useful.

lolzbuckets · August 2015

Or maybe I just need to lay off the cocaine. Who knows. I've been stage 4 for weeks.

ADarklore · August 2015

Willy8257 wrote: »

Does this count if I have Bats?

It should work like any other "slot required" ability... Ultimates always count too.

@lolzbuckets

I agree with them finally making Drain Essence useful... it sucks having bosses 'immune' when the reality is, it is those long difficult fights that one NEEDS the health replenishment. Last night I was finishing an AD main quest mission and the boss was wiping me out because I didn't notice right away that the 'immune' was flashing when I was trying to drain him for some regen. Grrrrrrrr.

lolzbuckets · August 2015

It's why I eventually unslotted the skill entirely. I discovered it didn't work when I actually needed it, and took it off my skill bar when I hit rank 10.

TrickyTrifecta · August 2015

It's not a complete slam dunk with drain essence though. 10% every second is nothing compared to 150% of the damage dealt. That is a huge nerf.

Yeah, now it will be useful against stronger enemies when you need it most, but it won't be all that effective.

The move lasts 2 seconds. So 20% health as opposed to times when I could bust out drain essence in a crowded dungeon at low health and nearly completely replenish my health.

ADarklore · August 2015

But you miss the point... now it can be used repeatedly on the same enemy... and 10% of health every second, if you have 20K health, that's 2000 health returned every second... and can be used repeatedly. Oh, and the move lasts 3/s, not 2.

Also, previously based upon damage dealt... if you found yourself on your back or on the defensive, it's tough to be dealing damage at the same time... whereas this is now a 'guaranteed' return without having to rely on dishing damage. It is also inexpensive, so it can be used repeatedly.

TrickyTrifecta · August 2015

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I'm a low level, so scaling 10% of my overall health is not great. I have slowly been starting to invest points into health, and this will be extra incentive.

Also, I didn't make the connection that it can now be used repeatedly.

Yes, it's decidedly better