Vampire Skill Line Rework Proposal – Making Vampires Viable and Thematically Complete in PVE and PVP

Lucid032 · February 17

Disclaimer:
I am not a native English speaker. This post was translated with the help of AI. Thank you for your understanding.

I am a long-time ESO player who greatly enjoys role-playing as a vampire. However, the current vampire skill line has several fundamental design issues. Outside of certain Nightblade builds and niche PVP setups, vampirism is rarely used in serious gameplay—especially in PVE—because the drawbacks often outweigh the benefits.

From both a gameplay and lore perspective, vampires should feel powerful, resilient, and sustained by blood—not punished for existing.

My goal with this proposal is not to provide exact balance numbers, but to suggest a new design direction that would allow the vampire skill line to be viable, flexible, and immersive across all types of content.

Core Design Philosophy

The rework is based on three key principles:

1. Vampires should sustain themselves through draining blood, not purely by sacrificing their own Health.

2. Vampires should not be forced into a strictly solo playstyle.
In ESO lore, vampires exist in clans and societies. They are not isolated creatures.

3. Vampires should feel visually and mechanically distinct, even when using non-vampire weapons.

Active Skills
Eviscerate

I believe this skill itself is currently in a good place. However, its morph Blood for Blood should have the penalty “cannot be healed by allies” removed.

I do not understand why the design direction pushes vampires toward a strictly solo-oriented playstyle. In the lore, vampires clearly have their own families, clans, and factions—they are not isolated beings. I will also address this design philosophy further in my proposed changes to Blood Frenzy.

Additionally, I would like to see the visual effects of this skill and its morphs updated to make them more visually impressive and thematically fitting.

Blood Frenzy

New effect added: A percentage (X%) of the damage you deal is returned to you as Health.

In many games, vampires are designed around sacrificing their own HP in exchange for power. I believe this deviates from the true essence of vampires—they are beings who feed on blood, not beings who merely consume their own life force.

Additionally, change the current penalty:

From: “You can only be healed by yourself, your summons, and your companions.”
To: “Healing received from non-vampire players is reduced by X%.”
To: “Healing received from sources other than yourself, your summons, and your companions is reduced by X%.”

This means that if your group’s healer is also a vampire, your healing received will not be reduced. This reinforces the idea that vampires are not helpless loners, but members of their own kind and society.

Vampiric Drain

This skill and its morphs should be removed entirely.

As a signature vampire ability, it is currently very underwhelming. It requires channeling, only drains from a single target, and its effectiveness is far inferior to healing abilities from other skill lines.

Its morphs are also unimpressive—the Ultimate generation and Stamina recovery they provide are negligible in practice.

Since Blood Frenzy would already provide life-steal, and my proposed passive changes would improve vampire survivability and recovery, this skill no longer serves a meaningful purpose.

Mesmerize

Currently, this skill and its morphs are mostly useful only in PVP.

I would like to see it gain meaningful utility in PVE as well. Therefore, I propose the following addition to the morph Hypnosis:

New effect added:
Applies Major Vulnerability and Minor Brittle to nearby enemies for X seconds, increasing their damage taken and Critical Damage taken by 10%.

This would give vampire players valuable group utility in PVE content.

Mist Form

This skill is currently useful primarily in PVP.

Perhaps the intention was for the morph Blood Mist to be viable in PVE, but due to its ground-targeted nature, it is difficult to use effectively in real combat.

I propose changing Blood Mist into a targeted gap-closer similar to Critical Charge from the Two-Handed skill line, and adding damage upon impact.

This would allow it to integrate smoothly into DPS rotations, prevent DPS loss caused by misplacement, and significantly improve its usability and gameplay flow.

For Mist Form and its morph Elusive Mist, I suggest reducing their positional restrictions. As long as the destination is within range, the player should be able to teleport between elevations (from low ground to high ground, and vice versa).

New Active Skill: Blood Shield

Since Vampiric Drain would be removed, a new active skill is needed.

Blood Shield
Consumes X% of your Max Health to generate a damage shield of equal strength.

While the shield is active and your Health is above 35%:

Healing received no longer restores Health.
Instead, it increases the shield’s strength by the same amount.
The shield strength cannot exceed X% of your Max Health.

Additionally, you gain Major Protection, reducing damage taken by 10%.

This skill synergizes well with Blood Frenzy, allowing vampire players to maintain low Health levels to benefit from effects such as Arterial Burst and Undeath, while remaining in a relatively safe state.

Morphs:

Blood Armor

Increases the maximum shield strength to X% of Max Health.
Grants Minor Vitality, increasing healing received and damage shield strength by 6%.

Crimson Thorns

While the shield is active, taking damage deals X Bleed Damage to enemies within 8 meters.
Grants Minor Force, increasing Critical Damage by 10%.

These morphs allow players to specialize in either survivability or offensive capability.

Ultimate Ability
Blood Scion and Swarming Scion

These abilities are already in a good place and do not require significant changes.

The real issue lies with Perfect Scion. Almost no players choose this morph. It costs 320 Ultimate but only provides the benefits of Stage 5 vampirism for 20 seconds. Compared to Swarming Scion, this is extremely underwhelming.

I propose the following change:

As long as Perfect Scion is slotted on either skill bar, the player can reach Stage 5 vampirism through Feed.

This idea was inspired by the forum user “R3n3g4d38.”

I would also like visual and mechanical improvements:

Stage 5 vampires can perfectly blend into human society, similar to higher vampires in The Witcher 3.
Their skin no longer appears pale, and their eyes no longer glow red in normal states.
However, when weapons are drawn, their eyes glow crimson.
This effect becomes even more intense during combat, similar to the Berserker class in Dungeon Fighter Online.
Additionally, all vampire active skills are no longer considered criminal acts. NPCs will perceive them simply as blood magic users.

Swarming Scion

The Ultimate cost should be reduced to X, and the damage dealt by the bat swarm should be increased to X.

Passive Skills
Feed, Strike from the Shadows, Blood Ritual

These can remain unchanged.

Although Blood Ritual could potentially gain a non-combat benefit, I do not currently have a specific idea for it.

Dark Stalker / Unnatural Movement

Merge Unnatural Movement into Dark Stalker, making it available starting at Stage 1 vampirism.

Unnatural Movement is a very interesting and visually appealing passive, but it feels underwhelming as a Stage 4 exclusive passive. Meanwhile, Dark Stalker itself is not strong enough to justify its existence.

Combining them would create a more meaningful and attractive passive.

Undeath

New effect added:
Based on your missing Health, increase healing received by up to X%.

This makes vampires harder to kill and aligns better with their lore as undead beings. It also compensates for the removal of Vampiric Drain.

New Stage 4 Passive: Crimson Noble

This passive grants different effects depending on your equipped weapon:

Two-Handed: Critical strikes create blood spikes in a cone in front of you, dealing X Bleed Damage. Cooldown: X seconds.
Sword and Shield: Blocking grants stacks of “Blood Hatred.” Each stack reduces block cost by X%, up to X stacks. At maximum stacks, bashing consumes all stacks to unleash a blood nova dealing X Bleed Damage to enemies within 8 meters.
Dual Wield: Critical strikes apply “Blood Poison.” Each stack deals X Bleed Damage over X seconds. At maximum stacks, blood blades erupt from the enemy, dealing X Bleed Damage and consuming all stacks.
Bow: Critical strikes summon blood arrows behind you that automatically strike the target, dealing X Bleed Damage. Cooldown: X seconds.
Destruction Staff: Critical strikes summon a blood wraith that slows the target by X%. After X seconds, it explodes and deals X Bleed Damage in an 8-meter radius. Cooldown: X seconds.
Restoration Staff: Healing targets below 50% Health creates a blood mist that heals them for X Health over X seconds and increases their Movement Speed by X%.

The purpose of this passive is to ensure that even if vampire players do not slot vampire active skills, they can still visually and mechanically express the blood-based identity of vampires.

It also reinforces the idea that vampires are weapon-using aristocrats, unlike werewolves who rely primarily on claws and fangs. (No offense intended toward werewolves.)

Additional Suggestion: Ring of the Pale Order

I also suggest updating the mythic item Ring of the Pale Order:

Change:

From: “You can only be healed by yourself, your summons, and your companions.”
To: “Healing received from non-vampire players is reduced by X%.”
To: “Healing received from sources other than yourself, your summons, and your companions is reduced by X%.”

Also change:

From: “Reduces healing done by this effect by 4% per group member.”
To: “Reduces healing done by this effect by 4% per non-vampire group member.”

This ring is closely tied to vampires in the lore, so I believe its drawbacks should align with the redesigned Blood Frenzy and reinforce vampire group synergy.

ZhuJiuyin · February 17

That's a great suggestion, but I'd like to add that vampires also need a ranged spam, otherwise it's difficult to maintain close-range attacks while constantly taking damage in certain situations.

Lucid032 · February 18

ZhuJiuyin wrote: »

That's a great suggestion, but I'd like to add that vampires also need a ranged spam, otherwise it's difficult to maintain close-range attacks while constantly taking damage in certain situations.

For a ranged DPS build, I would personally opt for a non-Eviscerate spammable skill.

When paired with Blood Frenzy and the Crimson Noble passive, the character could still display strong blood-themed visual effects and maintain the vampire identity in combat, even without a specific ranged vampire spam.

MincMincMinc · February 19

The ult is a major issue with the skill line right now. Just compare it to ravenous goliath. Goliath gives you more HP, more damage, more healing, costs far less, and doesnt have crippling vamp negatives. Another big issue is how it costs so much, but you cant generate ultimate while in vamp form.......The whole point is to go into a rage mode and get kills(ult) Why are we not rewarding players who successfully go on a rampage? This was the role old batswarm played. Now you need to use destro ult or northern storm for this instead.

IMO vamp needs way more lifesteal mechanics. Its silly that vamp gives far more ways to get yourself killed than it does to gain more power based on your aggression. Changing undeath to healing % is a good start, but without lifesteal mechanics in its active skills this will just turn into a buff for vigor and healing soul. I find it funny that the siphoning skills like swallow soul and sap essence are perfect vampire skills.

Passive wise they could also just make all the current vamp passives work with your vamp stage. Make undeath a 5/10/15/20% self received healing bonus for example. Make blood ritual give 5/10/15/20% lifesteal and negative 5/10/15/20 healing received loss from other players. In the era of subclassing its very hard to justify vamp causing extra skill costs. I would focus on the group healing loss passive instead. You could push higher numbers than 20% too. This dynamic would aim at preventing vamp abuse in larger groups by forcing players to be far more independent. Maybe solo and smallman groups can utilize it, but large groups would fold because of reduced group healing.

Silvains_Demon · February 20

Here is the proposal I had for the Vampire overhaul. I need to make a 2.1 version later on that is written cleaner than it is now as well as make some minor tweaks:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/666619/vampire-rework-idea-09-29-2024-ver-2-0#latest

Lucid032 · February 21

MincMincMinc wrote: »

The ult is a major issue with the skill line right now. Just compare it to ravenous goliath. Goliath gives you more HP, more damage, more healing, costs far less, and doesnt have crippling vamp negatives. Another big issue is how it costs so much, but you cant generate ultimate while in vamp form.......The whole point is to go into a rage mode and get kills(ult) Why are we not rewarding players who successfully go on a rampage? This was the role old batswarm played. Now you need to use destro ult or northern storm for this instead.

IMO vamp needs way more lifesteal mechanics. Its silly that vamp gives far more ways to get yourself killed than it does to gain more power based on your aggression. Changing undeath to healing % is a good start, but without lifesteal mechanics in its active skills this will just turn into a buff for vigor and healing soul. I find it funny that the siphoning skills like swallow soul and sap essence are perfect vampire skills.

Passive wise they could also just make all the current vamp passives work with your vamp stage. Make undeath a 5/10/15/20% self received healing bonus for example. Make blood ritual give 5/10/15/20% lifesteal and negative 5/10/15/20 healing received loss from other players. In the era of subclassing its very hard to justify vamp causing extra skill costs. I would focus on the group healing loss passive instead. You could push higher numbers than 20% too. This dynamic would aim at preventing vamp abuse in larger groups by forcing players to be far more independent. Maybe solo and smallman groups can utilize it, but large groups would fold because of reduced group healing.

That’s a very fair point. I hadn’t fully considered the potential for the vampire skill line to be abused in larger group environments.

Under my current rework proposal, if an entire group slotted Perfect Scion and reached Stage 5 vampirism, they would effectively gain all the benefits of vampirism without any meaningful drawbacks. That clearly contradicts the core fantasy that “vampiric power should come at a cost.”

To address this, I would revise all instances of
“Healing received from non-vampire players is reduced by X%”
to instead read:
“Healing received from sources other than yourself, your summons, and your companions is reduced by X%.”

This adjustment would prevent large-scale abuse while still avoiding a strictly solo-oriented design. Vampires would retain their group viability, but there would always be a meaningful tradeoff. As for the exact numbers, that’s something best left to the developers to balance properly.

I also realized that with a stronger Perfect Scion, the Swarming Scion morph could end up feeling less competitive by comparison.

To address this, I would suggest reducing its Ultimate cost and increasing the damage dealt by the bat swarm. This would allow Swarming Scion to function more clearly as a burst-oriented Ultimate that can be used more frequently, giving players a meaningful choice between sustained power (Perfect Scion) and explosive pressure (Swarming Scion).

Blackrim · March 3

Lucid032 wrote: »

Disclaimer:
I am not a native English speaker. This post was translated with the help of AI. Thank you for your understanding.

I am a long-time ESO player who greatly enjoys role-playing as a vampire. However, the current vampire skill line has several fundamental design issues. Outside of certain Nightblade builds and niche PVP setups, vampirism is rarely used in serious gameplay—especially in PVE—because the drawbacks often outweigh the benefits.

From both a gameplay and lore perspective, vampires should feel powerful, resilient, and sustained by blood—not punished for existing.

My goal with this proposal is not to provide exact balance numbers, but to suggest a new design direction that would allow the vampire skill line to be viable, flexible, and immersive across all types of content.

Core Design Philosophy

The rework is based on three key principles:

1. Vampires should sustain themselves through draining blood, not purely by sacrificing their own Health.

2. Vampires should not be forced into a strictly solo playstyle.
In ESO lore, vampires exist in clans and societies. They are not isolated creatures.

3. Vampires should feel visually and mechanically distinct, even when using non-vampire weapons.

Active Skills
Eviscerate

I believe this skill itself is currently in a good place. However, its morph Blood for Blood should have the penalty “cannot be healed by allies” removed.

I do not understand why the design direction pushes vampires toward a strictly solo-oriented playstyle. In the lore, vampires clearly have their own families, clans, and factions—they are not isolated beings. I will also address this design philosophy further in my proposed changes to Blood Frenzy.

Additionally, I would like to see the visual effects of this skill and its morphs updated to make them more visually impressive and thematically fitting.

Blood Frenzy

New effect added: A percentage (X%) of the damage you deal is returned to you as Health.

In many games, vampires are designed around sacrificing their own HP in exchange for power. I believe this deviates from the true essence of vampires—they are beings who feed on blood, not beings who merely consume their own life force.

Additionally, change the current penalty:
From: “You can only be healed by yourself, your summons, and your companions.”

To: “Healing received from non-vampire players is reduced by X%.”

To: “Healing received from sources other than yourself, your summons, and your companions is reduced by X%.”

This means that if your group’s healer is also a vampire, your healing received will not be reduced. This reinforces the idea that vampires are not helpless loners, but members of their own kind and society.

Vampiric Drain

This skill and its morphs should be removed entirely.

As a signature vampire ability, it is currently very underwhelming. It requires channeling, only drains from a single target, and its effectiveness is far inferior to healing abilities from other skill lines.

Its morphs are also unimpressive—the Ultimate generation and Stamina recovery they provide are negligible in practice.

Since Blood Frenzy would already provide life-steal, and my proposed passive changes would improve vampire survivability and recovery, this skill no longer serves a meaningful purpose.

Mesmerize

Currently, this skill and its morphs are mostly useful only in PVP.

I would like to see it gain meaningful utility in PVE as well. Therefore, I propose the following addition to the morph Hypnosis:

New effect added:
Applies Major Vulnerability and Minor Brittle to nearby enemies for X seconds, increasing their damage taken and Critical Damage taken by 10%.

This would give vampire players valuable group utility in PVE content.

Mist Form

This skill is currently useful primarily in PVP.

Perhaps the intention was for the morph Blood Mist to be viable in PVE, but due to its ground-targeted nature, it is difficult to use effectively in real combat.

I propose changing Blood Mist into a targeted gap-closer similar to Critical Charge from the Two-Handed skill line, and adding damage upon impact.

This would allow it to integrate smoothly into DPS rotations, prevent DPS loss caused by misplacement, and significantly improve its usability and gameplay flow.

For Mist Form and its morph Elusive Mist, I suggest reducing their positional restrictions. As long as the destination is within range, the player should be able to teleport between elevations (from low ground to high ground, and vice versa).

New Active Skill: Blood Shield

Since Vampiric Drain would be removed, a new active skill is needed.

Blood Shield
Consumes X% of your Max Health to generate a damage shield of equal strength.

While the shield is active and your Health is above 35%:
Healing received no longer restores Health.

Instead, it increases the shield’s strength by the same amount.

The shield strength cannot exceed X% of your Max Health.

Additionally, you gain Major Protection, reducing damage taken by 10%.

This skill synergizes well with Blood Frenzy, allowing vampire players to maintain low Health levels to benefit from effects such as Arterial Burst and Undeath, while remaining in a relatively safe state.

Morphs:

Blood Armor
Increases the maximum shield strength to X% of Max Health.

Grants Minor Vitality, increasing healing received and damage shield strength by 6%.

Crimson Thorns
While the shield is active, taking damage deals X Bleed Damage to enemies within 8 meters.

Grants Minor Force, increasing Critical Damage by 10%.

These morphs allow players to specialize in either survivability or offensive capability.

Ultimate Ability
Blood Scion and Swarming Scion

These abilities are already in a good place and do not require significant changes.

The real issue lies with Perfect Scion. Almost no players choose this morph. It costs 320 Ultimate but only provides the benefits of Stage 5 vampirism for 20 seconds. Compared to Swarming Scion, this is extremely underwhelming.

I propose the following change:

As long as Perfect Scion is slotted on either skill bar, the player can reach Stage 5 vampirism through Feed.

This idea was inspired by the forum user “R3n3g4d38.”

I would also like visual and mechanical improvements:
Stage 5 vampires can perfectly blend into human society, similar to higher vampires in The Witcher 3.

Their skin no longer appears pale, and their eyes no longer glow red in normal states.

However, when weapons are drawn, their eyes glow crimson.

This effect becomes even more intense during combat, similar to the Berserker class in Dungeon Fighter Online.

Additionally, all vampire active skills are no longer considered criminal acts. NPCs will perceive them simply as blood magic users.

Swarming Scion

The Ultimate cost should be reduced to X, and the damage dealt by the bat swarm should be increased to X.

Passive Skills
Feed, Strike from the Shadows, Blood Ritual

These can remain unchanged.

Although Blood Ritual could potentially gain a non-combat benefit, I do not currently have a specific idea for it.

Dark Stalker / Unnatural Movement

Merge Unnatural Movement into Dark Stalker, making it available starting at Stage 1 vampirism.

Unnatural Movement is a very interesting and visually appealing passive, but it feels underwhelming as a Stage 4 exclusive passive. Meanwhile, Dark Stalker itself is not strong enough to justify its existence.

Combining them would create a more meaningful and attractive passive.

Undeath

New effect added:
Based on your missing Health, increase healing received by up to X%.

This makes vampires harder to kill and aligns better with their lore as undead beings. It also compensates for the removal of Vampiric Drain.

New Stage 4 Passive: Crimson Noble

This passive grants different effects depending on your equipped weapon:
Two-Handed: Critical strikes create blood spikes in a cone in front of you, dealing X Bleed Damage. Cooldown: X seconds.

Sword and Shield: Blocking grants stacks of “Blood Hatred.” Each stack reduces block cost by X%, up to X stacks. At maximum stacks, bashing consumes all stacks to unleash a blood nova dealing X Bleed Damage to enemies within 8 meters.

Dual Wield: Critical strikes apply “Blood Poison.” Each stack deals X Bleed Damage over X seconds. At maximum stacks, blood blades erupt from the enemy, dealing X Bleed Damage and consuming all stacks.

Bow: Critical strikes summon blood arrows behind you that automatically strike the target, dealing X Bleed Damage. Cooldown: X seconds.

Destruction Staff: Critical strikes summon a blood wraith that slows the target by X%. After X seconds, it explodes and deals X Bleed Damage in an 8-meter radius. Cooldown: X seconds.

Restoration Staff: Healing targets below 50% Health creates a blood mist that heals them for X Health over X seconds and increases their Movement Speed by X%.

The purpose of this passive is to ensure that even if vampire players do not slot vampire active skills, they can still visually and mechanically express the blood-based identity of vampires.

It also reinforces the idea that vampires are weapon-using aristocrats, unlike werewolves who rely primarily on claws and fangs. (No offense intended toward werewolves.)

Additional Suggestion: Ring of the Pale Order

I also suggest updating the mythic item Ring of the Pale Order:

Change:
From: “You can only be healed by yourself, your summons, and your companions.”

To: “Healing received from non-vampire players is reduced by X%.”

To: “Healing received from sources other than yourself, your summons, and your companions is reduced by X%.”

Also change:
From: “Reduces healing done by this effect by 4% per group member.”

To: “Reduces healing done by this effect by 4% per non-vampire group member.”

This ring is closely tied to vampires in the lore, so I believe its drawbacks should align with the redesigned Blood Frenzy and reinforce vampire group synergy.

For context, I lead a well-established twelve-player vampire team in Cyrodiil. The passive ability Strike from the Shadows is foundational to our group’s playstyle and strategic identity. I strongly believe it should remain unchanged. Its interaction with invisibility bonuses is not only thematically appropriate but also mechanically significant, particularly in preserving the value and purpose of stealth-based consumables within the game’s ecosystem.

While I am open to revisions or improvements to other passives and aspects of the vampire skill line, maintaining the integrity of Strike from the Shadows is essential for both balance and meaningful build diversity.

Zenimax should realize a couple hundred players have a cult following for vampries and werewolves when it comes to Cyrodiil. I'm not sure when it comes to PvE how true that is. Please take care and time when reconstructing these world classes.