*EDIT* Title is supposed to say "Fight like a Vampire".

So I've spent a decent amount of time as a Vampire Lord and I've found some tactics that work quite nicely with certain powers. Just gonna add a little overview and advice on what I think each power is good for. Also, I'd like to hear some of others peoples tactics so I can try them out!

Note: I don't have the last two perks of the Blood Magic tree, but I have everything else.


>--Both Forms--<

Bats- This attack is pretty easy to use although its very buggy. Unless the terrain is close to flat, you'll end up just getting stuck on things in between you and where you wanted to teleport. This leaves the power rather limited in use, and it causes more problems for me then anything. It does not seem to help you dodge spells as the enemy compensates the moment you move.

Mist Form- An awesome and much needed power for the Vampire Lord. Basically, you become invicible while your health, magicka, and stamina regenerate for a short time. This can be a lifesaver in many situations, as well as shielding you from the remaining fire damage form a fire spell. Problem is, you can't use your favorites menu, attack, or anything else while in this form. Just keep that in mind.

Detect All Creatures- Basically a Detect Life spell you can continuously cast that lights up all enemies around you for a short time. Pretty self explanatory.

Night Cloak- A fantastic power that basically drains any opponents health within range and heals you (Healing part is speculation). It is active ALL the time and only shuts off when all enemies in the area are dead or gone. It activates whenever an enemy detects you, so it doubles as a warning device, wihch is a very useful. It will only affect enemies who are pretty much right next to you, but in melee form, it makes you a force to be reckoned with.

Supernatural Relfexes- Only useful in Melee Form, I'll explain it there.

>--Flight Form--<

Notes on Flight Form- While in this form your character will float and be able to float over various liquids such as Water and Magma. This is a huge advantage over most opponents as they cannot get to you while you're over the water. The downsides to this (And its quite possible this is a bug) is that you are still affected by the liquid as if you were in it. (I.E. You're still pushed along with currents and are still burned by Magma). Also, due to the hovering, maneuvering in this form is fairly easy. If you have enough space and plenty of room you dodge melee attacks quite easily.

Life Drain- A multitarget AOE draining attack which is extremely useful and will be your most used "Ability" in the Vampire Lords arsenal. This attack can hit at an enemies feet and still drain life but it does the most damage when it makes physical contact. Its even more useful in groups of enemies as it drains all of them at once.

Raise Dead- Honestly, I didn't like this spell...If you're a high enough level you most likely won't be able raise any enemies that are capable of doing damage unless you have the associated Perks. Nothing more to say about this, I just switch it out for Vampiric Grip.

Vampyric Grip- A fun spell to use which can have hilarious effects on enemies as well as being a lifesaver for mages who keep backing away from you. Simply hold down the button to activate it and move your crosshairs over the target. It does have a distance limitation, and it also does not work on elevated foes. Use this to draw in a mage and then switch to melee form and beat the crap out of him.

>--Melee Form--<

Notes on Melee Form- Much more limited maneuverability comes with a massive increase in damage output via your claws. This is the best way to fight enemies with a very high magic defense, as otherwise you won't do much damage. Problem is, you're very suscetiple to melee attacks, and they're rather hard to dodge in this form. While in your melee form you have basic swipes with your claws as well as power swipes which do increased damage. There is also a Power Bite which will be explained under Blood Healing.

Supernatural Reflexes- This is what makes the Melee form so deadly, the ability to slow down a fight so you can land each and every hit when and where you want. What I do is activate this power and kite around my opponent while slashing him continously with my claws. This tactic, with the addition of Poison Talons and Night Cloak, can bring down foes in melee range extremely quickly.

Poison Talons- A very significant melee upgrade that dramatically increase your damage output. When facing foes such as Dragons, in which dodging is required, this can be used to do damage while using hit and run tactics.

Blood Healing (Power Bite Melee Attack)- A unique death animation plays for this in which you grab your victim and svck the life from his/her throat. Despite alot of speculation about this being random, it is not. Opponents MUST be on thier knees (Speculation, but I've never done this to someone who wasn't downed) with low health. Once this is accomplished, via Poison and Cloak, perform a power attack while aiming your crosshair at them. This attack will reset your Vampirism Level as well as give you experience towards perks. With the Blood Healing perk selected it will completely restore your health.


>--Dealing With Certain Enemies--<

Most enemies can be dealt with easily and with no issues. Some have high magic resistances or melee resistances, but this can be remidied by using your other form. Some foes, however, are difficult either way...

Dragons- Tough creatures that are very difficult for even a Vampire Lord to deal with. Nevertheless, if you're adamant about facing them as a Vampire Lord (Like me ), I have a few hints. Dodging his fire/frost breath is next to impossible due to the randomness of bats. Your only choice is to either take it, use Mist Form, or hide. This can make approaching a downed Dragon very difficult. Its also very difficult to face Dragons during the day as you must prepare for a long battle, and have plenty of magicka. If your magic is stunded it can easily get you killed, so I suggest only facing Dragons at night or using Auriels bow to blot out the sun.

The basic Vyre vs Dragon fight usually goes like this: Life Drain when he stops in mid air to breath fire/frost at me. When he hits the ground switch to melee and activate supernatural reflexes while kiting around him and hitting him. Stay away from his tail while doing this, as he can hit you with that and stun you for a few seconds.

Fire using foes- I really have no awesome advice for these except for a few key things I mentioned above. Using Vampiric Grip to render mages immobile IS A MUST otherwise they can quickly kill you with fire. It is also worth wearing a resist fire enchanted piece of jewelry while in Vamprie Lord form to decrease the massive amount of damage it will do to you. Feeding is also suggested, but still leaves you extremely weak to fire.


Thats it, hope I helped some fellow Vampires out!