Hey fellow forum-goers, I just had a few questions about vampires and vampire lords for the upcoming DLC, any info or insight would be greatly appreciated!

Does anyone know if you already need to be a vampire to gain access to the vampire lord transformation? (I've got a Dark Elf assassin in the works so becoming a vampire isn't a big worry to me, I just wasn't sure if we needed to be one prior to becoming a vamp lord or not. (I may wait until the DLC releases just so being a normal vampire has less downsides to it)

However, if there is an option to remain non-vampire normally, but have access to the lord transformation anyway, that may be pretty epic as well despite seeming somewhat contradictory. What do you guys think would be the better choice?

Will Vampire lords require magic for their spells or will their spells be akin to the werewolf howls? (This has been touched on in other threads but I'm still unsure if its been confirmed) Just wanted to know now so as to have some time to pool some points into magic if need be.

Mighty thanks for any and all input!

I'm not a Beta tester, although I can answer these questions while being 90% sure I'm correct.

1. Well, if you mean the Vanilla Vampires, then the answer is no.

2. You'd have to be a Volkihar Vampire to be able to be a Vampire Lord, it just makes sense.

3. Some will be like a Shout or a werewolf howl while others will use Magicka.

Thanks for the reply/ clearing up some of my ?'s Drajman!

Do you think those who are Vanilla Vampires already will have access to the Volkihar Vamp Lord transformation? Or will they forever be stuck as "normal" vampires? It seemed like Bethesda is treating Vanilla Vamps and Vampire Lords as two separate entities entirely.Though it definitely would be interesting if one could be a Vanilla Vampire in their normal state and then have access to the "stronger" Vampire lord transformation if they wanted to.

I can tell you that the Vanilla Vampires will not have the Vampire Lord Transformation right away, you need to do a quest/chain of quests to get it. I would suggest saving before trying the Volkihar quests and see if you either get attacked or if something else happens. Although, they treat the two differently because they're different types of Vampires.

Oh sorry if it sounded like I assumed Vanilla Vamps already had the Vamp Lord transformation, I just was wondering if they too would have access to the transformation and not be "locked out" of it because of already being vampires already.

All in all, I'm just trying to decide if I should make my Dark Elf assassin a vampire now prior to the DLC, but still have access to the Vamp Lord transformation later, or if I should just wait and keep him free of vampirism until gaining the Lord transformation.

Sorry if any of that sounded confusing btw :X

If I were you, I'd be a Vampire now to get used to the way you have to play as them as well as keep a filled Black Soul Gem in a chest so that when the DLC is out, you can get cured real quick and start on the new Vampire quest chain.

So those people who are vampires already will have to cure themselves of vampirism to become the newer type of vampire (Volkihar) vampire lords? (all presumably of course, seeing as none of us are beta testers)

Sorry for the barrage of questions friend, just trying to get a sense of what can/cannot be done in preparation for it.

I think im just going to start anew acc just so i get the most out of all the perks for the vampire and werewolf they look interesting

Agreed, I was thinking about creating a new character around the time of dawnguards release anyway just to keep the momentum going