I'm a level 60 Breton mage and I've purposely caught vampirism a couple times to try to work with it, I was at low levels so it was pretty hard.

Can anyone share any strategies? The destruction spell looks pretty cool and I use duel casting sparks a lot. I'm playing at adept with low health and a ton of magica, if that helps.

Well as an archer, I normally do sneak attacks.


You could become a werewolf and not get it that way.


You use could Unrelenting Shout. It knocks them on their ass and you can barbeque them to death.


You could also summon a creature to tank for you, while you throw spells on them.


Carry lots of potions of Cure Disease.

No you don't understand. I want to become a vampire.

Well you could lower the difficulty to nothing. Keep a single vampire alive and let them keep hitting you. You'll probably need to drink potions or use healing spells. But as long as you don't attack them back and don't have any of their friends around you should eventually get it.

I know how to get it.....lol.....I want to discuss how to max out the potential of being a vampire. Use the powers and bonuses in interesting ways and such. Strategies.

Well to max out the vampire bonuses you really ned to sneak and use illusion.

Other then that there isn't much to it, the drain health spell is awful. You can bring a dead guy back to life to help you tho

only travel at night (no brainer) do not rely on fast travel, as it has the tendancy to put in the midday.
bonus to destruction so thats good, you might find that you'll need fast healing alot.

allways have a back up plan if they get to close by which i mean run away use your vampiric powers to your advantage, that invisibilty spell is perhaps your best friend.
drain life spell is also very useful.

stay away from fire mages unless protected, keep away from silver hand.

With the duel-casting perk, it might be pretty good. Like while I use a dagger with the absorb health enchantment or absorb health with my favorite staff, the staff of magnus. I might never need to heal myself if I'm constantly absorbing health both ways.

Illusion with a minor in sneaking, as well as what you've already got planned for your character. As a vampire you get bonuses to stealth and illusion (25%), so you can ignore the animage line of perks. Just a point of reference, your frenzy spell will be able to affect enemies up to level 32 with a single cast (around 68-70 dual casted).

Oh, and don't bother with the spell, it's pathetic. Use your invisibility power regularly, too, and don't forget to feed (DB sanctuary and inn-owners are ideal) before going into towns.

Cool. I'm an expert at casting Wards (perks) and I have over 800 magica, so I'm not afraid of fire, frost, or shock. Mages or dragons don't scare me. I'll be sure to rely on conjure and paralyze for silver hand, then.

I'm already a master of illusion and conjuration. Isn't the resurrect power obsolete?

It sounds like I can't fast travel if I'm committed to being a vampire.

Inn owners sleep? Who sleeps at the DB? I never noticed anyone sleeping at the dawnstar place.

No I played a vampire from level 8 to 51, that spell is so terrible. It didn't replenish much health at all and svcks your magic. It's the worst thing ever lol. There will always be a more effective option.

The invisibility/night vision spell you get is handy, also note if you do something to break thee invisibility you maintain the night vision.

One annoyance is constantly going into thee menu to pick powers. Most of your powers change when you change vampire levels, and the game doesn't remember if you've favorited them before.

Also fire dragons are [censored]s. The reason I cured vampirism is because I was helpless against fire breathing Ancient Dragons. Many times a random one would spawn, I'd hear thee music, hear the dragon roar then see a hint of fire and bam load screen lol.

eh, I don't see any advantages if I'm a master of illusion with every perk and a butt load of magica when the vampire invisibility power has the same effect of shutting off when you activate something....

LOL, the powers can't be favorited. Ok, I'm sold on not being a vampire. Plus I'm a master of conjuring so I the zombie power is probably obsolete with my dread zombie and dead thrall magic....

The old mage guy sleeps st Db. Several guys sleep in the Cistern at the Tg. If your on the road and need to feed thee best place is stables. They are outside if towns and the stable owners always sleep in the attached house.

Also in another thread people were saying once you're 100 skill in sneak and illusion the bonuses have no more affect. Don't know for sure, however I noticed no reduction in my sneaking ability with 100 sneak skill + perks after curing vampirism.

Vampirism is fun when your character is at the lower levels. When you have leveled up high and mastered/almost mastered the skills that get enhanced from vampirisim, its time to get cured. Then you can tell people, I used to be a vampire until...

I have a vampire character and I fast travel just fine on him. Just gotta keep an eye at your current vampirism level so you don't get to level 4 after using fast travel. Yes, you can arrive on a city in daylight, but it's no big deal, as you don't explode or anything. Just wait until 7 pm before leaving the town.

I never really liked the idea of vampires but for this concept I don't believe with low HP problems and sometimes other weaknesses that loldestruction is the default magic school for the vampire player. I see vampires as deviously smart and malicious antagonists that will use any subterfuge or weakness to their advantage. The illusion tree really shines for this line of thinking for the PC with nice perk that turns you into a stealth magic user by negating the sound of your spells being cast actually being heard by hostiles.A truly cunning vampire isn't going to just pop around a corner and start spamming destruction spells like a maniac , while that's also a valid gameplay strat. I see the vampire controlling the battle as undetected as possible letting weaker minions do the tedious work that is beneath him. Conjuration can seriously compliment this playstyle as well . Going against the grain of spamming just destrucion spells you'll be rewarded for thinking out your strategies when you have a successful encounter where you never even get attacked I assure you.

It's really expensive perkwise to max out illusion for it's full effectiveness , but it really goes quite a long ways with the stealthy type of gameplay and spells like mayhem can go from godlike to truly comical all at the same time.Then later on being able to throw a couple of dremora lords or atronachs into the fray of freinds killing freinds is just a sight to behold. Both trees are relatively expensive to max , but once you get there you're an altogether different kind of godlike character than the run-of-the-mill fireball to the face spammer.

Werewolves are feared for their sheer brutality and strength , vampires are feared for their cunning and resourcefulness and to a lesser degree their personal ability to defend themselves when pressed. It's what a vampire can do to you without you actually knowing what's going on that makes them a true legend of terror.

I agree, I think of vampires as stealthy killers of the night. They can mess with your head (illusion) and sneak about undetected. They can make you do things like attack your allies or slit your throat without you ever knowing they were there. Bethesda really dropped the ball though with the vampiric drain power. As weak as this power is, it shouldn't cost any magic to use. The night vision also should be toggled and not on a 60 minute timer.

Sneak into houses at night to feed around 1am. Use Illusion magic like invisability to aid you, night eye is great benefit and 25% sneak and illusion also great. Get a enchanting potion and make some 50% resistant to fire boots and your well on the way. Keep a good enchanted weapon in case your caught in the daylight and run out of magic, or a staff for that matter.

1) I've found that playing a Dunmer as a Vampire tends to work best. Their natural 50% resistance to Fire helps a ton as a Vampire.

2) The Skill bonuses to Sneak, Destruction, Illusion, One-Handed, etc. are very sweet, and the while these bonuses don't increase as you gain levels, it is still a higher number than you would have had otherwise.

3) Unless you are planning to run around almost entirely at night, keep yourself well fed. This typically means stopping by a town at least as often as when you hit Vampirism Stage 2. The townsfolk/citizens will not attack you on site until Stage 4, but they will react less than... friendly if you let it get to Stage 3 (you are very visibly an Undead Predator by this stage...). As long as you keep yourself well fed, combat even in the day is still a chore and needs to be planned carefully (you lose all of your Magica, Health, and Stamina regen until the sun sets or you go inside), then there shouldn't be any problem.

Generally, once I hit Stage 2 or 3, I will simply head for the nearest hold capital and do all of the non-adventuring things that I need to take care of, and then I'll wait around till about 1 am, pick a lock, and much on the local flavor.

Following this short guide has greatly eased being a Vampire for me, and being a Vampire does help to give you an edge over the people and creatures that you meet while adventuring. Plus the Vampires Sight Power has pretty much ensured that I never miss a treasure chest or bag of loot due to a dark corner.