Vampiir Guide - Version 1.0
Acei (Level 50 Vampiir - Lamorak)
Race Selection
Race selection for a Vampiir is simply whichever you want to be, in the end game there really is very little difference. However there is a comparison below:
Celt
STR 60
CON 60
DEX 60
QUI 60
The Celt comes with well rounded stats for all of a Vampiir's primary stats, the class has very good weaponskill, mid-range con and good QUI. Celt would make a well rounded Vampiir.
Shar
STR 60
CON 80
DEX 50
QUI 50
The Shar comes with very high CON so this char will always have the highest hit points of a Vampiir, however the QUI and DEX is 10 below that of a Celt so the weaponskill will be slightly lower than a Celt and the swing-speed will also be slightly lower, however you get abilities that will be talked about in the future that augment swing-speed and weaponskill.
Lurikeen
STR 40
CON 40
DEX 80
QUI 80
The Lurikeen is regarded as the weakest starting class for a Vampiir it comes with the lowest STR of all the classes meaning that claws are weaker because our power pool and damage is based on STR. The CON is also much lower (20 lower than celt, 40 than shar). However the Lurikeen does have some nice advantages, the high DEX means that your weaponskill is still relatively high and the very high QUI means your swing-rate will be much faster than any of the other 2 races.
Starting Class
A Vampiir is unique in being able to choose ANY starting class they are not restricted to 1 like most other classes. However because of the quest rewards etc that are given during the 1-5 period it is recommended that you start as a stalker class because the rewards will be leather and this is what you will need for after level 5.
Starting Points
This is completely up to you, however it should be pointed out that INT, PIE, EMP, CHA are all completely useless stats for a Vampiir.
The recommended starting starts are:
+10 STR +10 CON +10DEX
Innate Buffs explained
From level 6 onwards the Vampiir gains "innate buffs" these are buffs that are always active and that you do not have to spec in and you do not have to cast them as they are always on you. The vampiir's innate stats are +3STR/CON/DEX +2QUI per level. At level 50 this will give you:
+135 STR/CON/DEX
+90QUI
The reason for innate stats being introduced as a unique ability for Vampiir's only is because catacombs classes were designed to be used without the neccessity of a buffbot for PvE or RvR. The innate buffs are equal to that of yellow buffs that other classes receive.
However there is a downside to innate buffs it means you cannot be buffed by any STR/CON/DEX/QUI enhancing concentration based buffs. However you can be buffed with any buffs that do not improve your STR/CON/DEX/QUI this means that you can be buffed with AF, haste, damage shield, damage add etc etc.
Power pool explained Another very unique part of the Vampiir is the way our power pool regenerates, it does not regenerate like a caster does by sitting down and increasing gradually instead it increases in melee combat the more you hit and the harder you hit the more your power increases. However if you stop fighting for too long your power will gradually decline until it receives a "mark" which is often 14-15% of your full power bar. Critical melee hits do not affect the amount of power you are given and no standard power regen methods will ever increase your power, also power pots etc have 0 effect on you. There is only 2 methods to gain power and that is your power bolt which is a vampiir ability and to hit enemies in melee combat.
Spec Lines Claws - This spell is available in all 3 spell lines this is a point blank attack and requires you to be within 350 units of your enemy when this hits it is a DD, it can be cast while you're moving and can be cast while in combat. The difference with the claw in the 3 spell lines is. Shadow Mastery = Heat based claw, Dementia = Cold based claw, Vampiric Embrace = Matter based claw.
Power bolt - This is a ability of a Vampiir which does not require spec'ing it is a ability that all Vampiir's get. This ability should be used at the start of combat as it drains approximately 15% of your enemies power, however if your enemy has no power it will not drain any power. This ability cannot be used during combat it will interrupt a enemy while he is spell casting and does not break your speed.
Shadow Mastery
Shadow Mastery is often regarded as the "niche" of a Vampiir it contains our most potent and most used abilities which allows a person to chain pull in both PvE and in RvR.
Endurance Tap - This is a very unique and very special ability of a Vampiir this ability allows us to drain the endurance from a enemy, traditionally mobs in PvE have unlimited endurance so can be tapped as often as desired as long as you have enough power to cast the spel. In PvP this ability depends on the amount of endurance your enemy has, if the enemy has 0 endurance you will drain 0 however if the enemy has any endurance you will gain what they have upto the amount your spell is spec'ed in. At 48 shadow mastery you're able to drain 100% endurance. Spell can be cast in combat.
Speed - When a Vampiir goes above a specific speed whether by his own speed or by a allies speed he will begin to "float" slightly above the ground, this provides no advantages it however does enable enemies to know immediately what class you are. Speed is a excellent ability upto caster level however a vampiir's speed lasts 5 minutes before it needs recasting and will break as soon as you enter melee range combat with a enemy. Spell cannot be cast in combat.
Heal over time - Often referred to as HoT allows us to put up a heal over time which heals us while we remain fighting. This spell can be what determines a lengthy battle and is very useful for PvE and PvP alike. Spell can be cast in combat.
Parry buff - Because Vampiir's have no passive defenses in each line we gain a specific "active" defense which we can cast if we have enough power. The active defenses are only active for 1 minute however the defenses are often much higher than the passive defenses that most other classes have to specialise in. The level 50 parry buff provides a 49% chance to parry. Spell can be cast in combat.
Haste - The haste of a Vampiir is also a 1 minute self-buff but is traditionally much faster than a haste you can receive as a buff from other classes. The haste at spec 45 gives a 45% haste. Spell can be cast in combat.
Snare (maintained) - This snare is excellent for slowing down enemies that are outrunning you and you wish to catch up to, or simply for getting 1 member of a assist train off a enemy. The usefulness in PvE is not very high. However in PvP it is one of a Vampiir's most useful abilities. The snare is a maintained spell meaning that each "tick" of the spell requires power, the only way the snare will be cancelled is if you run out of power or begin to cast another spell. Spell can be cast in combat.
Vampiric Embrace
DD - This is a 1500 range heat based DD, the damage is relatively low and uses alot of power, it is however useful if you're rooted and unable to purge. Spell cannot be cast in combat.
Weaponskill buff - This is a Vampiir 1 minute self buff that increases your weaponskill by a percentage of it's current skill. Very useful for breaking through defenses of highly defensive tanks especially shield tanks. Spell can be cast in combat.
Evasion buff - This is a Vampiir 1 minute self buff that gives you a active evasion defense. At spec level 50 your evasion rate when this buff is up would be 50%/ Spell can be cast in combat.
Fumble debuff - This ability is regarded as the best part of the Vampiric embrace line and you get the best version at only spec level 32. This debuff can be used on any enemy for PvE or PvP and will make them fumble upto 50% of the time. This debuff is similar to that of a mercenaries "dirty tricks" but has a much shorter timer but we can only use it on 1 person at a time. For melee fights this spell should be cast first and foremost in PvP.
Stealthlore - Vampiric embrace spec'ed Vampiir's have the ability to cast a 1 minute self buff so that they have better stealth detection against enemies. This is often good to use in "high pop stealther area's" such as bridges.
NPC Dismissal - Not often spec'ed for or used but with this ability you are able to dismiss a enemy NPC upto the max level you are spec'ed in at spec level 49 you can dismiss upto level 65 guards.
Dementia
Effectiveness debuff - One of the best abilities in the dementia line this allows you to debuff the effectiveness of a enemy to make their abilities much weaker at 47 spec level you can make a enemies abilities upto 47% weaker.
Random armour debuff - This ability is a bit tricky, when you use this ability it will randomly debuff one area of a enemies armour and show it to you as a glowy tint on the enemies armour allowing you to then choose which style you would like to use for melee to get the most damage on your enemy. Using this ability requires a keen eye or a bit of luck on choosing which piece of armour you select.
Melee resist buff/Magic resist buff - These 2 abilities are both seperate however I am covering them both because they do almost the same thing. The melee buff can buff upto +22% melee resists at spec level 43. The magic resist buff can buff upto +44% at spec level 44. These are 1 minute self buffs and VERY useful but make sure you put up the right buff for each individual situation.
Skill bonus debuff - This debuffs the +skills of a enemy meaning their skills have a slightly higher resist rate than normal.
Mesmerize (maintained) - This ability is similar to the snare ability in the Shadow Mastery line but instead of snaring a enemy it will simply mezz them, this is useful if fighting 2 or more enemies or if you get add's during a solo fight. However this ability is maintained the same as Shadow Mastery's snare so does use power for each tick and will be deactivated on the next spell you cast or if you run out of power.
Buff shear - This ability randomly sheer's a buff from one of your enemies. You have to depend on a bit of luck for this as you do not get to decide which buff is stripped. However whichever buff is stripped it will usually give you a additional advantage over your enemy.
Piercing
In the piercing line Vampiir's gain some unique abilities known as armour-specific melee attacks. This means that some of your attacks have a higher chance (not 100% chance) to hit a specific piece of armour on your enemy. This can be useful especially when used with dementia's random armour debuff. Piercing weaponskill is STR/DEX based 50% for each stat.
Spec Options at level 50
Almost all Vampiir's choose to spec a minimum of 43 piercing as Vampiric Feint combined with Eye shot can do huge amounts of damage and has the highest damage growth rate for a 1 handed class.
The spec used by most Vampiir's is: 43 Piercing, 38 Shadow Mastery, 32 Vampiric embrace.
The reason for the spec above being most popular is that it provides the second highest claw in the Shadow mastery line along with 31% parry buff, 75% endurance drain, 36% haste, the first maintained snare and the second best heal over time. Combined with the 32 vampiric embrace means that you will also get 50% fumble debuff, +15% weaponskill buff, 32% evasion buff and the 2nd best stealthlore. All of these abilities combined with the 43 in piercing often provides the best combination in skills for both PvE and RvR.
Why not spec 50 in 1 line and 43 in piercing?
Power. The power requirements of the high end spells often requires a vampiir to fight for excessively long amounts of time and in that time alot of your HP will likely be taken away while you're unable to cast your high-end spells, because the spec above is usually the 2nd or 3rd highest spells it means the power requirements are much lower while still being very effective abilities.
Why is dementia unused by most vampiir's?
Dementia although a very powerful line is also very random, the random armour debuff is too random to be effective, the effectiveness debuff and resistance buffs are excellent and will allow most dementia spec'ed vampiir's to win most fights. However the line contains no abilities which allow you to go on and on and on, with SM/VE spec you're able to constantly pull yellow-orange con's and this is also possible in PvP, however with dementia the line contains no abilities that allow you to have active defenses which completely stop any damage and contains no endurance drain. This is why most vampiir's choose not to spec Dementia.
Additional Vampiir abilities
Vampiir's get several abilities that are often restricted to stealthers these include safe fall and climb walls. We do not have to spec for these abilities as you gain them freely.
At level 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 we gain a new version of safe fall at level 50 safe fall is at level 5. Which is higher than almost all stealthers will ever spec to.
At level 25 we gain climb walls, this ability is VERY effective in keep takes and can also be good for suicide strikes on keeps or for actively "camping a keep".
Leveling a Vampiir
If you choose to go the standard spec then you should always keep Shadow Mastery at your level until level 38 and use the remainder of your points in piercing. At level 39 you should begin putting all of your points into Piercing until you reach 43 piercing, once you're 43 piercing you should begin putting your points into Vampiric Embrace.
Leveling a Vampiir is very easy and Vampiir's often obtain level 50 in less than 4 days /played time. The recommended method to leveling is simply to use task master dungeons, while sometimes throwing in some aurulite dungeon visits to not make you too bored of taskmaster dungeons. You should always try to have a good weapon at least yellow con and try to keep your STR/DEX/CON capped if possible, but especially STR since this stat is associated with your spells as well as your melee.
RvR
At the highest point of each BG it's recommended to pay them a visit, Vampiir's are often considered overpowered in the Battlegrounds and rightly so. Vampiir can kill almost any class in the BG's this includes bonedancers and warlocks.
At level 50 however the playground is alot more even as buffbots do exist on almost all servers and even on classic servers where buffbots don't exist several classes are still very dangerous. The classes to be afraid of or at least weary of as a Vampiir is: Friar, Heretic, Reaver, Warlock.
Why be afraid of a Friar, they're gimps?
Well trust me and every other Vampiir when we say Friar's are NOT gimps!!! Friar's have self buffs which are higher than those a Vampiir uses and they also have resist buffs which makes them VERY resistant to heat, cold and matter which is the damage of all 3 of our claws. On top of all that friar's use crush weapons which leather is 10% vulnerable to.
Why be afraid of Heretics?
Their self buffs are much higher than ours and if spec'ed flex/shield their damage is extremely high.
Why be afraid of Reavers?
Their defenses are extreme meaning that we hardly hit them giving them a advantage against us because if we have no power we cannot buff ourselves. Reavers also possess Leviathan a rear style that can often do 300-400 damage per shot.
Why be afraid of Warlocks?
Chambers+our lack of a good stun style means they can kill us within just a few seconds, unless you're dementia spec'ed and have at least IP2 it's recommended to put on charge and not look back as a warlock can take you down when they're unbuffed.
Why are vamps not afraid of stealthers?
Vampiir's are generally considered the "bane of stealthers" we have several abilities which negate almost all stealther abilities, charge+high HP negates archers range advantage. Stealthlore+fumble debuff+end drain negates an assasin class.
What about classes that aren't buffed?
Most are cannon fodders and very easy to kill, however if they can stun you then they do have a chance of winning if you don't have purge.
What about classes that are buffed?
All caster classes are of course very powerful, however you have charge to negate any CC and to catch them quickly so most caster classes are very easy to take down. Melee classes that are buffed are quite a different subject it really depends on how defensive they are, if a class has really high defenses it makes it very difficult to hit them which means we lack any power to cast our spells. This is fiercely shown against 50 shield tanks particularly paladin's. Most classes that do spec shield are really very hard to take down when buffed. Light-tanks are however pretty even fights and can be very fun.
How do I gain power in PvP when a class is blocking everything I throw at them?
If a grey/green con is near you while you're fighting a enemy that is blocking you attack the grey/green con, this will provide you with enough power to throw up buffs or claw your enemy to death.
How will I do if I play on a PvP server?
VERY well, your innate buffs give you a distinct advantage as buffbots are not as common on PvP servers.
Why is it hard to get a group?
In RvR alot of groups are under the very mistaken impression that Vampiir's are useless because there are tanks that possess abilities that are better suited to negating CC such as determination etc. So most of your RvR life will be either solo or grouping with other Vampiir's.
Master Levels
A Vampiir can choose Banelord or Warlord both are very good, but Banelord is often considered better as they are most useful for group play.
Other resources of information
There are several other resources available for Vampiirs some are listed below:
Vampiir forum on VNBoards - http://vnboards.ign.com/Hibernia_Vampiir_Professions/b22795/
Vampiir TL Q&A - http://vnboards.ign.com/Hibernia_Vampiir_Professions/b22795/87501710/?5
Vampiir information by Classes of Camelot - http://www.classesofcamelot.com/Classes.asp?class=Vampiir
Conclusion
A Vampiir is a diverse and powerful class that can easily chain pull in PvE and PvP. The character is able to kill quickly and efficiently and is definately not a 1 button class. Anybody that plays a Vampiir will definately enjoy this superb class.
Copyright © 2001-2009 Trevor Moore, Nathan Wilcox & Classes of Camelot
