The Vampire Lord is the ultimate form of vampirism in Dawnguard – a towering, winged creature with ashen skin, gold-orange eyes and gaunt cheeks. For the player it is a power rather than a creature you simply meet: it works much like the werewolf transformation, with its own combat modes and its own perk tree. Vampire Lords are seen as the pinnacle of their kind; most are pure-blooded, having received the gift from another pure-blood or from Molag Bal himself, like Harkon of the Volkihar Clan.
How to become a Vampire Lord
- Harkon offers the power during Bloodline. Accepting it puts you on the vampire side of the Dawnguard story.
- Serana offers it if you sided with the Dawnguard: once during Chasing Echoes and again after Kindred Judgment. After that, she will turn you again whenever you have been cured.
The transformation
Wings sprout from the back, the body grows much taller and the skin turns pale. The wings make sprinting much faster and let the Vampire Lord hover across water, and carry weight rises a lot, so the form doubles as a way to haul too much loot. Equipment bonuses do not carry over – only a few rings and amulets from Feran Sadri’s side quests still work.
Transforming where someone can see you earns a 1,000 gold bounty and makes most people attack; turning back in front of witnesses can do the same. The usual stages of vampirism still apply in this form, as do the penalties of direct sunlight. At stage four, everyone is hostile while you are in Vampire Lord form.
Combat modes
- Blood Magic mode – the Vampire Lord hovers and casts blood spells, including the Drain Life spell and the ability to summon Gargoyles much as a conjurer calls atronachs.
- Melee mode – it lands and fights with its claws. Only in this mode can it perform the power-attack bite, a short cinematic where it wraps its wings around the victim and feeds.
Perks
The Vampire Lord perk tree has eleven perks, unlocked by feeding with Drain Life or the bite. The left branch holds Night Powers (Detect All Creatures, Mist Form, Supernatural Reflexes, Night Cloak), the right branch Blood Magic, and the middle column passive bonuses such as Power of the Grave, Blood Healing, Unearthly Will and Poison Talons.
