To become infected, one can be bitten by another player, be attacked and infected by a NPC in the game (rare occurance), or, as a last resort, buy the item in the crown store.
One can become infected from a NPC with vampirism only during the New Moon phase, which occurs every 8 days or with Sanguines Lupinus (leads to werewolf) during the Full Moon phase. To check the current moon phase, look at the water level in Riften where the dock steps enter the water. During the proper moon phase, and only within The Rift, Bangkorai, or Reaper's March at certain spawn locations one can become infected from a bloodfiend (vampire) or werewolf -- but only if they are attacked before these NPCs are killed as it appears they do not respawn.
There are four stages of Vampirism. Initially the time between phases is 6 4 hours; the time in your current phase is reduced by 30 minutes if you use a Vampire ability. Sneaking up behind an enemy and feeding will reduce increase your Vampirism stage by one tier. The four stages and their benefits/hazards are:
| Vampirism Stage |
Cost Change to Regular Abilities |
Cost Change to Vampirism Abilities |
Flame Damage taken | Health Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +3% | -6% 0% | +5% +0% | -10% -0% |
| 2 | +5% | -10% -7% | +8% +15% | -30% -25% |
| 3 | +8% | -16% -14% | +13% +20% | -60% -50% |
| 4 | +12% | -24% -21% | +20% +25% | -100% -75% |
| 5 (through Perfect Scion) |
0% | -24% | 0% | 0% |
Vampire Skill Line After Greymoor | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Required Skill Level | Skill Name | Benefit | Cost |
| inherent | Feed | Allows you to feed on an unsuspecting target, killing them and increasing your Vampire Stage. Higher stages make you a stronger Vampire at the cost of your humanity. Stages decrease over long periods of time. | Passive |
| 1? | Blood Scion Duration: 20 seconds |
Criminal Act Transform into a monstrous creature of the night, instantly healing to full Health.
While transformed, your Max Health, Magicka, and Stamina increase by 10000, you heal for 15% of all damage you deal, and you can see enemies through walls. |
334 Ultimate |
| Morph Option 1 | Swarming Scion | Criminal Act Bats also swarm around you and shred enemies that come close, dealing 298 Magic Damage every 1 second. | 334 Ultimate |
| Morph Option 2 | Perfect Scion | Criminal Act You also ascend to Vampire Stage 5, which grants all the benefits of Stage 4 with none of the drawbacks. | 334 Ultimate |
| 2? | Eviscerate (range: 5 meters) |
Rend an enemy, dealing 821 Magic Damage plus up to 50% more damage based on your missing Health. | 2295 Magicka |
| Morph Option 1 | Blood for Blood | Costs Health instead of Magicka and now deals up to 100% more damage based on your missing Health. | 2295 Health |
| Morph Option 2 | Arterial Burst | If you use this ability while under 50% Health, it will always be a Critical Strike. | 2295 Magicka |
| 3? | Dark Stalker | Ignore the Movement Speed penalty of Sneak and decrease the time it takes to enter Sneak by 25%. | Passive |
| 4? | Blood Frenzy (range: meters) |
Criminal Act Allow your monstrous appetites to take hold, increasing your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage by 630.
While toggled on, the Health cost of this ability increases by 20% every second and you cannot be healed by anyone other than yourself. |
1919 Health per second |
| Morph Option 1 | Simmering Frenzy | Criminal Act While toggled on, your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage also increase by 10% every second. | 1919 Health per second |
| Morph Option 2 | Sated Fury | Criminal Act When you toggle this ability off, you heal for 30% of the total Health cost you spent while it was toggled on. | 1919 Health per second |
| 4? | Strike from the Shadows | While at Vampire Stage 2 or higher, when you leave Sneak, Invisibility, or Mist Form your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage are increased by 150 for 6 seconds. | Passive |
| 5? | Vampiric Drain (range: 22 meters) (channel time: 3 seconds) |
Criminal Act Siphon away your enemies' vitality, dealing 204 Magic Damage and healing you for 23% 25% of your missing Health every 1 second for 3 seconds. | 4319 Magicka |
| Morph Option 1 | Drain Vigor | Criminal Act Also restores 5% 10% of your missing Stamina every 1 second for 3 seconds. | 4319 Magicka |
| Morph Option 2 | Exhilarating Drain | Criminal Act Also generates 4 5 Ultimate every 1 second for 3 seconds. | 4319 Magicka |
| 6? | Mesmerize (cone: 10 meters) |
Subdue enemies in front of you with your baleful gaze, Stunning them for 5 seconds if they are facing your direction. This stun cannot be blocked. | 3780 Magicka |
| Morph Option 1 | Hypnosis (radius: 7 meters) |
Now affects all enemies around you, but at a shorter distance. | 3780 Magicka |
| Morph Option 2 | Stupefy | After the Stun ends they remain stupefied, reducing their Movement Speed by 50% for 5 seconds. | 3780 Magicka |
| 6? | Blood Ritual | Allows you to infect another player with Noxiphilic Sanguivoria once every 7 days by returning to the Vampire ritual site. Players already infected with Lycanthropy cannot be infected with Noxiphilic Sanguivoria. |
Passive |
| 6? | Undeath | While you are at Vampire Stage 3 or higher, reduces your Damage Taken by up to 15% based on your missing Health. | Passive |
| 7? | Dark Stalker II | Ignore the Movement Speed penalty of Sneak and decrease the time it takes to enter Sneak by 50%. | Passive |
| 7? | Unnatural Movement | While at Vampire Stage 4 or higher, reduces the cost of Sprint by 25% and if you continuously Sprint for 6 seconds you automatically become invisible. | Passive |
| 8? | Strike from the Shadows II | While at Vampire Stage 2 or higher, when you leave Sneak, Invisibility, or Mist Form your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage are increased by 300 for 6 seconds. | Passive |
| 9? | Mist Form | Criminal Act While toggled on you dissolve into a dark mist, reducing your damage taken by 75% for as long as you maintain the channel. Entering this form removes and grants immunity to all disabling and immobilization effects, but you cannot be healed and your Magicka Recovery is disabled. |
1350 Magicka per second |
| Morph Option 1 | Elusive Mist | Criminal Act Also grants you Major Expedition. | 1350 Magicka per second |
| Morph Option 2 | Blood Mist (radius: 5 meters) |
Criminal Act Also deal 137 Magic Damage every 1 second to nearby enemies and heal for the damage caused. | 1350 Magicka per second |
| 9? | Undeath II | While you are at Vampire Stage 3 or higher, reduces your Damage Taken by up to 30% based on your missing Health. | Passive |
| 10? | Unnatural Movement II | While at Vampire Stage 4 or higher, reduces the cost of Sprint by 50% and if you continuously Sprint for 3 seconds you automatically become invisible. | Passive |
Vampire Skill Line Before Greymoor | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Required Skill Level | Skill Name | Benefit | Cost |
| 1 | Drain Essence (range: 12 meters) |
Consume an enemy's life force, dealing 534 Magic Damage while restoring 20% of your missing Health every second for 3 seconds. When you activate the drain, the enemy is Stunned for 3 seconds. | 2700 Magicka |
| Morph Option 1 | Invigorating Drain | Also gain 5 Ultimate every second for 3 seconds. | 2700 Magicka |
| Morph Option 2 | Accelerating Drain | After the drain ends, gain Minor Expedition for 17 seconds. | 2700 Magicka |
| 2 | Savage Feeding | After feeding, your target is set Off Balance for 2 seconds and Stunned for 5 seconds. | Passive |
| 3? | Mist Form Channel Time: 4 seconds |
Dissolve into a dark mist, reducing your damage taken by 75% for 4 seconds. Entering this form removes and grants immunity to all disabling and immobilization effects, but you cannot be healed and your Magicka Recovery is disabled. |
5940 Magicka |
| Morph Option 1 | Elusive Mist | Also gain Major Expedition for the 4 seconds. | 5670 Magicka |
| Morph Option 2 | Baleful Mist (radius: 5 meters) |
Also deals 198 Magic Damage every second to nearby enemies for the 4 seconds. | 5670 Magicka |
| 4 | Savage Feeding II | After feeding, your target is set Off Balance for 5 seconds and Stunned for 4 seconds. | Passive |
| 4 | Supernatural Recovery | If in Vampirism Stage 2 or higher, your Magicka Recovery & Stamina Recovery increase by 5%. | Passive |
| 5 | Bat Swarm Radius: 10 meters |
A cloud of bats deals 430 Magic Damage every second for 5 seconds to nearby enemies. | 275 Ultimate |
| Morph Option 1 | Clouding Swarm | While the bats swarm around you this ability changes into Materialize, allowing you to instantly teleport to an enemy and strike them for 903 Magic Damage. | 200 Ultimate |
| Morph Option 2 | Devouring Swarm | The bats also heal you for 409 Health for each enemy they damage. | 200 Ultimate |
| 6? | Supernatural Recovery II | If in Vampirism Stage 2 or higher, your Magicka Recovery & Stamina Recovery increase by 10%. | Passive |
| 6 | Blood Ritual | Once every 7 days you can infect another player with Noxiphilic Sanguivoria at the Vampire ritual site. | Passive |
| 7 | Undeath | If below 30% Health while you have Vampirism Stage 3 or higher, your damage taken is reduced by up to 33% (based on your missing Health). | Passive |
| 8 | Unnatural Resistance | Reduces the severity of the slowed Health Recovery in Vampirism Stages 2 through 4. | Passive |
| 9 | Dark Stalker | Ignore the Movement Speed penalty while Sneaking if you have Vampirism Stage 4.
Also, decreases the time it takes to Crouch by 50% during the night. |
Passive |
| 10 | Undeath II | If below 50% Health while you have Vampirism Stage 3 or higher, your damage taken is reduced by up to 33% (based on your missing Health). | Passive |
(Developer Comments in Patch Notes)
There were a significant number of changes made to Werewolf this (Wolfhunter) update. Some of these changes were made to improve the quality of life with leveling and maintaining the form, while others open up new gameplay possibilities.
First, you’ll find leveling and maintaining your Werewolf is now considerably easier. The Devour passive is now granted automatically from the very start, so you can sustain the form better at lower levels before you’ve unlocked all the other skills. We’ve also significantly reduced the experience requirements to morph all skills.
Second, you’ll be able to do more core combat actions as a Werewolf, such as resurrecting your allies or using Synergies. Werewolves will have a much easier time engaging in group content now that they can help their friends more effectively. This, coupled with some other changes such as the Blood Rage passive triggering on damage dealt instead of damage taken, means they can be more viable in group PvE activities such as dungeons.
Finally, many morphs and abilities were changed to improve the cohesiveness of the Werewolf kit. Some combos and effects that weren’t very effective have been removed, while others were tweaked to better support the fast and ferocious playstyle of the Werewolf. As an example, we removed the stuns from Pounce and Piercing Howl, but dramatically improved Roar by making it instant cast, fear more targets, and have more competitive morph effects.
Werewolf Transformation:
- You can now resurrect other players while transformed.
- You can now use synergy abilities while transformed. You will use a unique Werewolf-themed animation instead of the synergy’s usual animation.
- You can now use Siege Weapons while transformed.
- Your Werewolf timer will no longer tick down while you are reviving in place while transformed.
Pack Leader (morph):
- The direwolves now scale with the bonuses from damage done.
- The direwolves now randomly alternate between 2 direct damage abilities, previously 4, and they no longer use a non-damaging snare ability.
- Fixed an issue where the direwolves would throttle their attacks against the same target. They now attack much more rapidly.
- Fixed an issue where the direwolves would not respawn with you whenever you respawned.
Werewolf Skill Line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Required Skill Level | Skill Name | Benefit | Cost |
| inherent | Devour | While in Werewolf form allows you to devour any corpses (friendly or enemy) to increase the duration of your Werewolf Transformation and restore your Health. Every second you spend devouring a corpse adds 3 seconds to the duration of your Werewolf Transformation and restores 8% of your Max Health. Each corpse can be devoured for up to 4 seconds. |
Passive (included for free) |
| 1 | Werewolf Transformation Duration: 30 seconds |
Criminal Act Transform into a beast, filling nearby enemies with Fear for 3 seconds. While transformed, your Max Stamina is increased by 30%. While slotted, your Stamina Recovery is increased by 15%. |
325 Ultimate |
| Morph Option 1 | Pack Leader | Criminal Act Also, while transformed you take 10% less damage and passively grant you and 11 other nearby allies Minor Courage. Also summon two direwolves. | 300 Ultimate |
| Morph Option 2 | Werewolf Berserker | Criminal Act Also, while transformed your Light Attacks apply a bleed after one second for 1272 Physical Damage over 4 seconds, your Heavy Attacks deal 50% splash damage. (cooldown: once applied to a target these abilities can no longer refresh) | 300 Ultimate |
| 2 | Pounce (range: 22 meters) |
Criminal Act Pounce an enemy for 615 Physical Damage. Activating again within 5 seconds causes Carnage, bleeding your target for 456 Physical Damage over 10 seconds with up to 450% more damage to enemies under 100% Health. | 4016 Stamina |
| Morph Option 1 | Brutal Pounce (radius: 5 meters) |
Criminal Act Now deals 636 Physical Damage to the target and nearby enemies. Brutal Carnage converts Carnage to a conal attack which also grants 100 Weapon Damage & Spell Damage per enemy hit (up to 6). | 4016 Stamina |
| Morph Option 2 | Feral Pounce | Criminal Act Also adds 1 second to the duration of your Werewolf Transformation. Carnage converts to Feral Carnage. Dealing damage with Feral Pounce or Feral Carnage restores 100 Stamina. | 4016 Stamina |
| 3 | Pursuit | While in Werewolf form, increases your Movement Speed by 15% and your Heavy Attacks restore 25% more Stamina. | Passive |
| 4 | Hircine's Bounty | Criminal Act Heal for 38.75% of your Max Health. Casting this ability while at full Health now restores 3000 Stamina. While slotted, gain Major Brutality |
5737 Magicka |
| Morph Option 1 | Hircine's Rage | Criminal Act If cast while at full Health also gain Major Berserk for 6 seconds but you take 20% additional damage. | 5737 Magicka |
| Morph Option 2 | Hircine's Fortitude | Criminal Act Also increases your Health Recovery and Stamina Recovery by 5% of the Healing caused (up to 666). | 5737 Magicka |
| 4 | Blood Rage | When you deal damage while in Werewolf form, the duration of your Werewolf Transformation is increased by 2 seconds. (cooldown: 5 seconds) | Passive |
| 5 | Roar (radius: 8 meters) |
Criminal Act Fill up to 6 nearby enemies with Fear for 4 seconds
and setting them Off Balance for 7 seconds.
While slotted, gain Major Savagery. |
4303 Stamina |
| Morph Option 1 | Ferocious Roar | Criminal Act Also increases your Heavy Attack speed by 33% for 10 seconds. | 4303 Stamina |
| Morph Option 2 | Deafening Roar | Criminal Act Affected enemies also suffer Major Breach and Minor Maim. for 10 seconds. | 4303 Stamina |
| 6 | Piercing Howl (range: 10 meters) |
Criminal Act Crushes the enemy with 1026 Physical Damage plus 10% more damage to enemies who are facing you. | 2869 Stamina |
| Morph Option 1 | Howl of Despair | Criminal Act Now deals 1060 Physical Damage and offers allies targeting the enemy the Feeding Frenzy synergy, which grants unlimited uses of Empower for 5 seconds. | 2869 Stamina |
| Morph Option 2 | Howl of Agony | Criminal Act Bonus damage increases to 25% against enemies that are facing you or are Feared. | 2869 Stamina |
| 6 | Bloodmoon | Once every 7 days you can infect another player with Lycanthropy by returning to the Werewolf ritual site. | Passive |
| 6 | Savage Strength | While in Werewolf form, your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage increase by 9% and your Spell & Physical Resistance increase by 5000. | Passive |
| 7 | Pursuit II | While in Werewolf form, increases your Movement Speed by 30% and your Heavy Attacks restore 50% more Stamina. | Passive |
| 7 | Call of the Pack | While in Werewolf form, the cost of remaining in your Werewolf Transformation is reduced by 10% for each transformed werewolf in your group, including yourself, up to a maximum of 40%. | Passive |
| 8 | Blood Rage II | When you deal damage while in Werewolf form, the duration of your Werewolf Transformation is increased by 4 seconds. (cooldown: 5 seconds) | Passive |
| 9 | Infectious Claws (radius: 7 meters) |
Criminal Act Maul enemies in front of you for 770 Disease Damage and cause them to suffer the Diseased status effect. Then deals another 765 Disease Damage over 10 seconds. | 3442 Stamina |
| Morph Option 1 | Claws of Anguish | Criminal Act Also afflicts with Major Defile for 4 seconds. | 3442 Stamina |
| Morph Option 2 | Claws of Life | Criminal Act Instead deals 795 Disease Damage followed by an additional 795 Disease Damage over 10 seconds. The ability now also heals you for 100% of the damage over time. | 3442 Stamina |
| 9 | Savage Strength II | While in Werewolf form, your Weapon Damage and Spell Damage increase by 18% and Spell & Physical Resistance increase by 10000. | Passive |
| 10 | Call of the Pack II | While in Werewolf form, the cost of remaining in your Werewolf Transformation is reduced by 20% for each transformed werewolf in your group, including yourself, up to a maximum of 80%. | Passive |
