VAMPIRE DPS BUILD

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Vampire DPS


Last updated: Update 48 - 12th December 2025

This is a thematic build where I'm not always choosing the most optimal option

A thematic Vampire build


SUBCLASSING


Combination

Nightblade - Assassination

Necromancer - Grave Lord

Templar - Aedric Spear

Base Class

This build can use either Nightblade, Necromancer or Templar as your base class

Explanation

First, we’re going to use Nightblade’s Assassination. The skill line has extremely strong passives and extremely strong abilities which fit the Vampire theme. We’re going to make use of Relentless Focus and Impale.

Next, we’re going to use Grave Lord. It’s a decently strong skill line that also fits the Vampire theme. It’s going to grant us a lot of penetration through Dismember passive making us less reliant on Tanks and the Death Knell passive which increases your Critical Chance in execute will synergize extremely well with Impale, the execute from Assassination skill line.

Now, with Assassination, Grave Lord and Vampire skills on our bar, we simply won’t have enough bar space for skills from a third skill line. Which is why we’ll choose a skill line with the best passives, which is going to be Aedric Spear. Normally that would break the Vampire theme but we won’t be using any Aedric Spear skills, just the passives, so you won’t see any holy visuals.


SKILL SETUPS


Base Setup

A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups

Front Bar Back Bar
Slot 1: Arterial Burst Slot 1: Skeletal Archer
Slot 2: Impale Slot 2: Barbed Trap
Slot 3: Relentless Focus Slot 3: Carve
Slot 4: Detonating Siphon Slot 4: Stampede
Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency Slot 5: Blood Mist
Ultimate: Crescent Sweep Ultimate: Swarming Scion
INFO arrow_down
SITUATIONAL arrow_down
ROTATION arrow_down

Final Setups

A few examples of final setups you could end up with after applying the situational skills to the base setup

Example of a setup you can use for trash packs

Front Bar Back Bar
Slot 1: Trample Slot 1: Skeletal Archer
Slot 2: Whirling Blades Slot 2: Proximity Detonation
Slot 3: Relentless Focus Slot 3: Carve
Slot 4: Unnerving Boneyard Slot 4: Stampede
Slot 5: Ulfsild's Contingency Slot 5: Blood Mist
Ultimate: Crescent Sweep Ultimate: Swarming Scion

EXPLANATION:


PASSIVES

There are no passives you need to skip with this build, unless you're using an Ice Staff

  • Class
  • Weapon
  • Armor
  • Guild
  • Alliance War
  • Racial
  • Craft

Class - Assassination

Master Assassin - High Priority

Executioner - High Priority

Pressure Points - High Priority

Hemorrhage - High Priority


VAMPIRISM

You should stay at 2nd stage of Vampirism. This stage will allow you to benefit from the Strike from the Shadows passive which will be triggered by Blood Mist. With Blood Mist being cast every 20 seconds, the uptime of the Weapon Damage buff from Strike from the Shadows won't exceed 30% so it's not very important, so you should lower your Stage to 1 if you encounter any sustain issues, or if you're doing content with a lot of Flame damage.


GEAR


Base Setup

A base setup that will work for most situations and which should be your starting point when making situational setups

Switching gear for trash packs isn't worth it unless you're using gear-swap addons

Default setup

Gear Slot Set Weight/Type Trait Enchantment

Head

Nerieneth Medium Divines Magicka

Shoulders

Nerieneth Light Divines Magicka

Chest

Ansuul's Torment Medium Divines Magicka

Hands

Ansuul's Torment Medium Divines Magicka

Belt

Ansuul's Torment Medium Divines Magicka

Legs

Ansuul's Torment Medium Divines Magicka

Boots

Ansuul's Torment Medium Divines Magicka

Necklace

Unfathomable Darkness Jewelry Bloodthirsty Increase Magical Harm

Ring

Unfathomable Darkness Jewelry Bloodthirsty Increase Magical Harm

Ring

Unfathomable Darkness Jewelry Bloodthirsty Increase Magical Harm

Frontbar Main Hand

Unfathomable Darkness Dagger Nirnhoned Flame

Frontbar Off Hand

Unfathomable Darkness Dagger Charged Poison

Backbar Main Hand

Merciless Charge Greatsword Infused Weapon Damage

SITUATIONAL arrow_down
ALTERNATIVE arrow_down

Final Setups

A few examples of final setups you could end up with after applying situational rules to the base setup

This is the crafted gear setup you can start with

Gear Slot Set Weight/Type Trait Enchantment

Head

Order's Wrath Medium Divines Magicka

Shoulders

Order's Wrath Medium Divines Magicka

Chest

Tide-Born Wildstalker Medium Divines Magicka

Hands

Tide-Born Wildstalker Medium Divines Magicka

Belt

Tide-Born Wildstalker Light Divines Magicka

Legs

Tide-Born Wildstalker Medium Divines Magicka

Boots

Tide-Born Wildstalker Medium Divines Magicka

Necklace

Order's Wrath Jewelry Bloodthirsty Increase Magical Harm

Ring

Order's Wrath Jewelry Bloodthirsty Increase Magical Harm

Ring

Order's Wrath Jewelry Bloodthirsty Increase Magical Harm

Frontbar Main Hand

Highland Sentinel Dagger Nirnhoned Flame

Frontbar Off Hand

Highland Sentinel Dagger Charged Poison

Backbar Main Hand

Highland Sentinel Greatsword Infused Weapon Damage

CHAMPION POINTS

Warfare

Fitness

ADDITIONAL INFO:

  • Replace Fighting Finesse with Exploiter if your supports are providing enough Critical Damage for you to reach the 125% cap without Fighting Finesse
  • You can use Celerity in fights where you need more movement speed. Replace the Champion Point which is least useful for that fight, for example replace Siphoning Spells if a certain fight has no adds you could kill for Magicka

RACE

The difference between best and worst race is about 5% of DPS and there is no content in the entire game that you'd be blocked from completing because of choosing a bad race.

Best race for 12-man content - High Elf, Dark Elf

Best race for 4-man content - Khajiit

Other decent options: Orc, Breton


MUNDUS

You should use The Thief Mundus, which increases your Critical Chance


ATTRIBUTES

HEALTH

0

STAMINA

0

MAGICKA

64

You should always put all 64 attribute points into Magicka


FOOD


POTIONS

Most of the time you should use Tri-Stat potions (Restore Health, Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka). They'll greatly improve your sustain. You can craft them by combining Columbine, Bugloss and Mountain's Flower.

You can also use Heroism Potions (Restore Stamina, Restore Magicka, Heroism) which can provide a 100% uptime on Minor Heroism buff which generates ultimate, but they're expensive because they're crafted by combining Dragon Rheum, Dragon's Blood and Columbine.


PARSE

Combat Metrics screenshot of the 130k parse

Recording of the 130k parse


GAMEPLAY

Logs of Veteran Trials and Dungeons I've finished using this build

Trials

Veteran Lucent Citadel - https://www.esologs.com/reports/xfKAwDYHaFZ14pPC

Veteran Dreadsail Reef - https://www.esologs.com/reports/xX8G2ktCjVDbQq4Y


Dungeons

Veteran Hard Mode Unhallowed Grave - https://www.esologs.com/reports/A3MnvZWhdgCm9rzG


THANKS FOR READING

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