If roleplaying I would go non-dunmer, just to have a vampire weakness to fire - I would also check out some of the vampire mods, like Better Vampires to control daylight damage. But to each their own.:) P.S. I played a dunmer vampire on Adept and it became boring. Better Vampire Lord Transformation at Skyrim Nexus - Mods and Community.

You’ve gotta hand it to the old Bethesda. They don’t joke around when it comes to DLCs.

Nearly every franchise they’ve developed or published has had must-have DLCs. This, of course, includes, The Elder Scrolls, with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim arguably getting the most expansive DLCs of any game of its generation.

Dawnguard, in particular, was well-loved on how it did vampires justice within The Elder Scrolls mythos.

Unfortunately, as good as Bethesda are when it comes to DLCs, you could argue that it’s player base are better when it comes to mods.

The entire modding community of Skyrim is still well alive and kicking today, nearly a full decade ever since the game first released. This means that there’s a wide assortment of mods out there for every taste and inclination, including those who feel like Dawnguard just didn’t have enough for a “Vampire” playthrough of Skyrim.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to round up some of Skyrim’s best vampire mods.

Complete your bloodsucking vampire experience and show everyone what a Vampire-Dragon hybrid can do!

1. Castle Volkihar

Not everyone likes to build fortresses. Some are more satisfied conquering them.

If that’s true for you, then Castle Volkihar should make for the ideal home for your vampire lord dreams.

Castle Volkihar is a mod that gives you a grand castle to work with. It’s a true home fitting for the lord of the vampires. It comes complete with everything from turrets and dungeons, as well as long and winding corridors. It’s even got its own questline, just in case you’re in the mood for some conquering, as mentioned earlier.

The story of the mod is set following the events of Dawnguard where you take Auriel’s Bow to defeat the occupying army to free the coven locked away deep inside the castle’s crypt.

Once you’re finished with that, the castle is all yours for the taking.

2. The Evil Mansion

A lore-friendly reimagining of the iconic zombie-infested mansion from the first Resident Evil game, The Evil Mansion is a mod that is equal parts scary and intriguing.

If you’re up for a scare, then we definitely recommend installing this for the kicks.

Of course, if you’re going to live up to your full vampire potential, then the mod is all the more recommended, especially if long and winding castles aren’t your thing.

Skyrim Better Vampire Eyes

Filled with all sorts of grotesque creatures, The Evil Mansion is yours to keep once you’ve gotten rid of all of its previous undead inhabitants.

3. Enhanced Blood

There are a lot of things missing from Skyrim that you’ll only notice after a couple of playthroughs.

One of the few things that stands out even on your first playthrough though is, for a game that’s supposedly so violent, drawing blood feels like you’re just breaking open a can of tomato paste.

Seriously. Have a look the next time you make an enemy bleed.

The default blood textures definitely feel less like blood and more like fake blood, which, as any competent vampire knows, will just not do, which is why we recommend installing the Enhanced Blood mod so you can replace whatever puree Bethesda used as a model with something that actually looks scrumptious and palatable.

4. Vampire No Sun Damage

In the name of fairness, the attribute boosts that you get from a vampire in Skyrim comes the expense of not being able to go out in the sun.

However, one thing that breaks away from this immersive feature is the fact that you can’t exactly cover yourself for protection from the sun, which is an actual thing if you’ve been watching your movies.

Luckily, the Vampire No Sun Damage fixes that.

With this mod, covering yourself up when out in the sun means that you’re less vulnerable to the harmful effects of sunlight.

Take note: we said less vulnerable.

What this means is that, while you do take less damage, the damage is not totally removed.

5. Belua Sanguinaire Revisited

One of the most comprehensive vampire mods for Skyrim, Belua Sanguinaire Revisited makes players feel like an actual vampire.

In fact, one could argue that this mod is better than Dawnguard, and it’s easy to see why.

Once installed, the mod changes the base game entirely, making it revolve around how you want your character to move and act like when he or she is in a vampiric state.

Installing this mod makes playing a vampire in Skyrim feel more like how it should.

6. Better Vampire Fangs And Eyes

For better immersion in your vampire Skyrim playthrough, this is a must-have mod.

Skyrim’s vampires admittedly look scary at first, but the aesthetics start to grow old rather quickly. This is why we recommend making your character and other vampires look and feel more like a vampire with this mod.

Basically, what this mod changes is the fangs and the eyes.

By making the fans look more natural and adding them to female vampires, as well as improving the shape of the faces and the eyes, your character and other vampires will look so much better.

7. Dynamic Vampire Appearance

Just as the name suggests, the Dynamic Vampire Appearance mod allows you to change how your vampire looks depending on what you’re doing.

Case in point, sucking blood feels a lot more satisfying when you can actually see blood dripping out of the mouth of your character after.

Your character’s eyes will glow and turn yellow too if you use the Night Vision skill.

Basically, with this mod installed, your face will reflect what stage your character is in vampirism, creating a more realistic look.

8. Bat Travel Vampire

What kind of self-respecting vampire lord would you be if you didn’t have the power to transform into a swarm of bats?

The Bat Travel Vampire is a mod that lets you travel to other areas by transforming into a swarm of bats.

Like, you know, how vampires used to do it in the old days.

Sure, it’s a lot more cartoonish and not as dark as the other mods on our list, but it’s an excellent addition that helps add a bit more fun to your gameplay.

Besides, in case you didn’t like it, you can always disable or uninstall the mod.

9. Predator Vision

Make no mistake. Vampires are powerful in Skyrim.

It’s just that, compared to the other transformations, they don’t feel nearly as powerful and as overpowered.

That’s a shame.

Adding the Predator Vision mod helps tilt things towards your favor by letting you access improved vision once the skill is activated, allowing you to hunt and see much more clearly like a true predator would.

As an added bonus, werewolves and the khajiit can use the ability as well.

10. Royal Bloodline

Being a Vampire Lord is great, except, the feeling of awesomeness wears out quite easily.

The fact is, as menacing as being a Vampire Lord is in Skyrim, you don’t really get much in the way in terms of having an actual skillset to back-up your new transformation.

All you do is, essentially, look scary.

That’s it, and unfortunately, that’s not enough for an immersive vampire Skyrim playthrough.

Thankfully, we have the Royal Bloodline mod.

By installing this mod, you’ll get an entirely new skill tree exclusive only to Vampire Lords that lets you feel more like the lord of vampires.

At higher difficulties, the benefit of being a Vampire Lord with the Royal Bloodline mod really kicks in. This is because of your newly found abilities, such as the ability to summon a Gargoyle Goliath, Evolved Wings that lets your character hover off of the ground, a skill that literally lets you call for an Eclipse, and so much more.

Conclusion

There you have it, Skyrim’s best vampire mods.

If this is your first time modding, you don’t have a lot to worry about. The modding tools available for Skyrim, especially on PC, makes it easy to modify your game and not corrupt your save file or progress in the process.

Hopefully, after you’re done with your vampire escapades, you’ll start to explore the other mods that Skyrim has available.

You’ll be surprised as to what you can do and what you can change once you go down that rabbit hole.

Of course, it should go without saying, but, you should really back-up your save file.

While the best vampire mods in Skyrim are rather safe, you don’t really want to take your chances, especially if you’re already quite deep into your playthrough before you decided to go vampire and all.

Better yet, we do recommend starting a new game and focusing solely on playing as a vampire.

This way, your playthrough becomes even more immersive, and you don’t have to worry about bricking your save file as much.

Related articles:

Vampire Lord is a lesser power added by the Dawnguardadd-on that allows players with vampirism to turn into a powerful Vampire Lord: a large humanoid creature with sharp claws and bat-like wings. In order to gain this ability, you must accept Lord Harkon's gift during the Bloodline quest or receive it from Serana after Chasing Echoes. She also offers the option to infect you after completing Destroying the Dawnguard or Kindred Judgment. The ability can be used an unlimited number of times per day and at any point during normal gameplay. While not in Vampire Lord form, you will still have all the characteristics of a normal vampire.

As a Vampire Lord, you will be able to use blood magic and other dark powers, and can either levitate and use spells or remain on the ground and fight with deadly claws. In Skyrim, only the more pure-blooded vampires such as those of Lord Harkon's court have this ability and, according to him, the family's vampirism was a gift directly from Molag Bal himself.

Accepting Harkon's gift will permanently align you with the Volkihar; the only way to become a Vampire Lord and side with the Dawnguard is to wait for the option to be infected by Serana.

• 1Vampire Lord Form

Vampire Lord Form[edit]

The Vampire Lord power has the following effects:

• You will retain the 'Vampire's Sight' ability from your ordinary vampirism, but all other effects are either removed for the duration of your Vampire Lord form or replaced with a Vampire Lord version of the same effect.
• Your health, magicka, and stamina increase by 100 points each.
• Magicka regenerates 2% faster.
• You gain the same unarmed damage as Khajiit and Argonians, and the same claws trait as a Khajiit, only at magnitude 20, not 12. This means non-Beastmen gain 6 unarmed damage, then non-Khajiit gain 20 unarmed damage and Khajiit gain 8 (final unarmed damage is 30 for all Vampire Lords, regardless of starting race).
• When outside during the day, your health, magicka, and stamina decrease by 60 points each.
• When outside during the day, health, magicka, and stamina regeneration is reduced by 90%.
• Ability to use the Vampire Lord version of Vampiric Drain, which has a Damage Health effect in addition to draining health, magicka, and stamina from your target (see details below).
• 'Vampire Claws' constant effect, which gives you additional health, magicka, and stamina, increased unarmed damage, damage resistance, and waterwalking (see table).
• 'Bats' special ability, which allows you to transform into a swarm of bats for two seconds in order to evade damage (costs 25 magicka).
• The Raise Dead spell (similar to the 'Vampire's Servant' spell granted with ordinary vampirism), which allows you to reanimate a fallen corpse to fight for you (see table).

While you are in Vampire Lord form, only the Amulet of Bats, Amulet of The Gargoyle, Ring of The Beast, or Ring of the Erudite can be used; all of your other equipment is removed automatically. You also will not be able to use your normal spells, dragon shouts, or powers, but your attacks increase in power and speed. You will move more quickly as well, but since the 'Vampire Claws' constant effect gives you the waterwalking ability, you cannot swim as a Vampire Lord. Once you transform, all summoned creatures (including dead thralls) will immediately die. Your racial abilities do not carry over into Vampire Lord form, but existing spell effects do. This includes passive abilities such as The Lord Stone, the Blessing of Mara, and the Magic Resistance perks from the Alteration skill tree. It also includes the Destruction Cloak spells and the Alteration Flesh spells.

Vampire Lords are dangerous, fearsome creatures, and you will be attacked on sight if you are seen in this form. However, since NPCs will not recognize you, crimes committed in Vampire Lord form will not be attributed to you and will not increase your bounty. If you are seen transforming, 1000 gold will be added to your bounty.

The world was not built for Vampire Lords, so you may get stuck in some small doorways while in this form. To avoid this, try turning sideways so that your wings go through the doorway first. In most cases, you can get through. When all else fails, the Bats ability will get you out of tight jams fairly well.

While in Vampire Lord form, you can choose to either levitate or walk normally; you can only cast your spells while levitating, and will need to stop levitating in order to fight with your claws. When levitating, your right hand is automatically equipped with the Vampiric Drain spell and cannot be changed. Your left hand is used for your blood magic spells, such as Summon Gargoyle or Raise Dead. By bringing up the in-game favorites menu, you can switch the spell in your left hand and your active vampire power. You will take damage as normal from long falls while in levitation mode.

To descend to the ground and enter melee mode, press the sneak button. In this mode, you fight using your claws in a similar fashion to werewolves. You can also perform a 'power bite' attack that will count toward your perk progress in the Vampire perk tree. To perform a power bite, use a power attack against a humanoid target when their health is extremely low. The power bite will not work if you do not have enough stamina to perform the attack, and it will work on any NPCs (including other vampires), but not on creatures. You can switch between modes as often as necessary while in this form. Your active vampire power can be used in either mode by pressing the shout button, though powers must be briefly recharged before they can be used again.

You will have a forced third-person view while you are a Vampire Lord, and you will not be able to access character menus or maps. Opening the character menu will open the Vampire perk tree instead of your normal menus. You will not be able to pick up any items or start conversations, but you can activate switches (such as levers and pull chains) to progress through dungeons (though you will be unable to interact with objects preventing the use of switches, e.g. the bones or scraps that must be removed to use certain switches in Raldbthar Deep Market).

You can use the 'Revert Form' ability to return to your normal form at any time. If you have summoned a gargoyle while in Vampire Lord form, it will not disappear when you use Revert Form.

Abilities[edit]

Unlike regular vampire abilities, which are determined by the stage of your vampirism, Vampire Lord abilities and enhancements are level-dependent. The following abilities are granted automatically by the Vampire Lord form, along with the Bats ability, which is the same regardless of your level. Other powers and spells can be added by unlocking perks in the Vampire skill tree.

Skill Perks[edit]

While in Vampire Lord form, you will have access to a unique skill tree with perks that makes your special abilities more powerful. You gain progress to your next Vampire Lord perk by defeating enemies with Vampiric Drain or a 'power bite' attack. The Vampiric Drain attack counts toward a perk when it kills living creatures other than rabbits and foxes. Non-living creatures, such as undead, constructs, or summoned creatures do not give any progress gains.

Each new perk requires a few more kills than the last. The first perk requires 5 kills with Vampiric Drain or a 'power bite' attack, the second 6, the third 9, and the fourth 10; after that, each new perk requires two more kills than the last (up to 24 required to progress from the 10th perk to the 11th). You will need to feed a total of 156 times to complete the entire tree.

Vampire Lord Skyrim Mod

Reactions[edit]

Skyrim Better Vampire Lord

If you wander around Volkihar Keep in Vampire Lord form, some of the inhabitants may comment on it:

Skyrim Better Looking Vampire Lord Monster

Achievements[edit]

One achievement is related to being a Vampire Lord:

• Vampire Mastered^DG (20 points/Bronze) — Acquire 11 vampire perks
  • There are 11 available perks, so all of the vampire perks must be unlocked for this achievement.

Gallery[edit]

• Female Vampire Lord

• Vampire Lord using Vampiric Grip

• A Vampire Lord levitating

Notes[edit]

• Unarmed damage, armor, and attribute bonuses are affected by the Necromage perk. This means that at level 46, with the Power of the Grave perk, you will gain 312.5 (437.5 with the Ring of the Erudite) magicka, 375 (500 with the Ring of The Beast) health and 187.5 stamina.
• The Night Cloak perk heals you for the amount of damage dealt. It also stacks if there are multiple enemies surrounding you. It should be noted that the bats only appear when an enemy comes in close to you and they will disappear sometime after there is no enemy around anymore.
• Vampiric Grip has a very long potential range, but with no projectile to track, aiming at a distant target can be difficult. For best results, point the crosshair at a humanoid target's head, and position yourself so there are no obstacles even partially in the way.
• Vampiric Grip allows for easy kills against tough opponents by utilizing surrounding drops and cliffs. Drawing an opponent towards you before launching them off a cliff will result in an easy kill.
• Your skin will become dark and cloudy if you don't feed for a while.
• When transforming into Vampire Lord form, first your maximum health will be increased, then you will gain the bonus from the Power of the Grave perk, then you will gain the additional attributes (based on your level). This means you will be able to heal when transforming (up to 300 health at level 46).
• You will not lose any Vampire Lord perks if you cure yourself of vampirism and then ask Serana to restore it.
• The only time you will ever face another Vampire Lord in combat is during the quest Kindred Judgment.
• Vampire Lords were originally developed as part of the Game Jam. They had the ability to summon imp minions.
• If you choose to become a vampire in the middle of being with the Dawnguard, you will have to cure yourself before being accepted back into the Dawnguard ranks.
• For best results when using the power bite attack, your opponent should be standing, not blocking, and you should be still and directly face your target or be directly behind your target. Your opponent can attack you and the bite will still work, and the range of the attack is unknown.
• At one point during development it was planned for the Vampire Lord form to last only for a limited time span, akin to werewolves. Audio with Lord Harkon advising you about this was recorded but for obvious reasons not implemented in the final release.

Bugs[edit]

• When first changing into the Vampire Lord and entering spell mode, the Raise Dead spell that is automatically equipped to the left hand may not work on any creature or person.
  • Equipping the spell from the Favorites menu will fix this.
• If you use the Revert Form power, and then use a perk before returning to non-vampire form, you will retain the Vampiric Drain spell in the right hand, which still leads to skill increase for the Vampire Lord form if used to kill enemies, but NPCs will not be hostile to you.
  • This can be easily fixed by equipping a spell or a weapon in the right hand.
• Sometimes when you are made a Vampire Lord by either Harkon or Serana you will not be able to use the Vampire Lord power to turn into one.
  • This can by fixed by typing set dlc1vampirelorddisallow to 0 in the console.
• The showracemenu face complexion choice applies the selected change, but the choice does not save in many cases and is reset to a default on the next load. Only the last three complexions available work for a Vampire Lord.
• Sometimes when changing into a Vampire Lord, you cannot switch to melee mode, use the Revert Form ability, or use any spells.
• Using Revert Form may cause you to lose your vampirism.
• When you revert back to normal form, the game will try to equip the armor and/or clothing you were wearing, but may equip similar items instead (e.g. an unimproved pair of Vampire Boots instead of your tempered, enchanted pair), and won't equip your jewelry.
• When using the Amulet of the Gargoyle, if the 'extra' gargoyle dies before the main one, its corpse may persist for some seconds, and will be lootable. ^?
• Sometimes while in Vampire Lord form, the game will indicate getting werewolf progress as you kill people.
• Sometimes the bounty from transforming into a Vampire Lord will not disappear after killing all of the nearby witnesses.
• The Khajiit lesser power Night Eye is removed from the Favorites list after each transformation.
• When Harkon gives you the vampire lord form his bite may kill you, forcing you to return to a previous save.
• Sometimes the roar sound from transforming into a vampire lord fails to play.
• While in Vampire Lord form, if game is saved and then later loaded, you may be stuck in Vampire Lord form and unable to cast spells or use powers. (revert power selected prior to save, unable to change/use power)
• When you become Vampire Lord for the first time and you have all perks enabled, you may experience that certain perks that stack points no longer function. This can be fixed by saving your game while in normal form and reloading. ^?
• Becoming Vampire Lord or reverting form does not affect the hostility of the NPCs in Thieves Guild.
• Although killing undead enemies with Vampiric Drain isn't supposed to count, killing draugr, Nightingale ghosts in the thieves' guild questline, and other vampires will still advance your perk progress.
• While in possession of the Vampire Lord lesser power, hoods may become invisible and permanently reveal most of the player character's scalp. Loading an earlier save is the only known way to fix this.
• If you use conjure sword/dagger in both hands before transforming into a vampire lord, then before reverting, select a spell in the favorite menu while a vampire lord and use it before reverting, you will have the same spells you had equipped from the vampire lord form in your default form. ^?
• The additional Gargoyle summoned by the Amulet of the Gargoyle will advance progress towards your next Vampire Lord perk if killed by the player. ^?