While vampirism was always in Skyrim, the Dawnguard DLC completely changed how it worked. Some people might not want to become a vampire due to the side effects, but other players might not care about them.
How do you cure vampirism? If you’ve just been infected with vampirism, you can cure it within 3 days. After 3 days, you need to follow a questline which I’ll explain more about below.
In addition to telling you how to cure vampirism, I’ll give you a guide about everything you need to know about being a vampire in Skyrim.
How to become a vampire
Vampirism can be inflicted at any time when fighting vampires. They have a 10% chance of infecting you with the disease every hit they land on you, so the more they hit you, the more likely you are to be infected.
The disease you are first infected with is called Sanguinare Vampiris, which lasts for three days. After 3 days, you become a full-on vampire. While you did have some of the side effects during the 3 days, you’ll see the full effects after the disease has fully taken hold.
Side effects of vampirism
Being a vampire causes many side effects, some of which are good and others are bad. Players need to weigh the pros and cons of being a vampire, because it’s definitely not everyone’s playstyle.
Positive Side Effects
- 100% Disease Resistance
- 100% Poison Resistance
- 25% Sneaking bonus
- 25% Illusion Spell bonus
Negative Side Effect
- Health, Magicka, and Stamina can’t regenerate in sunlight, and are limited more for each stage of vampirism.
Obviously, this means that vampires should travel by night to get the most out of their abilities. Traveling by day makes you a great target, though it’s less needed if you have Dawnguard installed.
Without Dawnguard, NPCs will attack you if you’ve reached the final stage of vampirism. Skyrim Special Addition players don’t have to worry about this, as Dawnguard is installed by default.
Curing vampirism
Like I said earlier, it’s much easier to cure if you haven’t had the disease for more than 3 days. If this is the case, it can be cured with a simple Potion of Cure Disease, or by praying at any shrine around the map.
For players who’ve gone full-on vampire, there’s a short questline you must follow to be able to cure it. Here’s are all the steps for the main cure:
- Go to the bar in any town and ask the bartenders about rumors.
- The bartender will direct you to a man named Falion in Morthal.
- Talk to Falion, and he tells you that you need to fill a Black Soul Gem, and gives you the option to buy an empty one from him.
- Fill the Black Soul Gem using whatever means you’d like
- Bring the filled Soul Gem back to Falion, and he’ll take it away
It’s pretty easy to do and can be repeated as many times as you’d like. The Black Soul Gems aren’t expensive, so you can simply buy more from Falion.
There’s an alternative means of curing vampirism, which actually makes you completely immune to it as well as any other diseases. However, it’s not appealing to everyone simply because it means becoming a werewolf.
- Head to the Companions headquarters in Whiterun
- Speak to everyone until you can start the Companions questline
- Complete quests until you’re able to join the Companions
- When you decide to join them, you’ll attend a ceremony in which you become a werewolf
- Your vampirism will be completely removed
How to Become a vampire lord
The Dawnguard DLC (included in Skyrim SE) adds a ton of new vampire features to the game, including becoming a vampire lord. Being this higher level vampire will grant you greater abilities, and also just looks much cooler.
To become a vampire lord, you need to join Harkon the vampire lord during the Dawnguard questline. You have the option to either join him or the Dawnguard, though you can still become one even if you decide to join Dawnguard, so don’t worry about making choices right now.
However, at the end of the Dawnguard DLC, you have the option to cure Serena of her vampirism. If you do this, she will never be able to make you into a vampire lord. Consider whether or not you want to try being a lord before curing her.
How to feed as a vampire
Every time you feed, it slows down the infection and reverses it one level. You can feed on someone both when they are awake or asleep, though it’s harder to feed on random people when they’re awake.
There really isn’t any point to feeding though. You can honestly go the entire game without feeding and not have any issues.
Here are all the different ways to feed:
- Command a companion or a spouse to go to sleep, then feed on them
- Approach random sleeping people and pick pocket them to feed on them
- Pickpocket conscious people to feed on them, though be sure to not get caught.
Since NPCs don’t attack vampires on sight in Dawnguard, it doesn’t matter that you feed anymore. Feeding will improve certain stats, but it’s not important enough to warrant nightly feedings.
How to you know if you’re a vampire
To check and see if you’re a vampire, go to your magic tab and look under the active effects. Sanguinare Vampiris will appear if you’ve just contracted the disease.
The first day you are infected, you’ll see the following message at night, “You feel a strange thirst as the sun sets.” Then, you’ll receive this message at dawn, “You feel weaker as the sun rises.”
These messages are the first indicators that you’re turning into a vampire. If you see them for the first time, you’ll know that you have 3 days to cure it.
You can tell if NPCs are vampires by their glowing red eyes. Somehow, the friendly NPCs don’t notice red eyes on anyone, but it works to your advantage when you’re a vampire.