If you enjoy turning into a vampire in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, then chances are that you’ve been thinking of ways to feed on the NPCs to keep your blood lust sated. Feeding on people as a vampire is considered illegal in Skyrim, which makes it a bit tricky.
You can feed on NPCs as a vampire in Skyrim by either sneaking up to them when they are asleep, attacking them as a Vampire Lord when they are just about to die, or by using the Vampire Sedation ability.
We’ve curated this detailed guide where we’ll go through all of the ways you can feed as a vampire in Skyrim and make things easier for you to…digest *pun intended.
How to Become a Vampire in Skyrim?
Before we teach you how to feed as a Vampire, let’s discuss how to become one. In Skyrim, you will come across vampires while exploring the world and completing quests. If a vampire damages you or hits you with the Vampiric Drain spell, you will get a status debuff called Sanguinare Vampiris.
This will turn you into a vampire and if you dont feed on any NPCs, the effect will gradually grow stronger and make you a Vampire Lord. Once you reach that stage, the game provides you with the following buffs:
- Embrace of Shadows
- Vampiric Drain
- Vampire’s Seduction
- Vampire’s Servant
- Vampire’s Sight
Additionally, you’ll be able to sneak around more effectively and cast more effective Illusion spells. But there are some downsides to this as well, such as gaining debuffs during the day such as reduced stamina, slower magicka, and health regeneration.
If you dont want to become a Vampire Lord in Skyrim, then you’ll have to feed on NPCs to keep yourself at the basic level.
Stages of Vampirism
Vampirism in Skyrim has 4 stages and as your stage advances, you’ll gain new buffs & debuffs. If you want your stage to advance, you’ll have to stop feeding on people for about 12-14 hours.
Here are comprehensive details about all of the advantages & disadvantages of each vampire stage in Skyrim:
First Stage
- Your Frost resistance increases by 25%
- You lose 15 attribute points in the sunlight.
- Fire damage increases by 25%
- You will gain the following abilities:
Vampire’s Sight, Vampiric Drain, Vampire’s Servant
Second Stage
- Your Frost resistance increases by 50%
- You lose 30 attribute points in the sunlight.
- Fire damage increases by 50%
- You will gain the following ability Vampire’s Seduction
Third Stage
- Increased Resist Frost by 75%
- You lose 45 attribute points in the sunlight.
- Fire damage increases by 75%
- Stronger versions of existing abilities
- Drawback: The majority of the NPCs will stop interacting with you.
Fourth Stage
- Increased Resist Frost by 100%
- You lose 60 attribute points in the sunlight.
- Fire damage increases by 75%
- You will gain the Embrace of Shadows ability and upgrade the existing Vampiric Drain and Vampire’s Servant ability.
- Drawback: Citizens will attack you on sight.
Best Ways to Feed as a Vampire
Let us be very clear on something first; Feeding is considered illegal in Skyrim! You’ll get in a lot of trouble if a passerby or a guard catches you feeding on an NPC. Thankfully there are multiple methods of feeding as a vampire in Skyrim while maintaining discretion.
It should also be noted that feeding on NPCs doesn’t kill them OR drain their HP. Let’s take a look at all of these methods and help you figure out which one is best for you.
Pickpocket NPCs
The easiest and most discrete way to feed as a vampire in Skyrim is to sneak up on sleeping NPCs and get close enough to get the Pickpocket prompt. When you get the prompt, there will be another option to Feed. Just click that and feed up on that sleeping NPC.
Heavy Attack [Vampire Lord Only]
If you’ve become a Vampire Lord, you can feed on NPCs by getting close to them and hitting them with a heavy attack. This will let you feed on them. However, it only works on enemies who have been weakened and requires you to be a Vampire Lord.
Vampire’s Seduction Ability [Vampire Lord Only]
Another Vampire Lord only ability you can use to feed in Skyrim is the Vampire’s Seduction. This ability pacifies anyone under Level 10 and removes their desire to attack or flee from you.
Once an NPC or enemy has been affected by the ability, you can close in and feed on them.
Do note that even though the NPC won’t get aggro’d, anyone else around you will become hostile when they see you feeding on a human. So be sure to do it when no one else is looking your way.
How to Cure Vampirism
If you dont want to be a blood-thirsty vampire anymore, you can use the Cure Disease and become normal once again. You can also cure yourself by getting treatment from a temple or altar.
But if your vampirism has advanced to the next stages, you’ll have to finish the Rising at Dawn quest OR use Lycanthropy, which is a permanent disease that lets you turn into a werewolf once per day.
Curing a Vampire Lord
If you’ve become a Vampire Lord and want to cure yourself, you’ll need to visit Falion; a guy who specializes in Vampires. To start this process, you must first talk to any bartender in Skyrim and ask them about Rumors.
Once that dialogue ends, you then need to travel to Morthal, which is located on the northern side of the Skyrim map.
During the day time, Falion can be found roaming around the city, and at night time, he can be found near the outskirts. Talk to him and he will sell you a Black Soul Gem that you need to fill with a human soul. You need the Soul Trap spell to do that, and we have a detailed guide linked below on the same topic.
How to Fill Soul Gems in Skyrim?
Once you’ve done that, go back to him and Falion will tell you to meet him at a specific shrine around dawn [3-5 am] and cure your vampirism.
Conclusion
This easy-to-follow guide taught you how to feed as a vampire in Skyrim without getting detected and also looked into some more direct approaches.
We’ve also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of advancing your vampire levels and how to get rid of vampirism in Skyrim if you dont want it anymore.