Vampire

*"I prefer my steaks well-done, personally. Really brings out the flavor."*

a vampire standing with her arms outstretched, the battle stance of her people.

**Vampires** are a unit in the Death faction.

## Overview

Blazing down the battlefield in a whirlwind of blood and steel, the Vampire is a terrifying force to be reckoned with. Being of the two normal units in the game with three actions alongside the Church Assassin along with having a powerful 5 speed means that these bloodsuckers can easily maneuver around the map to strike at their foes. And when they strike, they strike hard, combining their ability to recover health while attacking with the power to cheat death with Undead to survive and remain a pressing threat even after their turn ends. Their only true weakness is their middling health, which makes them easy prey to spells like Blast.

## Abilities

### Undead

The first time this unit is reduced to zero HP it is instead brought up to half HP. True damage negates this ability.

### Lifesteal

Melee attacks made by this unit heal for half of the damage dealt.

## Strategy

When it comes to Vampires, the trick to using them effectively is making the most of their impressive 5-tile speed. Most enemies, especially Lizimorr and Dwarf units, simply don’t have the speed or actions to close a 5-tile distance and attack, while your Vampire can do so with ease. By keeping your foes just at the end of your movement, you can close in and pull off two attacks in just one turn, a tactic which is often extremely effective. In this sense, it’s quite similar to the Formid Warrior Drone, which focuses on using its massive range to quickly sprint in and assassinate targets. But while the Warrior Drone boasts a higher speed, one major advantage of Vampires is their survivability. While their health may not be all too impressive, their abilities more than make up for it; Lifesteal allows you to play your Vampires very aggressively, attacking enemies at low health knowing that it’ll be quickly recovered. And Undead means that they can sometimes straight up survive the inevitable counterattack, allowing them to continue to wreak havoc.

Those are kind of the two main things to consider when using Vampires: keeping proper distance to maximize your damage and not being afraid to engage aggressively even at low health. However, these rules of thumb are sometimes hard to implement against certain types of enemies; ranged units can whittle down your Vampire’s health from a distance, outside of their engagement range, and some foes simply deal enough damage in melee range to destroy a Vampire even at full health. How do you deal with this issue? Simple. Work with your army. Hitting a Vampire with the Lich’s Magic Barrier spell can make them EXTREMELY tanky and stop even the most powerful units from killing them in close range, and this high effective health combined with the Vampire’s high speed makes for a deadly combo. When it comes to ranged units, though. take advantage of Zombies and Skeletons. Get into melee range to restrict their movement before moving the Vampire into a position where they can safely and easily engage, and your opponent won’t be able to escape.

The last two things to cover here are energy and Blast. When it comes to energy, Vampires can sometimes fall into the same issue as Church Assassins; without a consistent form of energy gain, they can often end up sucking up a lot of your total energy. Luckily, the existence of units with free actions such as Zombies and Skeletons combined with the raw power that the Vampire wields means that these bloodsucking fellas are often really good candidates to spend your energy on. However, if you need to conserve, don’t feel obligated to use all of the Vampire’s actions in your turn. Sometimes a simple reposition can be enough, and it’ll leave energy for your other units too. The final thing to talk about is Blast. It feels a bit odd to mention because it’s literally just one specific spell, but it’s a spell which most magical units, from Court Wizards to Night Runners, have access to and it’s one that Vampires are particularly vulnerable to. With a flat 90 true damage, this spell can instantly kill a Vampire at any health. So, when fighting units with Blast, be extremely careful. Remember the Lich’s Magic Barrier, and stay out of the line of sight of mages who use this deadly ability.

## Lore

We ain't got much, but here it is:

*"The houses of the blood court are enigmatic and secretive, made entirely of vampires of various backgrounds. Their warriors serve their vampire lord directly, despite fighting alongside other undead masters such as liches."*

Would be very cool to learn of some official canonized vampire houses. Could make for some cool skins, maybe.