Vampire Lord; new Elite Specialization for Thief or Necromancer.

Vampire Lord; new Elite Specialization for Thief or Necromancer.

NoteThis would be interesting to play and great for role-playing but has no practicality in the current meta of Guild Wars 2, still it was fun speculate. I play a lot of Necro so I know this elite spec wouldn't work.

Play styleImagine your character teleporting around the battlefield, stalking it's target, then applying massive amounts of bleed on said target, while gaining health for the stacks of bleeding applied, this is the Vampire Lord.This elite spec has a focus on life steal, Bleeding, fear, confusion and shadowstepping all things vampires are capable of doing. It takes a bit from both Thief and Necromancer which is why it would be good elite spec for either of them. An interesting skill would be to remove all stacks of bleeding on target to recover health and gain Boons; more stacks on target the more Boons/duration the vampire Lord gets. Some Utility skills could be an Immobilize, AoE apply bleed, and shadowstepping.

Why necromancer?Necro's have the Vampiric traits and a lot of life steal skills, so they're the closest to vampires in game so far. The only thing they would need is shadowstepping. The Vampire lord elite spec would just be an enhancement on Necro skills that are already present, mostly the Blood magic trait line. The new line would be more focus on shadowstepping and stealth. The F1 Shroud skill could become a vampire form for the Necro, pulsing life steal to all targets near it.

Why Thief?Shadowstepping is one of the mechanics of the Thief and so happens to be very vampire skill. Now they just need to be scary and bloodthirsty. The Vampire Lord on thief would give them the ability to apply fear and confusion which care two condi's the thief doesn't have, so it would be an interesting mix. The F1 Steal skill should still shadowstep you to the target but now you'll life steal and apply stacks of bleeding.

Please share your thoughts on this elite spec or if you have your own to share

besides the shadowstepping, this sounds like something you could accomplish by taking blood magic (which already is a vampiric themed traitline) and curses as a necro.

the theme makes no sense on thief, and no "they can shadowstep" doesn't mean it fits

all by all i'm unconvinsed

Bad idea. Hard pass.

Not sure about the shadow stepping but I remember when I tested out a scourge, they had some kind of teleport/portal skill, but I'd need to log in and check what it was.

@ReV.6097 said:Not sure about the shadow stepping but I remember when I tested out a scourge, they had some kind of teleport/portal skill, but I'd need to log in and check what it was.

Sand Swell, it's a utility skill that operates kinda like mesmer portal

I came here hoping for Alucard levels of awesome but honestly OP, this is more like an unamusingly twinkly Edward.

@"derd.6413" said:besides the shadowstepping, this sounds like something you could accomplish by taking blood magic (which already is a vampiric themed traitline) and curses as a necro.

the theme makes no sense on thief, and no "they can shadowstep" doesn't mean it fits

all by all i'm unconvinced

There is a lot of precedent actually: Leeching Venoms explicitly creates lifesteal, and then you have a variety of effects that are basically "gain health when you harm others", such as Signet of Malice, Skelk Venom, Mug, and Invigorating Precision. It fits so well, in fact, that I'm not sure the proposal would be adding anything that doesn't already exist.

@draxynnic.3719 said:

@"derd.6413" said:besides the shadowstepping, this sounds like something you could accomplish by taking blood magic (which already is a vampiric themed traitline) and curses as a necro.

the theme makes no sense on thief, and no "they can shadowstep" doesn't mean it fits

all by all i'm unconvinced

from a purely mechanical standpoint it makes sense but from a thematic standpoint it doesn't. (i'm gonna use movie genres as a comparison) thief thematicly is more an action b movie or thriller while while necro is more a horror themed class. movies where vampires are the focus tend to be horror (or they're used as a monster) or at the very least have gothic aestetical elements associated with them.

@derd.6413 said:

@draxynnic.3719 said:

@derd.6413 said:besides the shadowstepping, this sounds like something you could accomplish by taking blood magic (which already is a vampiric themed traitline) and curses as a necro.

the theme makes no sense on thief, and no "they can shadowstep" doesn't mean it fits

all by all i'm unconvinced

I see where you're coming from there, but I'm not sure I entirely agree: you can have horror based around the lurking foe hiding in the shadows which is never where you think it is, but you know it's around and looking to catch you offguard. Thief fits for that.

Besides, mixing themes is one of the things that can be done with elite specialisations.

That said, though, 'vampire' probably should be more of a necromancer thing than a thief thing overall. Or possibly a revenant thing, if ArenaNet comes up with a legendary vampire to fuel it, although Shiro already comes close to that.

I have a problem with "bleeds" because from necro PoV necro is all about bleeds. what about something else? Poison?And isnt it contraproductive? Vampire let his pray bleedout so he can suck the blood from ground? :D YOU WANNA KEEP THE BLOOD IN!

@draxynnic.3719 said:

@derd.6413 said:

@draxynnic.3719 said:

@derd.6413 said:besides the shadowstepping, this sounds like something you could accomplish by taking blood magic (which already is a vampiric themed traitline) and curses as a necro.

the theme makes no sense on thief, and no "they can shadowstep" doesn't mean it fits

all by all i'm unconvinced

this is a trope used in both horror and thriller/action movies. in thrillers it's usually a trickster/mastermind type of villain that goes for this approach which fits thief alot better

Besides, mixing themes is one of the things that can be done with elite specialisations.

mechanical themes and playstyles, yes but not theme themes (thief could get a life steal spec but it won't be vampire or blood magic themed)

@derd.6413 said:from a purely mechanical standpoint it makes sense but from a thematic standpoint it doesn't.Neither does deadeye which would have made more sense for ranger thematically, at least a vampire steals something.

@Tails.9372 said:

@derd.6413 said:from a purely mechanical standpoint it makes sense but from a thematic standpoint it doesn't.Neither does deadeye which would have made more sense for ranger thematically, at least a vampire steals something.

deadeye fits with the assasin aspect of thief

An E-spec that might make sense for revenant I guess.

@draxynnic.3719 said:

@derd.6413 said:

@draxynnic.3719 said:

@derd.6413 said:besides the shadowstepping, this sounds like something you could accomplish by taking blood magic (which already is a vampiric themed traitline) and curses as a necro.

the theme makes no sense on thief, and no "they can shadowstep" doesn't mean it fits

all by all i'm unconvinced

Freddy Kruger is not a Necromancer. Just sayin'.