How do I survive the vampire attack during the Bloodchill Manor quest?

[BACK]
How do I survive the vampire attack during the Bloodchill Manor quest?
Posted On: January 23, 2023

I've tried several times to live and not contract Sanguinare Vampiris (although, I've only been using Lifeblood, my dwarven warhammer enchanted with the health-point-steal and not the Flames spell, or any of my Shouts... for all my wishes to be a Pagan IRL, I'm terrible at remembering my in-game magic. Blame my ADHD and mid-battle panic). I'm in daedric plate armor, the set you can get off that bandit for the Death of a Crimson Dirk quest. I've had it for long enough that it's at 167 for armor. Lifeblood deals about 50 damage and steals 7 health points per hit. I'm at level 17 and well on my way to level 18. I think my two-handed skill is at 60, and my heavy armor is at 34-36. Can anyone help?


EDIT: Checked and my heavy armor skill is at 60. Two-handed is at 66. I don't know if that changes anyone's answers. sorry lol.


UPDATES: I'm now at level 24. My health isn't much better (170), and my daedric plate is now at 334. Two-handed is 78 and heavy armor is about 66. One-handed is 35, since I now have the Dawnbreaker swords, and I have the Shield of Ysgramor. I have a necklace of eminent health (giving me 40 HP) and a ring of minor health (20 HP), plus the daedric plate armor (50 HP), which adds up to 300 HP. I'm also a werewolf now, which should negate Sanguinare Vampiris. What are my odds? Bluntly, please; I'm not about to yell at you if you tell me 1-100 in favor of the vampires.


Question from user Phoenix Dreaming at gaming.stackexchange.com.


Answer:

Unfortunately, I don't think you're ready for this, at least not if you want to have a direct confrontation.


The waiter is level sixty-five, and has over 1,200 health. Your Lifeblood does 57 damage per hit, but let's round that up to an even 60. To my understanding, the numbers displayed in the UI are inclusive of any skill perks, so we don't have to account for those, and I don't believe the waiter is wearing armor. So you need to hit him over 20 times to kill, not accounting for his use of Drain Life. Drain Life does 3 points of damage per second and heals him for the same amount.


At level 17, your health can be no higher than 270, and is probably lower if you've invested in stamina or magicka. Armor does not prevent magical damage, so we can mostly ignore your plate armor (except for the gargoyles' physical attacks). Warhammers are relatively slow and take multiple seconds between hits (on average, allowing for you and the enemy maneuvering, etc.), so at best your health-siphon enchantment is (not quite) cancelling out his Drain Life spell, but going by UESP's description of other vampires, I am assuming that he knows other spells which do more damage than that, plus we have gargoyle damage on top. To add insult to injury, the fight will almost surely go on long enough that you contract Sanguinare Vampiris, which applies a flat -25 maximum health penalty, which is probably around 10% of your health (higher if you've significantly improved your magicka or stamina). So you are taking quite a lot of damage, for not very much health, and I simply do not see any realistic way that you can beat this guy in a straight-up fight.


Can we improve your character enough to win? Maybe:.


Argonians may be able to use Histskin here (10x healing for 60 seconds), but by itself, I think this is probably not enough. It might combine well with some of the other strategies listed below.


Bretons can use Dragonskin and the Atronach Stone to become temporarily immune to magic damage (for 60 seconds). This reduces magicka regeneration (and takes away the benefits of other standing stones!) but you probably still need to improve your armor rating. Bretons also have passive 25% magic resistance, which stacks with absorption (absorption is probabilistic - X% absorption is an X% chance to completely negate one spell hit).


Orcs and Dark Elves also have useful greater powers, but they are very unlikely to do enough by themselves in my opinion.


The Lord Stone, combined with completing The Book of Love, gives a total of 40% passive magic resistance. You can enchant or use alchemy to get another 40%, but 80% is the cap. This is probably not enough by itself, given your health is so low. The Lord Stone also provides an armor bonus, which may help with the gargoyles.


Flames is probably not going to do enough damage by itself, even with the vampire's weakness to fire. Higher-level destruction spells may be viable; Incinerate's base damage slightly exceeds the actual damage of your Warhammer, and then the vampires are weak to fire. If you are short on magicka, I would recommend siding with the Dawnguard, leveling Restoration, and then picking up Vampire's Bane from Florentius, as the sun damage spells are much cheaper per unit of damage. However, even then it might not be enough, as Skyrim's offensive spells are generally underpowered above level 40-ish.


As a secondary issue, 167 armor rating is rather low for a full set of Daedric plate. Improve it further at a workbench to resist physical attacks from the gargoyles. You may need to improve Smithing in order to do that. This process will level several different skills at once, including Smithing. If you already know how to smith Dwarven stuff, then it may be more efficient to just smith a whole bunch of Dwarven arrows instead, because Dwarven materials are ridiculously abundant if you bother to pick them up.


The Heavy Armor perk tree will also improve your armor rating, once you level it up some more. This will happen naturally as you play the game "normally"; the skill improves when you take damage while wearing heavy armor. Don't forget to spend perk points on the first perk in the tree (Juggernaut), because that perk is really five perks displayed as one (i.e. you can buy an improved version of it once your Heavy Armor is high enough by selecting the perk again).


Also, you probably want to improve the warhammer further, or upgrade to a better weapon.


The bottom line: You either need to cheese the encounter somehow (i.e. avoid a direct fight and kill him using stealth archery, or something like that), or else you need to greatly improve your character, before you will be ready for this fight. I think it's unlikely that you can do this at your current level, but with enough min-maxing (see above), I suppose it might be possible? But you will probably enjoy the game more if you just go do some other quests and get back to this one once you're significantly higher level.


Answer from user Kevin at gaming.stackexchange.com.



[BACK]
How do I survive the vampire attack during the Bloodchill Manor quest?
Posted On: January 23, 2023

I've tried several times to live and not contract Sanguinare Vampiris (although, I've only been using Lifeblood, my dwarven warhammer enchanted with the health-point-steal and not the Flames spell, or any of my Shouts... for all my wishes to be a Pagan IRL, I'm terrible at remembering my in-game magic. Blame my ADHD and mid-battle panic). I'm in daedric plate armor, the set you can get off that bandit for the Death of a Crimson Dirk quest. I've had it for long enough that it's at 167 for armor. Lifeblood deals about 50 damage and steals 7 health points per hit. I'm at level 17 and well on my way to level 18. I think my two-handed skill is at 60, and my heavy armor is at 34-36. Can anyone help?


EDIT: Checked and my heavy armor skill is at 60. Two-handed is at 66. I don't know if that changes anyone's answers. sorry lol.


UPDATES: I'm now at level 24. My health isn't much better (170), and my daedric plate is now at 334. Two-handed is 78 and heavy armor is about 66. One-handed is 35, since I now have the Dawnbreaker swords, and I have the Shield of Ysgramor. I have a necklace of eminent health (giving me 40 HP) and a ring of minor health (20 HP), plus the daedric plate armor (50 HP), which adds up to 300 HP. I'm also a werewolf now, which should negate Sanguinare Vampiris. What are my odds? Bluntly, please; I'm not about to yell at you if you tell me 1-100 in favor of the vampires.


Question from user Phoenix Dreaming at gaming.stackexchange.com.


Answer:

Unfortunately, I don't think you're ready for this, at least not if you want to have a direct confrontation.


The waiter is level sixty-five, and has over 1,200 health. Your Lifeblood does 57 damage per hit, but let's round that up to an even 60. To my understanding, the numbers displayed in the UI are inclusive of any skill perks, so we don't have to account for those, and I don't believe the waiter is wearing armor. So you need to hit him over 20 times to kill, not accounting for his use of Drain Life. Drain Life does 3 points of damage per second and heals him for the same amount.


At level 17, your health can be no higher than 270, and is probably lower if you've invested in stamina or magicka. Armor does not prevent magical damage, so we can mostly ignore your plate armor (except for the gargoyles' physical attacks). Warhammers are relatively slow and take multiple seconds between hits (on average, allowing for you and the enemy maneuvering, etc.), so at best your health-siphon enchantment is (not quite) cancelling out his Drain Life spell, but going by UESP's description of other vampires, I am assuming that he knows other spells which do more damage than that, plus we have gargoyle damage on top. To add insult to injury, the fight will almost surely go on long enough that you contract Sanguinare Vampiris, which applies a flat -25 maximum health penalty, which is probably around 10% of your health (higher if you've significantly improved your magicka or stamina). So you are taking quite a lot of damage, for not very much health, and I simply do not see any realistic way that you can beat this guy in a straight-up fight.


Can we improve your character enough to win? Maybe:.


Argonians may be able to use Histskin here (10x healing for 60 seconds), but by itself, I think this is probably not enough. It might combine well with some of the other strategies listed below.


Bretons can use Dragonskin and the Atronach Stone to become temporarily immune to magic damage (for 60 seconds). This reduces magicka regeneration (and takes away the benefits of other standing stones!) but you probably still need to improve your armor rating. Bretons also have passive 25% magic resistance, which stacks with absorption (absorption is probabilistic - X% absorption is an X% chance to completely negate one spell hit).


Orcs and Dark Elves also have useful greater powers, but they are very unlikely to do enough by themselves in my opinion.


The Lord Stone, combined with completing The Book of Love, gives a total of 40% passive magic resistance. You can enchant or use alchemy to get another 40%, but 80% is the cap. This is probably not enough by itself, given your health is so low. The Lord Stone also provides an armor bonus, which may help with the gargoyles.


Flames is probably not going to do enough damage by itself, even with the vampire's weakness to fire. Higher-level destruction spells may be viable; Incinerate's base damage slightly exceeds the actual damage of your Warhammer, and then the vampires are weak to fire. If you are short on magicka, I would recommend siding with the Dawnguard, leveling Restoration, and then picking up Vampire's Bane from Florentius, as the sun damage spells are much cheaper per unit of damage. However, even then it might not be enough, as Skyrim's offensive spells are generally underpowered above level 40-ish.


As a secondary issue, 167 armor rating is rather low for a full set of Daedric plate. Improve it further at a workbench to resist physical attacks from the gargoyles. You may need to improve Smithing in order to do that. This process will level several different skills at once, including Smithing. If you already know how to smith Dwarven stuff, then it may be more efficient to just smith a whole bunch of Dwarven arrows instead, because Dwarven materials are ridiculously abundant if you bother to pick them up.


The Heavy Armor perk tree will also improve your armor rating, once you level it up some more. This will happen naturally as you play the game "normally"; the skill improves when you take damage while wearing heavy armor. Don't forget to spend perk points on the first perk in the tree (Juggernaut), because that perk is really five perks displayed as one (i.e. you can buy an improved version of it once your Heavy Armor is high enough by selecting the perk again).


Also, you probably want to improve the warhammer further, or upgrade to a better weapon.


The bottom line: You either need to cheese the encounter somehow (i.e. avoid a direct fight and kill him using stealth archery, or something like that), or else you need to greatly improve your character, before you will be ready for this fight. I think it's unlikely that you can do this at your current level, but with enough min-maxing (see above), I suppose it might be possible? But you will probably enjoy the game more if you just go do some other quests and get back to this one once you're significantly higher level.


Answer from user Kevin at gaming.stackexchange.com.



[BACK]

After searching for demiguise statues in Hogwarts, I’m beginning to hate them After searching for demiguise statues in Hogwarts, I’m beginning to hate them

Posted On: June 19, 2023
They’re so hard to find. Question from user growinwithweeds at HogwartsLegacyGaming at reddit. Answer: If you hover over the town or area youre looking in it will tell you if youve foun...[More]


Is there a way to easily spot unopened chests in Genshin Impact? Is there a way to easily spot unopened chests in Genshin Impact?

Posted On: February 20, 2023
I was looking at the Genshin Impact trophies I had left, and most of them are 'Open 100, 200, 300, 400 chests in the Area'. I did not note which chests I did or not open; so having a map th...[More]


Diablo IV: Is the Elementalist glyph triggered by +X elemental damage affixes? Diablo IV: Is the Elementalist glyph triggered by +X elemental damage affixes?

Posted On: August 21, 2023
The Elementalist Glyph says:. Dealing Fire, Cold, or Lightning damage to an enemy increases all damage you deal to them by 5%[x] for 10 seconds, stacking once per element. I have an item with th...[More]


how exactly did nocturne become a woman? how exactly did nocturne become a woman?

Posted On: December 11, 2024
Not to be rude but im a divinity player interested in baulders gate so how exactly did it happen is it kinda like elder scrolls where a necromancer goes into a thingy becomes immoble eventually and th...[More]


How does Steam Input measure time? How does Steam Input measure time?

Posted On: March 18, 2023
How are units of time measured in the Steam Input menus? For example, if I set an action's Fire Start Delay to to 100, how long will the delay be? Question from user Stevoisiak at gaming.stacke...[More]


How do restaurants and markets differ in their functions and benefits in Tropico? How do restaurants and markets differ in their functions and benefits in Tropico?

Posted On: May 30, 2023
It seems that both the restaurant and the market are used by Tropicans to satisfy their "food" needs. Since the restaurant has the added convenience of also satisfying the "entertainmen...[More]


What do the Fruit Ninja notifications under the Gold Apples buttons mean? What do the Fruit Ninja notifications under the Gold Apples buttons mean?

Posted On: May 8, 2023
As you can see, there's a "(1)" under both the Gold Apples and Starfruit buttons. I've tried tapping them, but there's nothing seemingly pertaining to the "notifications&quo...[More]


How can I use cheats to summon a villager in Minecraft? How can I use cheats to summon a villager in Minecraft?

Posted On: June 7, 2023
I'm playing Survival and I found a village with a couple villagers. I left to explore for a couple days and when I came back only one was left. . Normally, to make more I would use cheats to...[More]


Capturing and Transporting Your Villagers Capturing and Transporting Your Villagers

Posted On: June 23, 2021
Do you want your villagers to get eaten by zombies? No? Neither do I. These mindless simpletons may not look the part, but they’re one of the most valuable resources in the vast world of Minecra...[More]


lost my honour mode run in the most embarrassing way ever lost my honour mode run in the most embarrassing way ever

Posted On: January 17, 2025
So, here I am. .I have just defeated the emerald grove or whatever it's called and am now looting the empty goblin camp. It's really dark so I walk with a torch equipped in my hand and see some crate...[More]