You will slowly lose your humanity and start becoming a vampire after getting infected with vampiric disease. Once you’ve fully become the creature of the night, the world becomes much harsher.
As sunlight and fire are the banes of vampires’ existence, you will take extra damage against these elements. Furthermore, vampires are hated and feared by all the citizens of Skyrim. So, you can only travel freely during the night.
The only way to retain your humanity is by feeding. Feeding not only decreases your vampire level but also makes the debuff less punishing.
There are multiple ways to feed as a Vampire. You can feed on unsuspecting NPC while they’re sleeping or use the Vampire Seduction spell to feed on them while they’re awake. A lesser-known way to feed is by using your power melee attack on the NPC in your Vampire Lord form. Let’s discuss.
Via Pickpocketing
Feeding on resting NPCs is the best way to feed as a vampire. First, you’ll need to find a sleeping NPC. Usually, all the citizens of Skyrim sleep in their households during the nighttime. So, use this opportunity to break into one of their houses.
Once you’re in, press the crouch button and move closer to them while they’re sleeping.
Then, hit the interact button. Here, you’ll be given a prompt to either feed on them or pickpocket them. Choose the Feed option.
There are a few places where you’ll always find sleeping NPCs, like the Barracks, stables, or the guild hangout, but the easiest place to feed on NPCs is the Temple of Kyraneth in Whiterun.
Here, you’ll always find the wounded soldier or the sickly farmer sleeping on the healing alters, making them ideal for feeding.
Note: To make sneaking and breaking into homes easier, you can get some perks from the Sneaking and Pickpocketing skills trees.
Via Vampire’s Seduction
Vampires have multiple powerful abilities that really compliments the playstyle. One such power is the Vampire’s Seduction. You’ll get this ability as soon as you enter level 2 in the vampirism progression.
Using Vampire’s Seduction on prey ensures that they do not flee for up to 30 seconds. After casting this ability, simply interact with them to get the option to feed.
You’ll need to be careful though. If you’re caught by other NPCs while you’re feeding, they will be hostile toward you and will also add a bounty on your head.
The only downside of this ability is the cooldown timer. Like your other powers, Vampire’s Seduction can only be used once a day.
You’ll notice that once you’ve used Vampire Seduction, it will be missing from the Powers lists. To regain the power, you need to wait 24 in-game hours.
Note: Few NPC types cannot be seduced with your powers, like the city guards, Daedra, automaton, Dragurs, etc.
Via Vampire Lord
In addition to the methods mentioned above, players can feed on NPCs while in the Vampire Lord form as well.
It might not be apparent how to feed as the Vampire Lord because they don’t have feeding abilities or options. So instead, you’ll have to use your power attack on enemies once their health reaches below 20%.
Power attacking successfully will play an animation where the Vampire Lord grabs hold of the enemy and bites their neck.
This can be difficult to pull off at first. But with a bit of practice, you can consistently perform feeding during combat.
What Happens if I Don’t Feed as a Vampire?
Every day you go without feeding, the debuffs you gain as a vampire will become harsher. For example, the weakness to fire debuff starts at 20% and reaches up to 50%. If you do not have the Dawnguard expansion pack, it increases to 100%.
Similarly, the Weakness to Sunlight debuff reduces your Health, Stamina, and Magicka points and their regeneration by 15 points.
However, it will grow harsher every passing day and can reach up to 60 points. This can make it very difficult to play during the daytime.
To counter the debuffs from vampirism, you have to feed on NPCs. Continue to feed on multiple people to decrease the debuffs to their initial values.
