Christhemiss
Maker of Builds
hello hello, fine builders and players. today i shall be giving my honest review of the new race, Dhampir (NOT the iconic. that comes later). I hope this guide will convince you (or not) to play/buy this new race. NOTE: everything said here is my opinion, and i am not endorsed by anyone to make these claims. with that said, lets go straight into the review.
Overview
Dhampir has many unique qualities compared to other races. the bite ability grants infinite charge healing without any points in the tree. the undead form gives many cool immunities and synergies with other classes. rush of bats gives a nice movement boosts, and fearsome countenance is a powerful single target stun. this is just my quick analysis of the race and its main featuresCosmetics
for me, one of the most important features of a new race is its cosmetics. Dhampir, luckily, does not disappoint. featuring many hair, ear, eye, eye shape, and facial detail styles, the race has a plethora of customization. the first 10 hair styles even allow for duo chromatic hair, my personal favorite part of eladrins customization. However, the best part of the race has to be the glow shape 10. glow shape 10 transforms this race from a pretty cool, elf looking thing to a being of great power and importance, and im surprised such a cool cosmetic is locked behind 1 race's 1 eye choice. i will easily give Dhampir an 8/10 for cosmetics because of the vast array of choices as well as glow shape 10Pros
- racial infinite charge heal at level 1 (that actually heals a decent amount up to r1)
- str race and past life (hell yeah)
- a ton of SA dice and SA to hit in the cores, 2 stats essential for endgame damage
- a ton of negative amp to massively boost your undead form healing
- +3 to all ability scores with full uptime if you keep using the bite (and you will if you play melee)
- undead form with the following notable immunities (as well as +2 int wis cha for mainstat and the on hit heal)
- burning blood
- all fatigue/exhaustion
- all enchantment spells
- natural AND magical diseases AND poisons
- stun
- 100% extra fortification
- paralysis
- death effects (that dont effect undead like sunburst)
- ability drain/damage
- negative levels
- heal from negative energy
- rush of bats gives a usable charge for better mobilty on low movement speed characters (will explain below)
- fearsome countenance gives a high DC single target stun that works on everything and has a fast cast speed (see below)
- lots of stun and enchantment DC bonuses
- instakill on the bite (see below)
- powerful dot on the rush of bats (see below)
Cons
- aside from rush of bats, no other movement speed
- some of the abilities are bugged (at least right now) in ways that make them much worse
- not a lot of stats a pure dps character would want (SA dice and mainstat are the main ones)
- hard time spending points on good stuff for most casters
- 11 racial points just to get your bite to heal negative feels like a tax more than an ability you want to take. this should be baked in for free
- missing spot in the t5 makes me very sad
- 19 racial points are ideal for getting the most out of this race (though not as needed as eladrin)
- the healing from both vampire form and the bite become much worse the higher skulls go
Bugs (that affect gameplay)
- draining bite only applies 1 neg level all the time
- embrace death toggles off on logout
- rush of bats can be used without a target
- ascended bite has the wrong DC of 10+ stat (meaning it stops landing past level 10)
- biting swarm does about 30% less damage than 1d12 per level at 200% melee power
- the bite instakill does not work on targets cowered by dragons roar from dragonlord
Recommended Builds/Classes
- EK wizard
- 1-20 sorc caster so you can heal
- melee rogue so you can heal
- melee warlock so you can heal
- melee dark apostate
- caster alch
- DC casters (assuming you dont play the iconic
- any kind of fighter or dragonlord
Closing Words
Dhampir as a race has an unique place in the meta. Being the only race with powerful healing (not mediocre) means that many classes, such as sorc and rogue, become playable for leveling due to those classes normal inability to heal. The cheap undead form with all the crazy immunities will make this race a prime choice for hardcore or low life/new player builds. When the bugs get fixed, the instakill will be useful in taking out dangerous champs in high reaper. Fearsome countenance will always be useful due to it affecting all enemies (and some other stuff...). rush of bats gives a decent movement speed option for low speed classes (sorc, wizard, etc). Overall, I think that Dhampir is a fantastic race with many advantages and cool, unique abilities. is it the best race? no, thats eladrin. I think with everything Dhampir has going for it, Dhampir will remain a staple in the meta for some builds in the years to come.