Dontnod Entertainment may be better known for the Life is Strange series and the more recent Tell Me Why, but their roots actually lie in games far more action-packed, and Vampyr is an example of them trying to blend both. Playing as Dr. Jonathan Reid, you prowl the streets of London both helping and hindering the people around you, all to make their blood that much more potent.
This blood gives Reid XP to make himself stronger against the many threats of the night in Vampyr, such as vampire hunters, mutated creatures, and even other vampires like yourself. So it can be essential to know which skills to invest in, especially if you're repulsed by the idea of ending the very people you've built a relationship with.
Updated April 22nd, 2022, by Hilton Webster: Vampyr was something of a surprise title from the developers of Life is Strange, but Dontnod's vampire adventure in London was something truly unique. With the recent next-gen update to finally iron out some long-running performance issues, the game is smoother than ever, and players can only hope a Vampyr 2 is on the horizon.
12 Shadow Veil - Tactical
Like the skill itself describes, Shadow Veil is something of a tactical ability. It lets you fade into shadows to stealth your way past opponents, or even set yourself into a more ideal position for an ambush. Even better is that it only wears off once you dodge, attack, or run out of stamina, giving you plenty of time to set up.
Shadow Veil splits into two upgrade paths. One gives you a bonus to damage and stun, making you a more efficient predator in the shadows and letting you jump directly into battle with an advantage. The other focuses more on stealth, letting you now dodge while invisible, crossing the battlefield at speed, and even bypassing encounters entirely.
11 Blood Cauldron - Ultimate
One of three ultimate abilities available to layers, they are great to use both as a backup attack and for massive damage in Vampyr. Blood Cauldron is an interesting one, stunning the enemy for a few seconds before boiling their blood to deal massive damage. The enemies also become something of a bomb, dealing an AOE explosion after a few seconds.
Blood Cauldron deals the highest raw damage of any ultimate, and the explosion can make it effective at handling crowds. On top of that, the enemy remains stunned for a few seconds while the ability takes place, giving you ample time to get a few extra hits in, or even focus on another enemy.
10 Spring - Tactical
Skills in Vampyr are split mainly into active and passive ones, and Spring is an active tactical one. Like the category would suggest, it's less for raw damage-dealing or defensive acts, and more for setting up scenarios. It's like a supercharged dodge, instantly dashing to an enemy and dealing damage at your feet.
Its real power comes through skill combos. It gives you the opportunity to disorient an enemy, get in a hit with something like Claws and get away before they even have a chance to strike. And with the right upgrades, Spring can deal higher stun damage and automatically bite enemies to regain blood. It's powerful with a bit of thought.
9 Shadow Mist - Aggressive
Shadow Mist is an offensive skill, one of the most powerful blood skills, but requires some active positioning to work. When activated, it creates a pool of blood at Reid's feet or the locked-on enemy's. After some time, the pool explodes, damaging anyone within. It's difficult to use, but the blood cost is actually lesser than others in Vampyr.
Shadow Mist has two upgrades. One has its range and damage increased, making it more forgiving to place while also dealing more damage. The other instead makes it last longer, dealing minimal damage to any enemy that walks through it while also giving you blood, effectively making the move almost free to use.
8 Coagulation - Defensive
Coagulation is an incredibly powerful skill when faced with group encounters, or even just particularly strong enemies. What it does is freeze your enemy's blood, locking them in place for a few seconds. This can give you breathing room to heal up, focus on another enemy, or just line up an incredibly powerful attack.
Its two upgrade paths allow it to either simply increase the length of time an enemy is incapacitated for, or make it so that a frozen enemy also has their blood drained and given to you. Seeing as the skill is already free to use, Coagulation can be used to actively give blood for skills to be used on the frozen enemy themselves.
7 Autophagy - Active
On becoming a vampire, Autophagy is the first skill Dr. Reid learns and is one of the most essential. It is the primary healing method in the game, allowing you to sacrifice blood for instant health gain. It takes a second to activate but you'll lose blood if hit during the animation, so make sure you give yourself some distance.
Most upgrades simply increase the efficiency of the skill, though its two upgrade paths offer slightly different means of healing. One offers lower instant health gain in exchange for massively increased passive regen, while the other takes extra blood for more instant health gain and health regen. Both are great, just a question of how you plan to manage your blood.
6 Blood Capacity - Blood
What better way to manage your blood than to simply have lots of it? Blood Capacity is a passive upgrade, increasing the amount of blood you can store on you at any one time. There are plenty of other useful passive skills as well that increase your health and stamina, but if you can keep your blood levels high, you may never have to worry about those.
Some skills don't take blood either, or only small amounts. So if you have enough blood-draining skills or weapons on you, you could effectively have an infinite reserve of blood with Blood Capacity fully upgraded, with you bringing in blood faster than you can use it up.
5 Claws - Aggressive
Outside of skills, Reid's primary methods of attack are melee weapons and stakes for up-close combat, and guns like pistols and shotguns for range. Melee requires stamina though, and guns have only limited ammunition, and this is where skills like Claws come in. Claws are your vampire melee, swinging at enemies for great damage.
It's a nice and simple skill, dealing heavy damage and with a fast cooldown. With further upgrading, you can also make it drain blood with each hit making it more self-sustaining, or deal even higher damage and stun, opening enemies up to Bite. It's versatile and rewards a fast playstyle, be it hit-and-run tactics or rapid onslaught.
4 Bloodspear - Aggressive
If Claws is the replacement for melee weapons, then Bloodspear is the replacement for guns. Now, guns are plenty functional seeing as they can deal fire and corrosive damage, but Bloodspear is a different beast and one that plays incredibly in a blood-focused build. It shoots tendrils of blood at your enemies at a rapid pace, dealing good damage too and keeping you at a safe distance.
Bloodspear's diverging upgrade paths are a bit more distinct than others. Rather than adding blood drain or stun, one upgrade sees the Bloodspear turn into an even larger projectile that can catch more enemies and deal higher damage, or split into three smaller Bloodspears, hitting enemies in a wider radius like a shotgun for lesser damage.
3 Big Thirst - Blood
Big Thirst is an interesting skill. It's passive, one that increases the amount of Blood you gain from each Bite you inflict on an enemy. Many people would push you towards things like Body Condition or Physical Prowess, which increase health and stamina respectively, as Blood can be gained from some weapons for free.
Now that's valid, but if you play aggressive enough and focus on blood-draining and stun, Big Thirst can almost eliminate the need for weapons in the first place seeing as most vampire skills are stronger than weapons anyway. When upgraded even slightly, it gives a decent boost to blood gain, and with the right combos, you can be biting enemies constantly.
2 Abyss - Ultimate
Outside of your blood-based vampire skills, Reid also has access to ultimate skills: skills with a long cooldown and a powerful effect that uses up no blood. They can be used as backup when your blood runs too low, or for their profound effects. Abyss is one of those, summoning shadowy tendrils that grab an opponent and pierce them, dealing heavy damage.
Abyss functions on bosses too, making it a great companion to skills like Coagulation for taking foes out of the battle for a few seconds. Abyss also allows you to attack enemies still while they're held by the tendrils, allowing all your other skills and attacks to still take effect. Though not the most powerful ultimate, it has some of the most tactical uses.
1 Blood Barrier - Defensive
Blood Barrier is a defensive skill, but an incredibly powerful one. It costs no blood to use, at least on its early upgrade paths, and gives you a shield for a few seconds that can absorb any singular hit, even preventing you from being interrupted or staggered. You can effectively ignore enemy attacks while it's active, meaning it even has some offensive capabilities.
Along its two upgrade paths, you can choose to either let the shield last longer and absorb up to three hits, or instead only absorb two hits and deal minimal shadow damage when it's destroyed. One allows you to play even more offensively, while the other provides greater protection. Both have their places in different playstyles, however.