I've been mostly playing various vamp bgs recently cause seeker was our only buffed rune, and here are my thoughts: Seeker is amazing. Nothing op, but very solid. Banshee is terrible in comparison. I really tried to run her, but she is just worse than seeker in every aspect. Fascinate bgs (deploy seeker early, stealth him with spectre if possible): I tried visaged snog or mora, kanen, ST crystals. Playable, but full potential only on midfont maps. Classic UD/FW: better than before, seeker makes great echoes setups, but main early game problems remain. And what was surprise for me, best bg turned out to be ST/FW general support: With 5 additional hp/whisper/whisperghast/angel/guide/gift/keeneye/swap vamps are much more survivable, get very needed upgrades and surprise kills, harder to drawrape. Let your opponent gangbang kento or coragh while you buildup a bit, and it goes quite smooth from there. tl;dr vamps are not as bad now as we used to think.
If you are running Kento and Coragh, alog with Whisper, Whispergast, Angel and whatever, then its not a "vamp bg". Shame on you.
Well, I prefer to have my Count seeing another night rather than dusting proudly in shoebox. Also, flavorwise vamps are supposed to have thralls, so why can't kento be a thrall?
If it is any concelation she is horrible in Spirits as well. So vanilla and overcosted for a meleeish 6 speeder.
This is a pretty funny thread. You know what makes vamps better? Playing a FW/ST goodstuff bg that includes a vamp or two..maybe. LOL pox today at its finest.
LOL, was this directed at me or Greysand? If you cant take the heat, the one who should stay "in your house" is you. /facepalm
To greysand, yours looked like a joke to me? EDIT: To clarify a little, that was a message for the future, because there is always the people who like to point out the bg of other people and call "OP" "cheese" "broken" and "that's not a vamp" followed by a ragequit. You obviously aren't in this category of players.
Ignore GabrielQ he's perpetually cranky and afraid his toys are going to get taken away. Incidentally the only 2 people I have a problem with on these forums is GabrielQ and the OP. Both are elitist jerks that make this game a worse place because they are here. But hey...opinions. Whatever.
Not really. I acctually do think that if he´s running a goodstuff bg with a few vamps here and there then it´s not a "vamp bg". But that´s not a moral judgement or anything, just my opinion. Edit: @Gabriel.
What is the actual bg you are using? If you want to use some vamps that fine but as said it doesn't seem like would be declared a "vamp bg discussion". I also don't like the term vamp bgs since there are other life siphon runes that aren't vamps. I use a FW life siphon and a UD/FW life siphon bg. Vamps/life siphon can be quite good if you use it right and use the right balance of a few non-vamps. However I am glad to see you are using some vamps in different groups instead of sitting in a shoebox.
I wouldn't call it a vamp bg simply because I'm a tad irrational when it comes to semantics. Though, if it's a battlegroup where Count is something more than an 84 nora gamble you hope to the Pox God's pays off, I applaud it. I'd just hate to see someone coming in and thinking, 'oh, my all vampyre bg might actually work now,' and find out in a very horrible fashion that indeed...it doesn't quite work well in the current state of things. But I'm also the same jerk that finger waggles and says there's a difference between a Life Siphon BG and a Vampyre BG. Though for all intents and mechanics, it's the same bloody thing (punny )
Vamps need some more synergy and a direction. Right now they seem kinda mish mashy. If they have life siphon some vamps don't have the hp to capitalize on it kinda muting the point. The one that I see most regularly run is Demonvein which has access to boatloads of health through Leech Vitality (combed with demon shield to make him longer lasting). Bloodtracker was popular for a while due to his tanginess with evasive/reflexes combo. Banshee is currently trying to fit into two themes at once and her abilities aren't really fitting into either theme. Domain DMZ? Defiling aura?Hidden DMZ? why does she need these? Sonic aura and fascination aren't enough synergy to warrant their presence so she suffers. Dark enchantress has low dmg and a large number of cc abilities that are at odds with life siphon which basically sandbags her. Rough Ideas: Vampirism-All champions gain life siphon for 5 turns. If they are a vampire they also gain leech vitality for 5 turns. Demonvein, grief bearer fountain, rain of blood to split FW/UD runes (perhaps have vamps another split theme?). The most telltale theme focus would be on healing and blood ball/bloodied interaction but right now non vamps in UD have the lions share of those interactions. Re-streamlining the current vamps to synergize more with blood balls/bloodied then relying on life siphon may be the better option. Dark enchantress is a great candidate for blood magic as a replacement for magic nova but could also be retooled.
I would love for the Banshee to be changed to be entirely Spirit themed. Domain DMZ fits her perfectly really. (Hidden DMZ is not that great on her to be honest.) I have no idea why she has Defiling Aura. Deafening Aura would make far more sense. One of my big problems with her is allso the cost/speed. 75 nora is a lot for a meleeish speed 6 champion and she rarely is worth her cost. Dark Enchantress would indeed be a great candidate for blood Magic. Vampirism sounds like an interesting idea. Would definately make it worthwhile to run in Vampires, and it would be cool to have more interaction with Bleed/Bloodballs instead of the hardcore focus on Lifesiphon.