Skyrim's Dawnguard DLC: nine things you need to know

Vampire and Werewolf Perks, new weapons, areas and level details

Bethesda showed us Skyrim's long-awaited first DLC pack at E3 yesterday. Here's the need-to-know on the Nordic realm's brand new Transylvanian dilemma, with a little help from leaky Gamespot forumites and Eurogamer.

1. Bring about endless night

Dawnguard's plot hinges on the return of the Vampire Lord Harkon, who intends to nuke the sun using the power of the Elder Scrolls. If you're a friend of photosynthesis, you can shack up with the titular Dawnguard to stop him. If you're more keen on mastering undead magics, you can become Harkon's stooge. The long-term ramifications are rather dramatic, seemingly: adhere to the cause of evil, and you may plunge your savegame into perpetual darkness.

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2. Papa's got a brand new pad

The Vampires live in Castle Volkihar, an island stronghold surrounded by stunted trees and many an unquiet grave. The Dawnguard hang tough in Fort Dawnguard (not particularly strong in the naming department, these gents). Who you team up with determines where you sleep, naturally, but each camp offers its own bonuses. Fort Dawnguard contains crossbows, while Castle Volkihar is well-stocked with blood potions which both heal you and slake your vampiric thirst.

3. Become a Vampire Lord...

"In the past, some of our vampire stuff has felt like more of a curse than a blessing," Bethesda's Peter Hines told OXM yesterday. "There were so many things you had to work around, so you can turn into a flurry of bats and move from one location to the next - sort of feel like more of a badass." Badass indeed, though you'll need to be mindful about when and where you reveal your new alternate form - townsfolk will attack Vampire Lords on sight. There's something about the thought of a massive hairless airborne ogre that raises hackles.

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Vampire Lords get a slew of new passive and active abilities besides the aforesaid transformations. There's a new Perk tree, with more Perks becoming available the more you exert your dark alter ego. Summon Gargoyle calls a stony minion to your side, and Power of the Grave is a set of health, magicka and stamina buffs. Gratifyingly, Vampiric Grip suspends an enemy in mid-air while you leech away its vitality and muhahahaha. Vampire Sight allows you to more easily navigate the murk which is a nosferatu's preferred habitat. Poison Talons, Detect All Creatures and Mist Form are all reasonably self-explanatory.

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Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Comments

17 comments so far...

  1. CunningSmile on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    Sounds good but the only thing that worries me is that since hitting level 50 (I'm about 56 now) my levelling up has slowed to a crawl. Am I ever going to level up enough to take advantage of the new skill trees or should I start a new game ready for Dawnguard?

  2. SidTheSloth on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    Sounds pretty cool and such, bit more self contained maybe than i'd have liked too but hey-ho, that's just nitpicking. The bit that makes me sad is that there doesn't seem like a lot for magic(ka) users to (ahem) get their teeth into. I'm firmly on the side of the 'wolves but i'd like a few more toys to play with than a crossbow - like a melt vampire spell. Or something.

    Any chance there'll be a way to get your wolfiness back too? I didn't like the 'random' aspect of it so i got rid of it ages ago and have lamented the decision ever since - especially as i'm still regularly told my dude smells like wet dog and has hairs protruding out of every orifice!

    EDIT: Good point Cunning, wondered that when reading it, i already feel like i've spent my next 15 perks mentally already... :|

  3. STE MO on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    I think it'll be a new character for me, especially since I've not tried out the Kinect functionality yet :cry: . Here's hoping we get Beta trials so we don't need to pay :D . I do worry that I won't have the time to play given all the games I still have to play or am in the middle of.

  4. BuzzHyperfish on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    Sounds good, but there is one error; crossbows won't have their own perk tree, they'll fit into the achery perk tree. Todd Howard said so on an E3 interview I watched.

  5. OXM ETboy on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    Sources differ on the Crossbow perk tree business. I'll see if I can get some clarification...

  6. GHOSTY05 on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    WOW!!

    This is probably the best DLC for Skyrim i could have possibly imagined.

    Vampire related, awesome powers, werewolf and vamp skill trees!!

    Release date is June 26th or if your lucky to get the beta code then a week earlier!

  7. sneakerphile on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    Sounds pretty damn awesome to me. Got 100% completion, so been waiting for this DLC with baited breath.
    If crossbows fall under the archery tree, then i'm sorted, as my archery skills are frickin awesome!
    Bring on the asses, so that I may kick them heartily! YOL-TOOR-SHUL

  8. whelly1985 on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    this sounds immense, i will be the vampire slayer- no matter what rpg i play i always play as a good character- my parents taught me well :wink:

  9. fedris the red on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    Sounds good but the only thing that worries me is that since hitting level 50 (I'm about 56 now) my levelling up has slowed to a crawl. Am I ever going to level up enough to take advantage of the new skill trees or should I start a new game ready for Dawnguard?

    Reading the skill screen I'm not sure the vampire skills are tied into conventional levelling - I think it's more based on how many people you've drunk...

  10. Grummy on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    Sources differ on the Crossbow perk tree business. I'll see if I can get some clarification...

    I expect it will end up not being being it's own separate perk tree, but rather will be its own branch of the archery tree.

    Also 'more better'? Really? Ded gud inglish ther sur

  11. jimlad4 on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    this sounds immense, i will be the vampire slayer- no matter what rpg i play i always play as a good character- my parents taught me well :wink:[/quote"
    Sometimes I feel there's a supernatural presence forcing me to select 'the good guys'. It's literally impossible for me to select evil characters, it's like trying to push two of the same magnet poles together (weird analogy I know...)
    Anyhoo, Dawnguard looks good. Time to banish those bad bloodsucking beasties into the blackness!

  12. jimlad4 on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    this sounds immense, i will be the vampire slayer- no matter what rpg i play i always play as a good character- my parents taught me well :wink:


    Sometimes I feel there's a supernatural presence forcing me to select 'the good guys'. It's literally impossible for me to select evil characters, it's like trying to push two of the same magnet poles together (weird analogy I know...)
    Anyhoo, Dawnguard looks good. Time to banish those bad bloodsucking beasties into the blackness!

  13. GHOSTY05 on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    this sounds immense, i will be the vampire slayer- no matter what rpg i play i always play as a good character- my parents taught me well :wink:


    Sometimes I feel there's a supernatural presence forcing me to select 'the good guys'. It's literally impossible for me to select evil characters, it's like trying to push two of the same magnet poles together (weird analogy I know...)
    Anyhoo, Dawnguard looks good. Time to banish those bad bloodsucking beasties into the blackness!


    I know the feeling lol

    Everytime i start playing an evil character i end up being too good.

    I'm going to be a sodding fairy vampire lord and i will just bite the evil people!

  14. Worthies on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    This is what I hope a lot of the DLC will feature: improvements to the underlying gameplay with new skill sets and testability.
    I love Skyrim, but the gameplay can be monotonous at times.

    Hopefully new DLC will continue to bring in new things, and keep the game fresh.

    Loving the improvements to Vampire and Werewolves features, which will hopefully make their inclusions in the vanilla game less gimmicky, and more substantial.

  15. Plamsa wing on 6 Jun '12 said:
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    I'll just kill everyone then re-load and become the good guy.

    No Werebears? Native to Skyrim pfft.

  16. DeadMenDontSpam on 9 Jun '12 said:
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    Sounds good but the only thing that worries me is that since hitting level 50 (I'm about 56 now) my levelling up has slowed to a crawl. Am I ever going to level up enough to take advantage of the new skill trees or should I start a new game ready for Dawnguard?



    I think they confirmed that vampire and werewolf trees are seperate and level up as you play as a vampire/werewolf more

  17. CunningSmile on 10 Jun '12 said:
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    Sounds good but the only thing that worries me is that since hitting level 50 (I'm about 56 now) my levelling up has slowed to a crawl. Am I ever going to level up enough to take advantage of the new skill trees or should I start a new game ready for Dawnguard?



    I think they confirmed that vampire and werewolf trees are seperate and level up as you play as a vampire/werewolf more

    That's good to hear.

    And Kudos on one of the coolest names ever.