Think you can complete Vampyr without biting a single living soul? It’s completely possible, and it isn’t even that difficult if you take advantage of your powers. You can still level up — you’ll just be 5-10 levels below your enemies as you progress through the game. That sounds painfully difficult, but if you follow the tips we’ve scrounged up through hours and hours of harsh gameplay, you’ll understand that completing Vampyr without biting a single soul isn’t as hard as it sounds.
It’s still very challenging. You can’t lose XP you’ve collected, and you’ll still earn plenty of XP for completing main missions and other tasks — including fighting standard enemies, but that usually isn’t worthwhile. You can also reset your XP after falling asleep and respect all your vampiric powers. If you’re struggling against a boss or can’t get through a certain section, you might want to reevaluate those skills you don’t need anymore.
Keep scrolling to get all the tips and tricks I used to conquer Vampyr without biting anyone. It takes awhile longer, but it’s the only way to play if you’re a peaceful Vampyr. For avoiding any kills, you’ll unlock the ‘Not Even Once’ achievement / trophy.
More Vampyr guides on Gameranx:
- Vampyr: Beginner’s Guide | 10 Tips To Help You Survive The Hunt
- Vampyr: How To Unlock All 9 Medicines | Cure Recipes Locations Guide
- Vampyr: All Lore Documents | Collectibles Locations Guide
- Vampyr: How To Find The Life is Strange Easter Egg | ‘Unlife Is Strange’ Guide
- Vampyr: Unlock Every Hint With Help From A Fortune Teller | Hint Shop Location
How To Beat The Game Without Killing Anyone | ‘Not Even Once’ Guide
Vampyr is not a particularly short game. It’s going to take upwards of 20+ hours to complete if you listen to every conversation. I recommend saving your ‘Not Even Once’ achievement / trophy run for a second playthrough. That way, you can skip all the cutscenes and dialogue and focus on completing the main objectives.
#1: Get The Blood Shield And Keep Healing Equipped
You’ll automatically acquire the healing skill at the start of the game. Healing uses a small amount of blood meter to heal your character. Keep it equipped always, and use it often to stay at 100% health. Don’t get the mods that increase the blood cost — you want your healing to stay as cheap as possible to use.
You’ll also want to unlock the Blood Shield. It’s one of the most useful defensive abilities in the game. It activates instantly and does not cost blood — it just has a long recharge timer. Use it often in fights against multiple opponents. Enemies that attack your blood shield will be stunned and knocked back — the more you upgrade the shield, the more invincible hits you can absorb.
#2: Carry Plenty Of Healing and Blood Potions
Potions are also important for this high difficulty run. Keep at least three healing and blood potions on you. Stamina is important too, but blood / healing will keep you alive. If you’re fighting a long boss, pop a blood potion so you can heal up with your blood healing power. Healing potions can save your life in a pinch — especially against annoying fire / poison damage. Fire and poison are extremely dangerous when low level, so heal immediately if you’re hit with either.
#3: Combat Bite Often – Equip A Powerful Stun Off-Hand Weapon
The Combat Bite is incredibly important for your survival. Equip a stunning Off-Hand weapon like a stake or mace and keep them upgraded. You’ll find that, even against high level enemies, you’ll be able to stun and knock them down in just a single hit or two.
Attack them a few times while they’re stunned, then hit them with another stun attack to knock them down, then bite. You’re invincible while combat biting — and you’ll refill your stamina.
#4: Claw Is The Best Combat Ability
Unlock the Claw special attack and keep it equipped. Upgrade it when you can. The claw is the best standard special attack you can unlock — it’s strong, can hit multiple enemies, and doesn’t cost too much blood. It also can be unleashed instantly. You’ll need it to damage enemies quickly, and it doesn’t cost any stamina to use — if you run out of stamina, continue the attack with a claw strike.
#5: Use A Shotgun For Huge Ranged Damage
The double-barreled shotgun does insane damage, even very early in the game. Upgrade the amount of ammo you can carry, and also carry at least one shotgun in your inventory. Keep it upgraded, and you’ll be able to knock off tons of health in boss fights — save your ammo for the end, then pump those bosses full of lead to end the battle easily. You can always buy more ammo from merchants later.
#6: Upgrade Your Items As Soon As Possible
Keeping your weapons upgraded is incredibly important in Vampyr. Check the local merchants daily to get parts you need to upgrade weapons. There are three different weapon parts you need the most — handles, tiny handles, and triggers. Good quality handles / tiny handles / triggers will only start to appear in stores by Chapter 4 when you gain access to the West End area.
#7: Talk To Everyone, Complete Every Investigation
For a steady supply of XP, you need to complete investigations. Talk to everyone you can, and return to areas you’ve completed before. After reaching Pembroke, return to the Docks to find lots of extra investigations. When you reach a new area, expect to find lots of NPCs with a few investigations of their own. You’ll also rescue NPCs in dungeons — after that, make sure to return to their home region and talk to them. They might have an extra job for you to accomplish for more precious XP.
#8: Cure Every NPC For Extra XP
If you want to play without biting anyone, you need all the XP you can get. You’ll earn a small amount of XP (about 50) for curing ailing NPCs. Do it every day. Cure every single person you can find. Run around the city and check your citizen menu to see who is sick. By the end of the game, you can get a cool 500+ XP for a single run around, and you’ll earn some extra in the respawning enemy encounters.
#9: Use The Abyss Ultimate & Attack While Your Target Is Stunned
This is the most powerful combat technique I’ve found in the game so far. Use the Abyss Ultimate to stun an enemy / boss, then attack while they’re held in place. You won’t do full damage, but you’ll still do lots of damage. Keep attacking and using Claw when you run out of Stamina, then retreat. You can continue to attack, even when the enemy drops on the ground.
#10: Unlock Shadow Veil To Bypass Open-World Battles
Shadow Veil is an invisibility technique you can unlock that allows you to sneak past unsuspecting enemies. Unfortunately, Chaplins and Blind Skal can still detect you — but you can still sprint right past these enemies. There’s no point in farming enemies for XP, they don’t give you very much at all, unless they’re a unique named NPC.
Shadow Veil is best saved when you’re trying to complete investigations, and the areas are too difficult.
And that’s all the tips we’ve got for conquering the most difficult run. Use these tricks, and you should be able to keep up with your enemies just enough to make battles winnable.
