The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimoffers players many ways to customize their character to their liking. Even beyond the character creator, there are lots of ways to change the Dragonborn’s appearance and abilities. One way to completely alter a character is to take on a disease of transformation, such as Lycanthropy or Vampirism. Furthermore, in theSkyrimexpansionDawnguard, players can eventually become aVampire Lord, which has its own distinct skill tree.
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While being a Vampire has its benefits, it’s a bit of a burden to completely change one’s playstyle to avoid daytime. At later stages, it can be frustrating when NPCs flee from the player on sight. Luckily, when it comes tohow to get rid of vampirismSkyrimmakes it pretty straightforward. After all, while being a vampire can be pretty interesting until a point, there are only so many restrictions that players can handle before this transformation eventually loses its appeal and becomes a rather frustrating thing to endure in the game.
Updated on August 04, 2025, by Ritwik Mitra:Skyrim is one of the most popular and beloved western RPGs ever made, with the release of this title being a landmark event in video gaming. The groundbreaking open-world design coupled with the wealth of changes it made to the formula led to many people considering Skyrim to be one of the best games ever made, with its modding support being another huge bonus that keeps this game wildly playable to this day.
There are many things that make the gameplay of Skyrim feel fresh and engaging despite its seemingly rudimentary nature. One major way in which players can augment their experience of playing this title is by trying out the various transformations present in this title, including that of a Vampire. Being a bloodsucking creature of the night is pretty fun, but everyone’s mileage may vary with this particular gameplay shift.
Before Trying To Undo The Transformation: Upsides Of Undeath
TheSkyrimvampire cureis something most people with the Sanguinare Vampiris disease want to rid themselves of, and mostly for a good reason. It is a cursed life, after all, and additionally, vampires are tied to Molag Bal even after their final death. People who can master the stages of the curse, though, find themselves to be much more powerful than their average citizen.
There are lots of reasons to stay as a vampire and not seek out a cure, especially for players focusing on a Magicka or Stealth-oriented build. For roleplayers and new players, it’s something generally to be avoided, but that doesn’t mean vampirism isn’t something to try out at least once inSkyrim. The new things this transformation brings to the table are pretty neat and worth checking out for fans of the game who want to enjoy a fresh and unique playthrough of the game.
Stages and Stats of Vampirism
There are four stages of vampirism, each offering the player different benefits and drawbacks as well as a selection of unique vampire-oriented spells. Upon contracting the disease (or after being bitten by specific NPCs) players have a few days before they progress to Stage One of the affliction and gain access to their first abilities. Each day that passes without feeding will progress the disease, and at Stage 4, the player will be feared and attacked on sight for their physical deterioration.
1
Resist Frost: 20% Weakness to Fire: 20%
Vampiric Drain Vampire’s Servant Vampire’s Sight
Champion of the Night Nightstalker’s Footsteps Vampiric Strength: 5 points Weakness to Sunlight: -15 points
2
Resist Frost: 30% Weakness to Fire: 30%
Vampiric Drain Vampire’s Servant Vampire’s Sight Vampire’s Seduction
Champion of the Night Nightstalker’s Footsteps Vampiric Strength: 10 points Weakness to Sunlight: -30 points
3
Resist Frost: 40% Weakness to Fire: 40%
Champion of the Night Nightstalker’s Footsteps Vampiric Strength: 15 points Weakness to Sunlight: -45 points
4
Resist Frost: 100% Weakness to Fire: 100%
Resist Frost: 50% Weakness to Fire: 50%
Vampiric Drain Vampire’s Servant Vampire’s Sight Vampire’s Seduction Embrace of Shadows
Champion of the Night Nightstalker’s Footsteps Vampiric Strength: 20 points Weakness to Sunlight: -60 points
Unique Spells and Abilities
Different stages of vampirism grant different abilities and passive stat modifications. Some of these are inherently negative, like Weakness to Fire and Weakness to Sunlight, though these factors can be controlled pretty passively. At Stage One, vampires only have three new spells at their command, while at Stage Four they are given five to use, each more interesting and useful than the last.
While being infected with this disease inSkyrimcan lead some players to look uphow to cure vampirism, the curse isn’t without its benefits. The effects of these spells and abilities are found nowhere else in the game, and although not being able to move around as easily in sunlight is a major drawback, it’s not as daunting to manage as some players think. Players should spend some time to see if vampirism works in their favor before resigning to finding theSkyrimvampirism cure.
Talk To The Nearest Innkeeper
When the player has had enough of the Vampire curse,head to the nearest Inn. Innkeepers inSkyrimare a great source of information – usually, they’ll have a rumor or two for the player to chase down. If the Dragonborn is afflicted with Vampirism, though, the Innkeeper will comment on their appearance and send them on theRising at Dawn quest.
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If there are no Inns nearby when the curse becomes unbearable, though, the player can also talk to amember of the Dawnguard. It can be tricky to get into an Inn at high levels of Vampirism, making it all the more pertinent to find outhow to cure vampirism inSkyrimas locals will flee at the very sight of the player. Dawnguard members, though, are made of stronger stuff. Either way, the Innkeeper or Dawnguard member will always instruct the player to head to the mage Falion, in Morthal.
Then, Find Falion In Morthal
Falionis a Redguard Mage who acts as theSkyrimcuring vampirismexpert. He was once the head of Conjuration atthe College of Winterholdbefore an unspecified event caused him to sever ties with the school.Now in Morthal, he helps players on the Rising at Dawn quest cure their Vampirism. Falion is located on theEast side of the river, adjacent to the water.
He will instruct the player tofill one Black Soul Gemand then return it to him. Black Soul Gems can be filled with Grand Souls of most large, sentient creatures, such as the playable races. If it takes too much time to go fill a Black Soul Gem,Falion also sells the itemfor an affordable sum. After the player fills the Black Soul Gem and returns, Falion will begin the ritual.
Finally, Complete Fallon’s Ritual
Falion leads the player to nearby Summoning Stones,North by North West of Morthalon a river delta. The player won’t need to provide anything else to Falion to cure Vampirism. Just let him do his thing,stand in the Summoning Stones, and the Vampire curse will be cured.
Thiscan be done more than once, as well, in case the Dragonborn does ever get the urge to go back to their Vampiric ways. Itwill be the same costevery time — one filled Black Soul Gem — and the player will have to find Falion and follow him to the Summoning Stones each time too. There are no negative repercussions for using theSkyrimvampire curemore than once, though it’s annoying to go through over and over again.
As A Last Resort, Use Console Commands…
If the playerreallydoesn’t want to go through the game-accurate methods of curing the Vampiric curse, they can always use console commands instead. The easiest and least intrusive method isthe “showracemenu” command. To initiate a console command, press the ~ key on the keyboard in-game. This will pause the game and bring up a command line on the bottom left of the screen, with a flashing icon that indicates the game is ready to receive a command.
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The"showracemenu" commandwill bring up the Character Creation menu anywhere in the game. It also has the secondary effect of immediatelyrestoring the character’s statusto default. It will remove all diseases, not just Vampirism, as well as poisons and other permanent debuffs to the player character. Players can use this command to change their character’s physical appearance and race on the fly, too. But ultimately, it’s the easiestvampire cureSkyrimhas as all players need to do is type “showracemenu”, un-pause the game, then exit the character creation menu.
…Or Choose To Be A Werewolf Instead
There are two main transformative diseases the player can take on inSkyrim: Vampirism, and Lycanthropy, better known as becoming a Werewolf. Becoming a Werewolf will immediately cure the Dragonborn’s Vampirism, butbeing a Werewolf has drawbacksjust like being a Vampire does. To choose thisSkyrimvampirism cure, speak withAela the Huntressof the Companions.
Being a Werewolf grants theWerewolf skill tree, immunity to disease, and a shape-shifted form with much more powerful attacks and movement. However, sleeping bonuses will never apply. Werewolves are too big for some doors, and gear automatically un-equips when the player shape-shifts. Perks can only be gained throughfeeding on werewolf hearts and humanoids. On the bright side, though, being a Werewolf allows the Dragonborn togo out during the day, a luxury not granted to Vampires.
Most people would agree that being a Werewolf is way less limiting than being a Vampire, with perhaps the only restriction being that the Dragonborn shouldn’t transform in the middle of a crowded place with NPCs. After all, most normal people won’t be too happy to see a Werewolf gallivanting about, and guards will soon arrive to kill the Dragonborn regardless of their importance in the game’s events.
Drawbacks Of Being A Vampire
At this point, it should be pretty clear that being a vampire has two major drawbacks.
The first one, and the most obvious and debilitating one, is thatvampires are innately weak to sunlight and constantly take damage during the day. It shouldn’t take an expert to state why this is harmful to the player, with people having to carry out the major bulk of exploration at night. Skyrim is a beautiful place during the day with its vistas being downright jaw-dropping at times, and missing out on these sights can prove to be quite detrimental to one’s experience with this game. So, unless players have played through Skyrim before and don’t mind roaming around in the night, it’s recommended to roam Skyrim as a mortal and not be hampered by something as simple as daylight.
The second weakness that might not seem all that impactful at first glance is thatvampires are weak to fire. For the most part, this weakness is pretty situational—that is untilplayers are hit with a particularly powerful fire spellor have to deal with enemies like the Flame Atronach. In these situations, players will be burned to a crisp unless they have adequate fire protection or come prepared with long-range spells and weapons that help them avoid as much fire damage as possible. Sneaking around can help quite a bit too, although getting caught right next to a fire-wielding enemy can prove to be a major problem indeed, especially for vampires at a higher level.
How Vampirism Is Affected In The Dawnguard Expansion
Dawnguardis a great expansion that builds upon the history of vampires and places them in a central conflict with the Dawnguard faction.Players can choose either side of the conflict, with vampires getting a massive overhaul in the game. Here are the major changes that came with this expansion pack for the creatures of the night.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimis available for PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
