Please note that new user registrations disabled at this time.

Best abilities and disciplines

This forum is to be used for all discussions pertaining to Troika Games' Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.
User avatar
fable
Posts: 30676
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2001 12:00 pm
Location: The sun, the moon, and the stars.
Contact:

Best abilities and disciplines

Post by fable »

Just curious what in your opinion are the best abilities and disciplines for the game: the ones that have worked best, for your character(s).
To the Righteous belong the fruits of violent victory. The rest of us will have to settle for warm friends, warm lovers, and a wink from a quietly supportive universe.
User avatar
txa1265
Posts: 213
Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:27 am
Location: Marlborough, MA USA
Contact:

Post by txa1265 »

I decided on melee and 'blood magic' as I was a Tremere. I got to 'Blood Boil', which was quite effective at taking out several tough opponents so I could slash the others. Hacking and lockpicking are also great skills.

Mike
User avatar
Stilgar
Posts: 4079
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2001 11:00 am
Location: The Netherlands - Sietch Tabr
Contact:

Post by Stilgar »

I only played Ventrue (just started a Nosferatu), so i can only tell you something about the Ventrue skills.

Fortitude has saved my ass more then once.

Dominate is realy fun in conversation, and (mass)suicide can realy come in handy in the later part of the game. You will be fighter alot of humans as well as vampires. (against vampires this usually hurts them)

Presence: Havent realy found use for this skill although i didnt get it past lvl3.

I can imagine that Obfuscate can realy come inhandy with my nosferatu character, but i havent advanced enough in the game to be sure.
I do not have the touch, nor do I have the power.
User avatar
Phyrex
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:37 pm
Contact:

Post by Phyrex »

Celerity is the best in my opinion.

It's not like instakill everyone around you but a lot more fun because it's versatile.
You can use it with melee, ranged and even sneaking...

Currently I only have level 3 and I can already dodge bullets. It's really a great skill for a ranged character because you reload a lot faster and don't get hit yourself (either because you can dodge bullets or because you can outrun melee enemies)
Can't immagine how uber it must be on level 5. Anyone knows what happens? Bullets standing still in the air? :D
User avatar
Lanceter York
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 9:38 am
Location: Fiji
Contact:

Post by Lanceter York »

Celerity Level 5

Let me tell you,

I'm playing a Toreador with a Lvl 5 in celerity and it is just fun as hell in a
combat situation.
Its all in the reflexes!
User avatar
Mister Popo
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2002 9:07 am
Location: Waiting on the six paths for someone with a soul t
Contact:

Post by Mister Popo »

As a Tremere I can agree with the bloodboil, although bloodsalvo and bloodshield can be very handy with large groups of humans, just because bloodsalvo returns with blood.

Also, I just love Trance, as it makes it easy to set aside a little snack to enjoy after combat.
"We fight dogs and we chase cats..."
Chorus: "...ain't no trap can stop the rats!"
"Got no plague and got no fleas..."
Chorus: "...we drink poison, we steal cheese!"
"Mess with us and you will see..."
Chorus: "...we'll put poison in your tea"
"Here we fight and here we'll stay..."
Chorus: "...WE WILL NEVER GO AWAY!"

From: "the Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents" :D :D :D
User avatar
Intergalactic
Posts: 109
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2004 4:27 pm
Contact:

Post by Intergalactic »

I only use three disciples with my char:

1. Blood Shield.(reduced damage) My lifesafer. Best skill for a tremere as far as i am concerned.
2.Blood Buff.(buffs physical atributes) Invalueable to open locks and getting the extra edge in boss fights.
3. Suicide (makes one target kill itself) Didn't use that until very late in the game. Failsafe only against humans, and very handy to kill enemies quiet.
User avatar
Alaphic
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 2:31 pm
Contact:

Post by Alaphic »

suicide, if it didn't kill them would take a pretty nice chunk of damage out of them, and was really useful. i also find myself using posession alot, because it not only eliminates an enemy, but grants you an ally and often leaves you a snack after the fight is over. blood buff is also really useful for the lock picking and such and the damage bonuses to enemies, as well and the strengthening of your ability to feed on the unwilling during combat.
User avatar
tank29
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2004 5:12 pm
Contact:

Post by tank29 »

First char - Tremere:
1) Trance/Suicide. This silently killed or stunned any human. If they were stunned, best way to deal with them was to drain them of all their blood.
2) Blood Strike. Used only for "boss" type monsters. This worked almost too well. You could attack your opponent with this Discipline as quickly as you can click the mouse button, as long as you had blood. Because accessing your inventory paused the game, you could unload almost an endless torrent of blood strikes against an opponent. Fighting almost every boss simply involved clicking like mad, reloading on blood (blood packs or the Odius Chalice), and moving from time to time when they got too close.
3) Blood Buff. I used melee weapons when I wanted some excitement or when fighting other vamps. Blood buff is obviously a must.

Second char - Gangrel (still working on it):
1) Protean. Claws. Aggravated damage. Nuff said.
2) Fortitude. While I'm still in Santa Barbara, I have only once taken any damage in any fight.
3) Blood Buff. Rounds out the trifecta.

There doesn't seem to be much that can stop this Gangrel with all of these disciplines active. It'll be interesting to see how things go with tougher opponents (Sabbat, SoL, etc.)
User avatar
Ar.Pi
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:10 pm
Contact:

Post by Ar.Pi »

yep Definitly Celerity is the best in Brujah, together with Potence - some great combo, both level 5.
didnt upgrade Presence more than lvl 3 i think it sucks, i just use it for variety and fun :)
User avatar
Raa
Posts: 79
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:27 am
Location: A dark corner of Europe where vampires still roam
Contact:

Post by Raa »

If I could have both Celerity and Fortitude, I wouldn't need anything else. Great for hack'n'slash ;)

The interesting thing is that while I was playing Redemption, I almost never used them, I used Thaumaturgy attacks mostly. For me, that depends of the game engine - VtM:R was a classical CRPG with pausing and all, which enabled planning strategies and tactics. As in Baldur's Gate, I prefer spellcasting.

Bloodlines feels more like a FPS, I just don't have much fun all the time finding this or that discipline to launch on enemies. Spellcasting in FPS engines is clumsy, and even in Jedi Knight I found it easier then in Bloodlines.

So, I prefer to fight here, and prefer battle-supporting disciplines, which I just activate when I start fighting, leave them on using renew-timer option and forget about them until I need to turn one or more off. This way I can enjoy it - playing, instead of constantly searching the buttons or scrolling the wheel ("where is it... where is it... damn... where is it... the boss... aarrgghh") :p
ROMERO: If you should see any zombies in that time, you need to put them down. Just don't let them bite you.
PC: Why? Do you turn into a zombie if they bite you?
ROMERO: Naw, it just hurts like a bitch.


Mry Ymen-Raa, neb n'swt ta'wy
User avatar
Dementia
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:30 pm
Contact:

Post by Dementia »

Speed = good

Celerity is excellent I just whipped right through the 1st part of the society of leopold outside and they never stood a chance i was just a blur with a grey streak for my sword.
User avatar
yrthwyndandfyre
Posts: 786
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 2:30 am
Location: 100 Miles up the butt of the world
Contact:

Post by yrthwyndandfyre »

Personally, I favor the domination/thaumaturgy combination of the Tremere. Everything is a few clicks of the mouse-wheel from everything else, so you can purge/strike/suicide/trance/boil etc all over the place. It's quite easy to launch anywhere from 3 to 7 consecutive coordinated attacks in rapid succession while using a ranged weapon to boot. You're a rapid-fire ranged killing machine for whom an armed opposed force of ten is barely a party.
Sic gorgiamos allos subjectatos nunc
(The Addams family motto: Gladly we feast on those who would subdue us)

Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy, and good with Ketchup.
User avatar
Faust
Posts: 1271
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:37 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Post by Faust »

[QUOTE=yrthwyndandfyre]Personally, I favor the domination/thaumaturgy combination of the Tremere. Everything is a few clicks of the mouse-wheel from everything else, so you can purge/strike/suicide/trance/boil etc all over the place. It's quite easy to launch anywhere from 3 to 7 consecutive coordinated attacks in rapid succession while using a ranged weapon to boot. You're a rapid-fire ranged killing machine for whom an armed opposed force of ten is barely a party.[/QUOTE]

Thaumaturgy is a very powerful discipline, particularly when employed against humans. Likewise, dominate is also quite powerful against humans and weak vampires. Quite frankly, I never found either discipline particularly useful in the more serious "boss" type fights, though.

I suppose my vote for most powerful discipline would probably go to celerity. While I find thaumaturgy, dominate, dementation, and animalism more fun to play with, ultimately celerity is just incredibly powerful in the game.
User avatar
Melchiah
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 11:59 am
Contact:

Post by Melchiah »

I have yet to play a clan with celerity so I can't really comment on that.

So far my favourite disciplines are:

1 Obfuscate: A true gods gift in stealth missions

2 Dementation: Like Dominate, but more fun!

3 Thaumaturgy: Making people throw up blood and explode is just......neat!
I'm so serious it's comical!
User avatar
ektoplasma
Posts: 63
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2004 7:15 am
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Contact:

Post by ektoplasma »

i rarley used magic, except when i tried gangrel and tremre, their respective unique magic (protean and thaumaturgy) rocked! otherwise i just used my favorite skill all the time, stealth, with stealth skill... not only is it effective, it looks beautiful too!
obfuscate is just a waste of blood and exp, dont, with eight in stealth you can walk right infront of someone without them noticing you anyways.
User avatar
programmer
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2005 11:26 pm
Contact:

Post by programmer »

I like a lot of them.

Last time through, as a Toreador, I raised my seduction and persuasion higher
than usual and got some interesting results. I won't go into them because that would turn into spoilers. For discipline, I focused on celerity, which is a great
way to handle the things that are hard to kill. Sometimes it's better to just
run away.

I always go for high sneaking -- at least 8 -- so I almost never need to shoot
a gun and end up with fully-loaded weapons until near the very end.
User avatar
Stuntie
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 2:42 pm
Location: Up North
Contact:

Post by Stuntie »

Having sat in the museum with 3 guards guns drawn within touching distance I can defiantely say that Obfuscate can be very useful.

Also made a few of the stealth quests a case of stroll in grab the goods and stroll out, with an occasional stop for a snack.
User avatar
Lestat
Posts: 4821
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2005 12:14 pm
Location: Here

Post by Lestat »

[QUOTE=Stuntie]Having sat in the museum with 3 guards guns drawn within touching distance I can defiantely say that Obfuscate can be very useful.

Also made a few of the stealth quests a case of stroll in grab the goods and stroll out, with an occasional stop for a snack.[/QUOTE]

Playing as Nosferatu Obfuscate is practically indispensable. The Dane quest is as good as impossible without it, since you need to get the police report and view of sarcophagus on the deck (unless you cheat), as you are too ugly to pass even for a journalist.
And I concur on the stealth quests.
I think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability.
- Oscar Wilde
The church is near but the road is icy; the bar is far away but I'll walk carefully.
- Russian proverb
User avatar
Celacena
Posts: 904
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 8:38 am
Location: within a corporeal shell
Contact:

Post by Celacena »

Tremere - blood boil is fun - somebody blows up and damages those nearby.

Animalism - Nightwing stalker (?) - blood strike and get blood back even if hiding around the corner. nice.

Obfuscate - can you see me? thought not.

Celerity - most all-round useful discipline - in melee you can flip them up in the air and volley them around the arena, taking on a number of decent opponents without fear. with ranged - you shoot fast, reload fast and can dodge your enemies' bullets. you can also run away and hide if you need to.
even at levels 1/2 you get a distinct advantage - by 5 it's like being in The Matrix. bye-bye Agent Smith.

persuasion is important, and research (intelligence/scholarship) for those tomes.
melee and unarmed for close-quarter combat.

celerity
persuasion
melee
research
unarmed
"All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players"
Post Reply