Vampire Starting Rosters Overview
A lot of the teams in the Blood Bowl Teams of Legend document are very similar if not the same as under the old rules. As far as Vampire teams go, the prices are all the same with some slight rule tweaks about how they perform on the pitch. I don’t feel that the changes have really affected your choices when it comes to selecting your starting lineup.
I used to start them with an extreme set up of two Vampires and five rerolls, whilst this can be successful it’s not one I recommend any more. Likewise I wouldn’t go to the other end and start with six Vampires and two rerolls. You’ll just be biting your team mates far too often and it will take ages to save up for more rerolls.
| QTY | Position | Cost | MA | ST | AG | PA | AV | Skills & Traits | Pri | Sec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-12 | Thrall | 40k | 6 | 3 | 3+ | 5+ | 8+ | – | G | AS |
| 0-6 | Vampire | 110k | 6 | 4 | 2+ | 3+ | 9+ | Animal Savagery, Hypnotic Gaze, Regeneration | AGS | P |
| 0-8 | ReRolls | 70k | Apothecary: Yes | |||||||
| Special Rules | Sylvanian Spotlight |
4×4 Vampires
| Quantity | Player / Item | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Thralls | 280k |
| 4 | Vampires | 440k |
| 4 | Rerolls | 280k |
| Total | 1000k |
This is the roster I started with in a local league and I feel it has the best balance between Vampires and rerolls. You don’t start with any useful on pitch skills other than Hypnotic Gaze (which is amazing) so the rerolls help a lot. Four Vampires can still be quite a pain for opponents to deal with and can achieve a lot on the pitch. Having the backup of a reroll really lets you push your luck, especially as you are no longer limited to only using one per turn. The Vampires are a lot more reliable than before if you learn how to work around Animal Savagery, though you will still end up biting quite a few team mates.
xFive Vampires
| Quantity | Player / Item | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Thralls | 240k |
| 5 | Vampires | 550k |
| 3 | Rerolls | 210k |
| Total | 1000k |
The alternative option is to start with five Vampires and three rerolls. Five Vampires can be even harder to deal with, though it does mean one more player with Animal Savagery to work around. The risk of turnover is a bit greater with only three rerolls but with good risk management and having five Vampires, this roster does have the potential to work better.
Vampire Starting Rosters Summary
Having played Vampires quite a lot under the old rules and a bit under the new rules I think one of these two starting rosters is really the two choices that you should be picking between. I don’t hide the fact I’m a fan of team rerolls and given that Vampires have expensive ones to start with, they are even more extortionate to pay for after your first game. It’s cheaper to save up for another Vampire than it is another reroll!
Having said that I think it’s important that you get some substitutes as soon as possible and they take my first priority. You might also go for an Apothecary early on but it’s not so important as it is for other teams. Your Vampires have Regeneration to help keep them alive. With high strength and agility they tend to be harder to hit than most players as well. You aren’t going to be using the Apothecary on your Thralls (unless one skills up in a particularly great way, however most the star player points will go to your Vampires). As you do have the back up of Regeneration it might be worth keeping in mind that an Apothecary can turn an knock out into a stun, keeping your player on the pitch. It’s really annoying to see a Vampire get knocked out early in a game and fail every single opportunity to wake up and come back on the pitch!
In the Icepelt edition, I played some very successful Vamp teams by starting them with only two or three vampires.
I think the 2020 version makes me consider fielding more vamps and using some as blockers (I haven’t played Vamps very much in 2020 and the change from Bloodlust really requires a lot change in approach)
Vampires are super powered players.
During reading about 2, 3, 4, 5… Vampires, suddently I have The Count in mind… Guess I have to find now some Sesame Street miniatures to build my team with 😀
I played Vamps for 10 games in this season and I started with the 5 Vamps 3 Rerolls start and oh my god do I not recommend it…
I love my silly teams with Vamps, Slann and Goblins being my favs. So I’m pretty experienced with them. And I found 5 Vamps 3 Rerolls TOUGH. It’s one of the hardest starts I’ve ever played.
The change to Animal Savagery changed their gameplay style WAY more than I expected and it was very tricky to get my head around.
If you’re not experienced with the new 2020 rules and Animal Savagery, I recommend going with only 3 Vamps, 5 Rerolls to start. This gives you plenty of thralls and rerolls to get used to Animal Savagery. Once you’ve had a league or two to get used to it, then you could try upping your Vampire count to start with.
I just won the Portsmouth Slice & Dice Season 3 with my Vampires. I started them in season 2 with 4 Vampires and 4 Rerolls and then redrafted them. Took a little adjustment early on due to having no skills and adapting to the new rules. Over the two seasons I lost one game, Vampires are now a lot better than they were before! I’d echo your thoughts that 5 Vampires and 3 rerolls is not an ideal way to start. I’m not even sure you need a fifth Vampire at any point apart from very long seasons against other high value teams.
Hey Coach, have your thoughts on Vampire skill choices changed? I had a lot of past success with Blodge Side step, as you had recommended. I see a lot of people recommending Pro now, but what are your thoughts?
I’ve had great success with them building the same way. Pro has improved to a 3+ roll which is nice, however you also can’t use it if your Vampire is prone to reroll the Animal Savagery. I’ve done really well with them not taking Pro, for a league team I do like it as perhaps the 5th skill, though I don’t think you really need it and earlier I find other skills offer more utility and you can use a team reroll instead of Pro.