Vampire Knives

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Vampire Knives
  • Vampire Knives item spriteold Vampire Knives item sprite
Autoswing
Stack digit 1.png
Statistics
Type
Damage29 (Melee)
Knockback2.75 (Very weak)
Critical chance4%
Use time16 (Very fast)
Velocity15
TooltipRapidly throw life stealing daggers
RarityRarity level: 8
Sell20 GC
Research1 required
Projectiles created
  • Vampire Knife
    Vampire Knife
  • Vampire Heal
    Vampire Heal
The Vampire Knives in action against Target Dummies and a Unicorn.

The Vampire Knives are a Hardmode, post-Plantera melee weapon that rapidly fires a spread of 4 to 8 red knife projectiles at a maximum spread of approximately 45°. The knives are not affected by gravity, but after traveling 28 tiles, they will spin and fade, their damage decreasing gradually. They will dissipate after traveling another 26 tiles, for a total range of 54 tiles. Upon hitting an enemy, the red knives cause a lifesteal effect which heals the player by 7.5% of the damage dealt (rounded down). The Vampire Knives are always found in the Dungeon's Crimson Chest, which can only be unlocked with a Crimson Key after Plantera has been defeated.

Its best modifier is Godly or Demonic. Both modifiers increase the average damage output by the same amount. However, Ruthless might be preferred if the player already has very high critical strike chance.

Notes

For the limitations of the lifesteal effect, see Lifesteal.
  • Melee speed does not affect the rate of fire on the Vampire Knives, instead only increasing the velocity and distance its projectiles travel.
  • Because the lifesteal effect is rounded down, the Vampire Knives will not heal the player if the knives deal less than 14 damage.
  • At full speed (when first thrown), the projectiles travel at 77 mph.
    • Due to their high speed, some of them can travel through 1-tile thick walls.
  • The player is healed immediately upon dealing damage, rather than when the red beams touch them.
  • The Vampire Knives cannot be obtained in Corruption worlds as they lack a Crimson Chest. Instead, the Dungeon has a Corruption Chest containing a Scourge of the Corruptor.
  • Reflected red knives (e.g. from a spinning Selenian(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)) that hit the player will not trigger lifesteal.
  • The projectiles may disappear visually a few tiles before they actually become ineffective.
  • One of the red knives will always aim at the cursor's location.
  • At least 4 red knives will always be thrown. There are 4 independent chances (1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16) to increase this number by 1,[1] resulting in a maximum possible number of projectiles of 8. The following table visualizes the number of projectiles and the respective chances:
# Chance
4 315/1024 (30.76%)
5 486/1024 (47.46%)
6 196/1024 (19.14%)
7 26/1024 (2.54%)
8 1/1024 (0.1%)
The average number of projectiles thrown is 4.94.

Tips

  • Despite the Vampire Knives having very low damage for its tier, they are one of the only methods to gain lifesteal in the game, the other being the Spectre armor with the Hood. The lifesteal effect makes the weapon helpful to have as a sidearm (even towards the endgame) or with a tank build. With proper preparation, it can be impossible to die.
  • The Vampire Knives are less useful against the Moon Lord(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) because of the Moon Bite(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) debuff it can apply to the player which disables the lifesteal effect.
  • The Flask of Ichor increases damage dealt per hit, and thus increases lifesteal.
  • The Vampire Knives will heal for 10× the normal amount of health from a Crawltipede(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions), as it takes 10× damage from any attack. However, this makes the gaps between heals longer due to how lifesteal works.

Trivia

History

  • Desktop 1.2.4: Fixed an issue where Death Sickle and Vampire Knives would not animate properly on other players in multiplayer.
  • Desktop 1.2.2: Items which regenerate health per hit now have a cap of 2 hearts per second.
  • Desktop 1.2.0.3:
    • Use time increased from 12 to 16.
    • Damage reduced from 35 to 29.
    • Knockback reduced from 3.5 to 2.75.
    • Life return reduced from 10% to 7.5%.
  • Desktop 1.2.0.2: Fixed rare bug where the item would spawn pre-Hardmode in the upper dungeon.

References

  1. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.0.5 source code, method ItemCheck_Shoot() in Terraria.Player.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
  2. Leinfors on Reddit May 17, 2021