Vampire Knives
Projectiles created
Vampire Knife
Vampire Heal
The Vampire Knives in action.
The Vampire Knives are a Hardmode post-Plantera melee weapon that autofires a spread of projectiles. When the projectile hits an enemy, a red beam will extend to the player, providing a lifesteal effect which heals the player by 7.5% of the damage dealt (rounded down). The Vampire Knives are always found inside the Dungeon's Crimson Chest in Crimson worlds. A Crimson Key will be needed to open the Crimson Chest.
Vampire Knives fire between 4 and 8 fast knife projectiles at a maximum spread of approximately 45 degrees. The projectiles are not affected by gravity, but at 28 tiles will begin to spin and fade, dissipating entirely after another 26 tiles (54 tiles total range). Melee speed bonuses will make the projectiles travel faster and farther. The projectiles may disappear visually a few tiles before they actually become ineffective. Each projectile will deal the weapon's full damage until they begin spinning and fading, at which point their damage drops gradually until they dissipate.
Its best modifier is Godly or Demonic. Both modifiers increase the average damage output by the same amount.
Notes
For the limitations of the lifesteal effect, see
Lifesteal.
- At least 4 knife projectiles 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:
Number of
projectiles |
Chance
|
| 4 |
30.76*315/1024 (30.76%)
|
| 5 |
47.46*243/512 (47.46%)
|
| 6 |
19.14*49/256 (19.14%)
|
| 7 |
2.54*13/512 (2.54%)
|
| 8 |
0.1*1/1024 (0.1%)
|
- The average number of projectiles thrown is 4.94.
- Damage inflicted by debuffs such as On Fire! do not trigger the lifesteal, only the knife projectiles themselves do.
- Because the lifesteal effect is rounded down, it will not heal the player if it deals less than 14 damage.
- At full speed (when first thrown), the projectiles travel at 77 mph.
- Due to their high speed, some of the Vampire Knives' projectiles may travel through 1-tile thick walls.
- Despite the visual effect indicating otherwise, the player gets healed immediately upon dealing damage, rather than when the ensuing red beams connect.
- It is impossible to obtain the Vampire Knives on Corruption worlds, as these lack a Crimson Chest. Instead, the Dungeon has a Corruption Chest containing a Scourge of the Corruptor.
- Reflected knife projectiles (e.g. a spinning Selenian) that hit the player will not trigger the healing effect.
- In Celebrationmk10 worlds, the Vampire Knives can be found with the normally-incompatible Legendary modifier. The size boost will not take effect, though it is still the best modifier possible.
Tips
- Despite the Vampire Knives' disappointing damage, being post-Plantera, they are one of the only methods to gain lifesteal in the game, the other being the Spectre armor with Hood. The lifesteal effect makes the weapon helpful to have on the side, along with a stronger weapon like the Terra Blade.
- Some higher melee speed bonuses will cripple the Vampire Knives, as this may cause the player to only throw the knives every other swing. However, the high melee speed will make them fly faster and farther.
- Vampire Knives are less useful against the Moon Lord because of the Moon Bite debuff it can apply to the player, disabling the life-stealing effect of the knives.
- The Vampire Knives are still useful with endgame gear, as no melee weapon can replace their healing effect.
- They prove effective against numerous bosses and events. With proper preparation, it can be impossible to die.
- While all flasks work well with the Vampire Knives, using a Flask of Ichor will lower struck enemies' defense, increasing damage dealt, and thus increasing health recovered to the player.
- Since the Vampire Knives heal based on damage dealt, and the Crawltipede's damage taken is multiplied by 10, the player can use this to their advantage, gaining more health than normal attacking them. However, this will make the gaps between heals longer due to how lifesteal works.
Trivia
- One of the knife projectiles will always aim at the cursor's location.
- The Vampire Knives are Leinfors' favorite weapon.[2]
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
- ↑ Information taken from the
Desktop 1.4.0.5 source code, method ItemCheck_Shoot() in Terraria.Player.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
- ↑ Leinfors on Reddit May 17, 2021
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