Vampire Knives

Vampire Knives

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Statistics

Type	Weapon
Damage	29 (Melee)
Knockback	2.75 (Very weak)
Critical chance	4%
Use time	16 (Very fast)
Velocity	15
Tooltip	Rapidly throw life stealing daggers
Rarity	08*
Sell	20 GC
Research	1 required

Projectiles created

• Vampire Knife
  
• Vampire Heal
  

Sounds

Use

• Internal Item ID: 1569
• Internal Projectile ID: 304, 305

The Vampire Knives in action.

The Vampire Knives are a Hardmode, post-Plantera melee weapon that autofires a spread of red knife projectiles. When a knife 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 fire between 4 and 8 high-velocity (~84 mph) knife projectiles at a maximum spread of approximately 45°. 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 knife projectile will deal the weapon's full damage until it begins spinning and fading, at which point its damage drops gradually until it dissipates. 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.

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, 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.

• 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. from a spinning Selenian(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)) that hit the player will not trigger healing effects for the enemy.

Tips

• Despite the Vampire Knives' very low 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(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) because of the Moon Bite(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) 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(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)'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 were Leinfors' favorite weapon.

History

 Desktop version

• Desktop 1.4.0.3: Item sprite updated.

• 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.

• Desktop 1.2: Introduced.

 Console version

• Console 1.02: Introduced.

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile 1.2.6508: Introduced.

Nintendo 3DS version

• 3DS-Release: Introduced.