After multiple closed and open playtests, Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt is officially out. The free-to-play battle royale by developer Sharkmob marries the grimly romantic World of Darkness universe with the hectic gameplay of a third-person shooter, and the result is very unique. In Bloodhunt, players prowl the streets of present-day Prague at night, fighting each other and trying to avoid (or destroy) the AI-controlled forces of the Entity, a mysterious organization of vampire hunters backed by the Vatican.
A number of things have changed in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt since the most recent playtest. The Saboteur has had their Sewer Bomb ability majorly buffed, and a number of other underperforming Archetypes have also been buffed. The 9-Barrel Rifle is officially in the game, although it accidentally made an appearance in the last playtest, too. With the exception of the Revolver, the Sniper Rifle, and the DMR, all weapons have a slightly lower headshot multiplier now, while some weapons like the Tommygun have received a baseline damage buff to compensate. This change aims to make gunplay feel more consistent by reducing the impact of lucky headshots players could land with some of the faster-firing weapons in Bloodhunt.
One of the best changes in the Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt release day update concerns Diableries, the game’s finisher move system. Successfully completing a Diablerie now resets the player’s ability cooldowns, allowing them to quickly get back in the fight or to make an escape if third parties show up.
For further details on all release day Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt changes, you can read the full patch notes below.
New weapon: 9-Barrel Rifle
As the name suggests, it sports nine barrels strapped together with a unique firing mechanism. The trigger can be tapped to fire with great precision or held down to empty each chamber in a barrage of high-damage bullets. In other words, a very versatile weapon that in the right hands can be extremely deadly. Uses precision ammo.
Blood Resonance
We have increased the resonance cap from 7 to 12. This means that you can fill out all your resonance slots if you Diablerize and keep feeding, which is perfect for all of you thirsty and power-crawing Kindred.
Diablerie
We wanted to make it worth your time to Diablerize, so ability cooldowns are now reset upon a successful Diablerie, giving you a better chance to fight back or escape when ambushed after defeating an enemy.
Mastery challenges
Bloodhunt now features brand new Mastery challenges which are used to unlock player cards.
Archetype changes
Toreador
- Projection lifetime increased from 10s to 12s.
- Projection distance thrown increased from 15m to 16m.
- The Muse passive ability now includes a 25% reduction on the regeneration timer in addition to being able to use their powers while downed. We think this will make the Muse passive a bit more competitive compared to other passive abilities in the game.
- The range of the Siren’s Kindred Charm has been increased to be a bit longer than civilians’ vision range, and should now be applied instantly, letting you feed with ease.
Nosferatu
- The Saboteur’s Sewer Bomb is getting a bit of a facelift to make it a bit more effective. Initial damage is increased from 20 to 25, and gas damage is increased from 16 per second to 20.
Brujah
- The Vandal’s Earthshock now has a shorter stun time of 0.65s, down from 0.9s.
- The Earthshock landing animation still takes about 0.5s. This means that players stunned by Earthshock will be able to act way sooner and that the attacker has a much shorter window of advantage.
Weapon changes
As always we listen to the feedback of our players and compare your thoughts against our telemetry data. Here are the latest changes that we have done to further improve the weapon balance in Bloodhunt.
Headshot damage has gotten some changes where many of the weapons have had it slightly reduced, a couple of them more than others. Precision weapons remain untouched. The intention is to reduce the impact of lucky headshots when spraying with close-range weapons.
Pump Shotgun
- Decreased headshot multiplier from 1.25x to 1.2x.
Double Barrel
- Decreased headshot multiplier from 1.25x to 1.2x.
Silenced SMG
- Decreased headshot multiplier from 1.5x to 1.2x.
- This weapon is by many considered top tier, so this change also acts as a nerf to give more room for other weapons.
Tommy Gun
- Decreased headshot multiplier from 1.5x to 1.2x.
- Increased damage per bullet from 13 to 14.
- The base damage is increased to compensate for the headshot damage reduction, and should in general make this a more consistent weapon. It also puts the headshot multiplier more in line with other short-range weapons.
Dual Pistols
- Decreased headshot multiplier from 1.5x to 1.4x.
- The dual pistols get away with less of a decrease than the above low caliber weapons since they are way more precision-based, and we wanted to keep rewarding good aim when using them.
Assault Rifle
- Decreased headshot multiplier from 1.5x to 1.4x.
Burst Rifle
- Decreased headshot multiplier from 1.5x to 1.4x.
- Increased damage per bullet from 25 to 26.
- Increased ammo capacity from 15, 21, 30 to 18, 24, 30.
Toggler
- Decreased headshot multiplier from 1.5x to 1.4x.
- Increased damage per bullet from 26 to 27.
Minigun
- Decreased headshot multiplier from 1.5x to 1.2x.
- Increased damage per bullet from 15 to 16.
Revolver
- Decreased damage per bullet from 50 to 45.
Crossbow
- Gas now deals damage to anyone inside the cloud, regardless of if there are any objects in between the player and the center of the cloud. We think this will make the Crossbow feel more consistent and further define its role as a weapon that is effective at flushing out enemies hiding in cover.
- Damage from multiple Crossbow gas clouds no longer stacks.
