Bloodlines is a new campaign feature added for the Vampire Counts in Total War: Warhammer II, introduced as part of the Aye-Aye! Patch. You utilize the new Blood Kiss currency to unlock new Bloodline Lords and powerful faction effects. However, you can only have three lords from each bloodline, and the price increases for each successive one. It costs 3 Blood Kisses for the first of a bloodline, 6 for the second of that bloodline, and 12 for the final one of that bloodline. It will cost a total of 105 Blood Kisses to obtain three of each of the five bloodlines.
After awakening a Bloodline Lord, they are added to your normal Lord recruitment pool and can be recruited at any settlement. Bloodline Lords each have their own skill tree and always have the Immortal trait so you can't permanently lose any of them.
The available Bloodline Lords are: Lahmian Vampire Lord, Von Carstein Vampire Lord, Blood Dragon Vampire Lord, Necrarch Vampire Lord, and Strigoi Vampire Lord.
Each Bloodline Lord you awaken also provides a permanent faction wide buff, known as a Forbidden Dark Art.
Lahmian Forbidden Dark Arts
- First Lord: -50% Upkeep for all Heroes
- Second Lord: Diplomatic relations: +30 with Empire, Kislev, Cathay and Bretonnia
- Third Lord: +150% Campaign Line of Sight
Von Carstein Forbidden Dark Arts
- First Lord: +10% Casualty Replenishment Rate, gain access to Sylvanian Crossbowmen
- Second Lord: Public Order +5
- Third Lord: Gain access to Sylvanian Handgunners
Blood Dragon Forbidden Dark Arts
- First Lord: +15% Weapon Strength for Cavalry Units
- Second Lord: +100 Unit Experience for all units
- Third Lord: Raise Dead pool capacity +2 for Blood Knights units (own provinces)
Necrarch Forbidden Dark Arts
- First Lord: +25% Research Rate
- Second Lord: +15 Winds of Magice power reserve capacity
- Third Lord: -10% Upkeep for all units
Strigoi Forbidden Dark Arts
- First Lord: +20% Ambush Success Chance and Raise Dead pool capacity +2 for Crypt Ghoul units
- Second Lord: +5 Vampiric Corruption
- Third Lord: Raise Dead pool capacity +2 for Crypt Horrors units