Top 12 Vampire Weaknesses - How to Kill A Vampire

Are you trying to find out how to kill vampire? Perhaps you suspect that a vampire is in your midst. Maybe you want to learn how to protect yourself in case a vampire comes knocking one day. You’ve come to the right place! If you want the best chances of survival, take heed of the following tricks.

Vampires have been a mainstay of folklore throughout the centuries, and the methods to slay them have changed over time. First, you need to find out what are vampires. Traditionally, vampires have a number of weaknesses. However, whether or not these weaknesses are significant depends on the type of vampire and their vampire powers.

If you're an aspiring vampire slayer, here are some tried and true methods you can use to vanquish a vampire for good.

How to Kill A Vampire #1: Expose to Sunlight

how to kill vampire weakness expose sunlight

Source: Nosferatu, 1922, Film Arts Guild

Originally, vampires had to sleep in their coffin during the day, confined to the cover of night, only to cower upon the first light of dawn. Sunlight did not use to be fatal for vampires. They were merely dormant in their coffins or crypt during daytime, which made it easy to stake them. Sunlight as a tool of extermination did not figure into vampire lore until later. Sunlight may have become associated with vampires with credit to influential films like Nosferatu, wherein the titular vampire ultimately vanished in a puff of smoke at the break of dawn.

Exposing a vampire to sunlight will usually cause them to be disintegrated and burn as if set on fire. The more sunlight exposure, the quicker the vampire will disintegrate.  Sunlight has to be perhaps the most painful way to exterminate a vampire, as their skin is known to literally melt under direct exposure. In some traditions, instead of burning, vampires will turn to dust when daylight hits.

Depending on the vampire’s age and power level, they may be able to resist a certain degree of sunlight exposure, and at worse, their skin will smolder during that length of time.

At first glance, it would seem that killing a vampire with sunlight should be easy since the sun shows up daily and sunlight is plentiful during daytime. However, in actuality, doing so will no doubt prove challenging. Vampires are generally very swift, strong, and smart, so you will need to trick vampires into going under direct sunlight, or to use mirrors in a cunning manner. If you have the means, you can attempt to trap a vampire outdoors until the sun rises, perhaps by securing them to a holy cross or by hanging religious artifacts on them.

Using an artificial source of ultraviolent light (UV light), it may be possible to replicate the effects of sunlight on a vampire. Portable sources include fluorescent and incandescent lights, black lights, germicidal lamps, mercury vapor lamps, halogen lights, high-intensity discharge lamps, and certain kinds of lasers.

If you have access to magic or know of magicians or witches, it is possible to conceive of a spell powerful enough to conjure an artificial sun which can replicate natural sunlight in an effort to vanquish the vampire.

How to Kill A Vampire #2: Stake the Heart

how to kill vampire weakness stake heart

Source: Hammer House of Horror, 1980, ITC Entertainment

The wooden stake is a classic tool used for vampire slaying. It is easy to find, portable, handy, and effective. A wooden stake is just a piece of wood which has a pointed edge sharp enough for piercing through flesh. Staking a vampire through the heart is thought to be fatal. However, in the olden tradition, this method only prevents a vampire from leaving their coffin. In the past, those seeking to stop a vampire would use a hammer or shovel to drive the stake into the body of the vampire.

In some situations, a special type of wood is used to make an effective stake. This is typically hawthorn, hickory, or oak. The wooden stake may sometimes need to be blessed by a priest or enchanted by a witch. The wooden stake can also be fashioned into the shape of a holy object, like the cross. Nowadays, everyday wooden objects like pool cues, broomsticks, and even wooden furniture can be reimagined as makeshift vampire staking tools.

The origin of this unusual method of killing a vampire is uncertain. Some have claimed that it is associated with Vlad the Impaler who had earned his sinister reputation as a vampire from his nasty habit of impaling his enemies on wooden spikes. Whatever it is, all the folklore agree that you need to stake a vampire’s heart to kill it.

The key to staking a vampire is to use the element of surprise and strike first. This can prove difficult to the vampire’s keen senses as well as their supernatural reflexes and strength. If you happen to get the opportunity, and the vampire lets its guard down, you should aim to attack swiftly and without hesitation.  Vampires can recover from most wounds due to their supernatural regenerative ability, but a wooden stake through their hearts will nullify their healing and keep them down.

Once the wooden stake has pierced the heart, it must be left inside the vampire’s body for a good number of seconds or even minutes before the vampire can truly die.  Depending on the nature and power of the vampire, they may survive for quite some time before dying. The stake will render them weak and powerless as they experience a painfully agonizing death. The more powerful the stake, the easier to penetrate the vampire and the quicker their deaths will be.

How to Kill A Vampire #3: Burn with Silver

how to kill vampire weakness burn silver holy

It is said that the vampire’s aversion to silver can be traced back to the time in ancient Greece. An Italian-born adventurer named Ambrogio is said to be the first vampire. He had traveled to Delphi in Greece where he evoked the wrath of Apollo, the sun God, who cursed him such that the touch of Apollo's sun would burn his flesh. He later stole the silver bow of Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt, and it was Artemis who cursed him such that the touch of silver would burn his skin and cause him great pain. She later felt pity for him and gave him the gift of immortality. Ambrogio loved a woman named Serene. By drinking her blood and killing her mortal body, he was able to transform her into an eternal spirit of light and guarantee that they would stay together forever. Their children were newly created vampires who forever carry the blood of Ambrogio and Serene.

Silver, colloidal silver in particular, has been known for a long time as an antiviral and antibacterial agent. It is a touted remedy for many ailments. Silver is thought to have the same cleansing effect in the paranormal world against vampires. Although silver would not cure a vampire of its vampirism, it can nonetheless serve as a potent toxin and ward against them.

Silver has many inherent advantages. It is portable and can be found widely. Many everyday objects like coins, jewelry, ornaments, and utensils have silver in them. You can carry silver on your person quite easily. However, you have to ensure that the silver is of a sufficiently high purity to be effective.

Silver is mainly used as a secondary tool to trap and weaken, rather than to kill, a vampire. Silver is used to slow down their healing process and immobilize them. Despite their supernatural strength, vampires cannot free themselves from a chain made of silver. If you can manage to chain a vampire to an exposed area outdoors, you need only wait until daybreak before the vampire is burned by the rising sunlight.

Although silver is most associated with killing werewolves, it can still be effective against vampires. A bullet of pure silver will inflict a vampire with profound agony and eventual death. You can also consider stabbing a vampire through the heart with a silver cross or stake, resulting in a swift extermination.

How to Kill A Vampire #4: Burn with Fire

how to kill vampire weakness burn fire holy

Source: The Vampire Diaries, 2009, Warner Bros. Television

Setting the vampire on fire may seem like a good way to vanquish it forever. However, the trained vampire hunter knows that vampires will not burn easily to conventional flames due to their undead nature. The vampire is not cursed with a weakness to fire, unlike their inherent vulnerability to sunlight and silver. As such, even if the vampire were to burn like humans do when engulfed in flames, they possess a supernatural regenerative ability, and so, they will heal rapidly as they burn.

Successfully burning a vampire to death requires a source of heat that is hot enough to surpass the rapid pace of the vampire’s healing ability. This would likely take a big fire and a long ‘cooking’ process. This method cannot be done half-heartedly as a vampire can still survive if the burning process is not complete. You want to ensure that the vampire has turned completely to ash before letting down your guard.

Because you want to immobilize the vampire for long periods of time while it burns, you may consider using silver, either as a tool to tie them up with or to render them weak. If a vampire proves difficult to burn, you may choose to first douse them in flammable substances like gasoline or oil.

A priest can provide something called holy flames, or holy fire. These are flames that have been blessed by the priest in the name of their religion, which can then be used to cleanse the undead vampire and other paranormal beings. These holy flames can be passed on as a torch to other torches to turn them holy as well.

How to Kill A Vampire #5: Sever the Head

how to kill vampire weakness decapitate sever head chop

Vampires are known for their supernatural toughness. However, they cannot survive without their heads. Beheading vampires is a foolproof way of killing them and making sure that they stay dead. Decapitation as a means of killing an undead is not exclusive to vampires. It is a trusted technique that also works on most supernatural creatures as well.

Severing a vampire’s head is not as simple as it may sound. Because vampires are fast, strong, and smart, and it takes a lot to get the dastardly deed done. They have a thick skin and supernatural healing ability, therefore the job of decapitating a vampire will require some extraordinary tools. The first method is to use a sword or knife that is engraved or plated with silver. This will serve to weaken the vampire and prevent their rapid healing from taking place. The second option is to enlist the help of another supernatural being with enhanced strength to tear off the vampire’s head. This can be a fellow vampire or a werewolf, although finding and convincing one to do so might be a herculean task in itself.

It is thought that stuffing the severed vampire head with garlic will make doubly sure that the vampire will not be coming back. Others have speculated that burning the head and body of the vampire separately will make the deed permanent. Modern weapons that can disintegrate the target faster than they can heal will also do the trick, such as a rocket launcher, a machine gun, explosive devices, bombs, and some high-powered lasers.

How to Kill A Vampire #6: Strike with Holy Symbols

how to kill vampire weakness dracula holy symbol cross

Source: Dracula, 1992, Columbia Pictures

Vampires are undead creatures, and by cheating death, their existence is thought to be in defiance of God and all that is holy and sacred. As such, vampires are considered evil creatures that shrivel before sacred artifacts. In the same way, vampires are terrified of sacred places, so someone who is a target of vampires could use churches and other religious buildings as a sanctuary to hide in. These do not have to be associated with Christianity. Symbols from Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other faiths can be effective as well. The symbol itself is not as important as the faith of the user, vampire, or both.

In the western world, bibles, crucifixes, holy water, the Eucharist, and sacred bullets are the mainstay of traditional tools that have been used to slay a vampire. They may or may not need to first be blessed by a priest to be considered sacred objects.

You need to somehow get a vampire to ingest, be touched by, or staked with one of these holy symbols and they will either be severely weakened or perish outright. If you find yourself lacking one of these tools, you may try to get hold of anything that resembles a crucifix. Even forming a cross with your fingers or a pair of sticks can prove effective. Like garlic, spraying vampires with holy water can scald or burn their flesh like acid. Some have speculated that the vampire has to be doused entirely in holy water for it to kill, while others have suggested that just a tiny splash of water will do the trick.

In Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula, the holy cross has a prominent role in helping characters to elude bloodthirsty vampires. Professor Van Helsing wields a crucifix throughout the story on several occasions, claiming that it will diminish the powers of the vampire.

Holy objects can also serve as an investigative tool used to reveal someone who is a vampire or had been bitten by one. In the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 horror novel, Salem’s Lot, vials of holy water were used as a makeshift detection tool. They glowed in the presence of vampires.

How to Kill A Vampire #7: Repel with Garlic

how to kill vampire weakness garlic

Garlic is a famous vampire deterrent. The pungent herb can be utilized to repel vampires in a number of ways. You can hide it on your body, wear around your neck like a necklace, hang it above your windows or doors, rub it on your walls, or bathe in garlic oil in order to keep the vampire away. There are places where corpses had their mouths stuffed with garlic in a bid to prevent them from being possessed or to keep them down in case they are vampires.

In addition to garlic, vampires also dread plants that symbolize new life, such as roses, holly, or hawthorn. Others have used plants such as buckthorn, juniper logs, blackthorn, or rowan to keep the undead at bay. You can plant these around your house, or carry them on your person for protection.

The belief that garlic repels vampires might have originated with the rabies disease. A human suffering from rabies would have a crazed, slobbering look which has been associated to vampires. A small percentage of people plagued by rabies have been known to bite other people. The spread of rabies comes from the virus carried in saliva. People infected with rabies have a hypersensitive response to the pungent odor of garlic.

How to Kill A Vampire #8: Starve To Death

how to kill vampire weakness starve desiccation

Vampires survive on blood and other life essences. If you remove a vampire from their source of sustenance, they will gradually weaken until they eventually starve to death, also known as a state of desiccation. This means of exterminating a vampire is slow, and potentially troublesome. It is necessary to capture and hold the vampire securely for as long as it takes to ensure its death.

While vampires all require some manner of life essence, the precise amounts, type, and quality differs from vampire to vampire. The consequence of starving varies as well. Some vampires can survive for a very long time without feeding and still retain most of their capabilities. Others may weaken rapidly and lose their mind, entering a crazed, feral state that stops only after they have eaten.

How to Kill A Vampire #9: Bite by Werewolves

how to kill vampire weakness bite werewolf shapeshifter

The vampire and werewolf rivalry is as famous as it is old. Despite their longstanding hatred for each other, these ancient arch-rivals have many things in common. Both are supernaturally strong, tough, fast, and smart, both have long lifespans, and both dwell in the night. Nonetheless, the two paranormal creatures are each other’s weakness. If a vampire drinks a werewolf’s blood, the vampire becomes stronger. However, if a werewolf bites a vampire, the vampire dies. The scratch of a werewolf might be toxic to a vampire as well.

Trying to get the aid of a werewolf to slay a vampire will prove difficult, if not impossible. Unless you are yourself a werewolf, this method is not recommended.

How to Kill A Vampire #10: Feed with Vampire Blood

how to kill vampire weakness feed blood poison

Vampires have to consume the blood or life essence of living creatures, ideally humans. If vampires ingest the blood of another vampire, however, they will quickly find themselves deathly ill or even perish. Vampire blood is toxic to other vampires. Trying to feed vampire blood to vampires will likely be impossible. As such, this method is not recommended.

How to Kill A Vampire #11: Compulsion by a True Vampire

 how to kill vampire weakness compulsion mind control hypnosis

The most powerful vampires are the true vampires, also known as ancestral vampires or first vampires. In the titular television series, these vampires are known as The Originals. True vampires are the first generation of vampires and first of their respective bloodlines. As the oldest vampire, they are the strongest, fastest, toughest, most influential and most powerful vampires. They have the ability to destroy a lesser vampire, simply by compelling them to kill themselves. If a true vampire is particularly cruel, they could compel a lesser vampire to suffer in agony for all eternity, which would truly be a fate worse than death.

How to Kill A Vampire #12: Banish with Magic

how to kill vampire weakness witch magic sorcery wizard

Vampires are not impervious to something as powerful as magic which can be used to destroy and banish them. When it comes to paranormal beings, there are those considered to be on a higher power level than vampires. These can be practitioners of the magical arts, such as witches, warlocks, and wizards, as well as all manner of magical and mythical beings. It is conceivable that various forms of elemental magic under the domain of fire, air, earth, and water can be engineered to eradicate vampires. However, the use of magic often comes with a price and proves to be incredibly risky. Most magic has a high likelihood of backfiring on the practitioner.

Vampires are governed by a magical curse that prevents them from entering any occupied home without first receiving an invitation. However, ancient vampires, also known as true vampires, could have immunity to magic due to predating the birth of magic.

What do you think are the best ways to kill a vampire? Share them below!

12 comments on “Top 12 Vampire Weaknesses - How to Kill A Vampire”

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  2. dear one vampire comes tomy home at night n psychics says he does sex with...i m crying,i m afraid what i do.i took 2 yrs n i m suffering a lot.can u tell or suggest which talismaan will keep him away.

    1. Yeah, I have to write a guide for new vampires and this gives me a perfect list of weaknesses so I can write what they should be wary of

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