A story-driven RPG developed by Big Bad Wolf, Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is set in the World of Darkness, in the city of Boston. The game follows the stories of Galeb, Emem, and Leysha, three vampires from different clans who are tasked with investigating a disastrous masquerade breach on behalf of the prince of Boston.

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Galeb’s Clan & Disciplines

As a member of clan Ventrue, known as “The Clan of Kings” or “Bluebloods,” Galeb is gifted with the disciplines of Dominate, Fortitude, and Presence. These disciplines serve to embody authority and command, and making good use of these disciplines is essential to playing Galeb.

Dominate

Dominate is easily one of Galeb’s most attractive disciplines from a player perspective, granting the vampire the power to control others with nothing but a few words, and even manipulate memory. This makes it highly useful in a range of situations throughout the game, especially when visiting Moore’s apartment early on.

Compel: Gives Access to Dominate as a Dialog Choice. This is automatically unlocked at the start of the game. Words of Steel: Grants an additional Dominate point, improving the chances of success when using Dominate dialog choices. Imperious Speech: Reduces the hunger generated by using Dominate in dialog by one point. Iron Fist: This skill guarantees success in the next skill check made at the cost of generating four hunger. Logotomy: Reduces the hunger generated by using Iron Fist by one.

Maxing out Dominate is an excellent plan for playing as Galeb, since he has ample opportunities to make use of it, and it can get him out of many dangerous or difficult situations.

Presence

Similarly, Presence allows Galeb to charm or intimidate others with an aura of dread or charm, allowing him to more subtly manipulate those around him.

Awe: Grants access to Presence as a dialog choice. This is automatically unlocked at the start of the game. Velvet Glove: Gain an additional Presence point, improving the chances of success when using Presence dialog choices. Silver Tongue: Prevents an opponent from focusing a skill in dialogue, but generates two hunger. Highly useful for reducing risk when equally matched with another character in a skill check. Scapular Demand: When one of your actions increases the risk of an opponent’s Focus, the increase is reduced by 30%. Hypnotyposis: Silver Tongue generates one less hunger, making it even easier to use frequently.

The skills offered by Presence can be very useful for crafting a more persuasive character and manipulating the odds of success when tied to skill level during conversations and confrontations.

Fortitude

Finally, Fortitude improves Galeb’s Physical and Mental Resilience, making him far more durable than the other members of the cast.

Durability: Available only in Exploration. GRants the ability to withstand physical pain with a hunger cost determined by Galeb’s Fortitude rating and the difficulty of the interaction. This skill is unlocked by default at the start of the game. Walls of the Mind: Defends against the opponent’s skills and increases the chance of winning by 50% in the case of a tie at the cost of generating two hunger. This skill is excellent for boosting the odds of success without spending as much willpower on focusing. Mental Fortress: Walls of the Mind generates one less hunger, allowing it to be used more frequently. Iron Will: Walls of the Mind can now also protect against opponent’s disciplines. This is invaluable when facing other vampires who might try to manipulate Galeb via supernatural means. Labyrinth of the Soul: Walls of the Mind costs one less point of Hunger, effectively making the power free to use.

Improving Galeb’s fortitude is certainly prudent when he lives in a world where every other vampire is working on their own agenda and might try to manipulate him. Additionally, the fortitude powers pair well with mid-high ratings in skills to greatly improve the odds of success even when tied with an opponent.

Much of Galeb’s gameplay relies on his ability to manipulate or intimidate those around him. This connects with his backstory and role as an enforcer for the Prince.

As such, leveling up his Intimidation, Rhetoric, and Psychology skills is highly useful to allow him to throw his weight around.

Intimidation allows him to bend people to his will simply by being scary, pressuring them, or making use of his physical strength and imposing presence. Rhetoric allows him to easily identify and react to social conventions, which helps him to better engage in less aggressive conversation and identify oddities in others’ behavior when conversing. Psychology lets Galeb to convince and/or manipulate others by taking advantage of their behavior and emotional weaknesses, permitting him to pressure people with their own vulnerabilities.

Galeb has plenty of opportunities to intimidate or manipulate others throughout the game, so prioritizing Intimidation and Psychology first, and then adding some points into Rhetoric later, can be very effective.

As Galeb also finds himself playing the role of detective several times, it can be worthwhile to improve his Deduction and Education skills, so he can identify additional clues and catch contradictions in conversations.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is available now for PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, & Nintendo Switch.

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