The Sampire is not to be overlooked and just as strong in my opinion prior to the change in Necromancy. Eventually with honor, DI, EoE, Tactics, and Anatomy your gonna cap out at damage allowed at 300%. You get a sampire with Magic Resists and you probably have the best all around Champion Spawn template out there in my opinion. Perhaps not the #1 choice for dealing directly with the Champion Bosses themselves but for progressing the current 11 spawns we have today I'll take a sampire as my first choice over the whammy (which on most templates lacks Magic Resists) and also over the Necro-Mage-Wither-Perpetual-Peacer- Spawner-Spammer.
I just recently made a sampire and it is an awesome character for using to advance Champion Spawns. I need to test more on solo'ing Bosses but I did solo a Paragon Cu Sidhe which is a very good measuring bar for the highest end monsters the game has to offer.
Template:
120 Swords
120 Tactics
120 Bushido
120 Magic Resists
100 Necromancy
75 Chivalry
65 Spirit Speak or Anatomy (I go with Spirit Speak)
Sampire is still a very viable template. You have your default 20% Life Leech from Vampire Form coupled with 20% Dragon Barding damage reduction. Then with the 65 Spirit Speak that still buys you 13 seconds of +50% Life Leech via Curse Weapon which will stack and give 70% Life Leech when things start getting crazy.
Gear and Equipment:
Soulseeker and Whirlwind are the life-blood of this template.
Faction Artifacts are the way to go with the increase in Resists and item properties.
Head: Faction Mace and Shields with the 10% Damage Bonus Increase
Neck: Heartwood Woodland Gorget with 10% Damage Increase and either LMC or MR
Arms: Heartwood Woodland Arms with 10% Damage Increase and either LMC or MR
Ring & Bracelet: DI 20% give or take, with DCI and LMC, and if possible with some resist to balance out the armor
Legs: Faction Fey Leggings
Chest: Rune Beetle Carapace
Gloves: Heartwood Woodland Gauntlets with 10% Damage Increase and either LMC or MR (Stormgrip is way too low in Fire and Poison for this template)
For my money it doesn't get much better. You get a soul seeker with 100 DI and your in business to deal out some serious damage! You got a weapon 2.5 SW with 60% SSI and 100 DI to boot with the best special move in the game. Whirlwind!
Sampire can do better in some situations than the Whammy and Vice Versa. Why not have both!?
