Vampire bat

Vampire bat
Classification	Beast
Faction/Affiliation	Amani, Forsaken (Horde), Independent
Racial leader(s)	Hir'eek
Racial mount	Self-powered flight
Homeworld	Azeroth, Draenor
Environment	Forests, caves
Organization(s)	Colonies

The vampire bats are giant nocturnal, flying mammals that can be found in Azeroth. They have been trained as scouts and mounts by the Forsaken of the Undercity and the Amani trolls of Zul'Aman. Following the Third War, the Forsaken stable masters began training the large bats from Lordaeron to obey them, using them to ferrying those who pay for their service throughout the region.

In alternate Draenor, the vampire bats known as echo hunters, who dwell in the woods of Spires of Arak, don't use their eyes to hunt and can hear travelers approaching from a mile away.

Notable

•  Groyat, the Blind Hunter
• Snubnose

Types

•  Echo Hunter
•  Frostwing Screecher
•  Spawn of Hir'eek
•  Rabid Screecher
•  Tainted Screecher
•  Vampiric Cave Bat
•  Vampiric Duskbat
•  Vampiric Mistbat
•  Vampiric Shadowbat
•  Zul'Drak Bat

As a companion

A  [Vampiric Batling] dropped from  Tenris Mirkblood in Karazhan during the Scourge Invasion.

Method of transportation

The Forsaken flight masters, also called Bat Handler, offer adventurers the opportunity to use them as flight paths. They summon two Enraged Felbats when someone attacks them.

A Captured Riding Bat is one of the Forsaken mounts that was captured by the forces of King Genn Greymane during the final battles for Gilneas City and is also ridable as a worgen player during the quest   [1-30] Slowing the Inevitable.

The  [Armored Bloodwing] is a monstrous, flesh-eating bat mount directly purchasable from Blizzard, for $25US or €20/£17, and scales with the player's riding skill and location.

Language

This section contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

The vampire bats of Azeroth are massive and intelligent creatures native to warm jungles. These savage creatures live for battle, where they may unleash their full uncontrollable frenzies. Both forest and jungle trolls respect these chaotic bats, and ride them into battle against their enemies. More recently, vampire bats have been allying themselves with the Forsaken, acting as both transport and scouts for the Dark Lady. They are classified as large magical beasts. Their alignment is always chaotic neutral. They live solitarily, in pairs, or in colonies of 5 to 8 creatures. They can understand Low Common, but cannot speak it.

Vampire bats fly into combat with savage ferocity, biting ruthlessly at their victims. When faced with a stronger foe, they bite once or twice then retreat, letting the prey weaken from blood loss before swooping in for the kill. A vampire bat's saliva contains an anticoagulant that causes bite wounds the creature inflicts to bleed freely. A vampire bat can notice creatures by scent in a 180-foot radius and detect blood in the air at ranges up to a mile.

Masters of the wild, the Horde is more likely to use animals rather than technological vehicles in battle. For example, dwarven flying machines have a hard time keeping up with wyverns and savage vampire bats.

Troll windwarriors favors vampire bats as their choice of mounts. They fight from the air, taming the volatile vampire bats of Zul'Aman and Southern Kalimdor, convincing the bloodthirsty beasts to bear them into combat.

The trolls of Zul'Aman train vampire bats as mounts, though some Forsaken in Undercity learn as well. The process takes about 2 years. Trainers sell trained vampire bats for prices in the 6,000–7,000 gp range. A light load for a vampire bat is 232 pounds, a medium load 233–466 pounds, and a heavy load 467–700 pounds.