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Geralt of Rivia has faced many dangerous opponents during his life. However, one of the few creatures even a Witcher doesn't dare to take on often is a High Vampire. Of all the various vampire species, the high vampires are closest to humans, which, paradoxically, also makes them the most dangerous ones.
That doesn't mean every high vampire is antagonistic. Just like with every species in the world of The Witcher, there are some good high vampires and some evil ones. Thanks to the secrecy surrounding them, a lot of The Witcher characters know nothing about high vampires, and the fans might also be confused about them, especially if they only saw the show and didn't play the games or read the books.
6 They Can Get Drunk... Sort Of
If there's one thing high vampires know how to do, it's how to have a good time — except for the fact that their idea of fun is different from humans. Instead of getting drunk on wine or other alcohol, high vampires can get drunk by consuming human blood.
They don't need it to survive. Blood doesn't function as food for them, instead, it serves as alcohol. So the more human blood a high vampire drinks, the drunker they become, and their inhibitions lower.
5 They Can Pass Off As Humans
Unlike lower vampires, such of fleders or garkains, high vampires can easily live among humans should they so choose. Since they're not driven by their lust for blood like lower vampires, they can interact with humans in a civilized way, and even fall in love with them, like Dettlaff did with Syanna.
What's more, even the Witcher medallion that serves to detect the presence of magic and magical creatures stays silent in the presence of high vampires. In the books, Geralt didn't immediately realize who he was facing when he first met Regis.
4 Orianna Might Be One Of Them
One of the greatest The Witcher 3 mysteries (other than how exactly Ciri defeated the White Frost) is what type of being Orianna is. The trailer for the game portrayed her as a bruxa, a different kind of vampire. However, the Blood and Wine extension instead showcases Orianna as an old friend of Regis who's powerful enough to guard the key to the Unseen Elder's self.
On the other hand, Orianna keeps an orphanage at hand so that she could feed on blood of children, which isn't the usual M.O. of high vampires. In the end, Orianna could therefore be a bruxa or a high vampire, but nobody knows for sure.
3 They're On Top Of The Vampire Hierarchy
Even though it looks like the vampires living in Geralt's world have no clear hierarchy, that's not quite the case. It seems that a high vampire can control the lower ones. As Dettlaff demonstrates during the vampire attack at Beauclair and before, he holds power over lower vampires and manages to sic them on the city.
What's more, the bruxa at Corvo Bianco works for him as well, and Dettlaff confesses to Geralt that she was dear to him after Geralt killed the bruxa. That suggests that, even though the vampires don't have an official hierarchy established, the high vampires are still on top and aren't only stronger, but more powerful in general.
2 They Don't Follow Vampire Lore
An interesting fact about high vampires that many The Witcher fans might fail to realize in the rush of watching the show is that they don't exactly follow typical vampire lore. For one, they're not limited by the Sun in the slightest. Geralt and Regis spend hours walking through the city at day, and it has zero impact on Regis.
Another important difference is that vampires can't be killed by humans, only injured, which allows them to regenerate over time. They don't have to drink blood if they don't want to, just like humans can abstain from drinking alcohol.
And finally, they can't turn humans into vampires by biting them, as vampires are a whole different species. All of these things make the high vampires even more fascinating when compared with the traditional portrayal of vampires.
1 Geralt's Good Friend Regis
Even though they don't initially get along and Geralt doesn't trust Regis when he meets him in the books (especially once he realizes Regis is a vampire), they eventually become good friends. Regis is the one who helps Geralt solve the mystery of the Beast of Beauclair and even saves the witcher's life several times. He's also the only one who can truly strike down Dettlaff, and he does so if Geralt chooses to fight Dettlaff.
However, there's another in which Regis can help Geralt that the players might have missed. During the vampires' attack at Beauclair in The Night Of Long Fangs quest, Regis and Geralt come across several vampires and Geralt has to fight them — except, he doesn't have to.
If Regis is with Geralt at this point and Geralt hasn't gone to find Orianna, all the player needs to do is move to a safe distance and watch as Regis kills the hostile vampires himself, much faster and more easily than Geralt would have ever managed. As a result, Geralt doesn't risk his life. Regis doesn't mind killing the vampires who are destroying the city and killing its people.