Now, you will see that I have put an orange border around some of the Abilities. These require Upkeep, meaning it will cost you X amount of Blood per hour to maintain every one of that Ability you own. So, for Horrific Transformation, that would be 2,500 x the number you have = hourly upkeep cost. The drop of blood and amount by each Ability will let you know how much they cost per hour. This is where having enough Minions will come into play.

There are also Skill Ranking Abilities in each category. These do not require Upkeep. However, they do require that your SR be at that number to be able to buy (or sell) them. Go below the required SR? the abilities are re-locked. This may or may not chance.

For Offensive SR Ability there is Glamor, with 15A/7D. You will quickly outgrow Glamor, so buy what you need now and later either unlearn them (getting Blood back - one-half amount you paid) or gift them to your little ones once you have gotten better Mission Abilities.

I have put ** on the 2 SR Abilities that you will want and need as good basic abilities. There are other "Rare" from Missions and Elder Abilities that have higher Attack and Defense than Intimidation with it's 3A/28D, but chances are, you're not going to be able to afford 501 good defensive Elder Abilities! And it will take awhile before you've unlocked the Missions that give better Defense Abilities. Ability Mastery can be a help here as there's only 2 defense abilities to master (see Ability Mastery below).

Move Silently is a movement Ability. However, at 42A/42D, it is an overall great Ability and well worth the 1 million Blood each one costs. Yes, 1 mil each. Don't worry, once you Level up and unlock the last few Missions AND have a cadre of Minions, you will have the income to keep buying them until you have the full 501 - and then some. They're also good for trading and again, gifting.

Speaking of gifting, there are now 3 Abilities you can send to clan as gifts (when you enter the game you will be presented with the gifting page to select your gift and who you wish to send to): Bloodletting (offensive), Premonition (defensive) and Shadow Conceal (movement). While it may be a good thing to occasionally send some Bloodlettings and Shadow Conceal - especially to the "baby vamps" in your clan and just to have on hand (never know when there'll be a mission tier requiring them?), Premonition is actually the only worthwhile gift. It can help clan who don't have full cadre of Iron Skin (Premonition is better actually and will be chosen over IS in combat) and those who haven't done Ability Mastery (see below). Now, you will run into clan who do NOT wish to receive these gifts. If they don't want them, please respect that. They either are very high level, have great stats, better abilities and at least some Ability Mastery done. Another reason people don't like getting gifts is if you're in-game and someone sends you a gift, you're taken to the gifting page. This can be VERY annoying, especially if you're in the middle of fighting or trying to collect bounty from the HL. The move to the gifting page is not a "glitch" or a "bug", it's there to help keep the game fair, balanced and honest. So if anyone is annoyed by this? look at the people who try to cheat, not Zynga who is trying to help us. One last thing, especially using FB - any gifts you send count toward your daily in-game invitations. So if you send 10 gifts, there is a very good chance you will only be able to send 2 in-game invites. That afaik is a FB limitation to stop "spamming".

There is one other new Ability, and it only costs you in time. Cross Running Water, a movement ability. You can get 3 per day by Judging from the main Judgement page. This is a good ability and worth your time. A bit higher A/D than MS, no upkeep - important while you're trying to master abilities as movement gets to be really expensive, and something fun and interactive to do. Please note, just going to Judgement and trying to vote "tempting" for each 3 who come up will take FOREVER to get your 3 CRW. Vote/judge a combination of Tasty (+2), Tempting (+1) and Toxic (-1) depending on who you really like, like and don't like. There are also 4 trophies (4 FP!) - first for voting 100 times, being voted + 100 times, being voted -1 100 times and the overall leaderboard. Yes that one is pretty much impossible unless you're VERY well-known and popular. There's a difference between being well-known and popular ;) Also, when you're being judged, you won't get any extra CRW (unfortunately), but you can get 1 free Energy, Health and Rage refill if you get enough votes.

Below are screenshots of Combat. These are to try to help you understand at least a little, how Abilities work:

OK, so this person has just battled and won. Win or lose, to see what you attacked with and what your opponent counter-attacked/defended with, click the "CLICK HERE" that I've put a border around. Usually you will be attacking wit the same Abilities all the time, at least until you upgrade/add/change out your Abilities. Remember, the GAME will choose the best Abilities for you.

This is what you'll see if you click. This is what you attacked with and what your opponent used.

Now, what you can't see is what YOU are using for counter-attack and defense. If you really want to know, ask someone you feel you can trust or, as a friend and I did, de-clan, battle, have a look at what you're using, then join Clan again! Here's the example:

See the Missions page for the "Rare" Abilities, what the A/D is for each one, along with what Level is needed to unlock them.

ABILITIES MASTERY

Something new, fun and expensive depending on your Level and Blood income.

Ability Mastery is a bit like Mission Mastery in that you're trying to "master" all your abilities - these are the UPKEEP ones. You can do Ability Mastery once every 24 hours, unless you choose to spend 10 FP to "Master" further or faster and you have the FP and the minion blood income to support it. Please note, if you improve an ability but do not have the blood income to support it, you will be in the negative or - flow and your improved abilities will NOT be improved anymore. Why? because people at first were going to full tilt Superior everything, couldn't afford it but were getting to use the Superiors. Not fair! What is right and fair is to make sure you can afford your upkeep abilities!

Figure on needing somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion income per hour to fully master 501 of the 3 best: Horrific Transformation, Impervious and Flight. Yes, a billion - and that's not counting if you need blood to replenish health or anything else!

Each Ability will improve a certain percentage each day/time you "Master" it, some with a higher percentage, some lower. The better the Ability the lower the percentage and the higher the cost. So, what's the point, you ask. The point is to take what may not be a great buyable Ability and turn it into a super Ability. Again, this comes with costs. First there is the cost of Mastery", and then for Abilities with Upkeep (that little drop of blood with a number next to it), it will cost substantially more once you have Mastered it. Especially if you decide you want to try for, say, 501 Super Horrific Transformations. Hundreds of Millions in Blood Upkeep. So make sure you're prepared by having enough Minion Blood Income to support your Mastered Abilities. Here's a portion of the Offensive Abilities Mastery page showing the empty meters (which will slowly fill in red):

This is worthwhile to do. At least I think so. Just take your time, buy those Minions so you know you have Blood Income and have fun with this! There are 3 "tiers" of mastery. You'll probably see the much higher level players who do have a ton of Minions and Blood Income having more of the completed "Super" Abilities. Don't fret. You'll get there. Again, take your time, get your minions and income first. Owning 2,000+ of each minion is daunting!

The cost of owning 2,000 of each minion, assuming you're saving and buying in lots of TEN
(the recommended way as minion cost rises with each purchase):
In order to afford the superior abilities in offence (HT), defence (Imperv) and movement (Flight)
= approximately 1.256 billion = 2,000 of each minion (minimum)
blood required for this is I believe about 10 trillion, which is why I say you need to take it slow. Let's assume you have 10 billion on-hand and banked and spend it all on minions, that may (depending on minions bought) increase your hourly blood income by approximately 10 million

And now, the breakdown (and I hope my math is close to correct, any errors are mine):

Offensive Ability Tier

Fangs - Better: 6A/5D Cost: 500 Upkeep: -100
Fangs - Greater: 16A/15D Cost: 1,000 Upkeep: -400
Fangs - Superior: 32A/30D Cost: 2,000 Upkeep: -1,200

Vampire Claws - Better: 6A/6D Cost: 3,500 Upkeep: -100
Vampire Claws - Greater: 16A/16D Cost: 7,000 Upkeep: -400
Vampire Claws - Superior: 32A/32D Cost: 14,000 Upkeep: -1,200

Enhanced Senses - Better: 7A/7D Cost: 5,000 Upkeep: -100
Enhanced Senses - Greater: 17A/17D Cost: 10,000 Upkeep: -400
Enhanced Senses - Superior: 34A/34D Cost: 20,000 Upkeep: -1,200

Animalistic Frenzy - Better: 8A/6D Cost: 10,000 Upkeep: -100
Animalistic Frenzy - Greater: 18A/16D Cost: 20,000 Upkeep: -400
Animalistic Frenzy - Superior: 36A/32D Cost: 40,000 Upkeep: -1,200

Superhuman Strength - Better: 8A/7D Cost: 15,000 Upkeep: -100
Superhuman Strength - Greater: 18A/17D Cost: 30,000 Upkeep: -400
Superhuman Strength - Superior: 36A/34D Cost: 60,000 Upkeep: -1,200

Mind Control - Better: 8A/8D Cost: 30,000 Upkeep: -100
Mind Control - Greater: 18A/18D Cost: 60,000 Upkeep: -400
Mind Control - Superior: 36A/36D Cost: 120,000 Upkeep: -1,200

Wolf Form - Better: 17A/13D Cost: 600,000 Upkeep: -15,000
Wolf Form - Greater: 27A/23D Cost: 1,200,000 Upkeep: -60,000
Wolf Form - Superior: 54A/46D Cost: 2,400,000 Upkeep: -180,000

Horrific Transformation - Better: 21A/19D Cost: 1,020,000 Upkeep: -25,000
Horrific Transformation - Greater: 31A/29D Cost: 2,040,000 Upkeep: -100,000
Horrific Transformation Superior: 62A/58D Cost: 4,080,000 Upkeep: -300,000

Defensive Ability Tier

Fast Healing - Better: 7A/9D Cost: 30,000 Upkeep: -100
Fast Healing - Greater: 17A/19D Cost: 60,000 Upkeep: -400
Fast Healing - Superior: 34A/38D Cost: 120,000 Upkeep: -1,200

Impervious - Better: 9A/13D Cost: 100,000 Upkeep: -4,000
Impervious - Greater: 19A/23D Cost: 200,000 Upkeep: -16,000
Impervious - Superior: 38A/46D Cost: 400,000 Upkeep: -48,000

Movement Ability Tier

Inhuman Speed - Better: 6A/6D Cost: 30,000 Upkeep: -150
Inhuman Speed - Greater: 16A/16D Cost: 60,000 Upkeep: -600
Inhuman Speed - Superior: 32A/32D Cost: 120,000 Upkeep: -1,800

Unearthly Reflexes - Better: 8A/8D Cost: 100,000 Upkeep: -200
Unearthly Reflexes - Greater: 18A/18D Cost: 200,000 Upkeep: -800
Unearthly Reflexes - Superior: 36A/36D Cost: 400,000 Upkeep: -2,400

Vertical Ascension - Better: 9A/10D Cost: 200,000 Upkeep: -500
Vertical Ascension - Greater: 19A/20D Cost: 400,000 Upkeep: -2,000
Vertical Ascension - Superior: 38A/40D Cost: 800,000 Upkeep: -6,000

Gliding - Better: 9A/11D Cost: 300,000 Upkeep: -1,000
Gliding - Greater: 19A/21D Cost: 600,000 Upkeep: -4,000
Gliding - Superior: 38A/42D Cost: 1,200,000 Upkeep: -12,000

Bat Form - Better: 11A/12D Cost: 450,000 Upkeep: -2,000
Bat Form - Greater: 21A/22D Cost: 900,000 Upkeep: -8,000
Bat Form - Superior: 42A/44D Cost: 1,800,000 Upkeep: -24,000

Mist Form - Better: 15A/17D Cost: 2,000,000 Upkeep: -120,000
Mist Form - Greater: 25A/27D Cost: 4,000,000 Upkeep: -480,000
Mist Form - Superior: 50A/54D Cost: 8,000,000 Upkeep: -1,440,000

Flight - Better: 20A/19D Cost: 3,000,000 Upkeep: -180,000
Flight - Greater: 30A/29D Cost: 6,000,000 Upkeep: -720,000
Flight - Superior: 60A/58D Cost: 12,000,000 Upkeep: -2,160,000

Remember, the Cost and Upkeep is PER ABILITY, so you must take the number of each ability x Upkeep to get your hourly total. And believe me, you can go into the "red" very quickly if you're not watchful. If you do go into the red, upkeep will be taken from your bank! In that case you may need to Unlearn some until you're back in the black. And definitely pouring every drop of blood you can into more minions!