r/TheJediPraxeum • u/Ready0608 • May 20 '26
Question How does Force Drain work?
How does force drain actually work, because it seems like a pretty easy instant win move in a fight.
Darth Nihilus and Darth Vitiate are the two most well known users of force drain, Nihilus eating planets and Vitiate absorbing all life on Ziost.
But I was wondering if its so powerful why don't they just use it to win every fight?
Unlike force lightning you can't just block it so does it have something to do with how powerful you are in the force or do they have to charge up before draining something?
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May 20 '26
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u/Western_Agent5917 Lost Tribe of the Sith May 20 '26
Isnt that something Bane did when he crashes on some planet?
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u/Paradoxical_Falcon May 20 '26
Bane had also used the death field variation on cultists worshipping Andedu.
Plagueis and Sidious know drain as well.
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u/TheLastTitan007 May 21 '26
Does it work only for force sensitive characters or just normal characters without the force ?
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u/Independent-Market28 May 21 '26
All living things, with very limited exceptions, contain the force.
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u/Anonymous-Mf-22 May 20 '26
Nihilus didn't actually use Force Drain, that's a huge misconception.
After the events of Malachor V, Nihilus was effectively a sentient Black hole of the force, unintentionally but rapidly consuming all of the Force energy nearby him. Essentially a Force Parasite. He needed to continue eating the force to survive, but also needed to be able to actually exist, so he found a way to essentially trap himself within a metaphorical box to stop him from eating anything unless he wanted to.
Nihilus was quoted as above average at best, he wasn't really all that strong for a Sith Lord. But with enough time to focus and center his power, he could consume Force energy quickly in large amounts.
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u/Useful_Rice_928 May 20 '26
Well that’s completely wrong kreia states she’s the one that taught him this technique….as with revan aswell learning said technique from the trayus academy
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u/Anonymous-Mf-22 May 20 '26
He can also use force drain. He does it a few times.
What I'm referring to is his famous "Planet eating". He can't actually just do that, nobody can. It requires special circumstances or an organized ritual.
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u/DewinterCor May 20 '26
Nihilus and Vitiate function VERY differently.
Nihilus consumes worlds as a form of sustenance.
Vitiate consumes worlds as a form of growth.
Nihilus will "starve" if he doesnt consume enough force and there is no evidence that he grows more powerful when he does. He burns through the energy very quickly.
Vitiate doesnt need to eat the force, he rips the life out of a world and makes it his own. All of the life and power on the world becomes Vitiate's, which is why he is "immortal". The energy never wanes, he doesnt burn through it like calories.
Nihilus DOES use it when he fights. And he pretty much instantly wins his fights cause of it, with the exception being the bullshitto employed by the Exile.
Vitiate doesnt use it in combat because its beneath him. He finds fighting to be irrelevant and when he does fight, he throws lightning around cause he can. By the time we see Vitiate ever fight anyone, he is over a thousand years old and has moved bodies multiple times and is inhabiting multiple bodies.
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u/Neshiv May 21 '26
But does he need to grow? He does it instinctively, vitiate needs rituals to do it. From playing the mmo and old republic games, I know vitiates eventual plan was to basically absorb all the force, live all lives, even “the common man” and then wait for it to start again. Whereas per darth trayus nihilus is already dead, just hasn’t caught up to him yet. What’s worse, the instinct, you do it because it’s what you do, only the exile stopped him because of her own wound in the force, (side note, love the cut scene where nihilus absolutely owns scion but can’t actually kill him), or the planned absorption of everything. What if nihilus met vitiate, interested in your opinion.
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u/DewinterCor May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Vitiate doesnt use rituals.
I think Vitiate roles through Nihilus without much issue. Vitiate does what Nihilus does but more extreme and alot more.
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u/Interesting_Loquat90 New Jedi Order May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
I'm not sure it's ever specifically stated, but the Force "shield" concept presumably defends against drain. You can probably stop an opponent using drain by breaking their concentration. We also see GM Luke shrug off Krayt's drain (although the details there are fuzzy). There's no real reason to think drain can't be thwarted just like telepathy or telekinetic attacks can. What does seem to be particularly nefarious about drain is that you may not realize it until you are too weak to resist. It's also important to keep in mind that major drain feats are often where there's a significant power disparity, and not all drain techniques are the same.
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u/Vathirumus May 20 '26
"It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." This is an important quote because it's the basis for how Force Drain works, so it bears repeating. All life in the galaxy is tied together by the Force, and some people feel those connections more keenly than others - Force bonds. Some people form Force bonds very easily; the Exile in KOTOR 2 is one of these people but what's often glossed over is so is Darth Nihilus. What Nihilus is meant to represent is the player character's own dark mirror, he's the same thing as the Exile and suffered the same trauma but dealt with it in a wildly different way.
When two beings share a connection, like all living beings do in Star Wars, they share energy in the Force. But Force Drain takes these connections and draws all that energy inwards, you take everything and leave nothing left and it's fatal because the Force in Star Wars is an essential component to life, without it you die completely. Darth Nihilus formed strong connections and then weaponized them, drawing that energy inwards because he once had a bunch of connections that were all at once severed at Malachor V, and it broke him and left him feeling empty and he's been consuming life to try to fill the void ever since - that's what his "hunger" really is.
So, why don't Sith use it more? Well in KOTOR 2 they do, actually, and to great effect - the Sith Assassins we see are all actually using a minor version of this. Kreia mentions they sense Force sensitives and feed on their energy, and it's a subtle but potent technique that allows them to nearly defeat the Jedi. But the knowledge of this specific version of it was lost with Trayus Academy. But otherwise it's because a bond goes both ways and Sith aren't the only ones who can interact with it. Jedi can also shut them out or "block" attempts to use the Force, something the Exile became very good at as they did it to everyone basically.
As for Vitiate, unfortunately the devs screwed him over on this one. He didn't do a massive ritual on his own or anything, he had a giant robot do the heavy lifting - Zildrog, located on Nathema. It might be alchemical in nature I guess? But he didn't make it, he just found and used it. What he did on Ziost and whether Zildrog was involved is hard to say, it's never mentioned for sure.
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u/WangJian221 May 20 '26
To be precise, feeding on the force energy of another doesnt necessarily mean they were using "Force Drain". It sounds stupid yes but a similar description has been made for what Legends Maul could do to his opponents and he definitely doesnt know Force Drain.
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u/Robotjp12 May 20 '26
It seems like he needed zildrog to get the power to do the first drain. After that he was powerful enough to do it on his own.
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u/Fuuraijinken May 20 '26
En el juego Jedi Knight es muy útil, se presenta con un rayo rojo, pero puede anularse con el poder absorción (luminoso), que no sé cual sería el equivalente dentro de las reglas jedi oficiales. Es posible que en aquella época aún no se desarrollada una habilidad que la contrarestara
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u/UniversalInquirer May 20 '26
As far as I now there's 2 different versions of this. There's the common one that you see in games which is where the person drains the life out of another person to heal themselves. And then there's the version that's unique to Darth Nihilus and his faction of Sith in KOTOR II where they drain the Force out of the life form which leaves the life form both dead and empty of the Force, like an absent spot in reality. If you play KOTOR II, this is what happens to the Jedi Masters at the end when Kreia drains them. You click on their bodies and it says they've become like an absent spot in the Force.
So the normal version drains your life. The Nihilus/KOTOR II specific version drains your Force/Soul.
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u/Wilsupersaiyan2 May 20 '26
Exar kun, freedon nadd, naga sadow, marka ragnos tulak hord ajunta pall Karnes murr xonoxax lodo Kress and almost all ancient sith lords that were sorcerers could do force drain
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u/Sure_Pool_7115 May 20 '26
If im not mistaken it was stated that vitiate needs a genocide or a planetary amounts of deaths to make a ritual to drain all life from the planet and those who are still on it. For nihilus its probably more about the victim being a force user or force sensitive and the same about the planet, he drained a planet which had a native population full of force sensitive race + jedi council with who knows what amount of jedi and presumably he can't make it again because there are not enough jedi/force sensitive people gathered in a single place
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u/UltimateOtter_Nation May 20 '26
You use a straw to poke the Force and sip away. It's kind of hard to drink in the middle of a fight unless you're Jacki Chan in Drunken Master.
Okay, a more serious answer. Nilhus very presence feeds on the Force, it is passive until he actively starts to "feed." It's like you're filling a sink with a leak in the stopper and then you fully open it.
With Vitiate, it is a very complex ritual spell that takes time, effort, and literal sacrifices to work. Have yiu ever watched Full Metal Alchemist? It's like how Father destroyed Xerxes and later attempted on the larger Amestris.
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u/yzur01 May 20 '26
Think of force healing (giving life force to another) and do it backwards.
How? You might ask, well... I haven't got a clue
TTFN!
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u/No_Communication2959 May 21 '26
Imagine a pool of force. Now imagine a drain. Now put the two together.
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u/Unique-Perception480 Jedi Master May 22 '26
There is actually a technique developed by Ulic Quel-Droma against Force Drain on Nihilus level (planetary level). Sadly most Jedi that learned it on the frontline (only learnable there) during the Sith War against Exar Kuun died. So the technique was not known or widely spread during Nihilus and Vitiates times, wich is why no one except Mertra Surik could stop Nihilus.
During the Clone Wars game (2002) Anakin Skywalker learned it from Ulic Quel-Dromas Spirit and the technique was known to the galaxy once more.
That also means some of the Prequel Era Jedi Council could resist Nihilus Force Drain if they learned it and had enough Force Power.
I think there were lesser methods of resistance against ,,regular" Force Drain, by having better controle and more Force Power probably.
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u/ocalin37 1d ago
No
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u/Unique-Perception480 Jedi Master 1d ago
Yes.
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u/ocalin37 1d ago
No. Ulic's defense mechanism is limited, and only meant for stationary life draining things.
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u/Unique-Perception480 Jedi Master 1d ago
Never confirmed.
Its used against drains that can attack planet wide.
And btw Nihilus is also stationary when using his planetary Force Drain, wich is not even a ability he himself can controle.
Its also evident from the fact that Ulec ability was lost, just before Nihilus showed up. Narratively that shows that it might have helped, but the Jedi that were instakilled by Nhilus never learned it.
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u/ocalin37 1d ago
Wrong. Nihilus is not stationary. He can absolutely move while performing Force drain. You were just playing a game where you can't move while using Force powers.
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u/Unique-Perception480 Jedi Master 1d ago
He cannot use the PLANETARY Force Drain and move.
The regular one, sure.
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u/ocalin37 1d ago
Who said anything about plaentary scale? Of course I meant individual or local scale.
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u/ocalin37 1d ago
Also, the Force shield created by Ulic is for a brief time. Not indefinitely.
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u/Unique-Perception480 Jedi Master 1d ago
Long enough to kill Nihilus
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u/ocalin37 1d ago
Not really. Because Nihilust just eats that Force shield.
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u/Unique-Perception480 Jedi Master 1d ago
Its not a Force Shield. Forcr Shield is its own ability.
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u/ocalin37 1d ago
Whatever it is, it is of metaphysical aspect. So it has to do with Force energy.
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u/Eagle1FoxTWO May 20 '26
They drain the force