– Weakened or harmed by sunlight. Although this vulnerability seems very prevalent, there are notable exceptions to it. As mentioned above, Dracula was relatively unaffected by sunlight. Poppy Z. Brite’s vampires were only sensitive to the sun, not harmed by it. – Repelled/harmed by religious symbols. This appears to be a subject of great debate. A very prevalent belief, is the symbol itself is useless unless the wielder possesses a strong faith in the efficacy of the symbol, as a despoiler of evil. As such, the symbol is just the vehicle for the faith of its holder, and the actual symbol need not be religious. There is a movie in which a yuppie dispels a vampire by holding up his wallet! Apparently, his faith in money was enough that he could harm the vampire. Again, it was the faith and not the symbol that mattered. – Repelled by garlic and/or wolfsbane. During the Middle Ages when an illness would appear in a town, it would at times be attributed to the appearance of a vampyre in th
Vampires are traditionally weakend by garlic, sunlight, crucifixes, and holy water according to legend. The vampires of Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire were only hyper-sensitive to daylight. You might say one other vulnerability is the vampire obsession with young, beautiful maidens, such as in Vampire Hunter D, Bloodlust.
I think it really depends what vampire myth and fictional world you’re following. I know in the "Blade" the vampires are vulnerable to sunlight and sliver… but I also recall a scene where the vampire was able to go out in the foggy daytime with sunscreen on.
When you’re talking about "Buffy" and more traditional vampire vulnerabilities then that’s where the good old stake through the heart, crosses and holy water come in.