With Diablo 4 Season 2, the Season of Blood brings a new mechanic: Vampiric Powers. Early in the Seasonal quest, you get a popup that briefly explains Vampiric Powers to you. Unfortunately, it’s not that detailed, and there’s even the possibility you skipped through it. After all, at the beginning of your character’s journey, it may not feel like the information is important. However, one of the windows explains how to equip Vampiric Powers in Diablo 4 Season 2.
Even still, it doesn’t explain it that well. We put together this guide to tell you everything you need to know about Vampiric Powers so you can properly take advantage of them in the Season of Blood.
How to unlock and upgrade new Vampiric Powers
In order to equip Vampiric Powers, you must first unlock them. To unlock and upgrade new Vampiric Powers, you need Potent Blood. For every 25 Potent Blood you have, you can spend it to upgrade and unlock new Vampiric Powers.
To reach the Vampiric Powers screen, you first have to open your Inventory. You can do this via the ‘I’ key on PC. Once there, look for the Vampiric Powers tab. If you look at the screenshot above, the green arrow is pointing to the proper tab.
When you are on the Vampiric Powers screen, you need to click the Spend 25 Potent Blood button. In the screenshot above, it’s the button where the red arrows are pointing.
Doing this will roll three Vampiric Powers for you to choose from. This includes Vampiric Powers you have not unlocked and those that you have. You can choose one of the three Vampiric Powers to use your 25 Potent Blood on.
If the power is not yet unlocked, it will unlock at Level 1. If it is already unlocked, you can spend the Potent Blood to upgrade the Vampiric Power. Unfortunately, it’s not a 1:1 upgrade. You will need to upgrade an unlocked power several times for it to upgrade to the next rank. Vampiric Powers go up to Level 3.
How to equip your Vampiric Powers in Diablo 4 Season 2
While you are still on the Vampiric Powers screen, this is where you can equip your powers. You can have up to five Vampiric Powers equipped at a time. To equip a Vampiric Power you have unlocked, simply click and hold the left mouse button on the power you wish to equip, then drag it to one of the five empty slots above. This will equip the Vampiric Power.
If you look in the middle, you will see some may be Active and some Inactive. If a Vampiric Power is Inactive, it means you aren’t getting the effects of the power. When you scroll over the Vampiric Powers, you will see each one as an Activation Cost. These are the required Pacts you need on your gear to make the power active.
How do Pacts work?
If you look at each piece of gear you have equipped, you will see little icons under them. Each of these icons represents the Pacts that you will get by equipping the gear. Here are the three Pacts in Diablo 4 Season 2:
- Red Spiky Helmet = Pact of Ferocity
- Golden Goblet = Pact of Divinity
- White Skull = Pact of Eternity
If you look at the top of your Vampiric Powers screen you will see numbers beside each of the three Pacts. The first number is how many of that Pact you currently have on your gear. The number on the right is how many you need in total in order to activate your equipped Vampiric Powers.
You will also get consumable items that allow you to manipulate your equipped Pacts. If you look at the screenshot above, you will see there are three consumable Pact items, one for each pact. You can use these items on your gear to add that Pact to it. There is also a Cleansing Acid consumable item that removes all the Pacts on an item.
In order to make sure all of your Vampiric Powers are active, you need to have at least as many Pacts on your gear as is required for all your powers. So if for example across all five of your equipped Vampiric Powers, you need 7 Pact of Ferocity, 4 Pact of Divinity, and 3 Pact of Eternity, you will need to have gear with all of those Pacts for the powers to work.
With the knowledge of how to equip Vampiric Powers in Diablo 4 Season 2, you can now farm the proper gear to make sure you have the Pacts required!
