Vampiric Powers are a key feature of Diablo 4 season two, The Season of Blood. They’re yet another new way to buff your character, this time using vampire-eque powers like life-stealing, curses, and fear.
Some of the season two objectives—such as A Drop of Blood, Tides of Blood, and Mark of Vampirism—require you to equip a Vampiric Power too. “Equip a Vampiric Power” is an objective during The Hunter’s Chase quest. Here’s how to acquire, unlock, equip, activate, and upgrade Vampiric Powers in Diablo 4 season two.
How to acquire and unlock Vampiric Powers in Diablo 4 season 2
Before you equip a Vampiric Power, you need to acquire or unlock it. There are three ways to acquire Vampiric Powers:
- Five are unlocked during quests
- 15 can be unlocked by spending Potent Blood
- Two can be unlocked during the Blood Harvest.
You’ll acquire your first Vampiric Power, the Undying Vampiric Power, during the Blood Money Season Quest, which includes a brief tutorial on Vampiric Powers. After completing Blood Money, you can see which Vampiric Powers you have acquired by opening your inventory and selecting the Vampiric Powers tab to the left of the Equipment tab.
At that point you’ll also have earned some Potent Blood, and you can spend this to acquire more Vampiric Powers. To do this, hit the Spend button at the bottom of the Vampiric Powers tab, and you’ll be presented with a randomly generated choice of Vampiric Powers to either unlock or upgrade. So either upgrade a Vampiric Power you’ve already unlocked or unlock a new one.
Finally, there are two Vampiric Powers, Accursed Touch and Sanguine Brace, that can be acquired from the Hunter’s Acclaim boards in various towns. Hunter’s Acclaim is essentially a new, seasonal form of XP that you earn by killing monsters and completing tasks in whichever region is affected by the Blood Harvest. The Sanguine Brace Vampiric Power is unlocked at Hunter’s Claim level tier four (IV) and the Accursed Touch Vampiric Power at Hunter’s Claim level tier nine (IX).
Any Vampiric Powers you unlocked must still be equipped and activated.
How to equip Vampiric Powers in Diablo 4 season two
To equip a Vampiric Power in Diablo 4 season 2, open your inventory, select the Vampiric Powers tab, then highlight one of the unlocked Vampiric Powers and click Equip or press X/A. You should then see it added to the Sanguine Circle, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s activated.
How to use Pacts to activate Vampiric Powers in Diablo 4 season 2
To activate a Vampiric Power in Diablo 4 season two, you first have to equip it and make sure its activation cost is covered. I, for example, spent 50 Potent Blood on two Vampiric Powers but couldn’t initially cover the activation cost of either of them.
Each Vampiric Power has an activation cost indicated in three types of Pact: Ferocious, Divinity, and Eternity. You’ll also find that most armor items you find in season two grant you one or more of these Pacts. For all of your equipped Vampiric Powers to be activated, the activation cost of all of them put together must be covered by the total Pacts of each type granted by your armor. If your armor doesn’t grant enough Pacts to cover the activation cost, one or more of your Vampiric Powers won’t be activated, and your character won’t receive its benefits.
