How to get more healing charges in Lords of the Fallen

All roads lead to Skyrest.

Pieta, in Lords of the Fallen. A woman with dark shoulder-length hair stands in metal armor
Screenshot by Dot Esports

It won’t take long after first stepping into Mournstead for you to realize how important your healing item, the Sanguinarix, can be. If you want to take down all the bosses Lords of the Fallen has to offer, you’ll need to upgrade the healing item to get more charges sooner rather than later.

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What is the Sanguinarix and how to heal in Lords of the Fallen

The Sanguinarix, a cross-shaped relic, is one of the starting items in Lords of the Fallen and is equipped by all classes in the game, even the Dark Crusader. You’ll start your playthrough with three Sanguinarix charges and can only replenish these heals at a Vestige, Lords of the Fallen’s equivalent to Dark Souls’ bonfires. You can rest at these checkpoints, or if you die, you’ll automatically respawn at your last-visited Vestige with a full stack of Sanguinarix charges.

You’ll find the Sanguinarix automatically equipped to your Quick Access Items bar at the lower left-hand side of your screen. Scroll over to it, or hit the button shown above the menu on console, to select the Sanguinarix. To use the Sanguinarix and heal your character in Lords of the Fallen, hit R on PC or X on controller when you have the Sanguinarix selected in the Quick Access Items bar.

You can increase the number of charges the Sanguinarix has, as well as the amount the item will heal you for, later in the game.

How can you increase your healing item’s charges in Lords of the Fallen?

To increase the number of healing charges you have at your disposal, you’ll need to upgrade the Sanguinarix. Unfortunately for new players struggling with earlier areas of the game, you can only upgrade the Sanguinarix after you’ve defeated Pieta, She of Blessed RenewalLords of the Fallen’s first boss.

How to upgrade the Sanguinarix in Lords of the Fallen

A screenshot from Lords of the Fallen showing a menu to upgrade the Sanguinarix, a cross-like item.
Bring down Pieta for a Sanguinarix upgrade. Screenshot by Dot Esports

To upgrade the Sanguinarix in Lords of the Fallen, you need to defeat Pieta and speak to her. Once you’ve taken down Pieta, she’ll appear in Skyrest Bridge, the area located just past where you fight her.

In Skyrest Bridge, you can find Pieta to the left of the Vestige. When you speak to her, a menu will appear, giving you a few options: Upgrade your Sanguinarix, reset build, or talk. Select the first option to increase the number of charges your Sanguinarix can hold, as shown in the video below.

Find Pieta close to the Vestige in Skyrest Bridge. Video by Dot Esports

If you want to upgrade your Sanguinarix, you’ll need at least one Saintly Quintessence, items that can be found in the Umbral. The first couple of upgrades only require one Saintly Quintessence, and the first time you upgrade your healing item, it will increase the Sanguinarix to four charges with a +20 percent HP recovery. The next upgrade will boost that percentage to 35.

Author
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Rachel Samples
Managing Editor. In 2018, Rachel graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s in Rhetoric and Writing and first entered the esports industry in the same year. Her favorite games include indies, deckbuilders, and the entire Mass Effect franchise. Need any calibrations?