Diablo 4’s Season of Blood has introduced the new mechanic of Vampire Powers, which will replace last season’s Malignant Hearts. There are quite a few powers to unlock – although you won’t have ultimate control over which ones you get first.
With so many options, and only five slots to fill, this begs the question of which are the best. To delve into this topic, these powers have been ranked based on their versatility (ability to fit into many different builds) and benefit-to-pact cost ratio. Here are the ten best Vampiric Powers you can pick up this season.
The Most Reliable Curse Application
Metamorphosis is acquired from the Hunt Board introduced in this season, so you’ll have to grind for it. Activating this power takes 2 Ferocity Pacts, 2 Divinity Pacts, and 2 Eternity Pacts. Despite this high buy-in cost, the power itself is too strong to ignore. While active:
- Your Evade turns you into an Unstoppable cloud of bats
- Enemies you move through will take 160% Physical Damage
- Enemies you move through are afflicted with a Vampiric Curse
What makes Metamorphosis so strong is its incredible versatility. Almost every viable build is improved by having Metamorphosis equipped. This is because the Unstoppable status is key for defense and dodging in higher World Tiers, as is any status effect that causes enemies to take increased damage. Additionally, this power is the most reliable way of inflicting a Vampiric Curse, which sets you up to make use of other powers on this list such as Prey on the Weak or Flowing Veins.
Prey On The Weak
Make Cursed Enemies Vulnerable
Prey on the Weak is substantially cheaper to obtain and activate than Metamorphosis, but almost as useful. It can be obtained by using Potent Blood in the Vampiric Power menu to unlock it and requires 2 Ferocity Pacts to activate. The power itself is very straightforward:
- All enemies afflicted by a Vampiric Curse become Vulnerable
- You deal 16% increased damage to Vulnerable Enemies.
Most players are aware that the Vulnerable Status Effect is much more powerful than most other late-game status effects, so it is no surprise that this power makes the list. Having Prey on the Weak equipped not only gives every class a reliable way to make enemies Vulnerable (especially when used together with Metamorphosis) but it also frees up precious skill points that might otherwise be spent to access a method of inflicting Vulnerability. This reduces the stranglehold that some niche abilities have on the meta, such as the Destructive Ice Blades specialization for Sorcerers or Enhanced Steel Grasp Node for the Barbarian.
Undying
Heal Whenever You Press A Button
Undying is one of the rare defensive Vampiric Powers that is highly rated, and that is because it is often relevant several times per Elite Pack, and even more during Boss Fights. For the low price of 25 Potent Blood and 1 Eternity Pact, you can:
- Heal for 3% of your Maximum Life every time you cast an ability
- If you are low enough (under 50%) this benefit doubles
All but the rare Channeling builds (such as the Shadow Necromancer or Lightning Druid) will routinely cast new abilities, meaning that just about anyone can benefit enough from Undying to make it worth the slot. In addition, because this heal is for a percentage of your maximum health rather than a flat number, it is equally useful for all classes, rather than being better for those with lower health pools.
Blood Boil
Overpower Your Overpower Attacks
While Active, Blood Boil gives you several perks:
- Enemies hit with an Overpowered Core Skill to drop 3 Volatile Blood Drops (similar to the Necromancer’s Blood Orbs)
- Picking up a Volatile Blood Drop causes an explosion, dealing 60% of your damage as Physical Damage around you
- You are guaranteed to have a skill Overpower every 20 seconds
Blood Boil is certainly a fun ability to use, and will be right at home in a number of builds, especially those that rely on the Overpower mechanic such as the Upheaval Barbarian. However, its high activation cost really puts a damper on what other Powers you can have in your Sanguine Circle. To keep Blood Boil active, you need to have 6 Pacts of Eternity devoted to it out of your 20 total Pacts. This means that unless Overpower is a key mechanic for your build, you’ll probably skip this one.
Accursed Touch
Contagious Vampiric Curses
Accursed Touch is a Major Vampiric Power costing 6 Divine Pacts to remain active. While active:
- Your attacks have an additional Lucky Hit effect of having a 44% chance to inflict a Vampiric Curse
- Enemies that you’ve cursed also have a 15% chance of spreading it to other nearby enemies
- Accursed Souls deal 200% damage.
Accursed Touch is primarily useful as an alternative method of placing Vampiric Curses on enemies. You can do some really cool things with Vampiric Curses this season, and any build can work them in. However, this one doesn’t place as high on the list as Metamorphosis because it’s not quite as reliable. That being said, it is a must-have for a couple of viable builds including the Firewall Warmth and Fireball Sorcerer Builds.
Sanguine Brace
Become a Fortified Killing Machine
Sanguine Brace is a Minor Vampiric Power costing 1 Divinity and 1 Eternity Pact. It has two main benefits:
- Whenever you kill an enemy while it is active you’ll gain 6% of your maximum life as Fortify
- While your current Fortify is more than half of your Maximum Life, you’ll also gain 8% more Critical Strike Chance.
While most Barbarians, Necromancers, and Druids might scroll this power right on by – they have plenty of ways to generate Fortify built into their skill tree – Rogues and Sorcerers might decide this power is worth the pickup. After all, it is class-neutral, meaning you can use it to gain access to Fortify on classes that normally don’t have that option. The Blood Lance Necromancer and Overpower Death Blow Barbarian are also using this power in the late-game, as they forgo traditional methods of generating Fortify to spec into other abilities.
Hemomancy
Your Health Is A Weapon
Hemomancy is a middling ability that costs 3 Eternity Pacts to keep active on your Sanguine Circle. While active:
- Your attacks will deal 80% of your Maximum Life as additional damage
- This can occur a maximum of one time every four seconds
- Each enemy damaged by this powerful attack heals you for 1% of your Maximum Health
While this ability can up the damage output of your attacks occasionally, it is unlikely to be wildly impactful due to its mixed benefits. While some builds might enjoy one of the benefits of the power, few will enjoy all of them. Classes with high hit point maximums such as the Barbarian will get a significant damage boost whenever the ability activates, but will probably struggle to hit multiple enemies with this attack, limiting the effect of the healing. In contrast, Sorcerers will easily be able to hit multiple enemies with abilities such as Meteor but have a lower health pool max, and thus a smaller damage buff.
Flowing Veins
Buff Your Damage Over Time Effects
Flowing Veins is the ideal power for those that stack damage over time skills, such as the Bleed Barbarian or the Shadow Necromancer. It requires six total pacts to keep active, 2 Ferocity, 2 Divinity, and 2 Eternity. While active, you gain the following benefit:
- Any enemies that are moving or affected by a Vampire Curse take 60% increased damage over time.
Considering the buffs to burn damage for sorcerers, as well as the continued viability of Shadow Necromancy, Poison Rogues, and Bleed Barbarians, this power has some potential. For the best results, you’ll want to kite enemies so that they are frequently moving, and/or pair this with a way to inflict curses. Damage over time builds really struggle to deal enough damage quickly enough to survive large packs in the higher world tiers, so this power is a welcome addition to those builds. However, despite being S tier for some builds, its niche mechanics mean that most builds don’t want to touch this Vampiric Power, making it much lower on the overall tier list.
Anticipation
Ultimate Abilities Are Better & Happen More
Anticipation is a basic power requiring only 1 Divinity Pact to maintain, meaning that its greatest cost is the spot it takes up on your Sanguine Circle. While this power is active:
- Your Ultimate Skills gain a 20% Cooldown Reduction
- Your Ultimate deals 12% increased damage for each nearby enemy taking damage over time from one of your attacks
Many tier lists for Vampiric Powers place this power quite low, certainly not in the top ten. However, there are a few builds that can make excellent use of this power, and it requires little to no cost to run, which is why it makes our tier list. As explained about Flowing Veins, powers that only work for builds that deal damage over time are somewhat limited and lack versatility. Additionally, Anticipation has the added drawback of working primarily off of your Ultimate Skill – something that not all builds even spec into. Overall, while this power has potential for the right build, it simply isn’t widely applicable enough to go higher on the list.
Ravenous
You’ve got to Go Faster
Ravenous is an interesting ability, in that it is incredibly effective at what it does, but has a higher cost than you would like for the level of power. This power requires 3 Ferocity Pacts to keep active and is locked behind a Seasonal Quest (A Witness In The Dust). Despite this, it has only one effect.
While active, your abilities have a Lucky Hit chance of up to 20% to increase your Attack Speed by 40% of your Total Movement Speed. This effect lasts for six seconds but can occur again immediately. As a result, builds that max movement speed and/or enjoy a high level of attack speed like the Flurry Rogue or the Static Lash Sorcerer like picking up this power, but it might take up too much space to fit into the majority of builds.