Diablo 4 is actually bloody good again (see what I did there), and I've been having a blast taking down hordes of new enemies. As I've plunged into the dark world of Season 2: Season of Blood, a new menace has emerged in Sanctuary — an army of vampires led by the ancient Lord Zir.
To combat these fanged foes, you must wield the vampire powers within the Sanguine Circle. But what are the most potent vampiric abilities? Which powers should you prioritize for leveling up, and do certain powers suit specific classes better? In this article, I aim to answer these questions. So, without further ado, let's delve into the enigmatic Sanguine Circle and unravel its secrets
What is the Sanguine Circle?
Within your inventory, you'll discover a new tab called the Sanguine Circle, which unlocks as you progress through the seasonal storyline. As your journey unfolds, you'll find yourself afflicted by the vampire curse. Thankfully, thanks to the lingering blood of Lilith within you, you won't transform into a gruesome vampire. Instead, you can harness the powers of the vampire hordes through the Sanguine Circle.
There are a total of 22 Vampire powers at your disposal, but you can only equip five at a time. Once you've selected your preferred powers, they'll appear as 'inactive' unless you have enough Pacts on your armor. We'll explore Pacts in more detail later. For now, let's focus on how you can unlock these remarkable abilities.
How do I unlock all the Vampiric Powers?
To access all 22 Vampiric Powers, you must participate in specific seasonal activities to collect Potent Blood. This precious substance serves both to unlock and upgrade your Vampiric Powers. You can obtain Potent Blood by:
- Eliminating Blood Seekers within the Blood Harvest area or encountering them in dungeons.
- Opening chests in the Blood Harvest (known as Seeker's Cache) with Seeker Keys you acquire by defeating vampires.
- Completing the Blood Harvest event.
The Blood Harvest summoning event offers the quickest means to amass substantial quantities of Potent Blood, but it necessitates 150 blood lures in total to activate. In a group, each member can contribute 50 blood lures to the altar, which is a great way to share the load. If you're not in a party, simply hanging around the area can lead other players to join in.
Once you've accumulated 25 Potent Blood, you can select a power to unlock or upgrade. By the time you reach the midpoint of your seasonal journey, you'll likely have unlocked all of them.
Additionally, two powers are attainable by completing the Hunters Acclaim board in town, and five are offered as quest rewards for finishing the new Season story. This quest isn't particularly lengthy, so we recommend completing it to access the most potent vampiric enhancements.
What are the best Vampire powers to choose in Diablo 4?
These powers are accessible across all classes, but they vary in effectiveness, making some more coveted than others. To aid your selection, here's a tier list to consider when filling your Sanguine Circle with five powers and deciding which ones to prioritize for enhancement with Potent Blood:
| Grade | Power | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| S Tier | Metamorphosis | When you Evade you turn into a cloud of bats, becoming Unstoppable for 4.0 seconds. Enemies along your path take 160 - 240 [160%] Physical damage and are inflicted with Vampiric Curse. |
| Row 1 - Cell 0 | Prey on the Weak | You deal 16.0%[x] increased damage to Vulnerable enemies. |
| A Tier | Accursed Touch | Lucky Hit: Up to a 44% chance to inflict Vampiric Curse on enemies. Enemies with the Vampiric Curse have a 15% chance to spread it to other surrounding enemies. Accursed Souls deal 200% increased damage. |
| Row 3 - Cell 0 | Hemomancy | Your attacks deal 80% of your Maximum Life as Physical damage to nearby enemies. This can only occur once every 4 seconds. You heal for 1% of your Maximum Life for each enemy damaged this way. |
| Row 4 - Cell 0 | Anticipation | Your Ultimate Skills gain 20% Cooldown Reduction. Your Ultimate Skills gain 12% increased damage for each nearby enemy affected by your Damage Over Time effects. |
| Row 5 - Cell 0 | Blood Boil | When your Core Skills Overpower an enemy, you spawn 3 Volatile Blood Drops. Collecting a Volatile Blood Drop causes it to explode, dealing 60% Physical damage around you. Every 20 seconds, your next Skill is guaranteed to Overpower. |
| Row 6 - Cell 0 | Flowing Veins | You deal 60% increased Damage Over Time to enemies that are moving or affected by a Vampiric Curse. |
| Row 7 - Cell 0 | Moonrise | Hitting an enemy with a Basic Skill grants you 4% Attack Speed for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching maximum stacks, you enter a Vampiric Bloodrage, gaining 160% Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds. |
| Row 8 - Cell 0 | Ravenous | Lucky Hit: Up to a 20% chance to increase your Attack Speed by 40% of your Total Movement Speed for 6 seconds. |
| Row 9 - Cell 0 | Undying | Casting Skills heals you for 3% Life. Double this bonus while below 50% Life. |
| B Tier | Bathe in Blood | While Channeling a Skill, you form a pool of blood beneath you. While channeling a skill in a pool, your Channeled Skills deal 40% increased damage and you gain 30% Damage Reduction. A pool can only form once every 8 seconds. |
| Row 11 - Cell 0 | Domination | You deal 24% increased damage to enemies who are Stunned, Immobilized, Frozen, or Feared. If they're also Injured and not an Elite, they're instantly killed. |
| Row 12 - Cell 0 | Feed The Coven | Lucky Hit: Conjuration, Companion, Minion and Bat Familiar attacks have up to a 60% chance to restore 10 Primary Resource to you and increase your Damage by 10% for 4 seconds. |
| Row 13 - Cell 0 | Hectic | For every 5 Basic Skills you cast, one of your active Cooldowns is reduced by 2 seconds. |
| Row 14 - Cell 0 | Infection | Hitting enemies with direct damage infects them with Pox. Inflicting Pox 8 times on an enemy expunges their infection, dealing 70% Poison damage. |
| Row 15 - Cell 0 | Resilience | You gain 1% Damage Reduction for each 2% Life you are missing. |
| Row 16 - Cell 0 | Terror | When struck, you have a 14% chance to Fear nearby enemies and Slow them by 80% for 2 seconds. You are guaranteed to Critically Strike enemies who are Feared. |
| Row 17 - Cell 0 | Sanguine Brace | When you kill an enemy, Fortify for 6% of your Base Life. While you have more Fortify than half of your Maximum Life, you gain 8% Critical Strike Chance. |
| C Tier | Coven's Fangs | Your Conjuration, Companion, Minion, and Bat Familiar attacks deal 52% increased damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. Lucky Hit: Your Conjuration, Companion, Minion, and Bat Familiar have up to a 30% chance to inflict Vampiric Curse when hitting enemies. |
| Row 19 - Cell 0 | Call Familiar | Casting a Mastery, Weapon Mastery, Macabre, Wrath, or Imbuement Skill calls a bat ally to attack nearby enemies, dealing 80% Physical damage with a 30% chance to Stun. |
| Row 20 - Cell 0 | Rampart | After not moving for 3 seconds, you gain a Barrier for 40% of your Maximum Life for 6 seconds. This effect can occur once every 20 seconds. |
| Row 21 - Cell 0 | Jagged Spikes | Thorns have a 10% chance to deal 300% increased damage and Chill enemies for 8%. |
This tier list provides a general ranking of power effectiveness across all classes and builds. The S-tier powers will benefit most builds and playstyles, but don't hesitate to make adjustments based on what complements your chosen abilities. We've also compiled a list of the best builds for each Diablo 4 class, featuring our recommended five powers for each build.
How do I activate my Vampiric powers?
When you place your powers in the Sanguine Circle, you may notice that some, if not all, are marked as inactive. This status is governed by Pacts on your armor.
Armor can either come with Pacts already applied, as shown in the image above, or you can add Pacts to your armor using tokens you'll acquire while playing the game. These tokens drop like any other loot, akin to slotting gems into your armor but far less costly.
All vampiric powers carry a Pact cost that must be met with equipped gear. These powers are divided into three categories:
- Ferocity
- Divinity
- Eternity
Each vampiric power can require varying combinations of these Pact types.
Each vampiric power can require varying combinations of these Pact types. Initially, it may seem complex, but in my experience, you'll stop worrying about Pacts and activation costs once you reach World Tier 4. Most endgame gear already has sufficient Pacts for your vampire powers to activate. Managing Pacts is mostly essential during the leveling process.
Cleansing acids offer the option to remove Pacts from your armor and replace them as needed, but with the frequent changes in armor during the game, I haven't found this feature necessary.
Go forth, and slay.
Vampiric powers serve as a fantastic way to enhance already robust builds, functioning like passive skills on your character's tree. While some are undoubtedly more valuable than others, don't let that deter you from experimenting. You'll effortlessly level up each of these powers throughout your season journey, so don't spend too much time deliberating in the upgrade menu. Upgrade them all and relish wielding your newfound vampire abilities!
