How Does Vulnerable Work in Diablo 4?
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How Does Vulnerable Work in Diablo 4?

The Diablo series is all about fighting enemies and dealing as much damage as possible. Usually, your weapons and spells alone are powerful enough to take down some of the toughest foes in the game. However, sometimes, you might start to feel like you aren’t inflicting as much pain as you wanted. That’s where the Vulnerable Status comes in handy.

Vulnerable is a Status Effect in Diablo 4 that increases a percentage of your total damage output on the affected enemy. Furthermore, it also considers all other damage buffs and perks you have activated. In short, this effect alone is enough to take down all enemies in the game. However, players often get confused about how Vulnerable works in Diablo 4. Therefore, this article provides all the information you need on this topic and much more.

What is Vulnerable in Diablo 4?

Vulnerable Effect in Diablo 4

Vulnerable is a Status Effect in Diablo 4 that you can trigger by various spells, skills, and weapons. It increases your damage output with a base of 20%, but the value can vary, depending on your character build. So, the Vulnerable effect is far more complex here than in other games of this genre.

However, your enemies can also inflict you with a Vulnerable status from time to time. So, you must carefully plan your battle strategies before going after the high-level bosses and enemies. As there is no way to avoid or cure this effect, you can either keep at a distance until the timer runs out or use armor to negate the extra 20% damage.

How Does Vulnerable Work?

You can inflict your foes with the Vulnerable Effect by using various means like spells, weapons, skills, and even some environmental factors. Whenever you hit an enemy with Vulnerable, the damage output of all your succeeding attacks will increase by 20% for a short duration. Furthermore, if you have other active perks and skills that increase your damage, the Vulnerable Status will calculate its value while maintaining your previous stats.

The Vulnerable Status doesn’t contradict any other skill, so it can be used with all character builds (see Class Tier List). Trust me, once you get a strong grip on this skill, you won’t need anything else to upgrade your build. However, the Vulnerable Status is triggered randomly, but you can still use certain skills to increase your odds. In other words, there are numerous ways to inflict your foes with the Vulnerable effect; you just have to find the one that fits your character build.

Which skills cause the Vulnerable effect?   

There are 5 basic skill categories in Diablo 4. You can create your build around any of them or create custom builds by mixing things up a bit. In any case, the Vulnerable Status is caused by various skills from each category. Here’s a list of all the skills from different categories that inflict the Vulnerable Effect:

Vulnerable Skills

Barbarian Skills:

  • Enhanced Flay
  • Enhanced Kick
  • Enhanced Rend
  • Enhanced Steel Grasp
  • Expose Vulnerability
  • Mighty Charge
  • Pressure Point
  • Violent Double Swing
  • Violent Rend

Druid Skills:

  • Elemental Exposure
  • Enhanced Wind Shear
  • Ferocious Ravens
  • Fierce Storm Strike
  • Innate Cyclone Armor
  • Natural Hurricane
  • Raging Tornado
  • Supreme Cataclysm

Sorceress Skills

  • Destructive Ice Shards
  • Flickering Frost Bolt
  • Greater Frozen Orb
  • Ice Blades
  • Mystical Frost Nova

Rogue Skills

  • Blended Shadow Imbuement
  • Enhanced Cold Imbuement
  • Forceful Arrow
  • Fundamental Invigorating Strike
  • Improved Barrage
  • Primary Puncture
  • Subverting Concealment

Necromancer Skills

  • Ghastly Bone Prison
  • Initiate’s Bone Splinters
  • Paranormal Sever
  • Plagued Corpse Tendrils
  • Supernatural Bone Spear

All other ways to inflict Vulnerable:

Besides the skills from various categories, you can rely on different abilities and attacks to trigger the Vulnerable Effect. Here’s a detailed list of all possible items:

Aspects:

  • Aspect of Biting Cold
  • Aspect of Corruption
  • Aspect of Siphoned
  • Blast-Trapper’s
  • Everliving Aspect
  • Mangler’s Aspect 
  • Ravenous Aspect
  • Storm Swell Aspect
  • Vengeful Aspect

Miscellaneous Items:

  • Emeralds
  • Crossbows
  • Concealment
  • Smoke Grenades

How to tell if the Vulnerable Effect is active?

The Vulnerable Status is triggered randomly and remains active only for a few seconds. So, you must act fast to finish off the affected enemy before the timer runs out. In this regard, you can identify an enemy inflicted with Vulnerable by looking for the following signs:

Vulnerable Effect Sign
  1. You will see a golden Vulnerable flash on the affected enemy for a moment.
  2. The affected enemy’s HPa bar will have a purple glow around it.
  3. You will get a damage boost whenever you attack the Vulnerable foe.

Similarly, the enemies can also inflict you with the Vulnerable Status occasionally. You will receive more damage during this duration, even from the lesser foes. Moreover, there is no way to avoid or cure the Vulnerable effect. So, it would be best to maintain your distance until the timer runs out. Otherwise, you can use certain armor and shields to negate the extra 20% damage. Here’s how to identify if you are Vulnerable in Diablo 4:

  1. A golden Vulnerable will flash on your character for a moment.
  2. Your HP bar at the bottom of the screen will have purple cracks in it.

Conclusion:

Vulnerable is a special Status Effect in Diablo 4 that increases the damage output by a base of 20%. Moreover, this buff gets multiplied if you have other perks and skills that boost your damage. So, it would be best to understand the complexity of this status to maximize your damage efficiency. Therefore, this article explains all you need to know about how Vulnerable works in Diablo 4 and how to trigger it.