Boss Powers are a very exciting and build-defining system introduced in Diablo 4’s Season 8: Belial’s Return. These are not just inspired abilities; they are exact copies of powers used by Sanctuary’s bosses, and you can claim them for your own arsenal. Here is everything you need to know about them.
What Are Boss Powers?
There are 24 Boss Powers available, and each one is a 1:1 replica of a unique ability used by a boss somewhere in Sanctuary. These powers are powerful, look cool, and can completely change the way your build feels.
Once you defeat a boss for the first time during the season, you will unlock their Boss Power. That means every time you defeat one of these enemies for the first time, you are collecting new tools to improve your build.
How Boss Powers Work
Each Boss Power comes with two effects:
- Main Power: This is the core effect and has the most significant visual and gameplay impact.
- Modifier Effect: A secondary bonus that boosts the main power when slotted as a support.
You can equip 4 Boss Powers at once: 1 Main Power and 3 Modifiers. The slot you place each power in matters: put it in the main slot to activate the full effect or in a modifier slot to add improvements to the main power you have already chosen.
Make sure to look back at your build guide or experiment with combinations to find the best combinations. The right setup can really make a big difference for your build.
Here are just a few of the deadly abilities you can unlock:
- Wandering Death’s rotating light beam
- Lilith’s wave of spikes bursting from the ground
- Duriel’s evasive burrow mechanic
- Urivar’s bomb explosions triggered by using an Ultimate
- Grigoire’s electrifying lightning strikes
Where to Find Boss Powers
You will start unlocking Boss Powers naturally as you play through the season. Here is where to look:
- World Bosses: These are your easiest targets early on.
- Apparition Incursion Bosses: Another great source of early-game powers while leveling. You will be doing Apparition Incursion as part of the seasonal content. There are multiple Apparition Bosses to gather Boss Powers from.
- Lair Bosses: Once you hit level 60 and unlock Torment I, you will have access to the Lair Boss system, where you can farm high-end powers.
Each boss has one specific power, so make sure to kill every Boss once to gather all of them.
Boss Powers List
Here is the list of all 24 Boss Powers available in Season 8: Belial’s Return.
Apparition Incursion Bosses
You can obtain these boss powers by participating in Apparition Incurions across the world of Sanctuary.
| Name | Main Power | Modifier Power |
|---|---|---|
| Allek’s Talons | Casting a Basic Skill applies 200% Sparking damage over 4 seconds to enemies it hit. | Gain 5% Movement Speed, increased by 0.5% for each 1% Cooldown Reduction you have, up to a maximum of 11%. |
| Beastmaster’s Training | Whenever you cast a Summon Skill or call a Mercenary for Reinforcement, one of your Summons or Mercenaries Taunts enemies and gains 40% Damage Reduction. | Your Summons deal 5%[x] more damage, increased by 0.25%[x] for each 1% Bonus Critical Strike Damage you have from items and Paragon, up to a maximum of 17%[x]. |
| Blackmailer’s Sabotage | Casting a Core Skill while you have a Barrier Knocks Down Close enemies for 1.1 seconds. This cannot occur on the same enemy more than once every 5 seconds. | Whenever you gain Fortify, additionally gain 20% of the amount as Barrier. |
| Flesh Reaper’s Disruption | Damaging a Vulnerable enemy removes the Vulnerable and then Stuns them and surrounding enemies for 0.5 seconds. This Stun applies 100% more Stagger to Bosses. | Gain 5%[x] Vulnerable Damage, increased by 0.25%[x] for each 1% of Crowd Control Duration Bonus you have, up to a maximum of 10.5%[x]. |
| Hatred’s Embrace’s Haste | Casting a Shadow or Fire Skill grants 1.1% increased Movement Speed for 3 seconds, up to 11%. | Gain 5%[+] Critical Strike Chance, increased by 0.5%[+] for each 1% of Shadow Resistance you have, up to a maximum of 22.5%[+]. |
| Kirma’s Sparks | When you Evade, apply 200% Sparking damage over 4 seconds to Close enemies. | Your Evade Cooldown is reduced by 5%, increased by 0.2% for each 1% Lightning Resistance from bonuses you have, up to a maximum of 11%. |
| Outlaw Sharpshooter’s Eye | Dealing Direct Damage to a Distant enemy Slows them and surrounding enemies by 40% for 5 seconds. | You deal increased damage to Enemies the further they are from you, up to 10.5%[x]. |
| Sinerat’s Flames | Using a Mobility Skill Burns Close enemies for 200% Burning damage over 4 Seconds. | Gain 5%[x] increased damage to all Elements. For each 1% of an Element’s Resistance from bonuses, gain 0.2%[x] increased damage for that Element, up to a maximum of 15.5%[x]. |
| Skerg’s Toxins | When an enemy applies a Damage over Time effect to you, apply 1000% Poisoning damage to them over 4 seconds. | When you take damage from a Damage Over Time effect, you have a 5% chance to be Healed instead, increased by 50% of your Poison Resistance from bonuses, up to a maximum of 12%. |
| Torusk’s Rage | Damaging a Crowd Controlled enemy makes them and surrounding enemies Unstoppable but you gain 10.5%[x] increased Damage, Attack Speed, and Movement Speed for 3 seconds. | Gain 5%[+] Attack Speed, increased by 0.25%[+] for each 1% Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies you have, up to a maximum of 10.5%[+]. |
World Bosses
These powers can be gathered by defeating the world bosses.
| Name | Main Power | Modifier Power |
|---|---|---|
| Wandering Death’s Chest Beam | While Channeling a Skill, spawn a beam that deals 300% Frostbite damage per second. Enemies hit take 50%[x] increased damage from you for 1 second. | Your Main Boss Power instantly Executes Non-Boss enemies hit with less than 15% Life. When you Execute enemies you gain 25 Primary Resource. |
| Ashava’s Poison Breath | Hitting an enemy affected by Damage over Time spawns a wave of acid that deals 400% Poisoning damage over 4 seconds. Applies 10% more Poisoning for each 1% of the target’s current Life affected by Damage over Time. | Once per activation, damaging an enemy with your Main Boss Power also applies 45% Poisoning damage to it over 3 seconds. |
| Avarice’s Explosive Ore | When you gain excess Primary Resource, spawn a Piece of Ore. After 2.5 seconds the Piece of Ore explodes dealing 700% Fire damage. You can spawn up to 3 Pieces of Ore at once. | Activating your Main Boss Power spends all your Primary Resource to increase its damage by 1.5%[x] per Resource point spent. |
Lair Bosses
You can access these powers by defeating the Lair Bosses. Please note that you can only eliminate those bosses in Torment 1 difficulty or above. Lilith is significantly harder to beat than the other bosses.
| Name | Main Power | Modifier Power |
|---|---|---|
| Belial’s Eye Beams | After you drink a healing potion, gain 75% Damage Reduction for 2 seconds and summon eye beams that Corrupt enemies for 1,750% damage over 3.5 seconds. Then, your Healing Potion becomes disabled for 5 seconds. You may drink your Healing Potion at full health. | Activating your Main Boss Power grants unbreakable Stealth for 2 seconds. You deal 11%[x] increased Overpower Damage while Stealthed. |
| Lilith’s Wind of Hate | When you Cast a skill, attack enemies with a wave of spikes that lasts 2 seconds and deals 250% Physical damage. Enemies take 60%[x] increased damage from Wind of Hate each time it hits them, up to 300%[x]. | Hitting an Elite enemy with a Main Boss Power creates an inert Blister Clone with 10% of their Maximum Life for 15 seconds. Killing the Blister removes 5.25% of the Elite’s Life. An Elite can have up to 3 Blisters active at once, except for World Bosses. |
| Duriel’s Burrow | When you Evade, you now burrow underground, immobilizing surrounding enemies for 5 seconds and dealing 200% on your entry and exit. You deal 200% damage every 0.25 seconds while burrowed. Evade’s Cooldown is increased by 4 seconds, and Cooldown Reduction on Evade is 50% as effective. | Activating your Main Boss Power grants you 21%[+] increased Dodge chance for 2 seconds. Whenever you Dodge an attack you Immobilize Nearby enemies for 3 seconds. |
| Andariel’s Flaming Skull | After standing still for 1 second, summon a skull for 4 seconds that rotates around you and breathes fire that Burns enemies for 1200% damage over 3 seconds. | Burning Enemies take 21% more damage from your Damage over Time effects. For 5 seconds after activating your Main Boss Power, all your other attacks Burn enemies for 1,800% damage over 3 seconds. |
| Belial’s Crystal Decoy | When you Cast an Agility, Defensive, or Macabre skill, spawn a crystal that Taunts enemies and explodes after 3 seconds, dealing 600% Shadow damage. | Activating your Main Boss Power Fears Nearby enemies for 0.75 seconds and deals 50% Shadow damage to them. |
| Beast in the Ice’s Sleet | After casting 3 Skills which apply Crowd Control or Stagger effects, shoot out sleet spikes that deal 800% Cold damage and Freeze enemies for 2 seconds. | Your Main Boss Power now Chills enemies it damages for 2.5%[x]. |
| Grigoire’s Lightning Square | After you cast a Core Skill, lightning tiles outward for 1.2 seconds dealing 300% Lightning damage per strike. | Once per activation, damaging an enemy with your Main Boss Power Stuns enemies it hits for 0.25 seconds. |
| Lord Zir’s Blood Pool | After you damage an enemy, spawn a pool of blood that deals 400% Bleeding damage per second over 4 seconds. You can have up to 3 active pools. | Activating your Main Boss Power Heals you for 5.5% of your Maximum Life over 3 seconds. |
| Varshan’s Life Steal | Every time you lose 25% of your Maximum Life, attach a leeching beam to the attacker which restores 10% of your Maximum Life and deals 1200% Corrupting damage over 3 second to them. | Activating your Main Boss Power inflicts Nearby enemies with 200% Corrupting damage over 2 seconds. |
| Urivar’s Lobbed Bombs | After you Cast an Ultimate Skill, lob 4 bombs that deal 800% Fire damage and reduce your Ultimate Skill’s Cooldown by 5 seconds. | Killing an enemy with your Main Boss Power reduces your Ultimate Skill’s Cooldown by 0.2 seconds. |
| Harbinger of Hatred’s Volley | After damaging a Vulnerable enemy, shoot piercing projectiles that last 1.3 seconds, dealing 400% Fire damage and applying Vulnerable. Deals 40%[x] increased damage to Vulnerable enemies. | Casting a Basic Skill while at Maximum Resource spends it all to make all Nearby enemies Vulnerable. Activating your Main Boss Power grants 11%[x] increased Vulnerable Damage for 5 seconds. |
Upgrading Boss Power
Boss Powers can be upgraded up to Level 20 using a seasonal currency called Spectral Ash. You will earn Spectral Ash by doing seasonal content like Apparition Incursions and other Season 8 activities.
Each upgrade will increase the values of the power. However, costs ramp up every few levels, so plan ahead. Getting a power to Level 20 will require a serious investment.
Boss Powers scale with your Paragon level, meaning they will stay relevant deep into endgame progression.
