Vanguard Zombies Tome of Rituals Guide: Aether Artifact upgrades & Tiers


It looks like Treyarch is finally starting to make things right - the latest title update to arrive for Call of Duty Vanguard has included a lot of Zombies content and there are finally features that allow you to upgrade your Dark Aether Artifacts. The Tome of Rituals might sound flashy, but it's just another simple upgrade feature that should help to add more progression to Vanguard Zombies and Der Anfang.

Here's a guide to all the upgrade Tiers you can unlock with Essence in-game...

All Tome of Rituals Artifact upgrade Tiers

At the moment, there are four Aether Artifacts available in Vanguard Zombies - if you're looking for what these Tome of Ritual upgrades will get you, we have everything you need to know thanks to Sledgehammer Games' latest set of Patch Notes.

  • Frost Blast
    • Tier I – Freezes normal and Special enemies for 3 seconds once they have been in the Frost Blast zone for 0.5 seconds.
    • Tier II – Increases the Frost Blast radius by 100%.
    • Tier III – Increases the number of charges from 1 to 3.
    • Tier IV – Frozen normal enemies are insta-killed when damaged.
  • Energy Mine
    • Tier I – Stuns normal and Special enemies hit by Energy Mine for 3 seconds.
    • Tier II – Explodes 3 times in a row with a 0.75-second delay between explosions.
    • Tier III – Increases the number of charges from 1 to 3.
    • Tier IV – Increases the explosion radius by 66%.
  • Aether Shroud
    • Tier I – Automatically reload weapons when activated.
    • Tier II – Deal 500% bonus melee damage while active.
    • Tier III – Gain 50% move speed while active. Duration extended from 5 seconds to 8 seconds.
    • Tier IV – Increases the number of charges from 1 to 2.
  • Ring of Fire
    • Tier I – Normal enemies inside the ring take damage equal to 2% of their max HP every second.
    • Tier II – Players within the ring use ammo from stock.
    • Tier III – Staying within the ring for up to 10 seconds increases the duration from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
    • Tier IV – Staying within the ring for up to 10 seconds increases your damage bonus from +50% to +75%.

Each upgrade will set you back one Sacrificial Heart - so, you'll need to get through a few objectives if you want to fully upgrade your Aether Artifact.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Call of Duty and More page.