Vanguard Zombies: Season 1 - How The Tome Of Rituals Works

There’s a new feature that’s easy-to-miss in Der Anfang, the Stalingrad set Zombies Mode map for Call of Duty: Vanguard. The Tome of Rituals gives players another much needed upgrade avenue. Like the altar, the tome costs Sacrificial Hearts to use, which are earned by completing any of the activities in Der Anfang. The tome works like the artifact tier upgrade system in Black Ops Cold War, but instead of giving you permanent upgrades for all maps, this only works for your current session.

Spending Sacrificial Hearts lets you purchase upgrades for your equipped artifact, and each upgrade only costs 1 Sacrificial Heart. To reach Tier IV, you only need to spend 4 Sacrificial Hearts total. All artifacts have four upgrades, and we’ll list them all for your convenience. If you want to see exactly what the Tome of Rituals can do for you, check out the full guide below.

More Call of Duty: Vanguard guides:

Zombies: Everything You Need To Know About Der Anfang Map Guide | Zombies: How To Survive Into High Rounds Solo | Zombies: How To Get Free Quick Revives | Zombies: The Best Build To Survive | Multiplayer: Settings To Change First | Multiplayer: How To Earn Easy Weapon XP | Multiplayer: Best Beginner Loadouts

How To Use Tome Rituals | Season 1 New Features Guide

The Tome of Rituals is located in the Stalingrad Fountain Square, in the corner opposite the Pack-a-Punch machine. This device allows you to upgrade your equipped Artifact for the duration of the current session. Even if you are downed, you will keep the upgrades you’ve unlocked on that session. This is not a permanent upgrade, so you’ll need to re-upgrade every session.

The Tome of Rituals upgrades your Artifact — your special power-up. Each Artifact has different effects, and there are four upgrades for each Artifact, up to Tier IV. Each upgrade tier costs 1 Sacrificial Heart — which are earned by completing portals on the map. You’ll earn one Sacrificial Heart per portal, or 1 Sacrificial Heart for surviving 3 Rounds in the new Shi No Mura Void, accessible from Von List’s Office.

Aether Shroud | Tome of Rituals Upgrades
- Tier 1: When activated, automatically reload weapons.
- Tier 2: While active, deal +500% melee damage.
- Tier 3: While active, gain +50% movement speed. Duration increased +3 seconds.
- Tier 4: +1 Charges for max of 2 Charges.

Energy Mine | Tome of Rituals Upgrades
- Tier 1: Adds 3 second stun effect to all enemies hit by mine.
- Tier 2: Adds x3 explosions effect, exploding three times with a .75 second delay between explosions.
- Tier 3: +2 Charges for a max of 3 Charges.
- Tier 4: Increases +66% explosion radius.

Frost Blast | Tome of Rituals Upgrades
- Tier 1: Freezes enemies caught in the Frost Blast AOE for .5 seconds. Frozen effect lasts for 3 seconds.
- Tier 2: Increases +100% AOE radius.
- Tier 3: +2 Charges for a max of 3 Charges.
- Tier 4: When frozen, standard enemies are instakilled after taking damage.

Ring of Fire | Tome of Rituals Upgrades
- Tier 1: Standard enemies inside AOE take 2% (of max HP) damage every second.
- Tier 2: Any player inside AOE uses ammo from stock instead of magazine.
- Tier 3: Increases the duration by +5 seconds if a player stands inside the AOE for 10 seconds.
- Tier 4: Increases player damage bonus +25% (to +75%) if a player stands inside the AOE for 10 seconds.

Some of these effects are great for solo players, while others like the Ring of Fire are killer for teamwork. Get these early and plan your strategy — some of these effects are insanely useful, and you can get a full Tier 4 by Round 4.