The Ferrofluid Flask is your main way to stay alive in Valor Mortis, and each sip starts out restoring only 50 health. Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrades change that. Spend them at a Lantern and every flask heals for more, which matters a lot once the game starts throwing bosses and poison arenas at you. They sit in chests across nearly every region, come from one side quest, and show up in Louis’s shop over the course of the story.
Quick answer: At a Lantern, choose UPGRADE FERROFLUID FLASK, then Upgrade Ferrofluid Potency, and spend a Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrade; each step adds 10 healing, up to a maximum of 140. Raising one flask from 50 to 140 takes 24 upgrades, found in chests, from one side quest, and in Louis’s Laboratoire.
How much each Power Upgrade heals
A new Ferrofluid Flask restores 50 health—half of your starting 100. After you first take damage, the game tells you to press F to drink, reducing the count shown in the bottom-left HUD slot by one. Resting at a Lantern or restarting at a checkpoint after death replenishes your flasks to full.
Each Power Upgrade adds 10 healing per step. Early steps cost one upgrade, and the price climbs as you go. Here is the full scaling from base to the 140 cap.
| Step | Healing | Power Upgrades needed |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 50 | — |
| 1 | 60 | 1 |
| 2 | 70 | 2 |
| 3 | 80 | 2 |
| 4 | 90 | 2 |
| 5 | 100 | 3 |
| 6 | 110 | 3 |
| 7 | 120 | 3 |
| 8 | 130 | 4 |
| 9 | 140 | 4 |
Add it all up and it takes 24 Power Upgrades to carry a single flask from 50 all the way to 140 healing. Separate from this, Empty Ferrofluid Flasks raise how many charges you can hold, so the two upgrade types work independently. For those, see all 9 Empty Ferrofluid Flask locations.
Where Power Upgrades are found, region by region
Most Power Upgrades come from chests, and they are spread unevenly across the map. The Fortress holds the largest share. Here is how the chest hauls break down.
| Region | Power Upgrades in chests |
|---|---|
 Fortress | 4 |
 City of Orphans | 3 |
 University | 3 |
 Valley of Ashes | 2 |
 Fallen Village | 2 |
 Caverns | 2 |
 Vale of Wrath | 2 |
 Cursed Hollow | 2 |
 The Outskirts | 1 |
One more comes from a side quest, and Louis’s Laboratoire stocks three across the story. Every chest is marked on the Valor Mortis map.
A Power Upgrade from a side quest
The Curious Case of Seamus Diggory, a side quest in Cursed Hollow, hands you a Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrade in conversation. You get it whichever way you finish the quest.
Buying from Louis’s Laboratoire
Louis sells Power Upgrades at his workbench in the Abandoned Church for 3,000 Catalysts each. One is available from the start, a second unlocks in chapter 5 (Crime), and a third in chapter 9 (In Ruins), for three across the story. Check his stock between chapters, since it refreshes as you progress.
How to apply an upgrade and confirm it worked
Rest at any Lantern and choose UPGRADE FERROFLUID FLASK.
The screen shows your current Ferrofluid Potency and Flask Charges; switch to Upgrade Ferrofluid Potency, which spends 1 to 4 Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrades per step as in the table above, and hold to upgrade. Each flask’s health restoration should increase by 10, corresponding to the next step in the scaling table. Later steps need more Power Upgrades each, so the last two steps alone take eight.
