William gains five special powers over the course of Valor Mortis: three combat transmutations fuelled by Nephtoglobin and two passive skills that open up exploration. None of them sit behind optional content, so you collect each one simply by progressing through the main story. They arrive in a fixed order, from the opening battlefield in Chapter 1 to the University near the end of Chapter 8.
Quick answer: You unlock all five along the critical path. Fire comes in Chapter 1, the Grapple in Chapter 3, Stasis in Chapter 4, Platform Control in Chapter 5, and Shield in Chapter 8.
| Skill | Chapter | Type |
|---|---|---|
 Fire Transmutation | 1 | Combat transmutation |
| Nephtoglobin Grapple | 3 | Passive exploration |
 Stasis Transmutation | 4 | Combat transmutation |
| Nephtoglobin Platform Control | 5 | Passive exploration |
| Shield Transmutation | 8 | Combat transmutation |
Each power sits in a dead soldier at an altar overgrown with plague growth. Press E at the TAKE prompt and William reaches into the body’s chest and pulls out its glowing core, after which a transmutation appears on your off-hand and can be swapped to during combat. The two Nephtoglobin abilities work differently: they never show up on the weapon wheel and are used at the spots in the world that call for them.
See where each Transmutation and ability is found on the Valor Mortis map.
Fire Transmutation location (Chapter 1)
You pick this up shortly after lighting the Onslaught Arch lantern on The Battlefield. An enemy climbs out of the lake nearby; deal with it, then climb the slope just beyond to reach the corpse that grants the power. The altar is a dead soldier inside a thicket of red plague roots, a few metres above the Lantern; press E at TAKE. The altar is easy to walk past, so if you left The Battlefield without it, travel back to the Onslaught Arch Lantern and climb up to it.
In the scene, William grips the glowing orange core in the dead officer’s chest, and fire veins burst up his forearm. Afterwards his left hand burns: Fire replaces the firearm in that hand.
Fire lets William throw flames from his left hand. Enemies caught in it keep taking damage over time once their ignite meter fills, which makes it a reliable way to break up a crowd pressing in on you. The same flames also clear the white, web-like growths that block certain paths.
Nephtoglobin Grapple location (Chapter 3)
Once the Iron Marshall is down, walk a short way west from his barn back toward the village. By the wall of another barn, next to some crates and a brass candlestick, a dead man stands inside a cage of hanging red-black tendrils. Look at him and press E at the “TAKE” prompt.
In the scene that follows, William reaches into the dead officer’s opened chest and pulls out a glowing blue core; it crawls up his bare forearm as blue scale-like light.
When the scene ends, a hint box reads: “When a Grapple Point is in range, look at it and press [E] to use it.” Grapple Points are the blue glowing claw-shaped lamps hanging on chains.
Your first one hangs on the ruined tower right in front of you: look at the lamp and press E, and a blue tendril shoots from William’s hand to the lamp and pulls him to it.
This is a passive traversal skill rather than a weapon, so you will not find it on the switching wheel. With it active, William can latch onto the blue Nephtoglobin bulbs and run along blue Nephtoglobin walls, opening routes that were previously out of reach.
The same hand pulls Nephtoglobin Blossoms, big glowing pale-blue growths that block doorways. The first one fills a doorway in a timber shed passage a short way from the Grapple altar. Look at it for the PULL (HOLD) prompt and the hint “Hold [E] to pull the Nephtoglobin Blossoms, unlocking new paths.”
Hold E for about two seconds: blue tendrils from William’s hand grip the blossom, it bursts into dark specks, and the doorway behind it is open.
At the Marketplace in the Fallen Village, the wide stream beside the wooden jetty is crossed with a single grapple. From the start of the jetty the Grapple Point, a blue claw-lamp on the dead leaning tree across the water, is too far away for a prompt. Walk about 6 m out to the end of the jetty, where GRAPPLE appears at roughly 18 m, then press E. The tendril carries you over the water to the burning village on the far bank. Walking off the jetty into the water only puts you back on the near bank.
Stasis Transmutation location (Chapter 4)
Stasis is in the Caverns, in Chapter IV (Dark Descent). Rest at the Old Mine Lantern, then push into the mine: the altar is about 93 m from the Lantern in a straight line. It is a dead officer in a long coat standing among huge dark roots in a misty cavern, his chest a cage of blue-purple veins. Press E at TAKE.
In the scene, William reaches into the glowing violet core and violet tendrils wrap his hand and forearm, while he remarks uneasily on now holding sway over time itself. A Dark Descent quest update follows, and his left hand carries Stasis from then on.
A two-page tutorial follows. Hold the Transmutation button to freeze enemies in their tracks, and once one is fully frozen, attack it for massive damage. Pressing it while looking at moving gears stops them and all the machinery connected to them. Completely filling a Stasis Segment deals damage and expels a Nephtoglobin Remnant from the enemy, and the stronger the enemy, the more segments must be filled to freeze it. Stasis costs Nephtoglobin like the other transmutations.
Nephtoglobin Platform Control location (Chapter 5)
As soon as you light the Ship Graveyard lantern, walk to the end of the path ahead to pick this one up.
Like the Grapple, it is used passively while exploring. It lets William pull out platforms and blue Nephtoglobin walls and gives him a pole to swing from, extending how far he can traverse.
Shield Transmutation location (Chapter 8)
The last power sits inside the University. From the Main Hall lantern, head upstairs and ride the elevator up to one of the building’s highest floors, then interact with the corpse there to claim it.
Shield raises a barrier around William for as long as he has Nephtoglobin, blocking incoming attacks outright. It also keeps him safe while crossing burning ground and toxic or poison fields.
Using any transmutation drains Nephtoglobin, the purple bar under your health. Refill it by shattering enemy weak points or landing sword hits, so keep melee in the rotation rather than leaning on magic alone.
As soon as you own a transmutation and have brought Louis back to the Abandoned Church at the end of Rendezvous, you can upgrade it at Louis’s Laboratoire. Each one caps at level 5, with the final rank requiring a Quintessential Transmutation Material, so decide early which power you most want pushed to the top.
