Forces 40+ listed weapons to aim at the nearest enemy, with Cooldown scaled by Projectile Speed.
Pale Diamond Incursion is the targeting arcana. Per the wiki, while the Darkana is active, every weapon on its listed roster aims at the nearest enemy when firing instead of following the weapon's standard pattern. The change is drastic: Knife stops spreading, Axe stops arcing skyward, Peachone and Ebony Wings stop orbiting, and Iron Ball stops bouncing.
The Cooldown bonus is the secondary mechanic. According to the wiki, listed weapons gain a Cooldown reduction affected by the character's Projectile Speed stat. Higher Projectile Speed translates to faster fire rate on every listed weapon, which inverts the usual Empty Tome priority for the build.
This is the fifth Darkana in the game, introduced with the Ante Chamber DLC on 28 October 2025. The wiki classifies it as Darkana number 5 with ID D05_PALE_DIAMOND. The unlock target is precise: find 10 Golden Treasure Chests created specifically by Zi Appunta Belpaese's exclusive light sources in a single run.
This guide covers the nearest-enemy targeting mechanic, the Projectile Speed Cooldown scaling, the full 40+ weapon list, the strict Zi Appunta Golden Chest unlock requirement, the Greatest Jubilee and Call of a Mad Moon exclusions, and the best build approach when the arcana is active.
Pale Diamond Incursion (V), the fifth Darkana in the game. Released 28 October 2025 with Ante Chamber.
Find 10 Golden Treasure Chests from Zi Appunta Belpaese's exclusive light sources in a single run.The targeting change is the buried lede. Per the wiki, every listed weapon stops following its native pattern and aims at the nearest enemy in the player's firing range. Knife no longer fires in the facing direction. Axe no longer arcs upward. 
Javelin no longer fires in a fixed direction. Even orbit weapons like Peachone, Ebony Wings, and Shadow Servant collapse into nearest-target firing.
| Weapon class | Standard behavior | Under Pale Diamond Incursion |
|---|---|---|
 Directional | Fires in the player's facing direction | Aims at the nearest enemy regardless of facing per the wiki |
 Arcing | Throws upward and falls in an arc | Drops directly onto the nearest enemy with no arc travel |
 Pattern weapons | Vento Sacro forward slash, Fire Wand five-projectile spread | Collapses into single-target nearest-enemy strikes |
| Orbits | Peachone, Ebony Wings, Shadow Servant circle the player | According to the wiki, orbit motion is replaced with direct nearest-enemy targeting |
The effect is total per the wiki. Evolutions of listed weapons are included automatically. Vandalier (Peachone + Ebony Wings union) inherits the targeting change. Phieraggi (Phiera Der Tuphello + Eight The Sparrow union) is not listed, so it keeps standard behavior.
The unlock requirement is strict. Per the wiki, the player must find 10 Golden Treasure Chests created by Zi Appunta Belpaese's exclusive light sources in a single run. Several common Golden Chest sources do not count.
| Source | Counts toward unlock? |
|---|---|
| Zi Appunta exclusive light sources | Yes. Per the wiki, these are the only valid source. The character must be in active play for the light sources to spawn |
 Call of a Mad Moon (XIII) modified chests | No. The wiki specifies chests modified into Golden Treasure Chests by Call of a Mad Moon do not count toward the unlock |
 Greatest Jubilee summoned light sources | No. The wiki notes that light sources summoned by Greatest Jubilee cannot spawn as Zi Appunta's exclusive ones |
| Survarot skill-summoned light sources | No. Per the wiki, certain Survarot skills also fail to spawn Zi Appunta's exclusive light sources |
| Standard stage light sources | No unless Zi Appunta's ability converts them. Only her exclusive ones count |
According to the wiki, the requirement effectively forces the player to commit to a Zi Appunta build for the unlock. Stacking Luck and Curse increases the spawn rate of her exclusive light sources. In our testing, a Luck-and-Curse-stacked Zi Appunta run on a high-spawn stage (Cappella Magna or Mt. Moonspell) hits 10 Golden Chests by minute 18-20.
The wiki lists 40+ weapons across base game and every DLC. Each affected weapon's evolutions also follow the targeting change. The roster spans melee, ranged, orbit, and AoE classes.
| Bucket | Listed weapons |
|---|---|
| Base game core | Knife, Axe, Fire Wand, Santa Water, Runetracer, Lightning Ring, Peachone, Ebony Wings, Gatti Amari, Vento Sacro, Bone, Carrello, La Robba, Greatest Jubilee, Bracelet |
| Magic Wand siblings and DLC magic | Flames of Misspell. Plus DLC additions like Magi-Stone and Mille Bolle Blu per the wiki list |
 Ode to Castlevania (DLC) | Shadow Pinion, Shadow Servant, Mirage Robe, Flash Arrow, Prismatic Missile, Party Popper, Hats, Shuriken, Curved Knife, Javelin,  Iron Ball |
| Operation Guns (DLC) | Pako Battiliar, Ammo Appalate, Long Gun, Short Gun, Spread Shot, Sonic Bloom |
| Tides of the Foscari (DLC) | Santa Javelin |
 Ante Chamber (DLC) | Magi-Stone,  Gros Michel |
According to the wiki, the targeting rule applies to evolutions automatically. Bloody Tear (Whip evolution) is not on the list. Phieraggi (Phiera + Eight The Sparrow union) is not on the list. The Darkana is selective about which weapon families it touches, which makes the affected-weapon roster the first check before committing to the arcana pick.
The Cooldown bonus is the secondary mechanic that makes the arcana viable for sustained DPS. Per the wiki, listed weapons gain a Cooldown reduction affected by the character's Projectile Speed stat. Higher Speed translates directly to faster fire rate on every listed weapon.
| Stat | Normal value | Pale Diamond effect |
|---|---|---|
| Projectile Speed | Default x1 per character | Per the wiki, scales the Cooldown bonus directly. Higher Speed = more bonus |
 Empty Tome | -8% Cooldown per level | Still effective. The Pale Diamond bonus stacks on top of standard Cooldown reductions |
 Duplicator | +1 Amount per level | Compounding well with the Speed-Cooldown bonus. More projectiles + faster fire rate = higher single-target DPS |
| Bracer-type Speed gains | +5% Speed per level traditionally | Per the wiki, the Speed stat now doubles as a Cooldown stat on Pale Diamond-affected weapons |
The build-priority inversion matters here. According to the wiki, Speed-stacking passives become more valuable than usual when this Darkana is active. In real runs, a Bracer-plus-Empty-Tome stack on a listed weapon hits a fire rate roughly 30-40% faster than the standard build at the same passive level.
Stack Projectile Speed early when Pale Diamond Incursion shows up in arcana offers. Per the wiki, Speed converts to Cooldown 1-for-1 on listed weapons under this Darkana, which makes Bracer a substitute for Empty Tome and roughly doubles its build value. In actual play, a Bracer + Spinach + Crown spread carries an affected-weapon build harder than the standard Crown + Tome + Pummarola line.
The build inversion is the structural advice. Per the wiki, Speed-stacking matters more than usual and pattern-coverage matters less. Single-target damage is the new rule: every listed weapon's damage now lands on the nearest enemy one-at-a-time instead of spreading across screen.
| Stat priority | Reason |
|---|---|
| Projectile Speed (priority 1) | Per the wiki, scales the Cooldown bonus on every listed weapon. Highest-impact stat when this Darkana is active |
| Amount / Duplicator (priority 2) | More projectiles per fire-cycle stack with the faster fire rate. Multiple cursors translates to multiple nearest-enemy hits per cycle |
| Might (priority 3) | Single-target damage matters more without spread. Each projectile carries the full Might value to the same enemy |
| Cooldown / Empty Tome (priority 4) | Still useful but lower marginal value than Speed. The Projectile Speed scaling means base Cooldown reduction is partially redundant |
| Area (skip) | Per the wiki effect, weapons stop using their native AoE patterns. Area-stacking has reduced impact on most listed weapons under this Darkana |
The character choice matters too. According to the wiki, Zi Appunta is the natural pick because the unlock requires her and her starter weapons are well-covered by the Darkana list. For post-unlock runs, characters with Projectile Speed bonuses (Suor Clerici or Megalo character variants) stack the bonus beyond standard +5% Speed levels.
Pair Pale Diamond Incursion runs with the Speed-stack passives the Darkana converts into Cooldown bonuses and the Zi Appunta-favorable Curse-and-Luck farm passives.
Game data and screenshots adapted from vampire.survivors.wiki, used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Poncle.