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Image via Activiion Blizzard

Diablo 4: Can’t Use Abilities – How to Fix

Diablo 4 is an intense game where precise clicks and button presses mean everything. But it falls apart when players can't use abilities.

Once players truly delve into Diablo 4, they master the process of clicking exactly where they want their character to be and using abilities at just the right time. All of this deals the most damage possible, helping everyone in the party get more loot and progress deeper into the game. However, things can take a turn for the worse if players can’t use their abilities.

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When players find that they can’t perform specific actions like abilities in the game, an entire party can suffer. Abilities can be so powerful that they save a party from total devastation, so taking them out really stunts an evening’s progress. This guide explains how to fix Diablo 4 when players find they can’t use abilities and offers some reasons why this issue might have occurred.

Related: Diablo 4 – How to Add Sockets to Weapons and Armor

How to Fix Diablo 4 When Players Can’t Use Abilities

character-looking-into-a-pit-in-diablo-4
Image via Activision Blizzard

To fix Diablo 4 when players can’t use abilities, there are a few methods to try that could correct the problem. The easiest and most efficient is to quit Diablo 4 and restart the device users are playing on. This will completely stop all background processes that could interfere with the game and ensure everything starts up from scratch to work correctly.

At times, opening the map and teleporting to a nearby Waypoint can fix the problem of abilities not working. All players will know how to do this, but they may not want to because it’ll take them away from the action of the current fight. However, if abilities aren’t working, getting out of a fight and fixing the issue before it kills everyone is better.

If players don’t want to quit the game, they can try switching out of the game to their desktop on PC before going back into it again. As with restarting, this causes the game to pause or reset a few background processes that can interfere with gameplay. It’s a faster way to get abilities to work again, but it doesn’t always work.

Unfortunately for players, if abilities stop working in Diablo 4 in the middle of a tough Dungeon or long story mission, all that progress may be lost due to having to restart the game. It’s a pain when this happens, but there isn’t really a workaround since it’s a bug or glitch and not a known in-game issue that can be patched out.

Why do Abilities Stop Working in Diablo 4

Screenshot by Gamepur

Abilities can stop working in Diablo 4 for a myriad of reasons. However, at the center of all these reasons is the fact that Diablo 4 is an online-only game. It’s constantly communicating with Activision Blizard’s servers, processing inputs, and displaying them in the game for all players.

This can sometimes cause bugs and glitches, preventing abilities or other actions. Activision Blizzard’s title is far from the only online game to experience these issues, with many communities having similar problems with interactions not working due to server loads or stutters. Players must persevere to get around these issues regardless of the game they’re playing.


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Author
Image of Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp
Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp
Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp is a Staff Writer at Gamepur. He's been writing about games for ten years and has been featured in Switch Player Magazine, Lock-On, and For Gamers Magazine. He's particularly keen on working out when he isn't playing games or writing or trying to be the best dad in the world.