Vasco Mendes Paciência is a forward born in Porto, the son of the former Porto, Benfica and Portugal striker and coach Domingos Paciência and the younger brother of Gonçalo Paciência. He was formed at FC Porto and Boavista before joining Benfica's academy in 2019, a move that drew attention in Portugal because of his father's history with the club's rivals.

At Benfica he played for the under-23 side and for Benfica B, scoring twice in fourteen matches in the Liga Revelação. He spent the 2021/22 season on loan at Grasshopper Club Zürich in Switzerland, where he made 20 league appearances and scored five goals — the most productive spell of his career to that point.

He returned in the summer of 2022 with his contract running down and no prospect of first-team football under Roger Schmidt. On 19 July 2022 Benfica released him to Académica de Coimbra, then competing in Liga 3, where he joined a squad attempting to return the historic club to the professional divisions.