HIGHLIGHTS
- In PoE 2, ailment application depends on pre-mitigation damage and the target’s ailment threshold, usually their health.
- Players can boost this damage using ailment-specific support gems, such as Frostfire Support.
- Path of Exile (POE) 2 includes seven types of ailments, such as Bleeding, Poison, and Ignite.
Ailments are a kind of debuff that affects both players and enemies which can be physical or elemental.
Each ailment has a unique effect, often needing a threshold to be reached for its full impact.
Path of Exile 2 reworks Ignite, Chill, and Shock, introducing new mechanics for their application and scaling.
POE 2 Elemental Ailment Threshold
Unlike in POE 1, ailments are no longer guaranteed by critical hits and no longer have damage-over-time multipliers.
However, they still play a role by amplifying hit damage, indirectly improving your ability to inflict ailments.
In POE 2, the chance to inflict elemental ailments depends on the pre-mitigation damage and the target’s ailment threshold, which is usually equal to a monster’s health.
This threshold is adjusted for unique monsters, like bosses.
Ailment damage can be scaled multiplicatively through ailment effect modifiers or indirectly by increasing hit damage.
Hit damage is essential not only for inflicting ailments but also for maximizing their damage output.
For example, Ignite deals fire damage over time based on 90% of the initial hit damage per second for four seconds.
Players can further enhance this damage with ailment-specific support gems like Frostfire Support. This gem doubles the effect of Ignite against Frozen enemies.
Path of Exile 2 currently features seven types of Ailments which include Bleeding, Poison, and Ignite.
All Ailments Explained In POE 2
Bleeding deals 70% of physical hit damage per second for 5 seconds, increasing to 210% if the target moves.
Only hits to life can cause bleeding, and damage bypasses the energy shield. It does not stack, but multiple instances can exist, with the highest damage active.
Poison deals 25% of combined physical and chaos damage per second for 2 seconds, bypassing the energy shield. It can only stack once by default.
Ignite deals 25% of fire damage per second for 4 seconds and does not stack. It has a 25% base chance to apply for every 100% of the enemy’s ailment threshold.
Shock increases damage taken, with a 25% base chance to apply for every 100% of the enemy’s ailment threshold. This Ailment does not stack.
Freeze reduces action speed to 0 and builds up based on cold damage dealt.
Stun interrupts actions when buildup exceeds the threshold, with physical damage increasing stun buildup.
