How Poison Works in Path of Exile 2
Image Credit: Grinding Gear Games, Path of Exile 2
Poison is an ailment in Path of Exile 2 that deals chaos damage over time. Understanding how poison works and how to scale its damage can make a big difference in your builds. This guide will break it down simply and clearly.
What Is Poison?
Poison is an ailment, which means it’s a debuff applied after a hit. Poison damage:
Deals chaos damage over time.
Is based on 20% of the physical and chaos damage dealt by the initial hit.
How Poison Damage Is Calculated
To calculate poison damage…
Start with the damage from your hit.
Poison scales from the physical and chaos damage of your hit.Example 1: If your hit deals 100 physical damage, your poison damage is 20 chaos damage over time.
Example 2: If your hit has 50 physical and 50 chaos damage, the poison will be 20% of the total (100), so it deals 20 chaos damage over time.
Example 3: If your hit deals 100 chaos damage, the poison still deals 20% (20 chaos damage over time).
The poison applies after the hit.
The poison damage is a separate effect from the hit damage itself.
Misconceptions About Poison Scaling
A common misunderstanding is that "increased chaos damage" from the passive tree directly increases poison damage. This is incorrect because poison is calculated when the hit happens, not afterward. Instead, scaling poison damage works in other ways.
How to Increase Poison Damage
Here’s how you can boost poison damage in Path of Exile 2:
Increase Damage Taken by the Enemy:
Effects like Wither and certain curses increase the chaos damage the enemy takes.
These work by increasing the enemy’s vulnerability, not your poison’s magnitude.
Boost the Initial Hit:
Poison scales with the physical and chaos damage of your hit. Boosting these will directly increase your poison damage.
Sources include gear, skill gems, and passives that add flat chaos or physical damage.
Skills and Nodes That Improve Ailments:
Passives or skills that increase ailment damage or poison duration can make poison more powerful.
What About Wither?
Wither is a debuff that increases the chaos damage taken by enemies.
Why It’s Strong: It affects all chaos damage sources, including poison.
How It Works: Wither doesn’t make your initial hit stronger, but it makes the poison deal more damage by increasing how much chaos damage the enemy takes.
Other Considerations
Some nodes and skills in the game add flat chaos damage, increase the effect of Wither, or grant bonuses to chaos skill gems. However, their exact effectiveness often depends on your build and gear. The key is to test your build and adjust based on how it feels in combat.
Key Takeaways
Poison deals chaos damage over time and scales with 20% of your physical and chaos damage.
Increasing the initial hit’s physical or chaos damage is the best way to scale poison.
Effects like Wither and curses make poison stronger by increasing the enemy’s chaos damage taken.
Passives that improve ailments, poison duration, or flat chaos damage also help.
Focus on experimenting with your build to see what works best. If something feels good, keep it; if not, make adjustments. Path of Exile 2 is all about finding what fits your playstyle!
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