Game mechanics
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Path of Exile can be intimidating for new players due to the fact that a certain level of understanding of game mechanics is demanded of players who wish to survive. In order to help facilitate planning and execution, this page contains information on the most important mechanics to understand and links to pages which explain specific mechanics in greater detail. It is intended to serve both as a guide to new players and as a primary reference for existing ones.
Leagues
Before beginning path of exile players are given options for different leagues to choose from. Players can only interact with other players in the same league as them. Most items owned by players are restricted to the league they are found in, with some exceptions below.
Standard is the permanent, evergreen league with no modifiers. Path of Exile also releases temporary challenge leagues of the parent leagues that include new features to the game. These are like ladder resets, in that everybody joins the league with no characters and an empty stash. When temporary leagues end all characters and inventories and the stash will all move to standard.
Leagues also have three additional optional flags:
- Hardcore - Character who die in Hardcore are moved to the Standard league. Items stored in the Stash are not move to Standard on death.
- Solo Self Found - Character is not allowed to form parties or trade with other players.
- Ruthless - An extra-hard difficulty that introduces gameplay changes to make the game more difficult, namely item scarcity.
Characters with both Hardcore and Ruthless enabled are moved to the Void league on death, preventing them from being played at all.
Temporary leagues have the same options as standard. The temporary leagues with no modifiers tend to be the most popular leagues. Higher player population makes finding a party or rare items for trade easier.
Classes and stats
Classes
The main difference between the classes is their starting location on the passive skill tree and their Ascendancy class. Classes also start with different amounts of attributes and have different quest rewards.
Ascendancy Classes
Each base class can choose from one of three Ascendancy classes (except for the Scion, who has only one) after completing the Lord's Labyrinth. Ascendancy classes offer powerful, specialized passive skills. You gain 2 Ascendancy skill points for each difficulty of the Labyrinth you complete, with 4 difficulties in all.
Level Progression
All classes begin with the same base stats, and gain the same amount life, mana and evasion per level. Classes start with different accuracy stats but gain the same amount per level. The values all classes gain per level are:
Private Stash
Your private stash allows you to store items and transfer them between characters. Stashes are shared between all your characters within a league - all of your Standard characters access one stash, while all of your Hardcore characters access a different stash. Items cannot be moved between leagues except by death to a character (From Hardcore or Challenge League Hardcore to Standard). Each account is initially limited to 4 stash tabs, but more can be bought through microtransactions.
Chat Channels
There are two types of chat channels: Trade and Global Chat. These channels are League-specific. If you enter global chat in a Challenge league, then you will only be talking with people in that league only. Typing /global ## or /trade ## will put you into that number channel, provided it is not full.
Messages can be directed to different channels. Messages starting with
- # are sent to the global chat channel you are in.
- $ are sent to the trade channel you are in.
- & are sent to your guild chat if you are in a guild.
You can leave global or trade chat by unchecking the "Join Global Chat" or "Join Trade Chat" options on the chat window.
Skills & Gems
Skill gems are the manner in which player characters are able to use and augment skills. Gems are placed in sockets by left-clicking it in the inventory to pick it up and then left-clicking it over the intended socket. Right clicking will remove the gem. Gems are either skills or supports, and skills come in several types whereof the two most common are Attacks and Spells.
Skill gems
Skill gems creates the skill. They can come in various forms, such as attacking or casting a spell, summoning a minion or totem, throwing a trap or placing a mine, activating an aura or buff effect, and so on.
Support gems
Support gems augments the skills, for example by increasing its power or adding more projectiles. The support gem needs to be linked to the gem to be active and the support needs to be able to support it.
Reading the gem's tags is helpful in determining which support gems can support which skills. Common sense is also helpful - skills that don't do damage, such as 
Temporal ChainsTemporal ChainsSpell, AoE, Duration, Curse, Hex
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (16-33) Mana
Cast Time: 0.50 secRequires Level 24Curses all enemies in an area, lowering their action speed and making other effects on them expire more slowly.Base duration is (5.00-8.80) seconds
+(0-1) metre to radius
50% less Effect of Curse against Players
Cursed Normal and Magic Enemies have (15-29)% less Action Speed
Other effects on Cursed enemies expire 25% slower
Cursed Rare and Unique Enemies have (9-18)% less Action Speed
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
(1-20)% increased Curse DurationPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.
, won't benefit from 
Added Cold Damage SupportAdded Cold Damage SupportCold, Support
Icon: C
Level: (1-20)
Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 120%Requires Level 8Supports any skill that hits enemies.Supported Skills have (4-152) to (6-228) added Cold Damage
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Supported Skills deal (0.5-10)% increased Cold DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.
nor would it add damage to an Aura. Note that skill properties may change depending on weapon - 
Elemental HitElemental HitAttack, Projectile, Melee, Strike, Fire, Cold, Lightning, AoE, Prismatic, Bow
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (7-11) Mana
AoE Radius: 10Requires Level 12Each attack with this skill will choose an element at random, and will only be able to deal damage of that element. If the attack hits an enemy, it will deal damage in an area around them, with the radius being larger if that enemy is suffering from an ailment of the chosen element. It will avoid choosing the same element twice in a row.(18-391) to (33-726) Added Cold Damage
(22-480) to (40-891) Added Fire Damage
(3-75) to (67-1467) Added Lightning Damage
Only Deals Damage of the chosen Element
Deals no Damage of other Damage Types
(30-49)% chance to Freeze, Shock and Ignite
Base radius is 1 metre
80% more Area Radius against Enemies affected by an Ailment of the chosen Element
10% more Damage per Elemental Ailment on the Enemy
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
+(0.25-5)% more Damage per Elemental Ailment on the EnemyPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.
, for example, is tagged with both Bow and Melee because it can be used with either, but 
Lesser Multiple Projectiles SupportLesser Multiple Projectiles SupportSupport, Projectile
Icon: l
Level: (1-20)
Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 8Supports projectile skills.Supported Skills deal (15-6)% less Projectile Damage
Supported Skills fire 2 additional Projectiles
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Supported Skills deal (0.5-10)% increased Projectile DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.
won't work when Elemental Hit is used with a sword.
Gem experience gain
- Gems are not affected by the experience penalty when facing enemies below your level.
- Equipped gems get experience equal to 10% of the experience you earn.
- The number of gems you have equipped has no effect on the rate of XP gain. So having fewer gems equipped does not cause them to gain XP faster than if you had many gems equipped.
- Gems do not lose experience when you die.
- Gems bought from Vendors gain experience and increase in levels when the player levels up. Gems dropped from monsters and containers are level 1, higher level gems can also drop from other sources, such as a Strongbox.
Damage Scaling and Effects
See also Damage Types. Understanding how damage scales is very important in Path of Exile. There are 5 main types of damage, which are Physical, Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Chaos. Fire, Cold, and Lightning are collectively known as Elemental Damage. Damage reduction from armour only affects physical damage.
Dual wielding
Dual wielding bonus to attack speed and block chance. The attack speed bonus is applied multiplicatively with other attack speed modifiers.
The default attack and most other skills will alternate between each weapon, striking with each hand in turn.
CleaveCleaveAttack, AoE, Physical, Melee
Level: (1-20)
Cost: 6 Mana
Attack Speed: 80% of base
Attack Damage: (125-237)% of base
Effectiveness of Added Damage: (125-237)%
AoE Radius: 20The character swings their weapon (or both weapons if dual wielding) in an arc, damaging monsters in an area in front of them. Only works with Axes and Swords.When Dual Wielding, Deals 60% Damage from each Weapon combined
(2-75) to (3-113) Added Attack Physical Damage
+(0-1) metre to radius
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
+0.1 metres to radius per Nearby Enemy, up to a maximum of +1 metrePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.
, 
Dual StrikeDual StrikeCritical, Attack, Melee, Strike
Level: (1-20)
Cost: 5 Mana
Attack Speed: 70% of base
Attack Damage: (125-244)% of base
Effectiveness of Added Damage: (125-244)%Attacks with both weapons, dealing the damage of both in one strike. Dual wield only. Does not work with wands.100% more Critical Strike Chance against Enemies that are on Full Life
60% more Damage with Hits and Ailments against Enemies that are on Full Life
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
+(1.5-30)% more Damage with Hits and Ailments against Enemies that are on Full LifePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.
, 
LacerateLacerateAttack, AoE, Physical, Melee
Level: (1-20)
Cost: 8 Mana
Attack Speed: 60% of base
Attack Damage: (100-154)% of base
Effectiveness of Added Damage: (100-154)%
AoE Radius: 38Requires Level 12Slashes twice, releasing waves of force that damage enemies they hit. Enemies in the middle of the slashes can be hit by both. The slashes will have a chance to inflict bleeding in Blood Stance, or have a wider angle in Sand Stance. Can be used with Axes and Swords. You are in Blood Stance by default.(5-75) to (8-113) Added Attack Physical Damage
+(0-0.9) metres to radius
(50-88)% more Damage with Bleeding while in Blood Stance
25% chance to cause Bleeding while in Blood Stance
50% increased angle while in Sand Stance
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
(1-20)% increased Attack Speed if you've changed Stance RecentlyPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.
, and 
RiposteRiposteTrigger, Attack, Melee, Strike, Physical
Level: (1-20)
Cooldown Time: 0.80 sec
Can Store 1 Use(s)
Attack Damage: (160-230)% of base
Effectiveness of Added Damage: (160-230)%Requires Level 4Perform a deadly counter-attack when you block. Uses both weapons while you're dual wielding.(2-56) to (3-85) Added Attack Physical Damage
Trigger this Skill when you Block
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
(2-40)% increased Cooldown Recovery RatePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.
attack with both weapons at once, while most other skills will alternate between each weapon. For skills that are weapon-restricted, both weapons must be compatible in order to use the skill.
Combining damage properties
Path of Exile uses wording that is as literal as possible according to the classifications listed on this page so that consistent damage calculations can take place. For example, take 
Spectral ThrowSpectral ThrowAttack, Projectile
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (5-8) Mana
Attack Speed: 110% of base
Attack Damage: (80-125)% of base
Effectiveness of Added Damage: (80-125)%
Projectile Speed: 1000Throws a spectral copy of your melee weapon. It flies out and then returns to you, in a spinning attack that damages enemies in its path.
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Projectiles that have Pierced deal (0.5-10)% more DamagePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.
. It is a projectile attack that uses a melee weapon. This means that, for example, a passive node that grants 10% increased physical damage with Two-Handed Weapons will boost Spectral Throw's physical damage when used with a two-handed melee weapon such as a staff, but a node that grants 15% increased melee physical damage will not boost Spectral Throw's physical damage, because Spectral Throw is a projectile attack, not a melee attack. This approach to properties is true of all mechanics in the game, but is most often a source of confusion for damage stacking.
Damage conversion
Some skills and gear can convert one type of damage to another, resulting in a complex damage calculation. Damage conversion stacks additively, and is scaled down to fit 100% if total conversion exceeds 100%. Bonuses from different damages types are applied to the final product as though they were the same type - for example, if you had
100% cold to fire conversion
100 base cold damage
50% increased cold damage
50% increased fire damage
Then you would have 50%+50% increased fire damage (see the following section), or 100% increased fire damage. This means your final damage is
200 fire damage.
Modifier stacking
In general, integer modifiers are applied before percentages. Percentage modifiers using the words "% increased" or "% reduced" stack additively with one another, while "% more" and "% less" modifiers stack multiplicatively.
When dealing with weapons, some modifiers that are listed on the weapon itself are applied first, before mods from other pieces of equipment, skills, and so on. This includes anything affecting physical damage, such as increased physical damage, added physical damage, quality etc., and also attack speed, critical strike chance, and accuracy. It does not include elemental damage mods. These can be called local modifiers - any modifier marked as "global," such as %increased Global Critical Strike Modifier, is not applied to the weapon first.
Similarly, when dealing with armour, evasion, and energy shield on armour, any modifiers affecting those stats that are listed on the piece of armour are applied first. This includes quality and any other mods directly affecting armour, evasion, or energy shield amount. It does not include mods affecting the energy shield recharge delay or regeneration rate, only the amount of energy shield.
Imagine I have 100 life, and two passive skills that each increase total life by 15%. The total bonus will be 30%, resulting in 130 life. Now imagine I am wearing boots that give +40 life, and have a passive skill that grants +20 life. The integer bonuses are applied first, giving me 160 life, then the percentage bonuses are applied to that subtotal, for a final total of 208 life.
For example, let's look at a Samite Helmet with +69 armour, 92% increased armour, and 20% quality.
This Horned Casque has a base armour rating of 240. Then the +69 is added to get 309 armour. Then the 92% bonus from the item and the 20% bonus from quality are added together to give a 112% armour increase, for a total of 655 armour.
Another example calculation
If you had a sword whose unmodified damage is 10-20, with the following modifiers:
50% increased physical damage on the weapon;
20% quality on the weapon;
5-10 added physical damage on the weapon;
passive skills granting 30% increased sword damage;
a skill that does 40% increased damage and 30% less damage;
the calculation would look like this:
Base damage: 10-20
Stage 1, on-weapon modifiers: (10-20 + 5-10) x (1 + 0.5 + 0.2) = 25.5-51
Stage 2, all other modifiers: (25.5-51) x (1 + 0.3 + 0.4) x 0.7 = 30-61
Defensive mechanics
Movement Speed
The base movement speed bonus of your character is 0%, or normal speed. If your movement speed bonus is at 0%, then it will not be shown on the "Defense" tab of the character screen. However, if it is anything else, such as -2%, it will be shown in the "Defense" tab.
Shields and body armours have hidden intrinsic movement speed penalties. Body armour based on armour or armour and energy shield cause 5% reduced movement speed. All other body armours cause 3% reduced movement speed. Shields cause 3% reduced movement speed. These are the nonmagical components; unique body armours such as 
Queen of the ForestQueen of the Forest
Destiny LeatherEvasion: (1803-2451)
Movement Speed: -3%Requires Level 59, 160 Dex(200-240)% increased Evasion Rating
+(60-70) to maximum Life
+(6-10)% to Fire Resistance
+(26-40)% to Cold Resistance
+(11-25)% to Lightning Resistance
25% reduced Movement Speed
1% increased Movement Speed per 600 Evasion Rating, up to 75%
-(50-40) Physical Damage taken from Hits by AnimalsShedding away her regal past,
she forged a new destiny.
Sacrificing the ephemeral joys of man,
she embraced the eternal grasp of nature.
Seizing her one true wish,
she found peace at last.
can modify movement speed further.
Adventuring
Currency
Instead of gold or other forms of money, Path of Exile uses what are known as "currency items". Currency items are displayed with light tan text colour in their item name. In addition to their use as units of trade, each type of currency item can alternatively be consumed for a specific gameplay effect, such as in crafting or gambling a piece of equipment.
When you buy items from NPC vendors, those items will cost some amount of currency (usually low-tier currency). When you trade with players, be prepared to barter or haggle unless a player has listed a "buyout", a set price for the item. Exchange rates between currency items are generally set by the players, as currency items can only be traded up to the next level of currency at a vendor and not traded down.
If an item has reached the max number of sockets, it is impossible to use a Jeweller's Orb on it. If a 5-socketed item has reached 5 links or a 6-socketed item has reached 6 links, it is impossible to use an Orb of Fusing on the item.[1]
Here is some basic information on currency tiers which has been adapted from Noperative's guide. The tiers are player-defined and some players may not agree on them.
Mirror of KalandraMirror of KalandraStack Size: 10Creates a mirrored copy of an itemRight click this item then left click an equipable non-unique item to apply it. Mirrored copies cannot be modified.
God-Tier: The rarest and highest value currency item in the game. It eclipses the networth of most of the playerbase.
Divine OrbDivine OrbStack Size: 20Randomises the values of the random modifiers on an itemRight click this item then left click a magic, rare or unique item to apply it.
, 
Exalted OrbExalted OrbStack Size: 20Augments a rare item with a new random modifierRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it. Rare items can have up to six random modifiers.
, 
Chaos OrbChaos OrbStack Size: 20Reforges a rare item with new random modifiersRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it.
, 
Vaal OrbVaal OrbStack Size: 20Corrupts an item, modifying it unpredictablyRight click this item then left click an item to corrupt it. Corrupted items cannot be modified again.
, 
Orb of AnnulmentOrb of AnnulmentStack Size: 20Removes a random modifier from an itemRight click this item then left click on a magic or rare item to apply it.
, 
Sacred OrbSacred OrbStack Size: 10Randomises the numeric values of base defences on an armourRight click this item then left click an armour to apply it.
High-Tier: Very high value in the end-game. Used extremely often for trading high- and mid-end items. Recommended to save and use for trading.
Orb of AlterationOrb of AlterationStack Size: 20Reforges a magic item with new random modifiersRight click this item then left click a magic item to apply it.
, 
Orb of AlchemyOrb of AlchemyStack Size: 20Upgrades a normal item to a rare itemRight click this item then left click a normal item to apply it.
, 
Regal OrbRegal OrbStack Size: 20Upgrades a magic item to a rare itemRight click this item then left click a magic item to apply it. Current modifiers are retained and a new one is added.
, 
Orb of ScouringOrb of ScouringStack Size: 30Removes all modifiers from an itemRight click this item then left click on a magic or rare item to apply it.
, 
Orb of RegretOrb of RegretStack Size: 40Grants a passive skill refund pointRight click on this item to use it.
, 
Chromatic OrbChromatic OrbStack Size: 20Reforges the colour of sockets on an itemRight click this item then left click a socketed item to apply it.
, 
Jeweller's OrbJeweller's OrbStack Size: 20Reforges the number of sockets on an itemRight click this item then left click a socketed item to apply it. The item's quality increases the chances of obtaining more sockets.
, 
Orb of FusingOrb of FusingStack Size: 20Reforges the links between sockets on an itemRight click this item then left click a socketed item to apply it. The item's quality increases the chances of obtaining more links.
, 
Gemcutter's PrismGemcutter's PrismStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a gemRight click this item then left click a gem to apply it. The maximum quality is 20%.
, 
Cartographer's ChiselCartographer's ChiselStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a mapRight click this item then left click a map to apply it. Has greater effect on lower-rarity maps. The maximum quality is 20%.
, 
Awakened SextantAwakened SextantStack Size: 10Adds or rerolls a modifier on a VoidstoneRight click this item then left click a Voidstone to apply it.
Mid-Tier: Moderate value in large amounts. Used often for low- and mid-end items. It is recommended to save them in large amounts to trade in bulk. Using small amounts for personal crafting is not bad.
Scroll of WisdomScroll of WisdomStack Size: 40Identifies an itemRight click this item then left click an unidentified item to apply it.
, 
Portal ScrollPortal ScrollStack Size: 40Creates a portal to townRight click on this item to use it.
, 
Orb of TransmutationOrb of TransmutationStack Size: 40Upgrades a normal item to a magic itemRight click this item then left click a normal item to apply it.
, 
Orb of AugmentationOrb of AugmentationStack Size: 30Augments a magic item with a new random modifierRight click this item then left click a magic item to apply it. Magic items can have up to two random modifiers.
, 
Orb of ChanceOrb of ChanceStack Size: 20Upgrades a normal item to a random rarityRight click this item then left click a normal item to apply it.
, 
Blacksmith's WhetstoneBlacksmith's WhetstoneStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a weaponRight click this item then left click a weapon to apply it. Has greater effect on lower-rarity weapons. The maximum quality is 20%.
, 
Armourer's ScrapArmourer's ScrapStack Size: 40Improves the quality of an armourRight click this item then left click an armour to apply it. Has greater effect on lower-rarity armours. The maximum quality is 20%.
, 
Glassblower's BaubleGlassblower's BaubleStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a flaskRight click this item then left click a flask to apply it. Has greater effect on lower-rarity flasks. The maximum quality is 20%.
, 
Blessed OrbBlessed OrbStack Size: 20Randomises the values of the implicit modifiers of an itemRight click this item then left click another item to apply it.
Low-Tier: Currency that is rarely used for trading, usually people will try to buy these by the hundreds rather than accepting one or two due to how easy they are to get. A lot of people will just keep a few stacks of these currencies to use on their own items rather than going through the effort of selling them.
There is a general copper-silver-gold-like progression that can be memorized to help buy out or evaluate items from other players. The following orbs can be stored and used as currency in order to circumnavigate the process of bartering.
4 Orbs of Transmutation -> 1 Orb of Augmentation (NPC)
4 Orbs of Augmentation -> 1 Orb of Alteration (NPC)
8 Orbs of Alteration <-> 1 Orb of Fusing or 1 Orb of Alchemy (between players; Alteration -> Fusing is NPC and players widely consider Fusing and Alchemy to be 1:1)
2 Orbs of Fusing or Orbs of Alchemy <-> 1 Chaos Orb (Players)
Items on websites like poe.ninja are widely listed with buyouts in terms of chaos orbs, orbs of fusing, and divine orbs.
Other exchange rates vary over time and differ from player to player. The progression above is not considered a law when trading with players.
Items
Attribute requirements
Most gear has attribute requirements that must be met in order to equip it. These requirements come from the base item type and are unaffected by magical modifiers, quality, or number of sockets. If a gem has attribute requirements a character does not meet and the gem is socketed in an item then that character will be unable to use that item.
Level requirements
Most items have a level requirement that must be met in order to equip them. There are two factors that affect level requirements:
- The level of the base item type. This is the level that the item starts appearing (and is separate from the itemlevel that affects which magical modifiers can spawn on it). See the item data link above for a list with all item levels. Some of the very low-level base items do not come with a level requirement.
- The level of the magical modifiers. The level requirement for magical modifiers is equal to 80% of the level of the highest-level magical modifier on the item.
- The highest level requirement of the two listed above is the one that appears on the item.
Drop rates
Drop tables are uniform across monsters of the same monster level. In other words, the pool of items that can potentially drop and the chance for a particular item to drop are not determined by the type of monster.
Level difference currency penalty
There is a penalty to the chance of currency items (scrolls, orbs, etc.) dropping in areas with a monster level more than two levels lower than a character's level. Currency item Drops are not increased or decreased in this way when fighting in areas above your level. For the purposes of this penalty, your level is never considered to be higher than 68. Therefore, a level 75 character receives no penalty in a level 66 area.
There are two modifiers that affect drop rates in the game, increased item rarity, and increased item quantity.
There are three potential sources of these modifiers:
- the player (skills, passives, gear etc.)
- monsters (such as bosses and champions)
- Party bonuses
Modifiers from the player stack additively with each other, and are subject to diminishing returns.
Modifiers from the party bonus and monsters stack additively with each other, and are not subject to diminishing returns.
The total player bonus stacks multiplicatively with the total party & monster bonus.
Item Rarity
Increased Item Rarity % modifiers (or IIR) increase the chances of an item being magic, rare, or unique. IIR increases with diminishing returns but they are only significant at very high IIR values. IIR has no effect on the number or type of currency items, scrolls, or gems that drop. When in a party, only the modifier from the character who lands the killing blow on an enemy is counted. If one of a character's minions lands the killing blow then the minion's IIR is added to the character's IIR and that sum is used.
Magic, rare, and unique monsters have an IIR modifier for drops.
Item Quantity
Increased Item Quantity (or IIQ) increases the average number of items that drop from monsters and chests. It does not affect the type, quality, or rarity of item dropped, only the chance that something will drop. There is no cap on the usefulness of this modifier, as monsters can drop more than one item at a time. The base chance for an item to drop from a normal monster is 16%. This varies between monster types, and special monsters have higher drop chances.
When in a party, each player in the party after the first gives a +10% item quantity and +40% item rarity modifier on drops.
IIQ & IIR modifiers from support gems currently do not work with kills made by damage over time effects, such as the poison from poison arrow. Modifiers from your gear will affect those kills however.
Quality
All weapons, armour, flasks, gems, and maps can randomly receive between +1% and +20% quality when dropped from a monster or container. This value can be increased by Blacksmith's Whetstones, Armourer's Scraps, Glassblower's Baubles, Gemcutter's Prisms, and Cartographer's Chisels, but is capped at 20%.
The effect of quality depends on the item:
On weapons, increased physical damage
On armour, increased Armour rating, Evasion, and Energy Shield
On life and mana flasks, increased life and mana recovery
On utility flasks, increased duration
On gems, the bonus is specific to each gem. Check the individual gem page for specifics
On maps, increases the item quantity bonus from monsters in the map area
There are a limited number of ways to increase quality beyond +20%, such as using a 
Perfect FossilPerfect FossilStack Size: 20Improved QualityPlace in a Resonator to influence item crafting.
on an item or with Hillock's crafting bench in an Immortal Syndicate safehouse.
Modifiers on items
Modifiers are split up in to two main groups, prefixes and suffixes. A magic item can have only one prefix and one suffix, never two prefixes or two suffixes.
Rare items can have up to six modifiers, it is unknown if there is a limit on how many of these can be prefixes/suffixes.
A randomly generated rare item (from a drop or Orb of Alchemy) receives between four and six modifiers randomly, with the following odds:[2]
1/12 chance of 6 mods
4/12 chance of 5 mods
7/12 chance of 4 mods
All modifiers have a level associated with them, and will only appear on items whose item level is greater than or equal to the modifier's level.
Lists of available magical modifiers are available in the list of item modifiers section.
The Culling Strike modifier (found on some unique items and 
Culling Strike SupportCulling Strike SupportSupport
Icon: X
Level: (1-20)
Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 110%Requires Level 18Supports any skill that hits enemies. If enemies are left below 10% of maximum life after being hit by these skills, they will be killed.Kill Enemies that have 10% Life or lower when Hit by Supported Skills
Supported Skills deal (0-38)% increased Damage
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Recover (0.1-2)% of Life when Supported Skills Cull an EnemyThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.
) causes monsters to die if you strike them down to 10% or less life.
Sockets
There are four types of sockets:
- Strength (red)
- Dexterity (green)
- Intelligence (blue)
- Neutral (white), appearing on
Tabula RasaTabula Rasa
Simple RobeMovement Speed: -3%Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden)
Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)
or corrupted items. The Locus of Corruption has a chance to turn all sockets white. 
Fundamental FossilFundamental FossilStack Size: 20More Attribute modifiers
No Critical modifiersPlace in a Resonator to influence item crafting.
s can create rare items with up to 3 white sockets. The rare items can then be scoured and keep their white sockets. Missions from The Immortal Syndicate can make up to 3 random colours white on an item.
Sockets appear randomly on most equipment. Higher level items can appear with more sockets than lower level items of the same type. The maximum amount of sockets that can appear on an item also varies by the type of item:
- Two handed weapons and body armour can have up to 6 sockets
- Wands, shields, and one handed weapons can have a maximum of 3 sockets
- Unset Rings and Black Maw Talismans can have a maximum of 1 socket.
The Hungry LoopThe Hungry Loop
Unset RingRequires Level 70Has 1 SocketConsumes Socketed Uncorrupted Support Gems when they reach Maximum Level
Can Consume 4 Uncorrupted Support Gems
Has not Consumed any Gems
<Consumed support gem modifier>Be careful where you put your finger.
is an exception to the normal socket limit on rings. - Everything else can have a maximum of 4 sockets
Items are more likely to receive sockets that match their attribute requirements. So an item requiring only dexterity is more likely to have green sockets than red or blue sockets. You can only put a blue (intelligence) gem in a blue socket, red gem in a red socket, etc. Sockets can be linked. The links are shown as gold bars between the sockets. Support gems affect any skill gems in sockets that they are linked to.
For example:
This sword has 1 strength socket, 1 intelligence socket, and 2 dexterity sockets. Every socket is linked to every other socket. In this sword you could put:
- 4 skill gems. You would get access to 4 skills.
- 3 skill gems and one support gem. You would get access to 3 skills, and all three would be improved by the support gem.
- 2 skill gems, 2 support gems. You get 2 skills, both are improved by both support gems
- 1 skill gem, 3 support gems. You get 1 skill that is boosted by all 3 support gems.
So let's say you put in:
- CleaveCleaveAttack, AoE, Physical, Melee
Level: (1-20)
Cost: 6 Mana
Attack Speed: 80% of base
Attack Damage: (125-237)% of base
Effectiveness of Added Damage: (125-237)%
AoE Radius: 20The character swings their weapon (or both weapons if dual wielding) in an arc, damaging monsters in an area in front of them. Only works with Axes and Swords.When Dual Wielding, Deals 60% Damage from each Weapon combined
(2-75) to (3-113) Added Attack Physical Damage
+(0-1) metre to radius
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
+0.1 metres to radius per Nearby Enemy, up to a maximum of +1 metrePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.
skill gem, 
Raise ZombieRaise ZombieSpell, Minion
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (9-28) Mana
Cast Time: 0.85 secRaises a zombie minion from a corpse, which will follow you and attack enemies with a melee strike.Maximum (3-6) Raised Zombies
Minions have (0-38)% more Maximum Life
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
+(0.05-1) to Maximum Raised ZombiesPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.
skill gem, and- Added Cold Damage SupportAdded Cold Damage SupportCold, Support
Icon: C
Level: (1-20)
Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 120%Requires Level 8Supports any skill that hits enemies.Supported Skills have (4-152) to (6-228) added Cold Damage
Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Supported Skills deal (0.5-10)% increased Cold DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. support gem.
You would get a cleave skill that does extra cold damage, and raise zombie skill with zombies that do extra cold damage. You would not get zombies that have cleave, or raise a zombie every time you use cleave.
If two of the same support gem are linked to the same skill within the same socket group, they do not stack. Only the highest-level gem gives a bonus.
Additionally, two skill gems of the same type can be used in separate socket groups, resulting in more than one usable version of that skill. Skill Gems are only affected by support gems in the same socket group. For example, imagine a piece of armour with 5 sockets. The first two sockets are linked in one group, and the remaining three sockets are linked in a separate group. If you put Cleave and Faster Attacks in the first group, and Cleave, Added Fire Damage, and Added Cold Damage in the second group, you would have two different versions of cleave available - one cleave skill that attacks faster, and another cleave that does bonus fire and cold damage. Small letters appear over the skill icons for each support gem you have attached to that skill. This allows you to differentiate between the different versions if you have more than one of the same skill gem equipped.
Item level
Each item has a level associated with it that is equal to the monster level of the area it dropped in. The monster level is shown on the map overlay (TAB key). Magic monsters (blue name) have +1 to their level, and will yield items with an item level one level higher than other monsters in the same area. Rare (yellow name) and unique (brown name) monsters have +2 to their level, and will yield items with an itemlevel two levels higher than other monsters in the same area. You can check an item's level by picking it up on the cursor and typing /itemlevel in the chat box. This item level determines which modifiers it can receive, and how many sockets it can receive.
Parties
The maximum party size is 6 players.
Effect on monsters
Monsters have increased life for each member inside a party.
The original life amount is used for the purposes of determining the length of stuns and status ailments from elemental damage - this means monsters will not be harder to stun/ignite/etc. when fighting in a party.
Effect on loot
Each player in a party after the first gives an increased item quantity modifier and increased item rarity modifier on drops. Increased Item Rarity & Quantity modifiers are only counted from the player who lands the killing blow.
Effect on experience
Only party members that are nearby (roughly two screens) receive experience from a slain monster. If one member is in town or too far from the monster they get no XP. Monsters are still made harder by players elsewhere on the level but outside of XP range.
Effect on flasks and killing blow modifiers
Only the character landing the killing blow gets bonuses from "(...) when you deal a killing blow" type of modifiers. Flasks does not apply to this.
Instances
All areas in Path of Exile are instanced. When you enter an area, a new instance is created. Once you leave the area, the instance will remain in its current state for 15 minutes - if 15 minutes passes with no players entering the instance, it will be closed. This closes any portals you may have had to the area. Entering the same area again will create a new instance with a new randomly generated map. Areas without side areas attached (any area with two or less exits) has a shorter timer, and will only last 8 minutes while empty.
Instances you create are private, and cannot be entered by other players unless they join your party. However, once a player has entered an instance, that instance remains associated with the player even if they leave the party. So it is possible to share an instance with non-party members in some circumstances. The exception to this is towns, which are always public, and cut-throat leagues, where all instances are public - meaning anyone can enter your instances at any time.
Some areas have waypoints. Once activated (by clicking on the waypoint), waypoints allow you to travel instantly to any other waypoint you have activated.
Ctrl-clicking on a waypoint destination in the waypoint menu, or an area transition such as a doorway, will bring up the instance management screen. This screen lists all available instances of the area you ctrl-clicked on, the players inside the instance, and the time remaining until they are closed. It also allows you to create new instances, and enter existing ones. Using the instance management screen you can have more than one instance of the same area open at a time, and choose which available instance you want to enter. This may be useful if one wants to respawn bosses, but note that instances are arranged so that bosses cannot be farmed without traveling a significant distance.
Level difference experience penalty
Level affects the amount of experience you gain from killing enemies, based on the relative level of the player and monsters. A penalty is applied if you are too far above or below the monster level.
Microtransactions
Microtransactions are in game digital goods purchased with real world money. Most effects are cosmetic.
Commons options (Does not include everything)
- Each account is initially limited to 24 character slots, but more can be bought through microtransactions.
- Skin Transfers can make players appear like they are wearing their favorite looking items, while the actual item they equipped is not shown.
- Stash tabs can range from basic extra storage, to specific kinds that make storing items easier. For options see stash tab shop
References
- ↑ Chris (October 23, 2013). "1.0.0b Patch Notes". Official Path of Exile Forums. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
- ↑ Malice (November 14, 2011). "Mechanics thread". Official Path of Exile Forums. Retrieved November 24, 2015.