Heavy Strike

When facing the hungry throngs on Wraeclast, offense truly is the best form of defense. Skilled melee combatants have mastered the technique of the Heavy Strike, a devastating blow they unleash with an Axe, Mace or any two-handed weapon. Heavy Strike lands with terrifying force, knocking foes back and often stunning them, if not killing them outright.

Description on the official Path of Exile website

Heavy Strike is an melee attack that hits and knocks back an enemy, using a mace, axe, sword or any two-handed weapon.

Skill functions and interactions

• Dual Wielding: Dual wielders can use Heavy Strike as long as one of their weapons is an axe, sword or mace. If only one weapon is an axe, sword or mace, only that weapon will be used to attack. If both weapons are axes and/or swords and/or maces, the attack will alternate between weapons.

• Reduced Enemy Stun Threshold: This modifier increases the chance that enemies struck by Heavy Strike are stunned. This is additive with other reduced Enemy Stun Threshold modifiers, such as from .

Gem level progression

Level			Damage Effectiveness	Attack Damage	Exp.	Total Exp.
1	1	0	195%	195%	0	0
2	2	0	201%	201.2%	70	70
3	4	16	207%	207.4%	308	378
4	7	22	214%	213.6%	1554	1932
5	11	31	220%	219.8%	6667	8599
6	16	41	226%	226.1%	26047	34646
7	20	50	232%	232.3%	49725	84371
8	24	58	238%	238.5%	95714	180085
9	28	67	245%	244.7%	169595	349680
10	32	75	251%	250.9%	283759	633439
11	36	83	257%	257.1%	453996	1087435
12	40	92	263%	263.3%	703128	1790563
13	44	100	270%	269.5%	1061223	2851786
14	48	109	276%	275.7%	2065870	4917656
15	52	117	282%	281.9%	2507110	7424766
16	56	125	288%	288.2%	5798936	13223702
17	60	134	294%	294.4%	15083919	28307621
18	64	142	301%	300.6%	27792735	56100356
19	67	148	307%	306.8%	43869739	99970095
20	70	155	313%	313%	242081556	342051651
21	72	159	319%	319.2%	N/A	N/A
22	74	N/A	325%	325.4%	N/A	N/A
23	76	N/A	332%	331.6%	N/A	N/A
24	78	N/A	338%	337.8%	N/A	N/A
25	80	N/A	344%	344.1%	N/A	N/A
26	82	N/A	350%	350.3%	N/A	N/A
27	84	N/A	356%	356.5%	N/A	N/A
28	86	N/A	363%	362.7%	N/A	N/A
29	88	N/A	369%	368.9%	N/A	N/A
30	90	N/A	375%	375.1%	N/A	N/A
31	91	N/A	378%	378.2%	N/A	N/A
32	92	N/A	381%	381.3%	N/A	N/A
33	93	N/A	384%	384.4%	N/A	N/A
34	94	N/A	388%	387.5%	N/A	N/A
35	95	N/A	391%	390.6%	N/A	N/A
36	96	N/A	394%	393.7%	N/A	N/A
37	97	N/A	397%	396.8%	N/A	N/A
38	98	N/A	400%	399.9%	N/A	N/A
39	99	N/A	403%	403.1%	N/A	N/A
40	100	N/A	406%	406.2%	N/A	N/A

Threshold jewels

The following threshold jewels augment Heavy Strike:

Note that the jewels may be drop disabled and only be found in the permanent leagues as legacy items.

Item	Limit	Radius	Stats	Drop Enabled
Weight of the EmpireWeight of the Empire Crimson JewelLimited to: 2 Radius: Medium(8-12)% increased Global Physical Damage With at least 40 Strength in Radius, Heavy Strike has a 20% chance to deal Double DamageOndar not only betrayed his emperor, He betrayed his friend. And in his dying moments, Chitus ensured, That Ondar felt the full weight of his guilt.Place into an allocated Jewel Socket on the Passive Skill Tree. Right click to remove from the Socket.	2	Medium	(8-12)% increased Global Physical Damage With at least 40 Strength in Radius, Heavy Strike has a 20% chance to deal Double Damage	0

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Heavy Strike.

Note that helmet enchantments are no longer obtainable since version 3.23.0 and can only be obtained in permanent leagues as already enchanted items from before this patch.

Name		Labyrinth	Stats	Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Heavy Strike Attack Speed 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	10% increased Heavy Strike Attack Speed	helmet 100
Enchantment Heavy Strike Attack Speed 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	15% increased Heavy Strike Attack Speed	helmet 100
Enchantment Heavy Strike Damage 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	25% increased Heavy Strike Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Heavy Strike Damage 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	40% increased Heavy Strike Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Heavy Strike Double Damage 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	Heavy Strike has a 8% chance to deal Double Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Heavy Strike Double Damage 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	Heavy Strike has a 12% chance to deal Double Damage	helmet 100

Version history

Version	Changes
2.4.0	5% more damage at gem level 20.
2.1.0	Attack skills that have their damage based on the wielded weapon have their mana costs fixed in place from level 1 onwards.
2.0.0	Now grants 1% increased stun duration per 1% quality (quality no longer affects attack speed).
1.2.0	The mana cost of all skills has been revised.
0.11.6	Heavy Strike: reduced stun threshold reduction from 30% to 25%.
0.10.2	Heavy Strike's physical damage now increases by 5% per level rather than 4%.
0.9.12qq	Heavy Strike's 50% damage bonus now affects support gems and elemental damage. It is now represented as Damage Effectiveness.
0.9.12e	Fixed a client crash that could occur when using a Duelist and Heavy Strike with certain weapon combinations.
0.9.3	Heavy Strike has been added to the game.