Projectile

"Projectile Damage" redirects here. For the passive skill, see Projectile Damage (passive skill).

"Pierce" redirects here. For the support gem, see Pierce (support gem).

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Projectiles are entities which are produced by a spell or ranged attack which travel independently of their creator until they collide with an enemy or obstacle. Skills that create projectiles have the Projectile or Bow keyword.

Speed and duration

All projectiles have a speed, which can be altered by Projectile Speed modifiers. All projectiles also have a duration (which can be infinite), although in most cases this duration is not mentioned anywhere and cannot be modified, unless explicitly stated such as with the skill .

The speed and duration combined determine the distance the projectile will travel, up to its maximum range. This is important when considering projectiles that have a limited lifetime.

For example, creates projectiles which deal full damage initially, but deal less and less damage the longer they are alive. Increasing the Projectile Speed of Freezing Pulse will cause the projectiles to arrive at the target sooner, and therefore they will deal more damage than a slower-moving Freezing Pulse that traveled the same distance.

Increasing the Projectile Speed of limited duration projectiles will allow them to travel a further distance before they expire.

However, there are effects that occur based on the projectile's total distance traveled since launched. For instance:

• will always arm (change into its second form) at a certain distance from its launching point, regardless of its speed
• The damage modifiers from Point Blank and Chin Sol are based the projectile's total distance traveled, not how long the projectile has been alive. Note that, in the case of , the total distance traveled may be greater than the current distance from the player.

Ground and airborne projectiles

Most projectiles fly through the air, however there are some that travel along the ground.

Airborne projectiles an be aimed up and down cliffs and other height transitions, and can impact with the ground or ceiling. This can sometimes make them difficult to aim when dealing with a steep vertical angle, as they might fly over the heads of enemies or harmlessly impact the ground at the enemy's feet. Airborne projectiles will travel over most low obstacles such as small chests and rocks.

Projectiles that travel along the ground cannot be fired up or down height transitions, and will instead collide with the edge. They will never impact with the ground or ceiling, but they are much more likely to be obstructed by small obstacles around the environment. Skills that create earthbound projectiles include , Lightning Strike, and .

Death

When a projectile collides with an enemy or obstacle, it explodes and is destroyed. This happens even if the projectile is the result of an attack that is evaded or dodged. Intuitively a projectile that is evaded or dodged would continue along its trajectory, but that is not the case in Path of Exile.

Subprojectiles

Normally a projectile attempts to hit the first enemy it encounters, explodes if the projectile has an explosion effect, and disappears. However, some effects change the projectile hit behavior.

Effect types

Only one effect is applied per hit. The effects are listed in order of priority.

Pierce

The projectile passes through the enemy and continues along its previous trajectory. Piercing may have less than a 100% chance. Pierce chance is rolled independently for every hit. A projectile with a chance to pierce of 100% or more will always pierce.

Fork

The projectile splits into two identical projectiles which each travel at a 60 degree angle from the projectile's original path. A projectile can only fork once.

Chain

The projectile chooses a target within a certain radius, and travels in the direction of that target. A target cannot be hit twice in a row. If there are no valid targets in range of the original enemy, it will not chain. Chain has a specified number of iterations.

Return

The projectile returns to the original firer.

Explosions

Some projectiles explode on every hit, while other projectiles only explode when they disappear, dealing only normal damage on non-exploding hits.

The following skills explode on every hit:

• Ice Shot
• Power Siphon
• All other on-hit effects, such as , , etc.

The following skills only explode when the projectile disappears:

Example projectile

Imagine a that has 50% Chance to Pierce, Projectiles Fork, and Chain +2 Times, and has been launched towards a pack of enemies:

1. It hits the first enemy and succeeds its piercing check. The enemy is damaged and the projectile continues on its course.
2. It hits a second enemy and this times fails to pierce. It forks, and there are now two projectiles which fly in different directions.
   • The first projectile

   1. The first projectile hits an enemy, and succeeds its piercing check, and continues on.
   2. There are no more enemies in its flight path, and it flies into a wall and explodes.

   • The second projectile

   1. The second projectile hits an enemy but fails its piercing check. Since it is the descendant of a projectile that forked, it cannot fork. The projectile and none of its ancestors have chained yet, so it can still chain two times. It chains and flies backwards towards the previous enemy.
   2. It hits the enemy, succeeds its piercing check, and continues on.
   3. It hits another enemy and fails to pierce, but can still chain one more time. It chains towards a nearby enemy.
   4. It hits the enemy and again fails to pierce. It cannot fork, and has run out of chains, so it finally explodes, dealing Fireball's area of effect damage.

Projectile Damage Passives

Projectile passives increase all damage dealt with a bow or a wand, including elemental damage. They also boost damage done with projectile spells, like Fireball or Spark.

Basic Projectile Damage Passives include:

• 3 x Projectile damage (6%)
• 10 x Projectile damage (8%)

Notable Projectile Damage Passives include:

• 1 x Fury Bolt (12% Increased Projectile Damage, 20 Strength)
• 1 x Ballistic Mastery (15% Increased Projectile Damage, 20% Increased Projectile Speed, 20 Dexterity)
• 1 x Path of the Hunter (12% Increase Projectile Damage, 20 Evasion, 20 Dexterity)

For a total of 16 Projectile Damage Passives granting 137% Increased Projectile Damage, 20% Increased Projectile Speed, 20 Strength and 40 Dexterity.