Vaal skill

Several different Vaal skill gems

Vaal skills are granted by Vaal skill gems, a special type of corrupt skill gem that can be used to unleash powerful abilities fueled by the souls of slain enemies.

Vaal skill gems can be looted from corrupted areas, certain strongboxes, and bosses of corrupted maps. It is also possible to create a Vaal skill gem by using a 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. on a corresponding normal skill gem (e.g. using a Vaal Orb on has a chance of turning it into ).

Mechanics

To use a Vaal skill, its gem must first be charged by collecting souls. Each slain enemy provides one soul, assigned randomly to one of the character's equipped Vaal skill gems. Souls will never be assigned to Vaal skill gems in the character's secondary weapon set. Collected souls cannot be transferred between zone instances; instead, each instance maintains its own soul counter for each gem. In other words, entering a new instance will start a new counter for each gem, but returning to a previously visited instance will restore each counter to its previous value.

Once a Vaal skill gem collects a sufficient number of souls, it is charged with one use. The number of souls per use depends on the skill and increase as the character progresses in the story. Some Vaal skill gems can store enough souls for more than one use. Once a gem's maximum soul capacity is reached, it can collect no additional souls until they are spent by using the skill.

The story has the following effects on the soul cost of the vaal skill:

• Completion of Act 5 increases the cost by 50% of the base value
• Completion of Act 10 increases the cost by a total of 100% of the base value

Please note that once the cost increase has been applied it will apply to all game areas, including the areas of previous acts.

Because a 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%. can't be used on corrupted gems, getting quality on vaal gems is substantially harder than it is on a regular gem. Vaal gems must either drop with quality or a normal gem already with quality must have a 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. used on it and be turned into a corrupted Vaal gem.

Vaal skills themselves can not be activated by trigger gems, they can trigger other gems however.

Any effects that modify the original skill, such as Helmet Enchantments and Threshold jewels, will also affect the Vaal version of the skill as well.

List of Vaal skill gems

Sorted By Attribute

Vaal Skills have requirements based on each of the three main attributes, and can be easily identified by the attribute colour.

List of active skill gems granting vaal skills

The skill Gluttony of Elements, which is obtained by equipping Blood of CorruptionBlood of Corruption
Amber AmuletRequires Level 5+(20-30) to StrengthGrants Level 10 Gluttony of Elements Skill
Adds 19 to 43 Chaos Damage to Attacks
-(10-5)% to all Elemental Resistances
+(17-29)% to Chaos ResistanceCorruptedIn my dream, a voice spoke to me. It said:
'My reach knows no bounds.
All that is pure is destined to rot.
All that lives is destined to serve.'
- Doryani, Queen's Thaumaturgist, also counts as a Vaal skill.

Unique items

The following unique items affect the player's Vaal skills: #invoke: Item table

Achievements

The following achievements are related to Vaal skill gems:

Name	Description
Virtue Corruption	Corrupt a skill gem into a Vaal skill gem.
Vaal Gemling	Have a Vaal Skill Gem reach level 20.

Lore

The Vaal civilization may have existed thousands of years ago, but it had its own form of Skill Gems. Brutally powerful and fueled by the sacrifice of foes, these gems are the ultimate version of many contemporary Path of Exile skills. Vaal Skill Gems charge up as you kill enemies and can be unleashed for a devastating effect.

Version history

Version	Changes
3.0.0	Vaal skill soul costs are increased by 50% of their base soul cost upon completion of Act 5, and increased by a total of 100% of their base soul cost upon completion of Act 10. Like the resistance penalties, these costs affect your character in all game areas.
1.2.1	Vaal skills can now trigger other skills. Like before, they can not be triggered themselves.