Leech

"Life Leech" redirects here. For the support gem, see Life Leech Support. For the passive skill, see Life Leech (passive skill).

"Mana Leech" redirects here. For the support gem, see Mana Leech Support.

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Path of Exile: Life Leech

Leech recovers an amount of life, mana or energy shield over time, relative to the damage inflicted on an enemy. Leech cares about the damage taken by the enemy, not the amount of life removed.

Mechanics

Default Leech limitations between different resources.

Resource	Leech cap	lps	Tot lps
Life	10%	2%	20%
Energy Shield	10%	2%	10%
Mana	10%	2%	20%

All leech mechanics act the same way for life, mana and energy shield. Examples in this article will use life, but if the character has equal statistics for a different resource (mana or energy shield), they will apply in the same way.

Whenever a character with some source of leech hits a monster a leech instance is created. A life leech instance has the following properties by default:

• Each life leech instance is independent.
• Recovers the character's life for the Damage Dealt * #% damage Leeched as Life up to 10% of maximum life.
• Recovers at a rate of 2% of maximum life per second.
• Recovers until the instance expires or the character is at full life. Therefore at full life all instances are removed.

Multiple leech instance stacks and apply to the character simultaneously which will lead to the total life leech rate increasing. There is no limit in number of active leech instances but the total sum of leech rate is instead limited to 20% of maximum life per second. The extra healing over that cap will be ignored. Reaching the max leech rate is quickly achieved when using an area of effect skill, a single hit that struck 10 enemies will result in 10 separate leech instances.

Leech grants recovery to the entity that hit the target. If a minion or totem with leech hits another monster the leech will grant recovery to that minion or totem only, not the character. Leech on a trap or mine has no effect, as the source of the hit has no life to recover.

Modifiers

Leech can be modified significantly through passives, support gems, and equipment. Beyond just adding various sources of leech, modifiers such as #% increased total Recovery per second from Life Leech or #% increased Maximum total Recovery per second from Life Leech can change how leech is applied to a character.

• 50% increased Maximum Recovery per Life Leech increases the default 10% of the character's maximum life pool leeched per hit/instance to 15% of the character's maximum life pool leeched per hit/instance.

• 50% increased total Recovery per second from Life Leech increases the default 2% of maximum life that can be recovered as life per second from a single instance to 3% of maximum life recovered as life per second from a single instance.

• 50% increased Maximum total Recovery per second from Life Leech increases the default 20% of maximum life that can be recovered per second from all instances combined to 30% of maximum life that can be recovered per second from all instances combined.

There are a few notable ways to affect leech:

• The of Smothering modifier for maps slows life and mana leech recovery rate by 50%.
• For life leech by a skill supported by the Life Leech SupportLife Leech SupportSupport
  Icon: l
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 120%Requires Level 31Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing those hits to leech life based on damage dealt.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3DivergentSupported Skills deal 0.5% increased Damage while Leeching LifeSupported Skills deal 2% increased Damage when on Full LifeSupported Skills have 5% increased Maximum Recovery per Life LeechSupported Skills have (2-3.9)% of Damage Leeched as LifeThis 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 Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. gem.
• and the Tukohama, War's Herald passive, which allow other entities to leech life to you.
• Brutal Fervour or allows leech instances to continue even if the character has reached full life.
• Players can become immune to being leeched from items such as
• Items such as prevents the user from leeching.

Leech duration

The leech recovery duration is how long in seconds a leech instance will last, based on damage dealt and character's Leech modifiers.

By default a maximum of an instance is 10% of character's maximum Life, and maximum Rate is 2% of character's maximum Life per second, resulting in a maximum 5 seconds duration of a single Leech instance.

Combined Recovery Rate

The total leech recovery rate (accounting for all instances of leech) can be calculated by

total_leech_recovery_rate_per_second = max_life * 2% * instances_of_leech

where max_life can also be the character's maximum mana or energy shield.

This combined rate is subject to the total leech rate cap, which is by default 20% of the character's maximum health. This maximum is increased by #% increased Maximum total Recovery per second from Life Leech modifiers.

As such, each character only requires a certain number of leech instances before they will be recovering at their maximum rate. This maximum can be found with the below formula:

max_instances = (20% * (1 + increased_maximum_total_recovery_per_second)) / (2% * (1 + increased_total_recovery_per_second))

For a default character, this is 10 instances, but any increases or decreases from #% increased total Recovery per second from Life Leech or #% increased Maximum total Recovery per second from Life Leech will change this number. If a character has too many leech instances, the extra healing will be ignored.

Types of leech

There are several types of leech that specialize on certain types of skills. Some leech types only work for attacks, others only works with elemental damage or all sources of physical damage. If there is specialization it will be defined in the modifier.

Generally the leech modifiers follow this template:

#% of X Y Damage Z Leeched as Life/Mana

Where X can be:

• Physical/Fire/Cold/Lightning/Elemental/Chaos

Y can be:

• Attack/Spell

and Z can be:

• Dealt with {Weapons}

Note that if X, Y or Z are not specified it means that it applies to all those types.

A couple of examples:

• Life Leech SupportLife Leech SupportSupport
  Icon: l
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 120%Requires Level 31Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing those hits to leech life based on damage dealt.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3DivergentSupported Skills deal 0.5% increased Damage while Leeching LifeSupported Skills deal 2% increased Damage when on Full LifeSupported Skills have 5% increased Maximum Recovery per Life LeechSupported Skills have (2-3.9)% of Damage Leeched as LifeThis 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 Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. has the mod #% of Damage Leeched as Life implying it works for all types of skills that hit a target.
• Warlord's MarkWarlord's MarkSpell, Duration, Curse, Mark
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost: (16-33) Mana
  Cast Time: 0.50 secRequires Level 24Curses a single enemy, giving a chance to double the duration of stuns on them. Attacking the cursed enemy will leech life and mana, stunning them will grant rage, and killing it will grant an endurance charge. You can only have one Mark at a time.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3DivergentCursed Enemies have a 0.25% chance to grant an Endurance Charge when HitCursed enemies take 0.2% increased DamageCursed Enemies grant 0.1 Rage Regenerated over 1 second when StunnedBase duration is (6-9.8) seconds
  Hits against Cursed Enemies have (40-59)% chance to double Stun Duration
  Cursed Enemies grant 20 Rage Regenerated over 1 second when Stunned
  Cursed enemies grant 2% Life Leech when Hit by Attacks
  Cursed enemies grant 2% Mana Leech when Hit by Attacks
  Cursed enemies have a 100% chance to grant an Endurance Charge when slainPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. has the mod Cursed enemies grant #% Life Leech when Hit by Attacks, specifying it applies to attacks. All types of damage from the attack will be counted, but not Spells.
• The notable passive Lust for Carnage grants the mod #% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life specifying it applies to Physical Attacks. All types of weapons can make use of this notable, however not Spells.

Modifier

Enchantments

No results found

Items

Active skill gems

Main page: List of leech related skill gems

Related base stats

Skill gem
Blood RageBlood RageSpell, Duration, Physical Level: (1-20) Cost: (12-29) Life Cooldown Time: 1.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 16Adds a buff that deals Physical Damage over time, while increasing Attack Speed and Life Leech. Killing an enemy while this buff is active refreshes the buff duration, and can grant a Frenzy Charge.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent0.25% increased Attack SpeedBuff grants 0.1% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge when you Hit a Unique EnemyBuff grants 0.02% of Elemental Attack Damage leeched as Life(5-15)% increased Attack Speed 1.2% of Attack Physical Damage Leeched as Life You take 4% of your Maximum Life per second as Physical Damage You take 4% of your Maximum Energy Shield per second as Physical Damage 25% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Kill Base duration is (7-10.8) secondsPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.				16
SoulrendSoulrendChaos, Spell, AoE, Duration, Projectile Level: (1-20) Cost: (14-26) Mana Cast Time: 0.80 sec Critical Strike Chance: 5.00%Requires Level 28Fires a projectile that turns towards enemies in front of it, damaging and piercing through those it hits, and leeching some of that damage as energy shield. As the projectile travels, it repeatedly applies a short but powerful chaos damage over time debuff to each enemy in an area around it.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4Phantasmal1% increased Chaos Damage1% increased Area of Effect1% increased Skill Effect Duration5% increased Damage with HitsBase duration is 0.6 seconds Deals (137.1-1944.3) Base Chaos Damage per second Deals (16-448) to (24-672) Chaos Damage 4% of Spell Damage Leeched as Energy Shield Modifiers to Spell Damage apply to this Skill's Damage Over Time effect Projectiles Pierce all TargetsPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.				28
Devouring TotemDevouring TotemTotem, Spell Level: (1-20) Cost: (20-44) Mana Cast Time: 1.00 secSummons a totem that can consume nearby corpses. If you are hurt, it will destroy a corpse to leech life to you.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent1% increased totem life5% increased Totem Duration2% increased Totem Placement speedTotem lasts 8 seconds Leeches (30-299) Life to you for each corpse Consumed Leeches (9-59) Mana to you for each corpse ConsumedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.				1
Warlord's MarkWarlord's MarkSpell, Duration, Curse, Mark Level: (1-20) Cost: (16-33) Mana Cast Time: 0.50 secRequires Level 24Curses a single enemy, giving a chance to double the duration of stuns on them. Attacking the cursed enemy will leech life and mana, stunning them will grant rage, and killing it will grant an endurance charge. You can only have one Mark at a time.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3DivergentCursed Enemies have a 0.25% chance to grant an Endurance Charge when HitCursed enemies take 0.2% increased DamageCursed Enemies grant 0.1 Rage Regenerated over 1 second when StunnedBase duration is (6-9.8) seconds Hits against Cursed Enemies have (40-59)% chance to double Stun Duration Cursed Enemies grant 20 Rage Regenerated over 1 second when Stunned Cursed enemies grant 2% Life Leech when Hit by Attacks Cursed enemies grant 2% Mana Leech when Hit by Attacks Cursed enemies have a 100% chance to grant an Endurance Charge when slainPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.				24

Related quality stats

Skill gem
Blade VortexBlade VortexSpell, AoE, Duration, Physical Level: (1-20) Cost: (6-16) Mana Cast Time: 0.50 sec Critical Strike Chance: 6.00% Effectiveness of Added Damage: 25% Radius: 15Requires Level 12This spell creates ethereal blades which orbit in an area around you, dealing damage every 0.6 seconds to all enemies in their radius. As more blades are added, the damage becomes greater and more frequent.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4Phantasmal0.5% increased Area of Effect0.02% of Damage Leeched as Life1% chance to create an additional Blade3% increased Damage while you have 5 or fewer BladesDeals (3-101) to (5-151) Physical Damage Base duration is 5 seconds Can have up to 10 active spinning blades 10% increased Critical Strike Chance for each blade 35% increased Hit Rate for each blade 35% more Damage for each blade +(0-4) to radiusPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.				12
Blood RageBlood RageSpell, Duration, Physical Level: (1-20) Cost: (12-29) Life Cooldown Time: 1.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 16Adds a buff that deals Physical Damage over time, while increasing Attack Speed and Life Leech. Killing an enemy while this buff is active refreshes the buff duration, and can grant a Frenzy Charge.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent0.25% increased Attack SpeedBuff grants 0.1% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge when you Hit a Unique EnemyBuff grants 0.02% of Elemental Attack Damage leeched as Life(5-15)% increased Attack Speed 1.2% of Attack Physical Damage Leeched as Life You take 4% of your Maximum Life per second as Physical Damage You take 4% of your Maximum Energy Shield per second as Physical Damage 25% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Kill Base duration is (7-10.8) secondsPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.				16
Essence DrainEssence DrainSpell, Projectile, Duration, Chaos, AoE Level: (1-20) Cost: (8-23) Mana Cast Time: 0.70 sec Critical Strike Chance: 5.00% Effectiveness of Added Damage: 60%Requires Level 12Fires a projectile that applies a damage over time debuff when it hits. You are healed for a portion of the debuff damage. The debuff is spread by Contagion.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent1% increased Chaos DamageRegenerate 0.01% of Debuff Damage as Life5% increased Damage with HitsDeals (31.2-1503.2) Base Chaos Damage per second Regenerate 0.5% of Debuff Damage as Life Base duration is 3.8 seconds Deals (9-433) to (14-649) Chaos Damage Modifiers to Spell Damage apply to this Skill's Damage Over Time effectPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.				12
Flesh OfferingFlesh OfferingMinion, Spell, Duration Level: (1-20) Cost: (16-33) Mana Cast Time: 1.00 secRequires Level 12Consumes a corpse, which temporarily empowers your minions with swiftness. The skill consumes other nearby corpses, increasing the duration for each corpse consumed.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent0.5% increased Skill Effect DurationGrants Minions 0.02% of Damage Leeched as LifeGrants Minions 0.5% increased Attack SpeedBase duration is 5 seconds Grants Minions (20-30)% increased Attack Speed Grants Minions (20-29)% increased Movement Speed Grants Minions (20-30)% increased Cast Speed Additional 1 seconds Base Duration per extra corpse ConsumedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.				12

Support skill gems

Main page: List of leech related skill gems

Related base stats

There are currently no support skill gems that have stats related to leech.

Related quality stats

Skill gem
Elemental Army SupportElemental Army SupportSupport, Minion Icon: r Level: (1-20) Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 31Supports skills which create Minions.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3DivergentMinions from Supported Skills have +0.1% to all maximum Elemental ResistancesMinions have 0.5% increased Area of EffectMinions from Supported Skill Leech 0.02% of Elemental Damage as LifeMinions from Supported Skills have +(19-29)% to all Elemental Resistances Minions from Supported Skills deal (20-29)% more Elemental Damage Minions from Supported Skills inflict Exposure on Hit, applying -10% to the Elemental Resistance matching highest Damage type taken by Enemy Minions from Supported Skills have +(0-2)% to all maximum Elemental ResistancesThis 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 Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.				31
Energy Leech SupportEnergy Leech SupportSupport Icon: g Level: (1-20) Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 31Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing those hits to leech energy shield based on damage dealt.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3DivergentSupported Skills deal 0.5% increased Damage while Leeching Energy ShieldSupported Skills deal 0.5% increased Damage while on Full Energy ShieldSupported Skills have 2% increased Maximum Recovery per Energy Shield LeechSupported Skills have (1.5-1.9)% of Damage Leeched as Energy Shield Supported Skills deal (12-24)% more Damage while on Full Energy Shield Supported Skills deal (20-39)% more Damage while Leeching Energy ShieldThis 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 Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.				31
Damage on Full Life SupportDamage on Full Life SupportAttack, Support Icon: f Level: (1-20) Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 18Supports attack skills, providing a bonus to all damage dealt by those skills while your life is full.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3DivergentSupported Skills deal 0.5% increased DamageSupported Skills Leech 0.025% of Attack Damage Leeched as LifeSupported Skills deal 2% increased Damage with Hits and Ailments against Enemies that are on Full LifeSupported Attack Skills deal (30-49)% more Damage while on Full LifeThis 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 Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.				18

Unique items

Item		Stats

Other items

• Elder amulets can have +(3–5)% of maximum Life per second to maximum Life Leech rate.
• Elder amulets can have (0.3–0.5)% of Physical Damage Leeched as Life.
• Elder amulets can have (0.3–0.5)% of Fire Damage Leeched as Life.
• Shaper amulets can have (0.3–0.5)% of Cold Damage Leeched as Life.
• Shaper amulets can have (0.3–0.5)% of Lightning Damage Leeched as Life.
• Shaper boots can have Socketed Gems are supported by Level 15 Life Leech.
• Shaper gloves can have Socketed Gems are supported by Level 15 Mana Leech.
• grants (0.5-1.3)% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life to weapons or quivers.
• grants (0.2-1)% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana to weapons or quivers.
• grants 0.5% of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life to amulets.

Passive skills

There are passive skills that grant passive leech or bonuses to leech.

Life leech

Attack Damage Leeched as Life

These passive skills grant passive life leech when dealing any damage with a weapon. No results found for the given query.

Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life

No results found for the given query.

Increased Life Leeched per second

These passive skills increase the rate of life gained while leeching. No results found for the given query.

Increase to Maximum Life Leech rate

These passive skills increase the maximum life leech rate. No results found for the given query.

Minion Life Leech

These passive skills grant life leech for minions. No results found for the given query.

Other

No results found for the given query.

Keystones

These keystone passives change the way Life Leech works, but do not directly enhance Life Leech. These effects do not apply to Mana Leech.

No results found for the given query.

Ascendancy passives

No results found for the given query.

Mana leech

Attack Damage Leeched as Mana

These passive skills grant passive mana leech when dealing any damage with a weapon. No results found for the given query.

Increased Mana Leeched per second

These passive skills increase the rate of mana gained while leeching. No results found for the given query.

Increase to Maximum Mana Leech rate

These passive skills increase the maximum mana leech rate. No results found for the given query.

Other

No results found for the given query.

Ascendancy passives

No results found for the given query.

Energy shield leech

No results found for the given query.

Version history

Version	Changes
3.5.0	Added Energy Shield Leech. This is functionally similar to Life Leech, except it leeches to your Energy Shield and is limited by your maximum Energy Shield Leech Rate. Several passive skill clusters have been added to support this new form of leech. Added a cap on the amount of any resource you can leech from any individual instance of leech. By default, that cap is 10% of that resource's maximum. In other words, a character with 4000 life will, by default, be able to leech a maximum of 400 life from a single hit.
2.0.0	Multiple leech effects now stack. A single hit against multiple targets grants multiple effects, as do multiple hits against a single target. The speed at which you leech has been substantially reduced for both life and mana, with less of a reduction to mana leech rate, bringing it in-line with life leech rate. These now default to 2% of maximum life per second. It can be increased. A maximum leech rate caps the rate at which you can leech. It's set to 20% of maximum life or mana per second. Methods of improving leech, leech rate and increasing your maximum leech rate have been added to new clusters in the passive skill tree, primarily in the regions between the Marauder, Duelist and Ranger. Some of the already existing clusters in this region that specialized in specific weapon types have also had leech elements added to them. All existing values of leech have been substantially reduced, including values on existing items. Some things such as Support Gems and Warlord's Mark have had their values brought in line with the other leech changes. Previously, we had modifiers for "increased (or reduced) Life/Mana Leech rate". These did two things: They increased the amount of Life/Mana you're gaining per second for each leech effect and they reduced the duration of each leech effect, such that the total life/mana gained over the duration remained the same. All such modifiers have now been changed to "increased (or reduced) Life/Mana Leeched per second". This still increases the value of Life/Mana you're gaining per second for each leech effect, exactly as it did before. It no longer affects duration of the leech effects, meaning you'll gain more total life/mana from each one as a result.