Boost Your Damage in Path of Exile 2

Time: 2025-01-18 by mmojugg Game: Path of Exile 2 Guide

Today we're going to delve into the art of damage optimisation, a topic that can take your game from merely surviving to dominating. Whether you're a spellcaster, melee fighter, or bow user, these strategies will help you take your damage to new heights, regardless of your build or class.

The misconception of sheet DPS

Let's start by debunking a common myth: your sheet DPS (damage per second) is not the whole story. It doesn't reflect:

Area of effect: If your damage can hit multiple targets, like a moving spark that travels across the map, your effective DPS is much higher.

Skill duration: Longer lasting effects mean more damage over time that doesn't get counted in sheet DPS.

Speed and Frequency: Casting or attacking speed dramatically increases the frequency with which you deal damage, making each damage multiplier more powerful.

Basic principles of damage amplification

1. Survivability equals damage potential

Resistances: Aim for 75% in all elemental resistances. If you're overcapacitated in one area, consider trading for damage on equipment without sacrificing overall survivability.

Example: Swapping a ring with excess cold resistance for one with casting speed can increase your DPS from 47,000 to 53,000 without compromising survivability.

2. Speed vs. Raw Damage

Cast/Attack Speed: This is the unsung hero of damage output. Increasing your speed means you'll be able to apply your damage more often, increasing your effective DPS exponentially.

Why it's important: A 10% increase in lightning damage is minor compared to a 10% increase in casting speed, which affects every instance of damage you deal.

3. Skill Level and Base Damage

Skill gem levels: Higher levels increase base damage, which all your multipliers work off of. Look for equipment that increases skill gem levels.

Staff example: A staff with a +7 level to lightning spell skills will do significantly more damage than one with only a +4 level.

4. Critical hits

Crit Rate and Crit Damage: These are multiplicative. The more crits you get, the more times your damage is increased by your crit multiplier.

Synergy: The combination of crit damage with speed and exposure can lead to screen-clearing abilities.

5. Defensive Shredding

Curses and Exposure: Reducing enemy resistances with curses such as Conductivity or Exposure can quadruple your damage by negating enemy resistances.

Weapon swapping strategy: Consider having a setup for quick curse application, especially if your main build lacks the points for it.

6. Jewellery - The hidden power

Jewellery: These can provide critical stats such as crit damage, increased curse effect, or even increased casting speed, all of which stack and increase your damage.

For example: A jewel with double crit damage is much more powerful than one with elemental damage only.

Advanced Tactics

Balancing survivability and damage

Mapping vs. bossing: For general mapping, you may lean towards more damage for quicker kills, but for boss fights, especially pinnacle fights, you may need to pivot to more defensive stats.

Learn fights: Understanding boss mechanics can allow you to invest more in damage as you can dodge predictable attacks.

Investment Strategy

Gear upgrades: Focus on items that offer both damage and survivability, especially in weapon slots. Investing now can exponentially increase your earnings later by speeding up content clearing.

Respect: Don't be afraid to tweak your build slightly for certain challenges. Path of Exile 2 allows for this flexibility, ensuring you can adapt to any content.

Practical application

Build an example: Here's how you might apply these principles:

Gear: Pick items with cast speed or attack speed. If you're maxed out on resistances, go for damage where possible.

Skills: Maximise the level of your main damage skill through gear and passives.

Passive: Head towards crit nodes, but balance this with speed and survivability.

Curses: Implement a curse setup for significant resistance reduction.

Thanks for Reading

The path to becoming a damage powerhouse in Path of Exile 2 involves a nuanced approach to balancing speed, survivability, and damage multipliers. By focusing on these core principles, you're not just increasing numbers on a sheet, but fundamentally improving the way you interact with the game's mechanics. Remember, the goal is to kill enemies before they can kill you, making your build an unstoppable force on the battlefield.