Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2)

Glossary and Basic Game Mechanics

Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Walkthrough Team

Last updated on: February 11, 2025 04:00 AM

POE 2 - Glossary and Basic Game Mechanics

Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) features many in-game terms and acronyms that can get confusing to players new to the game. Check out our guide for the terminologies and tags used in the game.

List of Contents

Path of Exile Terms
Other Common ARPG Terms
Related Guides

Path of Exile 2 Terms

Path of Exile 2 Terms
Stats	Skill Tags

Stat Terms

Term	Definition
Dexterity	A character's attribute that measures their agility and expertise.
Energy Shield	A defensive feature that acts as an additional health pool beyond the character's base health points. This is displayed as a blue light on your health orb.
Evasion	A character's defensive stat that determines the likelihood to evade an attack.
Intelligence	A character's attribute that measures their knowledge and mental acuity.
Melee	An attack or an attack range that requires a character to be up close to deal damage.
Spirit	A resource that allows you to maintain buffs and aura effects.
Strength	A character's attribute that measures their physical power.

Skill Tag Terms

Term	Definition
Adding to Stat Totals	Adding to the Total value of a stat occurs after all other calculations have been performed. This means that the added value does not benefit from modifiers to the stat.
Aftershocks	Aftershocks are bursts of area damage that occur after the initial impact of the skill causing them. If not otherwise specified, the Aftershock will deal the same damage as the initial impact, in the same area.
Ailment	An effect that negatively affects a character, usually classified as elemental, non-damaging, and damaging ailments.
Ammunition	Using a Crossbow ammunition Skill replaces your Crossbow's basic attack with the skill indicated. The Ammunition Skill itself does not fire the Ammunition, only load it into your Crossbow.
Ancestral Boost	An Ancestral Boost Skill has 20% more damage and area of effect.
AoE	The skill has an effect that pplies to every target in its area, rather than picking specific targets. Areas of Effect that originate from a target hit by a skill will add that target's size to their radius.
Arcane Surge	Arcane Surge grants 10% more Cast Speed and 20% more Mana Regeneration Rate.
Armour Break	Some Skills, Items, Support Gems and other effects can Break Armour which lowers a target's Armour by a specified amount. If this brings the target's Armour value to 0, their Armour is fully Broken for 12 seconds. Players Break 3 times Armour against Normal Monsters 2 times Armour against Magic Monsters.
Attack	Attacks are skills that directly use your equipped weapon to damage enemies. Spells are not Attacks. The base damage, attack speed, and critical hit chance of an attack are determined using your weapon's stats unless a skill says otherwise. Attacks do not necessarily deal Physical damage — they can deal any damage type.
Aura	Auras apply Buffs to Allies within a radius, or Debuffs to enemies within a radius of the source of the Aura.
Blind	Being Blinded causes 20% less Accuracy Rating and Evasion Rating, and lasts for 4 seconds unless otherwise specified.
Block	Blocking completely prevents the damage of an incoming Strike or Projectile. You will still take any Stun, Freeze, and other debuffs from the Blocked hit. You can't Block while Stunned or Frozen. Some skills used by Bosses cannot be blocked. These are indicated by a red glow and audio cue during the windup of the skill.
Buff	Buffs are effects that boost a player or monster's stats for a duration or while a condition is met. Unless otherwise stated, buffs of the same type do not stack — only the copy with the strongest effect applies.
Chaining	Effects that chain are redirected to another target after hitting an enemy. Projectiles cannot chain from enemies they pierce or fork from. Projectiles have a base chaining distance of 6 metres whereas other effects have a chaining distance of 4 metres.
Channelling	Channelling skills can be held down to gain power or continue using the skill for a longer period of time.
Chaos	Chaos damage is one of the five damage types. It is reduced by chaos resistance. Chaos damage is the least common damage type, and removes twice as much energy shield as the damage value when taken.
Chill	An effect that applies slow to a unit, effictively reducing their overall movement speed.
Chilled Ground	Chilled Ground chills those standing in it, and lasts 6 seconds by default.
Cold	One of the five damage types. It is reduced by cold resistance. Cold hits apply chill and build up freeze.
Combo	Some skills and effects require a certain Combo count to use. Combo is built by successfully Striking Enemies. Combo count will fall off after a short duration of not building or maintaining futher Combo. Combo can only be built while using the same weapon as the Combo Skill is bound to, and will be lost if you swap weapons.
Concentration	Enemies have a less Cooldown Recovery Rate the lower their Concentration, scaling down to 50% less Cooldown Recovery Rate when Concentration is 0%.
Corpses	Corpses are left behind by slain Enemies and can be used or consumed by a number of different Skills or effects. Generally, slain Allies do not leave usable Corpses.
Covered in Oil	Enemies covered in Oil have their movement speed Slowed are inflicted with Fire Exposure and have 200% more chance to be ignited. Ignited Ground or Detonator skills will ignite Oil-covered enemies. This removes the Oil, but the Exposure will reamin for the duration of that Ignite.
Critical Damage Bonus	Multiplies the damage dealt by Critical Hits. Default value is +100% (i.e. twice as much damage).
Critical Hits	Critical Hits deal +100% extra damage (i.e. twice as much damage) by default. Critical Damage Bonuses can further modify this value. Attacks usually use your weapon's base Critical Hit Chance, while Spells and some other skills have their base Critical Hit Chance listed on the skill. Most modifiers to Critical Hit Chance are percentage based. For example, gaining 100% increased Critical Hit Chance on a base Critical Hit Chance of 7% would result in a final Critical Hit Chance of 14%.
Crossbow Ammunition Skills	Using a Crossbow Ammunition Skill replaces your Crossbow's basic attack with the skill indicated. The Ammunition Skill itself does not fire the Ammunition, only load it into your Crossbow.
Crushing Blows	Crushing Blows cause a Heavy Stun on enemies that are Primed for Stun.
Culling Strike	Culling Strike kills Normal enemies if their life is at 30% or below. Magic enemies are instead killed at 20%, Rare at 10%, and Unique at 5%. These thresholds are checked before the damage of the Hilt is applied.
Curse	Curses significantly debuff affected targets. By default a target can have one curse on them at a time.
Damage Conversion	Damage can be converted from one type to another. This causes it to deal the new damage type, scale with modifiers to the new damage type, and no longer scale with modifers to the old damage type. For example, Fire damage converted to Lightning damage now scales with Lightning damage and causes Shock, but no longer scales with Fire damage modifiers or causes Ignite. Conversion is a two step process. Conversions inherent to Skills occur first, then Conversion from all other sources. Damage over time cannot be converted.
Damage Gained as Extra X	Damage gained as a specific damage type only scales with modifiers to the new type, not with modifiers to the source damage's type (unless they're the same type). For example, Lightning damage gained from Physical damage scales with Lighting damage modifiers, but not Physical damage modifiers. Damage Gain occurs in the same two step process as Damage Conversion. Damage over time cannot benefit from damage Gain.
Daze	Some skills and effects will apply Daze to enemies on Hit. Daze builds up on a target up to 100%, at which point the target will become dazed. Daze lasts for 8 seconds, and a Dazed enemy will take 50% more Stun Buildup. There are also a number of Skills, Effects, and other mechanics which interact with Daze for various benefits.
Debuff	Debuffs are negative effects that deal damage or penalize an entity's stats, either for a set duration or when a condition is met. Unless otherwise stated, Debuffs of the same type do not stack — only the copy with the strongest effect applies.
Decimating Strike	Hits against Full Life Enemies remove between 5% and 30% of Life, before the damage of the Hit is applied.
Detonator	Detonator skills can cause flammable gas, oil, and similar effects to explode on contact.
Dual Wielding	Dual Wielding refers to using two Martial Weapons, one in each hand.
Duration	Refers to how long an effect lasts.
Effect Consumption	Multiple effects on enemies can be Consumed. Only one Consumption benefit can occur at once, and Consumption effects from Skills will take priority over those from other sources.
Empowered Skills	Empowered Skills do not have any inherent bonuses, but a number of stats and modifiers specifically apply to Empowered Skills.
Exposure	Exposure is a type of Debuff that lowers the affected enemy's Resistance to the corresponding damage type. By default it inflicts -20% to the specified sources of exposure can override these values. Multiple sources of the same type of Exposure cannot stack with one another unless stated otherwise, and only the strongest source of Exposure will apply. Multiple different types of Exposure can apply to the same target at once.
Fire	Fire damage is one of the five damage types. It is reduced by fire resistance. Fire hits have a chance to ignite based on how much fire damage is dealt.
Flame of Chayula	Red Flames of Chayula Leech 7% of your maximum Life to you. Blue Flames of Chayula Leech 7% of your maximum Mana to you. Purple Flames of Chayula providing a stacking Buff granting 7% of damage as Chaos damage for 5 seconds, and stacks up to 10 times.
Freeze	Freeze is an Ailment that causes targets to be unable to move or act, and lasts 4 seconds by default. Cold damage from Hits Contributes to Freeze Buildup or enemies until they become Frozen.
Grenade	Grenade skills are only usable when wielding a crossbow. They have cooldowns, but generally deilver high damage or powerful utility. Grenade skills have a fuse duration and will generally not explode until the fuse has expired, so they are strongest when you aim carefully and predict enemy movements. Grenades cannot Fork or Chain.
Guard	All damage taken from Hits is taken from this buff before your Life or Energy Shield
Heavy Stun	Hitting an enemy builds towards a Heavy Stun based on the damage dealt. Different enemies have different Heavy Stun thresholds and durations, with very large monsters having a high Heavy Stun Threshold. Players cannot be Heavy Stunned. While an enemy is Heavy Stunned, they cannot act and count as Immobilised. Physical damage and Melee Damage each cause 50% more Heavy Stun buildup. These bonuses are multiplicative with each other.
Herald	Abilities that apply buffs to yourself to deal additional damage.
Hit Damage	Any damage that isn't damageover time is Hit damage.
Ignite	Ignite is an Ailment that deals Fire damage over time, and lasts for 4 seconds by default. Fire damage from Hits Contributes to both the chance to Ignite and the Magnitude of Ignite, so Hits dealing more Fire damage Ignite more often, and inflict stronger Ignites. By default a Hit has 1% chance to Ignite for every 4% of the target's Ailment Threshold dealt. The base Magnitude of Ignite is Fire damage per second equal to 20% of the Fire damage dealt by the Hit that inflicted it. This is calculated using the final damage dealt by the Hit, but not any modifiers on the target that affect how much damage they will take from the Hit. This maginitude is not further affected by any modifiers to the damage you deal. Modifiers and Debuffs that affect the enemy's ability to mitigate damage (Such as Shock) can affect the damage the enemy takes from Ignite, but any such modifiersthat specifically apply to Hit damage (such as Penetration) do not affect Ignite damage.
Ignited Ground	Ignited Ground Ignites enemies as long as they are standing on it. By default, Ignited Ground lasts for 4 seconds and has a radius of 2 metres unless otherwise specified.
Iron Grip	1% Increased Projectile Attack damage per 2 strength;Strength provides no bonus to Life
Iron Will	1% Increased Spell Damage per 2 Strength;Strength provides no bonus to Life
Jagged Ground	Jagged Ground slows the movement speed of enemies in its area by 20%.
Knockback	Knockback pushes Enemies away when Hit.
Life Leech	Refers to any damage inflicted on an enemy that recovers life or mana.
Life Recharge	Lost Life will start Recharging at a rate of 12.5% per second after a base delay of 4 seconds. Further loss of Life resets this delay, interrupting Recharge. Modifiers to Energy Shield Rate or to how fast it starts will also apply to Life Recharge
Lightning	Lightning damage is one of the five damage types. It is reduced by lightning resistance. Lightning hits have a chance to shock based on how much lightning damage is dealt.
Magnitude	The Magnitudes of a Buff or Debuff are the values of the stats it applies to the target. A Buff or Debuff with higher magnitudes is more powerful. Modifiers to the Magnitude of Buffs or Debuffs come from whoever applies it and are multiplicative with modifiers to the Effect the Buff or Debuff has on the target.
Mark	Marks are a family of debuffs that apply powerful effects to a single enemy, usually for a limited duration. You can have multiple marked enemies at once, but each individual enemy can only have a single mark applied to them at once.
Meta	Meta Gems are skill gems that can use, trigger, or otherwise apply the effects of other skill gems. Skill gems and support gems can be socketed into them interchangeably, though most meta gems require at least one skill gem to be socketed to function.
Minion	Minions are summoned Allies which will accompany and fight alongside you. Persistent Minions will reserve a portion of Spirit while active.
Minion Commands	Some Minions can be Commanded to perform certain actions. This requires you to use the corresponding Command skill, which will cause one of your Minions to carry out the Command.
Nova	Skills that protrude around a player instead of a targeted area.
Onslaught	Onslaught grants 20% increased Skill Speed and 10% increased movement speed.
Orb	Orb Skills create lasting effects at a location which damage enemies in an area around them.
Payoff	Payoff skills have powerful extra effects when hitting enemies infliected with special debuffs, often consuming the debuff in the process. Payoff skills cannot influct the debuff they interact with.
Persistent	Persistent skills are toggled in the skills panel instead of being used normally and often need to reserve spirit in order to be activated.
Physical	The most common damage type that can only be reduced by a target's armor. While this type of damage mainly comes from weapon attacks, there are certain spells that also deal physical damage.
Pierce	Projectiles that Pierce can pass through a target while still damaging them.
Pinned	Certain skills and effects allow damage to build up Pinned. Once this buidls up passes the enemy's Pinned Threshold, they are Pinned, preventing them moving or being moved for 4 seconds. While Pinned, you count as Immobilised.
Poison	Poison is an Ailment that deals Chaos damage over time and lasts 2 seconds by default. Damage from Poison bypasses Energy Shield. Physical and Chaos damage from Hits Contribute to Poison Magnitude. Damage does not Contribute to Poison chance, so it cannot be inflicted without an explicit source of Poison chance. The base Magnitude of Poison is Chaos damage per second dealt by the Hit that inflicted it. This is calculated using the final damage dealt by the Hit, but not any modifiers on the target that affect how much damage they will take from the Hit. This magnitude is not further affected by any modifiers to the damage you deal. Modifiers and Debuffs that affect the enemy's ability to mitigate damage (such as Shock) can affect the damage the enemy takes from Poison, but any such modifiers that specifically apply to Hit damage (such as Penetration) do not affect Poison damage.
Primed for Stun	Normal enemies are Primed for Stun when they have at least 40% Heavy Stun buildup. Magic enemies are isntead Primed at 60% buildup, Rare at 70%, and Unique at 80%.
Projectile	A Projectile is a moving attack or spell that usually impacts with targets when it hits them. When a group of multiple projectiles is fired from the same source at the same time, only one projectile in the group can hit each target unless otherwise specified.
Resistance	Resistances reduce damage taken of the corresponding damage type — Fire, Cold, Lightning, or Chaos — up to a Maximum. Fire, Cold, and Lightning Resistances are Elemental Resistances. Player resistances are lowered as you progress through the game, and can be improved with Equipment, Passives, and Quest Items.
Reviving Minions	Reviving Minions heal after avoiding damage for a short time, and automatically revive after a short delay when killed. This delay is reset whenever another Reviving Minion dies.
Shield	Shields are armour items that are equipped in your off hand. While holding a Shield you have a chance to passively Block. Shields other than Bucklers an also be raised to Block all incoming Strikes and Projectiles from the front.
Shock	Shock is an Ailment that causes targets to take 20% increased damage, and lasts 4 seconds by default. Lightning damage from Hits Contributes to chance to Shock enemies. The higher the Lightning damage dealt, the higher the chance. By default a Hit has 1% chance to Shock for every 4% of the target's Ailment Threshold dealt.
Shocked Ground	Shocked Ground Shocks those standing in it, and lasts 6 seconds by default.
Slam	Slams are melee attacks that cause damaging areas of effect, rather than striking enemies with your weapon directly. Damage from slams is still melee damage.
Spell	Spells are skills that use raw magic to destroy your enemies. Attacks are not Spells. Spells have their own base damage, cast speed, and Critical Hit chance determined by the skill. They do not benefit from a weapon's inherent damage, attack speed, or Critical Hit chance.
Strike	A melee attack that directly hits with weapons or body parts. Slam attacks do not count as strikes.
Stun	Hits against any target have a chance to Stun them, with a stun being more likely the more damage was dealt. Stunning a target interruptes their current action and prevents them from taking another action for a short time. Physical damage, and player (but not monster) Melee Damage, are each 50% more likely to Stun targets. For players, these bonuses are multiplicative with each other. All Hits that could potentially influct a Stun also cause Heavy Stun buildup.
Sustained	Sustained skills cause a large number of hits over a period of time. They roll for critical hits independently each time they damage enemies, rather than rolling once for the entire skill as other skills do.
Tailwind	Tailwind is a stacking Buff which grants 1% increased movement speed, 3% increased Skill Speed, and 15% increased Evasion Rating per stack for 10 seconds, refreshing whenever you gain another stack. Maximum 10 stacks.
Totem	Totems are allied constructs which uses skills for you. Totems are not minions and their skills benefit from your stats, though they have their own defensive stats and can be damaged or killed. Totem Limit is shared between different types of Totem by default.
Travel	Travel skills cover a large amount of distance and don't need to target an enemy.
Trigger	Abilities that automatically activate upon meeting specific conditions.
Warcry	Warcries are skills which count enemy Power within their area and Empower your subsequent Melee Attacks, sometimes depending on the total Power of enemies counted.

Other Common ARPG Terms

Commonly Used ARPG Terms

Term	Definition
Magic Find	Refers to the stat that increases the rarity of items found. Lots of builds are centered around Magic Find so players have a higher chance in getting Uniques and rare currency items.
DPS	Damage per second. This term is often used as a measurement of how much damage a class, weapon, or skill can unleash over one second.
AoE	Area of effect. This term usually refers to a Skill or effect that covers a large area instead of a single target.
DoT	Damage over time. This term usually refers to Skills or effects like Poison or Bleeding, which slowly tick down a target's health over time.
CD	The acronym for cooldown. This term refers to the time it takes before you can recast a particular Skill or ability after recently using it.
Buff	A positive gameplay effect, such as increased Attack Speed or enhanced Lightning Resistance.
Debuff	A negative gameplay effect, such as lowered Movement Speed or Armor Reduction.
Critical Hit	An attack that deals massively increased bonus damage based on a character or Skill's Critical Hit Chance.
Crowd Control (CC)	A type of effect which allows players to kill or disrupt multiple enemies at once. Typical Crowd Control effects include Slow, Chill, Stun, and Fear.
Proc	This term refers to the likelihood of an attack or Skill activating the chance or trigger-based effect from an item or another Skill.

Path of Exile 2 Related Guides

PoE 2 Wiki Partial

Path of Exile 2 Guides

Path of Exile 2 Wiki Contents
Builds	Classes
Tips and Tricks	Bosses
Walkthrough	Quests
Gems	Items
Weapons	Armors
Accessories	Passives
Skills	Ascension Trials
Glossary	Atlas of Worlds
Leagues	Characters
Cosmetics	Microtransactions
News and Updates	-

## List of Recommended Guides

Best Class Tier List	Best Stash Tabs to Buy
Which Class Should You Play?	List of Unique Equipment
Best Minions to Summon	How to Use Loot Filters
Diablo 4 Player's Guide to PoE 2	Best Charms to Use
Best Ways to Farm Currency	Best Unique Equipment

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