Death Penalty Explained: What Happens When You Die?
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When players die in Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2), they receive different death penalties depending on the type of game content they die in. See the death penalties when dying in trials, Atlas maps, and the campaign, as well as tips on how to avoid dying in this guide!
What Happens When You Die?
| Death Penalties Per Content | ||
|---|---|---|
| Atlas Maps | Trials | Campaign |
End-Game and Atlas Maps
| Death Penalties for Atlas Maps |
|---|
|
|
Lose 10% of Your Total XP Bar
The most punishing death penalty in Path of Exile 2’s Atlas maps is a flat 10% loss from your total experience bar. For instance, if you're halfway to your next level, dying drops it from 50% to 40%.
This penalty becomes more brutal as you reach higher levels, especially level 90+, where gaining XP becomes significantly slower.
To mitigate this, use the Omen of Amelioration, which reduces XP loss on death by 75%. It can be obtained from endgame Ritual encounters, through the Currency Exchange, or via player trading.
Leveling Guide: How to Get XP Fast
Reduces Map Attempts and Portals
Dying in an Atlas map doesn't just hurt your XP. It also uses up one of your map attempts once you choose to respawn at the last checkpoint. The base number of retries is 5 on a Normal or Magic Map but it can drop to 0 if your Waystone has 6 modifiers.
Once all attempts are consumed, dying again will boot you out of the map to your hideout, causing you to lose access to that map and its tower effects. While you can rerun failed nodes, their bonus effects and modifiers are wiped.
Mapping Guide and List of Atlas Maps
No Experience Loss Against Pinnacle Bosses
Fortunately, dying during Pinnacle Boss encounters does not result in any experience loss. This allows players to tackle these high-stakes fights without the fear of losing progress, even if multiple deaths occur during the encounter.
Additionally, similar to standard maps, Pinnacle Bosses still have a limited number of respawn attempts. The number of allowed revives decreases as you increase the difficulty of the fight through the Atlas Passive Tree, so careful planning is still essential.
Pinnacle Boss Drops and Guides
Trial of Sekhemas or Chaos
| Death Penalties for Trials |
|---|
|
|
Ends the Trial Run
If players die while doing the Trial of Sekhemas or Trial of Chaos, they will prematurely complete the trial and get sent back to the lobby. From there, players cannot resume their progress and must restart the entire trial from the beginning.
Destroys Djinn Barya and Inscribed Ultimatum Used
Dying in a Trial also destroys the used trial tokens, like Djinn Baryas or Inscribed Ultimatums. If players wish to re-attempt any trial, they must acquire and insert another trial token. However, if players fail the Trials under the pretense of doing the Ascent to Power and The Trials of Chaos quests in the regular campaign, they can easily reclaim or reuse their trial tokens.
For the Trial of Sekhemas, players can talk to Balbala and click the Attempt Trials Again option to receive another Djinn Barya. For the Trial of Chaos, the Inscribed Ultimatum initially inserted will still be present. Note that this feature disappears upon the completion of these quests.
Lose 10% of Total XP When Dying in Higher-Leveled Trials
Similarly to dying in end-game or Atlas maps, players will receive a straight 10% reduction to their total experience bar when dying in any trial with an area level of at least level 65.
Regular and Cruel Campaign
| Death Penalties for Trials |
|---|
|
|
Resurrect at the Nearest Checkpoint and Partially Resets the Map
Players get prompted to resurrect at the nearest checkpoint or waypoint when they die on any map under the regular and cruel campaign acts. Doing so revives defeated monsters, requiring players to face them again to resume their progress.
Lose Items on the Ground
Additionally, any items on the ground will disappear upon resurrecting at a checkpoint. However, core items that give permanent stats and buffs, like Books of Specialization, are the exception to avoid ruining a player's account.
No Experience Loss
Unlike dying in Atlas maps or during higher-leveled trials, players will not receive any experience deduction as a death penalty. This rule applies throughout the regular and cruel campaign.
How to Avoid Dying
| Tips to Avoid Dying |
|---|
|
|
Get Life Modifiers
One of the most effective ways to improve survivability in the campaign is by increasing the total amount of damage your character can take. Increasing your total Life from Life modifiers on gear can be important, especially early on.
Items like Body Runes provide a solid source of flat Life early in the game, while options like the Soul Cores of Jiquani are great for life-stacking builds later on.
Cap Out Your Resistances
Just like Life, resistances significantly reduce incoming damage from different damage types—by up to 75% (90% with more investment). Always aim to cap your Fire, Cold, and Lightning Resistances at 75%, either through gear or Runes. Doing so can effectively increase your elemental damage survivability by four times.
Chaos Resistance, while more difficult to acquire, is also a valuable stat. Some of the easiest ways to boost Chaos Resistance are by equipping Amethyst Rings, socketing Soul Cores of Tacati, or crafting with Essences of Ruin and Greater Essences of Ruin.
Equip Better Armor Bases and Scale Defences
As you progress through the game, stronger armor bases become available that provide much better defenses. For instance, a Juggernaut Plate (available starting at level 45) offers 269 base Armor, while a basic Fur Plate from Act 1 only has 60.
Always pay attention to the item base of your gear. Upgrading to newer, higher-tier bases and investing in the appropriate defensive nodes on the Passive Skill Tree can greatly improve your ability to survive or dodge incoming hits.
Armor, Evasion, or Energy Shield? Best Defensive Stat
Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Related Guides
Gameplay Mechanics
Game and Character Progression
Gear and Crafting
Stats and Skills Guides
FAQs and Other Guides
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