PoE 2: Charms Explained

Charms are consumable Items with refillable Charges in Path of Exile 2.

What are Charms?

Charms are Items that have specific conditions that must be met before their Effects are automatically activated. Charms have a system that consumes a set amount of Charm Charges on use to provide their Effect - when there's not enough Charges to activate the Charm, it cannot be activated. For example a Stone Charm consumes 20 Charges upon use and has a maximum capacity of 40 Charges that can be stored.

In Path of Exile 2 you can use up to three Charm slots by default. You can gain access to Charm slots in various ways, such as the campaign Quest 'Ancient Vows' which provides the modifier '+1 Charm Slot'.

Unlike in Path of Exile 1, Utility Flasks do not exist by name, but some Charms may provide Effects that are somewhat similar in design. Additionally, you can roll Prefix modifiers on Magic Charms that grant Guard or restore Life or Mana on use, somewhat similar to Path of Exile 1's Guard Skills.

Tip: Charms cannot appear in Rare rarity.

Types of Charms

Charms are typically defensive in nature, providing ways to deal with incoming Status Effects or Ailments such as Stuns or Bleeding. There are also Charms that simply provide bonus Resistance upon taking a Hit of Damage of the associated Resistance Damage type.

Resistance Charms

• Ruby Charm 25% to Fire Resistance, Used when you take Fire Damage from a Hit
• Sapphire Charm 25% to Cold Resistance, Used when you take Cold Damage from a Hit
• Topaz Charm 25% to Lightning Resistance, Used when you take Lightning Damage from a Hit
• Amethyst Charm 18% to Chaos Resistance, Used when you take Chaos Damage from a Hit

Status Charms

• Stone Charm Cannot be Stunned, Used when you become Stunned
• Silver Charm Your speed is unaffected by Slows, Used when you are affected by a Slow
• Thawing Charm Immune to Freeze, Used when you become Frozen
• Staunching Charm You are Immune to Bleeding, Used when you start Bleeding
• Antidote Charm Immune to Poison, Used when you become Poisoned
• Dousing Charm Immune to Ignite, Used when you become Ignited
• Grounding Charm Immune to Shock, Used when you become Shocked

Other Charms

• Golden Charm 15% increased Rarity of Items found, Used when you kill a Rare or Unique Enemy

Charm Charges

Charms have a maximum capacity of Charm Charges that can be stored. Interacting with a Well in towns will refill all Charm Charges in addition to fully restoring a character's Life, Mana and Energy Shield.

Note: Charm Charges are essentially the same in functionality as Flask Charges, aside from specific modifiers that only apply to one or the other.

During gameplay, killing Monsters will grant Charm Charges to restore any missing Charges that have been used. The amount of Charm Charges that are gained are based on Monster Power, which is a system that takes into account Monster Rarity and difficulty to provide an appropriate amount of Charm Charges comparatively with other Monsters, and for the effort required to kill the Monster.

You can also invest into modifiers that provide a passive generation of Charm Charges, such as the use of Elevore, or by allocating Passive Skill Tree Notables such as Vale Shelter. Passive Charge generation can also be rolled as a Suffix modifier on Magic Charms.

There are also methods to bypass Charm Charge cost, for example the Ritualist's Mind Phylacteries will spend 25% of your maximum Mana to activate a Charm if there's currently an insufficient amount of Charges to activate it normally. The Pragmatism Unique Body Armour can also be used, making Charms cost no Charges to activate.

Note: if Charms are activated using a method that does not spend Charges, it will not count as spent Charges for mechanics such as Cast on Charm Use.

Charm Duration

The base Duration of a Charm's Effect is displayed on the Charm Item. This Duration can be altered with modifiers that roll on Charms, for example the 'increased Duration' Prefix that makes a Charm's Effect last longer. There are also Passive Tree Notables such as Primal Protection.

Charm Slots

By default, a character has no Charm slots. Instead, Charm slots must be unlocked via modifiers and a character can unlock and use up to three Charm slots at once.

The most commonly used Charm slot modifiers include the 'Ancient Vows' Quest reward in Act 2 of the campaign due to both choice options providing an additional slot, and the implicit modifier on Belt items. Obtaining additional slots beyond the maximum of three will impart no extra benefit.

• 'Ancient Vows' Quest reward choice (both options) '+1 Charm Slot'
• Belt Implicit modifier 'Has 1-3 Charm Slot(s)'
• Elevore '+1 Charm Slot'
• Bijouborne '+2 Charm Slots'
• Ritualist's Intricate Sigils '+1 Charm Slot'
• Hunter's Talisman '+1 Charm Slot'

Zerphi's Genesis

The Unique Belt Zerphi's Genesis has the modifier '50% of charges used by Charms granted to your Life Flasks', providing an alternative method to restore Life Flask Charges. When this belt is equipped, half of your spent Charm Charges will be gained as Life Flask Charges.

Bijouborne

Bijouborne is a Unique Belt that grants exclusive access to the Cast on Charm Use Skill.