PoE 2: Corrupted Blood Explained

Corrupted Blood is a Debuff in Path of Exile 2 that can be inflicted by Player Characters and Monsters.

Tip: check out our guide on a different Physical Damage over time mechanic: Bleeding!

What is Corrupted Blood?

Corrupted Blood is a Debuff that deals Physical Damage over time. It's not related to Bleeding in any way and is therefore not affected by any modifiers to Bleeding. Corrupted Blood is also not a Damaging Ailment and is unaffected by modifiers to Damaging Ailments specifically.

The Corrupted Blood Debuff can stack up to 10 times on a target. Up to 10 of the most Damaging instances of this Debuff will deal their Damage simultaneously.

When a new instance of Corrupted Blood is applied to a target, any existing stacks of Corrupted Blood on that target will have their Durations refreshed.

Note: a target suffering from Corrupted Blood will have an animation of red orbs swirling above their model.

Duration of Corrupted Blood

Instead of a standard Duration, the length of time that Corrupted Blood lasts for is tied to the source that inflicted it. For most Monsters, the base Duration of Corrupted Blood they inflict is 5 seconds.

For players, any Skill that can inflict Corrupted Blood will include a Skill fact for the Duration of the inflicted Corrupted Blood. For example Corrupting Cry Support which lasts a default base Duration of 5 seconds.

Corrupted Blood inflicted by Skills is often scaled by modifiers to Skill Effect Duration, as long as the Skill has a Duration tag present.

Tip: when fighting dangerous Monsters that inflict Corrupting Blood, try to avoid their hits to allow stacks to time out so that they're not refreshed by new applications of the Debuff.

Damage Dealt by Corrupted Blood

The Damage dealt by Corrupted Blood is Physical Damage over time. The amount of Damage is based on the source.

For Monsters, their Monster Level determines how much Damage is dealt by the Corrupted Blood Debuffs they inflict, with Monsters in higher-tier Waystones being much more dangerous as a result.

Player Skills that inflict Corrupted Blood will have their Damage determined by a set Base Damage or rule to calculate Base Damage on the Skill or Support Gem. As an example, Corrupting Cry makes the supported Warcry Skill inflict Corrupted Blood which deals 25% of your total Strength as Physical Damage per second.

Mitigating the Damage from Corrupted Blood

Since Corrupted Blood deals Physical Damage over time, it can be mitigated by modifiers that provide Additional Physical Damage Reduction. However, Armour will not help to mitigate the Damage from Corrupted Blood as it does not interact with Damage over time in any way.

Additionally, you can utilise modifiers that shift Physical Damage to be taken as another Damage type such as Cloak of Flame. The portion of Physical Damage dealt by Corrupted Blood that's taken as Fire Damage as a result of this Unique Body Armour will be mitigated by your Fire Resistance.

Note: be aware that the majority of modifiers to Damage Taken As only work for Hits, so be sure to review the exact wording on the modifier!

Corrupted Blood Immunity

Naturally, the best Defence against Corrupted Blood is to obtain outright Immunity to it. You can Corrupt Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald Jewels using a Vaal Orb, with a chance at a rare outcome that provides a Corrupted Enchantment modifier: 'Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you'.

There's also the Zerphi's Genesis Unique Belt, an exclusive drop from The Trialmaster Boss that provides the modifier 'Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you'.