PoE 2: Leech Explained

Leech is a resource recovery mechanic in Path of Exile 2.

Note to Path of Exile 1 players:

Leech as a mechanic functions very differently in Path of Exile 2 compared to Path of Exile 1. Please read on for more information.

What is Leech?

Leech recovers a particular resource, for example Life or Mana, based on a stated percentage of your Hit Damage that's taken by a Monster. For example the Death Rush Unique Ring grants the modifier 'Leech 5% of Physical Attack Damage as Life'. By default the full recovery from a single instance of Leech occurs over 1 second.

Note: the recovery from Leech is often tied to Physical Damage by default, but can also result from other Damage types you deal by utilising rare modifiers.

By default, all forms of Leech are immediately removed when the unreserved resource reaches full. This means that unlike another form of recovery such as Regeneration, Leech is more of a reactive recovery method - you're able to achieve large bursts of recovery, but this recovery is only accessible once the resource is partially empty.

Note: the recovery from Leech commonly applies to Life or Mana, but can also rarely apply to other resources or mechanics such as Energy Shield or Rage.

Leech Instances

When you have a Leech modifier, every applicable Hit that deals the correct Damage type to Monsters will create a unique Leech instance per Monster Hit. There is no limit to the amount of Leech instances that you can have at any one time, and all instances will provide their recovery independent of one another.

Leech instances only end early if the resource is filled. All instances of Leech are removed when the recovering resource reaches its unreserved maximum, however you can obtain rare modifiers that prevent this from happening, such as Fast Metabolism or Life Leech III.

Duration of Leech

The base Duration of an instance of Leech is 1 second. You can invest into modifiers that extend or shorten the Duration of Leech. However, modifying the Duration of Leech will not improve the recovery amount, instead making the recovery occur over a longer or shorter period of time.

For example the Savoured Blood Passive Tree Notable makes the total recovery from an instance of Leech occur over 1.25 seconds (1 / 0.8).

Leech Resistance

Monsters have an invisible stat known as Leech Resistance. This stat inherently modifies the recovery that is gained from Leech instances as a result of Hitting that Monster. Leech Resistance is present at all stages of the game, and scales linearly with Monster level due to the expected exponential growth of character Damage as you progress.

Recovery from Leech

The amount of recovery gained from an instance of Leech is based on the sum of all of the Leech modifiers that can apply to the Hit Damage, calculated against the total of that Damage type taken by a Monster, and then modified by the Monster's Leech Resistance.

For example a character with The Empty Roar equipped and no other sources of Life Leech has some of their Life missing. They Hit a Monster with an Attack, and the Monster takes 85 Physical Damage after their Armour has mitigated the Hit. The Monster has 20% Leech Resistance, and therefore the character gains a Leech instance for 6.8 Life recovered over 1 second.

You can also obtain modifiers that improve the amount of recovery gained from Leech without modifying the Duration, such as Carnage Heart's '100% increased amount of Life Leeched'.

Damage types and Hit types

The majority of Leech modifiers in Path of Exile 2 only apply to Physical Damage, and only work with Attack Hits. This means that it's often difficult to reliably recover a resource via Leech if you're arsenal of Attacks include many Skills where the majority of Damage is converted from Physical into another Damage type.

You can utilise rare modifiers that transform your Leech modifiers to apply to a different Damage type, such as the Walker of the Wilds Keystone. Some modifiers will simply add additional types of Damage that will be factored in to the Leech calculation, such as the Acolyte of Chayula's Sap of Nightmares, or the Amazon's Mystic Harvest.

In the case of Spell Damage, it's much more difficult to access Leech as a method of resource recovery. The Blood Mage has access to the Vitality Siphon Notable, whilst the Unique Body Armour The Covenant will also provide Spell Life Leech.

Resources Recovered

The most common Leech modifiers are those that apply to Life or Mana, however there are ways to Leech other resources. For example Essentia Sanguis converts any source of Life Leech into Energy Shield Leech instead. Meanwhile Soul Tether will provide a pseudo Energy Shield Leech, recovering your Energy Shield based on any Life Leech that cannot be applied to Life due to it being full or otherwise.

There are also a handful of methods to Leech other resources, for example Font of Rage will Leech Rage based on a percentage of Physical Hit Damage dealt by the supported Totem Skill.

Instant Leech

Instant Leech is when a portion of a Leech instance is recovered instantly. Many of the modifiers that grant Instant Leech are percentage based such as Voracious, but some simply make all of the recovery from Leech Instant, for example Atziri's Acuity with Critical Hits, or Thirst of Kitava for Life Leech from Empowered Attacks.

Couture of Crimson

The Couture of Crimson Unique Body Armour makes your Life Leech Overflow maximum Life. This modifier causes Life Leech instances to no longer be removed at full unreserved Life, instead recovering Life beyond your normal maximum, up to 150% of your maximum Life.

Corona of the Red Sun

Corona of the Red Sun is a Unique Helmet that causes any Life Leech instance that you gain to also be applied to Allies in your Presence.