PoE 2: Stun Explained

Stun is an on-Hit effect in Path of Exile 2. You can find Stun-related stats anywhere on the Passive Skill Tree, but they're more common in the lower-left area near the Warrior start location.

Tip: check out our guide on an Ailment with a similar effect: Electrocute!

What is Stun?

Stun is a status-effect that interrupts any current action of the target and prevents actions while it persists. Stun can only be inflicted by a Hit. Damage over time cannot Stun.

Note: any type of Hit Damage can inflict Stun.

Chance to Stun

Any Damage resulting from a Hit has a chance to inflict Stun. The chance to inflict Stun is based on the total Damage of a Hit relative to the target's Stun Threshold. For the majority of monsters, their Stun Threshold is equal to their maximum Life, with the exception of stronger monsters such as some Rares and all Unique bosses. Stronger monsters have their Stun Threshold adjusted to allow players to inflict Stuns on them. A character will typically be able to Stun weaker Monsters very quickly, but will require many more Hits to build towards a Heavy Stun on stronger Monsters such as map bosses.

Physical and Melee Damage Hits each have 50% more effectiveness at inflicting Stun. Damaging Hits of these types will be treated as being multiplicatively higher when calculating the chance to inflict Stun against the target's Stun Threshold. These bonuses stack with each other, thus a player utilising Melee Physical Damage attacks will effectively have 125% more chance to inflict Stuns with their Hits.

Modifiers that grant 'increased Stun Buildup', for example the one on Treefingers, do not apply a base chance to inflict Stun. Instead they directly scale the Buildup of Stun based on the Damage relative to the target's Stun Threshold.

Note: Monsters do not benefit from the Stun effectiveness bonus to Melee Damage.

Stun Threshold

A player's Stun Threshold is equal to their maximum Life by default. This stat can be improved, thus becoming less likely to be Stunned by incoming Hits from Monsters.

You can obtain modifiers that provide flat additions to Stun Threshold, for example Irongrasp's '+100-150 to Stun Threshold'. These modifiers will essentially function as if the player had the same addition to maximum Life, but only for the sole purpose of preventing incoming Stuns.

Modifiers such as '30% increased Stun Threshold' on Unbreaking will directly scale a player's Stun Threshold, multiplying the total gained from maximum Life and flat Stun Threshold modifiers. For example a player with 2500 maximum Life that's wearing Irongrasp with '+120 to Stun Threshold' would have a total Stun Threshold of 2620. If the player allocated Unbreaking, their Stun Threshold would be increased to 3406 (2620 * 1.3). As a result, these types of modifiers are typically much more effective at scaling Stun Threshold compared to flat additions to this stat unless you have a low total Life pool, for example on a character focusing on Energy Shield instead.

Players utilising Energy Shield as their primary hit pool can use modifiers such as 'Gain 20% of maximum Energy Shield as added Stun Threshold' on Hallowed to boost their Stun Threshold. These modifiers will add a percentage of total Energy Shield to the base Stun Threshold, which can then be scaled with modifiers to 'increased Stun Threshold'.

Note: a player using Chaos Inoculation will have their base Stun Threshold derived from their maximum Life prior to Chaos Inoculation's 'Maximum Life becomes 1' modifier taking effect.

Heavy Stun

Any Damaging Hits that have a chance to inflict Stun will contribute towards Heavy Stun Buildup. A target's Heavy Stun Threshold is visible below their Life bar. When a target's Heavy Stun Threshold reaches or exceeds 100%, they'll enter a much longer Stun animation, during which they'll be unable to perform actions and will be considered as Immobilised.

Note: Heavy Stun does not Buildup while a target is Heavily Stunned.

Heavy Stun Threshold varies between different Monsters, with much larger or stronger Monsters such as map bosses having significantly higher Heavy Stun Thresholds.

As with normal Stun, both Physical and Melee Damage Hits each have 50% more effectiveness towards Heavy Stun Buildup, stacking together for an effective 125% more Heavy Stun Buildup when utilising both Damage types simultaneously.

Note: Players cannot be Heavily Stunned.

Duration of Stun

The Duration of an inflicted Stun is based on the Damage dealt by the Hit relative to the target's Stun Threshold, with higher Damage Hits resulting in longer Stuns.

When a target is Heavily Stunned, a special animation is played resulting in a longer period of time where the target is unable to perform actions. The default Heavy Stun Duration differs on a per-Monster basis. Some larger Monsters such as Unique bosses may have very large Heavy Stun Thresholds, but are stunned for a much longer Duration upon being Heavily Stunned, for example 6 seconds or more.

Primed for Stun

Primed for Stun is a mechanic that expedites the process of Heavy Stun Buildup, bypassing a percentage of remaining Buildup to immediately progress to a Heavy Stun on the target. A target is Primed for Stun upon reaching a percentage of Heavy Stun Buildup based on Monster rarity:

• Normal Monsters: Primed at 40% Heavy Stun Buildup
• Magic Monsters: Primed at 60% Heavy Stun Buildup
• Rare Monsters: Primed at 70% Heavy Stun Buildup
• Unique Monsters: Primed at 80% Heavy Stun Buildup

To utilise the Primed for Stun mechanic, a player must have access to a modifier that enables it. For example the Titan's Crushing Impacts which makes all of your Hits count as Crushing Blows, Heavily Stunning any Monsters that are Primed for Stun. The Boneshatter Skill also causes a Heavy Stun on any Monsters that are Primed for Stun, but cannot cause Stun Buildup itself.

Note: Monsters that are Primed for Stun will have a floating indicator above their model if you have access to a mechanic that enables Primed for Stun.

Surprising Strength & Skullcrusher

The Titan's Surprising Strength Ascendancy Notable and the Skullcrusher Notable on the Passive Skill Tree each grant a more Damage multiplier against Heavily Stunned targets, providing a window to deal extreme Damage output.

Unwavering Stance & Dionadair

The Unwavering Stance Keystone doubles your existing Stun Threshold as the cost of removing access to the Dodge Roll. The Unique Shield Dionadair also doubles your Stun Threshold, but only while actively Blocking.

Eye of Chayula

The Eye of Chayula Unique Amulet provides a huge '+2500 to Stun Threshold' at the cost of reducing your maximum Life. This item pairs exceptionally well with Chaos Inoculation.