Frequently asked questions

This page is intended to provide useful information not necessarily covered in the official FAQ or the first post of the new player forum thread. Global chat tends to see the same questions repeated, so feel free to direct people here and add questions/answers of your own. (Make sure your information is correct!)

The Path of Exile subreddit also has a list of useful guides and resources here.

How can I check frame rate/latency/etc?
Press F1

What does ___ mean?
Check the Acronyms page for a list of common acronyms and abbreviations.

What are the specific differences between classes?
Character class determines your starting attributes, your starting position on the skill tree, and your quest rewards. Each class also gets access to three (or just one for the Scion) different Ascendancy classes later in the game to help further specialize your character.

How do I unlock the Scion?
The first time you reach the end of Act 3, the Scion will be encountered shortly before the final boss fight. After clicking on her cage, she will appear in the character selection screen. Killing Dominus will also unlock her if you missed the cage.

Do stats increase when I level up?
The following stats increases with levels.

Strength/Dexterity/Intelligence must be increased with passive skills or items.

What do attributes do?
Items and skills can also have attribute requirements.

Are there caps on any stats?

 * Resistances are normally capped at %, but this can be increased by certain auras, flasks or unique items.
 * The physical damage reduction from armour and other sources such as endurance charges is capped at %.
 * Chance to hit can reach 100%, and cannot be lower than 5%.
 * Chance to block is capped at %, but can be increased with the unique item or with the Violent Retaliation or the Gladiator  Ascendancy passive skill.

What's the difference between "local" and "global" modifiers?
Local modifiers will only affect the item they're on, and global modifiers affect your entire character. For example, the global critical chance increase from daggers increases the chance of all your skills critting, but the local accuracy bonus from one-handed swords only affects attacks that use the sword.

What's the difference between "implicit" and "explicit" modifiers?
Some types of equipment come with implicit modifiers that improve the item. Explicit modifiers are specifically added to items with magic, rare , or unique rarity. Implicit and explicit modifiers are separated by a line.

What's the difference between "increased" and "more"?
"X increased/decreased by y%" refers to an additive modifier, and "y% more/less" refers to a multiplicative modifier. If you don't know what this means, see Stats.

Are macros allowed?
Only 1 server-side action per macro is allowed. For example a Out-Of-Sync macro is allowed. A OOS-macro opens the chat box, types \oos then sends the text. The server only sees the command "\oos", therefore it is an allowed macro.

What's the difference between lockstep and predictive mode?
They are both networking modes, and which one you should choose depends on your latency and personal preference. Lockstep mode keeps the client and server synchronized, but every time you move/click, you have a delay of whatever your ping is. On predictive mode there is no delay, but your character may experience desync.

How do I join a party?
You can see the list of public parties by opening the Social window (default S ) and clicking the "Public Parties" tab. Clicking a town's noticeboard will also open the window. The list only shows the parties in your current Act that are not full (six players maximum). Most parties are friendly and are completing quests or farming an area.

What is item allocation?
To balance the amounts of currency and valuable items each player gets, certain items (like those with Rare or Unique rarity) are assigned to a random player. All other players will see the item appear as a grey box. Short Allocation means the item will become available to everyone after a few seconds, but Permanent Allocation has no time limit. Free For All Allocation does not balance items.

How do I add someone to my Friend list?
Right-click on their name in chat, or their character if you are in the same area, and choose "Add as Friend". They will be notified and must accept the friend request. In the Social window you can see which friends are online and which character they are playing, with their current area and league. You can also write notes describing each friend.

What are guilds?
Being in a guild with other people is similar to having them on your Friend list, but you can also use a private guild chat channel and share items in a guild stash.

How do I visit someone's hideout?
In the "Current Party" tab of the Social window, right-click on their name and select "Visit Hideout". You must be in a town or another hideout.

How do I quickly move items between inventory, stash, and vendor screens?
Ctrl-Click

How do I split stacks of items?
Shift-Click

Do I have a separate stash for each league?
Yes. Any extra stash tabs you purchased will also apply to each stash.

What are "remove only" tabs?
When a temporary league ends, its stash is merged with your Standard or Hardcore stash, depending on the type of league. Race rewards are added to your stash in the same way. If you don't have any empty tabs available, you are given extra tabs that you can take items out of but not use as extra storage. If a "remove only" tab is completely empty when you log out, it will be deleted.

What's the difference between Hardcore and Standard?
There are no gameplay or quest differences (increased drop rates, stronger monsters, etc). The only difference is that Hardcore has permanent death as an extra challenge, by means of moving you to Standard. (The admins will not move your character back if you die, except in extreme cases like game patches adding dangerous and widespread bugs.)

Will dying in PvP in Hardcore send me to Standard?
No.

If I join a race, what happens to that character afterwards?
The character is sent to the Hardcore league. If you want to move to Standard, enter an area and die. Certain races with increased drop rates, such as Descent, send your character to an unplayable null league instead until you delete them.

Can you trade items between leagues?
No, since players have to be in the same instance. However you can send items from a Hardcore league to Standard by dying.

Do I lose my characters when a challenge league ends?
No, they are transferred to their parented permanent league (either Standard or Hardcore) along with their stash.

When does a league start/end?
The two latest leagues are shown in the table below. Timezone is UTC.

Is chat separated by league?
Yes.

Is there only one channel per league?
No, chat is instanced. The default channel that you automatically join is Global 1, but if the channel is full you move to the lowest empty channel. You can switch to channel x by typing /global x or /trade x, where x is any number.

How do I link items in chat?
Ctrl-Alt-Click (If the chat window isn't open already, this will open it)

What's the shortcut to reply to whispers?
Ctrl-Enter (If the chat window isn't open already, this will open it)

How do I change difficulty?
The Fall of Oriath expansion removed Cruel and Merciless difficulties, leaving one difficulty mode.

As a character progresses through Path of Exile's storyline, zones are generated at higher zone levels with tougher monsters. Reaching the Epilogue unlocks the The Templar Laboratory, where you can play maps, the main type of endgame content.

Characters get a permanent resistance loss after completing Acts 5 and 10. There is also an experience penalty when the character dies. This will not cause the character to lose a level.

Is there a waypoint in area x?
In the World screen (press U to open), areas with a waypoint will have a blue icon to the right of their name.

How do I activate waypoints?
Waypoints must be clicked to "activate" them for future use. Just entering an area or walking by a waypoint doesn't allow you to teleport there later.

There are some exceptions. For example, the Prisoner's Gate waypoint is given for killing Brutus, the Southern Forest waypoint is given for killing Merveil, and the City of Sarn waypoint is given for killing Vaal Oversoul. This was added so players don't have to fight a major boss again if their game crashes before reaching the next area.

How do I reset an instance or join a specific instance?
Ctrl-Click on the entrance to the area and the instance menu will appear. You can also do this in the waypoint menu by ctrl-clicking the area node.

Is there a minimap?
There are two maps:
 * Pressing tab brings up a full-screen transparent map that you can explore with the arrow keys. The top right also has information about the current area and league.
 * In the UI tab of the options menu, checking the minimap option adds a map in the upper right corner. The transparency can be adjusted with the slider.

What affects movement speed?
Movement speed can be seen in the Character screen (press C ). Equipping body armour or a shield decreases movement speed, with the specific value depending on the base item type. In general, Strength armour has greater penalties than Dexterity and Intelligence armour. Movement speed modifiers ranging from +10% to +35% can appear on boots. There are also passive skills related to movement speed. Finally, certain unique items affect movement speed.

There is no cap on movement speed.

How do flasks work?
Flasks consume their charges to recover some amount of life/mana over time. Normal monsters grant 1 charge each, monsters grant 3.5 charges each, and  and  monsters grant 6 charges each.

If you reach your maximum life and/or mana before the end of the recovery time, the flask effect will end prematurely. When multiple flasks are used at the same time, the effects are queued. The effect with the highest regeneration rate is always applied first. For example:

You have two flasks, one that gives 500 life recovery over 10 seconds and has a 20% increased movement speed modifier, and a second that gives 500 life recovery of 5 seconds with no additional modifiers. You use the first flask and gain the movement speed while recovering life. After one second, you use the second flask. At this point the remaining 9 seconds from the first flask is queued, and the second flask begins its effect. Once the second flask has expired, the first flask resumes its effect for the remaining duration.

Are there penalties for being over/underleveled?
Every area has a monster level, which you can see on the world screen or by pressing Tab. If your character is too high level compared to the monster level a penalty to the drop rate will come in effect, this penalty isn't in effect in very high areas. See drop rate for further details.

The experience penalty is more complicated. Characters have a "safe range" of levels where the experience penalty isn't in effect, it will however take effect once the character is over- and underleveled. The penalty formula is on the experience page. The penalty increases fairly quickly so being too under-/overleveled isn't recommended for effective leveling.

Do I have to crit to inflict status effects? What else affects them?
Under normal conditions, yes. "Chilled" is the exception, and can come from normal hits with enough cold damage. The elemental damage of a critical strike is compared to the enemy's maximum life to end up with a duration for each status ailment. See Shock, Chill, Freeze and Ignite for further reading about status ailments.

If you have Chaos Inoculation, the calculation uses the max life you would normally have without the Keystone. Although mobs have increased life in parties, status effects use their base life for calculations.

What do charges do?
Charges are temporary buffs that can be created by certain skills and consumed by others. See Charge for more information.

Is there an easier way to plan my character's passive skill tree?
There are several skill tree/gem/item planners out that can be downloaded. See List of Path of Exile related applications for more information.

There are also fan sites with build planners and other interesting information. See List of Path of Exile related websites for more information.

Is there a way to bypass the passive skill allocation confirmation?
Yes. Holding Ctrl while selecting a passive node will immediately allocate the skill point and confirm it.

How do skill gems get experience?
Equipped skill gems get experience equal to 10% of the experience you gain. Equipping more gems doesn't divide the experience; all gems get the 10%. Gems are not affected by any experience penalties.

Do gems in my second weapon set gain experience when I'm not using them?
Yes. This is convenient if you need to level a lot of gems.

Can you link multiples of one support gem to a skill?
Yes, but they don't stack. Only the highest level gem will take effect.

Do support gems need to be placed next to a skill gem?
No. As long as they are in the same link group, gems will affect each other.

Can a support gem affect more than one skill?
Yes, it affects every skill in the link group.

What's the difference between attacks and spells?
Attacks are affected by your equipped weapon, while spells are based only on your stats. "Attack" is not a general word for anything offensive.

Does support x work with skill y?
As a general rule, the keywords of the support gem need to be included in the skill gem. (Keywords are the category words near the top of the mouseover description, such as "Attack" or "Projectile".) Exceptions are the words "Fire", "Cold", "Lightning", and "Chaos"; supports like Added Fire Damage will affect any damage-dealing skill. "Bow" is equivalent to "Projectile". Below are answers to common questions:


 * only works with Attack skills. works with everything that deals damage.
 * and have 100% pierce chance, so it doesn't work with  or.
 * won't make endurance charges gained from last longer. It only affects the skill itself, which is instantaneous.

When you hover over a socketed support gem, it shows what linked skill gems it affects by making them glow. The same is true for skill gems showing what linked support gems affect them.

Which items should I identify?
Items with a rarity other than Normal must be identified with a before you can see their modifiers and equip them. Selling unidentified items at a vendor returns, while selling identified items gives and depending on their modifiers. Since and  are much more valuable than, it is worth identifying items that you plan on selling.

In general, all rare and unique items should be picked up and identified. Magic items are useful to pick up if you need better equipment or if you need more alteration orbs and have a lot of extra wisdom scrolls.

What does quality do?
All weapons, armour, flasks, gems, and maps can have a quality bonus between +1% and +20%. Items dropped as loot may have a random quality, and quality can be increased by using currency items.

Using a quality-increasing item will raise the quality of Normal items by 5, Magic items by 2, and Rare/Unique items by 1. If you plan to upgrade an item's rarity, it's most efficient to max out the quality beforehand.

How do item rarity/item quantity work?
These modifiers come from players (through skills, passives, gear etc.), monster rarity, party bonuses, and map bonuses. Modifiers from the player stack additively with each other, and are subject to diminishing returns. Modifiers from the party bonus and monsters stack additively with each other, and are not subject to diminishing returns. The total player bonus stacks multiplicatively with the total party & monster bonus.

Increased Item Rarity (IIR):

Increases the chances of an item being magic, rare, or unique. Note: This modifier does not affect chests, and has no effect on the number or type of currency items, scrolls, or gems that drop.

When in a party, only the modifier from the player who lands the killing blow on an enemy is counted. If one of your minions gets a kill, the minion's IIR is added to yours and the total is used. Magic, rare, and unique monsters have an increased item rarity modifier for drops.

Increased Item Quantity (IIQ):

Increases the average number of items that drop from monsters. There is no cap on the usefulness of this modifier, since there is no limit to the number of items a monster can drop. Note: IIQ does not affect chests, and it does not affect the type, quality, or rarity of item dropped, only the chance that something will drop.

The base chance for an item to drop varies between monster types, and drop rate increases with monster rarity. When in a party, each player in the party after the first gives a +50% item quantity modifier on drops.

Blue items can only have two modifiers, why does mine have three?
Magic items have up to two affixes, but some of these add more than one modifier. For example, the "Beetle's" prefix adds local armor and stun recovery. Rare items can have more than six modifiers, but are limited to six affixes.

What affects item sockets and links?
The maximum number of sockets an item can have is determined by its type and item level.

Helmets, Gloves, Boots can have up to 4 sockets; Chest armor and two-handed weapons up to 6; One-handed weapons and Shields up to 3. Links are not affected or limited by item level.

Socket color is weighted towards the attribute requirements of an item. Strength items will have mostly red sockets, etc.

What does "itemlevel" mean?
Though it isn't shown on the mouseover description all items have an item level, which affects the modifiers that can be added as well as the number of sockets. Items dropped from chests or normal (white) enemies have an item level equal to the area's monster level. Items from enemies are one level higher than the area, and items from  or  enemies are two levels higher.

To find the item level of an item, hold down the ALT key while hovering the cursor over the item. The item level will be shown above the level requirements in the item description.

There are two additional ways to find the item level of something:
 * Pick up the item with the cursor, and type the /itemlevel command into the chat box. The item level will appear in chat.
 * Hover with the mouse over an item linked in chat, and press CTRL+C . This will copy the complete item information to your clipboard, including item level, which can be pasted somewhere else with CTRL+V.

What is an item filter?
With the release of Path of Exile: The Awakening (version 2.0.0), item filters were introduced as an optional feature for players to customize what they see when items drop in the game. There are multiple options from colors, text size, borders and even sounds

For more information, see item filter guide and list of item filters.

How can I access the masters?
Each of the 5 masters can be encountered as you progress through the game. Afterwards, they will have a chance to spawn in areas.

How do I get a hideout?
Talk to Helena after freeing her in The Chamber of Sins in act 2. Other hideout tilesets can be discovered in specific act areas or Maps. Some tilesets are rarer than others.

Who can I invite to my Hideout?
All the Masters, Helena, Navali, and challenge league specific NPCs can be invited.

What are Reputation and Levels?
When you complete a mission, you will earn Reputation points for that Master. Reputation is used to purchase hideout decorations. More decorations can be unlocked by increasing Reputation Levels for that Master. Each master has up to 7 Reputation Levels.

What are Atlas objectives?
Atlas objectives will appear in the Atlas. The map with an Atlas objective will guarantee that specific Master will spawn on that map. Whenever a map is completed, there is a chance for an Atlas objective to spawn again.

At midnight UTC, all Atlas objectives will respawn again. The maps the Atlas objective spawn will be relative to the tier of the last map you've completed.

What happens to my masters/hideout after a challenge league ends?
Your hideout layout is consistent across all leagues.

Does Path of Exile run on Linux?
Though it is not officially supported, Path of Exile can run on Linux via Wine. See this guide for more information.

Steam
Path of Exile can be played with a standalone client or on Steam depending on your preferences.

Why does small updates take so long for Steam to update?
Path of Exile uses a large file that contains all the necessary in-game files. Due to the way Steam patches games, this can mean redownloading this large file for each patch. If you find these patches to take too long, the best option is to switch to the standalone Client.

Is it possible to switch to/from Steam?
Yes, contact Path of Exiles support team for further assistance.

Xbox One
Path of Exile is available on Xbox One.

Trading
Only in game trading systems are supported in the Xbox One version. Popular trading websites only supports PC.