PoE Withered — Path of Exile

In Path of Exile (PoE), Withered is a powerful debuff that significantly enhances the effectiveness of chaos damage against afflicted enemies. When applied, Withered causes the target to take increased chaos damage, stacking up to 15 times. Understanding the mechanics of Withered is crucial for players who rely on chaos damage in their builds, as it can dramatically amplify their damage output. This article will explore how Withered works, its stacking mechanics, and how to maximize its effectiveness.

What is Withered?

Withered is a debuff that increases the amount of chaos damage taken by the target. Each stack of Withered applies a 6% increased chaos damage taken effect, and multiple stacks can be applied to the same target. With a maximum of 15 stacks, the target can take up to 90% increased chaos damage, making Withered a potent tool in the arsenal of any chaos damage-focused build.

Base Effect: 6% increased chaos damage taken per stack.
Maximum Stacks: 15, resulting in up to 90% increased chaos damage taken.
Duration: Each stack of Withered lasts for 2 seconds, with each stack having its own independent duration.

Mechanics of Withered

The mechanics of Withered are straightforward but have some nuances that can impact how it is applied and how its effectiveness is calculated.

Stacking and Duration

Independent Stacks: Each stack of Withered is independent, meaning that the duration of one stack is not refreshed by the application of another stack. This requires players to consistently apply Withered to maintain the full 15 stacks on a target.
Base Duration: Each Withered stack lasts for 2 seconds. Therefore, players need to reapply Withered within this window to maintain the maximum effect.

Increased Effect of Withered

The effect of Withered can be further enhanced by increasing its effectiveness through passives, gear, or other modifiers. However, due to the way Withered stacks independently, the increased effect of Withered only reaches significant breakpoints at specific intervals.

Breakpoints: Because Withered stacks independently, the increased effect of Withered only becomes meaningful at certain percentages. For example, a 17% increase in Withered’s effect results in each stack applying 7% increased chaos damage taken, instead of the base 6%. The first few breakpoints are detailed in the table below:

Maximizing the Effectiveness of Withered

To fully utilize the power of Withered, players should aim to apply and maintain the maximum number of stacks on their target, while also considering ways to increase the effectiveness of each stack.

Consistent Application

Maintaining 15 stacks of Withered requires frequent application due to the short duration of each stack. This can be achieved through:

Skills that Apply Withered: Certain skills and items in Path of Exile automatically apply Withered stacks to enemies, such as the skill Wither, or the totem version, Withering Touch support, or Withering Step.
Passive Skills and Ascendancies: Some passive skills and ascendancies, like Pathfinder’s Master Toxicist, enhance the effectiveness or application speed of Withered, making it easier to maintain maximum stacks.

Increasing the Effect of Withered

To maximize the increased chaos damage taken by enemies, players can focus on modifiers that increase the effect of Withered:

Passive Tree: Certain nodes on the passive tree increase the effectiveness of Withered, allowing each stack to amplify chaos damage further.
Gear: Specific items and mods can increase the effect of Withered, reaching the breakpoints where the damage taken per stack increases (e.g., from 6% to 7% at 17% increased effect).

Synergizing with Chaos Damage Builds

Withered is particularly effective in builds that rely heavily on chaos damage. By maximizing the application and effect of Withered, these builds can see substantial increases in their overall damage output. Common chaos damage skills like Essence Drain, Contagion, Caustic Arrow, and Bane can all benefit significantly from a well-maintained Withered debuff on enemies.

Conclusion

Withered is a powerful debuff in Path of Exile that can drastically increase the effectiveness of chaos damage builds. By understanding its mechanics, how it stacks, and how to enhance its effect, players can leverage Withered to deal significantly more damage to their enemies. Whether you’re focusing on chaos damage over time or direct chaos damage skills, maximizing the application and effectiveness of Withered is essential for pushing your build’s damage to its full potential.

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