It is a Skill Gem.
Spell
Duration, Buff, Attack, AoE, Melee
Tier: 9 (Monk)
Level: 6
Cost: 17 Mana
Cast Time: 0.75 sec
Requires: Level 21, 20 Dex, 20 Int
Requires: Quarterstaff
Consume all Power Charges to infuse your Quarterstaff with electricity for a duration, adding Lightning damage and a Lightning shockwave to your Quarterstaff Attacks. Reusing the skill while the buff is active grants additional duration and damage up to a cap.
Skills can be managed in the Skills Panel.
Charged Staff is a Skill Gem in Path of Exile 2 designed for Monk builds that focus on Quarterstaff attacks. This gem allows players to infuse their Quarterstaff with powerful Lightning damage and a shockwave effect, creating a devastating combo that can deal both direct damage and apply additional lightning effects to enemies. By consuming Power Charges, Charged Staff enhances your melee attacks, giving your Quarterstaff strikes an electrifying punch while offering scaling benefits the more you charge it up.
Charged Staff allows you to empower your Quarterstaff by channeling your Power Charges into it, enhancing both the damage output and the range of your attacks. Here’s a detailed breakdown of its mechanics:
Power Charge Consumption:
When you activate Charged Staff, the skill consumes all of your Power Charges to infuse your Quarterstaff with electricity. The more Power Charges you have, the greater the Lightning damage added to your attacks. This energy expenditure allows you to unleash devastating Lightning-based attacks, which can deal significant AoE damage to nearby enemies.
Buff Effect:
For the duration of the buff, your Quarterstaff attacks will deal Lightning damage and create a shockwave effect. The shockwave can hit multiple enemies around your target, causing AoE damage and applying Lightning debuffs like Shock or Electrified, making it effective for clearing large groups of enemies.
Scaling Buff with Reuse:
If you use Charged Staff again while the buff is still active, it will increase both the duration and damage of the buff, up to a cap. This allows you to continuously enhance your Lightning damage as long as you can maintain the buff, which is great for sustained combat. However, the gem has a cap, meaning you cannot endlessly stack these bonuses.
Increased Duration and Damage:
The more frequently you activate the Charged Staff skill while the buff is active, the greater the Lightning damage and buff duration will become, improving the overall effectiveness of your Quarterstaff attacks. The gem provides a high ceiling for damage output but requires careful timing and management to fully benefit from its scaling properties.
Quarterstaff Focused:
As a Quarterstaff skill, Charged Staff is not usable with other weapons like swords or axes. This reinforces the gem’s role within Monk or staff-focused builds, where the emphasis is placed on melee attacks with a Quarterstaff.
AoE Shockwave:
One of the most powerful aspects of Charged Staff is the shockwave effect, which can deal Lightning damage to all enemies in proximity to the target. This AoE effect scales with the number of Power Charges consumed, allowing you to hit multiple targets in one strike. The shockwave is especially useful when dealing with tightly packed groups of enemies, making Charged Staff a great skill for crowd control.
Charged Staff works best in Monk builds that focus on Quarterstaff combat, but it also has synergies with other skills and mechanics that enhance its effectiveness. Here are a few ideas to maximize the potential of Charged Staff:
Power Charge Generation:
Since Charged Staff consumes Power Charges to amplify its damage, building around Power Charge generation is key. Skills like Power Charge On Crit, Power Charge On Kill, or items that grant Power Charges will significantly enhance the output of Charged Staff. Maximizing the number of Power Charges ensures that you can deal massive Lightning damage while recharging the buff quickly.
Lightning Damage Scaling:
To increase the effectiveness of Charged Staff, you can pair the skill with Lightning damage bonuses from passive skill trees, items, or aura skills. This boosts the overall Lightning damage of your Quarterstaff attacks and the shockwave effect. Increased Lightning Damage or Added Lightning Damage from gear, supports, or passive points is essential for scaling the skill’s power.
Buff Duration and AoE Scaling:
Since Charged Staff benefits from increasing its buff duration and damage, you should consider support gems or passive nodes that improve duration or area of effect (AoE). Skills like Increased Duration, Enhanced AoE, or Faster Casting will ensure that your Charged Staff stays active longer and hits more enemies.
Quarterstaff-Specific Mods:
As Charged Staff is specific to Quarterstaffs, it synergizes well with staff-based builds that focus on melee damage. Mods that increase staff damage or melee AoE will enhance the overall performance of this skill. Enchantment mods on gear can also provide further boosts to Quarterstaff attacks.
Shock Effects:
Since Charged Staff causes a shockwave that can shock enemies, pairing it with shocking support skills, or shocking passive nodes, will make enemies more vulnerable to Lightning damage, significantly boosting your damage output.
Charged Staff is an exciting and powerful skill gem for Monk builds focusing on Quarterstaffs in Path of Exile 2. By consuming Power Charges, this skill adds Lightning damage and a shockwave effect to your melee attacks, turning your staff into a conduit for devastating electrical power. Its synergy with Power Charges and its scaling damage make it a great choice for sustained combat, especially when used in AoE-focused builds. With the right gear, support gems, and Power Charge mechanics, Charged Staff can become a core part of your arsenal, electrifying your enemies and boosting your effectiveness in battle.