It is a Support Gem.
Support
AoE, Curse
Tier: 3
Cost Multiplier: 130%
Requires: Level 1
Support Reqirements: +5 Int
Supports Curses, spreading their effects when a Cursed enemy dies.
Place into a Skill’s Support Gem socket in the Skills menu to apply its effects to that Skill. You cannot have multiple copies of the same Support Gem socketed at the same time.
The Hex Bloom Support Gem in Path of Exile 2 offers a powerful enhancement for Curse builds, making them more efficient and widespread. By spreading the effects of your curses to nearby enemies upon a Cursed enemy’s death, it offers an effective way to multiply the damage and debilitate foes across the battlefield. This gem is especially valuable for builds that use Curse-based strategies to weaken enemies and increase damage output.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the Hex Bloom Support Gem’s mechanics, how it works with different curse builds, and how it can enhance your overall gameplay experience in Path of Exile 2.
The Hex Bloom Support Gem enhances curse skills by enabling them to spread their effects to other enemies when a Cursed enemy dies. Here’s how it works:
Curse Spread on Enemy Death:
When a Cursed enemy is killed, the curse applied to that enemy will spread to other enemies within a 3-meter radius. This chain reaction can quickly multiply the effects of your curses, allowing you to weaken multiple enemies at once. The range of spread (3 meters) ensures that it can reach nearby enemies in combat, making it highly effective in crowd control and group damage situations.
Cost Multiplier:
The Hex Bloom gem has a 130% cost multiplier, meaning it will increase the mana or energy cost of the skill it supports. While this multiplier can make curse skills slightly more expensive to cast, the payoff is significant. The ability to spread your curses to other enemies makes this cost worthwhile, especially for builds focused on area-of-effect damage or crowd control.
Versatile Curse Synergy:
Hex Bloom supports any curse skill, meaning you can pair it with a wide variety of curses such as Flammability, Elemental Weakness, Temporal Chains, and more. The ability to spread curses opens up a range of strategic options. For example, Flammability could spread to ignite enemies with increased fire damage taken, or Elemental Weakness could lower the resistances of multiple enemies at once.
The Hex Bloom Support Gem is particularly effective in builds that revolve around cursing enemies to weaken them and amplify your damage. Here are some of the most notable synergies and builds that benefit from Hex Bloom:
Curse and Ignite Builds:
Curses that amplify fire damage, such as Flammability, are a natural synergy with Hex Bloom. By spreading Flammability to nearby enemies when a Cursed enemy dies, you increase your chances of igniting more enemies, causing them to take more fire damage. This works well with fire-based skills or fire-dot builds that deal ongoing damage through ignites.
Elemental Weakness Builds:
If your build uses Elemental Weakness to reduce the resistances of enemies to fire, cold, or lightning, Hex Bloom will help ensure that the curse spreads, lowering the resistances of additional enemies in the area. This makes your elemental attacks more effective against groups of enemies, making the gem especially useful for mapping or boss encounters with multiple targets.
Temporal Chains or Enfeeble Builds:
Temporal Chains and Enfeeble are curses that focus on slowing enemies or reducing their effectiveness in combat. Hex Bloom can quickly spread these debuffs to other enemies, causing a large area to be slowed or weakened. This is incredibly beneficial for defensive or crowd control builds, as it provides more control over the battlefield, especially in high-density content.
Poison and Chaos Damage Builds:
While Hex Bloom is generally used with curses that reduce resistances or slow enemies, it can also work in chaos damage or poison builds. By spreading Despair (which increases chaos damage taken) or Poison curses to enemies, it significantly boosts the damage output of your poison-based or chaos-based attacks. It’s especially effective in chaos DOT builds, where curses amplify the effects of poison or chaos-based damage.
Here are some of the core advantages of using the Hex Bloom Support Gem:
Area Control:
By spreading curses to multiple enemies upon a Cursed enemy’s death, Hex Bloom increases your area control and ensures that enemies are consistently debuffed. This is particularly helpful in high-density packs, where the spread of curses can significantly reduce enemy effectiveness and amplify your damage output.
Boosts Damage and Survivability:
Spreading damage-debuffing curses like Elemental Weakness or Flammability can significantly increase the damage dealt to enemies, while defensive curses like Temporal Chains or Enfeeble can make enemies much easier to handle. This balance between damage boosting and defensive weakening makes Hex Bloom a versatile support gem.
Synergy with Multiple Curse Skills:
Hex Bloom works with any curse skill, so you can use it with multiple curse setups in your build. This flexibility allows you to use different curses to target specific enemy types, making it a versatile tool in both single-target and area-of-effect damage situations.
High Value in Large-Scale Encounters:
Hex Bloom shines in large-scale encounters where multiple enemies are present. The ability to spread curses makes it invaluable in mapping, endgame content, and boss fights where there are large amounts of enemies to curse and damage.
While Hex Bloom offers a lot of power and utility, there are a few downsides to consider:
Cost Multiplier:
The 130% cost multiplier means that the curse skill you use with Hex Bloom will cost more mana. This can be a concern if your build has mana issues, requiring you to invest in mana regeneration or efficiency.
Limited to Curse Builds:
The gem is curse-specific, meaning it won’t work for other types of builds that don’t focus on curses. If your build doesn’t rely heavily on cursing enemies, the gem might not be as effective for you.
Curse Limitations:
Some enemies in Path of Exile 2 have curse resistance or immunity. While Hex Bloom is effective for spreading curses on regular enemies, it may be less impactful in areas where enemies have significant curse mitigation.
The Hex Bloom Support Gem is an excellent tool for curse-based builds, enhancing curse efficiency by allowing them to spread to nearby enemies upon a Cursed enemy’s death. It works seamlessly with damage-dealing curses like Flammability and Elemental Weakness, as well as defensive curses like Temporal Chains and Enfeeble. Its ability to affect a 3-meter radius upon enemy death makes it a potent gem for crowd control and area-of-effect damage.
However, the 130% cost multiplier and its limitation to curse builds should be considered when planning your character. If you’re focusing on multi-curse setups or area control, Hex Bloom is a valuable addition to your arsenal, helping you spread your curses across the battlefield and maximize your damage and control.