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In Path of Exile (PoE), ailments are powerful debuffs that influence how damage is dealt and how enemies or players are affected in combat. They are divided into elemental and damaging ailments, each linked to specific types of damage—physical, fire, cold, lightning, or chaos. These ailments not only cause damage over time but also apply important tactical effects that can debilitate enemies or enhance damage output. To fully harness the potential of ailments in PoE, a detailed understanding of their mechanics and how they scale is essential PoE 1 Currency.

The core damaging ailments in PoE are Bleeding, Ignite, and Poison. Bleeding deals physical damage over time based on the hit's physical damage, and uniquely, it deals double damage if the afflicted enemy is moving. This makes it particularly potent against mobile foes. Ignite causes fire damage over time, derived from the fire damage dealt in the initial hit. Unlike Bleeding or Poison, Ignite is guaranteed on critical strikes with fire damage. Poison, linked to chaos damage, stacks multiple times and deals chaos damage over its duration. Its damage calculation is based on a percentage of the physical and chaos damage combined, and it can scale significantly with modifiers that increase its magnitude.

Besides damage-over-time, there are elemental ailments that apply debuffs affecting enemy performance. Chill and Freeze are cold ailments that reduce enemy speed and can altogether immobilize them, respectively. Shock increases the damage the afflicted enemy receives by 15%, while Scorch lowers their elemental resistances, increasing vulnerability to elemental attacks. Brittle increases the base critical strike chance enemies receive, raising your chance for critical hits, and Sap reduces the damage enemies deal. The applications of these elemental ailments are critical for crowd control and damage amplification strategies, especially in group play or against tough bosses.

Ailments have a chance to be inflicted on enemies based on various mechanics. Some ailments, like Chill, are automatically applied on hits of the corresponding damage type, and others, like Ignite, Freeze, and Shock, are guaranteed on critical strikes. The base chance to apply other ailments, such as Bleeding or Poison, can be increased by gear, passive skills, and support gems, adding depth to character customization. It's important to note that enemies may have resistances, immunities, or chances to avoid these ailments, and there are complex systems that calculate these chances, including ailment thresholds that factor in the damage of hits relative to the target's life pool.

Scaling ailment damage involves three parts: the initial hit that inflicts the ailment, the magnitude of the ailment effect, and the damage taken by the target from that effect. The magnitude can be increased by modifiers that specifically boost ailment effect or damage over time. Damage dealt by ailments is then mitigated by the target's defenses, such as resistances. Modifiers that increase the total damage enemies take or reduce their resistances can greatly amplify the damage output from ailments. Duration scaling is also an option, allowing ailments to remain active longer, increasing their overall damage, though not necessarily their damage per second, unless modified otherwise.

In summary, ailments in PoE are complex systems that combine damage types, debuffs, and nuanced application mechanics. Mastering ailments means understanding the distinctions between their types, their application chances, scaling factors PoE buy Currency, and the strategic benefits they provide, from high damage over time to controlling enemy movement and increasing overall damage output. So in order to improve your gaming experience, you may wish to learn more and try various ailments yourself.