In Path of Exile, you can sustain health by investing in life leech, regeneration, flasks, and life steal. Mana can be managed through mana regeneration, flasks, leech, and reduced mana cost nodes on the passive skill tree.
1. Health Management
Health management is crucial in Path of Exile to survive tough encounters and progress through the game effectively. One of the best ways to sustain health is by using life flasks. Life flasks instantly restore a portion of your health when used, and they can be upgraded to provide more healing and even special effects like immunity to bleeding or instant recovery. It's essential to have a good balance of life flasks with different properties to handle various situations in the game.
2. Life Leech and Regeneration
Life leech and regeneration are passive skills that can greatly help in sustaining health during battles. Life leech allows you to recover a portion of your health based on the damage dealt to enemies, which is especially useful for high-damage builds. Regeneration, on the other hand, provides a constant stream of health recovery over time, ensuring that your health stays topped up during exploration and combat. Investing in passive skills that boost life leech and regeneration can significantly improve your survivability.
3. Mitigation and Defense
Preventing damage in the first place is as important as healing it back up. Mitigation techniques like armor, evasion, and energy shield can reduce the amount of damage you take from attacks and spells. By increasing your defenses through gear, passive skills, and buffs, you can make sure that your health pool lasts longer in battles. Additionally, abilities like block, dodge, and spell dodge can outright negate incoming damage, giving you more time to sustain your health effectively.
4. Mana Management
Mana is another essential resource in Path of Exile, as it powers your skills and abilities. Sustaining mana efficiently is key to maintaining a high damage output and survivability. Similar to health, mana can be managed through the use of mana flasks that instantly restore a portion of your mana pool when consumed. Having a variety of mana flasks with different properties can ensure that you always have enough mana to cast your skills when needed.
5. Mana Regeneration and Reduction
Investing in passive skills that boost mana regeneration or reduce the mana cost of skills can significantly help in sustaining your mana pool. Mana regeneration provides a steady stream of mana recovery over time, allowing you to cast spells more frequently without running out of mana. Reducing the mana cost of skills can also make your build more sustainable, especially if you rely on high-cost abilities for damage or utility.
6. Mind Over Matter and Eldritch Battery
Mind Over Matter and Eldritch Battery are two unique mechanics in Path of Exile that can change how you manage your health and mana. Mind Over Matter allows you to spend mana to absorb a portion of incoming damage before it affects your health, effectively increasing your effective health pool. Eldritch Battery converts your energy shield into mana, allowing you to use your mana pool as a buffer for incoming damage. These mechanics can alter your playstyle and provide alternative ways to sustain your health and mana in challenging situations.
By implementing a combination of these strategies, players can effectively sustain their health and mana pools in Path of Exile, improving their survivability and performance in the game.