Path of Exile 2: How to Get More Spirit PoE2
02.01.2025 - 02:06:07
Game Guides , Path of Exile 2
There are a lot of new and interesting mechanics that Grinding Gear Games (aka GGG) has introduced in Path of Exile 2. One of the biggest changes is that you no longer reserve mana when activating auras. Instead, you will use a new resource called “Spirit.”
If you want to learn more about this new resource, then we encourage you to read throughout this article. This is our PoE 2 Spirit Guide, which covers everything you need to know!
What is Spirit?
How to use Spirit in PoE 2? This is often the question asked by beginners and returning PoE 1 players alike. Well, before anything else, we must first define what it is.
Spirit is a new resource in Path of Exile 2 that is mainly used to activate ongoing buffs, skills, and minions. When you see the words “reserve” or “reservation,” that just tells you how much Spirit is needed to enable any of the aforementioned things.
Now, the reason why Spirit is introduced in the sequel is that Jonathan Rogers, one of the game directors for PoE 2, was not fond of the idea that Path of Exile 1 players had to reserve the vast majority of their mana for buffs.
To add to that, there are even PoE builds that use the Blood Magic keystone passive, which essentially reserves life instead of mana when activating beneficial auras.
Adding a completely new resource like Spirit helps ensure that you have enough mana for your active skills and life to survive in the unforgiving world of Wraeclast.
Now, to actually use Spirit, you have to create a gem using the Uncut Spirit Gem. Right-clicking on this item will present you with a Gemcutting UI that tells you the best Spirit Gems for your particular Path of Exile 2 build.
The Uncut Spirit Gem is a random loot, so you can obtain it just by defeating enemies in the campaign or in maps. As you progress through the game, you will get higher-level Uncut Spirit Gems that you can use to upgrade your existing buffs and minions.
By default, you will be presented with the buffs that are suited for your chosen class. However, you can pretty much create any Spirit Gem you like by clicking on the “All Gems” tab. If you decide to do so, make sure to use the handy search function at the bottom of the UI to look for the skill you intend to incorporate into your PoE 2 build.
There are many different skills that reserve Spirit in Path of Exile 2. However, these are the ones that are the most popular of the bunch:
- Wind Dancer: Greatly increases evasion rating per stage. Mainly used by evasion-based classes like the Ranger, Monk, and Mercenary.
- Grim Feast: A buff that makes nearby enemies and reviving minions drop things called “Grim Remnants.” These remnants can be picked up to recover energy shield. Mainly utilized by Monks and Witches.
- Herald of Thunder: This persistent buff is a herald skill that sends deadly lightning bolts down from the sky after killing a shocked enemy. Activating Herald of Thunder can help you get rid of map monsters quite efficiently. Used mainly by Monks, Rangers, and Mercenaries, though almost any PoE 2 class can utilize it, so long as they specialize in elemental damage.
- Raging Spirits: When this buff is activated, using any of your active fire skills allow you to summon flaming skulls that attack nearby enemies incessantly.
- Skeletal Arsonist: Currently, one of the most popular minion skills in Path of Exile 2, the Skeletal Arsonist summons bomb-throwing minions that deal huge amounts of fire damage. The amount of Spirit used to call forth these arsonists can range from 39 to 90 depending on how many you summon at a time.
- Time of Need: This persistent aura is typically utilized by Warriors, Titans, and Warbringers. Time of Need periodically heals you and also removes any elemental ailments and curses affecting you.
- Herald of Ice: Monks, and subsequently Invokers, who specialize in cold damage can greatly benefit from this Spirit Skill. Herald of Ice causes frozen enemies to shatter on death, dealing massive cold damage to nearby monsters due to the resulting explosion
- Herald of Ash: Similar to the previously-mentioned herald skill, Herald of Ash will cause monsters to explode; only this time, nearby enemies are Ignited as a result.
- Combat Frenzy: Used extensively by Monk builds that specialize in cold damage, Combat Frenzy is ideal for keeping Frenzy Charges up consistently. When the Resonance keystone passive is allocated, Power Charges are gained instead of Frenzy Charges.
- Cast on Shock: This is a meta gem in PoE 2 that triggers socketed gems automatically when it receives maximum energy. In this case, Cast on Shock gets energy by inflicting Shock on enemies. Monks and Stormweavers can make good use of this Spirit Gem because of the fact that they can spec well into lighting damage.
How to Get Spirit
So, you have decided to create a new character in Path of Exile 2 and you planned the buffs that you’re going to activate for your particular build. The problem is that a freshly created character begins with zero Spirit. What gives?
Spirit can be obtained by equipping certain items or by completing some side quests. Let’s talk about the latter first since they can easily be missed for those who just breeze through the campaign.
You can get 30 Spirit for free by fighting The King in the Mists in Act 1. Go to Freythorn and activate a few Ritual Altars in the area. After doing that, you will encounter the formidable boss at the end of the map.
Don’t worry, he is relatively easy to fight provided that you equip the best items that you can find before heading into the boss area. Don’t forget to perform numerous Dodge Rolls to avoid getting hit.
Once you have defeated The King in the Mists, he will drop an item called the Gembloom Skull. Right-click on it to get a permanent 30 points of Spirit.
The remaining 70 Spirit can be obtained in Act 3 (Normal and Cruel Difficulty) by fighting the boss named Ignagduk, the Bog Witch. She can be found in The Azak Bok in the third act, which is situated at the top-middle portion of the campaign map.
Upon arriving in the area, search for various effigies that need to be burned in order for Ignagduk to come out. Proceed to the next part of the map until you find the boss arena. Ignagduk can be annoying for PoE 2 melee builds because she can fly away as part of her moveset. Once she’s defeated the first time, she will drop the Gemrot Skull, which can be consumed to gain 30 points of Spirit.
You will have about 60 Spirit for a while because the last 40 can only be yours when you reach Act 3 in Cruel Difficulty. For those who are new to Path of Exile 2 Early Access, you have to finish the first three acts in order to activate the higher difficulty level. Don’t worry about the increased difficulty because your character is already geared at this point, making the repeated content trivial.
Defeat Ignagduk once more to get the Gemcrust Skull. Upon activating this last Spirit Item, you should have a total of 100 Spirit. Congratulations!
Now, if you are playing a minion build that requires at least 15 minions to be effective, having 100 Spirit is not going to cut it. So, where do you get even more Spirit in Path of Exile 2?
There are three easily obtainable items in the game that grant Spirit. They are the Sceptre, Solar Amulet, and body armor. Sceptres are special because they grant 100 Spirit right off the bat. If that isn’t enough, you can boost that further by rolling it with a certain PoE 2 currency to get “% Increased Spirit.”
On the other hand, the Solar Amulet can roll up to 15 flat points of Spirit on its implicit modifier. Do you want more? The good news is that all amulets in PoE 2 can roll Spirit as an explicit modifier. You can get as much as 50 Spirit if you get lucky with amulet crafting, so have a bunch of PoE 2 Exalted Orbs ready.
The only reason why we recommend the Solar Amulet if you want a bunch of Spirit is that it adds up to 15 points on top of whatever amount you get from the explicit mod.
Body armors can also roll Spirit as an explicit modifier. This is the way to go if either the Sceptre or Solar Amulet is not ideal to use for your particular Path of Exile 2 build.
If you are running a minion build, you can opt for the Expert Shaman Mantle starting at level 70. This has an implicit modifier that provides you with up to 30 Spirit. Take note that this is only available in the “Expert” Shaman Mantle, not the normal or advanced variants.
Unique Items That Grant Spirit
If you still need even more Spirit, don’t worry. The only way for you to increase the amount of Spirit that you have even after equipping a Sceptre, body armor, and amulet is to incorporate certain unique items into your PoE 2 build.
Here is a list of the unique items that grant Spirit:
Ventor’s Gamble
Ventor’s Gamble is one of the most popular rings in PoE1. It is quite a lucky item because it also seems to be the case in Path of Exile 2. Aside from granting a huge bonus to item rarity, the Ventor’s Gamble can roll up to 20 Spirit as well.
Take note that this is one of the most erratic unique items in the game simply because most of its explicit modifier values can range from -40 to +40. If you’re able to hit +30%, consider yourself lucky!
Oaksworn
A great shield used for leveling, Oaksworn is a great unique item in Path of Exile 2, especially if you want to improve your defense.
This shield significantly increases your chance to block attacks or spells. Besides that, you gain 50 Spirit, which is enough to enable a 30-Spirit buff along with a single support gem like Precision or Vitality.
Guiding Palm
GGG has created some of the most interesting unique items in Path of Exile 2. Guiding Palm actually has three variants that specialize in fire, cold, and lightning damage depending on the type you’ve chosen.
While its explicit modifiers don’t have anything to do with increasing your Spirit, its base is still a sceptre, meaning, you get 100 Spirit nevertheless.
Font of Power
Font of Power can roll up to 50% increased spirit, which is ideal for minion builds that require the services of a variety of subservient allies. Do not worry about its unique effect because it is negligible when you’re playing Path of Exile 2 solo.
The Dark Defiler
In case you don’t know, skills granted by items in PoE 2 do not reserve Spirit. Such is the case with the next unique item we’re going to discuss—The Dark Defiler.
The Dark Defiler is a unique sceptre that allows you to summon up to a level 20 Skeletal Warrior. However, its main selling point is that it grants 3% additional chaos damage for every undead minion you’ve summoned; the Skeletal Warrior included.
Morior Invictus
In Path of Exile 2, certain pieces of gear can drop with sockets. One-handed weapons, helmets, boots, and gloves can each have one socket, while two-handed weapons and body armor can have two. The Morior Invictus is special because it is the only body armor in the game that drops with four rune sockets by default!
On top of that, the only common modifier on this body armor is that it increases your armor, evasion, and energy shield up to 300%. The other two modifiers can be anything and are amplified by every rune or soul core you have socketed into it.
Having said that, if you are going to purchase the Morior Invictus off of someone in PoE2 Trade, then be sure that it contains the mod: “+10 to Spirit per Socketed Rune or Soul Core.”
If you want to take things to another level, you can use a Vaal Orb in the hopes of getting a fifth socket. This is a pretty risky move but the payoff is massive, particularly when it comes to getting more Spirit!
Alpha’s Howl
The 100 Spirit provided by Alpha’s Howl is great and all, but another thing that makes this helmet awesome is that it increases the radius of some “presence skills.”
For example, Overwhelming Presence, which makes nearby enemies more susceptible to being affected by elemental ailments, now covers a much wider area with the Alpha’s Howl equipped.
Enfolding Dawn
Completing three side quests in the campaign gives you a permanent 100 Spirit, right? But, you can only get that when you reach Act 3 Cruel Difficulty. What if you want to get 100 Spirit as soon as possible? If you are really that adamant, then the Enfolding Dawn is the right one for you.
It is a pretty good unique armor for Warriors and Titans because it grants up to 100% increased armor/energy shield, 15% elemental resistance, and 100 Spirit. It does have a downside of intelligence not increasing mana but that is a trade-off that’s fine for Warriors. For spellcasters like the Sorceress and Witch? Not so much.
Pariah’s Embrace
Remember earlier in our PoE 2 Spirit Guide that Spirit’s main purpose is to activate certain buffs and minion skills? Pariah’s Embrace takes that up a notch by reducing the mana cost of your active skills by 20%, ensuring that you have plenty of mana to work with while having all of your Spirit Gems enabled without issues.
Beacon of Azis
If you want to equip a Solar Amulet because it is the only item slot left in your inventory that can be used to make your PoE 2 build work, then we recommend the Beacon of Azis. This unique Solar Amulet increases your Spirit value by up to 45 points.
However, what makes the amulet incredible is that it ignores monster elemental resistances when your skills critically hit them.
Fun fact: the Beacon of Azis’ unique effect is the same as the Inquisitor’s Inevitable Judgement ascendancy node in PoE1.
Fireflower
Spells in Path of Exile 2 gain a considerable damage boost every time their levels are increased. That said, the Fireflower has the potential to raise the level of all of the fire skills you have equipped by up to four, which translates to massive amounts of damage!
The Fireflower has the Solar Amulet as its base, so you still get anywhere between 10 to 15 flat points of Spirit. It does have one notable downside in that you take 100 fire damage when you Ignite an enemy. Fortunately, that can easily be addressed with high fire resistance and other forms of elemental damage mitigation.
Liguriam Talisman
Do you miss the Zealot’s Oath keystone passive in Path of Exile 1? If so, you can equip the Liguriam Talisman, which literally has the same effect. That’s not the only thing you’re getting, though, because this amulet grants 35 Spirit, 45 intelligence, and up to 40 energy shield on a perfect roll.
Against the Darkness
This is one of the most expensive unique items that give Spirit in Path of Exile 2. Against the Darkness can roll with a wide variety of modifiers, but the one that you’re looking for is: “Notable passive skills in radius also grant + to Spirit.”
Notable passive skills are those that have slightly bigger icons compared to the travel nodes and minor nodes on the passive tree. To make good use of Against the Darkness, you have to put this in a jewel socket where you’ve taken a lot of these notable passives. So long as these passive skills are within the radius of this unique jewel, you will get however many Spirit it grants per node.
Against the Darkness, particularly with the bonus to Spirit, is pretty expensive right now at 30 Divine Orbs or more. This is because it can only be acquired from Zarokh, the Eternal, which is the alternate final boss of the Trial of Sekhemas.
In order to fight the said boss, you have to kill its base version called Zarokh, the Temporal. After the first encounter, the boss could drop The Desperate Alliance. Place this unique vase relic before initiating a Trial of the Sekhemas run for Zarokh to drop Against the Darkness, guaranteed.
Given how difficult it is to get, let alone the specific modifier that you need, it’s understandable why this item is priced that way.
Unique Items That Affect Spirit
These items don’t necessarily grant bonuses to Spirit, though they do affect them in one way or another. We feel that it is nice to include them just in case you want to take on a different route with your PoE 2 build.
Kaom’s Heart
Kaom’s Heart returns in Path of Exile 2 with a slightly different effect. It still provides you with a huge increase in life (that is always 1,000 HP) but the major difference here is that you effectively have zero Spirit with the body armor equipped.
With such a huge downside, you might think that this unique item is not going to be popular. Well, Kaom’s Heart is great for life-stacking builds or those who want to reach upwards of 5,000 HP.
So, if you want to create a build that finds no use for Spirit, then Kaom’s Heart is a good option.
Matsya
Matsya is a good leveling unique quarterstaff for the monk. This thing does not provide you with any Spirit, though it does significantly reduce the Spirit reservation of skills. This enables you to add one support gem with at least 30 Spirit (after killing King in the Mists in Act 1).
Threaded Light
Spellcasters like the Infernalist and Stormweaver will find the Threaded Light beneficial to their cause. This unique item grants up to 12% increased spell damage for every 10 points of Spirit.
The Threaded Light is best paired with a sceptre that has a “% Increased Spirit” mod to ensure that wielders will get a huge boost in spell damage.
Currency Items That Grant Spirit
Some PoE 2 currency items also grant a bit of Spirit. There are only a couple of them that you need to know but GGG might add more items in the future.
Soul Core of Azcapa
The Soul Core of Azcapa can be acquired as a random reward from the Trial of Chaos. In case you haven’t played Path of Exile 2 yet, the Trial of Chaos is quite similar to the Ultimatum Encounter in PoE1, albeit more challenging than ever before.
Having said that, the Soul Core of Azcapa can give 15 Spirit when socketed into martial weapons. If you’re not aware, martial weapons in PoE2 are those that are not wands, staves, or sceptres.
Monks and Mercenaries can make good use of the Soul Core of Azcapa due to the many buffs that these classes have enabled at a time.
It is also no wonder why the Soul Core of Azcapa is one of the most expensive soul cores in the game. At the time of writing, this costs roughly seven PoE 2 Divine Orbs each.
Vaal Orb
The Vaal Orb in Path of Exile 2 is quite an interesting currency item because it can do a lot of things. For instance, when you use it to corrupt a helmet or a scepter, it can potentially grant Spirit as a corrupted modifier.
Take note that using Vaal Orbs is an unreliable way of gaining Spirit. However, if you have plenty of them lying around and you have items that you don’t mind corrupting, then by all means!
Ascendancy Nodes That Grant Spirit
Right now, there are two ascendancy classes in PoE 2 that contain nodes that grant Spirit. These are the Invoker and the Infernalist.
When playing the Infernalist, you can take Beidat’s Will. Getting this ascendancy node will reserve 25% of your life. In return, you are getting a 1-point increase in Spirit per 25 points of maximum HP. If you are going to allocate your ascendancy points into Beidat’s Will, make sure to raise your maximum life as high as you can.
If you chose the Invoker as your ascendancy class for your Monk, then obtain the ascendancy node, “Lead Me Through Grace…” This significantly increases your spirit based on how much evasion and energy shield your body armor has. To get the most out of this ascendancy node, craft body armor with flat and percentage increases to energy shield and evasion.
At this stage of PoE 2 Early Access, the Expert Waxed Jacket and Torment Jacket are the two body armors with the highest amounts of evasion and ES in the game. You can equip any of these starting at level 65 (possibly higher depending on the explicit modifiers on them).
Tips
- Get a good Sceptre: The most realistic way to get Spirit in PoE 2, especially if you need a lot of it, is to obtain a rare sceptre with 50% increased Spirit or more. The good thing about doing this is that the said weapon type can also roll with minion modifiers, such as “+ to level of all minion skills,” and “allies in your presence deal % increased damage.”
- Use Arcanist’s Etchers: Once you have a good Sceptre, always use Arcanist’s Etchers to increase its quality to 20%. Doing so will grant an additional 20% Spirit on top of its base value.
- How to Search for Against the Darkness: If you want to buy Against the Darkness on PoE 2 Trade, there is currently no specific filter to instantly weed out those unwanted modifiers. So, what you do is set the “buyout price” under trade filters to Divine Orbs and put the min and max values in the range. Start by putting 12 on the minimum and 20 on the maximum and then adjust accordingly. After that, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, press Ctrl+F, and then type “Spirit.” You have to do this until you get the right modifier. Until GGG adds more filters for specific modifiers, this is the only way to get the right Against the Darkness unique jewel on trade.
- Gain 450 Spirit in the Endgame: Even without the most expensive unique items mentioned in this PoE 2 Spirit Guide, 450 Spirit is still quite accessible, particularly for minion builds. Get a Sceptre with at least 50% increased Spirit for starters. Then, grab a Solar Amulet and Body Armor with 50 Spirit each. When playing the Infernalist ascendancy class, make sure that you have plenty of life so that you can take advantage of Beidat’s Will.
- Get Reduced Spirit Reservation from Passive Tree: Minions and herald skills take the bulk of your Spirit when they’re activated. To ensure that they don’t eat up much of your Spirit, you can take certain nodes on the passive tree to reduce their reservation requirements. For minions, you can allocate Lord of Horrors located at the top-left portion of the tree. To reduce Spirit reservation for herald skills, take Fate Finding, which is found at the bottom-left corner of the passive tree.
Final Thoughts
The Spirit System in Path of Exile 2 is a great way to activate ongoing buffs and permanent minions without relying on mana similar to the old system in PoE 1. There are affordable items that grant like the sceptre, solar amulet, and body armor. However, you need to obtain the more expensive ones like Against the Darkness in the endgame, especially if you want to summon 25 minions.
If you need help getting the right amount of PoE 2 currency to get these Spirit Items, we have you covered! Skip the grind and get the stuff that you need, visit our PoE 2 store today!