Life Leech | PoE2 Mechanic

What Life Leech does

Current rules

Only the highest recovery rate Life Leech instance recovers you at a time. Hits above 40,000 total damage count as 40,000 for the Leech calculation, and all ordinary Life Leech instances are removed when Life is filled.

Hits only: Life Leech is created from Hit damage. Damage over time does not Hit and therefore cannot create Life Leech unless an effect explicitly provides a different recovery mechanic.
One second recovery: A normal Life Leech instance recovers its calculated amount over one second. Faster or slower Leech changes how quickly that amount is delivered.
One active instance: Several Life Leech instances can be stored, but only the one with the highest recovery rate recovers Life. When it expires, the next highest eligible instance can apply.
Damage calculation cap: A Hit above 40,000 total damage is treated as 40,000 for Leech. If it contains several damage types, each type is scaled proportionally so their ratios remain the same.
Monster resistance: Monsters have hidden Leech Resistance that increases with monster level and reduces recovery from Leech. Since 0.5.0 it starts later, has lower values, and is the same across monster rarities.
Removed at full Life: All ordinary Life Leech is removed when Life is filled. An explicit effect that allows Life Leech to overflow or persist can change that behavior.
Eligible damage: Use only the damage named by the Leech source. Many ordinary sources specify Physical Damage, while unique modifiers can make recovery also or instead depend on Chaos or Lightning damage.
Amount and speed: Increased amount of Life Leeched raises the total recovered by the instance. Faster Life Leech changes its delivery time and rate rather than creating more source damage.

Life Leech modifiers that change the normal rules

7 cases

01

Physical damage source

A modifier such as Leeches 6% of Physical Damage as Life uses the eligible Physical Hit damage, applies the Leech percentage, then applies monster Leech Resistance.

Currency: Body RuneRelated: Physical

02

Chaos instead of Physical

Spire of Ire makes Life Leech recover based on Chaos damage instead of Physical damage.

Currency: Spire of IreSpire of IreUnique | Helix Spear

Physical Damage37-68Critical Hit Chance5%Attacks per Second(1.84-1.92)Weapon Range1.5RequiresLevel 65, 36 Str, 89 DexGrants Skill: Spear Throw (Level 25)Grants Skill: Chaotic Surge (Level 18)(15-20)% increased Attack SpeedLeeches (10-20)% of Physical Damage as LifeAdds (167-201) to (267-333) Chaos damageWhen you Consume a Charge Trigger Chaotic Surge to gain 2 Chaos SurgesLife Leech recovers based on your Chaos damage instead of Physical damageThe spear was specially forged to assassinate Voll,but Maligaro never got a chance to use it...Related: Chaos

03

Lightning plus Physical

The Ordained allows Life Leech recovery to be based on Lightning damage as well as Physical damage.

Currency: The OrdainedThe OrdainedUnique | Grand Spear

Physical Damage(140-196) to (210-294)Critical Hit Chance5%Attacks per Second1.4Weapon Range1.5Lightning Damage1 to (200-300)RequiresLevel 79, 68 Str, 109 DexGrants Skill: Spear Throw (Level 25)Grants Skill: Righteous Descent (Level 19)25% increased Melee Strike Range with this weapon(150-250)% increased Physical DamageAdds 1 to (200-300) Lightning Damage+(5-8)% to Critical Hit ChanceLife Leech recovers based on your Lightning damage as well as Physical damageCreate a Fragment of Divinity in your Presence every 4 secondsMay the Lightless drown in the violence of His devotion.Related: Lightning, Physical

04

Overflow Maximum Life

Couture of Crimson allows Life Leech to Overflow Maximum Life, changing when the resource is considered filled for this interaction.

Currency: Couture of Crimson

05

Converted to Energy Shield Leech

Essentia Sanguis converts Life Leech to Energy Shield Leech. Life Leech specific modifiers do not automatically apply after that conversion.

Currency: Essentia SanguisRelated: Energy Shield

06

Instant portion

If part of a Leech instance is instant, that portion is recovered immediately and the remainder is delivered during the remaining fraction of the normal duration.

Currency: Atziri's Acuity

07

Damage above 40,000

More Hit damage past the 40,000 calculation cap does not increase that instance, but a higher Leech percentage can still increase the recovered amount.

Related: Hit, Damage

Limits and exceptions

7 rules

Damage over time cannot create ordinary Life Leech because it does not Hit.
The source must identify which damage and skill conditions are eligible for Leech.
Only the highest recovery rate Life Leech instance applies at one time even when several instances are stored.
Hit damage above 40,000 does not increase the damage value used for a Leech calculation.
Monster Leech Resistance can make the recovered amount lower than a simple tooltip percentage suggests.
Filling Life removes ordinary Life Leech unless an explicit overflow or persistence effect changes the rule.
Life Leech, Mana Leech, Energy Shield Leech, and Rage Leech are separate resource instances with their own matching modifiers.

Related pages

16 connections

unique itemSpire of Ire

(15-20)% increased Attack Speed

Spire of IreUnique | Helix Spear

Physical Damage37-68Critical Hit Chance5%Attacks per Second(1.84-1.92)Weapon Range1.5RequiresLevel 65, 36 Str, 89 DexGrants Skill: Spear Throw (Level 25)Grants Skill: Chaotic Surge (Level 18)(15-20)% increased Attack SpeedLeeches (10-20)% of Physical Damage as LifeAdds (167-201) to (267-333) Chaos damageWhen you Consume a Charge Trigger Chaotic Surge to gain 2 Chaos SurgesLife Leech recovers based on your Chaos damage instead of Physical damageThe spear was specially forged to assassinate Voll,but Maligaro never got a chance to use it...

unique itemThe Ordained

(150-250)% increased Physical Damage

The OrdainedUnique | Grand Spear

Physical Damage(140-196) to (210-294)Critical Hit Chance5%Attacks per Second1.4Weapon Range1.5Lightning Damage1 to (200-300)RequiresLevel 79, 68 Str, 109 DexGrants Skill: Spear Throw (Level 25)Grants Skill: Righteous Descent (Level 19)25% increased Melee Strike Range with this weapon(150-250)% increased Physical DamageAdds 1 to (200-300) Lightning Damage+(5-8)% to Critical Hit ChanceLife Leech recovers based on your Lightning damage as well as Physical damageCreate a Fragment of Divinity in your Presence every 4 secondsMay the Lightless drown in the violence of His devotion.

unique itemCouture of Crimson

(50-100)% increased Armour and Energy Shield

unique itemEssentia Sanguis

(50-70)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield

mechanicHit

A Hit is an instantaneous damage event. Any damage that is not damage over time is Hit damage, whether it comes from an Attack, a Spell, Thorns, or another effect.

mechanicPhysical

Physical damage is one of the five Damage Types. It is the most common and the only one reduced by Armour, rather than by a Resistance.

mechanicChaos

Chaos is one of the five damage types. Chaos Resistance reduces it, and ordinary Chaos damage removes twice its damage value from Energy Shield instead of bypassing Energy Shield by default.

mechanicLightning

Lightning Damage is one of the five damage types and one of the three Elemental damage types. Lightning Hits can Shock by default, while Electrocution requires a Skill, item, support, or other effect that explicitly enables Electrocution Buildup.

mechanicEnergy Shield

Energy Shield is a rechargeable defensive resource that normally protects Life. Damage is mitigated first, then removes Energy Shield before Life unless the damage or another effect explicitly bypasses it.

mechanicDamage

Damage is classified on three independent axes: source, delivery, and type. A component can come from an Attack, Spell, Thorns, or another source; deal a Hit or damage over time; and deal Physical, Fire, Cold, Lightning, or Chaos damage.

mechanicLeech

Leech recovers Life, Mana, Energy Shield, or Rage, usually from a percentage of damage dealt by a hit. A normal Leech instance provides its recovery over one second.

supportMana Leech

Supports Attacks, causing their Physical damage to Leech Mana.

mechanicRage

Rage is a combat resource that inherently grants 1% more Attack Damage per point. Characters have 30 maximum Rage by default. Rage generation is limited to one Hit every 0.5 seconds, and inherent Rage loss begins after four seconds without gaining Rage or taking damage.

mechanicBleeding

Bleeding is a damaging Ailment that deals Physical damage over time and bypasses Energy Shield. It lasts five seconds by default and requires an explicit chance or effect that can inflict Bleeding.

mechanicPoison

Poison is a damaging Ailment that deals Chaos damage over time and bypasses Energy Shield. It lasts two seconds by default and requires an explicit chance or effect that can inflict Poison.

currencyBody Rune

Martial Weapon: Leeches 4% of Physical Damage as Life