12-19-2025, 08:16 AM
If you've only skimmed the 0.4 patch notes, you'll miss the real shift in poe2: limit stacking isn't some goofy edge case anymore, it's becoming the default way to scale damage without playing whack-a-mole with your own skills.
What Changed With Limits
Older versions trained you to treat persistent skills like they were disposable. Drop a Frozen Locus, cast again, and the first one would get snapped out of existence. That whole "one in, one out" rhythm used to define your uptime. Now the patch tweaks are letting you keep multiple instances rolling, which means your damage isn't tied to perfect timing anymore. You'll feel it fast in maps: you stop recasting out of habit and start thinking about placement, overlap, and where the pack is going to walk next.
Overabundance And The New Math
The Overabundance support gem is doing most of the heavy lifting. The quality scaling looks harmless when you read it, but once you push quality high enough, you're basically buying extra "slots" for your effects. Add in the Stormweaver ascendancy's boosted elemental limits and suddenly the ceiling isn't a ceiling. It changes your gearing priorities too. People chase raw damage stats out of instinct, but you'll often get more real DPS by turning one strong persistent skill into several strong persistent skills that all tick at the same time.
Why Druid Makes It Feel Absurd
Druid is where this gets messy in a good way. With Toxic Growth, the raised base limit plus proliferation-style passives means you can keep a ridiculous number of pustules active without constantly babysitting them. It's not just "more stuff on the ground." It's that bosses sit inside overlapping zones, and every overlap is another chance to stack ailments and trigger secondary effects. You'll also notice how mixed damage setups play nicer here. With Refracted Infusion, spreading different elemental types across your limits helps you avoid that awful moment where one resistance check makes your whole build feel flat. And yeah, visibility becomes a real problem; a movement skill like Thunderous Leap stops being a luxury and turns into basic survival when you can't read the floor.
Cost, Crafting, And The Payoff
This isn't a "day one with trash rares" plan. You're investing into gem quality, corruptions, and the kind of crafting swings that eat currency. The Fate of the Vaal loop matters because it gives you more shots at the upgrades that actually move the needle, especially when you're trying to squeeze every last percent out of Overabundance. But when it clicks, it's hard to go back: watching a map boss melt under layered Gathering Storm pulses feels like you've cheated the rules, and if you're gearing up for that playstyle, checking a poe 2 items sale can save you time while you focus on getting the setup online.
What Changed With Limits
Older versions trained you to treat persistent skills like they were disposable. Drop a Frozen Locus, cast again, and the first one would get snapped out of existence. That whole "one in, one out" rhythm used to define your uptime. Now the patch tweaks are letting you keep multiple instances rolling, which means your damage isn't tied to perfect timing anymore. You'll feel it fast in maps: you stop recasting out of habit and start thinking about placement, overlap, and where the pack is going to walk next.
Overabundance And The New Math
The Overabundance support gem is doing most of the heavy lifting. The quality scaling looks harmless when you read it, but once you push quality high enough, you're basically buying extra "slots" for your effects. Add in the Stormweaver ascendancy's boosted elemental limits and suddenly the ceiling isn't a ceiling. It changes your gearing priorities too. People chase raw damage stats out of instinct, but you'll often get more real DPS by turning one strong persistent skill into several strong persistent skills that all tick at the same time.
Why Druid Makes It Feel Absurd
Druid is where this gets messy in a good way. With Toxic Growth, the raised base limit plus proliferation-style passives means you can keep a ridiculous number of pustules active without constantly babysitting them. It's not just "more stuff on the ground." It's that bosses sit inside overlapping zones, and every overlap is another chance to stack ailments and trigger secondary effects. You'll also notice how mixed damage setups play nicer here. With Refracted Infusion, spreading different elemental types across your limits helps you avoid that awful moment where one resistance check makes your whole build feel flat. And yeah, visibility becomes a real problem; a movement skill like Thunderous Leap stops being a luxury and turns into basic survival when you can't read the floor.
Cost, Crafting, And The Payoff
This isn't a "day one with trash rares" plan. You're investing into gem quality, corruptions, and the kind of crafting swings that eat currency. The Fate of the Vaal loop matters because it gives you more shots at the upgrades that actually move the needle, especially when you're trying to squeeze every last percent out of Overabundance. But when it clicks, it's hard to go back: watching a map boss melt under layered Gathering Storm pulses feels like you've cheated the rules, and if you're gearing up for that playstyle, checking a poe 2 items sale can save you time while you focus on getting the setup online.