In Path of Exile 2, Witch players who choose the Lich Ascendancy will be able to gain access to a buff called Unholy Might through two of the Ascendancy passives: Necromantic Conduit and Blackened Heart.

The in-game tooltip description states that Unholy Might converts 30% of all damage into extra Chaos damage for that character, but the behind-the-scenes calculations may be different from what many players may imagine. Here’s the breakdown.

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How Does Unholy Might Work in PoE 2

lich in path of exile 2

Unholy Might has the following description:

Unholy Might is a buff that grants 30% of all damage as extra Chaos Damage.

What’s confusing about this buff is that the ‘30% of all Damage’ seems like a lot, but in actual practice, it doesn’t seem very impressive. To understand why this is, we have to understand how the ‘extra’ conversion works in PoE 2.

If you have a damage source that does 100 Lightning Damage, 30% of that damage will be converted to Chaos and added on top of the base damage type. This means you would do 100 Lightning damage and 30 Chaos Damage, for a total of 130 damage. The base damage value is not converted to Chaos.

Now, the tricky part is that if you have an item that, for example, gives you 50% increased Lightning damage (let’s say Earthbound), it does not apply to the Chaos damage in any way, shape, or form. This means that with Unholy Might and 80% increased Lightning damage Earthbound; you would do 180 Lightning damage and 30 Chaos damage. 80% of 100 is 80, which added to 100 is 180, so 180 Lightning damage. Chaos damage is calculated based on the base value of 100.

If you do have increased Chaos damage modifiers, the extra Chaos damage would be buffed by it, but only that. So, if you have 50% increased Chaos damage, it would mean the damage would be 100 Lightning damage + 30 Chaos damage + 15 Chaos Damage (from the 50% modifier).

The only exception to this is if your base damage type is also Chaos damage. This would make it so that the scaling values would apply to both the base value and the extra Chaos damage gained from Unholy Might.

The ‘extra Chaos damage’ from Unholy Might does not apply to damage over time; it only applies to Hits.

Because the scaling of the base damage type and the extra damage type if they are different, Unholy Might only really works when it is used in a mono-Chaos damage-focused build that scales with only this damage type.

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What Does ‘Presence’ in Unholy Might Mean

presence in path of exile 2

Presence refers to the area of effect within which Unholy Might will be active. By default, this area has a 4-meter radius, but this can be increased using Presence Area Modifiers, typically found on Sceptres, Time-Lost Jewels, and certain Notables in the passive skill tree like Enveloping Essence, Long Distance Relationship, and Profane Commander.

Presence is only affected by ‘Increased Presence Area of Effect’, not by ‘Increased Area of Effect’ or ‘More Area of Effect.’

How to Get Unholy Might in PoE 2

vis mortis plated raiment in path of exile 2

There are two ways to get access to Unholy Might in Path of Exile 2.

  • Lich Ascendancy (Witch Class)
    • Necromantic Conduit: While you are not on Low Mana, you and Allies in your Presence have Unholy Might. Lose 5% of maximum Mana per Second.

  • Vis Mortis Plated Raiment Unique Body Armor
    • (70–100)% increased Energy Shield
    • +(70–100) to maximum Mana
    • Minions have 50% reduced maximum Life
    • Minions have Unholy Might

With Vis Mortis, only the minions summoned by the wearer gain Unholy Might; the character does not.

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9 /10

Path of Exile II
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Action RPG
Hack and Slash
MMORPG
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Systems
PlayStation-1 Xbox-1 PC-1
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Top Critic Avg: 88 /100 Critics Rec: 100%
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Released
December 6, 2024
ESRB
Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Nudity, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Language, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)
Developer(s)
Grinding Gear Games
Publisher(s)
Grinding Gear Games
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Genre(s)
Action RPG, Hack and Slash, MMORPG