Resistances in Path of Exile 2, explained

What resistance does

Each point of fire, cold or lightning resistance reduces the damage you take from that element by 1%. Chaos resistance does the same for chaos damage. Resistance is capped - by default at 75% - so the most you can normally reduce elemental damage by is three quarters.

Being capped matters more than almost any other defensive stat. The difference between 75% and 50% resistance isn't 25% more damage taken: it's twice as much (25% of a hit gets through at cap, 50% gets through at 50%).

The campaign penalty

Your resistances drop as you progress through the campaign. By the endgame there is a -60% penalty to fire, cold and lightning resistance, applied in steps as you move through the acts. Chaos resistance isn't affected by it.

That's why a character that felt fine in the early acts suddenly starts dying: the same gear gives far less resistance after each penalty step. Quest rewards add some resistance back, so don't skip them.

If you check a levelling character in Path of Building, set the penalty for the act you're in. PoE MVP estimates it from your level for characters still in the campaign.

Over-capping

Resistance above the cap does nothing on its own - until something lowers it. Enemy curses and exposure reduce your resistances, and some endgame map modifiers lower them too. Being a little over the cap keeps you at 75% when that happens.

Over-capping is a good use of spare resistance, but not worth giving up life or damage for. Aim for a small buffer on the elements you see most.

Maximum resistance

Some items and passives raise the cap itself, such as '+1% to maximum Fire Resistance'. Each point above 75% is very valuable - going from 75% to 76% cuts the damage you take from that element by 4% - but you need the resistance to fill it.

Items with a downside to maximum resistance (for example '-1% to all maximum Elemental Resistances') lower the cap, and you can't fix that by stacking more resistance.

Fixing uncapped resistances

• Rings, belts, boots and amulets are the classic slots for resistance, which leaves weapons and body armour free for damage and life
• Search trade with the pseudo total resistance filter rather than one element at a time - a ring with two resistances is often cheaper than one with a single high roll
• Runes in sockets can add resistance to an item without replacing it
• Check your passive tree for small resistance nodes near your path; they're cheap to pick up
• Chaos resistance is the last to fix for most builds; elemental damage is far more common

Watch out for downsides tied to your playstyle

A few items lower your resistances only in certain situations - Adonia's Ego, for example, has '-10% to all Elemental Resistances per Power Charge'. Path of Building calculates these at whatever its configuration says, so if it assumes maximum charges your resistances look worse than they are in play (or better, if you do keep charges up). PoE MVP assumes you keep those charges at 0 and says so on the report.