The Inhibitor Support Gem is a newly introduced Tier 2 support gem in Path of Exile 2’s 0.2.0 update, titled “Dawn of the Hunt.” This gem offers a unique approach to skill customization by preventing the consumption of charges while enhancing the damage output of supported skills.
Gem Details:
- Type: Support, Spell
- Tier: 2
- Level: 1
- Support Requirements: +5 Dexterity
Supported Skills:
The Inhibitor Support Gem offers versatile compatibility with various skills in Path of Exile 2, providing unique opportunities for customizing your builds. This gem can support any skill that you actively use or trigger within the game, making it suitable for a wide range of playstyles.
However, there are specific limitations to its functionality. Inhibitor cannot support skills that inherently rely on charges to operate. This means that any skill that requires charges—such as those that consume Frenzy, Endurance, or Power Charges for their activation—will not be eligible for support by Inhibitor. The core feature of Inhibitor is its ability to prevent supported skills from consuming these charges, but it does not extend to skills that are designed to require charges in the first place.
The gem’s primary benefit lies in its ability to effectively neutralize charge consumption for supported skills, ensuring that players do not have to manage or worry about maintaining certain charges while using these skills. For example, if you are using a skill that would normally consume Power Charges, Inhibitor ensures that those charges are preserved for other abilities or mechanics in your build.
With this in mind, players can use Inhibitor to focus on boosting other aspects of their builds, such as defensive strategies, damage output, or additional charge-based effects from other parts of their character. This feature is especially valuable for players who rely on charge mechanics for other spells or abilities, as it allows them to freely use supported skills without any adverse effects on charge management.
In conclusion, the Inhibitor Support Gem offers significant flexibility for most skills in Path of Exile 2, but it will not work with those that are designed to consume charges. Understanding the nuances of which skills can be supported will help players maximize the gem’s potential and optimize their builds for charge management and overall effectiveness.
Effects:
- Charge Consumption Prevention: Supported skills will not consume any charges.
- Damage Boost: For each type of charge you currently have, supported skills deal 4% more damage. Note that this damage increase was initially intended to be part of the gem’s functionality but was omitted due to implementation challenges .
Inhibitor can be obtained by engraving an Uncut Support Gem. This process requires you to use an Uncut Support Gem and select Inhibitor as the desired outcome. Uncut Support Gems are commonly found throughout the game world, often dropped by high-level enemies or earned as quest rewards. If you’re looking to speed up this process and avoid the grind, you can always buy PoE 2 currency from trusted sources like U4GM, which can help you acquire the necessary items faster.
Strategic Considerations:
The Inhibitor Support Gem stands out for its unique ability to prevent the consumption of charges, which is its core strategic advantage. This feature has a profound impact on how players can design and execute their builds, making it especially valuable for certain playstyles. Let’s explore the strategic considerations and potential applications of this support gem in more detail.
1. Charge Management Simplification: Charge management is a key aspect of many Path of Exile 2 builds. Certain builds rely heavily on charges like Frenzy, Endurance, or Power Charges to enhance their offensive or defensive capabilities. In these cases, charges serve as a critical resource that drives the effectiveness of specific abilities. However, maintaining these charges often requires a careful balance—players must be mindful of how and when they spend them, which can be time-consuming and complicate gameplay.
The Inhibitor Support Gem effectively simplifies this process by ensuring that supported skills do not consume any charges. This removes the need for players to constantly regenerate or track charges for those particular skills, making them more reliable and easier to use without disrupting other elements of their build. For players who are already managing several charge-based abilities in their setup, this is an invaluable feature. By freeing up charge consumption for other important skills, players can focus on executing their core abilities more efficiently.
2. Beneficial for Charge-Dependent Builds: For builds that rely on charge-based mechanics, the Inhibitor Support Gem can make a significant difference. Many skills in the game either benefit from or require charges to activate, and in some cases, the strategic use of charges can dramatically improve the effectiveness of a skill. For example, some builds might need to maintain Power Charges to boost spell damage, or Frenzy Charges to increase attack speed or critical strike chance. The Inhibitor gem ensures that these charges are preserved, allowing the player to continue using other charge-consuming abilities without the worry of running out of charges when needed.
By preventing charge consumption, the Inhibitor gem gives players more freedom to incorporate charge-based mechanics into their builds without being encumbered by the usual concerns of charge management. Players can use skills that would normally consume charges freely, knowing that they won’t deplete their valuable charge pool.
3. Future Damage Boost Potential: The Inhibitor Support Gem’s anticipated future functionality promises to increase the damage of supported skills based on the number of different types of charges on the player. Although this damage boost is not yet implemented, it adds an additional layer of potential to the gem. Once this feature is active, players will be able to synergize the Inhibitor gem’s ability to prevent charge consumption with their overall charge-focused strategies, leading to significant increases in damage output.
The combination of preventing charge consumption and increasing damage per charge type opens up intriguing possibilities for hybrid builds that rely on multiple charge mechanics. For instance, a player could focus on maximizing their Frenzy, Endurance, and Power Charges simultaneously while using the Inhibitor gem to ensure that each charge is preserved for maximum effect. In such cases, the gem’s damage boost could become a key feature of the build’s damage potential, making it a must-have for certain strategies.
4. Flexibility Across Builds: As with any support gem, the true effectiveness of the Inhibitor Support Gem depends on the specific needs and design of the player’s build. Some builds will find it indispensable for their overall functionality, while others may not make full use of its potential. The versatility of the gem lies in its applicability to a variety of setups, particularly those that benefit from charge preservation.
For example, a damage-focused build might prioritize maintaining power charges to maximize spell damage, while a defensive-oriented build could use Endurance Charges to bolster survivability. The Inhibitor gem would complement both by ensuring that these charges are never consumed by the supported skills, allowing for smoother execution of abilities without any interruption to charge-based boosts.
However, for builds that don’t depend heavily on charge mechanics, the Inhibitor Support Gem may not provide as much benefit. In such cases, other support gems might be more effective at increasing damage or utility. Therefore, players must carefully consider whether charge preservation is crucial to their specific build and whether Inhibitor’s benefits outweigh its potential trade-offs in those situations.
