In Titan Quest 2, ailments serve as powerful tools to weaken enemies or amplify damage. These effects bypass most resistances, dealing true damage over time or impairing enemy actions. Mastering their mechanics is essential for optimizing offensive and defensive strategies.
Damaging Ailments
- Bleeding: Inflicts pierce-based damage over time, commonly applied through melee weapons or projectile skills.
- Burning: Deals unresisted fire damage over time, scaling with fire damage modifiers.
- Chilled: Applies cold damage while slowing movement and attack speed.
- Shocked: Lightning-based damage that disrupts enemy actions.
- Plagued: Poison damage, often tied to thrown weapons or poison skills.
- Shadow: Drains health using vitality-based damage over time.
- Holy: Deals spirit damage linked to light or supportive abilities.
These effects stack up to 10 times (with a 20-stack cap), enabling sustained damage against tanky enemies.
Non-Damaging Ailments
- Staggered: Slows enemy movement and attacks for easier kiting.
- Weakened: Reduces enemy damage output temporarily.
- Disrupted: Briefly stuns foes and interrupts channeled abilities.
These debuffs enhance survival by limiting enemy effectiveness instead of dealing direct damage.
Key Mechanics
Stacking
Ailments stack 10 times by default (maximum 20). Each stack boosts damage or debuff potency.
Application Chance
Tied to skills or weapons. Exceeding 100% chance adds multiple stacks per hit. Enemy resistances lower this chance, potentially nullifying ailments.
Scaling
Damage scales with ailment power, duration, and stacks. Effects can’t crit but ignore enemy resistances once applied.
Defensive Strategies
Resistances cap at 60% and reduce both damage and application chances. Combined resistances include:
- Thermic: Mitigates fire (Burning) and cold (Chilled) ailments.
- Lightning: Lowers Shock application chance.
- Poison: Reduces Plague likelihood.
Independent resistances exist for Bleeding, Staggered, and Weakened. Prioritize reducing application chances over healing.
Offensive Builds
Focus on:
- Ailment application chance and stack limits
- Extended effect duration
- Increased ailment power
These builds thrive against enemies with high armor, as ailments bypass traditional defenses.
Countermeasures
Use gear with specific resistances, cleansing abilities, or barrier skills to neutralize ailments.
FAQ
Do ailments ignore armor?
Yes—they deal true damage unaffected by armor.
Can ailments critically strike?
No. Damage scales via power, duration, and stacks instead.
How to stack ailments faster?
Boost application chance above 100% and use skills with innate ailment effects.
Can resistances block ailments completely?
Yes—sufficient resistance negates application chances entirely.