In Path of Exile, Keystone passive skills play a crucial role in defining various build archetypes. One such Keystone is Mind Over Matter, which revolves around the concept of mana stacking. While mana stacking builds have faced challenges in recent times due to the power of auras and other reservation skills, understanding the mechanics and interactions of Mind Over Matter can help optimize its use in different builds. In this guide, we will explore the mechanics of Mind Over Matter, its interactions with other modifiers, and its applications in both defensive and offensive strategies.

• Overview of Mind Over Matter
• Mechanics and Examples
• Additional Modifiers and Synergies
• Offensive Applications

↖ Overview of Mind Over Matter

Mind Over Matter is a defensive Keystone located between the Witch and Templar start locations on the passive skill tree. It can also be obtained through the unique body armor called Cloak of Defiance. The Keystone provides a single modifier: 40% of damage is taken from mana before life. This mechanic allows your mana pool to act as an extension of your life pool, absorbing a portion of incoming damage. However, it only interacts with damage that would otherwise impact your life.

↖ Mechanics and Examples

To understand the functionality of Mind Over Matter, let's consider a basic example. Suppose a character has 5,000 life and 2,500 mana, with Mind Over Matter allocated. If the character takes a hit of 2,000 damage after mitigation, 40% of the damage (800) is dealt to mana, and the remaining 1,200 damage is dealt to life. This effectively increases the character's life pool to 3,800 while leaving 1,700 mana remaining.

However, when a larger amount of damage is taken, the interaction becomes more crucial. For instance, if the same character takes a hit of 7,000 damage, 40% of the damage (2,800) is taken from mana. Since the character only has 2,500 mana available, the remaining 300 damage must be dealt to life after mana is fully depleted. Combined with the 4,200 damage that wasn't redirected to mana, the character ends up with 500 life and zero mana.

Optimizing the Life-Mana Ratio

To efficiently utilize Mind Over Matter, it is essential to maintain a suitable ratio between life and mana totals. You need to ensure that you do not run out of mana before life when taking damage. With 40% of damage taken from mana before life, you will require an unreserved mana pool of at least 67% of your unreserved life. This ratio ensures that both resources deplete simultaneously under damage, without factoring in recovery.

↖ Additional Modifiers and Synergies

Several modifiers provide a percentage of damage taken from mana before life. These modifiers stack additively with each other and with Mind Over Matter. For example, the Hierophant's Divine Guidance ascendancy notable provides 10%, the Ascendant's Hierophant notable provides 8%, and various unique items and modifiers grant additional percentages.

Synergy with other mechanics, such as The Agnostic Keystone and Eldritch Battery, can enhance the defensive capabilities of Mind Over Matter. The Agnostic provides life recovery based on a percentage of mana, while Eldritch Battery makes energy shield protect mana instead of life. Combining these keystones and investing in mana recovery can create powerful defensive setups.

↖ Offensive Applications

Mana stacking can also be leveraged offensively through mechanics like the Archmage support gem, which grants increased lightning damage based on mana spent. Skills like Arcane Cloak can boost offensive and defensive capabilities, granting flat lightning damage based on a portion of mana spent and providing a shield that absorbs a percentage of incoming hits.

Conclusion

Mind Over Matter is a Keystone with the potential to significantly increase effective health for builds centered around mana utilization. By understanding its mechanics, optimizing the life-mana ratio, and synergizing with other keystones and modifiers, players can create robust defensive strategies and utilize mana as both a defensive and offensive resource. Remember to consider mana recovery methods and other unique items that complement Mind Over Matter to maximize its benefits in your build.