With Exile Con just one week away and the release of the Exile Con schedule, excitement is building among Path of Exile players for the upcoming patch 3.22 and the announcement of Exile two. As we eagerly anticipate the 90-minute keynote presentation, it's essential to delve into one of the most underrated stats in the game - the blind effect. In this guide, we'll explore the mechanics of blind, its rework in patch 3.16, and how it can significantly impact your defences and hit chance.

 

• Understanding Blind Effect and Its Rework
• Blinding Mechanics
• Effects of Blinding on Evasion and Hit Chance
• Impact on Effective Critical Strike Chance
• Blind Effect in Passive Skill Tree
• Impact of Increased Blind Effect on Evade Chance
• Combining Blind Effect with Wind Dancer Keystone
• Blind Effect and Dangerous Monster Modifiers
• Notable Options for Blinding Monsters
• Dazzling Strikes Wheel (Passive Tree)

 

 

↖ Understanding Blind Effect and Its Rework

Before patch 3.16, the blind debuff reduced enemies' hit chance by 50%, making it incredibly potent for any build that didn't take an unwavering stance. However, the rework in patch 3.16 aimed to make the blind more thematically appropriate by interacting with evasion and accuracy. Now, blind applies 20% less evasion rating and 20% less accuracy rating to the affected entity, lasting 4 seconds. Although it may not be as defensively powerful for non-evasion builds, it can still aid those lacking accuracy in hitting their targets.

 

↖ Blinding Mechanics

Blinding in Path of Exile follows a simple formula for determining the chances of hitting and evading between a blinded attacker and a blinded defender. 

The formulas are as follows:

• Chance to hit as a blinded attacker vs. defender: 0.5 x (1 - Chance to evade of the defender)
• Chance to evade as a defender vs. blinded attacker: 1 - 0.5 x (Chance to hit of the attacker)

This means that when you blind a monster or are blinded yourself, your chances of hitting and evading will be affected accordingly.

 

↖ Effects of Blinding on Evasion and Hit Chance

When a monster is blinded, it will improve the player's evade chance, and conversely, becoming blinded will worsen the player's chance of hitting a monster. The changes in evasion and hit chance due to blinding can be calculated as follows:

• New Evade Chance = (1 + Old Evade Chance) / 2
• New Hit Chance = Old Hit Chance / 2

 

For example, if your character normally has a 35% chance to evade a monster attack, blinding that monster will improve your evasion as follows:

Chance to evade = 1 - 0.5 x (1 - 0.35) = 67.5%

This means that with the monster blinded, your chance to evade the monster's attacks increases to 67.5%.

 

↖ Impact on Effective Critical Strike Chance

In addition to affecting evasion and hit chance, blinding also has an impact on the attacker's effective critical strike chance. The effective critical strike chance takes into account both the attacker's critical strike chance and their chance to hit.

The formula for calculating the attacker's effective critical strike chance is as follows:

Effective Critical Strike Chance = Attacker's Critical Strike Chance x Attacker's Chance to Hit

Using the values from the previous example, where the attacker has a 20% critical strike chance and the monster's evasion is normally 35%, the effective critical strike chances can be calculated as follows:

• Effective Critical Strike Chance (not blinded) = 20% x (1 - 0.35) = 13%
• Effective Critical Strike Chance (blinded) = 20% x (1 - 0.675) = 6.5%

As you can see, blinding the monster reduces the attacker's effective critical strike chance, making critical strikes less likely to occur.

 

↖ Blind Effect in Passive Skill Tree

This guide focuses on the increased blind effect, which can be obtained from the passive skill tree with only a few passive points invested. The Silent Steps wheel, located below Wind Dancer, provides 70% increased blind effect and 56% increased evasion rating for four passive points (or five if you're not already allocating Wind Dancer or Forces of Nature). Furthermore, investing one extra passive point in the Blind Mastery grants an additional 40% increased blind effect. You can accumulate a 110% increased blind effect and 56% increased evasion rating, making blind even more potent.

 

↖ Impact of Increased Blind Effect on Evade Chance

To illustrate the effectiveness of increased blind effect, let's examine a Tier 16 map scenario. An average monster in this map has 538 accuracy rating. With basic blind, this accuracy is reduced to 430, giving a character with 20,000 evasion rating a 75% chance to evade attacks from this monster. However, with 110% increased blind effect, the monster's accuracy drops to 312, resulting in an 81% chance to evade. This demonstrates how effective blind can be at improving your chance to evade attacks.

 

↖ Combining Blind Effect with Wind Dancer Keystone

By combining increased blind effect with the Wind Dancer Keystone, you can achieve the evade cap (95% chance to evade). For instance, a character inflicting blind on monsters with 110% increased effect, 32,500 evasion rating, and Wind Dancer allocated can reach a 95% chance to evade attacks in a Tier 16 map. This synergy allows you to achieve high evasion chances with minimal investment.

 

↖ Blind Effect and Dangerous Monster Modifiers

Blind with increased effect becomes particularly valuable against monsters with dangerous accuracy modifiers, especially those that increase global accuracy. For example, monsters affected by the "Of Precision" modifier gain a Precision Aura that increases accuracy rating and Critical Strike chance by 100%, affecting nearby monsters as well. In such cases, the less accuracy rating modifier from blind multiplies against the total accuracy rating, significantly lowering it.

 

↖ Notable Options for Blinding Monsters

Notable	Description
Born in the Shadows (Saboteur Ascendancy)	Provides a blind aura around you and a 100% chance to blind enemies on hit.
Gladiator Notable (Ascendant Ascendancy)	Grants 25% chance to blind enemies on hit with attacks.
Saboteur Notable (Ascendant Ascendancy)	Provides 25% chance to blind enemies on hit.
Flesh and Stone Stance	Blinds nearby enemies while in sandstorms.
Craftable Gear	Certain weapons, gloves, and quivers can have modifiers that provide a chance to blind enemies on hit.
Mark Mastery (Passive Tree)	Blinds enemies near your Mark's target.
Curse Mastery (Passive Tree)	Great for blind synergy with curse on hit, blinding non-cursed enemies.

 

↖ Dazzling Strikes Wheel (Passive Tree)

• Provides a total of 75% increased Critical Strike chance against blinded enemies.
• 30% chance to blind enemies on hit with attacks.
• 20% increased blind effect.
• Mastery on this wheel grants an additional 60% increased Critical Strike chance against blinded enemies.

 

Conclusion

Blind effect is an underrated stat with immense potential in Path of Exile. By understanding its mechanics and incorporating it into your build, you can vastly improve your evasion-based defenses and hit chance. As we await the big reveal in patch 3.22, mastering blind effect will prove invaluable on your journey through Wraeclast. Stay tuned for more updates and guides leading up to Exile Con!