In Path of Exile's latest patch 3.22, there's a unique and intriguing feature that many players might have overlooked – Loyalty Tattoos. These tattoos seem minion-related at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they offer some game-changing effects that can significantly enhance your character's performance. In this guide, we'll explore the Loyalty Tattoos, their unique triggers, and how to make the most of them in your builds.

 

• Understanding Loyalty Tattoos
• Trigger Conditions
• Opportunity Cost
• Loyalty Tattoo Options
• Conclusion

 

↖ Understanding Loyalty Tattoos

Loyalty Tattoos are special buffs that trigger under specific conditions, providing powerful bonuses to your character for a limited time. These buffs default to having a 15% uptime, but they have a trigger condition that only activates if 80 seconds have passed since the last trigger. This mechanic ensures that Loyalty Tattoos don't activate too frequently, but when they do, they grant substantial benefits for 12 seconds.

 

↖ Trigger Conditions

These tattoos trigger when you're in the presence of a unique enemy, or when a unique enemy performs certain actions on your character. This means that Loyalty Tattoos are most likely to activate during boss fights or challenging encounters. However, there are a few unique enemy types you'd want to avoid triggering these tattoos against, including Rogue Exiles, Tormented Spirits, and portals in Elder Guardian-occupied maps.

 

↖ Opportunity Cost

Before delving into the specifics of each Loyalty Tattoo, it's important to note that equipping one tattoo prevents you from using others. Additionally, using a Loyalty Tattoo costs a 10 attribute node on your passive tree. While these nodes aren't the most powerful, they are still necessary to equip gems, so you should consider this opportunity cost when choosing which Loyalty Tattoo to use.

 

↖ Loyalty Tattoo Options

Now, let's explore the Loyalty Tattoos individually and their trigger conditions:

 

Loyalty Tattoo of Etula:

Loyalty Tattoo	Trigger Condition	Effect	Note
Loyalty Tattoo of Etula	Taking a Savage hit from a unique enemy	Grants 25% instant leech for 12 seconds	Incredible survivability against sustained damage
Loyalty Tattoo of Tafanuku	Energy Shield recharge starts in the presence of a unique enemy	Grants 100 Mana regeneration per second	Niche and may not be suitable for most builds
Loyalty Tattoo of Rakīata	Inflicting a Critical Strike on a marked unique enemy	Increases action speed, scaling with the number of tattoos	Excellent for Mark skill builds, not recommended for Tricksters or Deadeyes
Loyalty Tattoo of Maata	Reaching low life while a unique enemy is nearby	Grants additional Frenzy Charges every three seconds	Good but may not outperform other options in most scenarios
Loyalty Tattoo of Kilowava	Blocking damage from a unique enemy	Provides significant Life, Mana, and Energy Shield recovery	Exceptional for block-focused characters, especially in high-end content
Loyalty Tattoo of Kahua Turoa	A totem dies while a unique enemy is nearby	Redirects a portion of damage taken from hits to your nearest totem's life	Highly potent when combined with other totem-related nodes
Loyalty Tattoo of Ikahaya	Using a travel skill in the presence of a unique enemy	Grants 100% increased cooldown recovery rate for travel skills	Beneficial for most characters using movement skills
Loyalty Tattoo of Atohura	Using Berserk with a unique enemy nearby	Extends the duration of Berserk	Great for Berserk-focused builds
Loyalty Tattoo of Ahuana	Suppressing spell damage from a unique enemy	Suppresses a portion of spell damage taken for 12 seconds	Offers valuable defense against spell-heavy encounters

 

↖ Conclusion

Loyalty Tattoos in Path of Exile's patch 3.22 provide unique and powerful buffs that can greatly enhance your character's capabilities. While they come with an opportunity cost and specific trigger conditions, they are worth considering for most builds. Choose the Loyalty Tattoo that best complements your build and playstyle, and don't underestimate the impact these tattoos can have in challenging encounters. Experiment with different options and harness the hidden potential of Loyalty Tattoos in your Path of Exile adventures.