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If there is one thingPath of Exile 2has no lack of, it is its complexity. Between hundreds of unique items, mechanics layered on top of mechanics, and passives that flip the board entirely, players are practically required to get a diploma in PoE systems before they are anywhere remotely close to calling themselves experts in the game.
One of the mechanics that can be a bit confusing to wrap your head around is called Tailwind. It’s a stacking buff that can increase not only the evasion rating but alsomovement speedand skill speed of a character. Here’s the breakdown.
How Does Tailwind Work in PoE 2
Tailwind has the following description:
Tailwind is a stacking Buff which grants 1% increased movement speed, 3% increased Skill Speed and 15% increased Evasion Rating per stack for 10 seconds, refreshing whenever you gain another stack. Maximum 10 stacks.
Deadeye Rangers can trigger Tailwind with any Skill. The nature of the Skill being used has no bearing on whether or not Tailwind will activate. Additionally, the activation requirement is that a Skill is used, not that it hits anything. When active, Tailwind has a gale-like visual effect that wraps around the player (pictured below).
This means players can easily stack all 10 buffs of Tailwind before a fight even starts by spamming Skills into the ground. If the delay between individual Skill usage is not more than 10 seconds, you’ll be able to gain 10 stacks. At 10 stacks, Tailwind gives10% increased movement speed, 30% increased Skill speed, and 150% increased Evasion Rating.
Skills with low mana cost and no cooldown are the best ones to activate Tailwind, as they’re spammable. Lightning Arrow, for example, is an excellent choice because not only does it do great damage, but it can be spammed indefinitely as long as you have relatively decent mana regeneration anddecent mana pots.
Weapon attacks (like Bow Shot) are also considered Skills and can activate Tailwind, even though they do not have any associated mana cost.
Tailwind always comes with an accompanying modifier that states,“Lose all Tailwind when Hit.“The effect is self-explanatory; any time you are hit by an enemy with a source of damage, you lose all Tailwind stacks immediately. However, thanks to how Evasion works, your character automatically dodges a certain number of times when attacked by an enemy. Since these attacks don’t technically land, they do not count as ‘Hits,’ and you will not lose Tailwind stacks from these attacks. Therefore, stacking more Evasion is a great way to ensure your Tailwind stacks always remain active.
How to Get Tailwind in PoE 2
There are only two sources of Tailwind inPath of Exile 2.
Deadeye Ascendancy
Rangers thatchoose the Deadeye Ascendancycan get Tailwind through the Gathering Winds passive. Since this is an Ascendancy passive, Rangers will only get access to it after they complete their first Trial of the Sekhemas or Trial of Chaos and select Deadeye.
Lose all Tailwind when Hit
The Black Insignia
The Black Insignia Unique is a random drop from Level 46+ monsters inPoE 2.
The Black Insignia’s description pertaining to Tailwind states:
Gain Tailwind on Critical Hit, no more than once per second
Tailwind obtained through The Black Insignia does not activate upon Skill use but only triggers when you successfully land a Critical Hit. Stacking Critical Hit Chance and using fast attacks is the best way to activate Tailwind with this item.
