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Charms aren’t something you think of first when pondering the best gear to equip inPath of Exile 2. After all, your weapons, jewelry, chest plate, and other gear slots tend to offer more affixes and bonuses to your character.
However, Charms can be the difference between life and death when it comes to certain bosses, thanks to the buffs they can apply. They might be subtle, but they can make a huge difference when paired together with your other, more notable gear pieces.
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One issue many players have with Charms, though, is they can only equip one for most of the early and mid-game in Path of Exile 2.
It’s clear there are three total slots for Charms, but those extra two slots remain inaccessible no matter what players do. Fortunately, we have put together a guide that tells you exactly how to open up those Charm slots.
How to Use All Charm Slots in Path of Exile 2
There are three totalCharm slotsyou have access to in Path of Exile 2. An empty gray box indicates the usable slots, while the inaccessible ones show a shield icon. The slots are viewable on your gear screen and at the bottom-left of your HUD if you’re on keyboard and mouse.
In order to open up the slots that can’t be used, you need to equip a better belt on your character. The amount of Charm slots you can use is directly tied to the quality of belt you currently have equipped.
Once again, a belt isn’t the first item you think of when reviewing what gear you have equipped. Belts are barely sold at vendor shops, and even at the gambling vendor, there’s only one random belt for sale on the very last page of the gear sections.
However, if you want to unlock more bonuses for your character, having a higher-level belt is the only way to open up those extra Charm slots. By default, all belts allow you to have a single usable Charm slot, which is how you’ll spend the majority of your Normal difficulty playthrough.
Unfortunately, you can’t access the second Charm slot until you reach roughly level 50 in Path of Exile 2.
Once you’re around level 50-55, you’ll begin to see belts that offer the extra slot as an affix bonus. Usually, the item level of this belt is around level 70, so you’ll likely be well into Act 3 or even onCruel difficultyby that point.
If you’re at the right level, make sure you’re checking all your vendors to see if they have any belts for sale with the “+1 Charm Slots” affix.
Naturally, you also want to ensure you’re looting all belts that drop from enemies and chests in the hopes one of them has the affix as well.
As for the third and final Charm slot, that won’t become unlocked until you find a belt with the “+2 Charm Slots” affix. Belts of this nature tend to start dropping after you hit level 80, so you’ll be nearing or in the endgame by that stage.
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The three Charm slot belts are extremely uncommon at this point in Path of Exile 2. Those upper-echelon belts are almost alwaysUnique items, which are rare to see by themselves, and not every Unique belt offers the “+2 Charm Slots” affix.
Suffice it to say, you’ll likely be searching for hours and hours to find a belt that offers all three Charm slots. That’s simply part of the fun in Path of Exile 2, though.
How to Use the Charm Slots in Path of Exile 2
If you’re still wondering how Charms work in the first place, don’t worry, as the mechanic isn’t too difficult to grasp.
Charms are items that drop from enemies and bosses, and they take up a single slot in your inventory. If you have any belt equipped, go into your inventory and move whatever Charm you want to the open space right underneath the belt slot.
This activates the Charm’s bonuses for your character. Some of the Charms in Path of Exile 2 only fully activate when a certain threshold is met, though.
For example, one Charm won’t activate until you’ve taken lightning damage, while another isn’t active until you’re melting from fire damage.
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At that point, the Charm kicks in and can reduce the lightning damage you take, increase your recovery speed, or apply some other buff.
Most Charms you find in the early game will reduce certain kinds of damage or improve one specific stat, such as your movement speed when slowed.
Other Charms are active all the time, allowing you to take advantage of them right when combat begins. All Charms will only have a set amount of charges, though, and once those are used up, the Charm is fully spent.
It’s important to read through what a Charm does and equip whatever one is necessary for the situation you’re in.
As an example,Count Geonor’s fightshows the boss dealing witha lot of ice damage. So, for that encounter, you probably want to equip a Charm that reduces the amount of ice damage you take. After the fight is over, you’re able to swap to another Charm, depending on the next boss you face.
Once you unlock better belts with more Charm slots, you can mix and match buffs to ensure your character is ready for any sort of combat situation.
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