Life & Mana Recovery: Leech, Regeneration, Recoup, Recharge, and Flasks in Path of Exile 2

Leech recovers a portion of the damage you deal as Life, Mana, or Energy Shield. The critical rule in Path of Exile 2 is that leech only applies to the Damage Type and Hit type named by the leech modifier. Most leech found on items grants physical Attack leech, which only counts physical damage dealt by attacks. A hit that deals none of the matching damage type leeches nothing at all.

The 0.5 update reworked Leech. Only one Leech instance can be active per resource at a time — if several trigger, only the one with the highest recovery rate applies and the others are ignored. There is also a damage cap: a single hit is treated as dealing at most 40,000 damage for Leech calculations, so very large hits no longer scale Leech without limit. The exact per-instance recovery rate and duration are client-version dependent; confirm precise coefficients in-game.

• Leech requires you to deal a hit of the matching Damage Type — it is not 'any damage'.
• Physical Attack Leech fails on a build that fully converts its physical damage to elemental.
• One instance per resource (0.5): the highest recovery-rate instance wins.
• 40,000 damage cap per hit for Leech purposes (0.5).
• Leech normally ends when the resource is full, so you must keep hitting to keep leeching.

Regeneration is continuous, always-on recovery of a resource over time. It is not tied to dealing or taking damage. Life and Energy Shield have no base regeneration by default; Mana has a small base regeneration (about 4% of maximum Mana per second). All other regeneration comes from passive nodes, gear, or auras.

Regeneration can be a flat amount per second or a percentage of the resource's maximum. It is not stopped when the resource is full, and it is a separate mechanic from Leech, Recoup, and Recharge — modifiers to Regeneration do not affect those other recovery types.

• Life and Energy Shield: no base regeneration; must be gained from modifiers.
• Mana: base regeneration of roughly 4% of maximum Mana per second.
• Flat regeneration and percent regeneration add to the base differently but both contribute.
• Regeneration is continuous and works during boss immunity phases — excellent for sustained bossing.
• Recovery Rate modifiers also multiply regeneration alongside other recovery types.

Recoup recovers a portion of the damage you take from a Hit, returned as Life, Mana, or Energy Shield over a duration (8 seconds by default in current Path of Exile 2). Each hit you take creates its own Recoup instance, and there is no cap on how many instances can run at once.

Recoup is NOT Regeneration and is not affected by modifiers to Regeneration. Unlike Leech, Recoup continues even when the resource is already full, though any excess is wasted. Damage over Time does not trigger Recoup. The exact base duration is client-version dependent (some community pages still cite older 4-second values); confirm precise numbers in-game.

• Triggered by taking a Hit, not by dealing one.
• Paid back over time (8 seconds base) — delayed recovery, not instant.
• Distinct from Regeneration; uses its own modifier pool.
• Damage over Time effects do not activate Recoup.
• Per-hit instances are independent and uncapped in number.

Recharge applies to Energy Shield only. After you stop taking damage for a short period, your Energy Shield begins to refill at a rate based on your maximum Energy Shield. Any hit that deals damage interrupts recharge and resets the start delay.

In the 0.5 update, passive-tree recharge-start thresholds were reduced (for example the Mystic Stance node dropped from 30% to 12%), so Energy Shield generally starts recharging more slowly after a hit than before. Treat the exact node values as client-version dependent.

• Energy Shield only — Life and Mana do not recharge.
• Starts after a delay during which you take no damage.
• Interrupted by any damaging hit.
• 0.5 nerfed recharge-start passives, so recovery after hits is slower.
• Pairs best with high avoidance so you can stop getting hit.

Flasks provide an instant burst of Life or Mana recovery (or other effects) when used. They refill their charges from kills and, for some flask types, over time. Flasks are the most reliable burst sustain because they do not depend on hitting or being hit.

In boss fights where you cannot always land hits (so Leech is weak) and where you take few hits (so Recoup is weak), flask charges become your main planned sustain. Do not quote fixed flask sustain numbers without testing — values depend on flask tier, modifiers, and charge gain, which are client-version dependent.

• Instant, on-use recovery of Life or Mana.
• Charges come mainly from kills; some flasks refill over time.
• Best burst sustain when Leech and Recoup are unreliable.
• Boss sustain depends on charge income, not a fixed figure.
• Flask recovery is separate from Regeneration.