Campaign: 100 Spirit from three bosses
Spirit is a pool you reserve rather than spend. It pays for permanent buffs (such as Heralds), permanent minions and meta gems like Cast on Critical. Your character starts with zero, and the campaign gives the first 100 points:
| Boss | Where | Skull | Spirit |
|---|---|---|---|
| The King in the Mists | Act 1, Freythorn (final ritual after three altars) | Gembloom Skull | +30 |
| Ignagduk, the Bog Witch | Act 3, The Azak Bog | Gemrot Skull | +30 |
| Lythara, the Wayward Spear | Interlude 3 "Doryani's Contingency", Kriar Village | Gemcrust Skull | +40 |
Spirit does not go up when the boss dies. The boss drops a skull on the ground: pick it up and right click it in your inventory. Only then do you get the Spirit and an Uncut Spirit Gem. It is a quest item, so you do this on every character separately.
- Ignagduk is easy to miss. In the middle of the Azak Bog, activate the ritual site with five pillars: the central pile fires a beam of fire towards the witch (a tip from P4wnyhof).
- Lythara is a mandatory story boss, so you cannot skip her. You can do the Interludes in any order, and poe2wiki recommends starting with Mount Kriar precisely because of the Spirit.
Sceptres: another 100 Spirit
This is the biggest jump after the campaign. Every sceptre base has 100 Spirit, from the Rattling Sceptre (level 1) to the Hallowed Sceptre (level 65). Sceptres do not attack. You cannot equip two sceptres at once, but you can use a sceptre with a shield or a sceptre in your off hand.
- A sceptre also grants a skill, such as Skeletal Warrior, Discipline, Malice or Purity of Fire. Skills granted by items do not reserve Spirit. With Skeletal Warrior, the first two skeletons are free and the rest cost Spirit.
- The "% increased Spirit" prefix on sceptres ranges from Lord's (20–26%) to King's (61–65%, item level 82). Corruption (Vaal) can add another 15–25%.
- Since 0.5.0 you can socket an idol into a sceptre. The Rabbit Idol gives 15% increased Spirit.
- Each weapon set has its own Spirit pool. If the sceptre is only in one set, some reservations can switch off when you swap. Maxroll suggests locking your main weapon into the second set as well.
Body armour and amulets
| Source | Item | Spirit |
|---|---|---|
| Solar Amulet implicit | amulet, level 30 | +10–15 |
| Corvus Mantle and Conjurer Mantle implicit | body armour, level 68 and 70 | +20–30 |
| "+# to Spirit" prefix | amulet | from +30–33 (item level 16) to +47–50 (Countess') |
| "+# to Spirit" prefix | body armour | from +30–33 to +57–61 (Queen's, item level 78) |
Vendors sell Solar Amulets from the Spires of Deshar in Act 2 onwards. Maxroll lists one as a goal for level 30 and suggests using an Orb of Alchemy on it.
Rune, uniques and Uhtred's Boon
The Rune of the Blossom (body armour, limit 1, level 15) reads "+50 to Spirit, -1 to Spirit per 2 Levels". It comes from a Runeshape Combination in level 65–74 areas.
| Unique | Slot | Spirit |
|---|---|---|
| Enfolding Dawn | body armour | +100, but no inherent bonus from Intelligence |
| Alpha's Howl | helmet | +100 |
| Soul Mantle | body armour | +75 (since 0.5.0; older copies keep their old values) |
| Pariah's Embrace | body armour | +50 |
| Prism Guardian | shield | +50 |
Uhtred's Boon is an Expedition reward: "Grants +10 to Maximum Spirit", used with a right click. It is not a regular boss drop. You get it from a very rare Verisium Remnant with 10 slots: you fill it with a Runeshape Combination of 10 runes in a level 78+ area and pick one reward, Aldur's Legacy or one of the boons. Based on the 0.5.3 patch notes, it looks like you can take each of the 4 boons (Olroth's, Uhtred's, Vorana's and Medved's Boon) once per character, so you only get the +10 Spirit from Uhtred's Boon once.
Passive tree: not much
The regular passive tree has almost no flat Spirit. The only "increased Spirit" node is the Profane Commander notable (4%). You will more often find Reservation Efficiency, which makes reservations cheaper: Fate Finding (Heralds), Efficient Inscriptions (meta gems), Easy Going (companions). Watch out for the Druid keystone Lord of the Wilds: it lets you hold a sceptre with a Talisman, but gives 50% less Spirit.
Ascendancies that give Spirit
| Ascendancy (class) | Node | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Infernalist (Witch) | Beidat's Will | +1 Spirit per 25 maximum Life, reserves 25% of Life |
| Smith of Kitava (Warrior) | Tribute to Utula | body armour grants 30% increased Spirit |
| Shaman (Druid) | Sacred Flow | +40 Spirit for each empty Charm slot |
| Invoker (Monk) | Lead me through Grace... | +1 Spirit per 20 Evasion and per 8 Energy Shield on body armour, but no Spirit from equipment |
| Spirit Walker (Huntress) | small Spirit node | +10 Spirit |
| Tactician (Mercenary) | A Solid Plan | persistent buffs have 50% less reservation; small nodes give 8% increased Spirit |
Sacred Flow belongs to the Shaman, not the Invoker as some guides claim. The Ritualist (Huntress) works the other way: it has a node with a 25% reduced Spirit penalty. For every specialisation, see our Ascendancy guide.
What uses Spirit
Costs from poe2db (as of 16.10.2026):
| Gem | Type | Spirit |
|---|---|---|
| every Herald (e.g. Herald of Ice, Herald of Ash) | Herald | 30 |
| Arctic Armour | persistent buff | 30 |
| Raging Spirits | buff with minions | 30 |
| Cast on Minion Death | meta gem | 30 |
| Archmage | persistent buff | 100 |
| Cast on Critical, Cast on Elemental Ailment | meta gem | 100 |
| Rhoa Mount | companion | 100 |
| Skeletal Warrior | permanent minion | 60 each at gem level 1, 20 at level 20 |
| Skeletal Brute | permanent minion | 165 → 48 each |
| Tame Beast | companion | a percentage of maximum Spirit, depending on the beast |
The higher the level of a permanent minion gem, the less Spirit each minion costs. Temporary minions are free: Raise Zombie costs mana, and the zombie lives for 20 seconds. Since 0.4.0d the skill window shows the final cost after all modifiers.
Supports. Support cost multipliers raise the mana cost, not the Spirit reservation. The exception is supports with their own reservation, which add it to the skill. Hulking Minions and Deadly Herald make skills cost more Spirit. Dialla's Desire (Lineage) makes them cheaper. Atziri's Communion reserves Life instead of Spirit, but does not work on skills that create minions. Efficiency and Lifetap do not support Spirit skills.
How much Spirit minion builds have
Permanent minions eat through your pool quickly. Player builds on PoB Archives (version 0.5) list from about 200 to over 550 Spirit: Gemling with Raging Spirits 208, Spirit Walker 267, Infernalist with hounds 285, Infernalist with Skeletal Brutes and Spectres 554. These are examples, not requirements. The total depends on the number of minions, auras and gear.
Spirit not increasing after a boss? Common problems
- You have 0 Spirit. That is normal until Freythorn in Act 1.
- The skull is in your inventory. Right click it. The Uncut Spirit Gem only appears after you break the skull.
- The skull is still on the ground. The King in the Mists drops it at the last big ritual altar. Players suggest searching under the ritual tree. According to Maxroll, respawning resets the area and can bring back a missing quest item.
- One skull is missing. A player on the GGG forum thought Lythara had not given +40 because he had 70 Spirit. In fact he was missing +30 from an earlier act. Take off your gear and check your character sheet: the campaign total is 100.
- You are on a new character. The bonuses do not carry over between characters.
- You swapped weapon sets. Without the sceptre in the active set, your pool is smaller.
- A penalty is active. The Invoker with Lead me through Grace... gets no Spirit from equipment, the Ritualist has 25% reduced Spirit, and Flesh Crucible can roll a "less Spirit" penalty.
An Uncut Spirit Gem does not add Spirit. When you right click it, you choose a gem from it (for example a Herald or Archmage) that uses Spirit.
Spirit in version 1.0
On December 11, 2026 Path of Exile 2 leaves Early Access. It adds Acts V and VI, the Duelist and a big balance patch. GGG has not announced any Spirit changes, or whether the campaign bonuses will stay in the same places. We will update this guide after the patch notes. More: Path of Exile 2 1.0 and the beginner's guide.
