In Path of Exile 2, the game’s intricate skill systems offer a multitude of POE2 Currency ways for players to build their characters. One of the standout mechanics that can significantly boost both your critical strike potential and elemental damage is Storm Charge. This passive skill grants substantial bonuses to your damage output by linking critical hits with elemental damage scaling, making it a powerful choice for many builds.

In this article, we will break down how Storm Charge works, its mechanics, and how you can apply it to your character through both the passive skill tree and gear infusion.

Storm Charge is a passive skill in Path of Exile 2 that provides the following two key benefits:

20% increased critical chance

40% increased elemental damage if you've dealt a critical hit recently

The first bonus is a flat increase to your critical strike chance, while the second part activates after a critical hit, enhancing your elemental damage output for a short time.

The main advantage of Storm Charge is that it offers synergy between critical hit builds and elemental damage builds, allowing you to scale both effectively. Whether you focus on fast attacks, spells, or elemental-based damage-over-time abilities, Storm Charge provides a boost that can significantly increase your damage potential.

20% Increased Critical Chance
The first aspect of Storm Charge is its 20% increased critical strike chance, which applies passively as long as you have the skill. This bonus increases your chance of landing critical hits with any of your attacks or spells. This bonus is always active, making it a useful addition to almost any build that relies on critical hits for extra damage.

40% Increased Elemental Damage After a Critical Hit
The second part of Storm Charge is the 40% increased elemental damage that applies for the next 4 seconds after you land a critical hit on an enemy. The key point here is the term "recently," which in this case means the last 4 seconds. Once you score a critical hit, your elemental damage is boosted by 40% for the following 4 seconds.

This bonus applies to all elemental damage that you deal, not just the elemental damage triggered by the critical hit. This means that even if your primary skill doesn’t deal critical hits or has a low critical strike chance, you can still benefit from this 40% bonus by landing crits with other attacks or spells.

The synergy between critical strikes and elemental damage is especially valuable for hybrid builds. Many players focus on elemental damage that doesn’t naturally scale with critical hits, such as elemental damage-over-time (DoT) abilities or powerful spells. However, Storm Charge allows these builds to benefit from critical strikes by boosting elemental damage across the board, regardless of whether or not the elemental damage itself is part of the critical hit.

If you don’t want to allocate passive skill points to Storm Charge in the passive tree, there’s an alternative option: you can infuse it onto an amulet using a crafting mechanic called Distilled Emotions. This allows you to benefit from the passive without needing to invest in the passive skill tree, freeing up points for other important nodes.

Materials Required: Distilled Emotions
To infuse Storm Charge onto an amulet, you need three specific items, known as Distilled Emotions, which must be placed in the correct order in the infusion process:

Distilled Fear

Distilled Terror

Distilled Envy

These materials drop from Delirium enemies in the Ultimate Delirium map. Note that monsters in maps accessed via Infused Waystones will not drop Distilled Mood, so it’s important to farm in the right locations.

Alternatively, you can buy Distilled Mood from Alva in your Hideout and exchange it for the Distilled Emotions.

The Infusion Process
Once you have the necessary materials, here’s how you can infuse Storm Charge onto an amulet:

Obtain the Necessary Items
Make sure you have the Distilled Fear, Distilled Terror, and Distilled Envy, as well as the amulet you wish to infuse.

Open the Infuse Window
Right-click any Distilled Mood in your inventory to open the infusion window.

Place the Amulet in the Top Slot
Drag the amulet you want to infuse into the top slot.

Insert the Distilled Emotions
Place the Distilled Emotions into the row below the amulet in this exact order:

Distilled Fear in the first slot

Distilled Terror in the second slot

Distilled Envy in the third slot

Confirm the Infusion
If done correctly, the bottom text box will read “Storm Charge”.

Click Infuse
After confirming the process, click the Infuse button to finalize the infusion.

Equip the Infused Amulet
The amulet now carries the Storm Charge passive, and whenever you equip it, you’ll enjoy the increased critical chance and the 40% increased elemental damage after critical hits.

Tips for Maximizing Storm Charge
Keep Your Crits Regular: Since the elemental damage bonus lasts only 4 seconds after a critical hit, the more often you land critical hits, the more frequently you can trigger this boost.

Use Secondary Crit Skills: If your main damage skill doesn’t crit frequently, pair it with a secondary skill that has a high critical strike chance. This way, you can reliably trigger the Storm Charge buff.

Combine with Elemental Damage Scaling: Storm Charge amplifies elemental damage by 40%, so stacking additional elemental damage increases will lead to massive damage spikes during the buff.

Infuse When Passive Points Are Limited: If your passive skill tree is already focused on other areas, infusing Storm Charge onto an amulet is a great alternative, giving you the benefits without needing to invest skill points.

Storm Charge is a powerful and flexible passive skill in Path of Exile 2 that enhances your damage output by combining critical hits with elemental damage scaling. Its ability to provide a 40% increase to elemental damage after a critical hit makes it an excellent choice for hybrid builds or elemental-focused builds that want to take advantage of Path of Exile 2 Orbs critical strikes.