How Do Catalysts Work in Path of Exile 2?

There are many confusing features in Path of Exile 2, whether due to a lack of informative tooltips or just a lot of plain unexplained mechanics. Among these are the catalysts, which a lot of players seem to be completely confused by. In this guide, we will try to briefly explain what they are and how they work on your applicable gear pieces.

How Do Catalysts Work?

Simply put, catalysts are a form of currency that can be used to upgrade the quality of jewelry items. There are varying types of these that can upgrade different types of modifiers, and here is a quick list of each kind:

• Uul-Netol’s Catalyst – Can add quality to any “physical” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Flesh Catalyst – Can add quality to any “life” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Neural Catalyst – Can add quality to any “mana” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Tul’s Catalyst – Can add quality to any “cold” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Carapace Catalyst – Can add quality to any “defense” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Xoph’s Catalyst – Can add quality to any “fire” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Esh’s Catalyst – Can add quality to any “lightning” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Chayula’s Catalyst – Can add quality to any “chaos” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Reaver Catalyst – Can add quality to any “attack” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Sibilant Catalyst – Can add quality to any “caster” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Skittering Catalyst – Can add quality to any “speed” modifiers on an amulet or ring.
• Adaptive Catalyst – Can add quality to any “attribute” modifiers on an amulet or ring.

Each of these can be used on a ring or amulet to improve a certain type of modifier. For example, if it has bonus attributes on it, then slapping on an Adaptive Catalyst would boost those specific modifiers by 1%. These can go up to 20%, since jewelry typically has a maximum quality of that amount.

It should be noted that only one catalyst type can be used on a piece of jewelry. If you use a different one, it will replace the previous bonus and go back down to 1% quality. For example, if you have a 19% quality chaos modifier, using a Neural Catalyst on the item will instead set it to a 1% mana modifier.

One exception to the 20% maximum is the Breach Ring item. These things can have a maximum of 50% quality, and these are currently the only known items that can have that much. These things are definitely worth farming if you are trying to min-max your build.

Catalysts in general can be found through breaches, which are bits of endgame content wherein you fight waves of enemies all around the map. These will require a good build, as you might struggle to clear them with a suboptimal setup!

In case you did not already know how to do this, check out our guide on how to set loot filters as well to make it easier to find the catalysts you want if they drop!

That is really all you need to know in order to get started with catalysts in this game. As an added note, you can use the reforging bench to turn three of them into a different type of catalyst. Use this feature if you have too many of one kind that you don’t need!