Unpopular Opinion About Debuffs

Ngl, I literally ignore every single mechanic that deals with debuff resistances or immunities.
I’ve never actually felt them in gameplay — either because the effects are way too forgiving or they wear off before I even realize they were there.

So yeah, here’s my take — some tweaks that could make debuffs actually matter without being insta-death nonsense:


Proposed changes

1. Longer base duration (like 18 seconds).
Let us deal with the effect instead of waiting half a second for it to fade.

2. Make them annoying, not lethal.
Something that really messes with your comfort but doesn’t one-shot you. Forces adaptation instead of punishment.

3. Every debuff should feel unique.
Stop recycling the same “-20% something” effect under different names.
Each one should shift gameplay in its own way.

4. Shared activation logic for all debuffs.
Something like this:

(% of target HP lost / 10) x (debuff factor of the skill) = % chance to apply

Example: if a hit deals 20% of a target’s HP and the skill has a debuff factor of 20 (that’s high), you’ve got a 40% chance to apply it.

Its VERY important to the player in a game about builds being able to predict how things works and ir should be simple.


My reworked debuffs (some exemples)

Chill – -20% move speed and roll speed, -15% action speed, +20% crit vulnerability.
If killed by a crit while chilled, you shatter.

Ignite – Lose 3% HP ÷ power per second.
Taking cold damage, rolling, or running while burning halves the damage for thar second.

Blind – 30% chance to miss every attack and to get hit by every attack.
Range -30%. Fog surrounds your vision — can’t even see item names on the ground.

Fear – Lose 5% mana per second and cooldowns take 100% longer inside an 8m radius of the fear source. -30% move speed if moving toward it.

Exposure – Halves absorption against that damage type. You can’t recoup that damage.

Shattered (new) – Max ES is capped to 25%.

Oblivion (new) – Forgets all active skills except the last one used.




Honestly, I’d love if PoE2 leaned harder into stuff like this —
not “how fast can I delete a boss”, but “how well can I survive while everything’s trying to mess with my control scheme.”

Would totally make debuffs feel like actual mechanics instead of background noise.