Path of Exile 2: How do Breach Rings work?

Breach Rings are one of the 13 base ring types in Path of Exile 2. Like all rings, these also come with an implicit affix, but it's more confounding than revealing: "Maximum Quality is 50%". To someone just getting into grips with PoE2's cavalcade of endgame systems and League mechanics, this may not make any immediate sense.

Thankfully, the answer lies in the common source of Breach Rings in the title. In this guide, we'll explain what this implicit modifier means, and why Breach Rings can be more valuable than other ring types.

---

What does 50% Quality mean on Breach Rings in Path of Exile 2?

Breach Rings can stack affixes higher than others (Image via GGG)

The Maximum Quality of 50% that all Breach Rings come with is tied to the Catalyst system in Path of Exile 2.

If you get a Breach Ring during your campaign in PoE2, it won't be of any immediate value to you. Their potential to shine comes in later, when you have access to Breaches and begin to pile up a lot of Catalysts.

Much like improving the quality of other equipment, Rings and Amulets in this game can also be improved. Specifically, they can be improved with the various Catalyst types that drop from Breaches with Endgame maps that have it.

Breach Rings have access to the usual affix pool that can roll on any other Ring, including all sorts of important affixes from increased Life to Item Rarity. Some of these values can be enhanced by Catalysts, meaning the affix value ceiling on Breach Rings is higher than other Rings.

If you roll a +30 Strength suffix on your Breach Ring, for example, this can be brought up to +45 Strength by stacking Adaptive Catalysts on it. Now, Catalysts of various types cannot stack on the same ring, meaning the truly good Breach Rings need to be hyper-focused on a specific type of affix for multiple affix slots.

This level of deterministic crafting system is just not there in Path of Exile 2. But, for the truly lucky few, it's possible to get some really nutty Breach Ring rolls; you can, for example, get a poor man's Astramantis with multiple +Attribute rolls.

Suffice it to say, min-maxing via Breach Rings is a level of crafting that's worthwhile only when you've addressed all other aspects of your build.

---

Check out our other guides on the game:

• Path of Exile 2 Runes and Sockets guide
• Path of Exile 2 Delirium guide
• Path of Exile 2 Skill Gems and Gemcutting guide
• Path of Exile 2 Endgame systems guide
• Path of Exile 2 Defense guide: Energy Shield, Armor, and Evasion explained