One of Path of Exile 2’s biggest strengths as an ARPG is its class variety. From Ice Strike Monks to Spark Sorceresses to Totem Warriors, there are multitudes of different builds players can go for, thanks to the absolutely gargantuan passive skill tree, multiple ascendancies, and dozens of gear affixes to make each build slightly different.
Meta Skills are special types of Skills that can become absurdly powerful with the right support and proper investment. However, Meta Gems work differently than regular Skill Gems and follow different rules. Understanding how to use them correctly is key to getting the most out of the game.
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Path of Exile 2: How Does Acrobatics Work
Acrobatics is a Keystone in the passive skill tree of Path of Exile 2 that makes a seemingly impossible promise: Can Evade all hits.
Meta Skills are special Skill Gems that can be socketed with other Skill Gems on top of the regular Support Gems in the Support Gem Socket slot, triggering the corresponding effects when their energy requirements are met. Additionally, all Meta Gems require at least one Skill Gem to be socketed in them for them to trigger. You can easily identify whether or not a Skill Gem is a Meta Gem by checking for the ‘Meta’ tag below its name in the context menu. It’s also easy to identify Meta Gems by reading through their description and understanding what they do.
A Meta Skill’s purpose is to activate the Skill Gems socketed inside it when the conditions for activation are met. For most Meta Gems, a certain amount of Energy is required to trigger their effects. Energy can only be generated by performing a certain action repeatedly, depending on the Meta Gem. Energy is a special resource exclusively used to trigger the effect of these Meta Gems and activate their socketed skills. When this happens, the Meta Gem loses all stored-up energy and starts from zero once more.
For example, the 
Cast on Freeze
Meta Skill gains energy every time you freeze an enemy and automatically triggers the socketed skill when you reach 100 energy. Players planning on basing their build around this Skill Gem will want to ensure their character has the ability to Freeze as often as possible in order to trigger it constantly.
Meta Skills cannot be socketed inside other Meta skills.
Barring two exceptions ( 
Hand of Chayula
and 
Ancestral Warrior Totem
), all Meta Gems require at least 60 Spirit Reservation to work. You get 100 Spirit automatically through permanent bonuses in the campaign, and more can be gathered through Spirit modifiers on Amulets, Body Armors, and Sceptres.
There are four ways to increase the rate at which a Meta Skill gains energy in PoE 2. They are:
-
Impetus Support Gem: Socketing the
ImpetusSupport Gem in a Meta Skill increases energy gain for that Meta Skill by 40%. However, you can only have one Impetus active at one time.
-
Gem Quality: Using
Gemcutter’s Prismon some Meta Gems will increase the rate of their Energy absorption by up to 20%. Press ALT while hovering over a Meta Skill to show the effects of Quality on it at the bottom of the context menu.
- Passive Skill Tree Points: Some passives in the skill tree increase the effectiveness of triggered Meta Skills, including energy gain. You can spot them by searching ‘meta’ in the search bar and looking for the glowing passives.
- Sapphire Jewels: Sapphire Jewels can roll the stat “Meta Skills gain (5–15)% increased Energy” as a suffix. You can find Sapphire with this stat for quite cheap on the PoE 2 trade site.
Energy cannot be gained from the triggered Skills of the Meta Gem itself. They can only be generated from other sources.
