Ward

Path of Exile: Expedition introduced a new defence type, Ward. For Expedition base type items, instead of Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield, these items have Ward.

Ward is a new defensive property. It protects you from all damage types, taking damage from a hit before your energy shield or life up to the amount of Ward you have. Ward is broken when any damage is taken from it, even if the damage taken was lower than the amount of Ward you have. Ward is instantly restored after 5 seconds.

As the right example shown, the outmost is Ward, Shield is in the middle, and Life is in the innermost. A rare Runic Helm grants 73 Ward and get +39 to ward mods that improve it. Ward is a defence and Ward Restoration Time is 5 seconds.

For the undead enemies you unearth in Expedition encounters, they also have Ward rather than traditional defenses.

Ward Items

• Runic Helm
• Runic Crest
• Runic Crown
• Runic Greaves
• Runic Sollerets
• Runic Sabatons
• Runic Gloves
• Runic Gages
• Runic Gauntlets
• Iron Flask

Ward Build Guide

Ward does not modify damage taken, it changes how/where you take damage. For example, a skill supported by CWDT will still count damage that breaks ward.

Damage breaks Ward before being taken from your life or energy shield, and breaking Ward is treated the same as taking an amount of that damage up to the value of your ward (thus that much damage from the hit doesn't get taken from life/mana/es). Aegises, Guard Skills, etc get at the damage first, so if all damage is taken from "external" things like those, there will be none left to break ward, and thus ward will not break.

However unlike all the other things that damage is taken from, Ward is not a pool that can be depleted. The value of ward is always the same, that value just doesn't do anything while it's broken. There is no "Maximum Ward" with a current value that changes to zero, there's just "Ward", and whether or not it's broken, which is a boolean state.

Ward is restored (stops being broken) after a set delay from when it was broken (default 5 seconds). As you correctly surmised, taking more hits while ward is broken has no effect on this.

Ward Mods & Items

• Mods: +x to Ward
• Mods: x% increased Ward
• Helmet: Runic Helm, Runic Crest, Runic Crown. It provides 34 - 629 wards.
• Boots: Runic Greaves, Runic Sollerets, Runic Sabatons. It provides 20 - 388 wards.
• Gloves: Runic Gloves, Runic Gages, Runic Gauntlets. It provides 20 - 416 wards.
• Flask: Iron Flask. +200 to Ward. Restores Ward on use.

Currently, there is no passive skill tree or gem related to ward.

How to restore Ward?

When you’re hit, your Ward is completely depleted and reduces the damage dealt to you by that amount.

• It will restore automatically after 5 seconds. If you are dealt with damage, it also restore after five seconds. Your ward replenishes itself and you’re protected from the next hit.
• Restores Ward instantly on using one of these flasks: Elixir of the Unbroken Circle, Olroth's Resolve, Starlight Chalice, and Vorana's Preparation.

As the following example shown, when you are dealt with damage, Ward removes firstly, then decreases Shield, last decreases Life. Meanwhile, Ward will restore automatically after 5 seconds.

Ward Uniques

• Cadigan's Crown
• Elixir of the Unbroken Circle
• Faithguard
• Medved's Challenge
• Nightgrip
• Olroth's Charge
• Olroth's Resolve
• Starlight Chalice
• Vorana's March
• Vorana's Preparation