Light Stun in mapping question.

Im not a smart guy so I asked for assistance from GPT.

What would you say about current stun mechanic in PoE2 maps and what if it was removed from maps and left only in high stakes boss fights ?




Let’s go! This is the kind of design talk that gets spicy — and needed. 🧠🔥

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## 🎮 **The Current Stun Mechanic in PoE2 (Map Gameplay)**

From what we know so far in PoE2 testing and public info:

- **Stuns are still present in regular mapping content**.
- You can be **lightly stunned** if hit hard enough, interrupting movement and skill usage.
- There are **no invulnerability frames** like dodge rolls (a la Last Epoch or D4), so if you're stunned, you're stuck.
- The threshold is based on **damage relative to your current health**.
- Players can stack **Stun Avoidance**, but it’s not always intuitive or accessible early on.

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## ❌ **Problems with Stun in Mapping (the "Everyday Gameplay")**

### 1. **Kills Flow**
Mapping is meant to be **fast-paced, flow-based content**.
Getting randomly stunned mid-run **disrupts rhythm**, feels janky, and punishes speed.

> You’re dashing through, mapping fast, and *splat* — stunned by a random spike or offscreen hit. Your character just freezes. Momentum = gone.

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### 2. **Feels Random & Unfair**
- In many cases, players don’t even know **what hit them**.
- No strong **telegraph** = no **skill expression**.
- You often don’t know you’re about to get stunned until it’s too late.

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### 3. **Punishes Builds Without Warning**
- Builds that rely on speed or evasion (non-tanks) get disproportionately punished.
- If you don’t **intentionally spec for stun avoidance**, it’s just a hidden trap.

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## ✅ **Now... What If We Removed Stun From Maps?**

### 🌟 **Pros of Removing Stun from Regular Maps:**

1. ✅ **Restores Fluid Combat**
- Lets players maintain speed, rhythm, and skill expression.

2. ✅ **Makes Stun Feel Meaningful When It Happens**
- Reserved for **boss fights** or **rare, high-impact moments** = more memorable.

3. ✅ **Reduces Frustration from Random Deaths**
- Especially helpful for HC players or SSF runs.

4. ✅ **Encourages Build Diversity**
- Glass cannon builds wouldn’t be punished as harshly for skipping stun avoidance.

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### 🛠️ **Where Should Stun Stay?**

🔒 **High-stakes boss fights ONLY**, where:

- The stun is **telegraphed** (big windup attack)
- There’s a **clear fail state** (*“You didn’t dodge — you get stunned”*)
- The stun is **punishable but fair**
- It encourages **skillful play** and **prep** (flasks, movement, gear tuning)

> Think: Uber Elder slams, Sirus maze lasers — **not random white monsters in maps**.

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## 🧠 Game Design Philosophy:

> **"If a mechanic punishes everyone randomly, it’s lazy. If it challenges the player with clarity and intent, it’s good design."**

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## 🎯 TL;DR Recommendation:

- ❌ **Remove stun from regular maps**
- 🔥 **Keep and elevate it in boss fights as a skill-check**
- 🛡️ Make **stun avoidance a boss-focused stat**, not a baseline requirement

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Is there a good enough reason to keep this mechanic in mapping where 100s of mobs rush you ?


🔥 Short answer? **No — not a good enough reason.**
At least, not in its **current form**. Let’s unpack why:

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## 🧨 **Stun in Mapping: Does It Serve a Purpose?**

Mapping is *designed to be fast-paced, flow-heavy, and rhythm-based*. You're zooming through dozens — sometimes **hundreds** — of enemies. It's not a boss arena. It's a **slaughterhouse**.

So let's ask:

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## ❓**What Does Stun *Actually* Do in Mapping?**

| Intended Design Goal | Reality in Mapping |
|----------------------|--------------------|
| Introduce threat and tension | ✔️ Maybe… but mostly just breaks flow |
| Punish careless play | ❌ Often punishes builds with no warning |
| Add skill checks | ❌ There’s no “check” — just a random freeze in movement |
| Encourage defensive gearing | ⚠️ Valid, but *tons* of other ways to do that without removing control |

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## 😵 **Mapping = Chaos + Speed + Unreadable Visuals**

- **Hundreds of mobs** means **no clarity** on what stunned you.
- You’re often **chain-stunned by multiple small hits** or **insta-stunned into death** before you can react.
- There’s **no satisfying skill expression**. You didn’t fail — the game just **shut you down for a second**.

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## 🧠 Let’s Be Real:
> **If a mechanic makes the player feel powerless instead of challenged — it’s not doing its job.**

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## 🛠️ **Can It Be Justified in Mapping? Only If...**

The only way stun would make sense in mapping is if it were:
- **Rare** (e.g. certain elite mob types have a big slam with a telegraph)
- **Avoidable** (clear visual cue, time to react)
- **Tactically meaningful** (you saw it coming and failed to dodge)

Otherwise? **It’s a "gotcha" mechanic in a content type not designed for "gotcha" moments.**

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## 🚀 PoE Is About Flow

Path of Exile’s mapping identity is built on:
- Speed
- Violence
- Precision movement
- Kill-before-you-get-killed pressure

Stun actively **disrupts** all of those pillars unless handled with extreme clarity — which is rarely the case in dense maps.

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## 🎯 TL;DR:

> ❌ **Stun has no meaningful reason to exist in high-density mapping.**
> ✔️ It's far better suited for **boss fights**, **rare mob mechanics**, or **deliberate traps** where you can *see and react*.
> ⚠️ In mapping, it's just a hidden landmine.

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Want to brainstorm alternatives that make mapping feel **dangerous without being cheap**? Because PoE has tools for that — chill, slow, puncture, curse stacking… way better than “lol you can’t move now.” 😏