PoE 2 Loot Filter: Install NeverSink, Tune It in FilterBlade, and Fix It When It Won't Load

Updated: July 2026

What a loot filter does in PoE 2 and why you need one

Path of Exile 2 buries you in drops — every pack drops dozens of items, and you can't sort that by hand. A loot filter is a text file of rules the game applies to the ground: junk gets hidden or shrunk to small grey text, while valuable drops — currency, good bases, uniques, fragments — get large colored text, a minimap marker, and a sound. Without a filter, PoE 2 endgame is played half-blind: you miss a chunk of the good stuff under a pile of white items.

A proper filter does two things at once: it stops hundreds of labels from choking your screen, and it makes sure expensive currency never leaves a cleared map unnoticed. Here's how to install one, which to pick, and what to do when the game "doesn't see" it.

Which loot filter to choose

For the vast majority of players the answer is NeverSink. It's the community standard: free, updated every patch, split into strictness levels so it fits both league start and deep endgame.

Start on Soft/Regular and raise strictness as you level — otherwise an early strict filter hides things you still need.

• FilterBlade (filterblade.xyz) is NeverSink's official online editor. Tune the filter to yourself: raise or lower categories, change colors and sounds, add custom rules, then export a ready .filter.
• A hand-written filter only makes sense if you know exactly what you're doing. NeverSink plus a couple of FilterBlade tweaks covers 99% of players.

How to install a loot filter in PoE 2 — two ways

Option 1. Subscribe in-game (easiest). Path of Exile 2 pulls online filters with no file work:

1. Open Options → UI.
2. Find the loot filter selector and switch to online filters.
3. Pick the NeverSink filter at the strictness you want.
4. Done. The refresh button pulls the latest version after a patch.

Option 2. Install the file manually. Needed if you edited the filter in FilterBlade and want your own version:

1. Download the .filter (from FilterBlade after export, or NeverSink's releases page).
2. Drop it into Documents\My Games\Path of Exile 2\.
3. In game → Options → UI → select your file in the filter list.
4. After editing in FilterBlade, re-export to the same folder and hit refresh.

Customizing and updating per patch and league

PoE 2 patches often (0.5 and beyond), and patches change item bases and weights. So:

• Update the filter after every patch. Online subscriptions update with a button; a manual file needs a fresh export from FilterBlade.
• Tune strictness to your farm. Fast map juicing → Strict/Uber; slow, careful farming → Semi-Strict.
• Set sounds and styles for valuable drops in FilterBlade — a loud alert on expensive currency saves more misplays than color alone.

Loot filter not working or the game doesn't see it

The most common reasons a filter "disappears":

• File in the wrong folder. For PoE 2 it's Documents\My Games\Path of Exile 2\, not the first game's folder.
• List not refreshed. After adding a file, hit refresh on the filter list in the UI options.
• Filter built for an old patch. After a major update grab the fresh version — an old file highlights the wrong things.
• Wrong filter selected in the dropdown — confirm yours is the active one.
• Online filter won't pull — switch to a manual file or check that you're logged in.

What a loot filter can't highlight

A filter has a hard boundary: it works on drops lying on the ground. The moment an item is in your hands — or you hover a waystone, an altar, or a Precursor Tablet — the filter is silent. From there you're reading the modifier text, and it arrives as one grey wall: "reflects damage", "−40% to resistances", "cannot be frozen" sit next to harmless lines, and a dangerous roll is easy to miss right before you run the map.

That gap is covered by a separate tool — Prism colors the mod text itself by importance: dangerous map mods glow red, fat rolls turn gold, right in the tooltip, on the waystone, and on the tablet. A loot filter decides what to pick up off the ground; mod coloring decides whether the map is worth running with those mods. Together they cover reading loot end to end — from floor to tooltip.

In short

• Install NeverSink — via the online subscription in UI options, it takes a minute.
• Fine-tune in FilterBlade, export the .filter to My Games\Path of Exile 2.
• Update after patches, or the filter falls behind new bases.
• Doesn't see the filter — almost always the wrong folder or an un-refreshed list.
• What a filter never touches — mod text — is covered by Prism mod coloring.

Related: boost FPS and strip effects in PoE 2 and which Precursor Tablet mods to run.