If you've been testing Grip of Kulemak and trying to make sense of abyssal wasting poe2 interactions, you're probably not alone. A lot of players want a clean answer before they sink more time into a setup, especially if they're already planning around Path of Exile 2 Currency and don't want to build around something flaky. The strange part here is that the ring looks straightforward on paper, but in actual mapping it can feel like the extra Power just isn't showing up when you expect it to.

That's what makes this interaction interesting. In a real fight, you rarely get a perfect test dummy setup, so the usual "it should work" logic falls apart fast. You'll notice the difference most when you're using another Power-based mechanic at the same time, because the kill reward tells you what the game actually counted. In practice, that makes Grip of Kulemak more than a niche ring: it becomes a piece of tech for players who like weird debuff stacking, min-maxed kill effects, or boss setups where every bit of Power matters. I've found that these kinds of builds can feel amazing when they line up, but they're also the ones most likely to expose hidden priority rules.

When I look at the reported behavior, three things stand out.

1. Normal enemies seem to act like the Abyssal Wasting bonus never happened when Runefather's Challenge is already in play.
2. Extra Power sources can still be added, but only the visible ones appear to matter in the kill result.
3. Unique targets make the issue easier to spot, yet they also make it harder to know which part of the chain is being ignored.

That said, I wouldn't write the ring off too quickly. If you're mainly using Grip of Kulemak for general clearing, the debuff still has value, and most players won't sit there counting Power stacks on every white mob. The real downside is for anyone building around precise payoff loops. If your whole setup depends on double Power meaning more loot, more Boast stacks, or stronger burst windows, this is the kind of interaction that can quietly ruin the plan. It feels especially awkward for players who enjoy challenge-running or testing edge cases, because the item may still be good while one of its selling points is effectively invisible.

From a long-term perspective, I'd treat Grip of Kulemak as a situational pickup rather than a must-have. It suits experimenters, debuff stacks, and players who like pushing Power mechanics to see what breaks. It's less appealing if you want reliability and don't want to babysit every interaction. Until the double Power behavior is clearly confirmed, I'd keep expectations modest and avoid building your entire character around it. If you're shopping around for poe2 buy currency options to finish the setup, make sure the rest of your gear is doing real work too, because this ring may not carry as hard as the tooltip suggests.