Requirement

General
Main items as well as off-hand items pose an attribute requirement in order to use them to their full benefit. It is a common misunderstanding that items for which a player does not meet the requirement do not give any benefit at all - the gain is mitigated somewhat, but not obliterated completely:
 * For melee weapons, bows and spears (see the different skill types), the min. and max. damage is reduced by 1 for every point the requirement is not met. Example: A Warrior wielding a max dmg Axe (6-28) with req. 9 in Axe Mastery will only do 4-26 damage when having his Axe Mastery set to 7.
 * Off-hand focus items that provide a energy bonus have their gain mitigated based on the value of their requirement. The following table consolidates the observations from several testers, which were also confirmed by others:


 * It should be noted that Energy gain that is not tied to a requirement is not mitigated. This kind of gain can occur from inherent item properties, for example staves, or from inscriptions.
 * For example, the Grim Cesta given by Symon the Scribe. Assuming that your health is below 40% and you are hexed and enchanted, but that you have 0 ranks in Blood.  You would have a mitigated gain (E+3) from the Cesta's inherent energy, but you would also gain 11 Energy (3+3+5) for meeting the conditions.
 * Grim Cesta (given by Symon the Scribe for completing Cities of Ascalon)
 * Energy +6 (req. 5 Blood Magic)
 * Health -50
 * Energy +3 (while enchanted)
 * Energy +3 (while hexed)
 * Energy +5 (while Health is below 40%)

Preliminary Conclusion

 * Speaking in general terms, there seems to be a "mitigated gain" cap (that is, the absolute maximum energy gain when not meeting the requirement) of a total of 6 energy.
 * 1 Green items, items obtained from a Collector, and quest rewards seem to have their own mitigation, differing from other drops including golds. The most common, req. 9 items, seem to be mitigated to 25%, providing only E+3 if the req is not met.
 * Be aware that Weakness causes all attributes to drop by -1, so meeting the req. demand by even +1 should be the wisest choice, especially when equipped with one of the wide-spread req. 9 items.