Path of Exile: Synthesis Patch Notes Revealed, Extensive Skill Reworks and Changes Coming

Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile will be receiving its next big content update on March 8th, kicking off the Synthesis League. It recently revealed patch notes for update 3.6.0 and explained how Synthesis League works, the new Skill Gems and Unique Items, and many changes that are being made to existing spells. Check out the full patch notes here.

There’s quite a lot to get through, but some of the major points include changes to Life Leech, a new Energy Shield Leech function with new passive skill tree nodes for the same, and much more. Spells like Armageddon Brand and Storm Brand have been tweaked to be slightly less potent. Meanwhile, skills like Flame Totem and Storm Burst have been reworked completely.

If that weren’t enough, the Betrayal League content is being rolled into the Standard League. The Atlas of Worlds is also being shuffled, and changes have been made to Enhancements to allow them to have their own slot on items instead of taking up the Implicit mod slot. Synthesis League will be going live for PC (and most likely Xbox One) on Friday. The PS4 version of Path of Exile hasn’t been dated, but should arrive in mid-March.

The Synthesis Challenge League

• Challenge leagues are a great opportunity for a fresh start in a new economy. All of your old characters and items are still present in the Standard and Hardcore leagues, but you’re encouraged to join the new leagues, complete challenges and demonstrate your mastery of Path of Exile!
• With 3.6.0, there are Standard, Hardcore and Solo Self-Found variations of the Synthesis challenge league available. They have the same core mechanics and items. You can create private league versions of these leagues, with mods that make the game harder.
• In the Synthesis Challenge League, you will meet Cavas, a lingering spirit who has lost his memories. He needs your help to piece together his past and discover the secrets that have become isolated in his mind.
• Help Cavas by exploring these lost memories and activating the memory stabilisers contained within. But be quick, because memories degrade, and if you linger too long or take the wrong turn you may degrade with them! Successfully stabilising the memory will allow Cavas to store it for use in the Memory Nexus.
• By visiting the Memory Nexus you can use your stored memories to build a path to distant memories. Distant memories contain great challenges and valuable rewards. You may even stumble across Fractured Items, which contain mods that are locked in place and cannot be modified.
• Use Fractured Items in the Synthesiser (found in the Memory Nexus) to craft item base types with powerful new implicit modifiers! Which modifiers you get depend on the mods chosen by the Synthesiser on the items you’re sacrificing. What can you create?
• The new challenge leagues include a set of 40 new challenges. When you complete 12 challenges, you will receive the Synthesis Crown and Synthesis Crown Attachment. When you reach 24 challenges, you will receive the Synthesis Pet. At 36 challenge completed you’ll receive the Synthesis Wings. These microtransactions are only obtainable in this league.
• From the 19th challenge onwards and for every third challenge after that, you will receive pieces of the Synthesis Totem Pole decoration to display in your hideout. The Totem Pole permanently showcases how many of the Synthesis challenges you completed during the league.

Major New Content and Features

• Added a new Intelligence/Strength Skill Gem – Purifying Flame: A wave of divine fire deals damage in a line, then creates Consecrated Ground and deals damage in an area around the targeted location. A larger shockwave then expands outwards, damaging enemies standing on Consecrated Ground that were not already hit.
• Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem – Soulrend: Release a projectile that moves towards and passes through enemies, dealing chaos damage to enemies it hits and leeching a portion of that damage as Energy Shield. This projectile also applies a short-duration damage over time effect to enemies around its path.
• Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem – Bane: Applies a debuff which deals Chaos damage over time, as well as any linked curses, to enemies in an area. The debuff deals more damage over time and lasts longer for each curse Bane applies.
• Added a new Intelligence/Strength Skill Gem – Wave of Conviction: Sends a rolling wave of energy forward in a widening cone for a duration, dealing physical, fire and lightning damage to enemies it hits, and applying a debuff which lowers enemy resistances to the element of which the most damage was dealt for a longer duration. Casting the skill again while a wave is active will cancel the first wave. You can only ever have one wave.
• Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem – Zealotry: Casts an aura that causes you and your allies to deal more spell damage and grants increased critical strike chance with spells. You and your allies may also create Consecrated Ground when you hit strong enemies.
• Added a new Intelligence/Strength Skill Gem – Divine Ire: Deals physical and lightning damage to nearby enemies and grants stages while channelling, granting additional stages based on nearby enemies you damage. When you stop channelling, unleash a powerful beam of energy in front of you, dealing more damage per stage.
• Added a new Intelligence/Dexterity Skill Gem – Malevolence: Casts an aura that grants increased skill duration to you and your allies, and causes you and your allies to deal more damage over time.
• Added a new Intelligence Support Gem – Energy Leech Support: Supported skills leech a portion of the damage they deal on hit back as Energy Shield. Supported skills also deal more damage while you are leeching Energy Shield and while you are on Full Energy Shield.
• Added a new Intelligence Support Gem – Intensify Support: Supported skills have less Area of Effect but deal more Area damage per Intensity. Supported skills gain Intensity when used, and lose Intensity while moving or upon teleporting.
• Added a new Intelligence Support Gem – Unleash Support: Supported spells gain seals over time, and are unsealed when cast, causing their effects to reoccur for each seal lost.
• Added a lot more music to early acts.
• Added 5 new hideouts that can be unlocked through gameplay.
• Added 17 new Unique Items.
• Added 15 new Divination Cards, designed by Supporters.
• Added new item types: Fractured Items and Synthesised Items.
• Path of Exile no longer supports the Windows XP or Windows Vista operating systems. It will still support a 32-bit client for users of 32-bit versions of Windows, but we strongly encourage users to use the 64-bit client if they can. With no more support for Windows XP and Vista, we are also finally retiring support for the DirectX 9 rendering mode, as DirectX 11 is fully supported in recent versions of Windows and is so much faster. By not having to maintain support for two versions of DirectX, we are able to simplify a lot of code, making it faster.

Minor New Content and Features

• Zana’s model has been updated.
• The unique axe Debeon’s Dirge now occasionally plays sounds during combat.
• Added wind physics to a number of skills, including Vaal Blight, Cold Snap, Vaal Cold Snap, and Shock Nova.
• Added some missing Tarkleigh dialogue in Act 6.
• Added enchantments for all the new skills.
• Hitting enemies with holy skills now causes a special holy on-hit effect to display.
• Skills which involve destroying corpses now cause the gibs left by those corpses to disappear after a delay.
• Vaal skills now have their appropriate surge effects.
• Updated the 3D art for the Alternate Art Cloak of Flame.
• Improved performance in a number of boss fights and with a number of player skills.
• Continued to incrementally improve the sound, art, effects and environments.