Comprised of eight islands, which players can visit in any order, there are over 12 new bosses to tackle and 100+ new enemy types. The update also marks the introduction of Abyssal League, the first full league for Path of Exile 2, which sees players discovering fissures, slaying the Abyssals that emerge from them and netting rewards.

For those dreading the idea of replaying the campaign, Grinding Gear Games confirmed the introduction of three Interludes. These mini Acts contain different side stories, new areas and fresh bosses which will allow players to reach the end-game. A new feature, Sprint, is also available in and out of combat, making it easier to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Of course, that’s only the tip of the iceberg as The Third Edict overhauls Support Gems, adds new crafting currency and mechanics, introduces new end-game areas, overhauls Skills, and, perhaps best of all, asynchronous trading. Check out the full reveal for more details or head here.

It will feature a new league with a unique mechanic and fresh challenges, including new bosses. Fans can also look forward to new crafting options and loot. As with Path of Exile 1, GGG will look into incorporating the league mechanic into the base game (though, as always, it’s not guaranteed). Players can expect to learn more about the new content one week ahead of launch.

The base game will also receive a “lot of new stuff,” and while there’s a “lot of content” that the team hasn’t yet finished, it did confirm another big update would land in December.

Path of Exile 2 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review from when early access first went live, but keep in mind that it’s undergone numerous changes and additions since then.

Among the most requested features is allowing players to change their Ascendancy by replaying the Trial, though they must first refund any Passive Points allocated to the same. Trials of Chaos with ten chambers are now available at level 65 instead of 75.

Belts will now drop with modifiers providing up to two Charm Lots at level 30, while level 60 belts can have up to three. Stash Tab Affinities are also available for Breach, Expedition, Ritual, Fragments, and other items. The Atlas also allows for bookmarking up to 16 locations for easier navigation.

As for Runes, players will stop seeing Lesser Runes after level 31, while Medium Runes will cease after level 52. Check out several other changes below, though remember they’re still subject to change. It may also take “roughly 15 minutes” after going live before PS5 players can download it.

0.2.0f Patch Notes

Respeccing Ascendancy Classes

• Redoing an Ascendancy Trial now allows you to respec which Ascendancy Class you have chosen at the Ascension device, but only if the Trial would grant you the number of points you already have.
• In order to respec your Ascendancy class, you must have zero points allocated in it, but you can now talk to Balbala or The Trialmaster to Refund Passive Points.
• Trials of Chaos that have 7 chambers and thus grant up to 4 Ascendancy Passive Skill Points now can be attempted from level 55, down from 60.
• Trials of Chaos that have 10 chambers and thus grant up to 6 Ascendancy Passive Skill Points can now be attempted from level 65, down from 75.

Charm Changes

• Belts level 30 and above now have implicit modifiers with 1-2 Charm Slots, while Belts level 60 and above now have implicit modifiers with 1-3 Charm Slots. This only affects new Belts found after this patch has been deployed.
• The explicit modifiers for additional Charm Slots on Belts can no longer roll.
• The Zerphi’s Genesis and Ingenuity Unique Belts no longer have additional Charm Slot Modifiers, though existing versions of these items are not affected.
• Bijouborne has intentionally kept its additional Charm Slots for now as in the future we will be expanding the maximum possible Charm slots to 6.
• Massively increased the values on the Prefixes that Restore Life, Mana or grant Guard when Charms are used. You can update existing items to the new values with a Divine Orb.
• All Charms but the Golden Charm have had their maximum Charges halved and their Charges per Use Halved, making them refill more quickly.
• The base duration of Stone Charm has also been increased from 2.5 seconds to 3 seconds.

New Stash Tab Affinities

Added Stash Tab Affinities for the following categories of items:

• Socketables
• Fragments (includes Tablets and Trial Keys)
• Breach
• Expedition
• Ritual

Atlas Bookmarks

• Added the ability to bookmark locations on your atlas to find them easily later.
• Right clicking a node will allow you create a bookmark by picking an icon and optionally adding a label you can type in.
• You can have up to 16 bookmarks at a time.
• They will appear as icons around the outside of the screen with a direction allowing you to scroll to them easily, or you can click on them to instantly take you there.
• You can also view a list of bookmarks under the legend and click them to go there.

Endgame Changes

• Pinnacle Bosses now have unlimited respawn attempts at Difficulty 0.
• Tower and Hideout Maps now have a higher minimum number of Rare monsters that can spawn. The final Rare monster defeated in Tower and Hideout Maps will now drop a Map of the same tier you are running (as long as you have enough Waystone Chance). Defeating the final Rare monster in Tower Maps is still not required to complete a Tower Map.
• Added UI tracking for Rare & Unique Monsters in Unique Maps, Tower Maps and Hideout Maps.

Crafting Changes

As each new Rune Tier is unlocked we are removing the lower runes from the drop pool. This is to stop you getting spammed with lesser runes at high levels.

• Lesser Runes no longer drop past level 31.
• (Medium) Runes no longer drop past level 52.
• Overall past level 52 you will now drop more Greater Runes than currently, but Lesser Runes and Runes will no longer drop.

Rogue Exiles will always have appropriate Tier Runes socketed into dropped items relative to their item levels.

Scepters can now have sockets, and we’ve added a new set of Talisman modifiers for Sceptres to allow upgrades to your Minions at mid to late game.

Totem Changes

• All Totem Skills now start gaining Elemental Resistances and Chaos Resistance, scaling up with Skill level, from around Gem level 13. At gem level 20 they have +75% to all Elemental Resistances and +35% to Chaos Resistances.
• Ironwood Support now also grants Totems summoned by supported skills +10% to all Maximum Elemental Resistance.

Light Stun Changes

• Moderately reduced the capacity for monsters to Light Stun you especially towards Cruel and Endgame by lowering the amount of Stun-Damage they deal, and increasing the minimum they must deal to Light Stun you. Additionally, Elemental, Chaos and Ranged stun-damage has been penalised even further so you’re less likely to get stunned by random stray projectiles and other things of the sort. These changes don’t affect Light Stuns dealt by players.
• We’ve added a cluster to the Passive Skill Tree near Chaos Inoculation that allows you to invest into a heavy amount of Stun and Ailment Threshold based on your Energy Shield. We will be adding more Stun mitigation later around the tree, notably in the Dextrous section.

Player Changes

• Shard Scavenger, in addition to its current effects, now also restores one cooldown use for all your Grenades and grants a buff for 2 seconds that prevents your Crossbow Attacks consuming bolts.
• Shockwave Totem’s base attack time is now 1.5 seconds (previously 3 seconds). Shockwave Totem’s slam now deals 96-211% of Attack Damage at Gem levels 3-20 (previously 169-369%), while the Jagged Ground Eruption damage is unchanged. Quality now provides 0 to -0.2 seconds to Totem base attack time (previously 0 to -0.55 seconds).
• Frozen Locus can now be used while using other skills to interrupt what you’re doing, similarly to dodge roll (though it does not allow you to dodge incoming hits).
• You will now Shield Bash if you release Raise Shield after blocking a hit from a faraway attacker, if there is a different enemy in Shield Bash range.
• Storm Lance is now able to be supported by ground effect-related Supports.
• Raise Shield is now able to be supported by Concentrated Effect.
• Fire Exposure and Lightning Exposure Supports have had their wording adjusted to make clear their effects apply to any target, not just Enemies. This is not a functional change, just a clarification of wording.
• Whirlwind Lance and The Whirlwind keyword hover now clarify that the Whirlwind’s collapse deals melee damage.
• Improved the visual effects of Arc’s explosions on hitting a shocked target.
• Glacial Lance is now able to chain off terrain.

Improvements and Other Changes

• Added an Equipped Gems section to the Gemcutting interface to make levelling up cross-class skill gems more convenient.
• Added rarity borders to items available to purchase from vendors.
• Greater Rune of Tithing now provides 1 to 100 Lightning Thorns Damage when socketed in Armour (previously 1 to 10).
• Attribute Runes now have a more appropriate gold value to vendors, and can be reforged into their higher tiers.
• Breach hands can now drop splinters at all levels. This amount starts low and increases with area level, similar to splinter drops from monsters.
• Shrines are now easier to click on.

Grinding Gear Games has discussed various changes in accordance with feedback, the latest including class buffs. For example, the Sorceress can create a lightning explosion by striking a shocked enemy with Arc and Eye of Winter will gain extra elemental damage if fired through Solar Orb, Frost Bomb, and Orb of Storms.

As for the Huntress, which received numerous complaints regarding its overall viability, parried enemies can’t evade your attacks. Detonating the spear stuck in foes after Rapid Assault also always induces bleed. Other notable changes include Delirium lasting 2.5 times, Artificer’s Orbs at specific locations during the campaign, Runes now applying to Wands and Staves, and more.

Check out some of the changes below and full details here. They’ll go live in the coming days, though the developer is also doing a pass on monster speed. However, any changes are “likely to be targeted at specific monsters that are too difficult, especially in zones that have a lot of fast monsters.” Stay tuned for more details.

Path of Exile 2 – Upcoming Changes

Player Balance Changes

Sorceress Specific Changes

• Arc now does a lightning explosion when it hits a shocked enemy but can no longer shock. It does not consume the shock.
• Eye of Winter now gains bonus elemental damage when passing through other elemental orbs like Solar Orb, Orb of Storms or Frost Bomb.
• Incinerate’s exposure duration has been increased to 8 seconds from 2 seconds.
• Mana Tempest can now be used with all spells, and has been changed to cause empowered spells to split to additional targets instead of chaining or forking.
• Frostbolt explosion radius has been increased by 50%.
• Ice Nova’s freeze buildup has been increased significantly.
• Frost Bomb exposure duration has been increased to 8 seconds from 5 seconds.
• Mana remnants has been changed to work with other elemental ailments than just shock.
• We are lowering the delay for Ignites spreading from sources such as the Wildfire support to 1 second from 2 seconds, but the radius has been decreased slightly.

Chaos Innoculation

• Chaos Innoculation now prevents bleeding.
• The passive clusters that grant you additional stun threshold based on your maximum energy shield now also increase your ailment threshold so you will no longer be ignited/chilled/frozen/shocked as often while using CI if you take these passives.

Huntress Specific Changes

• Parried enemies can no longer evade your attacks.
• Energy Shield no longer prevents bleeding from being applied.
• The spear stuck in enemies by Rapid Assault now always bleeds on hit when you detonate it, the AoE has been increased by 20% and the detonate does 67% more damage.
• Spearfield’s spear duration has been increased to 10 seconds from 6 and had it’s damage growth increased, dealing 30% more damage by level 20.
• Herald of Blood no longer deletes the corpses of Rares or Uniques, allowing you to use Ritual Sacrifice on the rares.

Warrior Specific Changes

• Temper Weapon on Smith of Kitava now adds 3 empowerments per strike of your weapon, and is 25% faster. The damage might need to come down a little.
• Shield Wall is now detonatable with Warcries.
• Armour break being applied to players by monsters no longer has the 20% extra physical damage modifier that was intended to only be a buff to players, and we have also reduced its duration to 4 seconds from 12. In addition, there was a bug where partial armour breaks were never removed on the player.

Ranger Specific Changes

• Stormcaller arrow now proliferates shocks to nearby enemies in a small radius and has had its AoE radius increased by 50%.
• Lightning Rod damage has been increased by 30%, and their duration has been increased to 20 seconds.
• Lightning Arrow has had the radius at which it arcs to targets increased by 50%.
• Tornado Shots maximum duration has been increased to 15 seconds

Though a new Ascendancy for the Mercenary is seemingly inbound, the developer has showcased another in a new teaser. Based on the spear usage, it’s the Amazon, another staple of Diablo 2, which could be an Ascendancy for the Ranger. Along with spear throws, she can drop down from the sky with a lightning-infused slam.

As for other content, there are new Skill and Support Gems, new Uniques, additional Atlas Passive Skill Tree choices, and quality-of-life changes like locking your main, off-hand, or both slots. You can also expect visual and audio improvements, with Essences getting a significant glow-up. Stay tuned for more details on Dawn of the Hunt in the coming weeks.

As for Perfection, successfully executing Skills with perfect timing grants a buff stack, providing five percent more damage. It stacks up to three times, granting 15 percent damage in total. Granted, it’s not ideal for end-game, especially when using a charged shot, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Other notable additions include a new quality-of-life feature for locking your main hand, off-hand or both. It allows for the same gear in both weapon sets. The visuals and audio are also being improved, with Essences receiving a fidelity upgrade.

The development team has yet to outline some of the bigger features of update 0.2.0, but it’s confirmed new Atlas Passive Skill Tree choices, a new Ascendancy (likely for the Mercenary), and more. It will also address the “lack of cool things” to earn. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

However, there’s also a new Ascendancy inbound. Based on the concept art, this could be a ballista-focused subclass for the Mercenary. It isn’t the only new Ascendancy, though the developer is keeping things under wraps. However, two more Unique items have been revealed – the Prism Guardian from Path of Exile 1 and The Deepest Tower, which is new.

Fans can also look forward to new Atlas Passive Skill Tree choices on top of a “lot” of other improvements for the in-game. Stay tuned for more details on update 0.2.0 in the coming weeks.

Path of Exile 2 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review of the early access version, though it’s received numerous changes over the past few months.

The Map Stash tab holds 576 Waystones for each tier, with different tiers having dedicated sub-tabs. Waystones will automatically be sorted into their respective tabs when Ctrl + Clicking, but you can also turn on Waystone Affinity in the stash. This ensures they’ll always be sorted into the Map Stash tab, even if others are open.

Best of all, Path of Exile 1 players with any Map Stash tabs can use these in the sequel at no added cost. While the wait is still on for a Tablets tab, it’s on the developer’s to-do list.

Path of Exile 2 is in early access for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Its next update, 0.2.0, is in the works, though a release window has yet to be announced. Head here for more details on what it offers.

A Steam Community post outlined the biggest issues it wants to address in patch 0.2.0. These include balance issues, either “too high or too low” with various builds, the paucity of build-defining Uniques, and iffy progression combined with a lack of cool things in the end-game.

Of course, the developer also wants to ensure a “draw card” to bring “as many players as possible” back to test its changes. There’s no timeline for patch 0.2.0, though it will be announced “as soon as we can.” Grinding Gear Games is targeting updates every few months, but given the number of changes in early access, it’s doubtful if Version 1.0 will arrive this year.

Path of Exile 2 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Stay tuned for further updates, and check out our review for the early access version.

In a new video, Rogers revealed that the “ideal time to have released 3.26 would have been late October.” This was before Path of Exile 2‘s early access launch. However, it didn’t seem feasible. “We just didn’t think we could do it. It was too close to the huge circus that was the organization around Path of Exile 2’s launch.

“But we also didn’t want to immediately launch it right after Path of Exile 2 either. So that kind of ruled out December.” Since it couldn’t launch in January due to Christmas, the team targeted February. Admitting it didn’t look good since the game would have gone “seven months with no leagues,” the team “really didn’t think it was possible to do it any earlier than that.”

Of course, the delay to Path of Exile 2 followed alongside issues like crashes, endgame balance, etc. Rogers thus couldn’t pull Path of Exile 1 developers off until they were resolved. The current priority for the team is to ensure the sequel is at a point where there aren’t any “major issues.”

The result is that 3.26 won’t happen until Path of Exile‘s 0.2.0 update has shipped (not counting the weeks needed for support). “In the meantime, we are going to get a bunch of pre-production done on 3.26 with whatever people not needed to fix issues with Path of Exile 2,” said Rogers.

After update 0.2.0 is complete, Rogers says, “We will devote as many resources as are needed from our company to get 3.26 done as soon as possible.” However, he can’t confirm a release date at this time.

He admits that the team “Still have a lot to learn about how to run two games simultaneously. We were overconfident. We still need to work out how to structure our studio to make this possible.” Nevertheless, there is a “solid plan” for 3.26.

Stay tuned for further updates in the coming months and check out our review for Path of Exile 2 here.