Following the conclusion of the GGG Live for the Last of the Druids Update, here are the key features to be aware of going into the new League.
New Class: Druid
Druid is Path of Exile 2’s first Strength and Intelligence hybrid class, and with it comes a massive overhaul to their section of the Passive Tree as well.
The Druid itself is built around Shapeshifting using the new Talisman Weapons. These allow the Druid, as well as other classes, to make use of these powerful shapeshifting forms.
Alongside Shapeshifting, Druids have access to a variety of Nature Magic, being able to summon long-lasting effects like a Volcano or Tornado that deal damage over a longer period of time, and can be empowered by the Shapeshifting Forms.
Shaman Ascendancy
The Shaman focuses on combining the spellcasting side of the Druid with their animal forms, with the unique ability to apply Rage to Spells. Between passive Rage Generation as well as their animal forms, Shamans can wreak havoc in a wide area.
Additionally, Shamans can allocate the Wisdom of the Maji, adding additional effects to Runes and Idols (previously called Talismans), giving them access to a wider variety of bonuses from them.
Oracle Ascendancy
Oracles are masters of foresight, able to see the future vision of both themselves and their foes. By following these visions, they’re able to increase their damage by converging these current and future timelines.
Oracles also get access to The Unseen Path Acsendancy Passive, opening several new clusters of passives on their passive tree.
New League: Fate of the Vaal
The Fate of the Vaal sees the return of Incursion in an updated and more appealing form, but it offers a lot of the great potential rewards of the mechanic in POE1.
Incursion – Dungeon Builder
This version of Incursion will have us building a similar Temple, but we get to directly choose the placement of different paths and reward rooms. Though we’ll still need to complete a small in-zone event to access the Vaal Ruins, where the Temple lies.
Where the reward rooms are placed will also affect other nearby rooms, upgrading them to offer greater rewards and challenges.
This is indicated in the UI by the bright green tiles, in this case, indicating that placing a Commander near a Barracks Room will upgrade it. Each Room has its own requirement for upgrading.
This unlocks access to many powerful rewards, like the return of Double Corruption, Vaal Limbs that enhance our character, or other valuable rewards. Some of these special rewards can be itemized for trade or for later use.
Later in the game, we’ll be able to access the past version of the Temple, before Atziri communed with the beast. And this, of course, opens access to a new Pinnacle Boss.
Pinnacle Boss: Atziri, the Red Queen
By traveling to the past and defeating the Temple Architect, we’ll be granted access to to the Queen’s Chambers, where we can take on Atziri as a Pinnacle Boss.
Not too many details of the encounter were shown, but expect it to be a challenging encounter.
Endgame Changes
Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get the overhaul we were expecting, as it’s been pushed to 0.5 instead. There’s always a small chance we could see the changes earlier, but between holidays and the POE1 Update looming over the future, it’s unlikely.
Tablet and Waystone Changes
That said, we did get some pretty notable changes for Tablets and Waystones. The biggest of these is the removal of Desecration and Instilling as part of the endgame map crafting process. Instead, many Tablet Modifiers have been buffed.
Additionally, after defeating the Arbiter of Ash once, All Tablets can be upgraded to have four modifiers instead of the previous two. Now we can truly “Alch and Go”, for both our Maps and Tablets. However, being able to be Rare also opens them more crafting potential.
We also appear to be getting Tier 16 Maps as the new highest Map tier without Corruption. Either that, or this is just the result of the developers creating an item to use as an example, as this is unmentioned in the patch notes.
Map Scaling and Visibility
The number of monsters found in maps will no longer scale in number as we progress through Waystone Tiers. Instead, a new system replaces this, referred to as Monster Effectiveness.
Monster Effectiveness instead will scale the Life, Damage, and Item Quantity of Monsters in maps. This means that while there are fewer monsters, the remaining Monsters will be juiced up and generally more rewarding.
To help with visual clarity, Delirium Fog has been adjusted so the maps that spawn with Delirium are no longer grayscale.
New Content
In addition to what is shown and detailed above, we also have a slew of new skills and items to look forward to. Sadly, many of these were not shown.
There are 20 new Skills, primarily the Primal Skills for Shapeshifting Forms. But this also includes some other spells like Thunderstorm and Tornado, which may not directly fall into that category.
35 New Supports are also added, ranging from effects that can make some otherwise stationary skills (like Firestorm or Tornado) able to move during their duration. This also comes with 8 new Linage Supports as well as a handful of reworked ones.
More than 10 new Unique Items were added, on top of the Incursion Rewards that can already alter some existing Vaal-themed Uniques. This is sure to make many new and old Uniques become prime candidates for new build potential.
And to round everything out, over 250 new passives have been added to the Passive Tree. Many of these changes are likely centered around the Druid section of the tree, but there may be new clusters placed elsewhere as well.
