Grinding Gear Games has shared details on Content Update 0.3.0 for Path of Exile 2, introducing Act 4, titled The Third Edict. This new chapter sends players on a non-linear journey across eight islands in the Ngamakanui archipelago, facing unique challenges and bosses along the way. Cruel Difficulty has been removed, replaced by new interludes designed to bridge progression up to level 65 before endgame content begins.
The update also introduces the Rise of the Abyssals league, bringing fissure-based encounters, Abyssal crafting mechanics, and underground challenges. Beyond this, Update 0.3.0 delivers sweeping balance adjustments, a complete overhaul of the support gem system, new skills and keystones, endgame revisions, essence reworks, and a wide range of quality-of-life improvements.
Full Patch Notes
Act Four: The Third Edict
- Added Act 4, continuing the storyline after Act 3
- Journey with Doryani to seek the ancient weapon of the Third Edict
- Explore the Ngamakanui archipelago, featuring eight islands with unique bosses
- Act Four is fully non-linear, allowing islands to be tackled in any order
Interludes
- Removed Cruel Difficulty
- Introduced three new interludes as side stories
- Designed to level players up to 65 before endgame
Rise of the Abyssals League
- New challenge league with fresh economy
- Old characters remain with free passive tree refunds
- Encounter fissures that summon Abyssals with necromantic abilities
- Abysses grow in scale and reward Abyssal troves when closed
- New Abyssal crafting system via ancient bones and the Well of Souls
- Delve into Abyssal Depths and face Abyssal commanders
- League available in Standard, Hardcore, and Solo Self-Found modes
Major Character Balance Overhaul
- Widespread changes to increase build diversity
- More viable skills and archetypes for endgame play
Support Gem System Overhaul
- Removed restriction on using only one copy of each support gem
- Introduced multi-tiered support gems with varied effects
- Added 11 new support gems and 40 endgame-only Lineage supports
- Combined effects of certain gems, renamed others for clarity
- Fixed bugs with persistent skills, attribute restrictions, and totem interactions
- Updated cooldown wording and clarified mechanics
New Content and Features
- New skill gems: Fortifying Cry, Forge Hammer, Ancestral Cry, Toxic Domain, Ice-Tipped Arrows, Frost Darts
- New persistent buffs: Iron Ward, Mortar Cannon, Mirage Archer, Ravenous Swarm, Siphon Elements
- Reworked Grim Feast skill
- Four new keystone passive skills: Hollow Palm Technique, Ritual Cadence, Blackflame Covenant, Walker of the Wilds
- New currencies: Greater and Perfect Orbs of various types, Hinekora’s Lock
- Over 10 new unique items, 50 new base item types, 20 new endgame maps, and 15 new Omens
Endgame Changes
- Splinters replace singular key items for pinnacle content access
- Difficulty can now be selected at the Realmgate using splinters
- Arbiter of Ash fight adjusted to static difficulty, Uber version added
- New requirements for earning Map Boss Atlas Passive points
- Waystone modifiers redesigned with upsides and downsides
- New socket and quality variations for high-tier loot
Atlas Passive Tree Adjustments
- Expedition notable reworked, increasing logbook level and implicit modifiers
- Ritual notable updated to boost revival chance instead of favor rewards
Essence Rework
- Essences now have four tiers: Lesser, Normal, Greater, Perfect
- Modified functionality for guaranteed modifiers and corruption outcomes
- Seven new essence types introduced
- Essence of Torment renamed to Essence of Abrasion
- Essence of Hysteria reworked
General Improvements
- Unique Strongboxes now have unique minimap icons
- Minimap icon added for The Rain Festival Beetle
- Campaign encounters and NPCs adjusted
- Gems now sell for gold based on quality and level
- Quality-of-life changes: checkpoints, Omens stack, Orb of Chance new 3D art, NVIDIA Reflex re-enabled
- Party and trading improvements applied
Path of Exile 2 is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Grinding Gear Games. A sequel to Path of Exile (2013), the game was released as a paid early access title for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on December 6, 2024.
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