Path of Exile 2 Just Made Vaal Content and Skills Feel Better

If you have been busy with grinding or theorycrafting, you might have missed it, but Path of Exile 2 received a new patch, and it quietly fixed a lot of issues and made some meaningful improvements to the Fate of the Vaal league.

This update focuses on bug fixes, balance changes, and quality-of-life improvements, with special attention given to Vaal content, shapeshifting mechanics, minions, and controller support.

Here is a quick breakdown of what actually changed.

Fate of the Vaal League Improvements

Several Vaal-related systems were adjusted to feel overall better and more rewarding:

• Vaal Unique modifiers received additional roll options and stronger values on some weapons and body armours
• Doryani in the Vaal Ruins can now identify items for you
• The Adorned can now roll Physical Damage as a Vaal Unique modifier when using a Vaal Cultivation Orb
• Multiple bugs in Atziri’s Temple were fixed, including unusable crafting benches, broken doors, checkpoints not working on controller, and co-op inspection issues
• Corruption Chamber rooms in the Vaal Ruins now properly activate and can be completed

A lot of items, especially Vaal Uniques, were also corrected, fixing issues with negative stats, missing Vaal tags, or modifiers that could not be properly altered.

More General Changes

Beyond league-specific fixes, patch 0.4.0b includes a few changes that also affect the rest of the game on both league and legacy:

• Tablet drop rates increased
• Zenith II Support is now cheaper to use (100% cost multiplier instead of 120%)
• Searing Heat now grants 10% faster Ignites instead of reducing skill duration
• Abyss Precursor Tablets now correctly respect Fragment Stash Affinity
• Reduced movement speed and tracking on Krutog, Lord of Kin’s foot stomp fissure
• You can now only equip one level-up effect at a time
• Vendor gold values were adjusted for Ultimatums, Relics, Tablets, and new gear modifiers

There are also multiple clarity improvements to skill and passive descriptions, especially around adaptations, minion behavior, and damage scaling.

Huge Bug Fixes

Finally, this patch rolled out a ton of bug fixes, from minions and skills to controller issues and more:

• Shapeshift issues causing failed skills, broken animations, or weapon swap bugs
• Minion command skills now correctly use player line of sight instead of the minion’s
• Dozens of skill-specific fixes (Briarpatch, Wing Blast, Volcano, Plague Bearer, Toxic Domain, and more)
• Energy Shield bypass bugs, incorrect crit behavior, and broken support gem interactions
• Multiple map and boss fixes, including Frozen Falls, Frostborn Fiend, and The Prisoner
• Controller-specific issues with inventory slots, menus, checkpoints, and crashes
• Numerous client and instance crashes fixed, including party play and Xbox-specific crashes

In short, if something felt off recently, there is a good chance it has been quietly patched. Or if something finally felt as if it is working as intended, it is also normal!

Patch 0.4.0b does not add any new content. Still, it significantly improves stability, clarity, and consistency in Path of Exile 2, especially for Vaal league players, shapeshift builds, minion users, and anyone playing on controller.

If you stepped away for a bit, now is a good time to jump back in. If you are interested in reading over the complete patch notes, you can do so on the official forum.

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For more guides or information about the latest content, check out our overview here!