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Grinding Gear Games recently unveiled the details of the upcoming 0.5 Return of the Ancients update for Path of Exile 2 during their official reveal stream. Strap yourselves in, because this is the biggest update they have ever released, with sweeping changes to the core endgame systems, new Ascendancy Classes, tons of new Bosses and much, much more!
Due to the sheer scale of this update, we will only provide a very short summary of the upcoming changes. Over the coming days, we will take a deeper dive into each of the topics below, and the potential impacts they will have on Path of Exile 2’s endgame and long term health.
Path of Exile 2’s Last Update Before Release
Return of the Ancients will be the final pre-release update for Path of Exile 2 in Early Access, launching on May 29th, with the patch notes being released on May 21st. The full release of the game will occur sometime after Exilecon, which takes place in November of this year.
As a result of this decision, GGG have decided that between now and the launch, there will be no new full league releases, instead opting for a few smaller event-style leagues that will provide a fresh economy and allow more technical balancing tweaks and give them the time to focus on polishing the game ready for its Free to Play 1.0 Release.
Runes of Aldur League
The Runes of Aldur League, coming with the Return of the Ancients update, will add new stories, NPCs, questlines and bosses, as well as new build-craft tools in the form of new Kalguuran Skills, Socketables, and integration into the old Expedition mechanics. Players will be able to choose their own rewards from a selection of available recipes when they encounter Remnants, unlock the ability to augment their armor with Ward and Runes, and even upgrade Unique Weapons with powerful new effects.
Atlas Tree Rework Brings New Depth and Choices
One of the most requested changes for Path of Exile 2 has been a refresh of the (until now) quite disappointing Atlas Passive Tree. GGG has completely turned this system around, with a much larger, deeper tree that provides many more interesting passives. As you, the player, complete more of the maps within the Fortress and unlock additional passive points, you will eventually be able to allocate EVERY passive on the new tree, but that doesn’t mean you will have no choices. Many notable nodes on the tree will provide you with multiple choices, ensuring that you can tailor your endgame farming strategies to your personal taste.
Atlas Masters – Quickly Switch Between Different Farming Strategies
Alongside the decisions you will make when building your Atlas Passive Tree, you will also discover and interact with a series of Atlas Masters who will give you new quests to complete on the Atlas. When you complete these missions, you will unlock new passive buffs or abilities that will impact your maps by changing mechanics or rewards. There are currently 3 revealed Masters, but during the Q&A with ZiggyD, Jonathon revealed there are several more in the works, allowing you to customise each of the masters to benefit different Atlas strategies. You can also freely switch between which Master is currently active, allowing you to quickly change up their benefits if you decide to switch your strategy at any point.
Infinite Atlas Gets Huge Glow-up
The Atlas itself is also seeing significant changes, with a focus on adding more structure and discovery, and providing players with clearly defined goals early in their Endgame journey. Each primary League Mechanics will now have a “Hub” zone where players can engage with the new Pinnacle Bosses. These Hubs will also act as the entry to story quests, which will eventually lead to your first engagement with these new Pinnacle bosses. They appear in reasonably set locations close to the starting point of the Infinite Atlas, which means that you can quickly and easily engage with the many Endgame stories, providing much-needed structure to the Endgame experience.
Additionally, many more unusual encounters have been scattered around the Infinite Atlas, providing interesting and exciting moments of discovery. You might find map nodes with additional Rogue Exiles and Rare Monsters, or that make all monsters in the map to spawn as at least Magic rarity. These little map modifiers will add variety to the endgame grind, providing new challenges and new rewards.
Existing League Mechanics Get Complete Reworks
Delirium, Expedition, Ritual and Breach are all being overhauled with mechanical changes, new crafting systems, new Pinnacle bosses and Hub zones, as well as reworked Atlas Passive Trees. All of these changes are being made to bring these original league mechanics up the quality level seen in the Abyss and Fate of the Vaal Temple leagues, and we will explore all of these changes in detail in the future.
Additionally, the Fate of the Vaal Temple is receiving some balancing changes and being added as a Core league mechanic, and can also be found as a Hub zone on the Infinite Atlas, as well as a questline to introduce new players to the mechanic. Abyss is also receiving a Hub zone and an entry questline.
New Ascendancies – The Spirit Walker Huntress and Martial Artist Monk
While there is no new Class coming with this expansion, we are receiving 2 new Ascendancy Classes in the Spirit Walker and the Martial Artist for the Huntress and Monk, respectively. Each has some very interesting and powerful passives that could lead to a variety of new builds, and have strong theming and stunning visuals.
If you have ever wanted to commune with the Azmeri Spirits and summon spectral animals to engage your foes, or to tame the most powerful of beasts (even Unique Beast Bosses!) then the Spirit Walker might be for you!
The Martial Artist leans heavily on the perfection of body and spirit attained through years of intense training. By mastering The Ways, you can summon spiritual clones of yourself to assault your enemies, project your spirit into powerful objects, or harness the power of stone to improve your offensive and defensive power.
This is just a brief summary of the largest changes touched on during the reveal stream, and each of these topics will have far-reaching impacts on Build Creation, moment-to-moment gameplay, farming strategies, and the structure and experience of the new, reimagined Endgame. We will go into more detail in future articles, so check back soon! If you haven’t watched the reveal stream yet, it is now available on the official Path of Exile YouTube Channel, and the Q&A is on ZiggyD’s YouTube Channel.
For more Path of Exile news, make sure to check out our full list of articles here.
