Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur is about two weeks away from release, so perhaps it’s time to take a look at some of the potential buffs and nerfs that could be coming soon. Buckle up and let’s go!
Possible Buffs
Let’s start with the buffs.
Ancestor Totem
And Ancestor Totem is definitely at the top of our list of worthy buffs. Ancestor Totem creates an awkward playstyle for the melee. Since their inception, it’s been necessary for a normal melee build to maintain the buffs granted by Ancestral Warchief and Ancestral Protector to gain the increased melee damage and more attack speed buffs they each provide.
And you can’t ignore these buffs either, they usually make up about 50% of the damage of a melee build together, so you need to maintain these buffs when you need to deal maximum damage.
The problem is that these buffs are tied to Totem, and Totem can die very easily. There is a workaround for this with the constant buffs from Totem Mastery, but that’s just spending passive points to solve a problem that shouldn’t even exist. Even then, you’re just making the playstyle less annoying. That’s why I think Ancestor Totem is the first and most desperately needed buff in POE 3.25.
Ever since the developer interview about POE 2 in January this year, changes to this mechanic have seemed very likely in the near future. I thought changes might come to POE 3.24, but it seems that this realization came a little too late in the development cycle to be included in Necropolis League.
But in this interview, the developer group discussed the topic of Melee Totem in POE 2, and they seemed to finally realize that Ancestor Totem was a poor design and needed to be changed, even questioning why they were added in the first place.
Finally, the devs also said that marking Ancestor Totem should be changed in POE 1, and revealed that the melee is a tier 1 feature they are looking to address in POE 3.25. So, combining these two pieces of information, I think changes to Ancestor Totem are coming sooner or later.
Unique Items
For the second buff prediction, my guess is that it will be a balance, buff, or even a rework of some unique items.
The number of unique weapons that have completely fallen behind in terms of Power Creep over the past 10-15 leagues is incredible. While I do think that crafted weapons are better than unique weapons in most situations, the problem is that there are too many very interesting unique items in the game. It would be fun to build around these POE items if they weren’t completely crippling your build from the start.
Some examples of unique weapons that I think should receive numerical buffs or more significant changes are Razor of the Seventh Sun, Fate of the Vaal, Yielding Mortality, Hegemony’s Era, Kaom’s Primacy, and Brain Rattler. Of course, the list could go on and on.
The last unique weapon balancing was in POE 3.20 Forbidden Sanctum, but that one really only covered a few very rare or endgame weapons. Many of the more common and uncommon unique weapons have lost their place in the game and are in desperate need of balancing, and now is the time for that to happen.
Ascendancy
The last buff prediction in POE 3.25 is about Ascendancy changes. Once again, I think this will be melee-focused, with the obvious candidates here being Gladiator and Berserker. However, I think Raider and Assassin are also very realistic choices, especially if they decide to lean towards buffing Melee Dagger Archetype, which needs more support.
Of these, Gladiator is the most in need of a rework of the four Ascendancy Classes, as its dual-wielding melee skills are too weak.
We do know that GGG had a series of Ascendancy changes planned long before POE 3.21 Crucible league, but they felt that the changes were not polished enough at the time, so they withheld them. So I expect at least one Melee Ascendancy to be addressed in POE 3.25, and I’m betting on Gladiator.
Possibly Nerfs
Next, we have three nerf predictions.
Detonate Dead
Let’s start with Detonate Dead. DD’s popularity in Necropolis league has basically pushed this skill to its limit. As we all know, DD has been strong for a long time, but its play style has hindered its popularity in every league.
In CoC Detonate Dead Of Chain Reaction Inquisitor build in Necropolis, the skill went from a two-button build to a one-button setup enough to make many people pick this skill up for the first time.
Both Normal and Chain DD have very clear advantages over many other abilities, and can easily surpass other builds with minimal setup and equipment, which can save you a lot of POE Currency. Therefore, I expect Detonate Dead’s corpse explosion damage to be nerfed significantly.
Overwhelm Modifiers
Overwhelm component on monsters is something that became very apparent as early as Archnemesis modifiers for Kalandra League in POE 3.19.
But even before that, the existence of something like 100% Overwhelm on Detonate Expedition Remnants simply didn’t make much sense when other offensive Monster modifiers included 15% Penetration on the same mechanic. The two modifiers were simply not equal in terms of power level.
But Expedition isn’t the only culprit, as even a Common or Rare monster that appears anywhere in Path of Exile may come with a modifier that Overwhelms 30% physical damage reduction.
Of course, more recently we have Lantern modifiers as part of the unskippable Necropolis League mechanic, which also includes Overwhelm modifiers on monsters, which stack.
In addition to the pre-existing modifiers on the monsters on this map, Monster Overwhelm has always had an additional buff compared to other modifiers for reasons no one knows. This has led to a wide range of characters taking damage taken and converting it to other types as the preferred method of dealing physical damage hits in many builds. So I feel that Monster Overwhelm is likely to change in numbers or mechanics.
Physical Damage Taken As
The third and final nerf prediction is part of the same problem, and that is Physical Damage Taken As.
As I just discussed, Physical Damage Taken As has long been an excellent way to deal physical damage hits, and this can be traced back to a few specific changes.
First, the addition of Eldritch Implicit in POE 3.17, including Physical Damage Taken As on helmets, this change increased the total amount of stacks you can get from this slot. Because you can stack it with existing Explicit modifiers.
In the same league, Dawnbreaker Unique Shield was introduced, providing more of this property from a gear slot that previously did not have any corrupted implicit.
Then in POE 3.19, Lightning Coil and Cloak of Flame Body Armour were significantly buffed, providing a large amount of Damage Taken As, as their access to Physical Damage Taken As Modifiers has quietly increased over time.
While the effectiveness of other methods of mitigating physical damage has waned or been left behind, I expect that either access to damage taken will be restricted by nerfing the values of these modifiers, or the permissions to use these items will increase.
Outro
That’s my summary of some of the buffs and nerfs that may appear in the new league. What are your predictions for POE 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur? Are there any more notable changes that didn’t make this list? Let’s wait and see!
As this Necropolis League draws to a close, it also means it’s time to launch Path of Exile 3.25. The latest trailer released by developer GGG reveals that they have named the new league Settlers of Kalguur. The new league will be launched on both PC and consoles on July 26.
As usual, Grinding Gear Games will be live showcasing the full version of the expansion a week before the league’s release, on July 18. At this event, we’ll get full details about the new league, including its new features and content and seasonal mechanics and any balance or quality of life changes coming in the update. But before the official release, let’s take a look at what hidden information is worth exploring in this trailer.
New Quality Of Life Change
First of all, it’s worth noting that one of the quality of life updates that has been announced is that reservation effects like Heralds and Auras will persist after death. This long-requested feature will allow you to participate in content without having to spend time reapplying all of your Heralds and Auras even if you die. However, if you forget to do this like I did, you will still die as a result.
Trailer
I’m curious what this new league mechanic is, and maybe we can find clues in the trailer.
League Mechanics
Because the name of POE 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur immediately reminded me of Settlers of Catan. So maybe some kind of resource management, or resource trading between settlements. Or maybe we’ll do an off-map mechanic like a mini-game. And I do think that off-map mechanics work better in Path of Exile recently.
So I guess maybe there’s some City Builder inspiration here, you know, like Civilization or something like that, maybe a city building mechanic like a mini off-map mechanic.
NPCs
In addition, according to this short trailer, we also saw Faustus, the Fence, an NPC that exists in Rogue Harbor in the current version of the game, which is also an important part of Heist league mechanic.
Faustus is the vendor that players used to trade Heist targets for Rogue’s Marker. It’s worth noting that selling Heist targets to other NPCs does not return any POE Currency.
In the trailer, we see Faustus boarding a ship, with what appears to be a developing settlement in the background, including sheep, and a structure that looks like a windmill.
With the introduction of ships and the possibility of visiting various islands, players may be able to embark on a journey to explore and plunder different islands, and perhaps even travel to a whole new continent. This creates a sense of anticipation and excitement for the upcoming League.
In addition to this, we also spotted a lot of other NPCs in the trailer, including the leader of Expedition, Dannig, and the captain of Marylene of Rogue Harbor, who is obviously from Expedition.
A lot of people have speculated whether all of NPCs we’ve seen before indicate changes to Expedition or Heist. But I don’t think so, and I think it’s actually a good idea for them to reuse these NPCs in future League mechanics, just like they did with this mechanic.
Because the developers have already done animation work for these NPCs, and the backstory is already there, it also means that they can build on this more in the new alliance mechanism, and all they really need to do is make some new animations. So I think it’s a good idea to reuse these NPCs, and it looks like that’s one of the things they’re going to do.
Will There Be A Reversal?
But I will say that this trailer is a little strange to me, because it’s almost a little too picturesque, bright and colorful, which is a bit strange compared to the past.
As a seasoned exile, it’s not hard to find that usually POE trailers are a bit ominous, but Settlers of Kalguur trailer is all bright and colorful, especially behind Faustus and Dannig, there are sheep, farmland and windmills, everything looks a little too beautiful.
So I’m assuming that maybe something will happen, such as these settlements may be attacked by monsters, and the players need to react to this and then go to defend the settlements. In any case, I’m really looking forward to POE 3.25.
Expansion Return?
Another point that has caught a lot of players’ attention is the recent announcement’s return to the word “expansion”.
In the past, Path of Exile has always introduced new bosses, crafting currency, and other significant game additions through expansions. However, GGG has stopped using the word “expansion” for several years.
We noticed that the words "expansion" and "challenge league" were deliberately separated in this announcement, which has led to speculation about the size and scope of the upcoming POE 3.25 league.
With PoE 2 beta likely to be released in November, this league could be an important transition point between PoE 1 and PoE 2.
Outro
Anyway, while we may find out exactly what Settlers of Kalguur league will be on July 18, we can at least speculate, right?
The background of the settlement being developed makes me think that we’re going to visit all the new lands in Wraeclast, and the trailer also shows a sign in front of a body of water, so maybe we will actually enter the sea in some way? Maybe go fishing?
So, what can you expect to see in the new Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur when it goes live on July 26? We’ll have to wait and see!
Hello fellow Exiles! Here we want to talk about Flicker Strike and the 3 top builds centered on this skill, which are specifically for those who like to quickly navigate the map. So without further ado, let’s take a quick look at these best Flicker Strike themed builds in Path of Exile 3.24!
Nightblade Flicker Strike Raider
Let’s start with the well-balanced Nightblade Flicker Strike Raider with Ranger Class. This is the build that allows us to have it all. Not only does it easily achieve over 10 million DPS, but it is also super tanky and more importantly, as you can see in the game, its clear speed is very fast.
To understand the advantages of this build, I have to repeat what I just said, this is one of the most well-balanced builds I have ever played. It has super fast damage and survivability, as well as satisfying explosive gameplay. Let’s face it, Nightblade Flicker Strike is super cool!
Now to the cons, I would say that the cost of completing this build is not low, you need some mandatory unique and rare items. Another problem is that you need to have a little control over your character, especially when facing bosses like Queen Atziri and Shaper. You need to know which cone to attack and pay attention to your position. Therefore, for players who try this build for the first time, it may be difficult to get started.
For the budget, like I said before, this build is expensive and not a starter, you need at least six Divine Orbs to assemble it.
In addition, this build requires three mandatory unique items. The first is Farrul’s Fur Body Armor, which guarantees that you always have full Frenzy Charges forever.
Next we also need a Yoke of Suffering Amulet, which allows all our elemental damage to shock the enemy, making them take more damage.
Finally, we also need Perseverance Vanguard Belt, which converts tankness into damage. It increases the damage by 1% for every 200 points of the minimum between Armor and Evasion. Luckily, this build has over 30,000 points of Armor and Evasion.
As I said before, it’s clear speed definitely deserves full marks. When you are mapping, it will swing its great sword to help you clear all enemies on the screen!
Besides that, the boss damage it deals is also great, especially when you use Berserk skill. It can even kill Guardians in less than two seconds. But I only give it 9 points because the damage it deals to Pinnacle Boss will also decrease when our Rage is harder to accumulate.
For its survivability, I will also give it 9 points out of 10. This build has nearly 100,000 effective HP, and its high Armor, high Evasion, Spell Suppression, over 30% block chance and high chance to avoid Elemental Ailments can help you be quite tanky when facing bosses. I only deducted one point because of your low life regeneration and susceptibility to poison.
Flicker Strike Slayer
Next we have the super strong Flicker Strike Slayer with Duelist Class. This build uses Terminus Est to maintain Frenzy Charges you need to keep flickering. This is a great and simple Flicker Strike Build for beginners.
To list the pros of this build, I will have to mention its clear speed. Also, it has strong boss damage and Instant Life leech. Of course, Flicker build looks really cool.
Now to list the cons, I will first say that you are always very close to the enemy, which puts you in a vulnerable position. Another problem is that you have almost no control over your character, which makes it difficult when dealing with bosses. You need to always pay attention to your position or attack the right enemy.
As for the budget, you only need one mandatory unique item to complete this build, which is Terminus Est Sword, which can maintain your Frenzy Charges while you flickering.
For clear speed, this build is definitely worth 10 points. I don’t even need to say anything, just look at the gameplay and you will agree with me.
Its boss damage is also great, worth 9 out of 10. This build can easily deal millions of damage per second. So you can kill those big bosses with ease.
Now, for the survivability of this build, I can only give it 8 points. Although this build still has nearly 100,000 effective HP because of high Armor, Evasion and Spell Suppression, I have to deduct 2 points because we are always very close to the enemy and in a vulnerable position.
Infernal Flicker Strike Ascendant
Finally, we have this incredible Infernal Flicker Strike Ascendant with Scion class. This build uses Oro’s Sacrifice Unique Sword to maintain Frenzy Charges needed to keep flickering.
To talk about the pros of this build, I would of course start with its super high clear speed, besides that, its amazing boss damage and high survivability will definitely shine.
For the cons, the first thing that comes to my mind is that you are always very close to the enemy, which is a vulnerable position. Another problem is that you have very little control over your character, which makes it difficult to attack the right enemy while paying attention to your position when facing a boss.
As for the budget, we need two mandatory unique items to complete this build. The first and most important is Sword Oro’s Sacrifice, which allows you to always keep Frenzy Charges while Flickering.
Next, we also need a Call of the Void, which allows you to cool down your attacks and crush enemies. Please note that this ring can be a bit expensive in the first few days of a new league. But don’t worry, you will be fine without it while waiting for the price to drop.
As always, the clear speed of this build still has no disadvantages, it is very fast like any other Flicker Strike build, so fast that some players can even kill groups of monsters in seconds.
Its boss damage is also very good, worth 9 out of 10. This build achieves high DPS and can destroy bosses in seconds.
Now for survivability, I can only give it 8 points out of 10. I had to subtract two points for the same reason as for Flicker Strike Slayer.
That’s all the top Flicker Strike builds I’ve found so far, and they’ll help you survive even into the next league if they haven’t been nerfed. What do you think of these Flicker Strike builds? Are there any better options that didn’t make my list? See you next time!
Sorceress is one of the two Intelligence starting classes in Path of Exile 2. The class focuses primarily on Elemental Damage, Elemental Ailments, Mana and Energy Shield, which makes it somewhat similar to the Elementalist from POE 1.
Here we’ll go over all Sorceress themed abilities we know so far. But just like in POE 1, you can of course use these skills on any class, not just Sorceress, this is just for marketing POE 2, to make all of these skills clearer and easier to understand for new players joining the series for the first time. Let’s get straight into it!
Fireball
Starting with Fireball, this skill looks very similar to the one in POE 1. But it functions differently, as it explodes on contact, forming a small fireball that shoots out in all directions. This is great for clearing out dense groups of monsters to speed up POE Currency farming efficiency.
It’s also worth mentioning that Fireball was one of the showcase abilities, and it appeared in ExileCon Showcase as an Implicit skill granted by the weapon. The developers stated that this version of the skill can be cast for free.
Spark
Next up we have Spark, which is also very similar to its counterpart from POE 1, firing projectiles that appear to move around randomly and bounce off the terrain. During ExileCon Showcase, the developers mentioned that this skill would be better suited for clearing monsters if equipped with Pierce Support.
Arc
Arc is another Lightning skill. The character fires some lightning at a target enemy, which then chains to other nearby enemies. This skill is better suited for single targets, as it deals more damage to the first target it hits.
Frostbolt
Frostbolt is also very similar to its counterpart from POE 1, with the major difference as the projectile follows Chilled Ground that forms below it as it moves, and when the projectile collides with the terrain it actually explodes, dealing AOE cold damage. This will make it a key skill for clearing a lot of enclosed space in some map layouts.
Ice Nova
Next up is Ice Nova, a spell that increases the cold damage radius around the caster while also knocking back enemies, depending on how close they are to you. Ice Nova can also be used on a moving Frostbolt Projectile, and doing so will increase the power of Ice Nova, making it easier to freeze enemies.
Cold Snap
Cold Snap is another cold skill that interacts with Frostbolt Projectile. The skill can target frozen enemies, causing them to shatter and explode, dealing AOE cold damage.
You’ll be able to use Cold Snap by targeting Frostbolt Projectiles, causing the skill to shatter all frozen enemies in the area around Frostbolt. Obviously, this means that the combination of Frostbolt, Ice Nova, and Cold Snap is great for clearing setups.
Comet
Then we have Comet, another cold-themed skill. This skill looks great. It has a long cast time, and it drops a giant Ice Ball at the target area, dealing a ton of cold damage. It’s worth noting that casting this skill actually moves the character back a bit, allowing for some repositioning counterattacks.
Barrier Invocation
Barrier Invocation is an interesting skill, one of the new Meta Skill Gems. It reserves Spirit to gain buffs, and the buffs will recharge the energy mechanic based on the amount of damage you deal to Energy Shield until the maximum energy threshold is reached. You can then use the skill again to consume the already accumulated energy to trigger socketed spells.
It’s important to note here that in POE 2, triggered abilities work differently. Because the casting time of the triggered ability will directly affect the trigger condition, Barrier Invocation will use more stored energy to trigger a spell with a longer casting time than a spell with a shorter casting time.
Cast On Shock
This is another new Meta Skill Gem. It also accumulates energy when you shock an enemy, similar to Barrier Invocation, and the maximum amount of energy you can have is based on the casting time of the triggered ability. So if the skill has a longer casting time, it will take longer to accumulate the energy required to trigger the skill.
Arctic Armour
Arctic Armour is another skill that reserves Spirit, and it will grant you an Ice Barrier that builds up over time while stationary, and wears off pretty quickly. Once you start moving, the buff will make you immune to Freeze, and it will cause you to take less Physical and Fire damage per phase, which is accumulated while standing still.
Importantly, from the looks of it, the less Physical and Fire damage Arctic Armour takes seems to work on other types of sustained damage as well. Not just hitting monsters, as long as Ice Barrier is up and active, they’ll take cold damage.
Flame Wall
Flame Wall seems to function exactly the same as it did in POE 1. It creates a wall of flames on the ground that deals sustained fire damage to enemies standing in it.
If any enemies enter the area after it’s activated, they’ll take additional fire damage over time from the secondary debuff. Not only that, but this can also apply some extra fire damage by firing projectiles at enemies.
Rolling Magma
One protection skill that can be used with Flame Wall is Rolling Magma, which forms a bouncing Fiery Orb that deals AOE damage with each bounce. This skill also refreshes the number of remaining bounces when it passes through a Flame Wall.
Solar Orb
Next up we have Solar Orb, which creates a large Fire Orb at a location that will periodically explode for fire damage. Any enemy close enough to Fire Orb will also take ongoing fire damage, but recasting Solar Orb will actively replace the current Orb.
Flameblast
Flameblast is another classic skill from POE 1 that is slightly different in POE 2. This channeling skill will release explosions around Castle in the initial stages, but will shift to a larger area and deal more damage at higher stages. What’s more, Flameblast can also target an active Solar Orb to expand the blast radius at that location.
Frost Bomb
Frost Bomb will pulse in an area for its duration and apply Cold Exposure to nearby enemies. After the duration expires, Frost Bomb will explode, dealing massive cold damage.
Mana Tempest
Mana Tempest is a spell that boosts your other abilities while you’re standing in its area. This ability consumes your mana while you stay in Storm to power up your spells.
Additionally, it adds chaining to Lightning Projectile and Beam spells so they can hit more enemies. However, be aware that Mana Tempest area disappears shortly after you leave it, just like in POE 1.
Orb Of Storms
Orb of Storms creates a stationary storm that periodically attacks nearby enemies, and this damage is then spread out to other enemies in the area. It’s worth noting that increasing your casting speed affects how often Orb of Storms triggers.
Lightning Warp
Lightning Warp looks pretty interesting, and it can be used to target an enemy and teleport to them. Once they’re in cold range, and teleport to an enemy that can deal cold damage, the enemy will explode in the area around them dealing lightning damage and creating Shocked Ground.
This skill also highlights enemies in your vicinity that are in a cold radius, which you can then use to teleport to multiple targets in sequence.
Lightning Conduit
Lightning Conduit can be used to attack a group of enemies in a cone in front of the caster. If the enemy is already shocked, this lightning damage will do more damage, but will also then remove the shock.
Frost Wall
Frost Wall forms a wall of ice that prevents enemies from reaching you. If you take enough damage or an enemy moves in its direction, and the wall is stressed enough, it will explode. When it explodes, it will deal heavy AOE damage to enemies around the broken area of the wall.
Firestorm
Firestorm is a duration-based fire spell that rains down fire at a target location that explodes on impact, dealing damage to enemies caught in the storm.
Energy Remnants
Energy Remnants is a Sorceress-themed skill. At this point, we know nothing about it, except for the name of the skill. However, the icon is the same as Arcane Cloak in POE 1, maybe with some color changes, so perhaps this skill will also achieve a very similar effect by consuming energy shields.
Raging Spirit
Finally, Raging Spirit. From what we know so far, this skill doesn’t actually appear on Sorceress skill list, so it’s likely a Sorceress-themed skill. But I feel like it might be somewhere in between, a minion skill.
In POE 2, Raging Spirit can also be triggered by using fire spells. Whenever you use a fire spell, it summons Raging Spirit Minions, and the number of summoned Spirits can be increased by either boosting AOE of the fire spell you’re using or hitting more targets with projectile-based fire spells.
Outro
That’s all we know so far about Sorceress-themed abilities in Path of Exile 2. Again, remember, these are just thematic abilities, and you can absolutely use any of these abilities in any class you like. The choice is yours. See you next time!
Hello fellow Exiles! Here we are going to discuss a forgotten unique item. We will take a look at how exactly it works and how its mechanics interact with other aspects of Path of Exile 3.24, especially some of the newer builds or Ascendancy reworks.
The item we are going to share today is Nametaker Unique Sword. This Unique One Hand Sword first appeared in POE 3.23 Affliction as an exclusive drop from monsters in Wildwood. Then, in POE 3.24 Necropolis, Nametaker was added to the core drop pool.
Since this POE item was added to the game very recently, you might not believe that it is forgotten by most players. But in fact, this sword is only used by a few characters in Necropolis.
Modifiers
Let’s take a look at the modifiers on Nametaker.
Increased Critical Strike Chance
First up is the 20% to 40% increased Critical Strike Chance, which is a local Increased Critical Strike Chance modifier. This is a pretty good number if you can make sure you have a good modifier role. This will increase the critical chance of the weapon to 7%.
It’s worth mentioning that you can also make full use of Harvest enchantment to convert weapon quality into a critical chance for this weapon. Since base quality won’t do much in terms of weapon damage increase, and this weapon relies heavily on external sources of flat damage.
Leech Modifiers
Next we have two Leech modifiers: 2% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life and 2% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana.
These will give you a source of leech for Life and Mana, but unfortunately they are limited to the physical portion of any attack damage you deal, and physical attack leech for life and mana is one of the most common leech modifiers in the game.
Other than that, you’re unlikely to deal much physical damage with your attacks, as many sources of flat physical damage are a bit hard to come by, and generally harder to exploit. For example, a build using this item is more likely to deal flat elemental damage, in which case these Leech modifiers won’t be as useful.
Enemy Power
Now let’s move on to Nametaker’s unique modifiers. When hitting with this weapon, the critical multiplier increases by 10% for each additional Enemy Power.
The term Enemy Power refers to a mechanic that was unique to Warcry before this Nametaker came along. Enemy Power is a number, and it’s tied to the rarity of the monster. Normal or White monsters have 1 power. Magic or Blue monsters have 2 powers. Rare monsters have 10 powers, and Unique monsters have 20 powers.
If you plan on playing some PVP, the player character has 5 powers, so whenever this weapon comes into contact with a monster, this Power system will determine the stats granted by these modifiers.
Here’s a breakdown of the stats you get from these modifiers, depending on the rarity of the monster:
- When hitting Normal monsters, your critical multiplier will be increased by 10%, and 5% of your leech will provide instant recovery.
- When hitting Magic monsters, your critical multiplier will be increased by 20%, and 10% of your leech will provide instant recovery.
- When hitting Rare monsters, your critical multiplier will be increased by 100%, and 50% of your leech will provide instant recovery.
- When hitting Unique monsters, your critical multiplier will be increased by 200%, and 100% of your leech will provide instant recovery.
How Do Nametaker And Dual Strike Mechanics Differ?
Keep in mind that these bonuses only apply to hits made with Nametaker, which is an important distinction from mechanics like Dual Strike.
Dual Strike requires the character to dual wield and use both weapons for a single strike. When this happens, each weapon will roll Accuracy and Critical Strike Chance separately. They will also roll their own damage ranges, and only the expected damage from each weapon will be combined into the last hit, which is the one set of damage from a single hit.
However, Nametaker critical hit multiplier and instant leech can only affect the expected damage from the portion of the hit that comes from that weapon. It won’t apply to both weapons at once, but this means that Nametaker synergizes quite well with Dual Strike of Ambidexterity. Because this Transfigured version of Dual Strike emphasizes dealing most of the attack damage from the main hand.
How To Get More Flat Added Damage?
On top of that, Nametaker also provides a way to scale damage in the form of very large crit multipliers depending on the type of monster you’re fighting.
But what it lacks is base damage, which needs to be addressed by getting a source of flat added damage. For example, using Added Lightning Damage Support with Flat Added Damage Modifiers on Rings and Amulets, or even using Replica Alberon’s Warpath on a Strength Stacking setup to get a ton of Flat added Chaos Damage.
Why Was It Forgotten?
So why isn’t Nametaker used more often? One thing I haven’t mentioned so far is that Mastery on Passive Skill Tree breaks the ability to use Nametaker’s modifiers to take advantage of smaller portions of instant leech to ultimately do more damage.
If instant leech was harder to come by like it used to be in the game, then this modifier on Nametaker would make it a more worthy choice for builds that rely entirely on leech as their primary source of mana regeneration. But who knows when that change will come?
That’s all for today. What do you think of this Nametaker Unique Sword? Do you have a better way to unlock the full potential of this Unique One Hand Sword? See you next time!
In this guide we’ll talk about some of the big changes we’ve learned about Passive Skill Tree in Path of Exile 2. These changes are derived from Path of Exile 1, from the extinction of Life node to the introduction of the brand new Weapon Passive Skill feature, here we cover everything you need to know. Let’s get started!
Weapon Skill Tree Passive
So let’s jump right into the most interesting change on this list, Weapon Skill Tree Passive in POE 2 Weapon Swap will be incorporated into normal gameplay, with a feature that allows you to choose which weapon set a specific skill will use when it is cast.
For example, you can attach a Staff that provides gem levels for Fire skills to your Firestorm skill, while you may want to attach another weapon set that improves the effect of the shocks you cause to your Spark skill. When you cast one of these skills, you automatically switch to the weapon set it is attached to so that using that skill can benefit from the stats of that weapon.
But as part of this feature, there will also be Weapon Skill Tree Passives, which are a portion of your character’s total Passive Skill allocation. This portion will come from Book of Skill during the campaign, and we don’t know exactly how many you’ll get, but I’d guess it’s around 20 or 25.
These Passive Points differ from Skill Points you get from leveling up, in that they can be attached to a weapon set to be assigned to a specific Passive Skill Tree while that weapon set is active. This, combined with the previously mentioned feature, allows you to assign these weapon specific Passive Points to nodes that will benefit that specific weapon set and its attached skills.
We could imagine a melee character using Two Hand Maces as an offensive weapon, and another Weapon Swap for a more defensive Flail and Shield combo. This character could then use their Weapon Passive Skill to deal more damage while Two Hand Maces is active. With the defensive Shield active, we could then choose to spend the points on a node that provides more armor or a chance to block.
This feature will be part of the build in Path of Exile 2, making it less focused on just one Archetype, and allowing them to focus on other options for specific scenarios.
Starting Position Of Characters
The next big change coming to PoE 2 is the starting position of characters on Passive Skill Tree.
In PoE 1, each class had a specific starting position, which was primarily determined by the class attribute alignment and Archetype category those classes belonged to.
In Path of Exile 2, each class still has a specific starting position, but the positions have been moved. All classes will start in the middle of Skill Tree, and the position they face is once again defined by attribute and archetype alignment.
Something to note here is the removal of Scion class in Path of Exile 2. In PoE 1, Scions started in the middle of the tree and could choose to leave the center in any direction they liked. This class was designed as a sort of Jackal Trades, bridging the gap between any possible unsupported archetypes by allowing easy access to specific areas of the tree in exchange for the mostly weaker Ascendency.
But in POE 2, Scion is gone, and that’s because they’ve added two classes for each attribute alignment, which means there will be a total of six different Ascendency options for each starting position on Passive Skill Tree, helping to solve the problem that Scion solved before.
You may also notice that the middle of the tree has changed significantly as well, with no routes going directly through the middle of the tree. The developers mentioned that the layout of the tree in POE 1 made it harder to balance, so they made it more direct to get from the class starting position to specific Keystones or Clusters by removing the middle of the tree.
Life Node Removal
Speaking of balance, the third notable change between Passive Skill Tree in POE 1 and POE 2 is that Skill Tree in POE 2 will not have Life nodes.
Note that the decision to remove Life nodes would have had a tremendous impact on POE 1 if it was fully implemented, but POE 2 was designed from the beginning to have no Life nodes on the tree. When you think about it this way, this design decision actually makes a lot of sense.
They can better balance the life of ordinary characters, and the life available to players will be largely determined by POE Currency they invest in equipment. At the same time, due to this change, space on Passive Skill Tree without Life nodes is freed up. By the way, there are a lot of Life nodes on POE 1 Skill Tree.
These spaces can be used for more specific character defense investments, which is one of their goals for this change. The developers allow players to use these points to specialize in defense mechanics that make sense for the build they are playing.
Cancel Masteries
Another major change is that Path of Exile 2’s Passive Skill Tree will not have Masteries, at least at the beginning.
Just like the design of no Life nodes on Skill Tree, the concept of no Masteries makes sense in the context of POE 2. After all, Passive Masteries system was originally created to solve the problem of locking unique build-enabling mechanics into specific areas of the tree.
But POE 2’s skill system was designed to be very different from the beginning. It has performance abilities that can be combined with each other and a Support Gem system that limits characters to copies of a support gem. So it makes sense that these more niche offensive mechanics exist on the skills themselves or on specialized support gems that can enhance them.
Travel Nodes Selectable Stats
In addition, POE 2’s Travel Nodes will be stat selectable, providing lower but generally more meaningful stats. When selecting Travel Nodes, you can choose +5 Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity, helping you more easily meet the stat requirements of gear or abilities.
This change is actually huge for leveling, especially considering that the socket colors are gone as well, so you’ll be able to more easily level up the way you want without being limited by your stats or gear sockets.
That’s the major difference between the passive skill trees in Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2.
Outro
So those are the top 5 changes we know about Passive Skill Tree in Path of Exile 2 so far. Let me know what you think of these changes and which changes (if any) you’re most excited about. I think it’s definitely those Weapon Skill Tree Passives, which could end up being an incredible feature! See you next time!
