25 Things You Might Have Missed in the Patch Notes | Path of Exile 2 0.5
Summary
- Spell Totems: Rebalanced to support six totems at level 23 with no mana cost; casting while moving is now supported.
- Leech Rework: Limited to a single instance with a 40,000 cap; reduced leech resistance on enemies.
- Defensive Adjustments: Energy Shield recovery nerfed; Deflect mechanics made more linear and accessible.
- Crafting: Recombinators removed; Resistance Swap (Fluxes) introduced for gear flexibility.
- Endgame Mechanics: Tablets can be combined for juicier maps; rare monster drops increased via pack size modifiers.
- Key Nerfs: Vertex helmet reworked; Doedre’s Undoing and Comet damage adjusted; Poison builds significantly weakened.
- Combat Improvements: Dodge roll now has a dedicated keybind; new item base tiers and early-game gear roll improvements implemented.
Spell Totems and Ancestral Bond
Ancestral Bond now doubles the totem limit rather than providing a flat increase, allowing for six totems at level 23. These totems no longer have mana costs or consume charges. Crucially, players can now cast spell totems while moving, and the animation has been updated to be more appropriate for spellcasters.
Leech and Energy Shield Changes
- Leech: Restricted to one active instance. The developers have reduced leech resistance on enemies, though the system overall is noted as being more complex than its Path of Exile 1 counterpart.
- Energy Shield: Suffered nerfs to recovery, specifically the removal of “faster start of energy shield” from many base items and passive nodes. Ghost Shroud accessibility has also been reduced.
Deflect and Crafting
- Deflect: The progression curve is now linear, making the 95% cap more realistically attainable with sufficient investment.
- Recombinators: Entirely removed from the game.
- Fluxes: A new mechanic allowing players to swap resistances on items (e.g., lightning to fire), mirroring the resistance swap functionality from Path of Exile 1.
Endgame and Map Content
- Tablets: Multiple tablets of the same type can be combined to increase the volume of league content spawned in maps, potentially affecting the scale and rewards of encounters like Ritual or Delirium.
- Pack Size: Modifiers to pack size now increase the chance of spawning additional rare monsters, which is significant given that rare monsters are primary sources of loot in Path of Exile 2.
- Runes: The league mechanic now supports up to 10 rune slots, increasing potential depth for mechanics like Expedition.
Skill and Unique Item Balancing
- Cast on Crit: While the skill itself was untouched, indirect nerfs were applied via Doedre’s Undoing (now spawns chaos-dealing frogs) and Comet (damage nerfs, particularly to the fire-infused version).
- Ancestral Warrior: The hidden attack timer was removed and replaced with a fixed delay equal to 50% of the skill’s attack time.
- Vertex: The unique helmet no longer grants +4 to all skills, replaced by +levels to curse skills.
- Mirage Archer/Deadeye: Now compatible with channeled skills like Snipe, Plasma Blast, and Detonating Arrow.
- Priced Pain: This unique ring now allows thorns damage to proc on melee hits, potentially enabling thorns-based hit builds.
- Poison Builds: Targeted for significant nerfs, including adjustments to Plague Fingers, Poison Burst Arrow, and Toxic Growth.
Expedition and Campaign Progression
- Expedition: Explosives now wait until most monsters are killed before detonating the next, which is expected to slow down the clear speed of these encounters.
- Gear Progression: Weapons and flasks are now more likely to roll the highest available base types. Hybrid physical damage rolls have been gated behind level eight to improve early-game gear crafting.
- Armor/Evasion: Base armor and evasion modifiers on gear have been increased by approximately 33% (tapering to 15% in the endgame) to address survivability concerns.
Miscellaneous Changes
- Dodge Roll: A dedicated keybind is now available, addressing issues where sprinting could interfere with blink/movement skills.
- Parry: The bonus attack distance has been removed.
- Batair’s Vengeance: The bonus damage per rage was reduced, and the duration decreased to 15 seconds.