I'm pretty happy with these Patch Notes!

Summary

• New League: The Runes of Aldor introduces Rune Forging, 13 new Alloy currency items, and the ability to upgrade base types of low-level unique armors using Unique Virisium.
• Resistance Swapping: Three new Fluxes allow players to transform one elemental resistance into another on gear—a massive change for SSF and Hardcore players.
• Atlas Overhaul: The “Origins of Divinity” storyline introduces a fully allocatable 300-node Atlas tree, removing the need for respecs. Maps now spawn in “The Fortress,” and league mechanics are guided by deterministic quests.
• Masters of the Atlas: A new Ascendancy-style progression system for endgame allows players to align with masters like Jado or Hilda for asymmetrical, build-defining bonuses.
• Mechanical Reworks: Significant changes to Leech (damage cap for calculations), Deflect (95% cap), and Totems (spirit reservation instead of charges).
• In-Game Build Guides: Support for .build files that display passives, gems, and gear recommendations directly within the game client.
• Melee and Unique Adjustments: Widespread numerical nerfs to melee skills (Bone Shatter, Rolling Slam) and rebalances to core uniques like Soul Mantle and Atziri’s Acuity.

Runes of Aldor League and New Crafting

The Runes of Aldor is the biggest expansion to date. It introduces fresh economy starts and several new crafting layers:

• Alloy Currency: Added 13 new Alloy items that replace existing modifiers with new crafted ones, similar to Perfect Essences.
• Base Type Upgrading: After unlocking Unique Virisium Rune Forging, you can upgrade the base type of unique armors under level 55 to increase their base defense for the endgame. Armors above level 55 can be forged to include Runic Ward at the cost of other defenses.
• New Runes:
  • 13 Ancient Runes (powerful bonuses from Act 4 Remnants).
  • 13 Mythical early-game runes (Level 15+).
  • 15 Meta-crafting runes.
  • 60 Runes created by destroying uniques to extract properties.
  • 15 Runic Ward runes.
• Fluxes & Res Swapping: Three Fluxes are being added to transform resistances from one element to another. This is a massive quality-of-life feature for gear progression.
• Kalguuran Skills and Supports: 21 new skills (e.g., Bitter Dead, Frostflame Nova, Skyfall) and 8 new supports (e.g., Healing Runes, Scouring Flame) are available through Remnants.

League Mechanics and Hub Areas

• Expedition Transition: Expedition Remnants have been converted into Runes of Aldor Remnants.
• Ruins of Kingsmarch: A new hub area serving the league mechanic.
• Ocean Exploration: Logbooks now function as an ocean-exploring mechanic, unveiling sections of the map and new islands (Grand Expeditions).
• Faction Leaders: Medved, Vorana, and Uhtred join Olroth. Defeating Olroth provides the key to the pinnacle boss: the Ruins of Aldor.
• Challenges: A new set of 40 challenges provides pieces of a Totem Decoration for the hideout.

Origins of Divinity: The Endgame Overhaul

The Atlas has been completely reset to facilitate a new storyline.

• The Fortress: Upon completing your first tower, a Fortress rises. Maps inside grant Atlas passive points, which is now the exclusive method of gaining them.
• Fully Allocatable Atlas Tree: The tree has been expanded to 300 nodes. Players can eventually allocate the entire tree, making respecs unnecessary.
• Ancient Modifiers: 40 new modifiers for endgame “juicing” exist inside and outside the Fortress.
• Masters of the Atlas: An Ascendancy-style system for endgame. Align with masters like Hilda (Monster Hunter) or Jado (Order of the Djinn).
  • Each master has 12 nodes; you can select four at a time.
  • All three masters can be allocated simultaneously, with a quick-select option before starting a map.
• Pinnacle Bosses: New bosses include the Arbiter of Ash and the Arbiter of Divinity. All pinnacle bosses now have deterministic quest versions alongside repeatable farm versions.

League Mechanic Revamps

• Delirium: Mirrors now have a progress bar showing depth relative to the map boss.
  • Simulacrum is now a 7-wave encounter (reduced from 15).
  • 10 “Ancient Emotions” can drop to unlock or craft powerful modifiers on Timeless Jewels.
• Ritual: Added a new boss, the Queen in the Mists. Rituals no longer show deferred items to prevent loss when returning on higher-level characters.
• Fate of the Vaal (Atziri): This mechanic is now core.
  • It features a dedicated Atlas tree and a permanent location for Atziri’s Temple.
  • The “snake strategy” for rooms has been removed; rooms that would be deleted are now turned into pass-through rooms.
  • Rooms can be upgraded to Tier 4.
  • Vaal Infusers: New items used to add extra quality to armor, weapons, and jewelry (requires a 20% quality base).
• Abyss: Revamped Atlas tree and a new boss fight triggered by completing large cracks. Omens now only drop in level 65+ areas.
• Recombinators: Temporarily disabled and Omen of Recombination removed.

Core Gameplay and Defensive Changes

• Leech Rework:
  1. Only one leech instance per resource (Life/Mana/Energy Shield) can apply at a time.
  2. Hits are capped at 40,000 damage for the purpose of leech calculation. Damage above this limit does not improve the amount restored per hit.
• Deflect: Capped at 95%. The new formula for chance to deflect is 150 / (150 + Deflect Rating).
• Bleed: Players no longer take increased damage from bleed while moving.
• Defenses Keyword: No longer includes Runic Ward, resistances, or block. It strictly refers to Armor, Evasion, and Energy Shield.
• Spirit and Totems: Ancestral Bond now makes totems reserve 75 Spirit each rather than using charges or mana. This doubles the totem limit and removes the previous charge-based bottleneck.
• Vaal Pact: Now grants 50% more life leached but prevents all life recovery other than leech (including healing from life flasks).

Skill and Support Gem Adjustments

• Melee Nerfs: Widespread damage and attack speed reductions affect skills like Bone Shatter, Pommel, and Rolling Slam (which had its animation canceling potential reduced).
• Summon Beast: Buffed significantly, dealing 84% more damage at level 20.
• Mirage Archer: Now compatible with channeling skills like Snipe and Plasma Blast.
• Command Skills: Movement speed penalty during use reduced from 70% to 50%.
• Lineage Supports: The game is shifting toward lineage-style support gems over single-use gems.
• Minion Splash: New support gems specifically for minions/companions to help with clear speed.

Quality of Life and User Interface

• In-Game Build Guides: Community creators can provide .build files. When loaded, these show passives, gems, and gear recommendations in the UI.
• Trade Market: Shift-Alt clicking an item now auto-populates trade filters. Modifiers on rare items can be toggled to check price impact.
• Dialogue: Players can now skip dialogue sequences with Escape.
• Stash Currency: You can now purchase items from vendors using currency directly from your stash.
• Party Play: Players can quickly revive fallen party members after a boss is defeated.

Unique Item Rebalances

• Soul Mantle: No longer has reduced totem life; now grants +75 Spirit.
• Atziri’s Acuity: Reworked to provide 100-150 Life and Vaal Pact.
• Blackflame: Withered now increases fire damage taken; ignites deal chaos damage.
• Abberath’s Hooves: Speed is now unaffected by slows; grants “Over-encumbrance” for 4 seconds.
• Husk of Dreams (Rêverie): Reworked for life flask interaction; recovery cannot be instant but grants Rite of Restoration.
• Resistance Rings: Astara’s Path, Saffron’s Resolve, and Sideous Longevity now scale based on the number of items equipped with specific resistance types.

Key References

• Path of Exile 2: 0.5 Patch Notes
• Zizaran’s Twitch Channel
• Zizaran’s Twitter/X
• Starforge Systems