"They're willing to take risks" | The PoE Report Podcast #6 | Path of Exile 2 Return of the Ancients
Summary
- Unique Item Design: A shift toward “build-defining” items like the Raven Righteous Fire staff and Nightfall shield, with discussions on how to improve skill scaling via Uncut Gems.
- Ascendancy Specialization: Exploration of new Ascendancies like the Spiritwalker and Martial Artist, contrasting niche mechanics with generic power bases.
- Endgame Overhaul: Detailed look at the new “Fortress” progression, Atlas Masteries, and the ability to fully spec the Atlas tree without point limits.
- League Mechanic Integration: Analysis of the “Runes of Aldur” and how it rolls into Expedition, including the return of the “big bomb” explosive for convenience.
- Player Agency and Layouts: The need for better control over map layouts and the potential for “Terraforming Tablets” to improve farming efficiency.
Build-Around Uniques and Skill Scaling
The upcoming Path of Exile 2: Return of the Ancients update introduces pinnacle boss drops designed as “build-defining” uniques. Examples include the Raven Righteous Fire staff and the Nightfall shield (which grants the “Soaring Midnight” skill). Unlike early PoE 2 uniques, which often felt bland or non-viable for the endgame, these items require the entire character to be built around them.
A significant concern remains regarding how these items scale. Currently, many unique-granted skills have fixed levels (e.g., level 17 or 19). If an item grants a level 19 skill but requires level 84 to equip, it creates a progression gap.
- The Uncut Gem Proposal: Instead of fixed levels, unique items could drop with a base skill level that players can manually upgrade using Uncut Gems. This would allow the item to grow with the character and integrate these builds into the general gem economy.
- Item Level Requirements: There is a dissonance between when players want to start a build (at the end of the campaign, around level 65–70) and the high level requirements (80+) on build-defining uniques. Lowering these requirements would reduce the “busy work” of leveling a placeholder build.
Ascendancy Design: Niche vs. Generic
The new Ascendancies showcase a spectrum of design:
- Spiritwalker (Huntress): Highly specialized, focusing on taming unique beast bosses as companions. While flavorfully rich, there are concerns about its leveling viability since Huntresses typically rely on Twisters or Bows early on.
- Martial Artist (Monk): More basic in design, providing a strong baseline for multiple skill types. This “basic” approach is often preferred for build variety, as it doesn’t force a single playstyle.
- Reworks: GGG is actively reworking older, “bare-bones” Ascendancies like the Gemling and Chronomancer to bring them up to the flavor and power standards of newer ones like the Oracle or Shaman.
The “Fortress” and Atlas Progression
The endgame is moving toward a completionist model. Players can now unlock all nodes on the Atlas tree, with “Choice Nodes” serving as the only limiting factor.
- The Fortress: A core questline where players progress through zones to reach a boss. Killing the boss allows for “auto-completing” quadrants of the Fortress to gain Atlas points quickly.
- Special Map Modifiers: Certain zones within the Fortress (and rarely on the Atlas) contain powerful modifiers like Monstrous Treasure (monsters are in strongboxes) or Asmeri Spirits (released on death to buff the map).
- Strategy: Most “sweaty” players will likely rush Fortress completion to max out their Atlas points and Masteries before settling into specialized farming.
Tablet Mechanics and “Blocking”
Maps now feature three “league slots.” By using specific Tablets, players can influence what spawns:
- Using three of the same Tablet (e.g., three Breach Tablets) ensures only that mechanic spawns, effectively blocking others.
- This creates a specialized trade economy where certain items (like Ritual Omens) may increase in value if most players are focusing their slots on other mechanics like Abyss or Breach.
Runes of Aldur and Expedition
The 0.5 league mechanic, Runes of Aldur, appears as standalone remnants in the campaign and maps.
- Integration: In the endgame, the mechanic rolls into Expedition. Runes become exploitables that provide stacking bonuses to the monsters and chests within the Expedition encounter.
- The “Big Bomb”: PoE 2 will introduce a keystone similar to the one in PoE 1 that allows players to set a single large explosive to detonating the entire Expedition site at once, prioritizing convenience.
- Rewards: Expedition remains a strong source for support gems (Uthred’s lineage) and specialized flasks (from Olroth).
Layout Agency and Terraforming
One of the remaining friction points is the lack of control over map layouts. Mechanics like Breach and Abyss are significantly worse in cramped, indoor maps.
- Potential Solution: The community suggests “Terraforming Tablets”—items that could change a map’s biome or layout to a more favorable one (e.g., desert biomes or open fields).
- Currently, players must rely on specific Atlas Masters to re-roll corrupted maps, but this is often unreliable.
Pre-Patch League Start Ideas
- Martial Artist (Monk): Strong potential due to the new Whirling Assault AoE changes and Falling Thunder.
- Spiritwalker (Huntress): Likely to be played as a Twister build unless the companion scaling is exceptionally strong.
- Plants (Detonate Dead): Remains an S-tier league starter because it scales with monster life rather than gear. The Wildsurge Incantation keystone is currently a mandatory “band-aid” for the build’s duration issues.
- Titan Shield Wall: A safe transition into the new Nightfall shield build, provided the base armor buffs to shields make the skill’s damage effectiveness viable.