News Tag: Poe Currency

Path of Exile 3.27 was released on November 19th at 5 PM. This patch primarily focuses on improving quality of life and also fixes some abnormal boss behavior.

This patch was released relatively late, meaning it was quickly, or even already, implemented in the game. Let's take a look at the key changes it brings.

Breach Fortress Quality Of Life

In Breach Hive Fortress encounters, there is now an ability that instantly destroys all surrounding walls. This ability is available at the start of the encounter.

These walls were originally designed for players with less gear, serving to slow down monsters and provide a buffer. However, many players (especially late-game players) found these walls annoying because they slowed down the game's pace. Therefore, this is a significant improvement, allowing players to adjust the pace of encounters according to their own strength.

Stronger players can now choose to destroy walls, allowing monsters to rush towards them more quickly, thus speeding up map progression. Players whose builds are not yet fully complete can still choose to retain the walls, making the fight safer and more controllable, but it will take longer.

Sirus Adjustments

In Patch 3.27, Feared Maven Invitation was dropped by Sirus and Incarnation of Dread, but Sirus performed poorly in The Feared fight.

In Patch 3.27.0d, Sirus will now use a wider range of abilities than in regular combat, which may make the fight more dangerous. However, he no longer has the same health threshold as in the regular Sirus fight and can be one-shotted.

For players who can instantly kill Sirus in The Feared, this change may make the fight easier, but for players who cannot finish it quickly, the fight may become more difficult.

However, players who can usually challenge The Feared have already achieved Ailment immunity and Corrupting Blood immunity, so even with more abilities, Sirus's threat is relatively limited.

Currency QoL Improvements

In version 3.27.0, holding down the Alt key while using Orb of Alteration automatically activated Orb of Augmentation function. This has now been extended to Orb of Alchemy and Orb of Chance. Holding down Alt while using Orb of Alchemy or Orb of Chance will automatically consume Orb of Scouring.

This change undoubtedly provides a smoother crafting experience, eliminating the need for players to manually switch PoE currency. For Orb of Chance and Orb of Alchemy (especially when used on the map), this is almost a complete buff, as players typically don't care about the specific numerical range of mods, only whether the mod is feasible.

However, the Alt key is also a shortcut for viewing item mod details. When using Orb of Alteration, if you want to check whether the recently rolled mod is Tier 1 or Tier 2, or whether it's a Perfect Roll, holding down the Alt key will interrupt the crafting process, causing inconvenience.

Ideally, there should be an option to rebind this crafting shortcut, allowing players to enjoy the convenience of new features without interfering with viewing modifier information.

Sales History Upgrade

On the official trading website, players can clearly see detailed information about sold items and modifiers. However, currently, the in-game sales history only displays item names, not detailed information.

This patch makes some minor improvements to the in-game version, but these improvements don't bring substantial experience enhancements, as the in-game version is still far less user-friendly than the website version.

Additionally, some issues with the in-game Market Browser have been fixed, such as some items requiring manual number input instead of dropdown options.

Currently, most players only use the in-game Market Browser for very basic transactions; for any complex searches, players still prefer to use external trading websites.

Bug Fixes

The Feared Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where Sirus would remain stationary and not be counted as part of map completion in Valdo's Maps with "The Feared" affix.
• Fixed a bug where Portals were unusable during the fight against The Feared in Valdo's Maps.
• Fixed a bug where Breach Tul and Esh fights could not be completed.
• Fixed an issue where the chilled ground in Incarnation of Dread would sometimes spawn in the wrong location during the encounter in The Feared on Valdo's Maps.

This fix made these maps more dangerous because Sirus now attacks normally. His Dive Bomb skill deals significant damage, making encounters in The Feared more difficult.

Other Bug Fixes And Balance Adjustments

• In Ruthless Mode, fixed a bug where the uber Incarnation Boss did not drop loot.
• Ice Nova slam and Ice Comets in Incarnation of Neglect dealt more damage than expected and have now been nerfed.

Controller-Related Fixes

• Added a Leave Hideout option to the pause menu for controller players in other players' hideouts.
• Fixed a bug where controller players couldn't switch scouting report affinity on the currency stash page.
• Fixed a bug where controller players couldn't use Corruption Altar on Gem items in Vaal Ruins area of the story.
• Added the same currency switching functionality to controllers as to keyboard players; players can switch by pressing Y or the triangle key.

PoE 2 Patch 0.4.0 will be released in about three weeks, so the official team may not have much time to thoroughly fix PoE 3.27. Therefore, this patch mainly focuses on quality-of-life updates and doesn't address the fixes players care about, but it's still a very good update.

Path of Exile announced that the second week's patch for 3.27 will be released this week. In addition to fixing some bugs and improving the game, this patch adds over 80 previously unfinished Foulborn Unique items.

The official preview of PoE Patch 3.27.0c has been released, which fixes issues such as Breach, Scarabs, and other bugs, bringing numerous changes.

QoL Bug Fix

Patch PoE 3.27.0c fixes a bug that allowed players to consume PoE currency stored in their Map Device when using it on maps, including Strongboxes and Essences.

Some players are quite surprised by this, as many considered it a very convenient and beneficial feature, saving inventory space and improving map clearing efficiency, so this fix seems to be a nerf.

Boss Related

• 1. Fixed a bug where the endgame bosses' Ignite damage was too high; it is now 2–3 times the normal amount.
• 2. Incarnation of Dread can no longer be stunned while casting Fire Circle skill.

Breach Enhancements

Breach mechanics have been significantly improved. While there's no direct increase in loot, the number of monsters has increased. Here are the main changes to Breach in this patch:

• The amount of Graftblood players can obtain in level 83 Maps has increased by 25%.
• The number of monster groups spawning per wave in Breach encounters and maps has increased, with an 80% increase in level 83 Maps.
• The number of destructible Hive pack generators has increased by 40%.
• Ailith provides slightly more skill objects in Breach Hive encounters.
• Destroying a burnable Hive pack spawner releases a purple fire wave that destroys all walls within a 7.5-meter radius and may trigger a chain reaction.
• Fixed an issue where the visual effect of burns breach Hive walls did not match their actual effective range.
• A confirmation prompt will now appear if there are unsaved changes when Genesis Tree is closed.

Although many players dislike Breach mechanic, this patch significantly improves it. Destroying a burnable Hive pack spawner now burns a large area of walls and can trigger a chain reaction, making it easier for players to rush to the center and start combat with minimal deviation. This will make Hivebrain Gland maps much more juicy.

Additionally, monster spawn rates will be greatly increased, as will wombgifts and Graftblood, with a reduced Graftblood consumption. While this doesn't solve all problems, it's certainly an improvement.

Scarabs Enhancements

This patch includes numerous adjustments to scarabs:

• Scarab of Divinity: Maximum number increased from 2 to 3. The number of rare monsters affected by Pantheon-Touched in the area also increased from 2 to 3.
• Horned Scarab of Nemeses: Maximum number increased from 1 to 2.
• Torment Scarab of Possession: Maximum number of Possessions reduced from 4 to 3, and increases the chance of rare monsters in the area being possessed by up to 3 tormented spirits.
• Titanic Scarab of Legend: Now grants unique monsters in the area 4 additional modifiers (up from 2), significantly increasing their drop rate and difficulty.
• Torment Scarab: Possessed monsters have a 50% chance to be released (up from 25%).
• Allflame Ember of Propagation: Increases the number of monster groups in the area by approximately 50%.
• Legion Scarab of Eternal: Within the affected area, the rewards for defeating Legion monsters increase by 30% with each subsequent Legion monster killed.
• Abyss Scarab of Profound Depth: Monsters spawning from Abyss gain rewards based on the depth of Abyss cave from which they originate.
• Horned Scarab of Bloodlines: Now grants Magic Monsters an additional modifier in addition to its existing effects.
• Beyond Scarab of Haemophilia: Killing Beyond Rare Monsters has a 30% chance to temporarily grant their modifier, equivalent to a Headhunter. The effects of these buffs are significant.

The above scarabs have received substantial enhancements, which will spur many new farming methods. Their market value skyrocketed after the announcement. For example, Legion Scarab of Eternal, Horned Scarab of Bloodlines, and Horned Scarab of Nemeses can generate insane profits.

Impact On Builds

The bug that caused players to convert monster physical damage to elemental damage has been fixed. This bug would convert all monster physical damage into elemental damage. Players with low elemental resistance would take more damage.

Additionally, monster elemental damage affixes have been increased by up to 300%, making the penalty for adding physical damage as additional elemental damage in map affixes more severe. This bug also affects Elementalist passive skills Shaper of Flames, Pyroshock Clasp Unique Belt, and Kaom's Binding Unique Belt.

This bug had a huge impact on Elementalist builds, almost destroying them. After it was fixed, Elementalist builds. are definitely worth trying.

Overall, while the official update brought several fixes, player feedback suggests it didn't bring any revolutionary changes. They even fixed a bug that could have increased QoL (likely for game file security).

Most player complaints focus on insufficient loot drops. Although the patch increased the frequency of encounters and the number of monsters, this is essentially a multiple of zero, and ground loot drops haven't been effectively improved. However, after the patch goes live, players can try using the modified scarabs to see if they get a more significant increase in loot drops.

PoE 3.27 league is now live! While this update doesn't bring a huge amount of new content, fully exploring it will still take some time. Therefore, I guess you haven't unlocked Bloodline system yet, as it requires defeating the corresponding endgame boss.

If you have a general understanding of Keepers of the Flame league, you'll know that most of the league's new mechanics focus on adding usable buffs, such as Genesis Tree and Bloodlines.

As a holistic system, Bloodlines are also called Bloodline Ascendancy because they are similar to your secondary Ascendancy classes. There are currently 10 known Bloodlines.

Next, we'll explain how Bloodlines work and delve into the combat effects and acquisition methods of all 10 Bloodlines.

Bloodline System Overview

This system was added to Path of Exile after the release of Keepers of the Flame league. Each one must be unlocked by defeating the corresponding endgame boss or completing the relevant encounter.

The similarity between Bloodline Ascendancy and regular Ascendancy classes lies in the shared allocation of Ascendancy passive skill points. The difference is that Bloodline selection is not restricted by the base class, allowing for free choice and the ability to change it later.

After completing a related boss battle, an altar will appear nearby. Interacting with it unlocks the corresponding Bloodline. Interacting with new altars unlocks new Bloodlines and allows you to switch between them.

Because they share the same allocation points, you need to be more careful and strategic when allocating points for Bloodlines and regular Ascendancy classes. However, reallocating points is not difficult, as points can now be refunded or returned in gold.

1. Oshabi Bloodline

This Bloodline requires defeating Oshabi, the Avatar of the Grove, the final boss you encounter while exploring Harvest mechanic, provided you consume Sacred Blossom to summon him in the corresponding map.

To obtain this summoning item, you need to kill T4 enemies like Janaar, the Omen in Harvest Mechanic to get it as a drop. Then, enter The Sacred Grove and interact with a tree you encounter to meet Oshabi.

Originally, killing this boss would reward you with items, including PoE currency. After 3.27 league launch, you will also be able to get Oshabi Bloodline, a special power based on Azmeri magic, from the altars that appear.

2. Chaos Bloodline

The boss corresponding to this Bloodline is The Trialmaster, who only randomly appears in T14 and higher-level maps with a very low probability. If you want to unlock Chaos Bloodline, it's best to use Ultimatum Scarab of Duelling to increase its spawn rate.

Sometimes this boss will also appear as the ultimatum encounter boss in areas of level 81 and above, teleporting you to the arena for a duel. After defeating him, you will be able to master Vaal skills or corrupted powers through Chaos Bloodline.

3. Aul Bloodline - Primordial Knight

The corresponding boss, Aul the Crystal King (also known as Ahn), will randomly appear in Crystal King's Throne nodes of Primeval Ruins biome after you've explored more than 130 levels of Azurite Mine.

Generally, the boss's appearance frequency only becomes more stable after you've explored at least 200 levels of Azurite Mine, so obtaining Aul Bloodline is highly dependent on luck.

As for its effect, regardless of your base class, this Bloodline provides an opportunity to unlock a unique node, preventing your movement speed from being reduced.

4. Lycia Bloodline - Herald

This Bloodline is unlocked after defeating the boss Lycia, Herald of the Scourge. She is the boss of T17 Sanctuary map. You need to obtain Forbidden Tome by killing other normal enemies on the map before you can unlock her encounter.

The effect of Lycia Bloodline is that when equipped, it unlocks a Herald node, granting the power of elemental conversion and profane ground options.

5. Delirious Bloodline - Impostor

Unlocking Delirious Bloodline doesn't require defeating a specific boss, but rather completing enough Delirium encounters to obtain 300 Simulacrum Splinters to complete Simulacrum.

Generally, you need to complete at least 15 Delirium encounters to get enough Simulacrum Splinters. Unlocking Delirious Bloodline will increase your defense and attack power.

6. Olroth Bloodline - Runesmith

The corresponding boss, Olroth, Origin of the Fall, has a chance to appear in level 81+ logbooks while exploring Knights of the Sun site. The original loot included Olroth's Resolve, Cadigan's Crown, and Vorana's March.

Defeating him will now unlock the altar to obtain Olroth Bloodline, helping you improve or better utilize Ward's power.

7. Catarina Bloodline - Lich

First, you need to kill the leaders in Betrayal Safehouses in areas of level 78 or higher to obtain Syndicate Medallion, which may drop. Then, use this item to enter Mastermind's Lair to unlock Catarina encounter.

Catarina Bloodline grants summoning power, allowing you to summon additional minions for assistance. If your base or Ascendancy class is already summoning, you can choose this Bloodline to further enhance yourself.

8. Farrul Bloodline - Animist

As the easiest Bloodline to obtain, Farrul Bloodline's boss is Farrul, First of the Plains, located in Farrul's Den. You can unlock the portal to this location by Farric Tiger Alpha and any three yellow beasts.

Once you obtain Farrul Bloodline, you will unlock nodes that allow summons or spells to deal more damage, making it a Bloodline focused on damage enhancement.

9. Breachlord Bloodline

To obtain this Bloodline, you need to defeat both It That Was Tul and It That Was Esh. These two bosses usually appear simultaneously in Hive Colony added in 3.27 league.

10. Nameless Bloodline - Ritualist

This Bloodline currently lacks a specific name, perhaps because the corresponding boss, King In The Mists, is quite challenging and difficult to defeat quickly.

You need to clear enough Rituals to obtain the drop An Audience With The King, then use it in the map device to enter the boss arena, Crux of Nothingness.

More information about Bloodline corresponding to King In The Mists will likely be revealed as the league progresses further. For now, your task is to choose Bloodline that best suits your abilities from the first nine Bloodlines!

Path of Exile series has been around for over a decade, and its overall size has snowballed. This is because the game not only regularly updates with new leagues but also often retains popular core mechanics from older leagues.

While this makes the game increasingly complex and difficult, once you get immersed, you might find yourself reluctant to quit due to the sheer amount of content to explore!

The latest 3.27 league, confirmed for release on October 31st, is coming soon. Although it doesn't carry over the mercenary mechanics from the previous league for various reasons, its core mechanic is essentially a sequel to Breach league from several years ago.

So how will Breach function in Keepers of the Flame league, and what kind of experience will it offer? We'll introduce it to you.

Keepers Of The Flame League Core Mechanic

While each new league release in Path of Exile brings multifaceted content, there's always a core mechanic that not only reflects the league's theme but also serves as the way you acquire limited powers within that league.

In 3.27 League, this mechanic is a completely reworked Breach.

What Is Breach?

In the base game after Breach league ends, Breach is a special farmable event, highlighted on the map as a glowing dark purple area and a giant hand.

Approaching and clicking on this giant hand will create a large, cracked circle around you, with a progress bar at the bottom representing the event's progress. The crack will then expand outwards, and the progress bar will slowly decrease over time.

You can fill the progress bar by defeating Breach enemies, delaying the event's end as much as possible. The closer the event gets to its end, the more enemies need to be defeated. When the progress bar is about to finish, the cracked circle will begin to shrink, and the event will end.

During the process of defeating enemies, you will continuously obtain various loot drops, and interacting with the hand that spawns in the cracked circle will grant additional rewards.

Breach In 3.27

Compared to the original model, 3.27 league integrates Breach mechanic with the main storyline of the league update. Based on the story within the Breach league, it introduces Ailith and Order of Keepers of the Flame she founded.

In the new story, the evil forces of Breachlords further spread and corrupt Wraeclast, manifesting as various Breaches and hidden enemies within them. You must work with Ailith to eliminate them.

Compared to the past, the new Breach gameplay is more systematic and strategic, as it is no longer a series of unrelated random events, but rather stems from the evil forces of a specific villain. The game also introduces several new Breach gameplay elements.

First, when you enter Mud Flats area in Keepers league, you will find Breach Hives created by Hiveborn. These are actually large dungeons that you can exploit, with bosses and other battles yielding loot.

As you progress through the league, you will randomly encounter new Unstable Breaches in various areas. Their gameplay is largely the same as regular Breaches: stabilizing areas by defeating emerging enemies to prevent the spread of corruption.

To completely shut down an area's Unstable Breaches and thwart Breachlords' plot, you must defeat the corresponding boss. To permanently shut down all Breaches, you need to defeat the final boss, Vruun, Marshal of Xesht.

It's worth noting that Ailith's purifying power from her flames is a significant aid in completing Keepers league's main questline centered around Breaches. She also provides a new way to enhance your character: Genesis Tree.

What Enhancements Does Genesis Tree Provide?

Genesis Tree is both a new mechanic in 3.27 league and closely linked to the league's core mechanics and new storyline. Once your relationship with Ailith is deep enough, she will guide you to Monastery of Keepers to activate Genesis Tree.

Genesis Tree, with its biomechanical appearance, can be considered a league-exclusive talent tree. Points can be invested to unlock and upgrade Grafts, granting new usable abilities. Up to 16 Grafts are available for acquisition and selection.

Note that the points used in this tree are Graftblood, obtainable only by defeating Breach enemies.

Therefore, Genesis Tree and Breach are essentially complementary in 3.27 league. The former is enhanced by completing the latter, which helps you clear Breaches and other league challenges more efficiently.

Other New Features To Note

Undoubtedly, the revamped Breach and all related mechanics are the highlight of Keepers league, but some new features are also worth noting, especially some long-awaited by PoE players, such as asynchronous trade.

After the introduction of automatic trading in Path of Exile 2, players have been calling for a similar feature in the first game to improve trading efficiency. Therefore, 3.27 league introduces asynchronous trade.

Enter Act 6 and find NPC Faustus to complete the relevant quests to unlock this feature. Afterward, even if you leave the game, the system will automatically sell your tradeable items, accelerating the circulation of goods and currency.

Another noteworthy new gameplay feature is Bloodlines system. It includes 10 specific Bloodlines, obtainable by defeating endgame bosses. Consuming Ascendancy passive skill points can enhance your Bloodlines.

More key changes brought by 3.27 league are briefly listed below:

• You can now get a gold refund for passive skill tree and Atlas tree points.
• Rogues in Heist gameplay start at max level, eliminating the need for lengthy leveling quests.
• More usable skills and support gems have been added.
• Three variants of Uber Pinnacle boss have been added, increasing endgame difficulty while also providing rarer rewards.

That concludes our introduction to Keepers of the Flame new content. With this league about to begin, get ready to start your Breaches-clearing journey!

A month ago, a teaser trailer for Path of Exile 3.27 was released, announcing its October release date. As expected, 3.27 is scheduled to release on October 31st., and Secrets of the Atlas League will conclude on October 27th, leaving players with approximately three weeks to continue polishing their builds.

So, should you relax and enjoy the game during this time, or make a few extra bucks? What happens to your character after the league ends? How should you prepare for the new league?

How To Prepare For The New League?

PoE 3.26 lasted for almost five months, which naturally brought in a number of new players. Some of these players may not be fully aware of what the league transition represents.

Simply put, it's similar to the season transition in Diablo. When 3.26 transitions to 3.27, all characters, items, PoE currency, experience, and progress in the current challenge league will be transferred to the permanent standard league. When you create a character in a new league, it won't be able to use any gear or currency from the previous league. This means any hard work you put into 3.26 won't carry over to the new league.

If you want to prepare for 3.27, you can pay attention to the official announcements about the new league content and skill adjustments, note your desired build and the best upgrade build, and find a suitable loot filter to save you time searching through junk during gameplay. This will help you prepare early.

Your first build shouldn't be the strongest in the meta, but rather the one you most want to play. Once you successfully reach the endgame with your desired build and accumulate some PoE currency and gear, you can switch to a Meta build, which will allow you to upgrade faster.

Is 3.26 Still Worth Playing?

Secrets of the Atlas League has fewer content updates than other leagues, leading players to call it the worst season.

Judging by Steam online users and views on various streaming platforms, PoE 3.26 has fewer players than previous seasons. This may be due to the period of inactivity leading up to PoE2's release, which caused some players (including veterans who never switch leagues) to skip or join later.

However, despite the decrease in total players, player retention is very high. Even amidst severe server issues (especially on European servers), a large number of players continue to play. So, if you continue playing now, you don't have to worry about finding someone to trade with. You can sell all your PoE currency before the league ends, and you might even make a small profit.

Tier 16.5 Maps

Tier 16.5 maps are one of the best features of 3.26, primarily due to the map layout options. Tier 17 maps have closed corridor layouts, which often restrict player movement, hinder ranged and AOE builds, and make certain activities (such as Breach and Legion) a poor experience.

Tier 16.5 maps allow players to choose their favorite old map layouts, which greatly improves the gameplay experience. Furthermore, better layouts allow for more interesting builds that rely on area-of-effect effects, rather than just targeting specific Tier 17 meta builds.

While Tier 17 maps may offer higher returns per map, Tier 16.5 maps, thanks to their efficient layouts, narrow the payoff per unit time, so even if you don't challenge Tier 17 maps, you won't lose much. Furthermore, farming efficiency on Tier 16.5 maps isn't much lower than Tier 17. Even after the mid-game fix for the bug that guaranteed Tier 17 modifiers with eight affixes, Tier 16.5 maps still offer good returns. Tier 16.5 maps are expected to be carried over to 3.27.

Mercenaries League

Mercenaries are a new mechanic added in 3.26. Mercenaries can serve as powerful support. You can equip them with special equipment to grant you auras or taunt enemies. You can even have them serve as your primary damage dealer, with you supporting them.

When choosing equipment, you need to balance making your mercenaries powerful enough to enhance your own abilities with ensuring their survival. The mercenary system makes many previously unpopular Path of Exile items valuable.

However, mercenaries significantly increase the power of all builds, making 3.26 easier. If this mechanic isn't added to the core game, players in 3.27 might struggle to adapt. If it is, the disruption to game balance caused by mercenaries could be devastating.

Doryani's Prototype is a classic example of a design error. If you put this item, which grants negative lightning resistance, on a nearly indestructible mercenary, it overpowers the lightning build, disrupting the balance. Therefore, 3.27 may only retain a few mercenaries or their corresponding gems, while most mercenary-related content may be removed.

Beyond the content of 3.26, there has been no official preview or announcement regarding 3.27's content. However, it is expected to include new bosses and PoE currency. Another long-awaited feature that will probably launch in 3.27 is Path of Exile 2's current asynchronous trading system. It performed almost flawlessly in 0.3.0, and this feature promises significant improvements to the trading system, making it well worth the wait.

Currently, Path of Exile 3.26's player base isn't at its peak, and with 3.27 still about three weeks away, finding players willing to trade with you might be challenging before the new trading system launches.

However, IGGM will offer trading services from the start of the season until the end, allowing you to buy reliable PoE currency and items to complete your build.

It's been almost three months since the release of Path of Exile 3.26 (June 13, 2025 PDT). Recently, they released a soft announcement that 3.27 will arrive in October.

While they haven't yet announced a specific date, we can make some inferences based on their update schedule and habits.

Path Of Exile 3.27 Release Date

Most Likely Dates:

• October 24th
• October 31st

The official goal is to release 3.27 at the end of October, with the specific date to be announced via a livestream in a few weeks. The current Mercenaries of Trarthus League typically ends about a week before the new league exam, leaving players plenty of time to complete their current league's challenges.

PoE developers typically release updates on Fridays US time, officially announced as the end of October. Therefore, an update on October 17th is unlikely. If October 21st is considered late October, then both the 24th and 31st are possible new dates.

Given that Path of Exile 2 wasn't announced until the end of August, October 31st is the most likely date.

Path Of Exile Development Cycle

Before the release of 3.26, the developers explained their upcoming update cycle for Path of Exile 1 and 2 in an interview. PoE 1 and 2 will release new content every four months, adding new mechanics and a new PoE currency. This alternating cycle means players will be able to enjoy new content every two months on average.

This model provides players with predictability and reliability; even if a particular release isn't satisfactory, players know there will be new content to play a few months later.

However, given the late release date of Path of Exile 2, subsequent updates may be delayed until the end of the month. That means Path of Exile 2 patch 0.4.0 will be released at the end of December, and PoE 3.28 will be released at the end of February 2026.

However, Path of Exile's development staff is clearly insufficient. Currently, only about two developers can make class balance changes without review.

These core balancers need to constantly switch focus between POE 1 and POE 2 projects. While they're balancing PoE 2, POE 1 may not receive meaningful balance updates. Furthermore, due to the holiday break, I strongly suspect both patch 0.4.0 and POE 3.28 will be delayed.

Possible Content In Patch 3.27

The league theme and new features for 3.27 have not yet been announced, but the next patch is very likely to bring Path of Exile 2's asynchronous trading system (Merchant Tab System) to Path of Exile 1.

This new trading system allows you to place your items for sale, acting like a merchant. Other players can trade with you using PoE currency even when you're offline, without both players being online. This functionality is similar to an auction house in an MMO.

This will significantly change the gameplay experience in PoE 1, as trading is much more frequent in PoE 1 than in PoE 2. Currently, trading in PoE 1 can be frustrating, especially when you find an item that perfectly matches your build, only to have it rejected. Time zone issues also make trading quite inconvenient. Merchant Tab System will effectively address these issues.

Furthermore, for players who want to succeed in the trade league economy, quickly reaching the endgame and then progressing to farm will be more important than ever.

What Content Will Be Retained In 3.27?

PoE 3.26 is a good and fun League, but it still gets a distance with a real big expansion. With each League update, not everything from the previous League is retained, as this could affect game balance and the economy.

Mercenaries of Trarthus will definitely not be retained, as these mercenaries are too powerful and would disrupt the game balance, making it too easy. However, most of the mercenary skill gems are weak, but they may be added to the core.

Other contents, such as new PoE currency, Tier 16.5 maps, new bosses and unique items, are likely to remain, as they all have a positive impact on the game.

Comparison Between POE 1 And POE 2

The current Path of Exile 1 league has been running for three months, and some players may have already shifted their focus to Path of Exile 2. Other players, lacking the energy to play two complex APRGs simultaneously, are undecided between the two.

As an unfinished game, Path of Exile 2 is improving faster and is the current focus of the developers, allowing you to experience more new content.

Path of Exile 1 currently has a faster pace in leveling and endgame, and its boss battles are less immersive and challenging. It's more suitable for newcomers and is currently the better of the two.

Path of Exile 3.27 is still a while away, but even if you're tired of patch 3.26, you won't be bored while you wait. Currently, there's Last Epoch Season 3, and the recently released Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3.0, and Diablo 4 Season 10 is coming at the end of September, so you can wait in busy.

While the popularity of Path of Exile 3.26 seems to have waned recently, as long as you’re still playing, you’re likely to discover and utilize many powerful new builds! These will help you achieve even greater progress in the latter 3.26 battles.

This time, we’ll introduce Spectral Throw Trap Build. As a trap build, it not only provides ample DPS but also offers excellent durability and resiliency, and you can continuously optimize it if you wish.

Next, we’ll explain the combat effectiveness of this build and how to craft it in-game.

How To Choose The Right Gem?

Undoubtedly, in Path of Exile, gem selection often represents skill. As the name of the build suggests, the essential gem is Spectral Throw of Trarthus.

As an attack trap skill, when triggered, it fires multiple penetrating projectiles with the same effect as your current melee weapon through the trap, creating a nova of projectiles that then return to the trap location, damaging enemies in its path.

It’s important to note that Spectral Throw of Trarthus is essentially Trarthus version of Spectral Throw. This mechanic, exclusive to League 3.26, completely changes the skill’s properties, even down to its gem tags and mechanics.

Since Spectral Throw of Trarthus throws copies of your weapon at evenly spaced intervals around the trap, you can use it to create a more defensive build without having to worry about positioning like you would with Spectral Throw.

What makes this skill unique compared to most other skills in POE is that you can hit the same target multiple times with the same bullet, allowing you to deal increased damage. If you can keep the bullet on target, you can even hit enemies approximately 4.4 times per second per attack.

This way, if you utilize Spectral Throw Trap Build in enemy-heavy maps or quests, you’ll complete battles faster and earn more POE currency, helping you upgrade your gear quickly for tougher stages.

Glove Mod

Assuming you have sufficient dexterity and intelligence, you can enhance your build and character by adding mods. The glove mod, based on the core Spectral Throw of Trarthus, randomly increases or decreases bullet velocity by 50%.

First, the duration of a projectile is directly related to its velocity. Without the glove mod, projectiles are symmetrical; they launch and return simultaneously. If the trap is centered on an enemy, it might hit the enemy two or three times: once on launch and once on return.

However, with the glove mods increased projectile velocity, you’ll see a change in projectile duration, eliminating the need to reposition yourself. The varying return time of the projectile means you can score extra hits and a higher chance of hitting with your throw.

Another important benefit of the glove mod is that it increases your damage effectiveness by reducing the rolling speed of your projectiles. This allows you to hit at least 10 enemies with almost every trap you throw.

In this scenario, the projectiles don’t actually leave the monster’s attack range, but instead attack at their maximum damage of 4.44 times per second until they are depleted. All projectiles with longer range and duration then enter range to deal even more damage.

How To Choose The Best Gear?

There are many gear combinations suitable for this build, and you can choose based on your needs. A top recommendation is Marohi Erqi, which has decent physical damage and allows you to convert it into lightning or cold damage through the damage conversion mechanic.

Rakiata’s Dance is a good unique greatsword that can be paired with Marohi Erqi, or you can get Ephemeral Edge for even better tanking. However, if you’re looking for even more damage output, Energy Blade is a better choice.

Most of this gear can be obtained through combat drops or traded with other players. After assembling your gear, you can combine three mod prefixes and then roll them with different types of POE currency.

How To Defend And Recover?

Typical trap builds rarely offer recovery, but Spectral Throw Trap Build is an exception. It grants a 90% dodge rate through grace and mage blood flask, allowing you to gain approximately 2500 energy shield (ES) each time you’re hit with Ghost Dance.

If you want to avoid being hit, it’s recommended to use Titanium Spirit Shield at maximum block to gain 5% ES recovery when blocking. Tempest Shield and Replica Reckless Defense can increase your block rate to over 50% and spell block rate to 31%.

Suitable Passive Skills

First, I recommend acquiring Trap Support. This gem allows you to set a trap instead of directly casting a skill. The trap is invisible to enemies, and the first enemy to enter the trigger radius triggers it, creating an additional trap area effect.

The area effect means all traps trigger simultaneously, giving you a wider reach and a significant amount of bonus damage. This also increases your damage to a single target by 10%.

Finally, if you’re not used to melee trap builds, it’s important to ensure your accuracy is high when utilizing Spectral Throw Trap Build. Ideally, your accuracy level should be equal to your intelligence mastery.

We hope this introduction to the build’s crafting and its utilization is helpful. Thank you for reading.

After August arrives, you’re likely increasingly anticipating the release of Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3.0 at the end of the month. However, Path of Exile 1 actually welcomed a new event just a few days ago!

Called Merciless Gauntlet, it’s launched by renowned Path of Exile streamer Zizaran. It officially began on July 31st and will run until August 10th.

This isn’t the first time Zizaran has launched such an event in the game, but each event’s gameplay varies depending on the related league’s mechanics.

To help you earn event rewards, or at least get a taste of the fun, we will introduce Merciless Gauntlet to you, and some tips for playing it.

About Merciless Gauntlet

Think of it as a hardcore solo, self-found Mercenaries league. During your playthrough, you’ll earn points by defeating bosses and other enemies, and rewards will be awarded based on your points.

It’s important to note that some Merciless Gauntlet gameplay rules are inconsistent with Mercenaries of Trarthus League:

• There are no banned skills.
• Doryani’s Prototype cannot be obtained in any way.
• When challenging bosses, you can only use up to three portals instead of the normal six, otherwise you won’t receive points even if you kill the boss.
• The available Ascendancy classes are based on the previous Legacy of Phrecia settings.

Fortunately, you should still be able to consume existing POE currency to upgrade your gear’s rarity or refresh affixes, thereby enhancing it and earning more event points by killing bosses.

Event Battle Mechanics

In addition to the point-based reward mechanics and main rules mentioned above, most bosses in Merciless Gauntlet have different skills (either enhanced or swappable) than in regular 3.26 gameplay, and it’s even possible to encounter multiple bosses simultaneously.

Furthermore, different campaigns and maps in different acts will have different modifiers. However, Tier 17 maps will not have any additional modifiers and will drop five times more Uber boss fragments.

The following are the playable areas and bosses in this event:

• Campaign (Act 1 - Act 5)
• Campaign (Act 6 - Act 10)
• White Maps (Area Level 68-72)
• Yellow Maps (Area Level 73-77)
• Red Maps (Area Level 78-83)
• Tier 17 Maps (Area Level 84)
• Atlas Bosses (Non-Uber Sirus, Maven, Exarch, etc.): (Area Level 84)
• Uber Bosses (Area Level 85)

All bosses have unique abilities and mechanics. If you plan to fight to the end, it’s best to know which bosses will appear in the next area and their characteristics in advance so you can plan your responses accordingly.

What Tips Might Help You?

Due to the hardcore nature of Merciless Gauntlet, your character only has one life, and once you die, you can’t restart. Therefore, you must stay as safe as possible, even if this initially slows your progress.

Based on this, while killing more difficult bosses will grant more points initially, it’s perfectly acceptable to focus on farming the most basic boss, Hillock, to earn points and useful drops in the early stages.

This boss can be found in Act 1’s Twilight Strand. When fighting this boss, be aware that he will spawn Unstable Aberration via Leap Slam in phase 2, constantly disrupting you. Ranged classes are generally better suited to dealing with him.

To ensure your attack and defense capabilities continue to grow, you must not only obtain loot from bosses but also continuously trade with NPCs for more and better gear to replace your existing gear and upgrade its affixes.

It’s worth mentioning that if you’re interested in the event bonuses described below, it’s best to enter the event in your strongest class, as this will increase your chances of finishing at the top of the leaderboard and winning rewards!

What Are The Event Rewards?

First, if you participate in this event and your character reaches level 2 during the event, you’ll receive a Gauntlet Glove Effect, which will track your highest level achieved during the event. If you complete all event campaigns, you’ll also receive a Dawn of the Hunt Mystery Box.

As for the actual prize, a portion will be allocated for special bonuses, such as first kills of pinnacle bosses. The majority of the prize will be distributed to the top 1 scorers (12%) and the top 2 scorers (4%).

In addition, if you rank well in your class, you’ll also receive bonuses: the top 1 scorer in each class will receive 8%, and the top 2 scorer in each class will receive 4%.

Even if you’re not as skilled, you still have a chance to get prize through your luck! There will be a raffle for the event, and if your character reaches the corresponding level range, you’ll have a chance to win the following physical/in-game items!

• Reach Level 50: 5x $20 Food Delivery Gift Cards, 250x Dawn of the Hunt Mystery Box
• Reach Level 60: 1x Keychron K4 Pro Wireless Keyboard, 8x Mist Portal Effect, Divergence Portal Effect, Astral Portal Effect, Heritage Portal Effect
• Reach Level 70: 1x Logitech G502X Wireless Mouse, 8x Divergence Weapon Effect, Deepwater Weapon Effect, Winter Dragon Weapon Effect
• Reach Level 80: 1x Samsung 9100 Pro 1TB, 8x Divergence Cloak, Siren Cloak, Starfall Cloak
• Reach Level 90: 1x NVIDIA RTX 5070, 1x Winter Dragon, Nightfall, Rapture, Siren, Mercurial, Necrolord, Lightning Stygian Armor Packs
• Reach Level 95: 1x NVIDIA RTX 5080

The above are the main information and tips for Merciless Gauntlet event. The event won’t last long, so be sure to seize the opportunity to claim the rewards! Good luck!

As you know, crafting builds in Path of Exile series is usually centered around a class/Ascendancy class, or a single skill, because skills in the series are obtained by equipping skill gems, not determined by the selected class.

Therefore, in order to make the game more content-rich, POE will occasionally add new skill gems when releasing new leagues or patches. In POE 3.26, Wave of Conviction of Trarthus was added.

This skill is actually Trarthus gem version of the old skill Wave of Conviction - this is also a special mechanism introduced by 3.26 Mercenaries of Trarthus league.

This time we will introduce you to the mechanism and Wave of Conviction of Trarthus skill, and bring you a guide to craft related builds.

What Are Trarthus Gems?

Trarthus gems are actually replacement versions of existing skill gems, which are expressed as adding the suffix “of Trarthus” to the original skill name to change its function and balance.

In terms of overall skill effect, Trarthus skills are basically the same as default skills, but they will change the characteristics of the skills from other angles, and even change their gem tags and mechanics, which is similar to transfigured gems.

To obtain Trarthus gems, you need to duel with mercenaries in 3.26 league. After winning, in addition to the regular POE currency, you will also receive a random Trarthus gem. There are currently 12 Trarthus gems in the game:

• Sunder of Trarthus
• Chain Hook of Trarthus
• Heavy Strike of Trarthus
• Bladefall of Trarthus
• Blast Rain of Trarthus
• Dark Pact of Trarthus
• Spectral Throw of Trarthus
• Spectral Shield Throw of Trarthus
• Storm Call of Trarthus
• Spectral Helix of Trarthus
• Siege Ballista of Trarthus
• Wave of Conviction of Trarthus

What Is Wave Of Conviction Of Trarthus?

This skill is actually a physical/fire spell. It creates a ring of energy that can damage enemies twice as it spreads out from you for a while and then returns. Only one ring can be active at a time through this skill.

Unlike the original Wave of Conviction, Trarthan version has lower base damage, damage effect, and duration, but it does not cause exposure and converts 50% of physical damage to fire damage instead of directly outputting 25% fire damage and 25% lightning damage.

How To Craft Related Builds?

For Wave of Conviction of Trarthus, the key to its exclusive builds is to invest in scorch, exposure, penetration, and curse effects as much as possible to reduce enemy resistance.

Based on this, you can defeat and hire a mercenary equipped with Doryani’s Prototype and The Admiral Varnished Coat, or Fallen Reverend mercenary is also a good choice, because he can give you a free aura and cover enemies with ash.

In terms of class selection, it is recommended that you match Witch’s Ascendancy class Elementalist for the entire build, because this class can give you powerful damage, defense, and recovery capabilities at the same time through the reinforced puppet army.

Unlike the original version, since Wave of Conviction of Trarthus converts 50% of the damage to fire damage, you should utilize the appropriate items and passive skills to convert it to 100%, and trigger a linked spell every 0.3 seconds during the channeling skill.

This way, by reducing the duration of your energy wave, not only can your damage effectively kill the enemy, but it will also bring you a large amount of extra health and energy shield.

It should be noted that although this build has good damage effects against single and group enemies, it is not recommended to use it in the early stages of the league because it requires you to unlock the appropriate mercenaries and utilize skills proficiently.

What Items Are Suitable For This Build?

Compared with general POE 3.26 builds, the build dominated by Wave of Conviction of Trarthus does not require much in terms of gear, jewels, or flasks, and only a part of the primary gear can improve the overall effect.

For example, the already mentioned Doryani’s Prototype and The Admiral Varnished Coat can counteract the enemy’s elemental resistance, and Replica Dragonfang’s Flight amulet and The Light of Meaning jewel can greatly increase the damage you deal.

In addition, when you choose a defensive gem in Sciona area, The Light of Meaning jewel increases the fire damage by more than 200%, making the fire damage output of Wave of Conviction of Trarthus more effective after conversion.

Another good jewel is Watcher’s Eye, which is actually a common supplementary jewel for most builds using multiple auras. For the builds introduced in this article, Zealatry, Grace, and Clarity aura modifiers can increase your damage and defense.

In addition, since you chose Ascendancy class Elementalist, it is recommended that you activate its passive skill Bringer of Ruin, which can enhance the effect of Herald buffs you receive and increase the mana reservation efficiency of Herald skills.

The above is Wave of Conviction of Trarthus skills introduced to you this time, as well as its main build crafting core ideas and recommended items. If you think this plan is good, please try crafting in 3.26 league!

Although craft builds are an important and complex task in any ARPG, the complexity of crafting builds in Path of Exile series is particularly obvious, perhaps because there are many classes and skills in the game.

POE 3.26, which was launched on June 13, continues the complex style of the game. It combines the essence of the previous leagues and introduces more new content for you to experience, which makes craft builds more difficult.

Based on this, this time we will take Marauders Ascendancy class Juggernaut as the basis to introduce you to Tornado Shot Shine Build that is suitable for this class to utilize, based on different items.

The Core Gear That Make This Build Work

The first thing you need to know is that as an Ascendancy class, Juggernaut’s main advantage lies in its reliable tank attributes, and its armor, life recovery, damage reduction, deceleration and stun defense are all very good.

Therefore, the build suitable for Juggernaut is usually based on adding various item effects to it, which requires you to constantly farm more different types of POE currency during crafting, so that you can make builds more powerful by constantly optimizing these items.

For Tornado Shot Shine, its core gear is Spinehail vile arrow quiver and Coiling Whisper amethyst ring, both of which are new items brought by 3.26 and can only be dropped after defeating specific bosses:

• Spinehail: Catarina, Master of Undeath
• Coiling Whisper: Incarnation of Fear

Spinehail Vile Arrow Quiver

Spinehail’s attack will sacrifice a minion to fire three additional arrows at the enemy. Although this sounds a bit complicated, in fact you just need to make sure that Herald of Purity skill is running to obtain a steady stream of minions.

If you want to make the arrows from Spinehail more effective, you can pair it with Widowhail bow to get a 10-arrow multiplier at once, increasing the damage output of the build.

Coiling Whisper Amethyst Ring

The effect of this ring is that when your hex lasts for 90% on an enemy, for every 1 point of enemy strength you increase, you will devour 1 soul, which means you will gain Soul Eater stacks equal to the enemy’s strength. And this effect is not affected by Hexproof.

If you can control the duration short enough, Manaforged Arrows support means that it can help you do this job. And when you attack, if you have Hextouch support, you will continue to curse the enemy.

Based on the above effects, as long as the enemy survives long enough, you can immediately obtain all the souls of the enemy, and the higher the difficulty of the battle, the easier it is to work.

In addition, I believe you have noticed that specific skills or support gems also play an important role in the process of utilizing the above gear. But even without them, you can ensure that the build works properly by adding the following items.

Other Reliable Gear

In addition to the two core gear and Widowhail bow that can be paired with Spinehail - their main function is to increase your damage output, there are other gear in the game that can increase your defense or health that are worth adding.

The Iron Fortress

As a unique crusader plate, the function of this item is to change the damage bonus of strength to increase your melee physical damage by 3% for every 10 points of strength you gain. If it is used with Crown of Eyes, the effect will be even better.

Eyes Of The Greatwolf

This item has two random talisman implicit modifiers. Although the two benefits it brings to you in the end are random, it is very likely to bring you a turning point at the critical moment of the battle.

Related: What New Challenges Does Path Of Exile 3.26 Bound By Destiny Modifier Bring?

Appropriate Flasks

As an important type of benefit item in Path of Exile, properly matched flasks can improve different aspects of the build in unexpected ways. Here are the flasks for Tornado Shot Shine Build:

• Progenesis: When you are hit while it is active, 25% of the health loss from the damage taken will occur over 4 seconds. Drops from Uber Maven.
• Bismuth Flask: It is actually a utility flask base type, equipped on your belt to replenish your energy at any time. It will drop anywhere.
• Quicksilver Flask: As a base type, it works and drops in the same way as Bismuth Flask.
• Jade Flask: Same as above.

The Most Important Gem

As you know, gems in POE are actually available skills (skill gems and support gems), and as the name suggests, the most important skill for this build is Tornado skill.

This skill can create a tornado that continuously damages nearby enemies. While it moves forward, your projectiles can collide with it to continue damaging enemies.

After that, the tornado will chase the enemy for a second period, and reflect a portion of your damage in addition to the existing damage output.

If you are worried about what build to utilize in POE 3.26, this guide about Tornado Shot Shine Build should be able to help you. Thank you for reading.