Everything You Should Know About Shapeshifting In Path Of Exile 2!
May 30, 2023 Source: POECURRENCY
In 2019, on the stage at ExileCon, the founders of Grinding Gear Games revealed the biggest surprise in Path of Exile’s history to the 1700 fans in attendance live at the Aotea Centre in Auckland and the tens of thousands watching from home.
Path of Exile 4.0, now known as Path of Exile 2, is a giant expansion of Path of Exile that would only build and improve on the years and years of work that had already gone into the project rather than a sequel that would ultimately replace it.
Shapeshifting Reveal
The reception in the Aotea Centre was incredible. But of all the teasers and reveals that were shown off at ExileCon in 2019, one of the biggest reactions from the live crowd was for one feature - Shapeshifting.
Shapeshifting was coming to Path of Exile. It is a massive feature that had been requested for years and years by fans prior to this announcement and in Path of Exile 2, it’s finally going to be a thing.
How Will It Work?
But how exactly is shape-shifting going to work in Path of Exile? We know that Shapeshifting will be a reservation skill that will allow you to freely switch between human form and the beastial form, the type of which is specific to the Shapeshifting skill gem that you’re using.
Think of stance swapping in Blood and Sand Stance. The reservation was a flat amount similar to vitality and precision when it was shown in the live demo on the stage at ExileCon in 2019. And it’s unclear if there will be ways to augment the shapeshifting skills through the use of support gems other than their reservation costs with things like Enlighten and Arrogance.
But, it’s very possible that Path of Exile 2 introduces new support gems for this type of skill with stats like shapeshifting buff effect, similar to the aura effects that we have in the current game. So, you’d better prepare enough POE Currency for emergencies.
Also Read: Here's Everything We Know About Path Of Exile 2!
The Beastmaster
But there are going to be ways to augment shapeshifting through the new ascendancy classes. There are 19 brand new ascendancy classes coming to the game with the release of Path of Exile 2. One for the Scion and three for each of the other classes.
And one of those new ascendancy classes is the Beastmaster, a ranger ascendancy with a heavy focus on animal companions and shapeshifting. This class will have unique access to the Werecat Form Skill, a shapeshifting ability that morphs the ranger into a formidable Werecat. This skill will be acquired from the Born to Be Wild ascendancy notable, which also grants 10% more damage while shapeshifted.
While you’re in the Werecat Form, you’ll gain increased Critical Strike chance and some crit multi, too. But the unique interactions with shapeshifting on the Beastmaster don’t stop there. Because the Beastmaster will also be able to spec into Wildshape, a powerful ascendancy notable that grants a 100% increased buff effect to all shapeshifting abilities and perhaps more importantly allows you to retain the shapeshifting buff even when you morph back into human form.
The even crazier part of this notable though is that the developers confirmed that you could retain the buff of a previous shapeshift form while you use a different shapeshift form, essentially allowing you to run two different shape shifts at once and have double buff effects from both of those abilities while you’re actively playing in one of these shapeshift forms.
Imagine keeping the Critical Strike buffs from the Werecat Form whilst actively playing in the tanky Bear Form.
Shapeshifting Forms
Speaking of the Bear Form, what do we know about the types of shapeshifting abilities that will be available in Path of Exile 2?
We know of the Werecat Form, as mentioned earlier. That one will be exclusive to the Beastmaster. But we also know of the Wolf Form. The developers didn’t talk too much about this one. But they did mention that it will have a focus on increasing damage and mobility.
There’s also the cat form, which will have a movement speed bonus and interactions with phasing and being stealthy. The developers likened it to Aspect of the Cat. And the last form that we know about is the Bear Form.
Now, it was clear from the keynote ExileCon in 2019, they probably weren’t supposed to mention the Bear Form by name. But it did slip out and we only know of a single word used to describe the Bear Form, and that’s tanky.
So, expect some reduced damage taken modifiers and maybe some endurance charge generation or recovery mechanics.
Gameplay Mechanics
What about the gameplay mechanics of shapeshifting skills? How are they going to factor into how you actually play your character?
Chris Wilson, one of the co-founders of Grinding Gear Games, was very clear that they wanted shapeshifting to feel free and not be clunky to use. So, you’ll be able to change forms at any time, even during the animation of another skill.
He said that “one of the things that we thought was really important to shape-shifting is that you could just change back and forth at any time, walking around in the middle of a skill, whenever, just hit the button and go”. And you can just imagine how amazing this is going to feel to play with. It really goes far in the fluidity of combat and keeping that freedom of movement, similar to the new weapon type that’s also coming in Path of Exile 2, the Spear, which will have new combat movement abilities tied to the weapon itself.
Weapons & Shapeshifting
Speaking of weapons, Chris went on to say that “each shapeshifting form can use any regular Path of Exile 2 attack, that makes sense”. But things start to get really crazy here. Because the character that they were showcasing shapeshifting on in the live demo was using a bow and that character was using normal ranged bow attacks and dropping Ballista Totems until they morphed into the Wolf Form and started using Leap Slam and Cleave.
They were using Leap Slam and Cleave with a bow. Now, this technology is actually going to exist on another Ranger ascendancy, the Tactician. This new ascendancy will have a very special notable called Close Combat Specialist, which will allow you to use ax and sword melee abilities with your bow.
And this means that with Chris’s statement, it’s likely that the same sort of technology exists on all shapeshifting abilities as a baseline so that you’re able to use those melee abilities while you’re morphed into the beastial form regardless of which type of weapons you have equipped. That does, of course, pose some potentially ridiculous balance issues. The balance aside is a really fun and interesting prospect.
Wolf Form Tooltip
We just have to talk about that tooltip that was very briefly shown in the demo. This is a level one skill gem, which is why the flat reservation is so low.
But just look at that 50% reduced damage taken stat, I feel that there’s no way this is going to make it into the live release of the game. But even the description hints that the form has some kind of tankiness - “Assume the form of a Mighty Wolf - harder, better, faster, and stronger than that of a Human”.
It’s very possible that all shapeshifting forms will have a baseline defensive layer that may not even be tied to the shapeshifting buff effect itself. And I haven’t even mentioned the 20% increased movement speed and the impact that will have on both the racing community and the general feel of leveling.
Interestingly, while we didn’t wait for Path of Exile 2 to launch, we did wait for Diablo 4, which is also getting a lot of attention. In a few days, Diablo 4 will be officially released. If you want to reduce the tedious leveling process, it would be a good choice to directly buy Diablo 4 Gold. Now, APRG fans, let's do it!
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How To Use Energy Shield In Path Of Exile 2 To Enhance Your Survivability? - Mechanics Explained & Potential Changes
As we all know, the much-anticipated POE 2 Early Access has been postponed to December 6, which has whetted everyone’s appetite. Many players are now a little impatient and want to experience the content of Path Of Exile 2 in person.
But while waiting, you can also learn about some of the mechanics in Path Of Exile 2 in advance, and how these differ from those in POE 1. For example, this article will introduce Energy Shield in detail. Without further ado, let’s take a look.
How Does Energy Shield Work?
Energy Shield is a form of defense that can be used as an additional hit point pool in the life pool. In addition to armor and evasion, it is also one of the defense types that can appear implicitly on equipment.
Energy Shield Recharge
Energy Shield Recharge is a mechanic that restores Energy Shield over time at a base rate of 33.3% per second. It only starts after Energy Shield or resource has not taken damage, and the duration of Energy Shield protection lasts for 2 seconds. Energy Shield recharge is interrupted if Energy Shield or the resource it is protecting takes any damage.
However, Energy Shield recharge does not stop when full Energy Shield is not reached or if resource loss comes from non-damage sources, such as using Lifetap Support to consume life.
Application Of Energy Shield
In addition, each class has no Energy Shield in its initial form. But after that, for every 10 intelligence increase, the maximum Energy Shield will increase by 2%. Of course, Energy Shield also reduces the amount of damage the class takes. As long as the character has Energy Shield when it takes damage, even damage from Labyrinth traps, that damage will be applied to Energy Shield first.
It’s worth noting that physical damage reductions and elemental resistances also apply to damage before being deducted from Energy Shield. Damage only starts to be applied to life or mana when all Energy Shield is depleted.
The exception is chaos damage, which bypasses Energy Shield. Of course, Energy Shield can also be mixed and matched with some other items. For example, Corrupted Energy, which makes 50% of chaos damage unable to bypass Energy Shield, but on the downside, it causes 50% of physical damage to bypass Energy Shield.
Additionally, Eldritch Battery Keystone can cause Energy Shield to conserve mana instead of life, causing the character to consume Energy Shield before spending skill charges. Mind Over Matter can be used in conjunction with Eldritch Battery, with damage dealt being redirected to mana and deducted from ES.
If the class does not take damage for a certain period of time, Energy Shield will begin to recharge. Also, when using Blood Magic or Sacrifice mechanic, consuming Energy Shield does not count as taking damage.
By default, Energy Shield starts charging after a delay of 2 seconds. Players can also reduce this delay by using passive skills and equipment to activate Energy Shield Recharge modifiers more quickly.
In general, as a form of recovery, Energy Shield Recharge Rate can reach 20% per second. If you want to speed up your recovery efficiency, it is essential to invest some POE 2 Currency to re-roll stats, which will give you more generation opportunities in some critical endgame situations.
Avoiding Stun
Energy Shield also has an inherent stun prevention mechanic. When a character takes hit damage while having Energy Shield, they will have a 50% chance to ignore being stunned by that hit unless they also have Eldritch Battery Keystone in use. This stun prevention mechanic is completely independent of other sources of stun avoidance, and is rolled separately.
Chaos Inoculation keystone can also be used to render a character immune to damage, but at the cost of losing only one life. All these changes make Energy Shield a primary resource for absorbing damage.
Potential Changes
Now, POE 2 is making some major changes to the core Energy Shield mechanic, mainly regarding which damage types bypass Energy Shield. For example, chaos damage will no longer bypass Energy Shield by default, unless it is chaos damage from poison ailment.
Any non-poison type of chaos damage will remove twice Energy Shield after mitigation calculations. Therefore, please be aware of the damage type and equip the appropriate POE 2 items in advance to avoid unnecessary consumption of your Energy Shield.
Although physical damage from bleeding ailment bypasses Energy Shield, bleeding only causes damage from direct hits, so GGG is currently planning to provide players with immunity of bleeding in the same way as Chaos Inoculation keystone did in POE 1, so that when attacked, no life damage is dealt and ailment is applied.
Of course, since Path of Exile 2 Early Access hasn’t officially launched yet, some of the new mechanics and changes we’ve learned about so far haven’t been fully confirmed. However, for some players who can’t wait, you can also read this guide in advance to make a full understanding before officially playing POE 2. I hope it can help you get a better gaming experience!
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How Will The Damaging Ailments Mechanic Work In Path Of Exile 2?
Before Path of Exile 2 Early Access officially arrives on December 6, let’s take a look at some of the changes that may happen in this sequel so that you can quickly adapt to everything when you enter the game and dominate the entire continent of Wraeclast.
Here, we will mainly explore Damaging Ailments mechanism in POE 2. We will talk about how it works and how it differs from the same mechanism in POE 1. If you are also interested in this, then don’t miss this guide!
Composition Of Damaging Ailments
Damaging Ailments mechanism in Path of Exile is composed of three ailments. Each ailment will cause continuous damage during its effect. These three are Poison, Bleed and Ignite.
Bleed is caused by physical attack damage and will cause physical damage over time. Its magnitude is 70% of the base physical strike damage of the ailment per second. It lasts for 5 seconds and does not stack. However, the damage dealt by Bleed triples to 210% per second while the target is moving.
Ignite is caused by fire strike damage and deals fire damage over time with a magnitude of 90% of the base fire strike damage that causes the ailment per second for 4 seconds, and does not stack. Ignite is always dealt with five points of damage, and the last one is also a critical hit.
Poison is caused by physical and chaos strike damage and deals chaos damage over time with a magnitude of 30% of the base physical and chaos strike damage that causes the ailment per second for two seconds, and stacks infinitely.
Modifiers
There are a number of modifiers on Passive Skill Tree, including Ascendancy notable and Unique items, that are directly related to these ailments. The more common modifiers increase the duration of the ailment or increase the character’s chance of causing these ailments, but some modifiers can directly change the default behavior of the ailment.
For example, Crimson Dance keystone does this, allowing you to stack Bleed effect up to 8 times on a single target, but at the cost of halving the damage dealt and losing the inherent property of Bleed not dealing extra damage when the enemy is moving.
What Are The Changes To Ailment Mechanics?
Now, Path of Exile 2 is making some very significant changes to Ailments.
Ailment Application
First, let’s discuss the broad changes to ailment application and damage dealt by ailments. In POE 2, you won’t be able to trigger ailments by investing POE 2 Currency like you did in the original game, as these modifiers grant you a percentage-based chance to cause specific ailments. Meanwhile, critical hits in POE 2 will no longer guarantee the application of Elemental Ailments.
So how do you cause ailments? Now, in Path of Exile 2, the chance to cause an ailment and the damage dealt will be based on the damage the defender has taken before the mitigation phase. This differs from the calculation of ailment damage in POE 1. In PoE 1, damage was calculated from the base damage of a hit on the attacker’s side.
Now, this change is important for a few reasons. First, since the chance of inflicting an ailment is based on the hit damage, you now care about adjusting the hit damage to help ensure that you can inflict that ailment. This wasn’t important in PoE 1 originally, for example, Deadly Ailments Support was a regular addition to an ailment-based build, since reducing the hit damage by 80% wouldn’t affect the damage inflicted by the ailment.
Second, since the damage inflicted by an ailment in PoE 2 is based on and scaled by the damage hit rate, the damage modifier will no longer be directly applied to the ailment before mitigation, as it was in PoE 1. This means that in PoE 2, you are actively incentivized to scale the hit damage, not only to improve the chance of inflicting an ailment but also to inflict more damage on it.
Ailment Damage Scaling
Now, even though hit damage before mitigation determines the chance to cause an ailment, you can still invest in modifiers that help you cause an ailment, but they work slightly differently.
A good example of this is Ignition Support, which gives supported skills a 50% chance to cause Ignite. This can be thought of as somewhat similar to Implicit, which exists on modifiers that allow you to cause an ailment. This is because hit damage first determines the chance to cause an ailment and the modifiers of Ignition Support.
And then, as a multiplier of that number, besides being able to increase the chance to cause an ailment, you can also use a new type of modifier to directly scale ailment damage. This modifier originally only existed on certain non-damaging ailments in POE 1 Ailment effects. But in POE 2, you will be able to directly scale damaging ailments with ailment effect modifiers as well. For example, this Frostfire Support, which makes Ignite caused by supported skills 100% more effective against frozen enemies.
In addition to the hit damage modifier naturally scaling ailment damage in POE 2, this modifier essentially increases the base effect of Ignite from dealing 90% of hit damage per second to 180%.
Critical Strikes & Detonate Dead
There are two other important mechanics that also affect Damaging Ailments in POE 2, namely Critical Strikes and Detonate Dead. These mechanics are calculated before mitigation damage and directly affect hit damage. Therefore, they will increase the chance of inflicting a bleed and the damage dealt by that ailment.
Keep in mind that the 50% multiplier provided by critical hits for bleeds in POE 1 will no longer exist in POE 2, and as mentioned before, critical hits will no longer guarantee the application of Elemental Ailments in Path of Exile 2.
Default Behavior Of Specific Ailments Changes
Finally, the default behavior of specific ailments will also change, and now only hits that damage life can cause bleeding, and hits that are completely absorbed by energy shields or other resources will not cause bleeding.
In addition, damage caused by bleeding will completely bypass energy shields, which is very interesting. This means that Chaos Inoculation Keystone will make characters immune to bleeding in POE 2. Because non-poison chaos damage will no longer bypass energy shields, but will remove twice as much energy from this resource.
By default, poisons will not stack, but you will be able to invest in additional poisons, such as this Multiple Poison Support. However, non-poison chaos damage will no longer bypass energy shields, but will remove twice as much energy from this resource.
This is all we know about Damaging Ailments mechanic in POE 2. However, we have to make a disclaimer that nothing is set in stone before Early Access is launched, so please stay tuned!
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How To Choose The Best Build For The Latest POE 3.25 Settlers Of Kalguur Event? - Cold Tornado Occultist Build Guide
Exiles, I’m back with my Cold Tornado Occultist build! As a low-life crit build, it performs particularly well in boss damage and map clearing. With the official launch of POE 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur Event, if you like to experience super-fast mapping and dominate the battlefield with clever tactics and exciting damage output, then don’t miss this powerful build!
Here, we will talk in detail about the pros and cons of this Cold Tornado Occultist and the equipment settings, so that you can better master it in the latest Settlers Event and win more loot.
Pros & Cons
In POE 3.25, Tornado has become one of the favorite skills of many players in this game, especially for some avid fans of Totem mechanism. The reason why they like Tornado so much is that it works a bit like Totem. You don’t even need to aim, stand still, or get close to the monster. Just run away after casting it, and it will cause damage and kill the monster. So, with this build, you can greatly improve the efficiency of farming Divine Lantern in Settlers of Kalguur Event.
Speaking of its advantages, it must be mentioned that this build has amazing damage. For regular Tornado builds, having solid defense is often the core competitiveness, but their DPS of only 12 million makes many offensive players give up it as the first choice. Therefore, here, we want to try to improve the disadvantages of this build, that is, to increase its DPS and make a crit build that can easily complete Tier 17 maps and Uber bosses.
Of course, there is no doubt that this has prime requirements for your budget, and you need to invest in at least 40 Divine Orbs. This will bring your DPS to 24 million, and your level 29 Tornado will easily make your crit multiplier exceed 500%.
So why do we choose to use a low-life build? This is mainly because it is also very easy to get started, and you are able to easily deal high damage by stacking multiple attack auras. Of course, the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, there is no spell suppression, because it is difficult to integrate it into this build, and it requires several mandatory POE items.
In addition to this, except for Energy Shield Mastery “10% Less Physical Damage Taken while on Full Energy Shield”, you do not have any physical damage mitigation or reduction, which means that this build is extremely easy to die from physical damage. It cannot withstand huge physical blows. Although blocking helps a lot, you still have to dodge these blows manually in the end.
Offense
This build uses 3 curses: Elemental Weakness, Frostbite and Assassin’s Mark. Previously, some players said that Herald of Purity and Herald of Ice were also good choices, but later after many trials, Summon Skitterbots were clearly more advantageous because it caused more damage.
In addition, this build has 9 Power Charges all the time, so allocating Inner Conviction keystone is a breeze. It has been very easy to deal with areas like Abomination Map. Facing 3 bosses spawning at the same time is not a problem. Like said before, it doesn’t matter where you cast the skills, because the skills will move, and the boss will die, anyway.
Defense
Of course, this does not mean that this build has no defense. For example, damage avoidance is okay for this build. It has about 40% attack block and 60% spell block. Chill and Freeze will also come in handy when surrounded by monsters.
Thanks to having such high spell block, you can have the easiest Uber Elder killing experience. You can run around without worrying about these elusive purple balls. And having high Energy Shield and fast recovery through leech and Energy Shield recharge is also crucial to survival. If your resistance is also capped, including chaos resistance, and immunity to all Elemental Ailments.
Gear Choice
For gear choices for this build, Void Battery must be mentioned first, which is one of the best unique wands in POE 3.25. Trust me, this is a wise choice, because for a Power Charge Stacking build, there is nothing better than it.
Prism Guardian and Shavronne’s Wrappings are a must for this low-life build to work. If you are trying to squeeze as much attack blocking as possible out of your gear setup, Crown of the Inward Eye may be essential for you, but it is also a high demand for your budget. Because a good roll with this implicit requires at least 20 Divine Orbs. Of course, you can also choose to corrupt some helmets yourself, and if you are lucky, you will get the result you want after a few attempts.
Presence of Chayula is very useful for Stun Immunity, don’t sacrifice this position for anything else. In addition, +3 to the gem level is too good to miss. It not only increases your damage but also increases the movement speed of Tornado build.
Passive Skill Tree
You can easily get Stun Immunity through Occultist’s Vile Bastion, but to get this, you have to sacrifice one of the passive skills, which I don’t think is worth it.
There is also Immutable Force here, which seems to be quite good, and the stun is almost unnoticeable. Combat Focus needs to be placed correctly to get the effect. Please note that “With 40 total Dexterity and Strength” here does not mean that all stats need to get 40 points. For example, here, having 40 points of Strength meets the requirement.
As for other passive skill choices, it is recommended that you prioritize those that provide Energy Shield, Reservation Efficiency, Power Charge and Critical Hit.
The above is all about this Cold Tornado Occultist build. To be honest, the arrival of the new Settlers of Kalguur Event is unexpected, but I hope this build can bring you a pleasant experience in this new event! Although this new event is a bit boring with only Divine Lantern, it is understandable considering that GGG had to transfer most of its resources to POE 2. Anyway, good luck to you!
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Predictions On POE 3.26 Release Date And The Upcoming Settlers Of Kalguur Event
Hello Exiles, we are in the season of spoilers for Path of Exile 2 recently, and a lot of content about this new sequel has been revealed, but our topic today is related to POE 1, namely the possible release date of patch 3.26, the end time of the current POE 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur expansion, the recently announced new Settlers of Kalguur Event, and how we can prepare for it.
To be honest, this event may not bring any exciting new content, but with POE 3.25 league cycle already more than halfway through, it may be an interesting new event to attract many players to return. Here, let’s take a closer look.
Why POE 3.26 May Be Released Next Year?
Let’s first take a look at the possible update time of POE 3.26. Before Grinding Gear Games pushed back the release date of Path of Exile 2 Early Access from November 15th to December 6th, many players had been speculating that patch 3.26 would not be released this year.
The reason for this is simply because of its commercial reality. Because GGG wants to launch their biggest release ever in POE 2 Early Access, they don’t want to release a minor 4 weeks later to steal their limelight. With this factor in mind, it will be difficult for you to see the news that POE 3.26 will be released on December 13th if it follows the previous update cycle.
And because of Christmas holiday, you will also most likely not see them release it around December 20th or 27th. So it is also expected by many people that Path of Exile 3.26 will be released next year. And GGG’s recent post has proved that this speculation is correct, but not just next year.
But honestly, next year is late enough that even a decline in player interest in POE 3.26 is unlikely to be a factor in delaying it to next year. So we’re going to hazard a guess that they never planned to launch Path of Exile 3.26 this year.
We think the developers originally planned to launch it in the 1st or 2nd week of January, but now it will be the 4th or 5th week of January instead. It’s worth noting that they haven’t locked in specific numbers yet. They hope to achieve it in late January, but this is by no means a firm promise. This means that POE 3.26 may also be delayed until February. And depending on the progress of Path of Exile 2 Early Access, maybe it will be brought forward to mid-January. We just know that it won’t be this year.
New Settlers Of Kalguur Event
In any case, this means that Settlers of Kalguur League will be extended until 2025. But one thing GGG knows is that once players get everything they want in this league, these people tend to stop playing, which is part of the reason why Standard League is not as popular as Temporary leagues. Of course, although not everyone who plays Settlers of Kalguur league gets everything they want, many people do.
In Temporary leagues, it is more realistic for players to get the next upgrade, while in Standard, few people reach that point in Settlers of Kalguur, which makes them feel that the next upgrade is out of reach and they are just waiting for something new to do. So, in order to bridge the gap and give players a brand new experience, the developers also took the opportunity to launch the new Settlers of Kalguur Event.
This is a fresh start with a twist, and it will bring some content that differs slightly from the base game. This Settlers of Kalguur Event will start soon. If you are in a similar time zone in United States, it will start on November 7th, but if you are in Australian time zone, it will start on November 8th.
What Are The Features Of The New Event?
This new-look event offers a brand new economy and ladder reset that functions very similarly to the base version of Settlers of Kalguur. On top of that, it also includes enemy modifiers for each zone, which was a key feature of the previous Necropolis league. However, unlike Necropolis, these modifiers only grant rewards, including bonuses to aspects such as POE Currency or item drop chance and enemy pack size.
The addition of this Necropolis mechanic will be a positive change, and their main impact will be for more casual players, as they will make gear drops faster. Especially if you’re the type of player who still wants to get a lot of Chaos Orbs while advancing Atlas, running this event will definitely make you earn a lot of money.
This new league event will run in parallel with the existing Settlers of Kalguur league, so you can continue to play with your current character if you wish. However, if you choose to participate in the new event league and reach level 50 on any character, you will receive a mandatory Settlers Mystery Box, which includes a random cosmetic selected from the new additions in POE 3.25. If you already own all of them, you will receive two Polaris Mystery Boxes instead.
As for the available game modes for this event, when it was originally announced, there were only two versions, namely Softcore Trade and Solo Self-Found Hardcore modes. But later, GGG changed the announcement and added Hardcore and Solo Self-Found versions.
It is worth noting that it does not look like there will be any support for Ruthless mode. Of course, there will not be much demand from the player community for this, so this is unlikely to change, and it looks like there will only be four different versions running.
How To Prepare For The New Event?
If you plan to participate in Softcore Trade version of the event, then here are some tips that may help you.
You can try to play with your partners as a cooperative group, use the guild warehouse to trade resources between each other, and try to prepare each other to pass milestone encounters to obtain a large amount of wealth. At the end of a period after the group has run a few times, maybe 10 days, or maybe the end of the second weekend, you can go your separate ways and split the loot at that time. However, you have a lot of things to do to make this happen, because making it as fair as possible is key.
Anyway, that’s all we know about the possible release date of POE 3.26 and the upcoming Settlers of Kalguur Event. If you’re interested in being a part of the event, then grab your chance and prepare early!
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How The Evasion Changes In Path Of Exile 2 Affect Build Defense Mechanics?
I’m sure you all know that Path of Exile 2 Early Access is coming out on December 6th! While we wait, let’s take a look at the changes in mechanics between Path of Exile and its sequel so that you’re ready on the day of Early Access launch.
In this guide, we’re going to talk about Evasion mechanic in POE 2. We’ll discuss how it works and how it differs from the same mechanic in POE 1. Whether you’re a new player interested in Path of Exile 2 or a veteran who’s played multiple Challenge Leagues, you’ll be able to get some useful information from this. Without further ado, let’s jump right in!
How Does Evasion Mechanic Work?
Evasion Rating is a core defense stat in Path of Exile that calculates the chance of a character evading incoming attacks. This is done using a formula that weighs a character’s Evasion Rating with a monster’s Accuracy Rating to determine its Chance to Evade. Note that a character’s Chance to Evade is capped at 95%.
Evasion is not a purely chance-based system, however, as there is a secondary mechanic called Entropy that affects it. Entropy is a system designed to ensure that no long hits or accidental evades occur when an attack is launched, and that the attack is the first attack in at least 100 server ticks, or about 3.33 seconds.
This Entropy value is randomly rolled between 0 and 99, and the attacker’s chance to hit is added to this value. If Entropy value is over 100 after adding the attacker’s chance to hit, the attack will hit, and 100 will be subtracted from Entropy value. If Entropy value is still below 100 after adding the attacker’s chance to hit, the attack will evade, and Entropy value will remain the same.
Importantly, since Entropy is a character stat, all monsters attacking the character share the same Entropy value. This system ensures that Evasion is no longer a random defense mechanism, but a more reliable way to evade incoming attacks over a long period of time.
What Are The Changes At Evasion?
But the types of attacks that characters can evade are changing in Path of Exile 2. This is because monsters will no longer distinguish between using attacks and spells when it comes to a character’s defense.
By default, characters will be able to evade any incoming projectile or strike in Path of Exile 2, whether that projectile is an arrow fired by a monster attacking or a fireball fired by a monster casting a spell. As long as the hit is a projectile or strike, you will be able to evade that hit, such as a monster swinging a sword at you in melee range.
However, by default, characters will not be able to evade Area of Effect hits, such as the larger slam skills used by bosses. Therefore, investing in POE 2 Currency to stack better gear for your build may be a better choice to improve your survivability.
Accuracy Rating May Become A Key Defensive Stat
This change now means that any hits from monsters that a character can evade will use the monster’s Accuracy Rating to calculate their chance to hit the character. So, monster skills that were spells in Path of Exile 1 (such as Fireball) will use the monster’s Accuracy Rating to determine their chance to hit.
This is important because another change in POE 2 makes Accuracy less effective at long distances. The farther an entity is from its target, the higher the penalty for its Accuracy Rating, making it harder to hit a target when it’s far away.
This means that not only will characters be able to evade all types of projectiles, but their position and distance from the monster targeting them is an important consideration from a gameplay perspective. This will make evade a more powerful defensive stat against ranged monsters, especially for ranged characters who already naturally keep their distance.
Also Read: What Do You Think Of The Path Of Exile 2's Early Access Release Delay?
Can Acrobatics Keystone Evade All Hits?
Now, even though Area of Effect hits can’t be dodged by default you don’t need to worry, because there is a keystone in POE 2 that will change that.
In Path of Exile 2, Acrobatics keystone will make all hits evadable, including hits that were previously unevadable, such as Area of Effect abilities, but at the cost of the character’s Evasion Rating reduced by 50%.
The wording of this one might be a bit incorrect, though, because through translation we’re not sure if Evasion Rating is 50% reduced or 50% less. Of course, this keystone and almost everything else are subject to change, but the idea of this keystone is that you need to invest more to get quite a bit of Evasion Rating, and in exchange, Evasion becomes more reliable as a primary defensive tool.
In short, with the changes we know about Evasion mechanics in POE 2 so far, it will provide better protection for ranged builds as a defensive stat. But as we said before, nothing is known until the official release. So, let’s wait and see!
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How To Play Huntress Class In Path Of Exile 2? - Skills & Mechanics
Exiles, I’m sure you all know the news that Path of Exile 2 Early Access has been delayed until December 6th. But don’t be discouraged, this also means that we have more time to prepare for it. Here, we speculate on the classes that will be playable in the upcoming POE 2 Early Access. It is speculated that 6 to 8 classes out of a total of 12 classes will be available in Early Access.
In this guide, we will take a look at Huntress in Path of Exile 2. If you are interested in an agility and precision playstyle, as well as a mix of ranged and melee skills, then this class may be the one for you. Stay tuned to see how Huntress brings unparalleled speed and strategic control to the battlefield in POE 2. Without further ado, here is the first look at Huntress class.
Skill Breakdown
As we said before, 6 to 8 of these classes will be available in Early Access, and one potential choice is Huntress, a master of agility, ranged attacks, and nature-based skills. Today, we’re going to take a deep dive into what makes Huntress unique, her playstyle, and how to use her abilities to your advantage.
Huntress class is built for players who enjoy agility, precision, and controlling the battlefield from a distance, and here’s a breakdown of some of her key skills.
Whirling Slash
Whirling Slash is the go-to skill for Huntress to deal quick sweeping damage. This allows her to decapitate enemies at close range, making it an effective way to escape or clear out groups of monsters when surrounded.
Spearfield
With Spearfield skill, Huntress can fire a deadly field of spears onto the battlefield. It’s great for zoning out enemies and setting up a controlled area of damage that’s hard for enemies to safely approach.
Puncture
Puncture is a high-precision skill that deals bleeding damage over time. Perfect for focusing on more powerful enemies, Puncture lets you watch your enemies take damage over time while mapping them.
Rapid Assault
Rapid Assault is a burst attack that lets Huntress unleash a series of quick strikes, perfect for taking out weakened enemies at close range or dealing damage quickly.
Using these skills, Huntress is able to combine strategic positioning with powerful debuffs, allowing her to control both single-target enemies and larger groups from a safe distance. You can kill enemies effortlessly and reap a large amount of POE 2 Currency.
Unlike some ARPGs that encourage rapid progression to the endgame, POE 2 emphasizes a rich campaign experience with over 100 unique bosses and an ever-changing environment. This also means that players need to master their class’s abilities in order to adapt to difficult map environments. And the unique tactics and synergy of Huntress’s skills make her a sound choice for navigating Path of Exile 2’s complex maps.
Compared to the brute force of Warrior class or the elemental power of Sorceress, Huntress stands out for her agility and precision. She is a versatile high-skill cap option that will appeal to players who want to control every action on the battlefield.
Additionally, Huntress in POE 2 offers a fast-paced, skill-intensive playstyle that’s perfect for those who enjoy strategic positioning and calculated strikes. If you’re excited about Early Accesses, this might be the class for you.
Huntress vs Ranger
Now let’s talk about a few notes about Huntress class. Huntress is a Dexterity build like Ranger, while Huntress is a master of the spear. This means that Huntress has an “inside-outside” playstyle. You can mix melee and ranged skills to suit your situation and benefit from both styles.
As for the passive skill tree, Huntress and Ranger have the same starting point for their skill trees in Path of Exile 2. The area is near the nodes with abilities like Evasion, Spell Suppression, Cold Damage, Flask Effect, and more.
Overall, Huntress doesn’t seem to be a tanky class, so melee combat may be more dangerous. If Ranger is better at ranged combat, we’ll have to look forward to how the melee part of Huntress makes her unique and powerful.
Outro
However, please note that since we have not received confirmation on which classes will be available in Early Access on December 6th, everything we do about Huntress at this point is just speculation. And because of the delays in Early Access, you now know that even the livestream has been delayed.
Since Early Access still has 32 days left, it is likely that we will get the livestream a week before December 6th. Hopefully, all the information provided in the livestream will answer a lot of questions that we have at the moment, such as how much Early Access actually costs, what the whole process is like, which classes will be playable, how many acts there are, etc. Hopefully, the answers to all these questions will be answered in the livestream.
In any case, hopefully this guide will give you the information you need about Huntress so that you can decide what class to play when POE 2 Early Access is released on December 6th. The battle never stops, so let’s always be ready for it!
