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Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Wyvern Druid Build Guide | Skills, Support Gems, And Survivability Tips

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Wyvern Druid Build Guide | Skills, Support Gems, And Survivability Tips

With the official release of Patch 0.4.0, the latest class, Druid in Path of Exile 2 has attracted more attention and use from players. Regardless of which of the three transformable forms you prefer, the one that will initially catch your attention is undoubtedly the wyvern!

As the last revealed Druid form, the wyvern allows you to use exclusive skills to deal effective fire, lightning, and physical damage to single or multiple enemies, and can further enhance skills by generating and consuming power charges.

More importantly, since all skills are essentially universal, other PoE 2 classes can also use wyvern skills to craft new builds suitable for themselves, greatly expanding the game's replayability.

Based on this, we will still focus on the most suitable Druid class to introduce the crafting ideas and actual combat effects of Wyvern Druid Build.

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Wyvern Druid Build Guide | Skills, Support Gems, And Survivability Tips

How To Match The Skills?

When you transform into the wyvern form, there are six exclusive skill gems, with the main skill effects as follows:

  • Rolling Magma: Throws a ball of magma that lands on the ground, dealing AoE damage to enemies. It can also utilize human form skills, such as Volcanos, to make the magma ball bounce forward multiple times, causing chain attacks.
  • Rend: Performs a wide-area slash with wings or claws; consuming energy orbs can generate additional lightning damage.
  • Wing Blast: Flies backward to release a shockwave that stuns enemies, with a chance to gain energy charges during the process.
  • Oil Barrage: Sprays oil to create an oil slick on the ground, or consumes energy charges to continuously spray electrified oil, hitting and damaging enemies.
  • Flame Breath: As a dragon, breathes fire at enemies from the air, and the duration can be extended by consuming Rage.
  • Devour: Restores health and gains an energy orb by devouring corpses or enemies. If the target is far away, you can leap towards them and deal damage upon landing.

Based on this, if you want to level up or clear bosses with Wyvern Druid Build, you should first focus on gaining lightning damage bonuses when using basic skills like Rend to increase the damage range.

The specific strategy involves first using Pounce skill in wolf form to leap forward, quickly clearing weaker groups of enemies with Oil Barrage to allow for more corpses to be devoured with Devour, and then repeating this process.

When encountering a boss, the cycle needs a slight adjustment: after Pounce, auto-attack until the boss is stunned, then use Oil Barrage or Flame Breath to kill the boss.

If a comparison is necessary, Oil Barrage is better because it can be used at range and is less susceptible to attacks than using Flame Breath while airborne.

Another key to ensuring smooth skill rotation is maintaining the energy shield's charge, thanks to Devour. When combined with the passive skill Zealot's Oath, its life regeneration effect is applied to the energy shield.

Additionally, you can unlock Thickened Arteries talent node, which restores 0.5% of your maximum life per second and further increases your life regeneration rate by 40% while stationary.

Because you are always stationary when devouring corpses, this allows you to recover more energy shield points per second.

Which Support Gems Should Be Added?

As items that further enhance the effects of skill gems, the choice of support gems is crucial for any PoE 2 build. Based on the main skills mentioned in the previous section, we recommend Holy Descent first.

This gem creates an area that heals you after you land from using Pounce, and this healing effect also works in conjunction with Devour skill to affect the energy shield.

More support gem options include:

  • Fist of War: Increases attack range, deals more damage, and ensures enemy kills.
  • Momentum: Allows you to deal an additional 40% damage when leaping forward.
  • Cooldown Recovery: Allows you to use Pounce skill more frequently.
  • Elemental Armament: Makes all your attacks deal significant elemental damage, and sweeping attacks also inflict lightning damage.

How To Use Spirit Skills?

Spirit skills actually refer to special buffs or usable minions that help you in combat by consuming spirit, and they are upgraded based on the boss rewards or skill tree nodes you acquire.

For Wyvern Druid Build, the help provided by Spirit skills should include life regeneration, curse removal, and elemental ailment removal.

For this build, Cannibalism and Compressed Duration are worth adding. Combined with other existing support gems, you will be able to maintain maximum Rage at all times.

How To Improve Survivability?

First, you need to ensure your gear has enough defensive affixes. If not, farm for new gear or buy POE 2 currency and then roll new affixes onto your gear. Don't forget to unlock nodes in your passive skill tree that provide armor for damage reduction.

If you chose Shaman when unlocking your Ascendancy class, you can also gain additional elemental damage and damage to all surrounding enemies through Ascendancy skills.

After unlocking Wisdom of the Maji Ascendancy node, you can gain additional rune bonuses. It's recommended to also unlock Druidic Champion and Furious Wellspring to maintain full Rage at all times.

How To Further Improve This Build?

To improve Wyvern Druid Build, the main area for improvement in terms of damage output is your gear. You can farm bosses or trade on the market to obtain better talismans, or try to get more base damage bonuses on your rings and gloves.

It's worth noting that Oil Barrage skill has the "projectile" attribute, so you should try adding projectile skill level bonuses to your talismans instead of melee skill level bonuses, as Oil Barrage won't benefit from the latter.

That's all for this guide. If you happen to be a Druid player who likes the wyvern form, our guide should be helpful to you!

Dec 15, 2025

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Passive Skill Points Guide: How To Get All Points In Acts And Interludes?

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Passive Skill Points Guide: How To Get All Points In Acts And Interludes?

Allocating passive skill points to upgrade the passive skill tree is one of the core gameplay elements of Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0. Players can maximize their character's combat power by strategically allocating passive skill points, especially in the late game, where a strong character build often relies heavily on continuously optimizing the skill tree.

In Path of Exile 2, passive skill points are a crucial resource for enhancing player character abilities, generally acquired through character leveling up; players gain one passive skill point for each level.

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Passive Skill Points Guide: How To Get All Points In Acts And Interludes?

However, this method is widely used. If you want to gain an advantage over other players, you need to know how to acquire additional passive skill points. In Path of Exile 2, besides leveling up, you can also obtain passive skill points by completing side quests and defeating specific bosses to obtain Books of Specialization.

Since PoE 2 Patch 0.4.0 includes different Acts and Interludes, each containing various missions, if you want to efficiently improve your combat power, I will introduce the specific missions and methods for obtaining additional passive skill points in the game.

Act 1

Act 1, as the initial stage of the campaign, mainly introduces the basic game mechanics, background story, and provides players with some initial challenges; the difficulty is not very high. You can obtain skill points through the following methods:

Defeat The Crowbell

As an optional boss in Act 1, players can find The Crowbell in Hunting Grounds. He may be hiding in a remote corner of the map, requiring you to pass through a dilapidated wooden door or fence and then walk up a long uphill path to reach his location.

Be careful of The Crowbell's attacks when fighting him; players with low defense may be instantly killed. In addition to increasing your defense, you also need to master the techniques for defeating him:

  • Always hide behind The Crowbell;
  • Beware of his Bell Spin Attack.

Obtain Una's Lute

You can also gain skill points by completing the side quest "The Lost Lute". After completing the quest "Secrets in the Dark", you can talk to Una in Clearfell Encampment to unlock this quest.

Start from Hunting Grounds and find the entrance to Ogham Farmlands. Find Una's house among the many huts inside; Lute is inside. Return Lute to Una to complete the quest. You will then receive passive skill points as a reward from Book of Specialisation.

Act 2

In Act 2, players will delve into more complex environments, fight stronger enemies, and gradually unlock the game's backstory. Completing quests will reward you with more passive skill points and equipment, preparing you for the later stages of the game.

Defeat Constrictor Queen Kabala

You will encounter Kabala in Keth's Venom Pit. Defeating her will reward you. Compared to The Crowbell, she will be more difficult to defeat. In the fight, you'll need to master the following techniques:

  • Stay away from Venom Pit when she summons the bone wall;
  • Be careful to dodge the explosive projectiles she fires while spinning;
  • Launch a fierce attack when she summons snakes.

Complete Tradition's Toll Quest

Talk to Shambrin near Waypoint in Deshar to unlock the quest. Completing it will reward you with Book of Specialisation.

Use Desert Map to travel to Deshar and find Lailuma's corpse. Then find Fallen Dekhara, interact with him, and obtain Final Letter. Finally, return to the original location and deliver the letter to Shambrin to complete the quest.

Act 3

In this chapter, you will explore the ancient ruins left behind by Vaal Empire, facing powerful enemies and complex puzzles. Completing quests will earn you more useful PoE 2 currency.

Defeat Mighty Silverfist

Mighty Silverfist is the main boss in Act 3. You'll encounter him in Temple Ruins, the center of Jungle Ruins. This massive gray creature is a giant pillar. Be extremely careful when fighting Mighty Silverfist, as he can instantly kill you.

You can dodge his attacks by moving to the sides. His attacks deal fatal physical damage, but try to avoid dodging backwards as his attacks create linear shockwaves.

Pierce Sacrificial Heart In Aggorat

Players can enter Aggorat from Utzaal. If you're doing Legacy of the Vaal main quest, you'll be guided to this location.

Find Sacrificial Heart, dropped by Vaal Goliathsdial. Offer this item to the appropriate altar and use Sacrificial Dagger on the altar to pierce the heart. You will then gain Weapon Set Passive Skill Points.

Act 4

Dark Mists Quest

With the patch 0.4.0 update, Dark Mists quest, in addition to its previous rewards, now also grants a Mist-shrouded Tome, which rewards Weapon Set Passive Skill Points.

Players can unlock this quest by talking to Tujen in Kingsmarch, then travel to Kedge Bay to rescue Freya Hartlin, defeat Omniphobia, and return to the quest trigger location to talk to Tujen again to claim the reward.

Trial Of The Ancestors

This is a side quest that unlocks after completing Land of the Kin quest and defeating Krutog in Path of Exile 2.

Find Hinekora in Halls of the Dead, complete Tests of Mettle, and defeat Yama the White; she will reward you with two passive skill points.

Interlude

The Interlude serves as a transition between Acts 4 and 5 and also features many quests that reward passive skill points.

  • Interlude 1: Go to Wolvenhold and complete the side quest to defeat Oswin;
  • Interlude 2: Talk to Risu, then defeat the boss duo Akthi and Anundr in Khari Crossing;
  • Interlude 3: Go to Howling Caves and kill The Abominable Yeti.

After completing the first three interludes, talking to The Hooded One will grant you the final set of passive skill points.

After completing all the quests, you should have approximately 24 additional passive skill points to upgrade your Passive Tree. If you're struggling to improve your character's strength in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0, try completing these quests. Good luck!

Dec 15, 2025

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Poisonburst Pathfinder Build Guide | Gameplay, Buffs, Nerfs And Recommended Skill Gems

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Poisonburst Pathfinder Build Guide | Gameplay, Buffs, Nerfs And Recommended Skill Gems

PoE 2 0.4.0 update is coming soon, bringing many new features that will undoubtedly impact character builds.

If you're still wondering which build will give you an edge over other players in Path of Exile patch 0.4.0, consider Poisonburst Pathfinder build. This build is easy to learn and use in the early stages, while possessing high development potential, and is sure to surprise you.

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Poisonburst Pathfinder Build Guide | Gameplay, Buffs, Nerfs And Recommended Skill Gems

Below, I will provide a detailed introduction to this build, allowing you to quickly understand its key features.

Poisonburst Pathfinder Build

Poisonburst Pathfinder build centers on archery, utilizing poison damage to suppress enemies. This requires players using this build to pay close attention to the effects of poison-related skills and weapons.

Its core appeal lies in its simple and easy-to-understand controls. Clearing maps in combat or exploration requires only a single click, and the single-target damage rotation is very smooth. Therefore, regardless of prior experience, players can easily grasp the essentials.

When clearing maps, Poisonburst Arrow is your primary attack method. Upon hitting an enemy, the arrow releases a large amount of poison, damaging enemies within its area and efficiently clearing groups. If you're fast enough, you can deal considerable damage.

If you're a new player and your current gear and weapons aren't yet sufficient for the large-scale battles in PoE 2 patch 0.4.0, you can use Toxic Growth early in the game to gain more survivability. However, once your gear is upgraded, Poisonburst Arrow alone can deal damage comparable to current popular builds.

For bosses and high-difficulty enemies, you can easily defeat them with a series of combos. First, use Poisonburst Arrow to create a poison field, then use Vine Arrow for additional damage, and then continuously apply Toxic Growth to the boss.

Toxic Pustules generated by Toxic Growth will automatically explode, dealing massive burst damage. With good gear, Poisonburst Pathfinder build is enough to instantly kill bosses.

Buffs

In PoE 2 patch 0.4.0, several game content adjustments significantly boosted the build's power, more than offsetting the negative effects of the nerfs.

Arakaali's Lust

In Path of Exile 2 patch 0.4.0, Arakaali's Lust increases the damage dealt by Grants Supported Skills by 8% for each stack of poison gained, up to a maximum of 40%.

Compared to the previous 6% damage increase, with a maximum of 30%, the adjusted Arakaali's Lust will help characters deal significantly more damage.

Especially for builds like Poisonburst Pathfinder build that rely on poison for damage, Arakaali's Lust will become a popular choice.

Garukhan's Resolve

It helps increase the critical hit chance of Grants Supported Skills, up to a maximum of 50%. Furthermore, patch 0.4.0 removed the 20-meter movement requirement for players to use Grants Supported Skills.

While a 50% critical hit chance isn't high in the game, it's barely enough for bow-wielding characters. These characters generally don't have a high critical hit rate, so even a 50% chance can result in unexpected critical damage.

POECurrency.com POE 2 Patch 0.4.0 Currency Hot Sale

Undoubtedly, this change will make it more popular with players.

New Bow Cluster

Path of Exile 2 patch 0.4.0 also added a bow skill cluster, giving characters using this weapon a Surpassing chance to fire an extra arrow.

Hyrri's Ire

Hyrri's Ire's evasion rating has been nearly doubled, the freeze duration on enemies has been increased by 25%, and it inflicts an additional 25% Cold Damage, enhancing the defensive and offensive capabilities of evasion-centric builds.

Nerfs

However, Poisonburst Pathfinder build isn't all buffs in PoE 2 patch 0.4.0. Some in-game changes have also caused it to lose some of its advantages.

Ghost Dance

After the adjustments, players can now obtain a maximum of 3 Ghost Shrouds using Ghost Dance. Furthermore, the interval between obtaining it has been lengthened. However, overall, it remains a powerful defensive buff that enhances a player's survivability on the battlefield.

Rune Restrictions

In PoE 2 patch 0.4.0, the official support for runes has been limited for various builds. However, you can avoid making your build dependent on a single rune by using runes in different directions, such as Countess Seske's Rune of Archery to fire extra arrows, and Farrul's Rune of the Chase to increase movement speed.

While these changes are regrettable, the overall benefit of this update outweighs the drawbacks.

Skill Gems

The following are skill gems that players can try using.

Poisonburst Arrow

As the core of this build, Poisonburst Arrow is essential. Whether you choose to clear maps or fight bosses, it will provide excellent results.

Herald Of Blood

Blood Loss causes explosions when monsters are killed. Enemies killed by these explosions deal additional damage to nearby monsters, creating an infinite explosion effect that results in massive damage.

Herald Of Plague

Herald of Plague's special effect allows players to spread poison to nearby enemies when they kill poisoned enemies. This spread can also slow down enemy movement.

This infinitely spreading effect helps players clear maps quickly and defeat opponents.

Wind Dancer

This skill gem has always been popular with players. It grants players periodic evasion, increasing their survivability.

Poisonburst Pathfinder build is a standout in PoE 2 patch 0.4.0, boasting unparalleled simplicity, speed, and damage. The numerous buffs in this update make it a top-tier game build, easily handling map combat and exploration.

Whether you're aiming for the top of the leaderboards or simply looking for casual fun, the long-term potential and low learning curve of Poisonburst Pathfinder build make it a worthwhile investment.

Dec 11, 2025

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Campaign Guide For Warrior | How To Quickly Reach Endgame?

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Campaign Guide For Warrior | How To Quickly Reach Endgame?

Just one day later, you can dive into Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 and enjoy all the content this update brings, even if you don't own the game - you can play for free for three days!

Undoubtedly, most PoE 2 players will want to experience the new Druid class first, but if you're the type of player who wants to quickly complete the campaign and start mapping, it's best to use a class you're familiar with.

Even if you've thoroughly researched Druid, you'll still need to get used to it once the game officially starts, which will inevitably slow down your progress.

Therefore, this guide will use Warrior, a basic class, as an example to show you how to quickly complete the campaign and then experience the endgame content of the new league.

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Campaign Guide For Warrior | How To Quickly Reach Endgame?

Path Of Exile 2 Campaign Overview

This mechanism, as the foundation of the game's main story, aims to allow you to accumulate XP and currency while completing story quests, enabling you to enter the dangerous endgame phase with stronger abilities and solid resources.

According to the planned design, the official version of PoE 2 should have 6 acts, including hundreds of bosses and monster types. However, in the current early access stage, you can only play the first four acts and three interludes.

After completing all the acts in the campaign, you will reach Ziggurat Refuge and obtain the map device, after which you can start experiencing the endgame by collecting and using Waystones for mapping.

Why Choose Warrior?

As a melee tank class in Path of Exile 2, although Warrior isn't exactly beginner-friendly, its survival and damage output are both excellent, and its diverse gameplay and adaptability make it very useful during the campaign stage when your character is still developing.

How To Start Clearing The Campaign?

No matter what stage of the game you're in or what your goals are, as long as you're still fighting, crafting efficient builds should be your first step.

Therefore, if you're playing as a Warrior to complete the campaign, we recommend trying Poison Bleed Resonating Shield Build. It combines Shield Wall and Resonating Shield skills to ensure both single-target and AoE damage.

How To Use This Build?

Although this build's clearing speed isn't the fastest, the total damage output is still very considerable. Generally, when encountering rare elite monsters, simply using Shield Wall to block their attacks and then striking twice with Resonating Shield will easily resolve the battle.

More importantly, this build doesn't rely heavily on gear, which is very friendly during the resource-scarce campaign phase. You only need a good shield and sufficient defensive gear.

As for weapon selection, increasing extra and physical damage and upgrading attack power by one level is enough, because the class and build characteristics ensure you are very tanky and won't take much damage.

POECurrency.com POE 2 Patch 0.4.0 Currency Hot Sale

How To Start Leveling?

In fact, completing the campaign is your leveling process in Path of Exile 2; all campaign quests combined should give you enough XP.

In Act 1, for about three-quarters of the time, you'll need to constantly use Rolling Slam and Boneshatter to deal with normal enemies. If you encounter a boss, you'll also need to intersperse Infernal Cry between attacks.

In addition, combine this with the support gem Impact Shockwave, which generates aftershocks when heavily stunning enemies, dealing damage to enemies within a 1.5-meter radius, helping you clear mobs faster.

When you reach approximately level 15, the first thing you should do is obtain a pure strength-based shield, as only it has the highest armor value, which is very important in the following stages.

After that, your main skills will be Resonating Shield and Boneshatter. You will also need to unlock War Cry nodes in the passive skill tree to enhance Warcry effects, damage, and utility.

This setup will support you until level 20 or higher, after which you need to switch your main skill to Shield Wall, and then use Infernal Cry, Shield Charge, and Shockwave Totem in sequence as a combo.

At the same time, it's recommended to add the support gem Mana Leech, which converts 2% of physical attack damage into mana, ensuring your mana doesn't run out.

Although Warrior itself isn't a mana-dependent class, getting extra mana is still good, and not being dependent on mana also extends the duration of your mana bar from another perspective.

Which Ascendancy Class To Choose?

After reaching level 30 or higher during the campaign using the above techniques, you can start choosing your Ascendancy class. Here, we prioritize Warbringer to unlock an important exclusive ability, Warcaller's Bellow.

This skill allows Warcry to cause enemy corpses to explode, dealing physical damage equivalent to 25% of their maximum health, and ignores Warcry cooldown, making it easier to use the combos we recommended earlier.

After this, you can continue progressing using the skills and gear techniques from the previous level stages. Of course, it would be even better if you could add armor and resistance values ​​to your gear.

However, if you want to try the other Warrior Ascendancy class, Titan, you'll need to acquire Enraged Warcry after reaching Act 4 and unlocking Tier 4 support gems to unlock the effect that bypasses Warcry cooldown.

The above information should be sufficient to help you complete all campaign content. It's worth noting that some of these approaches are also applicable to playing Druid class, as most skills in Path of Exile are universal.

The new league is about to begin, and we hope our guide will help you have a better gaming experience! Have fun!

Dec 11, 2025

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Ascendancy Tier List | Which Classes Are League Winners?

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Ascendancy Tier List | Which Classes Are League Winners?

Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0, Fate of The Vaal league, not only added new classes but also made some adjustments to existing builds.

Since the league hasn't truly started yet, and further patches are expected to adjust class balance after the league begins, we can only predict their initial league rankings based on the official patch information and the performance of all Ascendancies in Patch 0.3.0.

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Ascendancy Tier List | Which Classes Are League Winners?

Tier S

Deadeye Ranger

Deadeye Ranger has long been a top-tier class, and this change is considered an adjustment rather than a nerf.

The removal of Deadeye Ranger's Wind Ward slightly reduces its survivability, but the increased Critical Weakness generated by Bullseye from 5 stacks to 10 stacks improves its DPS.

Furthermore, it gains the new Mirage Archer passive skill, which summons clones that use your abilities. If its clone numbers are strong, Deadeye Ranger could even reach S+ tier. Even if its clone numbers aren't strong, its current power is enough to secure its S tier status.

Pathfinder Ranger

Pathfinder Ranger has received a significant boost. The patch adds immunity to severe stuns when using Running Assault and a substantial increase in movement speed, making it a very fast class for farming PoE 2 currency.

Trail Wisdom provides additional passive skill points and offers extra options for damage, global defenses, or Cost Efficiency reduction. Cost Efficiencyis a valuable attribute that's hard to obtain in other classes. Combined with the speed-oriented meta-environment of PoE 2, Pathfinder is expected to perform very well in this league.

Tier A

Invoker Monk

The key boost to Invoker Monk is in Soulspring Eternal node, which now provides 50% spirit reservation efficiency. This made it a viable option for any build that relied on Spirit and used multiple custom criticals. Invoker Monk is inherently very flexible and can be paired with a variety of abilities, giving it the potential to even reach Tier S.

Lich Witch

While Lich Witch received no changes in the patch notes, it can be considered a solid Tier A, very close to Tier S.

Lich Witch has consistently been one of the tankiest classes in the game, primarily due to its survivability through leech and stacking large amounts of Energy Shield.

While Lich Witch isn't the strongest mage ascendancy, it remains consistently reliable, though it lacks the high damage or farming efficiency of Tier S Ascendancies.

Witchhunter Mercenary

Witchhunter Mercenary received a significant buff. This is mainly because Ceremonial Ablution now directly provides Sword Ward to mitigate physical and chaos damage. This change is significant, allowing Witchhunter to achieve extremely high tankiness with very low investment, making he one of the most tanky classes. However, it still retains damage bonuses and is not a pure tank class.

Titan Warrior

Titan Warrior has always been a reliable melee choice, although this adjustment removed Surprising Strength node. However, it added "deals 25% more damage to heavy stunned enemies" to Crushing Impacts node. While total damage may decrease slightly, the 2 talent points saved are a net gain.

Mountain Splitter allows Titan to trigger an additional aftershock every third time they cast a Slam ability that doesn't trigger Fissures, which seems promising. While their strength has increased, they are still expected to perform slightly worse than Witchhunter.

Blood Mage Witch

Blood Mage Witch has long been one of the best caster classes, but she was nerfed in patch 0.4.

This is primarily due to the nerf to Tul's Catalyst, which weakens overall regeneration. Since Blood Mage's defenses are entirely built on extremely high regeneration, this change has a significant impact.

Blood Mage will now find it more difficult to run maps with reduced regeneration affixes. While she may still be one of the strongest spellcasters if you invest enough PoE 2 currency, she won't be as comfortable as she was in patch 0.3.0, and fewer players may use her.

Stormweaver Sorceress

Stormweaver Sorceress is a class that utilizes infusion as its core gameplay. With the continuous enhancement of the infusion mechanic, its status has risen.

Specific changes such as Refraction Infusion, Multiplying Squalls, and Storms Recollection have provided useful bonuses. Previously, many spellcaster players chose Blood Mage, so in patch 0.4.0, Stormweaver will also be a good choice.

Infernalist Witch

Infernalist Witch remains largely unchanged and is still a core summoner build choice, pairing well with Lich. Its Demon Form is also valuable for spellcaster builds that want to maintain this form.

Ritualist Huntress

Ritualist Huntress was not changed in the patch, so its status remains the same. It's S-tier on a high budget. In the late game with top-tier gear, it's very versatile and powerful, serving as a spellcaster or ranged class, but on a low budget, its damage is only A-tier.

Tier B

Amazon Huntress

Amazon Huntress has the potential to achieve extremely high survivability by stacking evasion rating and deflection, but achieving this requires a significantly higher investment than Witchhunter or Lich. On a lower budget, Amazon only ranks B, with its Deadeye being much stronger, making Amazon less attractive.

Smith of Kitava Warrior

Smith of Kitava Warrior received some buffs, such as increased Armor from Smith's Masterwork, as well as increased thorns damage, increased spirit, and complete ignoring of critical strike damage.

However, because Smith of Kitava is a pure defensive ascendancy, it severely lacks damage and speed bonuses. In the current speed-driven PoE 2 meta environment, pure tank classes are at a disadvantage. Furthermore, in terms of tankiness, Lich and Witchhunter are expected to perform better.

Tactician Mercenary

Tactician Mercenary itself remains good, but mainly due to the buffs received by Witchhunter, players are more inclined to choose Witchhunter over the other class, therefore its ranking has been downgraded to A.

Tier C

Acolyte Of Chayula Monk

While receiving some buffs, the impact is not significant. It might only find a place in chaos or poison builds, but the class as a whole needs major changes or a rework to become popular.

Warbringer Warrior

Warbringer Warrior was previously unpopular due to its somewhat clunky and slow gameplay. PoE 2 meta-environment highly values speed, making it less favored. With Titan buff, even fewer players will choose it.

Chronomancer Sorceress

Chronomancer Sorceress has always lacked a place in the meta-environment. While it has the potential to create niche builds through extreme slowdowns, its inherent slowness and the need to manage numerous skills and cooldowns simultaneously make its gameplay complex.

Tier F

Gemling Legionnaire Mercenary

The changes to Gemling Legionnaire Mercenary are minor. It's placed in Tier F because it's been surpassed by other classes, making it uncompetitive in the current meta, and it may only have a few unique playstyles remaining.

Druid

Full information on the three Druid classes hasn't been released yet, and their performance in-game remains to be seen, but the developers are unlikely to make them too weak.

  • Oracle Druid: Some nodes look strong, but with a large number of additional skills, the gameplay might be complex, potentially placing it in Tier A or Tier B.
  • Shaman Druid: it looks more stable than Oracle, so it is possible at the top of Tier A or even close to Tier S.

These are just predictions at the start of the league, and subsequent official adjustments will likely change this ranking.

Dec 09, 2025

Will Path Of Exile 3.27 Foulborn Uniques Be Added To The Core Game? | Most Powerful Items, Builds & League Meta Impact

Will Path Of Exile 3.27 Foulborn Uniques Be Added To The Core Game? | Most Powerful Items, Builds & League Meta Impact

Before the full release of PoE 3.27 Keepers of the Flame content, many players anticipated significant balance changes due to comments made by the game director in a previous patch Q&A session. However, the official patch notes were disappointing in terms of balance adjustments.

Unexpectedly, the biggest impact of PoE 3.27's meta gameplay wasn't on balance changes, but rather on the addition of hundreds of Foulborn unique items. Now that the official focus is primarily on POE 2, there shouldn't be any new Foulborn unique items in this league. So, will Foulborn unique items be integrated into the core gameplay?

Will Path Of Exile 3.27 Foulborn Uniques Be Added To The Core Game? | Most Powerful Items, Builds & League Meta Impact

What Are Foulborn Unique Items?

Foulborn unique items are not new unique items, and they are unique items that already existed in the game, whose one or more affixes have been replaced by Foulborn affix.

Because Foulborn affixes are generally stronger than regular affixes, these Foulborn Unique items become unique and powerful enough in many situations to form an entire build idea around them.

The Red Drea (Foulborn)

Foulborn unique items were used in many builds in Patch 3.27. The Red Drea (Foulborn) was the most frequently used Foulborn unique item in both softcore and hardcore trade leagues in patch 3.27. In softcore, 8% of level 95-100 characters used it, while in hardcore, this figure rose to 11%.

Its most common Foulborn variant replaces its Endurance Charge chance affix with Fire Resistance or All Elemental Resistances talent allocated nodes based on Jewel range, providing an increase in maximum life. This provides a much-needed boost to life-based builds, allowing them to compete with the energy shield configuration.

The Red Drea (Foulborn) is used by approximately 40% of Chieftains, 17% of Juggernauts, and 20% of Gladiators, with Elementalists also making significant use of it.

The effectiveness of a Jewel is closely related to its position in the jewel socket on the Passive Skill Tree. The classes with 3 jewel sockets have particularly strong effects.

The sockets outside Marauder's starting point have the greatest potential. By using Tattoos to replace Strength path talent points with "+6% Fire Resistance" nodes, and combining them with The Red Drea (Foulborn), each small node provides an additional 4% maximum life increase. This allows for a total of approximately 55% additional maximum life increase using this unique item.

Templar slots outside the starting point offer slightly less potential, providing approximately a 30% increase to maximum life. Ranger slots south of the starting point offer around a 20% increase to maximum life.

This allows life builds in this area to either become more durable due to the significant increase in life or save talent points invested in damage, thus better tackling endgame content.

Hand Of Thought And Motion (Foulborn)

Foulborn unique items even impacted the PoE 3.27 meta. Hand of Thought and Motion (Foulborn) boasts a powerful affix that increases accuracy rating by 5% for every 25 points of Intelligence.

It fundamentally solves the scaling accuracy problem inherent in past accuracy-stacking builds. Previously, these builds heavily relied on Precursor's Emblem Rings, but the improvements they provided were limited and had limitations.

Now, Hand of Thought and Motion (Foulborn) allows you to scale accuracy simply by stacking Intelligence. This is incredibly powerful because Intelligence stacking has been strong in recent leagues, and it also provides a significant amount of energy shield.

Combined with Shaper's Touch Crusader Gloves' boost to energy shield and accuracy, Stormrider Boots' base Lightning damage, and Juggernaut's Undeniable Ascendancy node's massive attack speed, you can create an extremely powerful build, potentially the strongest build of the league. But if Foulborn items don't carry over to the next league, this strongest build will only be available in Patch 3.27.

Doedre's Scorn (Foulborn)

Foulborn affix of Doedre's Scorn indicates that the socketed gem is supported by a level 30 Impending Doom. This provides approximately 6000 to 9000 flat Chaos damage. Players can equip it at level 39.

A normal level 4 Impending Doom Support Gem only provides 175 to 263 flat Chaos damage at level 38. This means that at the corresponding level, Doedre's Scorn (Foulborn) version can deal approximately 34 times the damage.

It allows players to quickly complete campaigns and even one-shot campaign bosses. Its ingenious design lies in the fact that in the endgame, it is surpassed by the highly sought-after Forbidden Shako Helmet.

However, the latter is extremely rare or it requires a vast amount of valuable PoE Currency. So Doedre's Scorn (Foulborn) will give players the freedom of choice if it could be in core game. You can choose to use it from start to finish or simply as a fast leveling tool.

Other Noteworthy Foulborn Unique Items

Berek's Respite (Foulborn)

Berek's Respite provides a new way to obtain the explode affix for various builds, especially when combined with Elementalist's Ailments transformation, creating interesting explosion chains.

Esh's Mirror (Foulborn)

Provides a relatively easy way to obtain damage reflect immunity, used by approximately 2% of characters above level 95, primarily in Detonate Dead builds.

Kaom's Spirit (Foulborn)

Kaom's Spirit (Foulborn) is very useful for mana stacking builds, and even more so when you use two. It provides immunity to curses, a large number of attributes, mana regeneration, and a flat mana of up to 200.

Will Foulborn Unique Items Be In The Core Game?

Foulborn Unique items will probably be added to the core game in some form. This is because Breach rework is almost certainly going to be included in core content and won't just appear in this league, and this mechanic requires unique rewards.

The hundreds of newly added Foulborn Uniques items have enormous potential, much like Replica Uniques. Many of them may remain dormant across multiple leagues, but should specific balance changes occur elsewhere, one or two of them could become key to a meta, enabling new builds.

Even if some of Foulborn items clearly require balance tweaks, they provide players with more options and more playable toys, which is a good thing in Path of Exile.

Dec 04, 2025

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Livestream Twitch Drops Guide | Earn Rewards While Learning More

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Livestream Twitch Drops Guide | Earn Rewards While Learning More

Since the release of Patch 0.2.0, the frequency of major updates for Path of Exile 2 has stabilized, occurring approximately every four months, with all new content typically announced about a week in advance via livestream and announcements.

While some information is always leaked beforehand, PoE 2 has always kept many details well-hidden, which is why we recommend watching the livestream to avoid missing anything.

More importantly, the game often releases Twitch Drops, giving you the opportunity to obtain in-game items or cosmetics through the livestream, and this is also part of the livestream plan for Patch 0.4.0!

Based on this, we will introduce the details of Twitch Drops, as well as other key information related to Patch 0.4.0.

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Livestream Twitch Drops Guide | Earn Rewards While Learning More

When Will Twitch Drops Be Available?

Twitch Drops will begin alongside Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 livestream, starting at 11:00 AM PST on December 4th and lasting for 24 hours.

During the event, you can earn Verdant Wilds Dodge Roll Effect by watching a livestream for 45 minutes on any available platform. It's not a random drop; you'll receive it simply by watching for the required amount of time!

How To Claim This Reward?

After obtaining the effect, it won't be directly added to your game account. You'll need to claim and redeem it from your Twitch inventory. To do this, ensure you've linked your Twitch account. If not, follow these steps:

  • 1. Log in to Twitch and go to your settings page.
  • 2. Click Connect button under Other Connections to complete the linking process.
  • 3. You will be redirected back to your Twitch settings page. If it shows that your Path of Exile 2 account is linked to your Twitch account, you've succeeded.

Afterward, you can redeem the effect from your Twitch inventory to make it available in the game's micro-transaction list. If you missed the livestream, you can obtain the effect through the store or Quicksilver Flask effect after Patch 0.4.0 is released.

Besides claiming loot drops, you can also stream the event live, giving your viewers a chance to win extra special effects rewards: simply enable Twitch Drops feature in Twitch Creator Dashboard.

What Might The Livestream Reveal?

With approximately 12 hours remaining before the stream officially begins, more details about the new content for The Last of the Druids should be revealed.

In fact, the most anticipated new class, Druid, has already been leaked, but the developers certainly know how to keep your curiosity alive, always managing to hide the most important parts until the very last minute.

The stream is expected to be divided into two parts: the developers explaining and analyzing the features of this update, and a Q&A session with the audience, guided entirely by a professional host.

A more detailed update announcement will be released on the official website immediately after the stream. If you don't have time to watch the stream or want a more intuitive understanding of the new patch, this is a good option.

Druid May Redefine Class Gameplay

While some classes overlapped between PoE 1 and 2, the new class Huntress added after Path of Exile 2 and the new Druid are entirely new. Huntress introduced the exciting Lightning Spear gameplay; what about Druid?

In fact, Druid itself isn't novel; many ARPGs feature this class, such as Diablo 4, a major competitor to PoE series. The key lies in how it integrates with the inherent mechanics of PoE 2.

Generally, Druid's primary function is to allow you to summon animals or transform into animal forms to aid in combat.

However, based on leaked information and reasonable speculation, Druid in PoE 2 will possess multi-form transformations and a hybrid attribute growth mechanism.

This means you can experiment with more combat styles through fluid and varied form transitions, breaking away from the limitations of other older classes that rely on independent skills and can only switch between melee and ranged spell-casting.

Confirmed transformation forms include bear and wolf. The bear form is positioned as a tank, capable of influencing enemies with strong disruption and control abilities in melee mode, while ensuring survival even after taking fatal blows.

The wolf form, on the other hand, exhibits greater agility and flexibility, allowing for faster movement across the battlefield and eliminating enemies through bleeding or rapid-fire mechanics, achieving breakthroughs through momentum rather than sheer brute force.

Path Of Exile 2 Druid May Redefine Class Gameplay

Although not yet officially announced, based on footage and information from the trailer, some players speculate that Druid will receive a third wyvern-like form, which will likely be further explained during the livestream.

Compared to the previous two forms, the wyvern has a stronger mythological aura, making the entire game atmosphere more mysterious and captivating.

Based on other games and understanding of dragon-like creature lore, the wyvern form may allow you to control enemies in the air through sweeping attacks or fire breath, or engage in a melee-spell casting hybrid interaction.

However, regardless of how many forms Druid ultimately takes, they will never be free. You'll inevitably need to acquire and enhance them through leveling or completing quests, and may even need to consume PoE 2 currency to unlock special abilities or talents.

More New League Details

The new patch also signifies the start of a new league. Named Fate of the Vaal, this league will allow you to earn loot by playing new events and mechanics, which are often central to the league, much like Abyss mechanic in the previous Rise of the Abyssal.

Interestingly, Abyss mechanic will be retained as a core gameplay element of Path of Exile 2, while Fate of the Vaal league may be related to the classic character Atziri from the first game.

However, more league details will only be available after the livestream begins, so please be patient; all you can do now is wait!

Finally, Patch 0.4.0 will be released on all available platforms on December 12th, 2025 at 11:00 AM PST, offering 3 days of free play for everyone! Don't miss this opportunity!

Dec 04, 2025

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Nerfs & Buffs Predictions: What Changes Are Possible Before The Last Of The Druids Reveal?

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Nerfs & Buffs Predictions: What Changes Are Possible Before The Last Of The Druids Reveal?

The full contents of Path of Exile 2 0.4.0, The Last of the Druids, will be officially revealed at GGG Live on December 4th, but before then, are you already itching to know what major changes they've made to the new expansion? We are too!

Although there's very little information leaked so far, that doesn't stop us from making some predictions. Here, we'll discuss the possible buffs and nerfs in Patch 0.4.0 based on all the current teasers and developer announcements, which might have a significant impact on the core gameplay in the new league!

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Nerfs & Buffs Predictions: What Changes Are Possible Before The Last Of The Druids Reveal?

Possible Nerfs

First, let's talk about the potential nerf options in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0.

Deadeye Ascendancy

Regarding the most likely nerf, we must mention Deadeye, the most popular Ascendancy in the 0.3.0 Softcore Trade and SSF Softcore League.

In the first week after the 0.3.0 patch, Deadeye's usage rate for level 80 and above characters in Softcore Trade League reached a staggering 42%.

Even a month after the update, with adjustments to some mechanics, new support gem changes, and improved balance, Deadeye still holds a 30% share of the overall Ascendancy class usage rankings. This is an unbelievable level of dominance.

Some argue that Amazon Ascendancy had similar dominance, or even higher, approaching 50%, in the previous 0.2.0 Dawn of the Hunt. However, considering that Huntress was a new class and a key feature introduced in 0.2.0, such a high percentage is understandable.

However, no new class was introduced in 0.3.0; Deadeye's dominance was simply a result of game imbalance. This class not only possessed one of the most versatile and powerful buffs in Path of Exile 2, Tailwind, but also gained even greater versatility through additional projectiles. These combinations even surpassed melee classes in damage scaling.

All of this should have served as a wake-up call for the developers, given Deadeye Ascendancy's complete dominance in 0.3.0. Of course, this update isn't just about Deadeye Ascendancy itself; a broader adjustment to game balance is expected in 0.4.0.

Lightning-Based Builds

The second predicted nerf is, of course, the completely unbalanced lightning damage type in POE 2. Especially for buffs like Herald of Thunder, they are too powerful, with too much damage potential, and when combined with Herald of Ice, they provide extremely high damage output, leading many players to rely on them for success.

For hit-based builds, lightning damage far outweighs any other damage type. This is because lightning damage has a very large scaling range, with very low minimum damage and very high maximum damage.

The original design intended to make lightning damage more unpredictable. However, the problem now lies in the fact that players can easily alter the damage calculation with two lucky damage rolls, making it more predictable and resulting in higher average damage.

Furthermore, lightning damage inherently has the advantage of applying a Shock, which increases the damage taken by the target by 20%, and this damage can be further amplified.

Meanwhile, other damage types have far fewer usable skills in the current game balance, especially mechanics like Freeze, which are practically useless.

All these factors combined ultimately result in lightning damage builds dealing significantly more damage than other damage types. In some cases, the damage can even double. This creates an awkward situation where even if you choose a non-lightning skill, you can still inflict lightning damage using a fixed lightning damage output, which feels somewhat incongruous.

Raising The Crafting Barrier

The last nerf prediction in 0.4.0 concerns crafting. However, we believe the crafting system should be weakened not in its functionality, but in its usability.

In 0.3.0, players typically jumped directly from basic health and resistance gear to ultimate gear, skipping any intermediate gear progression stages, because the power and availability of advanced crafting made this leap easy.

Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if they increased PoE 2 currency cost of crafting endgame gear in The Last of the Druids update, as this aligns with the current crafting and gear progression mechanics. As you face increasingly difficult content, your character will experience a smoother overall progression across map tiers.

Possible Buffs

Next, let's look at our predictions for the buffs in PoE 2 patch 0.4.0 update.

New Druid-Specific Skill Nodes

Firstly, this update introduces Druids, the game's first Strength/Intelligence hybrid class. However, the current Strength/Intelligence skill trees are largely uninspired, either outdated and weak, or simply offering negligible damage boosts.

Therefore, 0.4.0 may introduce Druid-specific nodes to replace these generic ones, especially for areas like the armor and energy shield hybrid clusters.

New Vaal Ascendancies

Our second buff prediction relates to the 0.4.0 league's theme: Fate of the Vaal. The currently released trailers haven't revealed much, only mentioning the possible return of the once-destroyed Atziri, Queen of the Vaal.

It's worth noting that during Atziri's reign, Vaal races made numerous sacrifices, meaning a vast amount of blood was spilled across the land. Therefore, the concept of designing a Vaal variant Ascendancy class for Witch's Blood Mage fits perfectly here.

However, besides sacrifice and the pursuit of immortality, Atziri are also obsessed with gems. Historically, Vaal races were described as shimmering and studded with gems, which also perfectly aligns with Gemling Legionnaire's other Vaal version of Ascendancy.

Personally, we very much hope to see more similar special Ascendancy classes in the future, providing more possibilities for our builds.

Unique Items

It's time to reveal the final enhancement prediction: unique item optimization.

Now that we know the primary goal of 0.4.0 is to address the current endgame content issues in Path of Exile 2, most changes are expected to revolve around Atlas, including map optimization, map layout improvements, and Pinnacle boss fight. However, we believe there's one very important issue to address: adding worthwhile and meaningful endgame unique items.

Frankly, one of the most disappointing aspects of Path of Exile 2 is the lack of excellent unique items. Because rare gear with significant affixes in the game is often excessively powerful, their presence significantly affects the usability of unique items lacking those affixes. This has been evident since the early access release a year ago.

If the power provided by gear is reduced, developers will have more design freedom to create interesting and unique items that players truly want to use. However, as things stand, it's highly unlikely they'll make any changes to crafted gear in the 0.4.0 update besides restricting crafting mechanics. Nevertheless, abandoning unique items focused on endgame content and adding new unique items specifically for endgame builds is a good idea.

In any case, these are our current predictions for some of the buffs and nerfs that might appear in the Path of Exile 2 0.4.0 update. We don't know how our intuition holds up. But we'll soon know the results, as the developers' livestream is coming soon. Let's wait and see!

Dec 03, 2025

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Fate Of The Vaal League Trailer Breakdown & Atziri Return Speculation

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Fate Of The Vaal League Trailer Breakdown & Atziri Return Speculation

A few days ago, PoE 2 released a 30-second trailer announcing that Patch 0.4.0 would feature Fate of the Vaal League. While the brief trailer didn't reveal any new gameplay, it still sent shockwaves through players.

The female appearing in the trailer has been almost universally confirmed by players as Queen Atziri of the Vaal, though unlike her appearance in Path of Exile 1, she remains uncorrupted. So, what new mechanics and storylines does Queen Atziri's appearance in PoE 2 foreshadow in Patch 0.4.0?

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Fate Of The Vaal League Trailer Breakdown & Atziri Return Speculation

Trailer Analysis

Atziri is the core of Path of Exile 1 patch 1.1 Sacrifice of the Vaal expansion. She is a narcissistic queen obsessed with immortality, leading to the downfall of the ancient Vaal civilization. Wraeclast civilization was plunged into a dark age because of her, with millions perishing in her pursuit of eternal youth. She survived the destruction of Vaal civilization and gained immortality.

In PoE 1, players can fight the corrupted Atziri, who is entirely red and possesses four arms, clearly no longer human. The scene depicted in the trailer may be the moment at the end of Act 3 when she communes with The Beast (at which point she is still human). This commemoration led to the cataclysm, destroying Vaal civilization.

Although PoE 2's story takes place after the first game, Atziri may never have been truly defeated, remaining trapped in Alluring Abyss. The corrupted The Beast, whom players follow in the current version, may be connected to her, or she may have sensed an evil signal and is preparing to wreak havoc on Wraeclast once more.

Speculation On Game Content Connections

This trailer is related to the new league content. The official demonstration of this scene suggests that players are highly likely to directly encounter or fight Atziri in the game.

Most likely, it involves the new season's league mechanics. The new league mechanics will allow players to travel back in time to experience or intervene in events through some means, such as time travel or Pensieve. Atziri-related content may be merged with the Incursion league mechanic and introduced into Path of Exile 2.

In Path of Exile 1, players encountered Temple of Atzoatl through map travel, and needed to upgrade or modify rooms to ultimately challenge the boss at the top of the temple. Players could also directly confront Atziri within the temple.

The development team may follow the successful precedent of merging Abyss and Veil affixes, integrating Temple of Atzoatl with Atziri combat content. This would both introduce a large amount of content at once and align with the storyline, as the relevant NPC, Alva, Master Explorer, is already in the game. In addition, content from older leagues like Beyond may return.

There's a small possibility that this will involve new story content, meaning this scenario is part of Act 5 or Act 6. However, the fifth act's scenario, where players push the cart, should be set in Oriath from PoE 2 era, while Act 6 might involve time travel and The Beast.

Potential Classic Items Introduced

Defeating Atziri in PoE 1 would drop many unique items, which might be adjusted or reworked and return in patch 0.4.0.

  • Atziri's Promise: Possibly changed to a trinket providing chaos resistance and damage.
  • Atziri's Step: High evasion, possibly combined with a new dodge mechanic.
  • Doryani's Catalyst: Widely used in elemental builds.
  • Pledge of Hands: Provides a high-level Spell Echo skill, with great potential.
  • Atziri's Reflection (Shield): Provides anti-curse effects and was once very popular.
  • Atziri's Rule (Staff): Contains Queen's Demand skill and was a core component of some builds.
  • Doryani's Invitation (Belt): A standard item for many early builds.

Furthermore, if the time travel mechanic returns, it may bring new PoE 2 currency and items like Sacrificial Heart, Vial of Fate, and String of Servitude. Given the new season's connection to Vaal, the return of Vaal Skill Gems should also be considered.

Vaal Skill Gems are skill gems that are charged by collecting monster souls, temporarily providing powerful mutation effects. Vaal Skills in PoE 2 may be powerful variants of existing skills, or they may be Vaalized through new mechanics.

Possible PoE 2 Patch 0.4.0 League Mechanics

Based on historical updates from PoE 1, Fate of the Vaal League may incorporate or modify the following classic mechanics:

Sacrifice Of The Vaal

Players discover corrupted Vaal Side Areas within chapters or maps, filled with enhanced Vaal monsters and mini-bosses. The final reward may be related to challenging Atziri.

Incursion

Players collaborate with the architect Alva to travel back in time to build and ultimately raid an ever-generating Temple of Atzoatl. The temple is filled with various themed rooms, treasures, and bosses, culminating in a challenge against the corrupted form of Atziri.

Furthermore, this league introduces Double Corruption mechanic. In Locus of Corruption, items can gain two corruption affixes, but like Vaal Orb, it also comes with risks.

Other Possibilities

The trailer title, "The Mirror Does Not Lie," might hint that Patch 0.4.0 will feature a Scourge league-like mechanism, transforming the current region into a mirrored, corrupted Vaal version. Of course, the possibility of the developers creating a completely new league system unique to Path of Exile 2 cannot be ruled out.

Path of Exile 2 Fate of the Vaal League will launch on December 12th, and the developers have recently poured more effort and detail into the league storyline. Even players who are not usually interested in Path of Exile 2 leagues are excited about the possible return of Atziri.

Dec 01, 2025

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Bone Cage Lich League Starter: Gear, Skill Tree & Early Patch Predictions

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Bone Cage Lich League Starter: Gear, Skill Tree & Early Patch Predictions

With Path of Exile 2 patch 0.4.0 fast approaching, we need to prepare for the start of a brand new league journey.

Generally, a new league starter build is crucial for every exile starting afresh, as it allows for rapid progression with minimal currency investment, lowers the learning curve for new players, and lays a solid foundation for your character before investing heavily in resources.

In summary, a good league starter build should be stable and reliable, require only a small initial investment to be effective, and be able to handle various game content, including campaign modes. Bone Cage Lich build is definitely one of the best in this regard.

This build features one-click operation, utilizing Cast on Critical to trigger Detonate Dead and Bone Cage for quick map clearing, making it extremely simple to use. Meanwhile, Lich Ascendancy provides skills like Unholy Might and Eternal Life, granting it strong survivability. Therefore, both its one-click map clearing settings and extremely high life regeneration make it a flexible and efficient build for early game progression.

Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Bone Cage Lich League Starter: Gear, Skill Tree & Early Patch Predictions

Patch 0.4.0 Bone Cage Predictions

Currently, we haven't received any definitive information regarding PoE 2 Patch 0.4.0; everything will be confirmed during the developer livestream on December 4th. However, prior to the 0.4.0 update, Bone Cage's base critical strike chance was increased to 15%, and its damage per level was also improved, so this build can still perform well even in the late game.

More importantly, Bone Cage is unlikely to be nerfed in Path of Exile 2: The Last Of The Druids update because it's a meta-gem that requires significant investment and has specific limitations, making it less prone to abuse than other skills.

Unlike regular skill gems, meta-skill gems like Bone Cage can synergize with other skill gems to trigger specific effects, making them complex and powerful tools that require significant investment to use effectively.

Nerfing Bone Cage would require balancing many other synergistic abilities, which is far more complex than simply adjusting a single gem. This means it's less likely to be nerfed in future updates. Therefore, we believe the Bone Cage Lich build will maintain its current strength in 0.4.0.

Gear

Now, let's look at the gear choices for this build.

Rattling Sceptre

Our main-hand weapon is Rattling Sceptre, a basic sceptre type in the game that grants the player the Skeletal Warrior ability. Players can obtain it by opening chests, looting from enemies and bosses, and trading with vendors.

If you have more PoE 2 currency, you can also upgrade it to a unique version, Dark Defiler Rattling Sceptre. This enhances the summon-centric build, providing mana, intelligence, and chaos damage bonuses to each active summon, and increasing mana regeneration.

However, both the basic and unique versions of Rattling Sceptre can create extremely high attack and defense stats. Combined with the ring of bone spikes summoned by Bone Cage to immobilize enemies, you can easily clear out all enemies on the screen.

Sacramental Robe

For chest armor, we chose Sacramental Robe because it increases the initial recharge rate of the energy shield by 40%-50%. This is undoubtedly a powerful choice for Bone Cage build, which relies heavily on energy shields and rapid recharge for survival in the early game. Moreover, it is suitable for multiple characters and perfectly complements the high energy shield nodes on the talent tree.

Atziri's Disdain

In PoE 2, Atziri's Disdain Unique Helmet is generally considered a powerful late-game item because of its strong survivability. It's a worthwhile option for builds that effectively utilize its unique combination of attack, defense, and utility affixes.

Atziri's Disdain converts maximum health into an additional energy shield, distributes damage between health and the energy shield to increase health regeneration, provides a significant amount of mana and item rarity, and features a unique damage penetration mechanic that players can utilize to improve survivability in the early stages of the 0.4.0 league.

Breach Ring

Due to its improved quality, the well-crafted Breach ring is almost always the best ring choice for any build, even surpassing the inherent stats of a regular ring after enhancement.

While the highest quality regular rings are expensive, crafting a powerful Breach ring may be a more convenient way to obtain top-tier rings, especially after unlocking more Breach-related nodes through Atlas passive tree.

Other Items

There are no mandatory choices for other gear, but it's recommended to focus on survivability, such as energy shields and maximizing resistances. At the same time, stacking Spirit stats to increase damage and critical strike chance, and casting speed to improve damage and gameplay experience are crucial. Furthermore, Lich's unique damage derives from Spirit attributes, making Spirit stat stacking key to this build's success.

Skill Tree

In Path of Exile 2, the core gameplay of Bone Cage Lich build revolves around Bone Cage's critical strike casting mechanic. Therefore, the skill tree should focus on skills that support this mechanic, such as generating Power Charges and sufficient mana regeneration to sustain frequent spellcasting.

Additionally, in the early game, we should prioritize finding and enhancing passive skills that significantly increase Energy Shield or health to improve survivability, as the core of Lich build lies in Energy Shield.

As mentioned before, we also need to focus on mana regeneration, as this build requires the ability to continuously cast high-mana-cost spells. Therefore, having nodes that provide mana regeneration while moving is especially important, so be sure to keep moving to activate them. Simultaneously, increase casting speed, which allows you to cast spells more frequently and move more between casts, thus increasing damage and survivability.

However, be careful to avoid stacking Maximum Mana affix on equipment, as this will reduce your mana regeneration speed, especially in the early game.

Finally, after increasing critical strike chance and survivability, prioritize talent points that boost physical and spell damage. Once your critical strike chance reaches around 70%, you can shift your focus to critical strike damage.

Why Lich Ascendancy?

Ultimately, we chose Lich Ascendancy for Bone Cage build because it significantly increases damage through the chaos damage provided by Unholy Might, and maximum mana further amplifies this damage.

Furthermore, it allows for powerful skill combinations, such as Cast on Crit, quickly triggering multiple bone spikes using Bone Cage. This is often combined with Steward of Kulemak node to enhance its effect, making it highly efficient for clearing maps and killing bosses.

Lich build offers both strong damage output and good defensive capabilities, making it a flexible and efficient choice for various game content.

In short, compared to other Lich builds, Bone Cage Lich build is relatively inexpensive, making it a good choice in the early stages of a league where gear is scarce. Not to mention, this build allows you to easily switch between farming and boss-fighting setups, enabling you to quickly adapt to the new mechanics with simple settings after entering POE 2 0.4.0.

Nov 27, 2025

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