More Details About Path of Exile Endless Heist

Since the early access release of Path of Exile 2 on December 6, 2024, its developers have been constantly improving this action role-playing game that has always been at the center of player discussion, such as the major patch 0.2.0 released in early April and the various small fixes that followed.

But in fact, except for the week after the release and the latest Dawn of the Hunt league, players’ evaluation of POE 2 has been negative for the rest of the time. In particular, some old exiles who returned from the original work agreed that the endgame in the sequel did not have enough depth, and players could only do some meaningless farming and challenges in it.

Although in previous patches, the developers intended to improve the player’s gaming experience in the endgame, such as increasing the drop rate of loot in it, adding more unique maps in the endgame, and adding some new mechanisms for players to challenge. But unfortunately, it didn’t help.

Last week, the developer announced that it would release another major patch 0.2.1 in the last week of this month, which will focus on the improvements in the loot drop rate, Atlas and Map Mechanics in the endgame. This news made all players excited. But recently, the developer announced that the release of this patch is expected to be delayed until June.

Guessing Reason

In fact, this is not the first time that the developer has played tricks on the players, because such tricks are everywhere in the development and release of POE 2.

But for this delay, I think the reason can be guessed by players who know the two trump games owned by this developer: to make POE 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas expansion released smoothly.

Some time ago, the developer announced that it was expected to officially release the latest league in the original game on June 13. This is the longest time to update the league since the league mechanism was added to the game in 2013.

Prior to this, although POE 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League was praised by many players, there was no new game content in nearly a year, which exhausted the players’ enthusiasm for it.

And most importantly, during the period when players were looking forward to the new league in POE 1, the developer announced that it would transfer all staff to the development of the first major patch of POE 2, which disappointed almost all old players who were loyal to the original.

So when the developers announced that they would continue to release POE 3.26, these players began to look forward to it again, expecting that there would be more fresh and interesting game content waiting to be explored.

To be honest, it’s not just the loyal old fans who are paying attention to this matter. Some novice exiles who have only been exposed to the sequel are also paying attention to it.

Because when POE 2’s early access is expected to end in early July, players are looking for a game with similar gameplay and the same exploration experience as a replacement. What could be more like a replacement than the original?

So they are waiting to see how much of an explosion this POE 1, which was released more than ten years ago, will bring. Judging from the comments about the two games in the player community or on social media, the developers seem to have realized that focusing on the original works in the current situation may help their reputation turn around.

So they announced that the release of POE 0.2.1 patch will be delayed, and some new game content in the patch will be announced as compensation. There has been speculation about the release date of this patch.

Since most of the patches for this game are released on weekdays, and there is a live focusing on POE 3.26 on June 5, June 6 is the most likely date.

Patch Content

To compensate, the developers also announced some of Socketables that will appear in POE 2 0.2.1 patch in this announcement, which can meet the requirements of those who no longer need the early socket bonus and want to start maximizing the effectiveness of their characters, and will probably provide more creative options for the endgame builds used by players.

Only 3 Runes, a Soul Core and a Talisman have been announced so far, and the remaining Socketables items may be announced one by one in subsequent patch notes. Next, here will be a detailed introduction to them and their possible impact on the subsequent game content.

Runes

Farrul’s Rune Of The Chase

It can be inserted into your unique boots to increase your movement speed by 5%. The only suggestion here is to add it to a boot that can provide you with high defensive capabilities, and buy POE 2 Currency to upgrade it, so that you have both high survivability and a certain degree of mobility.

The Greatwolf’s Rune Of Willpower

This rune can be placed in a slot on your Body Armour, and will increase your damage resistance by applying 10% of the damage done to mana instead of health. This is not very good for spell-focused classes, so you may want to equip some potions or gear that can restore mana.

Hedgewitch Assandra’s Rune Of Wisdom

This is perfect for a Wand or Staff used by a Sorceress or Witch, as it will increase the level of all your spells by one. Although it only gives a one-level bonus, it will make the build extremely effective if you have invested a lot of PoE 2 currency into the weapon you used to maximize the skill level affixes.

Soul Core

Tacati’s Soul Core Of Affliction

This can be placed in a slot on a unique helmet, and will reduce the resistance to chaos damage of enemies you curse by 8%. You can find it in Trial of Chaos Ultimatum encounters.

Talisman

Talisman Of Thruldana

This Talisman can be placed in your Martial weapon, which will reduce the duration of poisons you inflict by 25% and cause the targeted enemy to be affected by an additional poison at the same time.

Although the developers have once again promised to release more information in Path of Exile 2 0.2.1 patch before the end of this week, in fact, not many people are looking forward to it at the moment. I wish you a happy game!

Since the early access release of Path of Exile 2 at the end of last year, some loyal players who have been exploring the original game for more than ten years have begun to express their concerns about the game they love on major review websites or player communities, which has continued to this day.

Players unanimously believe that POE 2 is not just a sequel, but also a threat to the original game. Because from the portrait of the game player group since the release of the sequel, most of the loyal players are new exiles who have never been exposed to POE 1, rather than old exiles who have returned from the original game, and these players are more satisfied with the sequel.

This will cause players to worry that developers will invest a lot of development time and cost in this new sequel to promote its reputation among players, while ignoring the development of the original game. In fact, these players’ thoughts are not groundless. However, from another perspective, these two games cannot pose a threat to each other, they are more like an alliance.

This guide will give you a specific analysis of this conclusion. If you are a fan of the original game, I think this may help you relax; if you are a fan of the sequel, I hope the description here can make you interested in this old game with more background.

Source Of Worry

In fact, since the developer announced that it would release a sequel in 2022, players have expressed resistance to the new work in their comments and feedback at the time. Because the developer had only Path of Exile 1, an excellent work accepted by the public, so if a new game appeared, it would definitely affect the progress of the original update or adjustment.

But in fact, the release of this new work has been 2 years, and the developer has announced it many times, but it has never come to fruition. In this case, not only the players of POE 1, but also other players who are waiting and watching have no more illusions about the appearance of this new work.

Most importantly, during this period, the excellent leagues updated every few months in the original work have been praised by many players. Especially Settlers of Kalguur League released last year, in which the interesting urbanization life scenes have attracted many new players.

Time came to the fall of last year. In October, the developer suddenly announced that it was expected to release POE 2 early access on November 15. In fact, at that time, some players still thought that this was a trick by the developers to continue teasing the players, but as the developers released more and more information about the sequel, the players realized that this might be true.

For a while, all the players were excited, except for the players who were loyal to the original, because this would mean that the developer’s focus would be shifted. But what no one expected was that with such a marketing atmosphere, the developer announced that it would be postponed for three weeks.

Players thought that this postponement was just a casual promise made by the developer to the players, but until POE 2 was really released on December 6th, the players in POE 1 realized that this time the threat was real. However, because the developers had promised not to favor one game over the other, there were not as many voices of opposition as there are now.

However, less than three months after the release of the sequel, the developer suddenly announced that all the staff who had worked on the development and update of the original game would be transferred to the sequel and committed to the release of the 0.2.0 patch and Dawn of the Hunt of POE 2. At that time, in order to stabilize the players, the developer also launched an event in POE 1, but it did not help.

At present, the 3.25 league in the original game has lasted for nearly a year, and no new game content has been added. Even the drop rate of POE currency that players have been hoping to increase has not been adjusted. Now they can only be thrown aside by the developers like an unwelcome friend, and express their dissatisfaction through some comments or reviews.

This May Not Be A Threat But An Ally

In fact, judging from the fact that the developer announced some time ago that it is expected to release a new expansion in the original game in June, the relationship between them may be more like an alliance than a hostile relationship.

First of all, in the long-standing Path of Exile 1, there must be some high-level players who feel that the current game content, including the endgame content, is not enough for them to complete the high-difficulty challenge, but it is completely unfair to increase the difficulty of the game for other new exiles who have just entered the game or players with low levels.

In addition, some developers’ ideas, such as new league mechanisms, endgame challenges or quality of life improvements, are a very large project to implement one by one in the original game, and even the server needs to be suspended for a period of time before they can be brought into the game.

Therefore, the developer first allows a new game with high difficulty, low POE 2 currency drop rate, new builds options, new monsters, new resources, etc. to enter the player’s field of vision, so as to test the player’s acceptance of such new things, and to collect more players’ evaluation and feedback on such dark games so as to improve the original work.

This is all in conjunction with the upcoming 0.2.1 patch notes for POE 2 and the trailer POE 1 currently has for 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas, as the advantages of asset reusability and a shared tech stack are very clear in both official releases.

Not only that, the beneficiaries of the parallel development of these two games are not only the developers, but also the players. Whether it is the old exiles who entered the sequel from the original game or the newcomers who are currently passionate about the sequel, they will no longer be able to explore after the end of this early access, so they all need to find a new alternative.

In such a large game market, the game with the most similar gameplay to POE 2 can only be its original work, so the developer released the latest league at this time period, which is also for the sake of all players, although it really made the duration of 3.25 too long.

So summing up, POE 1 and POE 2 are more like a pair of allies helping each other in situations that are overlooked by some players, and both are striving to bring the best massively multiplayer online role-playing game experience to players. I wish you a happy gaming!

Every ARPG has its own core mechanic, which is the most important part of the game and the main source of rare loot. For Path of Exile 2 (and POE 1 as well), that mechanic is undoubtedly Atlas.

Atlas is actually part of POE series endgame, an atlas that can be infinitely extended in all directions, containing multiple different maps, each with its own mechanics and encounters that can provide you with different loot.

As for Atlas points, it is an advanced mechanic with Atlas tree. Enough points will allow you to unlock nodes in Atlas tree with different effects, such as increasing loot drop rates, improving map endurance, or unlocking unique encounters.

Therefore, in order to fully utilize the entire Atlas mechanism, you must unlock Atlas nodes that are beneficial to you based on the collection of all Atlas points, customize your own Atlas adventure method, and enjoy loot farming.

Based on this, we will introduce you to the method of collecting all 90 Atlas points based on the ongoing Dawn Of The Hunt league.

Points Belonging To Different Content

First of all, you need to know that these 90 points do not all come from the same farming source, but they are not extremely scattered, but can be roughly divided into multiple categories - this is also the basis of the collection method that will be introduced to you next.

Corrupted Nexus

This special map was added to the game with the 0.2.0 patch and can be entered after you obtain a Waystone with at least 4 modifier effects. Every time you unlock and utilize the required Waystone to complete a task, you can get 2 Atlas points.

But the tricky thing is that there are actually 30 Atlas points hidden in Corrupted Nexus, which means that you need to explore the map 15 times to get all Atlas points it provides.

To do this, you not only need to have enough patience to complete the farming, but also need to ensure that your character will not die in these 15 battles, because one death will cause Corrupted Nexus unlocked this time to disappear and you need to start from the beginning.

Breach

One of the four major endgame encounters before the release of the 0.2.0 patch, Breach is highlighted on Atlas map with a dark purple hand icon, and when clicked, a large crack circle will begin to expand outward with an associated progress bar. As long as the progress bar is not completed, the crack circle will continue to expand outward.

Although the progress bar itself will slowly deplete over time, the enemies you kill in Breach will also fill up the progress bar synchronously, making it end as late as possible until the crack circle inevitably shrinks inward.

Upon completing Breach, you will be rewarded with Splinters and Catalyst. Catalyst can affect the effect of the modifiers which you buy POE 2 currency based on its type to redeem, and enough Splinters can be synthesized into Breachstones to unlock Xesht, We That Are One boss fight.

In fact, you can only gain Atlas points through Breach if you unlock and win this boss fight, so you must repeatedly juice Breach until you have enough Splinters and are confident that you can win the boss fight.

Ritual, Expedition, And Delirium

The reason why these three maps are introduced together is that the principle of providing Atlas points is actually basically the same as Breach, which Breach has already explained in detail for you.

The process of completing these four encounters is to repeatedly farm enough props to unlock the corresponding map boss, and then unlock and win the boss battle to obtain related Atlas points as one of the rewards.

• Ritual: An Audience with the King - The King in the Mists
• Expedition: randomly in area level 79+ Expedition Logbooks - Olroth, Origin of the Fall
• Delirium: A Simulacrum - The Simulacrum

Defeat The Pinnacle Boss The Arbiter of Ash

After completing the above, you should have obtained most of the points. The next thing to do is to unlock and defeat the pinnacle boss The Arbiter of Ash!

As the final boss of POE 2 endgame, The Arbiter of Ash is located in The Burning Monolith in Atlas of Worlds. Although it is not far from your starting position in Atlas, you need to defeat three other bosses in advance and collect three Crisis Fragments from them before entering:

• Ancient Crisis Fragment - Count Geonor in an Iron Citadel
• Faded Crisis Fragment - Jamanra the Abomination in a Copper Citadel.
• Weathered Crisis Fragment - Doryani, Royal Thaumaturge in a Stone Citadel.

Due to the danger of this boss, you must equip corresponding resistance gear in advance according to his damage output type and be familiar with his attack pattern. The following are the characteristics of The Arbiter of Ash:

• Light Fire Resistance
• Light Cold Resistance
• Light Lightning Resistance
• Light Armor

Based on this, you can choose and match the gear for this battle according to the following attributes:

• + Movement Speed
• + Maximum Life and Energy Shield
• + Acrobatics
• + Dodge Roll Distance
• + Maximum Fire Resistance

When you win this boss battle at all 4 different difficulties, you can get all Atlas points. In addition, The Arbiter of Ash may also drop rare unique items. The higher the difficulty, the higher the drop rate. Don’t miss it!

I hope the guide we provide you this time can be helpful to your next Path of Exile 2 journey. Thank you for reading.

After more than 10 months of waiting, we finally have an update for Path of Exile 1! The developers have confirmed that the 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas expansion will be released on June 13th!

Please note that this is not just an ordinary update, because the developers have stated that this is an Atlas Expansion. This is another Atlas Expansion since 3.17, which is really exciting! I believe that every old player of POE 1 can’t wait to log in to the game and experience its charm.

But at present, there is actually nothing except the short trailer that was released recently. So let’s talk about the information leaked in this trailer and what we will see in POE 3.26 League. Let’s get started!

Possible NPCs

First of all, for this trailer, it’s really short, only about 15 seconds of actual content. “These worlds are endless. And yet, they are a prison. Help me find the Originator.”

Venarius

There seems to be a new NPC speaking to us in the trailer, and it seems that we haven’t heard this voice before. Based on his description, he seems to know a lot about Atlas, saying that these worlds are endless, but they are a prison. Maybe he is speaking from past experience, or maybe he has seen what Atlas can do to people.

But honestly, this guy’s voice sounds a lot like Venarius. Since his story is intertwined with Atlas, it’s not surprising to me that he is involved in the update called Secrets of the Atlas.

So maybe this new character is a version of Venarius, possibly a younger version of Venarius. This may seem like a wild guess, but it makes sense, because the developers have played with this concept before in Scourge league, where the key NPC Alva is related to an alternate timeline, and the last person to die seems to be Alva from a different timeline. So we may see something similar.

Then there is the existence of Path of Exile Mobile, which we haven’t heard about in a long time. But the game was originally planned to have its own campaign, set 20 years before POE 1 campaign, starring a young Venarius, and of course, Valdo, but he is more commonly known as Shaper.

Shaper

Now, one thing to mention about this opening clip of the trailer is that the scenes where this guy walks around feel very similar to the scenes where Shaper walks through the various areas of Atlas in War for the Atlas trailer. They both feel very empty, which fits with the conclusion that this character believes the world in Atlas is a prison.

And the music, maybe you noticed that the song used in Secrets of the Atlas trailer is new music. However, it’s so similar to Shaper theme that it could be foreshadowing something Shaper-related.

Zana

Although Zana isn’t mentioned in the trailer, there’s been a lot of talk about Zana making an appearance in POE 3.26. Because at the end of Siege of the Atlas storyline, Zana left, vowing to find a way to permanently destroy Eldritch Horrors and stop them from ever reaching Oriath or the Atlas again. Patch 3.26 is meant to uncover the origins of Atlas, so I’m guessing Zana could be a part of that.

So what if this is all about Zana? What if Zana and her father went down a similar path before? We see a lot of information about Zana in this trailer.

First, we see red petals all over the floor, which could be portals to different worlds, or more likely a schematic diagram of Atlas. Look closely and you can see all these lines, like branches or roots, that all connect in the middle but are still clearly separated.

Additionally, the compass-style image on the ground immediately reminded me of Synthesised Map and Synthesis Boss Arena. Overall, I’m getting a lot of Synthesised vibes from this trailer, and I know it’s not just my imagination. This is extremely similar to the floor design we saw Venarius standing on in Synthesised League trailer.

I’m guessing if this in itself is a hint that Zana is the origin, and if she’s Echoes of the Atlas at the center? Anyway, seeing these red petals bursting from the word “secret” is likely another hint that Zana is hiding something from us.

What Could This Atlas Expansion Update Possibly Bring?

Now what can we expect from this update, especially since this is a brand new Atlas Expansion after 3 years?

The precedent for past Atlas Expansions is that these updates are usually very large in scale and contain two major parts, not just one. Typically, players get an update that includes new challenge leagues, as well as the skill balance, quality of life, and even a rework of POE currency economy system that you’re familiar with, etc.

On top of that, we have Atlas Expansion portion of the update, which usually includes a very big change to the endgame Atlas progression, and one or more new Pinnacle Bosses. In addition, there are Challenge Leagues to go with it.

In the past, whenever an Atlas expansion was released, the Challenge Leagues became easier, such as Ritual league when Maven was released in 3.13, or Archnemesis league in 3.17. Then, we also get the normal skill balance and quality of life content.

At this point, we don’t know anything about Challenge League in 3.26. But for 3.17, they announced Challenge League name a week after the expansion name was announced, so I expect we’ll see that trailer about a week before next week’s livestream.

Is This Atlas Update Really A Good Thing?

Finally, I want to take a moment to discuss what the release of Atlas expansion means for POE 1. As I said before, this usually represents a vast change in Atlas progression. For example, in 3.13, Atlas passive skill tree was updated for the first time. Originally, there were small trees for each Atlas area, but in 3.17, Atlas areas were removed. However, I think overall this is a very positive change.

So what will POE 3.26 do with Atlas? To be honest, I am a little worried about this, just because the current Atlas is so good, I even think it is the greatest addition in the history of Path of Exile 1. Therefore, if the new changes are not as good as in the past, there may be a lot of resistance from players.

However, having said that, in the past, whenever I thought something was great and couldn’t be improved, the developers always proved me wrong by making adjustments and improvements to the system that I thought couldn’t be improved. So I am sure they will find a way to massively improve the current Atlas and keep the player’s gaming experience!

That’s my opinion of POE 3.26 trailer. We are currently three weeks away from release, so please be prepared to start your adventure in this new Atlas expansion!