A Solid Build For Minion Enthusiasts In Path Of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League - Lightning Summon Skeletons
If you have an affinity for minion-based builds and seek a reliable option in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis, consider opting for the Lightning Summon Skeletons build.
This particular build is viable on both the Necromancer class in Softcore or the Champion class in Hardcore. It promises to offer a sturdy minion-centric approach, particularly suited for players comfortable with a more engaged playstyle.
If you're interested in pursuing and refining this build, ensure you have an ample supply of POE Currency at your disposal.
Mechanics & Playstyle
The Lightning Summon Skeletons build boasts formidable damage output, enhanced movement speed, impactful Vaal skills for burst damage, and the potential for solid resilience.
At the heart of the Lightning Summon Skeletons build lies the unique one-handed sword known as The Iron Mass, obtainable from Grand Heists. Equipping The Iron Mass in your main hand grants all Warrior skeletons wielding it the ability to deal triple damage for 4 seconds after you've recently struck with your weapon.
During mapping, maintaining the triple damage buff is typically achieved through the use of Whirling Blades or Leap Slam. While Leap Slam offers superior overall mobility, its triple damage uptime tends to be lower compared to Whirling Blades. The choice between them largely boils down to personal preference.
For single-target encounters and boss fights, Smite becomes the primary skill. It not only triggers the triple damage buff for 4 seconds but also bestows a substantial lightning damage aura upon minions. Moreover, when paired with Avatar of Fire, Smite triggers Elemental Equilibrium's 25% lightning exposure. Admittedly, the playstyle of consistently maintaining the triple damage buff may not suit every player, but it proves rewarding with proficient execution.
As is customary, most of the flat lightning damage originates from Wrath, Smite, and Generosity gems socketed within March of the Legion, all of which are then tripled by The Iron Mass. Ghastly Jewels serve as another excellent source of flat lightning damage.
In Softcore, playing as a Necromancer allows for a crit-based approach. However, in Hardcore, especially when playing as a Champion, investing in crit can be challenging due to limited passive points, thus generally leading towards a non-crit setup.
Skeleton Minions
Skeletons present an intriguing mechanic: despite their aggressive nature, they exhibit a tendency to dash towards foes, aiding significantly in map traversal due to their moderate speed compared to other minions.
Regrettably, the sole practical means of enhancing their aggression in this setup is through the Feeding Frenzy Support, which proves beneficial for mapping endeavors if damage isn't a concern. A Summon Skeleton gem at 20/20 grants a maximum of 8 minions and summons 3 with each cast, increasing to 4 at level 21.
When utilizing Vaal Summon Skeletons, opting for level 5 Awakened Minion Damage typically serves as the most straightforward route to achieving gem level 21. Additionally, there are two sources of extra skeletons available on the passive tree, offering a considerable boost to damage output.
Unlike the majority of minions, skeleton damage isn't affected by increases in gem level, as they directly utilize and inherit the stats of The Iron Mass sword. Nonetheless, higher gem levels do provide a slight improvement in accuracy.
Offensive Vaal Skills
The build boasts several impressive offensive Vaal skills.
Vaal Summon Skeletons stands out by conjuring a vast array of diverse skeleton types, proving surprisingly effective for single-target burst damage.
Vaal Haste grants substantial boosts to attack speed, cast speed, and movement speed for both you and your minions.
Meanwhile, Vaal Smite bestows a notable portion of flat lightning damage upon your minions.
There's considerable flexibility in selecting these skills. Typically, opting for any two out of these three Vaal skills is advisable, as relying on all three can strain Vaal Souls reserves. It's recommended to utilize them together when facing resilient rare enemies, Essences, or formidable map bosses.
Tactical Approaches For Mapping
When mapping, summon skeletons amidst a cluster of monsters, then either leap slam into the group or whirl through them with blades before continuing onward.
Dealing with rare enemies involves casting skeletons twice and following up with a strike from Smite. It's essential to uphold the Wrath Aura granted by Divine Blessing consistently.
When facing map bosses or Essences, initiate by applying curses and your offering, then utilize Smite before activating all offensive Vaal skills to swiftly dispatch them.
Boss Battle Strategies
During boss encounters, frequently apply Smite to the boss while ensuring the maximum number of skeletons are engaged. If employing a crit-based strategy, maintain the Fresh Meat buff by summoning skeletons at least twice every 4 seconds.
Continuously manage Divine Blessing, Wrath, and Arcanist Brand alongside any curses and offerings. Save your powerful skills for opportune moments to maximize damage output.
Methods For Successful Leveling
Regarding the leveling process, utilizing skeletons might not be optimal until you acquire the necessary unique items, but it remains achievable.
For Necromancers, popular options for leveling include Detonate Dead or the Blink Arrow technique with Bombarding, commonly referred to as Bama, provided you obtain the gem.
As for Champions, transitioning from Slayer Bone Shatter to a Champion respec later is likely the most effective option. Additionally, Explosive Arrow or Toxic Rain Champion builds can serve as viable alternatives for leveling.
Essential Items & Gems
Essential items include The Iron Mass, March of the Legion, and Blessed Rebirth. Blessed Rebirth ensures a guaranteed 4 seconds of uptime per cast, allowing for the neglect of minion defenses if support minions aren't utilized.
In Softcore Necromancer crit runs, consider employing the Ancient Skull Helmet for a significant damage boost. For Champions, The Devouring Diadem proves invaluable for addressing mana issues and enabling Divine Blessing.
Due to the reliance on several unique items, managing suppression can be challenging in certain setups unless utilizing a rare chest. Ensure to invest in the Lucky Suppression Mastery if not already capped. Ailment immunity can typically be resolved by utilizing Stormshroud in conjunction with a high-roll shock avoidance abyss jewel housed within Darkness Enthroned.
During mapping, utilize Melee Splash, swapping it out for Multistrike when facing bosses. Experiment with Feeding Frenzy Support for mapping to gauge the effectiveness of skeleton dash. For crit builds, always incorporate Fresh Meat Support and ensure a minimum of 40 seconds of Summon Skeleton duration.
Ascendancy Flexibility: Necromancer VS Champion
When it comes to ascendancy choices, this build is viable for both Necromancer and Champion.
Necromancer presents an easier option for league starters with fewer gear requirements. Additionally, Necromancer allows for the inclusion of specters or animate Guardian, though socket availability may be limited.
On the other hand, Champion offers increased durability and is better suited for hardcore play, although it poses greater challenges for league starters. It's advisable to refrain from using support minions with the Champion ascendancy. An alternative endgame setup, such as The Adorned, may be considered, albeit it often comes with a substantial cost.
Initially, I designed this build around chaos damage, utilizing Severed in Sleep in the offhand for enhanced reliability with wither and crit. However, upon transitioning to a lightning setup, I found it to be significantly more effective and never looked back.
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Path of Exile 3.29's Scion may be the luckiest class, as she not only receives many powerful nodes from the updated Reliquarian Ascendancy but also gains access to the brand-new Luminary Ascendancy class.
Luminary Ascendancy is closely tied to Mercenary system. You can either use Mercenaries as powerful support units to increase your damage, or build around them as independent fighters. Mercenaries may seem similar to powerful minions, but there are significant differences between the two.
Mercenary Core Mechanics
The biggest advantage of Luminary lies in breaking the limitation that Mercenaries cannot be permanently hired. Normally, Mercenaries only exist temporarily, but Luminary allows you to permanently recruit them and freely customize their equipment.
You can have up to three Mercenaries at the same time. One of them can actively fight alongside you as an allied unit, while the other two remain on standby in towns or hideouts and can be swapped in whenever needed.
Mercenaries can still die during combat, so keeping them well-equipped is essential. If they fall in battle, you only need to pay a certain amount of Gold to revive them in the next area.
During the campaign, you can travel to The Grand Arena in Act 4 or The Hidden Underbelly in Act 8, where a powerful Mercenary will always be waiting to be recruited.
Keep in mind that Mercenary passive stats and skill levels automatically scale with the level of the current area. However, the maximum item level of their equipment is permanently locked to the level of the area where they were first discovered. This means you will still need to search for higher-level Mercenaries and replace them later in the game.
Luminary Ascendancy Nodes
For defense, Luminary has two important Ascendancy nodes. Loyal Bodyguard allows your Mercenary to absorb part of the damage when your Life is low. When you have more Life than your Mercenary, damage taken by your Mercenary will instead restore Life for you.
Another node, Bestowed Knighthood, grants your Mercenary the ability to Taunt enemies and increases their skill range, allowing them to draw enemy attention more effectively.
For offense, Unique Arms is the core node. It allows Mercenaries to equip all Unique item slots except the chest armor slot, and they gain a massive damage increase based on the number of Unique items they have equipped. You can equip your Mercenary with multiple damage-focused Uniques, turning them into a walking damage amplifier.
Luminary Ascendancy Builds
Luminary mainly has two different playstyles: using Mercenaries to enhance your own build or making Mercenary the primary DPS source.
Using Mercenaries as Support
If you want your Mercenary to act as a support partner, equipping them with the right Unique and Rare items can provide incredible benefits.
For example, in a Lightning damage build, equipping Perquil's Toe on your Mercenary can directly provide 30% more damage while only taking up one Unique slot, making it extremely efficient.
Mask of the Tribunal provides up to 80% Critical Strike Damage and 40% Cast Speed for nearby allies by stacking Mercenary's attributes, and it can be further improved with Corrupted modifiers.
If you need physical defense, Kaom's Binding allows your Mercenary to effectively reduce the physical damage you take from enemies.
Besides Unique items, Rare equipment on Mercenaries should not be overlooked. You can use modifiers, or anointments to boost Mercenary. You can also equip gloves or rings with Curse on Hit modifiers, allowing Mercenary to apply additional curses to enemies.
At the same time, stacking Aura Effect modifiers on weapons, shields, helmets, and other equipment slots can significantly increase the strength of the Auras activated by your Mercenary.
Some Mercenaries naturally come with two Aura skills, which are the foundation of Luminary support playstyle. It is worth noting that these Auras can reach around level 26 to 28 on a level 83 Mercenary, far exceeding the level of Auras a player can normally activate themselves. This makes these Mercenaries extremely powerful.
Mercenaries as Damage Dealers
Another completely different playstyle is to personally support your Mercenary and make them the main damage dealer. In this case, you can use Flame Link skill, which grants the linked target additional Fire flat damage based on your maximum Life. This means stacking Life not only improves your survivability but also directly increases your Mercenary's damage.
Ascendancy node Oath of Lealty allows Link skills to have unlimited duration, reduces their cost by 50%, and prevents you from dying when your Mercenary dies, greatly improving overall reliability.
Mercenary Selection
If you want your Mercenary to deal damage directly, you must have a deep understanding of their skill pool. Every Mercenary has a fixed set of Primary Skills that cannot be changed. Mercenaries with movement skills often perform poorly because their AI frequently uses jumps or movement abilities, wasting a large amount of time that could have been spent attacking.
Secondary Skills are the key factor that determines their damage ceiling. If a Mercenary has multiple Secondary Skills, especially including weaker versions, AI will randomly choose between them, greatly reducing efficiency. Therefore, it is better to look for Mercenaries that only have the ideal skills.
As for Utility Skills, movement abilities should also be avoided. It is better to choose skills that provide passive bonuses.
It is important to remember that not every Mercenary is harmless. Some of them can be extremely dangerous in combat, especially for Hardcore players. If you encounter a rare Mercenary, it is best to check their skills first before deciding whether to challenge them, otherwise you may suffer an unexpected defeat.
Mercenary Warrant
In PoE 3.29, Mercenary Warrant items can be used to make a specific Mercenary appear on your map.
Even if you are unlucky and fail to encounter your desired Mercenary, you can directly trade for Mercenary Warrants from other players and use them with your map. After defeating Mercenary, you can immediately recruit them. This ensures that you can obtain Mercenary you want.
During trading, you can check Mercenary's skill combination through the interface. More importantly, you can inspect their Support Gem links. The choice of Support Gems directly determines Mercenary's actual performance.
Since high-quality dual-Aura Mercenaries are extremely rare, they often hold significant value in PoE currency. Therefore, even if you do not plan to use one yourself, it is still worth watching for popular combinations that may provide strong trading opportunities.
Gear Crafting
During the early campaign, you can use the crafting bench to create basic flat damage modifiers or percentage-based elemental attack damage modifiers for Mercenaries. These modifiers mainly appear on amulets, rings, weapons, and gloves. Belts provide additional damage, while the remaining armor slots only need Life and resistances to ensure Mercenary survives.
Later in the game, if you want to pursue the strongest setup, you can build around modifiers such as Aura Effect or armor stacking to create endgame equipment. However, keep in mind that Unique item slots are limited, so you must make careful choices.
Luminary Ascendancy and permanent Mercenary system will bring many exciting possibilities to Path of Exile. Among them, dual-Aura Mercenaries are especially worth watching. They may become some of the most valuable Mercenaries and could become one of the most sought-after trading options in Curse of the Allflame League.
There is less than a day left until the launch of Path of Exile 3.29! Have you decided whether to stick with a familiar setup or hunt down a top-tier build using various guides? Regardless, we highly recommend trying out Essence Drain Build combined with Contagion!
This isn't exactly a brand-new playstyle; if you've played through multiple PoE leagues, you've likely heard of this build before. We're bringing it up again because buffs to specific skills and gear have improved Essence Drain Build's performance.
Potential performance in 3.29
Based on the known update details for Path of Exile 3.29, Essence Drain Build should offer a great experience during both the league start and the endgame, though the endgame version may require some adjustments to your gear or skills.
Overall, the core damage mechanic involves casting Contagion followed by Essence Drain. If you encounter monsters that aren't instantly killed, you can finish them off with Bane; during the league start phase, you can also incorporate Blight as a supplementary skill.
Blight is particularly helpful against single targets, though you generally won't need to use it frequently once you reach the endgame. Additionally, Wither effect is excellent and can even trigger automatically if you use a specific staff setup.
More importantly, since 3.29 league includes buffs for several skills relevant to this build, such as Blight, Essence Drain Build will benefit from a larger AoE and even improved visual effects.
Class and skill combinations
As you know, your choice of class or Ascendancy in PoE doesn't strictly limit your skill gem combinations. However, if you want to craft a specific build, choosing the right class allows it to perform at its best.
For Essence Drain Build in 3.29, Occultist looks like a solid choice. It offers interesting scaling options, and the base class, Witch, provides a wide range of gameplay possibilities.
However, Occultist relies heavily on Power Charge mechanic. Since many PoE builds utilize this same mechanic, completing the full gear setup for Essence Drain Build might require a larger investment.
That said, if you don't mind this point and have the budget, choosing PoE currency for sale on POECURRENCY.com can easily solve this issue. Simply by stockpiling more currency, acquiring or upgrading your gear becomes an easy task.
More importantly, 3.29 league introduces Unhallowed Rite for Occultist, a new Notable passive skill tailored for channeling skills. Based on its known effects, it pairs exceptionally well with Blight.
In 3.29 league, Blight receives a buff: the base radius of its effect increases by 0.2 meters at all levels, and the base chaos damage rises to 469 per second when the gem reaches level 20.
Additionally, incorporating Spellslinger during the early-game progression, combined with Eldritch Battery, Vile Bastion, and Mind over Matter, significantly boosts the build's sustainability, ensuring a much smoother leveling experience.
As you transition into the endgame, adding Forbidden Power grants a massive boost to AoE. When combined with the radius and chaos damage enhancements (at level 20) for Contagion, the build's overall coverage becomes truly impressive.
In fact, Essence Drain Build prior to 3.29 league faced a major issue: they required a massive investment of resources and skill slots just to function effectively. For instance, you needed to slot in numerous chaos skills just to achieve decent single-target damage output.
However, the radius and damage buffs brought to Bane, another key skill, by Curse of the Allflame league effectively resolve this problem. Furthermore, the duration of Bane debuff now increases by 100% for every curse applied during combat, up from the previous 50%.
What gear do you need?
For Contagion + Essence Drain Build, most of the required gear drops relatively easily, even in SSF mode; you simply need to invest currency later on to improve quality or reroll for better modifiers.
Of course, if you're aiming for peak performance, a few specific rare items are essential, such as various Relics, Badge of the Brotherhood amulet, or Anathema ring, though most other components are standard gear, like Cane of Unravelling staff.
Even more interesting is that this important, yet easily obtainable, piece of gear received a buff in 3.29 league, specifically one that ties its benefits closely to Power Charges.
Cane of Unravelling now grants +1 to your maximum Power Charges; additionally, for every Power Charge you possess, you gain a 5% increase in cast speed and 5 points of mana regeneration per second.
The only issue with this build is that the base setup doesn't generate Frenzy Charges; however, once you reach the endgame and incorporate the rare items mentioned earlier, you can align your maximum Frenzy Charges with your maximum Power Charges.
Furthermore, you need to stack resistances as high as possible, ideally hitting the cap. It doesn't matter whether these resistances come from your rings, belt, or amulet; that depends entirely on your personal setup.
Clearly, the strength of Essence Drain Build in 3.29 league lies in a series of incremental improvements that combine to deliver a superior overall performance. If you don't want to miss out on these exciting changes, why not give this build a try for your league starter?
Players, with only two days left until Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame, our preparation time is running out. We'd better make sure we understand the class changes before the new challenge league begins.
As for Assassin class, it also receives significant mechanic adjustments in PoE 3.29, transforming it from a long-standing niche choice with only 1% to 3% usage to a highly competitive and powerful Assassin for specific build directions.
While the core issues related to Assassin's Poison mechanic haven't been resolved, we can leverage the Instant Leech mechanic and Bifurcated Critical Strikes to provide substantial damage and healing for hit-based builds.
Poison System Dilemma
The reason Assassin's usage rate has been so dismal in previous versions of PoE is ultimately because of the poor synergy between its Poison and Critical Strike systems.
In PoE 3.29, Poison didn't receive any substantial buffs; in fact, it was indirectly weakened by the removal of Awakened Support Gem - Damage over Time builds rely more heavily on gem levels, making the negative impact more pronounced.
Furthermore, there's still a clear mechanic conflict between Perfect Agony and nodes. Even nodes that don't synergize with it can't be used effectively, making Poison crit builds logically inconsistent.
While some nodes have decent stats, considering the significantly weaker relative strength of Poison in Curse of the Allflame environment, these nodes don't perform ideally in actual combat.
Core Nodes Evaluation
Left-Side Nodes
The left-side nodes of Assassin tree didn't undergo fundamental changes in Patch 3.29, but some still retain practical value.
Shadowed Blood
This node provides immunity to Damaging Ailments, offering some utility in certain PoE combat scenarios. It's not entirely useless, but the trade-off of a Notable Ascendancy passive skill is worth considering.
Mistwalker
Mistwalker provides Assassins with an attack dodge chance and movement speed bonus based on Elusive effects. At 100% Elusive amplification, it averages about a 30% movement speed increase and a 15% hit damage dodge chance, making it a decent choice.
For the Jugular and Knife in the Back
These nodes work on low-health and non-low-health enemies respectively, but we can acquire them simultaneously through Forbidden Flesh and Forbidden Flame, stacking them for 100% more Critical Strike Chance and +100% to Critical Strike Multiplier, resulting in extremely high damage potential in a well-developed build.
Right-side Nodes
The key update to Assassin in Path of Exile 3.29 lies on the right side of the tree, where two nodes fundamentally change the utility and power of Assassins.
Deathmarked
First, this node provides a 10% effect boost for each Power Charge it holds, and each Power Charge grants 3% Instant Leech.
For example, with 10 Power Charges, this achieves a 30% Instant Leech rate, six times Instant Leech effect of general passive skills.
This recovery ability is particularly powerful for high-attack-frequency, high-accuracy characters, effectively solving the problem of sustained combat recovery in the late Path of Exile content.
However, it's worth noting that Deathmarked isn't limited to Life Leech, so it also applies to Energy Shield and Mana Leech, making it suitable for defensive systems like Eldritch Battery and Mind Over Matter.
Bifurcated Critical Strike Damage
This node has a double-check mechanism, meaning that if either of the two critical strikes is a critical strike, then the entire attack is considered a critical strike.
If both strikes are critical strikes, you will receive an additional 100% more Critical Strike Damage.
For builds with a critical strike chance close to or at 100%, Bifurcated Critical Strike Damage effectively provides a permanent 100% more Critical Strike Damage, making the benefit particularly significant.
Additionally, this node only reduces spell critical strike chance, so its impact on offensive builds or builds that rely on spells triggered by attacks is relatively small.
Resource Management Optimization
Another major value of the updated Assassin nodes lies in the effective management of Mana and Energy Shield resources.
Instant Leech, combined with Eldritch Battery to convert Energy Shield into Mana, and then with Mind Over Matter to transfer some damage taken to Mana, allows Assassins to achieve multiple synergies of defense, Mana Regeneration, and Life Regeneration.
Compared to the traditional Energy Shield system in PoE that relies on Recharge, Instant Leech is unaffected by combat interruptions and has a higher recovery efficiency than conventional methods.
This mechanism perfectly compensates for Assassins' weakness in defensive layers, giving them good survivability even in the late game of Path of Exile 3.29 after gearing up.
Assassin's Competitiveness
Although Assassins already possess top-tier damage caps and recovery capabilities in Curse of the Allflame, their competitiveness in the early stages of new leagues will still face strong challenges from Witch classes.
Occultist boasts excellent Notable Ascendancy passive skills like Forbidden Power and Vile Bastion, while Elementalist provides stable defense and healing through Golems in the early game, resulting in a higher overall margin for error.
Therefore, Assassin might be more suitable as a second build choice during progression, but once you have sufficient gear and a Power Charge system, you can fully unleash its full potential with Instant Leech and Bifurcated Critical Strikes.
Players, if you're aiming for maximum damage in PoE 3.29, then Assassin is now a top-tier option you can't ignore!
The campaign content of Path of Exile is not inherently dull, yet for players eager to reach the endgame, it often feels like little more than a time sink. Even seasoned veterans typically need around a dozen hours to clear all ten acts.
Nevertheless, the developers have tucked plenty of clever details into the campaign - especially since PoE 3.24, which added significant new content to Acts 6–10. We will skip the hidden tricks in Acts 2–5 here, as they are mostly cumbersome, offer mediocre rewards, and aren't new additions.
Some players may have missed these features, but they could help you speed through the campaign in PoE 3.29 Curse of the Allflame.
Act 1 - Chemist Strongbox
In The Upper Prison of Act 1, just before the confrontation with Brutus, a strongbox icon will appear on your minimap. As you approach, you will see that it sits alone in a room at the back, enclosed with no visible entrance.
The mechanism lies on a stone pillar in the middle of the corridor. After you trigger the switch, a skeleton will collapse, and the passage will open.
This is a Chemist Strongbox, which contains various flasks. You stand a good chance of obtaining a Quicksilver Flask, giving you two of them early on for faster movement through the zones. Of course, it may also yield mana flasks, life flasks, or other types.
Act 6 - Free Tattoo
In Karui Fortress of Act 6, just before you face God of War, a small island sits in the centre of the area. Monsters styled after those from Trial of the Ancestors occupy this island; defeating them drops one free Tattoo.
Act 7 - Quality Gem
In Chamber of Sins Level 2 of Act 7, the zone features an exit and also spawns an Ascendancy Trial. After you locate and complete the trial, look for a switch on the back wall of the trial's endpoint room - you may need to search briefly.
Activating the switch opens a small door beside it. Inside, a Hidden Gem chest holds a gem with Quality.
Act 7 - Smuggler's Cache
Near the end of Act 7, after defeating the act boss Arakali, you arrive at Sun Ramparts. Follow the wall closely; in the early stretch of the ramparts, you will spot a very conspicuous wooden lever. Pulling it opens a tunnel area. Inside the tunnel, you will find both a strongbox and a Smuggler's Cache.
Act 7 - Corrupted Unique
Also in Act 7, within Temple of Decay Level 1, once you reach the centre of the zone, you will see rooms that look notably red on one side. These include Corrupted Arms, Corrupted Armor, and Corrupted Prized Arms. The first two grant corrupted rare items, while Corrupted Prized Arms drops a corrupted unique item.
Act 8 - Chemist Strongbox
In Grain Gate area of Act 8, you can find another Chemist Strongbox. This strongbox may provide you with an extra Quicksilver Flask, or useful flasks such as Diamond Flask and Jade Flask.
Additionally, within the Grain Gate zone, a book reveals the location of Gemling Legionnaires. You need to defeat these monsters to receive quest reward points from Maramoa.
Act 8 - Hidden Underbelly
Near Grain Gate area, a huge crane stands. Beside its base is a conspicuous blue circular manhole cover. Click on it to open the cover and enter Hidden Underbelly.
This is a transitional zone that essentially serves as a shortcut. Traversing Hidden Underbelly gives you access to both The Solaris Concourse and The Bath House. If you exit from The Bath House side, you will find yourself very close to an Ascendancy Trial.
Act 8 - Scouring Orbs
Inside The Bath House of Act 8, there is also a Private Chamber that contains a chest. Opening it yields 2 to 3 Orbs of Scouring.
Act 8 - Free Unique Item
In The Lunaris Temple of Act 8, the floor is covered in blue carpets, but in one corner you can find a white tile with a golden circular pattern in its centre.
When you stand on it, a line of dialogue appears in the chat box on the right, and the surrounding braziers ignite. A similar tile exists in The Solaris Temple Level 1 as well.
After triggering both prompts, head to The Grand Promenade. At a specific spot, you will discover a door that does not normally appear, with an emblem on the ground that bears both solar and lunar symbols. Go up the stairs into the inner room and open Twilight's End chest there to obtain a free unique item.
Act 9 - Rare Jewel
In Act 9, after you enter Vastiri Desert, a small area lies to the right of the entrance, with several statues standing there.
Among them are the Crimson Offering, Verdant Offering, and Sapphire Offering. Choose one of them, and the other offerings will crumble. You will receive a rare jewel corresponding to your chosen offering.
Act 9 - Fossils
On your way to defeat Gorgon, you can choose to follow the left wall. This path leads you to a camp, where two fossil remnants are found. Click on them to obtain two free Fossils.
Act 9 - Refinery Crafting Recipe
In Refinery, follow the railway tracks, and you will find a crane similar to the one in The Grain Gate, which opens the way to a hidden underbelly area. Entering Refinery tunnels, you will encounter monsters, and you can also find a Crafting Recipe.
Act 10 - Facetor's Lens
When you enter Bone Pits in Oriath, locate Ascendancy Trial within. On one side of the trial area there is a switch; after activating it on the other side, a hidden door opens.
Inside the chest beyond that door, although it appears to hold a hidden gem, what you actually obtain is a Facetor's Lens. It stores 10 million experience points, which you can apply directly to any gem of your choice.
These are just a few of the hidden items found in Path of Exile campaign. While their value might be negligible to players who have already reached the endgame, they are very helpful for those still progressing through the story. Similar hidden content exists in Acts 2 through 5 - waiting for you to discover it yourself.
