What To Look Out For When Challenging Zalmarath Which Is The Last Boss In Act 2 Of POE 2? - Location & Attacks
The current Path of Exile 2 Early Access, which has been in development for nearly a decade, has three acts of game content for you to explore, and each act has a completely different game experience. In Act 2, you will explore a vast desert area and need to find and reassemble the fragments of Horn of the Vastiri in three different missions.
Of these three missions, A Crown of Stone is arguably the most noteworthy. Not only will it lead you to the scenic Valley of Titans and Titan Grotto, but you can also challenge the very profitable boss called Colossus Zalmarath here.
At this powerful ultimate boss, you can learn some combat strategies that can be used when facing this boss who mainly uses physical damage, and more importantly, you can find the very important Flame Ruby from its loot. So this guide will introduce you to the location of Zalmarath and what kind of combat moves you will face in the battle.
Colossus Zalmarath’s Location
As mentioned above, Colossus Zalmarath is the last boss in your quest A Crown of Stone, so it is located at the end of Titan Grotto, and you need to go through Valley of the Titans to get there.
As you travel through Valley of the Titans, you need to find and activate three Ancient Seals, which will unlock the path to Titan Grotto. Since the entire area is very large, you should use as many Checkpoints and Waypoints as possible to mark your progress while exploring.
Otherwise, if you die while challenging the ultimate boss, you will need to explore again, and at the same time, POE 2 Currency and experience points you previously earned will be lost. When you see Dais of Reckoning at the end of Titan Grotto, it means that you are about to enter the arena between you and Zalmarath. Here you can check whether the damage and survivability of your build are at their best.
How To Defeat Zalmarath?
The arena you fight Zalmarath in is actually quite small compared to other final bosses, and it will get smaller as the fight progresses. In this case, most of Zalmarath’s attacks will easily cover a large area of the arena, so having a clear sense of positioning is very important in this fight.
Zalmarath will mainly deal physical damage to you during the fight, with some fire and lightning damage as well. So when preparing for this challenge, you should spend as much POE 2 Regal Orbs on your armor as possible to make it higher in rarity and more defensive, which will greatly reduce all the damage cast by this powerful boss.
As the old saying goes, knowing yourself and the enemy is the key to success, and only by knowing all of Zalmarath’s attacks can you respond correctly. Here are Zalmarath’s specific attacks and the strategies you can use.
Sword Stab
Zalmarath will thrust his sword straight into the arena and then drag it back along the path it had just taken. You can clearly see him raise his sword to stab you, so you can avoid this attack by dodging or moving at the beginning of this move.
This attack is relatively easy to dodge compared to the ones that follow, but it will still cause you to take heavy damage if you are unlucky enough to get hit.
Lightning Bolt
During this attack, you will see Zalmarath move around the edge of the arena in a quarter circle, and then fire a wave of projectiles from his vicinity. At this time, you should turn to the opposite side of the arena where Zalmarath is standing and move in the same direction as him, which will block some projectiles.
Arm Sweep
At this point, Zalmarath will abandon his sword and use his arms to sweep across the arena. If you are caught, you will be dragged across the floor, causing heavy physical damage. As mentioned above, the arena is small, but the range of this attack is large. So if you can’t avoid Zalmarath’s arm, you can try to run in the opposite direction to avoid being hit by other damaging skills.
Falling Debris
In addition to the above physical damage, Zalmarath will also shoot lasers at the ceiling and cause some debris to fall into the arena. It should be noted that one debris is larger than the others and can even destroy the floor of the arena that supports it.
You can tell where the debris will fall by the spinning dust circles on the arena floor. Just avoid stepping on these dust circles to avoid these debris that can cause heavy damage to you.
Stone Wave
Here, Zalmarath will slam his arm and launch a wave of rocks that can cause damage to you. Similar to Sword Stab, you can tell the direction of its attack by its hand raising, which makes it easier to avoid this attack in time. However, it is worth noting that Zalmarath may use this attack twice in a short period, so you need to be prepared to dodge twice for a long time.
Laser
As mentioned above, the boss will shoot lasers at the ceiling, so it may also shoot lasers at you and cause unpredictable damage to the current arena area. Normally, the movement path of this attack move is downward and will not move randomly, but Zalmarath may also turn around to guide the laser sweep, which is worth noting.
Generally speaking, the laser fired by Zalmarath will start from close to the body and gradually move outward. This time will be very long, and you have plenty of time to dodge. The most important thing here is that when the laser starts to move, you need to predict its movement path as soon as possible and avoid it.
Vril Apparition
Of course, as the ultimate boss, Zalmarath will also summon some Vril Apparitions to help it complete this battle. They usually appear from a corner of the arena and swarm around you. Although the damage of a single Vril Apparition to you will not have much impact on you, you still need to use some AOE damage skills as soon as possible to eliminate these large groups of enemies, otherwise you may be tortured to death by a large amount of damage.
Fire Tendrils
For the ultimate attack, Zalmarath will slam his fist to create flaming tendrils that will move randomly and deal a lot of fire damage to you in the process. Since their movement paths are random, it is difficult to avoid them. You can only try to observe their movement direction and move to a safe position in the opposite direction.
The above are all the attacks you will experience during the battle with Zalmarath. It will repeat this series of attacks until you defeat it. It is worth suggesting that the longer you fight it, the more difficult it will be to dodge its attacks in the arena, because the range of the arena will continue to decrease.
Whether you are using a character that focuses on melee or a character that emphasizes long-range attacks, the best strategy in this battle is to get as close to Zalmarath as possible or stand behind it, which will greatly increase your chance of dodge and put you in a safe state to cast all your attack skills.
The most difficult to avoid is the laser attack with a very large range. You can also hide behind its sword at this time to resist some damage. In general, as long as you are familiar with all the attacks of Zalmarath and try more, it is very easy for you to defeat it and get Flame Ruby from it. I wish you a happy game!
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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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
