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• The Best Starting Build For POE 3.23 Affliction League! - Explosive Trap Trickster

  Explosive Trap Trickster was my starting build in the last league. We’ve even enhanced our early builds with new Gem Quality in the upcoming new league. Let’s take a look at Affliction League’s impact on the damage aspect of this build.

  Skill Itself And Buff

  Our skill of choice is Explosive Trap. This is a trap-throwing spell that creates multiple explosions when triggered. It converted physical damage it deals to fire damage.

  We got buffs on this side as they removed enchantments from the game and put Explosive Trap Helmet Enchantment into Gem Quality. So our new Gem Quality will cause our Trap to cause 2 smaller explosions, which is a very nice buff.

  All explosions can hit the same enemy, which is where our DPS and Trap numbers come from. When you view POB, you can set the number of explosions that hit the target. I set it to an average blast since most enemies have a small hit range.

  

  Scaling The Damage

  Builds can now use 2 curses due to the extra curse nodes on the tree. Assassin’s Mark increases your critical hit chance and critical hit damage, while Flammability reduces enemy fire resistance. We apply this to the single-button Arcanist Brand. If our enemy triggers Trap, we can easily generate Power and Frenzy Charges.

  We also give Trickster an additional 2 max Frenzy Charges so we can have 5 Frenzy Charges. And we paired it with Charged Traps Support to make our trap throwing as fast as possible.

  Also, because the mana cost of our Trap is very expensive, we will need to use Mana Flasks until the mana cost of our Rings and Amulet is reduced.

  Which New Ascendancy To Choose?

  With Affliction League, we get 3 new Ascendancies. Let’s start with beginner friendly.

  Warden of the Maji is the first node worth considering. You can get this very early. It allows you to get Elemental Resistances easily. Because there is a mod: if there are no gems in your helmet, all elemental resistance +50%.

  I think it might be worth taking before resistance gets capped later. It’s also worth considering boots without gems, as you’ll also move 30% faster.

  Second, when you have better equipment, you can switch to Wildwood Primalist. With this, we can get additional inventory slots. This is very useful early in the game and even later in the game. You can also insert charms into your Ascendancy tree. Works just like Sanctum League’s Relic.

  Of course, you won’t get rare items in the beginning, but it gets easy after that. This depends on the charms and rarity of the mod.

  The third Warlock of the Mists. I think this wouldn’t be good for us since we already have 2 curses in the build so it would be difficult to accommodate another curse in our build. So I think overall this is useless for this build most of the time.

  

  Defensives

  On the defensive side, we use Grace Aura to increase Evasion rating so that monsters’ normal attacks or projectiles won’t kill us.

  Because we use Grace, we can use Ghost Dance Keystone. When we take a hit, we regain 3% of our Evasion rating as Energy Shield, and we can do this 3 times in a row before the stack recharges.

  When you open POB, you’ll see that we don’t have any physical reduction in the build, which is not a problem. Because we have more than a 70% chance of avoiding enemy attacks, and we have enough Energy Shield and Life pool to withstand larger blows.

  I played this build last league and completed my Atlas, even beating all the endgame bosses without armor on my character.

  Now we are nearly untouchable by physical attacks, and the only danger left to us is spell damage. But we have a solution, which is to use Spell Suppression on Trees. We have 84% suppression from the trees alone, so the remaining percentages are easily achievable.

  At the beginning of a league, we rarely have enough POE Currency to emphasize items. Therefore, we chose Trickster. So we have access to a very interesting node, One Step Ahead, which slows down the enemy’s movement speed. If we’re paired with Summon Skitterbots, enemies will move at a snail’s pace, giving us plenty of time to react.

  

  Items

  Because the league has just started, we cannot get rare items on the first day of the league. Only one item is necessary for this build, Nycta’s Lantern. This is a very sturdy item. For its price, it’s pretty cheap, requiring only 5 Chaos Orbs, but it can take you to Red Maps and beyond.

  Also worth mentioning is our flask. Since we have to use Mana Flasks, this is the easiest way to maintain our mana. Since Trickster doesn’t have high health regeneration like Saboteur, we can’t use Lifetap Support and retain all our mana.

  You must install this mod on Mana Flasks. It does not remove the effect when unreserved mana fills up. You still gain mana when your mana bar fills up, and you can spam your traps without issue.

  

  Passive Tree

  The passive tree is being refined, but in the early levels your major goal is to distribute Assassination, Saboteur, Will of Blades, and Expeditious Munitions.

  In addition, Snowforged node is not to be missed. It masters random elemental bonus damage with a 3% chance to deal 300% physical damage on hit. I think it’s really worth it. Because our traps also cause physical damage, and the traps will explode many times. So this is a big damage increase for us.

  

  Ascendancy

  We use Trickster as Ascendancy class.

  • In the first lab: Use Swift Killer to add extra Frenzy Charges.
  • In the second lab: One Step Ahead. This will increase your movement speed. So you’ll move faster and throw traps faster.
  • In the third lab: Polymath. From this point on, we get more damage parts that others don’t apply to us.
  • In the final lab: Heartstopper. This is our loop defense part.

  Hopefully, this guide to build Explosive Trap Trickster will help you get off to a better start in Affliction League. Have a great day!

• How To Prepare For POE 3.23 Affliction League?

  With just a few days remaining until the season of Affliction launches, the POE 3.23 Affliction League reveal introduces Fresh Secondary Ascendancies, Revamped skill gems and Labyrinth, the revival of Ultimatum and a host of other exciting features.

  

  Affliction

  The Affliction League reveal wouldn’t be complete without the introduction of an Affliction League itself, right? Let’s delve into the new content set to arrive in POE 3.23.

  Enter the Vidiian Wildwood, trace the Wisps, and encounter the Asmir Wanderers.

  To begin, Wisps possess the ability to inhabit not yet spawned monsters, including those from Breach or Legion, as long as they yield loot and experience.

  Indeed, Wisps can inhabit bosses, and multiple types of Wisps can stack on the same monster. Wisps bestow various loot bonuses:

  • Primal increases the number of items dropped compared to rarity
  • Wild boosts item quantity
  • Vivid causes monsters to drop more currency items

  There’s a possibility for Wisps to inhabit the boss, leading to scenarios where you might face a Primal, Wild & Vivid boss or potentially meet your demise.

  Wildwood Ascendancies

  Next, let’s delve into the realm of Wildwood ascendancies.

  Within this new league, 3 Wildwood ascendancies are introduced, seamlessly complementing your regular ascendancy. These are Warden of the Maji, Warlock of the Mists, and Wildwood Primalist.

  

  Embark on quests for the Asmir Wanderers to unlock 8 ascendancy points for each of these novel ascendancies. Flexibility is key, as you can interchange your Wildwood ascendancy at any time by conversing with an Asmir Wanderer.

  However, if you’re venturing into a particular ascendancy for the first time, completing the Wanderer’s quest tests is essential to acquire your points. Each ascendancy serves a distinctive purpose, offering perks such as an automatic flask with tines or the ability to summon bosses using corpses, among numerous other possibilities.

  Charms

  Another avenue to customize your ascendancy involves the use of new charms available for purchase from the Primal Huntress or fellow players.

  These charms come in an unmodifiable magic and attribute-aligned form. Specifically, strength charms will yield ascendancy effects from the Duelist, Marauder, and Templar ascendancies.

  For intelligence charms, the resulting ascendancy effects hail from the Templar, Witch, and Shadow ascendancies.

  Lastly, dexterity-aligned charms will roll ascendancy effects from the Shadow, Ranger, and Duelist ascendancies.

  Ultimatum

  As revealed in the Affliction League update, GGG has officially brought back Ultimatum due to popular demand, making it a core feature that replaces Metamorph, dubbed Double Or Die.

  Ultimatum introduces a significant change to the Vile Trials, now spanning 10 rounds, each presenting escalating risk and reward. The entire system has undergone a comprehensive rebalance, featuring new rewards, affixes to impede your progress, and the introduction of new or revamped unique items.

  Accompanying Ultimatum are additional passives integrated into the Atlas Passive Tree, enhancing the overall enjoyment of the experience.

  Notable additions include modifiers like Ultimatum concludes in 7 rounds accompanied by a 50% reduction in the damage and health of monsters, extending Ultimatum to 13 rounds for a heightened challenge, introducing the highest difficulty right from the first round with rewards doubled.

  It’s worth noting that you can’t choose the Ultimatum modifier applied in each round and encountering the Trialmaster at the end of the final round is not possible.

  However, the rewards offered in exchange for completing Ultimatum have been described as insane, featuring POE Items such as Catalyst, Inscribed Ultimatum, and many more.

  Transfigured Gems

  Affliction League also brings one of the largest meta shakeups in Path of Exile history, which is something many players have been requesting for a few leagues.

  Currently in PoE, Labyrinth Enchantments, Threshold Jewels and Alternate Quality Gems obtained from Heist modify your skill gems in significant ways. Both of these are being removed in this league.

  The effects of these systems have been combined into the new Transfigured Gem system. The quality effects of most skill gems have been significantly enhanced. For example, Blade Vortex no longer has an increased Critical Strike Chance for each blade. It now deals a 140 to 211 (at gem level 20) and quality now provides a 0-5% increased hit rate for each blade instead of a 0-10% increased area of effect.

  

  There have been more than 250 adjustments to Quality gems, primarily resulting in a boost to gem power ranging from 10% to 50%. The alterations predominantly affect minion, melee and spell gems as well as certain rare gems with damage overtime gems seeing relatively moderate increases in power.

  You can obtain Transfigured Gems with Divine Font at the end of the Eternal Labyrinth. You’re able to add skill gems to the font and modify it in a variety of ways.

  In addition to the above, you can also add experience to a gem or transform your gem into an exceptional gem. If you choose to transform your gem, you can pick from 3 Transfigured Gems or close the window and take your original skill back if you don’t like any of the options offered.

  The Eternal Labyrinth offers two uses of the Divine Font by default and when you transform a gem, it retains its level and quality.

  The rewards from Heist Blueprints have been buffed to compensate for the removal of alternate quality gems from Heist.

  What To Play?

  Wondering what to play next? The advent of the new Transfigured Gem system has brought forth a plethora of exciting gameplay possibilities. Certain gems undergo transformations influencing stats or enhancing the quality of lifelines.

  We present two distinct building approaches for your consideration: the top 5 builds designed to maximize potential in the league and the top 5 fun builds tailored for those seeking an entertaining gameplay experience. If you also want to make these builds, please prepare ample POE Currency. Here are some potential builds:

  • Raised Spectre Perfect Hydra: This build now allows players to summon the boss as a spectre, possessing the boss’s body. In addition to Perfect Hydra, numerous other powerful bosses and monsters can be utilized.
  • Mirror Arrow Minion: With the alteration to the Mirror Arrow and Blink arrow mechanics, minions no longer possess movement skills, making this build a formidable force.
  • Rolling Magma Build: Leveraging the new Transfigured Gem system, quality for +2 chain can be scaled up to Prime 3, Prime 4, Prime 5 and beyond, enhancing the effectiveness of this magma focused build.
  • Lightning Conduit: This build takes advantage of the many shock effect sources introduced in this league. Maximum shock effect with quality results in a 4% damage increase for every 5% shock effect.
  • Divine Ire (Channeling or Totem style): Undergoing significant changes, Divine Ire now has only 10 stages instead of 20 and it no longer reduces damage by 50% while channeling marking a substantial shift in its play style.

  Not intrigued by any of those? How about experimenting with these unique builds?

  • Falling Zombies: The Transfigured Gem for raised zombie now causes zombies to descend from the sky. Despite being a spellcast, it retains all the minion tags truly a distinctive approach.
  • Animate Weapon Ranged: Transform the Animate Weapon with its Transfigured Gem to grant them long-range capabilities instead of using melee weapons. Witness the Animate Weapon now utilizing bows.
  • Animate Guardian Smite: Shake things up by having Animate Guardians wield Smite instead of their usual buffing behavior, great sword Blade Trap. Experience the fun of using two-handed weapons with Blade Trap.
• The Insane Warlock Blood Magic In POE 3.23 Affliction League!

  Here, I’m going to talk a little about Blood Magic in Affliction League. I think it has needed this Keystone for a long time.

  But in a way, we did get a little of that in Trial of The Ancestors League. Because they added tattoos in POE 3.22, Life Reservation Efficiency of Skills was improved. But tattoos disappeared in POE 3.23.

  

  New Ascendancies

  However, in Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction League, you will assign another brand new Ascendancy in the form of Wildwood Ascendancy Classes. This allows you to join these Ascendancy Classes while leveling up normally, providing you with extremely powerful bonuses.

  One of Ascendancy is Warlock of the Mists, who is a master of Asmerian dark arts and has powerful notable options. This largely favors life-based low-life Blood Magic setups. This guide introduces these new options and discusses how to best use them.

  First, Warlock of the Mists has an entire set of notable passive skills, themed around Blood Magic and Life Stacking.

  

  Sanguimancy

  First, Sanguimancy is a Warlock of the Mists Ascendancy skill. It’s Blood Magic Keystone. The difference is that it does not increase life by 10%, but increases Life Reservation Efficiency of Skills by 50%. This is equivalent to 12 and a half of Life Reservation Tattoo effect in 3.22. This means that with the same POE Currency, Sanguimancy brings much more Life Reservation.

  Of course, you’ll probably want to use Sanguimancy at the same time as Blood Magic. Because this will not bring additional negative effects. But you can only get 10% increased life from Blood Magic and 50% increased Life Reservation Efficiency from Sanguimancy skills.

  

  Example Reservation

  To put this into perspective, let’s say you’re playing a Warlock of the Mists-led build and you’re working on Blood Magic. Next to Blood Magic is Champion of the Cause. When combined with Mastery’s Life Reservation Efficiency, this setting can further increase Life Reservation Efficiency of Skills to 36%.

  You can also use Eternal Blessing Support to keep free Auras. Suppose we use Eternal Blessing to preserve Determination. Then we can also get the 35% reservation brought by Petrified Blood and another 50% of Aura effect.

  For the remaining 54% unreserved life. If you wish, you can also keep Flat Auras like Vitality, Clarity, and Precision to deal with high life pools. You can easily implement a low-life Blood Magic setup by utilizing things like Bloodthirst Support or Pain Achievement.

  Also Read: Path Of Exile 3.23 Affliction Update Notes - New Content & Highlights

  Cannibalized Faith

  It forked the other two notable options from Sanguimancy.

  Cannibalized Faith will help with Pain Achievement’s casting path. But this doesn’t give you 75% of the health cost of your own spells as bonus physical spell damage. This means you’ll need to Self-Cast setup, but you’ll be handsomely rewarded for doing so.

  For example, 6-Link Reap may deal 375 points of physical damage per cast at maximum health, and gain an additional 210% damage effect. This equates to an increase of 787 points of physical damage. This brings the base damage of a level 20 Reap gem to 2,201.

  But what’s really outstanding about this new Ascendancy is that you don’t have to use skills that have a base life cost. You don’t even need to use Lifetap Support, although you may need to consider its high life cost multiplier. You are free to use any spell you want here.

  You can use spells such as Wave of Conviction that have strong synergies and have efficient additional damage. This is a physical based spell that is partially converted to elemental damage. But this additional damage effect is a whopping 330%, which is just insane.

  

  Crimson Power

  So what about the third notable Ascendancy skill? This is an alternative forked from Sanguimancy. This is Crimson Power.

  Crimson Power enables Life Stacking in ways we’ve never seen before. This notable removes all of your Energy Shield, leaving you with only half the normal health you would have when leveling up. However, it will also grant Energy Shield to any armor or hybrid armor gear you have equipped for Life Stacking.

  For example, if you use an Incandescent Heart and invest in Divine Orbs to increase Armor and Energy Shield at max roll, this will grant you 374 max health. But at level 100, you lose 600 health due to this negative modifier.

  Therefore, you need armor and armor hybrid gear to provide enough Energy Shield to overcome this shortcoming before you can start benefiting from it.

  As a side note, Crimson Power synergies with Dissolution of the Flesh in a way that was previously unexplored. So you can now take advantage of Gear’s Energy Shield that would otherwise be wasted, not to mention the obvious Life Stacking synergy here.

  

  Closing Thoughts

  I think this particular fork of Warlock of the Mists Ascendancy will open up a lot of new builds for Affliction League. And of course, there are all the new Transfigured Gems and Gem qualities coming into the game.

  I hope we can get a lot of information on Transfigured Gems before the patch. This way people can plan their builds more.

  Overall, I’m very excited about Blood Magic setup in the upcoming league. Let me know what you think of Transfigured Gems in POE 3.23. See you in the game!

• A Fast & Cheap POE 3.23 Affliction League Starter - Rain Of Arrows Raider

  In this guide, I want to introduce you to a really fast and cheap POE 3.23 league starter: Rain of Arrows Raider. 

  In the POE 3.23 Affliction patch notes, you can see that many skills have received a +2 to their projectiles, and Rain of Arrows is no exception. 

  Now, gem quality gives you +4 arrows but a smaller area, and this is a really good boost for single target damage. This is because previously, the clear speed was also good, but for a single target, it was not so much. So, this league, Rain of Arrows is going to be much better.

  

  Progression

  First of all, let me tell you why you can choose this build as a league starter. Let’s start with progression leveling. 

  When the league starts, all players try to complete the acts and get to the maps as fast as possible and Rain of Arrows is really fast. Since starting from the second act, the clearing speed is fast and convenient. This means that you can quickly go through the acts and get onto the maps. 

  Starting with maps, the situation gets even better since Rain of Arrows doesn’t need special POE Items and everything can be picked up from the floor or easily crafted using Essences or a Crafting Bench. 

  Also, in my build, there is only one unique item: Hyrri’s Truth Jade Amulet, and it costs 1 Chaos Orb and on white maps it’s not needed at all. So, don’t worry, it won’t cost much POE Currency.

  As for pros and cons of the build and how it works in general, everything is very simple and clear. On the maps, I just run with Blood Rage on and shoot arrows. They fall and monsters die. 

  When it’s time to kill the boss, I call ballistas, use flasks and press for a Lightning Arrow, and after some time, the boss dies. 

  This build is ideal for mapping Expeditions and Blights because it has a very fast mechanic that hits all the monsters around and you don’t even stop. So, there will be no problems on maps of any tier.

  Path Of Building

  In my build, I use Raider ascendancy, but you might be wondering why not Champion? I recommend choosing a Raider because of the large variability of build changes in the future. Since in the late end game, there may be problems with single target damage and you can easily change the build to Tornado Shot Venom Gyre or just go with Rain of Arrows. 

  The only downside to this build is that it doesn’t directly deal high damage to a single target. But it’s still enough for red maps and invitations.

  In PoB, on the skill gems page, I have created several sets of skill gems: several for acts, one for diversion without Critical Hits and the last one with crits for red maps. So, after the acts, try to change into diversion with crits. It will be more easy and do more damage. 

  On the passive tree, I made options for leveling, a version without crits and two versions for end game. In one case, I use the cluster jewel and in second, Lioneye’s Fall unique jewel, which transforms these 10 passives and they begin to work for bows. 

  

  Regarding items, everything is very easily described here. Before the end game, everything can be crafted in literally 1 minute or even taken from the floor. The main thing is to have all the resists and a good critical chance. 

  

  The situation with skill gems is similar. Everything is in the picture. Just watch and repeat. There are no expensive skill gems here, so they’re easy to get. If you go into the late end game and continue to play with Rain of Arrows, you can change the usual gems to Awakened to increase the damage.

  Investment

  If we talk about the cost of the endgame version, which easily farms all red maps, it is not more than 10 to 15 Divine Orbs and you can craft all the things by yourself. An amulet is unique, just buy it for 1 Chaos Orb.

  About defense, it’s not so bad and just average. As any other bow builds with fast clearing speed, there is only one rule: you are fine as long as you run and shoot.

  Therefore, if you’re looking for a cheap, fast and comfortable build that covers the entire Atlas except Uber’s in Path of Exile 3.23, Rain of Arrows is definitely for you!

• Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction Is Coming! - Everything You Need To Know About Affliction

  Path of Exile: Affliction is released in one week! Yesterday’s developer's live broadcast also revealed most of the content of the upcoming Affliction League. Here, I summarize all the important things to know about Affliction League. Without further ado, let’s get started!

  In Affliction, you will clear Affliction in Viridian Wildwood, earn valuable rewards and learn the ancient ways of Azmeri Wanderers.

  POE’s December expansion introduces Affliction Challenge League, three new Wildwood Ascendancy Classes, the return of Ultimatum League, over a hundred new Transfigured Gems, and more!

  

  Affliction Challenge League

  In Affliction League, you’ll encounter Sacred Wisps who summon you into the overgrown passageway to Viridian Wildwood. The evil Affliction has cast an ominous darkness over the forest. You need to uncover the mysteries of the forest to stop the source of Affliction.

  Viridian Wildwood

  As you approach darkness, Sacred Wisps will burn away Affliction that shrouds the forest. Just be sure to proceed with caution, as Wisps only have a limited amount of power, and once they’re depleted, you’ll need to return to Wraeclast. Be aware that it fills the darkness with cursed monsters that will appear out of nowhere to kill you.

  As you explore, you may see other types of Wisps trapped in the darkness. You can follow their trail by collecting Wisps and discover many secrets such as new Characters, Shrines, Boss Battles, and new Encounters. There’s plenty of POE Currency and loot to be won for those brave enough to seek the rewards.

  

  Control Your Challenge And Reward

  When you return from Wildwood, any Wisps you rescued from Affliction will scatter into the environment and populate randomly chosen monsters, increasing their power and bonuses. Different types of Wisps have different effects. Sometimes more than one type of Wisps will inhabit a monster, making the fight more difficult and more rewarding.

  Primal Wisps provide item rarity bonuses to the monsters they inhabit. Wild Wisps will give a bonus to the number of items. Vivid Wisps will cause them to drop currency items. If a monster gets all three types of Wisps, they will drop more items of higher rarity and more POE currency.

  Wildwood Ascendancy Classes

  While exploring Wildwood, you may spot some of the last Azmeri Wanderers who have survived since the forest was cursed.

  You can randomly select Azmeri Wanderer you will complete the mission with to unlock one of three new Ascendancy Classes. You can have these classes in addition to the regular Ascendancy Classes. As you complete Azmeri Wanderer’s missions, you can unlock up to eight points in these professions.

  New Ascendancy: Warden Of The Maji

  Warden of Eaves teaches you to become Warden of the Maji, a powerful class that uses wilderness knowledge. Warden of the Maji can coat their weapons with Tinctures, giving them special bonuses. For example, Ironwood Tincture always stuns enemies when full health, and Oakbranch Tincture is a great finisher for bosses.

  Warden of the Maji has many other wilderness abilities, such as Barkskin, which causes Bark to grow throughout your body, increasing armor. When you take damage, Bark temporarily detaches, increasing your evasion capabilities.

  

  New Ascendancy: Warlock Of The Mists

  Breaker of Oaths can teach you to become a Warlock of the Mists, a profession that specializes in the darker arts of Azmeri.

  One powerful ability you can choose from is Blood Hunt. It lets you consume a corpse for more damage and provides protection against monsters that share a creature type with the corpse.

  You can also get some strange types of corpses from Breakers of Oaths. We can also use these corpses as powerful spectres. Warlock of the Mists also gains access to many other abilities, including three new curse skills.

  

  New Ascendancy: Wildwood Primalist

  Primal Huntress can help you become a Wildwood Primalist. Unlike other new Ascendancy Classes, Wildwood Primalist allows you to customize your tree with Charms with randomly generated skills from regular Ascendancy Classes. Charms are magic items with consistent properties that can have up to two random modifiers.

  Wildwood Primalists gain access to other powerful abilities, such as a small extra backpack, or the ability to use Warcry to make corpses drop additional items.

  

  New Rewards

  There will be a variety of different rewards in Affliction Challenge League. The monsters you fight in Wraeclast may be affected by Wisps you bring back from Viridian Wildwood, increasing the quality and quantity of the items they drop.

  As you progress through the league, you’ll earn Wildwood Ascendancy Classes and Charms, Corpses or Tinctures they use. There are many additional secret rewards hidden within Mists that you will discover as you explore. Path of Exile: Affliction also includes over 15 new unique items.

  The Return Of Ultimatum

  Ultimatum is finally at its core. Trialmaster is back too. You can choose to accept the deadly Vaal trial for generous rewards. If you fail the trial, he will offer to double up with you or do nothing.

  So, are you willing to take risks and pursue better returns? Or do you lock in winnings you’ve already won?

  The developers have completely rebalanced Ultimatum and added many new Modifiers, Atlas passive skills, Keystones and rewards, including new and redesigned unique items.

  

  Transfigured Gems

  In POE 3.23, they have merged Alternate Quality Gems, Labyrinth Helmet Enchantments and Unique Threshold Jewels into a new system called Transfigured Gems. It is an alternative version of an existing skill gem with different functionality and balance.

  They have changed Divine Font at the end of Eternal Labyrinth to a gem-making device, which can create deformed gems and increase the quality or experience of gems. Players can also sacrifice gems for one or more Treasure Keys, or exchange Support Gems for Exceptional Support Gems like Empower or Enlighten.

  

  New Core Supporter Packs

  Finally, the developer will release annual Core Supporter Packs alongside the release of Path of Exile: Affliction.

  There are five packages available. Each pack includes its full value of points, exclusive armor sets and additional cosmetic micro-transactions that visually interact with the game in new ways. Higher packs also include physical merchandise and new opportunities to leave a mark on Path of Exile.

  The above is all the content of this developer’s live broadcast about POE 3.23 league. The new season is coming soon, looking forward to seeing you in Affliction!

• Best POE 3.22 Mega-Blight Atlas Build

  If you want to play as much Blight league as possible, farming up heaps of POE Currency and gear without ever having to chat in trade and accumulate large amounts of Oils and Blighted Maps either for you to use or to sell, I have the perfect POE 3.22 Atlas build for you.

  

  Blight-All-Day Combo

  In the most recent patch, Blight enjoyers were given a gift: Cassia’s Pride. With this keystone, we can turn Blight encounters into a true tower defense game. 

  Except that the atlas isn’t actually active on Blighted and Blight-Ravaged Maps, so it doesn’t matter how much we tech it. We’re still going to be taking on endgame Blight content the same as every other player. In that case, we might as well just cheese the normal Blight encounters on our maps. And this build trivialize every single blight encounter you find.

  The thing that I noticed involved Cassia’s Pride. With this keystone, we can heavily lean on the towers when we run into Sister Cassia in our maps. 

  If you also get these two small passives, you’re reducing the cost of building and upgrading those towers by 40%, which is nice. But if you want to push it into true Insanity, you’re going to also take the Wandering Path Keystone, doubling the effect of those small points and reducing the cost of building and upgrading towers by a total of 80%.

  With this combination, you can immediately spam level your towers up to level 4 at the very beginning of each encounter. And on top of that, Cassia’s Pride ensures that your towers easily get the job done on their own, which leads to hilarious but successful strategies.

  You may be worried about losing the notables, but the reality is that with the Wandering Path combination, you end up with a higher chance of running into Sister Cassia than without it. In fact, she’s so common, you just open maps expecting her to be there. And it doesn’t hurt your loot, either. In fact, you get more POE Items this way.

  Without Wandering Path, you end up getting far fewer of those Blight chests from each lane in your encounters. You’re also doubling the effects of all of the quantity circles with this build, which gives you even more loot. And not to mention, you’re literally never going to lose a normal Blight encounter ever again, so you’ll get all the loot every single time.

  Atlas How-To

  When you unlock your Atlas, you’re going to start by taking the left-hand path out of the tree. 

  But instead of developing that full cluster, you’re going to keep going upward until you hit the Fungal Bloom cluster. But don’t take the final notable unless you’re willing to use an Orb of Regret (or orb of whatever). Then, keep moving up and take Cassia’s Pride. Then, move into the quant circle and take Wandering Path.

  As soon as you have Wandering Path, then develop the Blight Tower Cost, small passives down here by the very start of your Atlas. And now, Blight league is hilariously easy.

  After this, you’re going to want to develop the left to upgrade your Blight chests. Then, you’re going to want to move upward, filling in all except for the notables in the blight spawn cluster as well as this distilled fungus cluster. Then, fill in the quant circles and you can take whichever inward path you want: Essence, Harbinger, or Harvest. Go ahead and skip the chance to get a free Blight craft.

  I’ve been doing this build for a full day and I haven’t seen a Blight craft once nor am I particularly cared to use it. You can also skip this one point (Blight Monster Increased Damage) that increases monster damage taken. It’s up near Cassia’s Pride because you’re just not gonna need it.

  Incursion Pathing

  If you’re interested in also adding Alva and Temple Incursions into your maps, you can instead take a slightly different path.

  First, you can cut through the Incursion cluster on the center left.

  Second, you can cut through the Incursion Pack Size when you go up into the quant circle. Each one of those moves takes one more Atlas point total, but it does greatly in boost Incursions.