How To Survive This Misery Gauntlet In Path Of Exile 3.23?
Misery Gauntlet will be the first of its kind all year! Gauntlet is an event league run by Zizaran and Viyro, in which the difficulty of Path of Exile has been adjusted to the extreme.
The primary goal of this event is to kill all Uber Bosses, but there are additional side quests and raffles to reach specific character levels. In this guide, I’ll detail the incredibly scary monster modifiers present in this version of the campaign, and how to survive them.
Monster Modifiers
So let’s take a look at why Gauntlet is so difficult? This is a list of zone level modifiers.
First, we have a hard campaign from Acts 1 to 10, and then a safer period.
The crazy Monster Haste modifier will catch more people off guard as you progress through White Maps and then onto the extremely difficult Yellow Maps. And Red Maps looks completely ridiculous.
Finally, there is the level 85 area, which is the area of Uber boss Atziri. There are a bunch of Rippy mods here, including a new one. I think this will be similar to Valdo Puzzle Box maps. So Apparitions of Atziri may attack you, and you need to focus on Uber boss at hand.
There’s also a new modifier here. You’ll need to consume an extra portal at the entrance. So that means for Uber owner Atziri, you’re only going to have three portals. This is important for some strategies that use logout to reset.
I’m going to focus primarily on Acts 1 to 10 in this guide, because this is the most exciting campaign Gauntlet has ever had, and these modifiers are absolutely ridiculous.
What we have here is Usual Suspects, which makes monsters take 30% less damage and monsters deal 30% more damage, which is bad. This means you need to do at least about 43% damage to monsters to kill them. But some other modifiers we’ll talk about later make it worse.
Then there’s a Monster Haste modifier here that increases attack cost and movement speed by 30%. This will make monsters very scary, especially ones that usually have telegraph abilities that are easy to avoid. When you combine them with magic and rare monster modifiers, they become even scarier.
Of course, there are also monsters that are already fast, like Ghouls in the prison. You’ll want to play slower and more carefully to avoid too many fast mobs at once.
You need to watch out for the common criminal here, Cannibal. If you get hit by a barrage of projectiles, even a single Cannibal, they will throw torches, dealing a lot of damage to you.
And then we also have two new modifiers in this Gauntlet.
First, monsters now have 20% of their physical damage as additional chaos damage. This can be seen as a 20% increase in the damage of physical monsters.
This modifier isn’t as bad as the extra element of physical damage. Because you won’t feel Shocked, Chilled and Frozen with every blow to your body.
But it still does damage, especially when combined with the 30% increased damage modifier, which is just a ton of extra damage.
And the most dangerous modifier on this list, Damage Penetrates 15% of Enemy Elemental Resistances, is downright scary. This is basically the same as elemental hits dealing 15% more damage.
But as you gain more and more elemental resistances, this modifier becomes progressively worse in terms of how much extra damage you take.
When you have 75% elemental resistance, this modifier causes you to take 40% elemental damage instead of 25%. Even scarier when you combine it with other mods.
Go Slow
This will indeed be a brutal Gauntlet battle. So how do you survive, and how do you get onto the map?
Let’s start with one of the most obvious tips from the previous game: slow and steady wins the game. In fact, the best players in the game often get rid of Gauntlet entirely within a few days.
The same logic applies to campaign activities, where slowing things down often ends up being faster. Because the chances of you having to start over are much less. So you’ll spend more time and POE Currency making sure your resistance is capped, you have the right links in your gear for your gem setup, and you have enough life to progress.
You usually know when you’re strong enough to progress. So if you feel you’re a little weak in your current area, take the time to go back and prepare.
Build Choice
Next comes another obvious tip, choosing a good build. Needless to say, if you try to make progress on a build that uses weaker abilities, you’re going to have a tough time in this Gauntlet event.
Also, keep an eye out for what others are doing with their builds. For example, Bonershatter Juggernaut might be popular.
Damage Avoidance
The best way to survive in all Gauntlet campaign modes is to avoid damage entirely. The shield will become your best friend. Especially in Act 1, against some of the more dangerous monsters, avoiding 25% of all incoming attacks is really powerful.
But you need to find a healthy balance between evasion and armor. So Grace might not be the best choice if you can’t combine it with Determination and Avoid themes.
You can also try adding some Energy Shields to your build. Even if it’s just a hybrid ES piece of gear, this will give you a chance to ignore on-hit stuns affecting it.
Chaos Resistance
When you reach Act 6, the campaign will become even scarier with additional Chaos monster modifiers. Since your Chaos Resistance will now be minus 30% by default, you’ll want to keep an eye out for Amethyst Ring as early as the last few areas of Act 4.
So be sure to check the vendor as you level up. These rings may start dropping at monster level 38. And if you’re able to maintain your balance while staying in the elements, you’re going to need at least one of these rings.
Overgear & Overlevel
Finally, don’t be afraid to over farm and reset areas frequently. This way you can earn more XP than usual and give yourself the opportunity to further improve your gear. This is especially important before you move on and get into difficult boss encounters.
Closing Thoughts
Here’s how you survive Gauntlet with some tips, at least in the campaign portion of the game, which is going to be absolutely brutal.
This is an outstanding event and it will be fun to see how everyone handles these crazy monster modifiers. So what do you think of Misery Gauntlet? Are you excited about this? Looking forward to seeing you in the game!
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Since the release of the first Path of Exile 3.29 teaser, the developers have been sharing updates via video; however, they recently released specific written details regarding Reliquarian.
As Scion's second Ascendancy class, Reliquarian was introduced alongside 3.28 league, making it a relatively new addition. Unfortunately, perhaps due to mechanics that lacked standout appeal, it failed to gain significant traction during Mirage league.
In an effort to boost Reliquarian's popularity and utility, and to encourage more players to try it in 3.29 league, the development team has announced upcoming optimizations. If you are interested in this class, here is a preview of what to expect!
Reliquarian core mechanics
If you played Legacy of Phrecia event, you might recall Scavenger, a limited-time Ascendancy for Scion. Reliquarian was introduced to the core Path of Exile game as a redesigned evolution of that concept.
Reliquarian stands out from other Ascendancies due to its highly dynamic nature. Its skills and mechanics are not static; instead, they evolve alongside league updates.
This adds a layer of unpredictability and fun to the class rankings. If the mechanics are well-balanced and you can master them quickly, you might even find yourself dominating new leagues using this class.
Each major node in Reliquarian skill tree grants several passive skills based on specific unique item types; additionally, you can aim to acquire extra passive skill points.
All Reliquarian passive skills are categorized by unique item type: Armor, Caster Weapons, Martial Weapons, and Jewelry, with each category containing several specific skills.
Note the progression requirements: you must begin by unlocking skills in the armor category; the caster and martial weapon categories only become available once the armor category is fully unlocked; and the jewelry category requires you to have unlocked all skills in either the caster or martial Weapon categories first.
Reliquarian in 3.29
To completely revamp Reliquarian in Curse of the Allflame league, the developers have replaced almost the entire skill lineup with new options.
It is no wonder the development team released text-and-image previews early; they wanted to give you ample time to fully understand these features.
However, with over twenty skills available, not every single one is worth unlocking. Instead, you should examine the specific effects of each skill and unlock them selectively based on your needs for 3.29 league.
Of course, during any Path of Exile league, skills alone aren't enough to craft a complete, powerful build; you must continuously acquire better items and upgrade your gear setup.
To that end, you can buy Path of Exile currency at POECURRENCY.com to reroll the modifiers on your existing weapons or armor and boost their power.
Strong skills for the early league
If you want to make rapid progress as a Reliquarian when Path of Exile 3.29 launches, Vaal Caress is a great skill to unlock first. It grants you Onslaught status for 20 seconds after you use another Vaal skill.
While under the effect of Onslaught, your movement speed, attack speed, and cast speed all receive a 20% boost. When combined with other ways to trigger this status, you might even be able to maintain Onslaught uptime throughout the entire 3.29 league.
Additionally, Vaal Caress increases the level of all Vaal skill gems by 2, which is a significant bonus.
The second new Reliquarian skill to highlight is Elevore. It provides a 25% chance to suppress spell damage and a 25% chance to avoid elemental ailments, while also restoring 200 Life whenever you successfully suppress spell damage.
It is worth noting that there is Wolf Pelt helmet in the game sharing the same name and offering virtually identical effects. Combining the two can yield bonuses that far exceed your expectations.
Next up is Kaom's Roots. A key tip here: if you are playing an evasion-based character, do not select this skill, as one of its modifiers prevents you from evading enemy attacks.
However, the skill grants immunity to stun and knockback, ensures your movement speed never drops below its base value, and provides a flat +100 to maximum life. So, as long as you don't rely on evasion, this serves as a fairly solid defensive setup.
Skills with great overall viability
Unlike the aforementioned Reliquarian skills, which are often limited to the early league due to various constraints, some options offer broader utility, such as Dawnbreaker.
This skill converts 25% of the cold, lightning, or physical damage you take into fire damage. Notably, just like Elevore, there is a piece of gear in Path of Exile sharing the name Dawnbreaker that features this same conversion mechanic.
While this effect might seem insignificant on its own, unlocking it allows you to build your character around it to maximize its potential.
For instance, you could create a character that largely ignores cold/lightning/physical resistances, instead pouring resources into stacking fire resistance.
This mechanic becomes incredibly powerful when facing massive, lethal hits; while many of Path of Exile's toughest bosses possess resistance penetration, it usually applies only to the specific damage types they deal.
Finally, let's look at The Apostate. There is also a piece of armor by the same name, though Reliquarian skill version has weaker base stats than the original gear.
Interestingly, this design choice is intentional. The Apostate Cabalist Regalia armor has no attribute requirements and provides no Energy Shield; instead, it grants bonuses to Strength and resistances.
More importantly, equipping it grants a bonus to Maximum Life rather than Energy Shield, even though chest armor is typically the primary source of Energy Shield in the game.
Consequently, simply equipping The Apostate armor results in a massive loss of total energy shield.
To balance this, the skill version of The Apostate reduces your maximum life by 12 points for every level gained, resulting in a total loss of 1,200 life.
However, in the endgame, a single chest piece can easily provide 1,200 Energy Shield on its own. Thus, opting for a standard chest piece instead of The Apostate yields a higher overall benefit, while still allowing you to utilize other skill features.
These are just a few of the new Reliquarian skills worth unlocking in Path of Exile 3.29; there are plenty more for you to explore. Also, the stream is starting soon, be sure to tune in on time so you don't miss out on Twitch Drops!
On July 16th, the official team will be livestreaming to explain more information about Path of Exile 3.29, but they've already stated that Mirage League-related mechanics will not appear on the map. Is this really good news?
While the final information regarding Mirage League mechanic in PoE 3.29 won't be fully confirmed until the 16th, if it is completely removed, it means the mechanic will neither generate naturally on the map nor appear in Black Barya region, and Shrine Belt series items associated with it will become invalid.
Furthermore, full Mirage maps with the affix Empowered Mirage covering the entire map will no longer be usable in Standard leagues, and new leagues will no longer be able to acquire them.
The only unaddressed aspect is whether Mirage-related PoE currencies (such as Volatile Valor Orb, Refracting Fog, etc.) will be retained in the core gameplay of PoE 3.29. This was not mentioned at all in the announcement, leaving considerable uncertainty.
How has Mirage mechanic performed previously?
Many players and analysts believe that Mirage mechanics are the most playable since Affliction league, and may even surpass the appeal of Necropolis league - the latter, while entertaining, offered a somewhat poor experience in-game.
The core breakthrough of Mirage mechanic lies in solving a long-standing problem plaguing Path of Exile: the low reward of in-game mechanics.
Looking back at leagues before PoE 3.29, features like Keepers of the Flame and Breach in Kalandra offered extremely low rewards for in-game interaction, leading players to almost never engage with them.
The same applied to Necropolis league; once the ideal Necropolis setup was achieved, players stopped paying attention to the map's mechanics.
In contrast, Mirage is the first league mechanic in nearly three years that allows players to actively and frequently interact within the map and reap reasonable rewards.
It would have been truly regrettable for players to completely remove it in Patch 3.29, rather than adjust or weaken it.
Impact on Farming Diversity
Previously, the random affixes Mirage introduced to each map (such as 100% more currency) were a significant source of surprise in endgame farming.
However, once Patch 3.29 decides to remove any form of this random dynamic, map spawns will revert to a completely predictable, static pattern.
Simultaneously, the third map affix system created by Mirage may be completely removed in Patch 3.29, forcing players to choose only traditional eight-affix maps or regular maps, significantly reducing the diversity of endgame farming paths.
It is estimated that more than half of the current farming strategies relying on Mirage will lose their support, undoubtedly the most significant overhaul of the endgame content ecosystem by this patch.
Impact on the Economy
One of Mirage's most prominent contributions is extending the economic lifecycle of several existing league mechanisms.
Take Beyond as an example. Normally, its exclusive PoE currency depreciates rapidly as the game progresses. However, Mirage, by introducing Volatile Valor Orb - which only drops in Marauder area when combined with Beyond monsters - has kept Beyond's economy consistently strong throughout the game.
Furthermore, currencies like Dexterous Catalyst and Refracting Fog provide richer dimensions for endgame progression. They not only make extreme gear upgrades possible but also spawn many new builds that rely on these numerical breakthroughs.
PoE 3.29 hasn't clarified whether these currencies will be retained. If they disappear, gameplay elements like Beyond will quickly depreciate in the new patch, losing their previous value.
This could potentially create a chain reaction, indirectly weakening the long-term playability of existing content in the game.
Mirage May Create Mandatory Issues
If Mirage mechanic were to be fully integrated into the core game, it could indeed create a mandatory pressure on players to invest in Atlas Skill Tree to specialize in it. This might be one of the reasons the development team chose not to include it in the core of Patch 3.29.
However, the new patch didn't attempt any compromises, such as giving it a fixed random trigger probability like Affliction League, or retaining the mechanic by linking it to Scarab, allowing players to actively choose whether to invest in it based on their strategy.
The announcements released did not mention any alternatives to Mirage. If they weren't mentioned in the livestream on the 16th either, doesn't the official decision seem too absolute?
Overall Impact and Future Outlook
In summary, Mirage not only creates a new endgame farming path for players and introduces a brand-new PoE currency system, but also provides random surprises within the map.
This comprehensive benefit is quite rare in the entire Path of Exile historical league.
However, as of now, the official team has neither given any hints about whether it will return in the future, nor provided any supplementary explanations regarding the retention or removal of related currencies. The overall situation seems quite serious. For players, retaining some elements of Mirage through random triggering is certainly better than completely removing it from the game.
The final full changes for PoE 3.29 will be revealed in this Thursday's live stream, where we can see if the development team has prepared any alternative designs.
If they neither retain any core elements of Mirage mechanics nor provide a transitional solution, then this will be one of the most significant changes to Patch 3.29 endgame experience.
Among all ARPGs centered around gear progression, Path of Exile 2's crafting system undoubtedly stands at the top. Especially after Patch 0.5, as the game content expanded and gear acquisition, economic cycles, and endgame gameplay deepened, the importance of the crafting system became even more apparent.
It's complex and profound, offering players a great deal of freedom, thus becoming the ultimate gameplay experience for many.
Ironically, while this system brings high returns and long-term pursuit, it has also gradually become the most exhausting aspect for players. With the increased demand for endgame gear in Patch 0.5, post-game crafting no longer feels like creating gear, but like a high-cost gamble.
When players finally craft a perfect piece of gear, they often feel not the sense of accomplishment from "mastering the skill," but the relief of "finally not having to keep failing." This is perhaps the biggest contradiction of PoE 2 crafting system.
The Problems of High Profits
Why is the crafting system so profitable? The answer is simple: because it's scarce.
In an economic system, an activity with an extremely high profit margin often means that it has a high barrier to entry. Path of Exile 2's crafting system perfectly exemplifies this.
First, it demands a vast amount of knowledge from players.
For an average player to craft a high-end gear, they need to understand affix levels, base material selection, prefix and suffix mechanisms, probability calculations, locking mechanics, interactions between different currencies, and various hidden rules.
Within patch cycles like Patch 0.5, as players explore new gear combinations and crafting paths, the importance of this knowledge increases further. However, the problem is that much of this crucial information remains on third-party websites, in databases, and within player communities, rather than within the game itself.
The crafting system isn't about players learning the game through the game, but players leaving the game to learn how to play the game.
Second, it requires players to possess substantial resources.
Crafting is not a one-shot process. Because of randomness, even so-called "deterministic crafting" often requires repeated attempts.
A high-end gear might require dozens or even hundreds of attempts, and a single failure could mean the loss of hundreds of PoE 2 Divine Orbs or even more currency.
This leads to an awkward situation:
The players who most need to craft and upgrade their gear are often the least able to afford crafting failures.
Ordinary players need to craft to improve their characters, but crafting resources are only consistently available to those who already have powerful characters. Ultimately, crafting has gradually transformed from a progression path into a final stage of gameplay.
Why does Crafting Feel More Like Gambling than a Game?
The biggest problem with crafting in Path of Exile 2 isn't randomness, but the experience resulting from the combination of randomness and cost.
Randomness itself isn't terrible; many excellent games have random mechanics. Loot boxes, drops, and upgrades can all provide excitement. But these systems usually share a common feature: the cost of failure is low, or players can continuously receive feedback.
Crafting in Path of Exile 2 is the opposite.
Especially after Patch 0.5, as players' demand for higher-quality gear increased, the contradiction between crafting investment and the risk of failure became even more pronounced.
Players might spend dozens of hours preparing materials, only to have them all wiped out in seconds by a single random failure. This doesn't generate the thrill of success; it feels more like gambling.
This is why some players feel that crafting lacks a sense of accomplishment.
A truly satisfying crafting system should reward players' understanding, planning, and decision-making, not just good luck.
If one player and another use the exact same methods, the only difference being one is lucky and the other unlucky, then the system is closer to a game of probability than a creation system.
Should the Crafting System Lower its Barrier to Entry?
Of course, the issue isn't simply demanding that the developers make it easy for all players to craft top-tier gear. One of the greatest charms of PoE series is its extremely high skill ceiling.
If all PoE 2 players could easily obtain their best gear, the economic system would collapse, and the goal of achievement would disappear.
Therefore, the focus of the debate isn't: should ordinary players own top-tier gear?
The real question is: should ordinary players can participate in crafting?
These are two completely different questions.
The current problem is that the production ecosystem in Patch 0.5 environment still has a significant gap:
- It's either simple, low-cost, low-value productions;
- or ultimate productions with huge investments and aimed at top-tier players.
There's a lack of a reasonable progression path in between. Therefore, many PoE 2 players find themselves with few options besides acquiring gear. While the crafting system exists, it remains far removed from the average player's progression.
What the Crafting System Needs?
Path of Exile 2's crafting system wasn't a failed design.
On the contrary, it offered a depth that many other ARPGs couldn't provide. It allowed players to research, calculate, plan, and create long-term goals.
Patch 0.5 didn't change the core appeal of the crafting system, but it further exposed a problem: as the system's depth increases, the barrier to entry needs to be considered accordingly.
Top-tier crafting should belong to a minority of players, but basic crafting, experimental crafting, and progression crafting shouldn't be exclusive to wealthy players.
A good crafting system shouldn't make players feel relieved to have escaped unscathed, but give them satisfaction from their own judgment and creation.
What Path of Exile 2 truly needs to find isn't enabling everyone to craft god-tier gear, but striking a balance between depth and replayability.
In Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0, running a farm that continuously produces currency has become almost mandatory for everyone who reaches the endgame stage. However, for characters who hadn't yet entered the late-game endgame activities, the preparation for running a farm was quite tedious.
However, within the 0.5 endgame content, you do not actually need a farm to obtain currency. You can progress through the quest line at your own pace, and you will still accumulate a substantial amount of currency, laying a solid foundation for the later endgame phases.
Atlas Unlock Path
When you first enter the endgame and open Atlas tree, you will notice that most areas are locked. In the initial stage, seven nodes on the tree are blocked, allowing you to allocate points only within a small section at the bottom.
Your primary objective is to unlock the first restricted region by heading to Fortress, where every map completed within that area rewards an Atlas passive point. To get there, you need to reach either Western Gateway or Eastern Gateway; completing either one of these passages will unlock three blocked nodes and grant you access to the central zone.
Enigma Chambers
Once the passage is unlocked, you can proceed to Enigma Chambers, which exist on both the west and east sides and require Waystones of Tier 10 or higher. Completing the chamber challenges yields fragments that can be used to challenge Arbiter of Ash.
Defeating Arbiter of Ash will unlock Origin Tower area in the upper centre of the tree and further open up Patriarch Halls and Matriarch Halls, both of which require Tier 15 or higher Waystones. After you defeat Arbiter of Divinity, the final zone at the very top of the tree becomes available.
Atlas Passive Allocation Path
Bottom Section
When you start from the bottom section of the tree, your priority should be to allocate points toward the left side, picking up Pack Size and Magic Monster nodes along the way to gain more experience and more drops.
On that leftward route, there is a node called Eons of Contamination, which allows you to find Irradiated Precursor Tablets. These tablets help you acquire more Waystones and additional Tablets, making them crucial for sustaining your mapping efforts.
From there, you can choose to move toward the middle of the tree and continue allocating points into Specialized Seeker, Archaeological Interest, and Valuable Paths to maintain your Waystone supply.
The Journey Ahead node offers a three-choice bonus among monster pack size, effect, or rarity. Monster Effectiveness option is recommended, since it boosts both experience gain and item quantity, though it also raises monster difficulty—so you should gauge your own capability accordingly.
Upper Section
After moving into the upper part of the tree, your targets are the following three nodes:
- Reverse Transcription: allows you to upgrade Tablets so that they have three affixes.
- Forest Mastery: increases the chance to discover Lineage Supports in forest areas.
- Hidden Scars: provides a chance for Fracturing Orbs to drop; without this node, they will not drop at all.
Other nodes can be chosen to further increase monster packs or currency drops.
Endgame Mechanic Priorities
After completing the bottom portion of the main Atlas tree, your next priority is to unlock one endgame mechanic. For league-starting characters or more casual players, the relative value of different mechanics varies considerably.
Abyss and Breach are the two most recommended mechanics. They integrate seamlessly with your world map exploration, adding high-reward content to the maps you are already running; both offer excellent profitability and are relatively forgiving in terms of difficulty.
Delirium, on the other hand, is extremely challenging, while Ritual mechanic has its best Omens locked behind maps of level 79 and above, offering little benefit to early-stage players.
Temple mechanic forces you to leave your current map and spend a significant amount of time inside the temple itself, which slows down your overall world map progression.
Once you choose a mechanic, it is best to fully fill out its passive tree first. Then, while you are farming maps, use the corresponding tablets so that every map includes that mechanic's content and benefits from the entire tree's bonuses.
Masters of the Atlas
Masters of the Atlas system is a special enhancement within the endgame Atlas framework. You have three masters to choose from, each offering twelve node options where you can allocate the points you earn to reinforce your preferred mapping style.
The most recommended master is Jado, currently the most well-rounded and versatile choice. You gain one passive point for each objective you complete. His key nodes include:
- Partial Translations: enhances tablet effects.
- Long Days: grants a chance to gain random extra content, which helps you obtain tablets for other mechanics.
- Unforeseen Treats: provides a chance to reveal nearby anomalous maps, aiding in the hunt for high-value Lineage Supports Gems.
- Keen Appraisal: gives you 50% more chance to find rare items, occasionally yielding drops of considerable worth.
Jado's quest line requires you to kill death bosses within anomalous maps; these bosses have a chance to drop Lineage Support Gems. With a bit of luck, a single gem can already give you enough PoE2 currency to significantly upgrade your character.
Once you have Jado's tree and your chosen mechanic tree fully completed, you will usually be strong enough to challenge Arbiter of Ash. Defeating Arbiter unlocks a large section of the northern Atlas tree, granting access to many powerful nodes.
Leaving Fortress
If you decide to leave the Fortress and explore the outside world, your primary goal should be to complete a Corrupted Nexus, which will start Doryani's quest line.
While exploring the world map, it is advisable to push forward in a straight line from your starting point outward, rather than circling around Fortress. Moving in a straight line will expose you to more content, thereby unlocking a greater number of high-value encounters.
The above guidance is intended only for casual players. If you prefer not to manage a highly profitable but repetitive farm, following this approach will still ensure that each play session yields meaningful rewards.
