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One of the biggest controversies surrounding PoE 2 has always been its defense system. When the early access version was released at the end of 2024, the defense system was truly terrible.

In subsequent patches, GGG has been gradually addressing the issues with character defense, such as fine-tuning the armor formula and adding many affixes to make armor effective against elemental damage. Now, Patch 0.5.0 introduces Runic Ward and improvements to the deflection mechanic.

This article will provide an analysis of the defense mechanics in PoE 2 patch 0.5.0 to help you better understand the game.

Defense Mechanism Changes

Runic Ward

Runic Ward is a new addition in patch 0.5.0. It needs to be unlocked through the new Verisium Runeforging system. Once unlocked, it generates an additional health pool that only activates when the player's health drops to 1.

In Path of Exile 2, Runic Ward was designed as the player's last line of defense, a second chance independent of automatic health regeneration, allowing players to withstand burst damage that would otherwise be fatal.

However, this powerful ability comes at a significant cost, especially in the late game. For armor below level 55, you can add Runic Ward without any negative effects, a major advantage for leveling and early map clearing.

But for higher-level armor, adding Runic Shield through Runeforging means sacrificing some base defense. This presents a crucial choice: do you choose higher traditional health and damage reduction, or invest in the safety net of Runic Shield? This requires players to make their own trade-offs.

Armour, Evasion, and Energy Shield

In addition to the newly added Runic Ward, the three basic defensive attributes - Armour, Evasion, and Energy Shield - have all undergone significant adjustments in Path of Exile 2 0.5.0.

The base stats for Armour and Evasion have been significantly improved, with gear and affixes providing approximately 33% additional stats in the early game of PoE 2, and an additional 15% at level 80 and above. These attributes are particularly important, especially in campaign mode, where every bit of damage reduction is crucial.

However, Energy Shield has been nerfed in several ways to reduce its overpowered status. Passive tree nodes focused on Energy Shield regeneration have been less effective, and Intelligence-based armor bases can no longer generate affixes related to Energy Shield regeneration.

This is clearly intended to curb the previously overpowered Immortal builds, which relied on instant or rapid Energy Shield regeneration. Furthermore, the synergy between Evasion and Energy Shield has been weakened, changing Ghost Dance skill's regeneration mechanism from an immediate 5% Evasion recovery upon being attacked to a continuous Energy Shield regeneration (2% Evasion per second).

Deflection Formula Improvements

The formula for calculating deflection chance has been updated in PoE 2 patch 0.5.0. Under the new formula, reaching the 95% deflection cap now requires approximately 28,800 deflection points, a significantly lower investment than before. If a blind effect is applied (reducing hit chance by 20%), the threshold drops to approximately 23,050 points.

Deflection points now depend directly on your dodge rating, with a base conversion rate of 17%, meaning even lower dodge ratings can result in substantial deflection.

Leech and Skill Level Adjustments

The systematic nerfs to Leech and skill level further exacerbate the survival challenges for PoE 2 players. A damage cap on Leech has been set, rendering the previous strategy of instantly restoring all health with high damage ineffective.

Furthermore, all methods of instant life leech have been removed from the game. These changes force players to rely more on passive regeneration, runic barriers, and multiple layers of defense, rather than aggressive healing methods.

Countermeasures

In response to these changes in Path of Exile 2 Return of the Ancients, defensive build strategies also need to shift to compensate for these new weaknesses.

Popular Skeletal Sniper Lich and Minion Army Infernalist builds now need to abandon their previous patterns. You can build multi-layered defenses through stacked energy shields, parry chance, and damage reduction from summons like Infernal Hound.

Similarly, the high-evasion Ice Shot Deadeye build can fully utilize the new deflection mechanic, which is directly linked to evasion value, significantly reducing damage taken.

However, the real winner in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.5.0 might be Evasion and Deflection combination. Because Deflection value is directly dependent on your evasion value, it gives you the opportunity to mitigate most damage from piercing evasion.

This creates a double-layered defense that balances evasion and damage reduction. Key unique items like Hyrri's Ire Armoured Vest (doubles your dodge if you haven't been attacked recently) and Atziri's Step Cinched Boots(significantly increases glancing blows) have become highly sought after.

Furthermore, keeping enemies blinded is crucial, as it significantly enhances the effectiveness of two layers of defense.

Player Feedback

These changes in PoE 2 Return of the Ancients to defense mechanics have raised concerns among some players, who feel that armor and dodge are performing poorly or are useless in high-level content, and that the armor boost is negligible compared to the high damage that can actually kill a player.

In addition, some players believe that Path of Exile 2 forces players to adopt a few specific, highly focused defensive playstyles to survive in the late game, offering little variety in gameplay.

Future Developments

It's well known that GGG has consistently worked on balancing PoE 2, releasing numerous patches throughout the game, one of the main goals of which is balance adjustments, including those related to defense mechanics. Before patch 1.0, we'll see what balance adjustments we'll see, which is something to watch closely. Let's look forward to it!

This concludes our analysis of the defense mechanics in Path of Exile 2 Return of the Ancients. The current game environment favors multi-layered defense strategies, combining various defensive methods rather than relying on a single approach.

As more and more players discover the hidden quest Runeseeker's Call in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0 and strive to obtain it, the demand for this magical Runic Fork has become increasingly significant. Because this magical Runic Fork applies powerful effects to specific equipment, making it a great aid in advancing through PoE 2 endgame.

Obtaining Runeseeker's Call by completing the questline isn't difficult. Let's take a look at the acquisition process and the benefits we can gain from it.

Quest Triggering Conditions

First, it's important to know that you can only obtain Runeseeker's Call after activating the questline related to it: Runeseeker's Pursuit. This quest requires specific conditions to trigger.

To unlock this hidden questline, players must first obtain a unique quest item called Depleted Mana Rune.

There are currently two known ways to obtain this rune: First, it has a chance to randomly drop from several treasure chests scattered throughout the event map during Grand Expeditions; second, it can be picked up as loot after defeating the boss Uhtred, the Stardrinker.

It's worth noting that Path of Exile 2 itself doesn't actively reveal the purpose of Depleted Mana Rune or provide clues about subsequent quests. Therefore, many players are often unaware of its function when they first obtain it, further highlighting the hidden nature of Runeseeker's Call questline.

Strategy for Achieving 10,000 Mana

Next, we need to consume Mana to infuse Depleted Mana Rune, which is the key challenge in continuing the quest. It requires you to have or temporarily reach at least 10,000 Mana, which is almost impossible to achieve with standard gear. Therefore, a specific mechanism must be used to achieve Mana overflow effect.

Based on Energy Shield to Mana Conversion

First, we can use Passive Skill Tree to select a key node that converts 100% of maximum Energy Shield into maximum Mana. This allows all Energy Shield from sources like Intelligence, equipment base, and skill bonuses to be converted into additional Mana, achieving our goal.

Simultaneously, Intelligence itself provides Energy Shield proportionally, so prioritizing stacking Intelligence is also a good way to indirectly increase Mana.

Jewels and Key Nodes

Another indispensable component for achieving Mana overflow is a Timeless Jewel called Undying Hate, and its affix must include Kurgal, as only this configuration grants the character the special ability to overflow Mana.

This means that by casting any skill, the current Mana instantly exceeds the displayed limit, jumping from six or seven thousand Mana to over ten thousand.

In the layout of Passive Skill Tree, in addition to selecting conversion nodes, we should also invest as many ordinary nodes as possible that increase Intelligence and maximum Energy Shield.

Simultaneously, be sure to select Gem Enthusiast, as it provides an additional percentage bonus to maximum Mana based on the number of blue support gems you have socketed, which is crucial for reaching your final Mana target.

Rune Conversion and Quest Completion

Infuse Rune

Once you successfully increase your current Mana to over 10,000 using the above mechanism in PoE 2, you need to immediately open your inventory and right-click Depleted Mana Rune.

The system will then detect that your Mana has reached the target and automatically convert the rune into an Infused Mana Rune, successfully completing your infuse phase.

Note that Mana overflow state has a time limit, so be sure to perform the right-click operation while your Mana value is still above 10,000; otherwise, infuse will fail.

Quest Completion

After obtaining Infused Mana Rune, players need to take it to Kingsmarch in Act 4, find the NPC Farrow, and speak with him to deliver the rune.

Once delivery is complete, your mission is finished, and you'll successfully obtain Runeseeker's Call Runic Fork from Farrow.

It's important to note that each character can only complete Runeseeker's Pursuit once in PoE 2. Therefore, if you want to obtain Runeseeker's Call multiple times, you'll need to consider player-to-player trading.

Alternatively, you can directly buy PoE 2 Runeseeker's Call from POECURRENCY.com, as this eliminates the need to complete Runeseeker's Pursuit.

Characteristics of Runeseeker's Call

This Runic Fork itself doesn't provide any conventional attributes like base attack damage, cast speed, or critical strike chance. Its core value lies in its five rune slots and a powerful modifier that increases the effects of all runes within a slot by 200%, making it a highly explosive option in late-game rune builds in Path of Exile 2.

In addition, you'll gain the exclusive active skill, The Stars Answer. However, it requires your character to have at least 10,000 Mana to cast, but once activated, it will continuously and automatically summon a meteor shower, helping you deal ideal damage to surrounding enemies.

Furthermore, this effect is permanent once Mana requirement is met, requiring no repeated casting, essentially providing a constant high-damage output method in PoE 2.

Three Upgrade Effects

To further enhance it, you can forge Runeseeker's Call with Verisium, allowing you to choose one of three unique effects to add.

First, it increases shield value by 300, improving your character's survivability. Second, it grants spells a up to 50% chance to fire two additional projectiles, increasing area coverage. Third, it increases Mana regeneration rate by up to 50%, maintaining the rotation of mana-intensive skills.

These three upgrades are mutually exclusive, so you should carefully consider your actual build needs when making your choices.

This concludes the complete process and strategy for obtaining and upgrading Runeseeker's Call. Good luck with PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0!

Regardless of which farming strategy you choose in Path of Exile Patch 0.5.0, Waystones are almost always essential. They open up maps and also influence the rarity of monsters within those maps.

You can add more value to your Waystones, whether you plan to use them yourself or trade them to other players, which will bring you greater returns. Below, let us take a closer look at the specific methods for crafting them.

Waystone Value

Before you start adding modifiers to your map stones, you first need to understand what a Waystone can do. In brief, a Waystone opens a corresponding Atlas map, allowing you to enter an independent high-level monster farming zone. Each Waystone can only be used once, so you can think of it as a map in the traditional sense.

Revives

When you place a Waystone into the map device, it shows the number of revives available to you - that is, the number of retries allowed after a failure. This count is directly determined by the number of modifiers on the map stone:

• Normal Waystone: no modifiers, grants 5 revive attempts.
• Magic Waystone: has 2 modifiers, grants 4 revive attempts.
• Rare 4-modifier Waystone: grants 2 revive attempts.
• Rare 6-modifier Waystone: grants 0 revive attempts.

This means that once you die in a high-difficulty map stone, Waystone and everything inside it will be lost completely. Therefore, before chasing high returns, you must evaluate whether your character build is strong enough.

How to Add Modifiers to a Waystone?

Depending on your current stage of progression, you can gradually add modifiers according to your character's strength. At the beginning, you may aim for cost-effectiveness, and later on, you can pursue higher modifier rarity.

Alchemy and Go

This is the most basic and most cost-effective starting strategy, well suited for the resource-scarce early phase. You simply use an Orb of Alchemy on a normal or magic Waystone. It upgrades the map to rare and gives it 4 random modifiers.

With just one currency item, you complete the basic enhancement of your map stone, allowing you to quickly get into the mapping rhythm and start accumulating early gear and currency.

Corrupting Waystones

Once you have a certain amount of PoE2 currency, you can try to push the number of modifiers on your map stone to the limit.

First, use an Orb of Alchemy to ensure the map stone becomes a rare map with 4 modifiers.

Next, use 2 Exalted Orbs to bring the total number of modifiers to 6, reaching the cap for a rare map stone.

Finally, use a Vaal Orb to corrupt the map stone. The outcome of corruption is highly uncertain and may include:

• Modifiers remain unchanged, and the map tier stays the same.
• The map tier is upgraded to Tier 16.
• The map tier stays the same, but the number of modifiers becomes 8.
• Modifiers are rerolled, or even the map tier is lowered.

Monster Rarity

The modifiers resulting from the two operations above are all random. If you want to make your maps much juicier, you will need to invest some currency into targeted crafting of modifiers. You will need the following currency items:

• Chaos Orb
• Omen of Chaotic Rarity
• Omen of Chaotic Quantity
• Omen of Chaotic Effectiveness

You need to prepare a rare Tier 15 map stone with 5 modifiers, and then activate all three aforementioned Omens simultaneously in your inventory. Their effect is that when you use a Chaos Orb, it forcibly rerolls all modifiers on Waystone, but the newly generated modifiers will not include the three categories of item rarity, monster pack size, and monster effectiveness.

Since Waystone has 5 modifier slots and the system excludes those three major categories, the remaining high-value modifiers - such as monster rarity - will appear with a higher probability. Through this method, you can consistently craft high-quality Waystones that feature monster rarity and Waystone drop modifiers.

Atlas Passive Tree and Tablets

Enhancing only Waystone itself is not enough. To make your maps truly juicy, you must combine passive tree allocations with the use of Tablets. On your passive tree, there are several core nodes worth prioritising:

• Industrial Improvements: City maps can accommodate one additional Tablet.
• Partial Translation: Tablets can be upgraded to rare quality and gain +1 maximum modifier count.

Tablets can be used to add bonuses to an entire region. Different Tablets correspond to different endgame mechanics, such as Ritual, Delirium, Breach, Expedition, and so on.

The map device typically has multiple slots. To unlock more slots, you need to insert a higher-quality Waystone:

• Magic map stone: unlocks 1 Tablet slot.
• Rare map stone: unlocks 2 Tablet slots.
• 6-modifier map stone: unlocks all 3 Tablet slots.

Combined with Industrial Improvements node, you can fill your city maps with high-value Tablets to obtain exceptionally high returns.

Endgame Strategies

Finally, you can choose a specialisation based on your preferences. From my experience, the following two strategies stand out in terms of profitability.

Abyss

If you see the modifier indicating that the map is occupied by Abyss on your Waystone, be sure to select nodes that increase Abyss monster effectiveness. Abyss mechanic yields a large number of high-value items such as Omen of Abyssal Echoes, which are very lucrative.

Delirium

Prioritise nodes that allow Simulacrum Splinters to drop from maps above level 75. Every 300 Splinters can be combined into a Simulacrum, which holds considerable value in the current trading market. This means that each map you run passively accumulates wealth for you.

Waystones are merely the foundation of every farming strategy, yet precisely for that reason, many players overlook them. You may choose to use Waystones you craft yourself, or you may consider selling the crafted Waystones to others - either way, they can bring you quite decent returns.