Path of Exile News

As you know from our Echoes of the Atlas announcement, in this expansion we have rebalanced all Ascendancy classes. Three of them (Inquisitor, Deadeye and Elementalist) have been reworked while the remaining classes received some numerical changes. To help you plan your builds for the launch, we've compiled all of the changes to Ascendancy classes in this news post.

Click here to check it out!

As with every new League and expansion release, we're making a variety of balance changes to broaden the number of builds that are competitive in the end-game while lowering the power of specific mechanics that outclass the rest. We've outlined the most important changes below, and discussed our reasoning and methodology. Specific values will be available to read tomorrow in the patch notes.



[h3]Ascendancies[/h3]
In addition to reworking the Elementalist, Inquisitor and Deadeye, we’ve made several changes to every Ascendancy class. Rather than going over every single change, here are the general philosophies behind the changes:

• Improve interesting stats on Ascendancies, while removing less-interesting or less-essential secondary stats. This brings these ascendancies closer to the style and design intent of Path of Exile 2's ascendancies, where notable passives have fewer stats, but are individually more impactful and interesting. For example, Quartz Infusion on the Raider now grants Phasing at all times, and a 15% chance to dodge attack and spell hits. Previously it granted a variety of ways to gain Phasing, a damage increase and a smaller attack dodge value.
  
• Rebalance the power of notables within ascendancies. We want the choice between notables to be more flexible, with power moved away from generic bonuses. For example, Master of Metal has had one additional impale hit and its chance to impale removed as the passive granted too much power, while Inspirational now gives a higher value of Aura Effect in place of its movement speed bonus to focus more power on its aura investment.
  
• Rebalance the power between ascendancies to encourage players to re-examine optimal strategies. For example, the Trickster’s Escape Artist node provided too large a concentration of offensive and defensive power for hybrid Evasion and Energy Shield characters so the chance to Dodge Spell Hits if you have Energy Shield has been removed, while the Attack and Cast Speed per Ghost Shroud has been slightly lowered. The Slayer’s Masterful Form node was seldom taken and wasn’t providing enough power as it should, even for Frenzy Charge invested characters, so now grants +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges instead of charge duration modifiers.
  
• Reallocate stats between Ascendancy passives and change the layout or bonuses of the Ascendancy where it would make the Ascendancy more attractive to a wider range of character builds. For example, the Chaos/Cold Damage over Time Multiplier on Occultist’s Withering Presence and Frigid Wake instead grants more Chaos/Cold Damage instead, making these nodes useful for Hit based Chaos and Cold builds, while leaving the nodes similarly powerful for Chaos and Cold Damage over Time builds.
  

[h3]Aura Stackers[/h3]
As new mechanics have been introduced and players have optimised builds, characters using multiple auras have grown significantly in power, both offensively and defensively. These builds moved above our acceptable top end level of power. The addition of Alternate Quality effects on Aura Gems which added extra effects to your auras were a large contribution to this. We have made a few radical changes here:

• Aura alternate qualities that granted you and nearby allies extra effects have all had significant value reductions. We believe in the general case, especially when playing solo, these will still be desirable given the regular quality effects on aura gems provide very little in most scenarios. This is something that will be revisited if the standard quality bonus granted by all auras is changed in future.
  
• Small Passive Skills on Cluster Jewels that granted increased effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills and increased effect of your Curses now grant 3% (from 6% and 5% respectively). These desirable stats were scarce on the regular passive tree, often requiring large investment to reach each cluster, but they became very accessible once cluster jewels were introduced. After this change, using multiple Aura Cluster Jewels together should be less efficient relative to the regular passive tree.
  
• We have also adjusted the Cluster Jewel notable passives Stalwart Commander and First Among Equals as they also were providing too much accessible aura effect.
  

[h3]Impale Mechanics[/h3]
By using the Impaler Keystone in combination with the Call of Steel skill, Warcry-based characters could deal unreasonably large amounts of damage with a single hit followed up with Call of Steel. The Impaler Keystone now prevents Call of Steel from removing Impales from enemies for 4 seconds after you Impale them, similar to how it prevents the enemies being impaled again. This allows builds to retain some interesting interactions but prevents all damage being completely frontloaded before a boss has a chance to act.

For all builds utilising Call of Steel, the Lord of Steel unique jewels provided too large a damage bonus from a single item. The Lord of Steel jewels that granted increased Reflected Damage now grant 20-25% increased Reflected Damage (from 40-50%). To allow players to invest in Call of Steel without requiring a specific unique jewel, the Swift Skewering passive tree cluster has been adapted to accommodate a new notable passive, Blade Sovereign. This half of the cluster allows players to invest in Call of Steel maximum shards, use speed, damage and area of effect.

[h3]Minions[/h3]
Raised Spectres and Golem minion builds usually outclass other minion alternatives and are one of the most optimal mid-investment builds, so we've made some significant reductions to their power.

Raised Spectres will now be monster level 72 at gem level 20 (from 76), have lowered Accuracy (to roughly match Raised Zombies at the same monster levels) and slightly slower monster level scaling past gem level 20. In addition we have made minor changes to the They of Tul spectres, which no longer grant reduced damage taken to allies and grant slightly less chance to dodge attacks and spells for their Snow Cloak skill as this ability was providing more defensive power than some of the most effective player defense skills. The knife-throw skill used by Syndicate Operatives is no longer considered a spell, as this created unintended uses by combining both Attack and Spell supports while ignoring their penalties.

Carrion Golems and Stone Golems have had their damage reduced at all levels, with Carrion Golems getting the more severe reduction as their power exceeded that of other golem types. Elementalist’s Golem Passives in general provide fewer offensive bonuses to Golems, in part because the rest of the Elementalist now provides effects that can increase damage taken by enemies.

The Minion-related Cluster Jewel notables, Rotten Claws and Renewal, have had value reductions as they provided effective damage multipliers at high values.

We've made buffs to the damage of Skeleton Mages, the speed of Unearth and the Offering Effect of the Leash of Oblation unique belt as they were not as powerful as other alternatives.

[h3]Improving Underused Skills[/h3]
While lowering the power of specific abilities, we've also improved the power of others that haven't seen the limelight recently to bring them up to a more competitive level. We have buffed more than 40 underrepresented skills. Note that if a particularly unloved skill has not been touched, that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about it! Rather that we believe that numerical tweaks alone won't be sufficient to provide the experience the skill could offer, and we're intending mechanical changes to the skill some time in the future.

Patch Note Teasers:

• Scorching Ray now has a base cast time of 0.25s (from 0.5s)
  
• Scorching Ray now has a mana cost of 2-5 (from 4-11). This makes this skill ramp up damage on tougher enemies much faster, and reaching the state where it applies Fire Exposure faster.
  
• Cobra Lash Projectiles now deal 5% more damage for each remaining Chain.
  
• Cobra Lash now converts 60% of physical damage to chaos damage (from 50%). This damage multiplier per remaining Chain has been added as there is no longer a stat of this kind on the Deadeye ascendancy, and the mechanic is an interesting way to improve Cobra Lash. The skill's conversion has been increased to make it easier to fully convert the skill's damage to Chaos.
  
• Frost Bomb now has an added damage effectiveness of 300% (from 200%).
  
• Frost Bomb now deals 14 to 21 cold damage at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 1336 to 2003 at gem level 20 (from 959 to 1439).
  
• Frost Bomb now gains additional radius as the gem levels, up to +7 at gem level 20. This change enables the skill as a powerful nuke ability when fully supported.
  

[h3]Other Skill Changes[/h3]
Earthshatter now has slightly more variance on the distance spikes appear from the initial slam location and the explosion radius for spikes has been slightly lowered. The intent of these changes is to reduce the spike explosion overlap, particularly on large single targets.

Contagion has had a small reduction to the skill’s radius. In combination with Essence Drain, it has consistently been one of the most efficient skills to clear packs of monsters.

[h2]Other Changes[/h2]
We've made a variety of small changes to be aware of, often as solutions to specific balance concerns or as a result of Ascendancy changes.

[h3]Flask Charge on Critical Strike cooldown[/h3]
The internal cooldown of effects that grant Flask charges on critical strike has been lowered from 0.2 seconds to 0.1 seconds, making them a more consistent and effective way to generate flask charges. This change was made as part of improvements to the Master Surgeon notable on the Pathfinder, but will affect all modifiers that grant flask charges on critical hits, like the "Surgeon's" flask modifier.

[h3]Unique Items[/h3]

• Replica Nebulis provided too much potential damage for a single item, particularly for builds that didn’t care much about survivability. Now has 15 to 20% increased Cold Damage (from 3 to 5%) per 1% Missing Cold Resistance, up to a maximum of 300% and 15 to 20% increased Fire Damage (from 3 to 5%) per 1% Missing Fire Resistance, up to a maximum of 300%. Note this cap also applies while dual-wielding
  
• Replica Alberon’s Warpath now grants 1 to 80 Chaos Damage per 80 Strength (previously per 50 Strength) as it was providing too much global added damage compared to other attribute stacking items that weren’t weapons.
  
• Martyr of Innocence and Disintegrator no longer grant added damage with spells. Now grant the new Battlemage keyword instead, which grants added Spell Damage equal to the Damage of your Main Hand Weapon. These have been changed because of how powerful their damage would be if the player had Battlemage from the Inquisitor’s reworked Instruments of Virtue node.
  

[h3]Alternate Quality changes[/h3]
A small number of Alternate Quality effects have been changed due to specific problematic interactions or because they provided too much power.

• Anomalous Arctic Armour No longer triggers when-hit effects from reflected damage. This is to prevent a case where the Anomalous Arctic Armour alternative quality and the Hiltless unique sword could permanently freeze most monsters in the game.
  
• Divergent Plague Bearer no longer grants reduced chaos damage taken while Incubating. It proved too significant a defensive bonus, particularly for builds utilising the Divine Flesh Keystone, especially when combined with quality enhancing effects. It now causes the Plague Bearer buff to have +0.5% to Poison Damage over Time multiplier while Infecting per 1% gem quality.
  
• Anomalous Kinetic Bolt, Anomalous Plague Bearer and Anomalous Scourge Arrow have been lowered in power to be more in line with the power of their other quality effects.
  

[h3]Far Shot[/h3]
As part of changes to the Deadeye ascendancy, Far Shot has been changed. It now causes your projectiles to deal 20% less damage at very close range (previously no penalty), up to 60% more damage at a range of 70 or greater (previously 30% more damage as soon as the projectile reached this range, with no upwards scaling). This affects all items that grant Far Shot, as well as the Deadeye Ascendancy. This makes the choice in playstyle between Point Blank and Far Shot a more interesting decision.

[h3]Tailwind[/h3]
As part of changes to the Deadeye ascendancy, The Tailwind buff now grants 8% increased Action Speed (from 10%). The intent is to slightly lower the power of the influence modifier, while keeping it similarly powerful on the Deadeye.

[h3]Elemental Aegis effects[/h3]
To improve the general strength of Aegis effects as part of adding Primal Aegis to the Elementalist, all Aegis skills such as the one granted by Magna Eclipsis no longer have their recharge timer interrupted by damage if the buff is depleted. This makes the Aegis skills a much more reliable defensive mechanic when regularly taking damage.

Full details and numerical values of all of the above changes and more will be available in the patch notes tomorrow!

The Echoes of the Atlas expansion introduces Passive Skill Trees for each Atlas region. Unlock them by fighting bosses in The Proving Ground in order to augment the content you encounter and rewards you receive while exploring your Atlas. In this news post we've gathered Atlas Passive Trees for your reference.

We recently announced the Echoes of the Atlas expansion which launches next week! After our livestream reveal, community streamer ZiggyD hosted a live Q&A with Chris Wilson to answer the community's burning questions. In this news post, we've summarised their discussion and rounded up other questions that have been asked by the community in the last 48 hours.

If you missed it, you can check out the full Q&A with ZiggyD and Chris below.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h3]How does The Maven's gameplay progression work? Does it occur alongside the Sirus/Watchstone progression?[/h3]
The Maven's progression is not tied to Sirus/Watchstone progression. After your first encounter with the Maven, you can call her to witness map boss kills using her beacon on the map device. Her presence makes the boss more difficult.

From time to time, you will be invited to the Maven's arena to fight an escalating number of bosses in the arena (3, 4, 5, 6 and 10). The 10 boss fight is repeatable and can be farmed. After the 10 boss fight, you may have the opportunity to fight the Maven herself.

The progression is on a per region basis with each successful fight in the Maven's arena awarding two passive points which can be allocated to the Atlas Tree for that region.

[h3]How do progression and rewards work for The Maven in party play?[/h3]
If you invite the Maven to witness a boss fight and complete that fight with other members of your party, they'll also be counted as having completed that fight. You can also take on the bosses simultaneously with a party, but the success of that fight is awarded to the instance owner.

[h3]How exactly are bosses captured for use in The Maven's Challenge?[/h3]
When you enter a map, you can click the Maven's Beacon on the map device to summon her to witness your fight. If you're successful, this boss will automatically be counted as witnessed. Once The Maven has witnessed enough boss fights in that region, an item will drop that allows you to travel to her arena to fight those bosses again.

[h3]The Maven seems like the expansion to the Sirus and Conquerors endgame in a similar fashion to how the Elder was an expansion to the Shaper endgame. Can we expect Maven's story to be connected to the Sirus arc or is this more independent?[/h3]
The Maven's storyline exists in parallel with the Conqueror's storyline. Lorewise, the Maven is an Eldritch entity and more of a continuation of the Elder storyline, which is separate from Sirus and the Elderslayers.

[h3]How will the boss fights be scaled in difficulty within The Maven's arena fights?[/h3]
The first invitations are quest items to progress through the increasing number of bosses you are fighting in her arena. After you have first completed the 10 boss fight, you have the chance to receive invitation items which can have mods and are craftable, allowing you to scale the difficulty of that fight. You cannot have duplicates of the same boss in the Maven arena, and the bosses are scaled to a fixed monster level based on the number you're fighting at once.

[h3]Yesterday's reveal mentioned The Maven is the “first” - is this planned as an expandable system?[/h3]
The Eldritch entities have noticed that the Elder is missing. The Maven is the first to come seeking us but she may not be last.

[h3]Can the Maven witness unique map bosses?[/h3]
No.

[h3]Does the tier of the map boss affect the captured boss, like how Watchstones alter tiers of maps? [/h3]
The Maven's challenges have fixed monster levels, so the tier of the map doesn't directly impact the level of the map boss when you fight it again. Harder Maven challenges do also require that you capture bosses in higher-tier maps though.

[h3]How will bosses with more complex attacks, such as Rigwald's Wolf Barrage, Shock and Horror, Konley the Unrepentant, function in the arena? [/h3]
Boss skills that are usually tied to that boss's arena have generally been adjusted to make sense in the context of the Maven's challenges rather than being removed entirely. Exactly how this was done was on a case-by-case basis.

[h3]How does the Maven interact with twinned maps? [/h3]
Upon defeating both bosses, the Maven will add one copy to her challenge.

[h3]Can we instruct the Maven to witness boss fights on maps occupied by Elder Guardians?[/h3]
Yes.

[h3]What happens if you die in The Maven's Challenge? Can you re-enter the arena? [/h3]
It's opened from the Map Device and there are six portals like normal. You can re-enter if you have enough portals left.


[h3]Are trees specific to each region of the atlas?[/h3]
Yes. Each region has its own fixed tree, and only applies its bonuses to maps within that region. You earn passive points for each tree separately. However, Atlas respec points (which come from an Orb) are not region-specific.

[h3]At what stage will we unlock our Atlas regions? Around Awakener Level 8?[/h3]
Awakener Level 8 is a good estimate for when you will be able to unlock all passives in all regions. You will be able to unlock a full region tree for a single region well before that.

[h3]With Atlas Passive Trees being specific to each region, does this mean that, for example, you'd only find Beyond in the Lex Proxima tree and no other?[/h3]
Each Atlas tree is unique. However, some mechanics appear in multiple regions' trees.

[h3]Do the mechanics modified by Atlas Passive Trees still spawn randomly, or can they only spawn by using the trees?[/h3]
They still spawn randomly in any map, at the same rates as they previously did.

[h3]Do Zana's map device crafting options still exist?[/h3]
Yes, they work as they always have. The set of Zana mods available during patch 3.13 will be revealed this week.

[h3]This seems like a substantial step up in complexity with craftable Watchstones and Atlas Passive Trees alongside the current Watchstone progression systems - How do you feel the average or newer players handle the current Atlas and will handle this? [/h3]
The craftable Watchstones are optional content that do not lock your progression and are introduced well into the endgame. Players that want to maximise their Watchstone bonuses will have a reasonable understanding of the mechanic by the time craftable variants are introduced. Both Atlas Passive Trees and craftable Watchstones are also permanent features that do not require continual upkeep or time investment.

[h3]How do you obtain Atlas respec points?[/h3]
A new currency item will grant them. This item will drop randomly, but there are also more deterministic methods of obtaining them which you may discover while playing.

[h3]How hard is it to respec the Atlas Passive Trees? Is it something players would need to adjust often or leave intact most of the time? [/h3]
There is a currency item which will allow you to respec your atlas passives. How often you want to change your passives is up to the player and what they determine to be profitable.


[h3]How can I track which Watchstones and Atlas Passive Trees are affecting my maps? [/h3]
When you put a map into the map device, there will be a pop-up that shows which stats are being applied to it by the Atlas Passive Trees and Watchstones.

[h3]Is there a limit to the number of craftable Watchstones you can use at once?[/h3]
You can replace all possible Watchstones with craftable Watchstones. Note that each Watchstone is locked to a specific Atlas region. This will be indicated in the Watchstone's name. The idea behind this is to prevent optimal gameplay involving constant shuffling of Watchstones around your atlas.

[h3]Can I use multiple of the same type of craftable Watchstone in the same region at once?[/h3]
Yes, and the effects of their mods will stack.

[h3]Do craftable Watchstones ever expire or need replacing?[/h3]
No.

[h3]Are craftable Watchstones tradeable?[/h3]
Yes.

[h3]Do craftable Watchstones contribute to Awakener level?[/h3]
Yes.

[h3]Can you find craftable Watchstones before you get all normal Watchstones?[/h3]
You can find and use craftable Watchstones before you receive your 32 Conquerors' Watchstones but you're unlikely to find many yourself before you receive the complete set of Conquerors' Watchstones.

[h3]What items can the Maven's Orb be used on?[/h3]
Any influenced body armour, helmet, gloves or boots with at least two influence modifiers. Legacy modifiers or modifiers that can't be changed (e.g. suffixes on an item with the “Suffixes can't be changed” mod) aren't valid.

[h3]What mods exactly can the Maven's Orb upgrade?[/h3]
It can upgrade any influence-specific mod. A tier 3 mod will be replaced with its tier 2 version, for example. If it selects a tier 1 mod to upgrade, it will replace it with a new "elevated" mod that has even stronger effects.

[h3]How does the Maven's Orb interact with items that have multiple influence types?[/h3]
It doesn't distinguish between different influence types in any way. For example, if you use it on an item with three Shaper modifiers and three Redeemer modifiers, it will still just pick one modifier to remove and one to upgrade at random.

[h3]Can elevated mods be transferred with an Awakener's Orb?[/h3]
Yes.

[h3]Roughly how rare is the Maven's Orb? [/h3]
Similar to the Awakener's Orb.


[h3]Who gets the rewards in Ritual when playing in a party?[/h3]
The instance owner gets to choose the rewards.

[h3]Can party members view the Favours window (where you select your rewards)?[/h3]
Yes.

[h3]Can you defer more than one Ritual item? [/h3]
Yes.

[h3]Can you defer an item more than once?[/h3]
Yes.

[h3]Is there an indicator in the Favours window that displays when something has been deferred from a previous area? [/h3]
Yes.

[h3]What happens when two people are in an area with a Ritual and one of them is not in the Ritual Circle?[/h3]
All players must be within the Ritual Circle when the Ritual starts to participate in it.

[h3]Can you leave a Ritual before the fight is over?[/h3]
You can portal out or close the game client at any time.

[h3]Can you 'fail' at a Ritual? [/h3]
If all players within the Ritual die or have left, then it fails. You can come back and spend any Tribute you did earn before it failed.

[h3]Can you lose access to the rewards you've deferred? [/h3]
If a deferred reward comes up again in a later area, you should either purchase it or defer it again. If you don't defer it again, it doesn't completely vanish immediately, but it does recover some of its original cost. If you allow it to get all the way back to its starting value, then it will stop reappearing for you.

[h3]Are we intended to pull monsters to the Ritual sites? [/h3]
No, a Ritual will spawn near monsters and will also spawn extra monsters around the altar. You must clear these monsters before you can start the Ritual. After activating the altar, you must kill the monsters again while fighting against the effects of the ritual. Each subsequent ritual in an area will include the previously-fought monsters as part of the ritual encounter to make them progressively harder to complete. Pulling other monsters into the Ritual site will not cause them to be added to the Ritual.

[h3]Do items from the Favours window use the new high-quality Rare item generation system?[/h3]
Some Favours will use the smart loot generation system, but it depends on the type of item. There's quite a variety of stuff offered, so it only makes sense on some.

[h3]Do the set of Favours offered persist throughout an area, or do they change between Rituals? [/h3]
All items appear in the first Favours window, but some are shrouded initially. These more expensive and advanced items will be unlocked after completing later Rituals in an area.

[h3]Do any Ritual-specific rewards, such as the new bases or uniques, drop from monsters during Rituals, or are they only purchasable with Tribute?[/h3]
All of the new rewards introduced in Ritual are purchasable with Tribute and do not drop from monsters in a Ritual encounter.

[h3]Ritual Vessels capture monsters from a ritual site to use in later maps. Is this 'instead' of doing the Ritual, or just afterwards with nothing lost?[/h3]
After completing a Ritual, you have the chance to 'capture' its monsters using a Vessel which can be used on a map to improve its challenge and rewards.

[h3]Do Ritual vessels apply the captured monsters to all Ritual sites in a new map? Can you then use a vessel to capture those again plus the new monsters from the map… stacking vessels again and again?[/h3]
You can only use Ritual Vessels in a map that does not currently have a Vessel active.

[h3]Are there always three Rituals per zone, or does the number of Rituals per zone increase as you progress through the story? [/h3]
The number of Ritual Altars in an area does scale slightly as you progress, with a current cap of 4 Altars.

[h3]Will there be any Sextant mods that affect the amount of Ritual points you get whenever the Ritual Mechanic spawns in the map?[/h3]
There are no Ritual-specific sextant mods. However, mods that increase the number of monsters in a map will impact how many monsters you encounter in a Ritual.

[h3]How is the barrier around the Ritual Circle enforced? [/h3]
You cannot enter or exit it. But it doesn't hurt you.


[h3]Bearing in mind we are going to have huge Ascendancy rework, what about the Scion?[/h3]
The Scion has been included in the rework, and we think she's in a good place now.

[h3]How does Battlemage interact with Spellslinger?[/h3]
The damage from Battlemage and Spellslinger add together.

[h3]How does the Primal Aegis skill on Elementalist's Bastion of Elements passive work?[/h3]
Similarly to the existing Aegis skills. While the Aegis is active, it absorbs incoming elemental damage from hits instead of you. The Aegis will be restored to full if it doesn't take elemental damage from hits for a short time.

It's also worth noting that recharge for all Aegis skills now can't be interrupted if they're completely depleted. The recharge time is 5 seconds on Primal Aegis, unlike other Aegises. The amount of damage Primal Aegis can absorb is based on how many notable passives you have allocated.


[h3]When does Harvest content start?[/h3]
Harvest content can only be found in maps.

[h3]With the rework to the Harvest system removing the gardening side of things, how will the Oshabi questline and subsequent fight be accessed?[/h3]
Occasionally, a portal to the Sacred Grove will contain the Oshabi fight. Her rewards have been rebalanced to reflect this change.

[h3]How will I locate the pairs of harvests in the Grove? [/h3]
They appear on the minimap.


[h3]In Heist, the meta for getting the most value out of the system centered around 'splitting' valuable blueprints and running them infinitely for massive amounts of currency, will this change in Echoes of the Atlas?[/h3]
You can still split copies of Blueprints. However, the copies are no longer fully revealed, requiring you to acquire and spend reveals and markers again in order to maximise their rewards. Rewards from contracts and blueprints have also been rebalanced.

[h3]Do we still get to use the Heist locker? [/h3]
Yes.

[h3]Have you been able to solve the technical issues that required The Rogue Harbour to become private?[/h3]
Yes, we have been able to fix the problems that forced us to temporarily make this area not public.


[h3]Will Sirus stay in the game?[/h3]
Sirus' place in the endgame hasn't changed for now. The Echoes of the Atlas endgame content runs in parallel to the Conquerors of the Atlas content, rather than replacing any of it. That content may be removed from Path of Exile in the future.

[h3]What are the redacted items in the news schedule? [/h3]
They are 'Atlas Passive Trees' and 'Ascendancy Classes'. We'll reveal the Atlas Passive Trees tomorrow and the Ascendancy Classes the day after.

[h3]Can we have the awesome background for the livestream as a wallpaper?[/h3]
Yes, we'll get this sorted and share it in the news as soon as possible.

[h3]Does the resonance on Trinity Support have a cap?[/h3]
Yes, each element's resonance is capped at 50.

[h3]How does ignite scale when you have Blackflame equipped?[/h3]
It works like a "damage taken as X" stat. Essentially, your ignites will scale with your own fire/burning damage stats as usual and not with chaos damage stats. However, the monster's damage taken will be scaled by chaos damage affecting stats like chaos resistance and wither (and not by fire resistance, etc).

[h3]Are Alpha testers eligible for prizes in league start competitions? [/h3]
No.

[h3]As this expansion is boss-driven, will there be rebalance of experience and item drops for boss encounters? [/h3]
Experience and items that gained from bosses have not been rebalanced, as we don't expect these fights to take significantly more time to complete.

[h3]Will you ever implement the trade website in-game?[/h3]
This is not against our philosophy about trade and we would like to include this at some point, but from a technical perspective this will take some time.

[h3]Do you have any thoughts on support characters? [/h3]
It is really important to see a diversity of playstyles. Our team has a lot of love for support characters so there will likely be more for them in the future.

[h3]Are there going to be stash tabs for Heist, Harvest and Ritual?[/h3]
There are no new stash tabs being introduced at this time.

[h3]Will the new maps add 11 to the maximum Atlas completion bonuses?[/h3]
Yes. Well actually 10, since Hall of Grandmasters no longer grants completion bonuses in 3.13.

In the Ritual League you'll have the option to complete 40 new challenges and earn exclusive microtransaction rewards. At 12, 24 and 36 challenges you will earn the Ritual Weapon Effect, Ritual Character Effect and Ritualist's Hideout respectively. Completing challenges also grants you pieces of the Ritual Totem Pole Hideout decoration.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

You'll be able to check out the full list of challenges to complete for these rewards when Path of Exile: Ritual launches on PC on January 15th (PST) !