Path of Exile News

Earlier this week, we announced Path of Exile: Harvest which is set to launch on June 19. In this league, you'll assist Oshabi as she explores the mysterious powers of the Sacred Grove. In short, you'll plant seeds, encourage their growth, harvest the monsters within and use their Lifeforce as a powerful crafting resource.

In Harvest, you'll be able to find a seed cache in each area. When you're within a certain range of it, roots will appear beneath your feet and point you toward it to help you easily locate it. Open the cache, collect the seeds and enter Oshabi's portal to plant them in the garden alongside collectors.

Each seed has a different property which dictates which monster will spawn from it and which specific crafting resources that monster can create. Once a crop of plants is fully grown, you can harvest it and monsters will emerge. If you are able to slay these monsters, their Lifeforce can be used for crafting and to help grow higher tiers of seed.

The Sacred Grove gives you complete power over which seeds you'd like to plant, how many monsters you'd like to challenge yourself against at any one time and which crafting options you'd like to utilise. The crafting options provide benefits to characters at all levels and unlock means of power not seen before in Path of Exile.

We're really excited about introducing a league with a pace that differs from previous leagues and can't wait to see how players build their characters around these new crafting options.

[h3]Do seeds stack?[/h3]
Yes, identical seeds of the same level will stack in your inventory and in the seed storage within the grove. The level will be displayed on the seed in your inventory.

[h3]How do I make my plants grow?[/h3]
Seeds specify how many cycles of growth they require before they'll be ready to harvest. When you open a seed cache in the main game, it will count as one growth cycle within your garden. You don't need to enter your garden in order to make the seeds grow and their growth is not tied to the passage of time.

[h3]What happens if I don't plant my seeds, will they disappear?[/h3]
You can save them for as long as you'd like or even trade them to other players.

[h3]Do I have to Harvest my plants within a certain amount of time?[/h3]
No, they don't wither or die.

If I don't feel like tending my garden, what happens if I skip entering the garden for a map?
This has no negative effect on your garden; it just pauses your progress. You can leave it for as long as you'd like and return to it when you're ready.

[h3]How do I get garden equipment?[/h3]
You start with a small amount of each type of equipment to facilitate getting your garden started. Some is already placed in your garden to ensure that it's easy to learn how things work as you progress through the game. It's likely that you can use Lifeforce to purchase additional pieces of infrastructure.

[h3]Can I accidentally target my garden's infrastructure while I'm fighting monsters?[/h3]
You have a short window to activate as many Collectors as you'd like. After this window, you can't target anything else in your garden while monsters are alive. The exception to this is the portal to exit your garden in case you need to quickly flee the danger.

[h3]Will we be able to move or delete garden infrastructure if we'd like to change their placement?[/h3]
Yep!

[h3]Can I access the Sacred Grove from my hideout?[/h3]
Yes.

[h3]How many new crafting options does Harvest introduce?[/h3]
There are over 45 crafting categories, resulting in over 250 different possible craft effects.

[h3]How do I know which crafting options I'll get?[/h3]
Each seed states which category of crafting benefit it provides so that you can prioritise planting seeds which correlate to which crafting options you're interested in. When you slay the monsters from those seeds, their Lifeforce can be used to craft an outcome within that category. The specific outcomes you received are listed on the crafting screen. The more Lifeforce you have in your collector from this fight, the more options you'll be able to use out of the set you received.

For example, if you plant eight seeds that grant 'Reveals a random Physical modifier crafting effect when Harvested', slay those monsters and gather their Lifeforce - you'll be presented with different options with outcomes like "Reforge a rare item with new random modifiers, including a Physical modifier", "Augment a Magic or Rare item with a new Physical modifier", "Remove a Physical modifier from an item" or "Randomise the numeric values of the random properties of Physical modifiers on an item". You may have multiple uses of some of these, based on the randomly determined outcome of each seed. There will be a total of 8 outcomes, including the multiple uses, though you'll usually not have enough Lifeforce to use them all. But you'll hopefully get and be able to afford the one you really wanted.

[h3]Does Harvest crafting also benefit low level players?[/h3]
Yes. Tending your garden from the earliest stages of the game provides powerful benefits to both leveling and end-game characters. We want the items you craft to be very powerful and to provide a huge boost for getting through the storyline content.

For example, Exalted Orbs are powerful currency items that are generally only available in the end-game. Some Harvest crafts allow you to effectively Exalt your items with specific mods - for example, Exalting a physical modifier onto the item.

Normally, Exalted Orbs are very rare due to a combination of their power, tradeability, and that they work on any item. If we drop too many early in the game, they'll lose a lot of their value. However, we can give a lot of 'Physical Exalts' early in the game through Harvest as they can only be used on lower level items and don't have any implications for Endgame items. By end-game, the 'Physical Exalts' become rarer again because their value rises exponentially as they affect more items.

Harvest crafts effectively allow you to Exalt your gear while leveling (alongside dozens of other similar powerful outcomes), which is unprecedented in Path of Exile.

[h3]How do I get Tier 2 seeds?[/h3]
Monsters that emerge from Tier 1 plants have a chance to drop Tier 2 seeds when slain. The same principle applies for Tier 3 and Tier 4 seeds.

[h3]Do monsters from the garden also drop items?[/h3]
Yes! The main reward for tending your garden is powerful crafting options, but you'll also receive regular items and potentially some Harvest-specific uniques. The item drop rate of monsters in the garden is higher than that of regular monsters in the main game (because they're league content).

[h3]What's the motivation for killing more monsters?[/h3]
The more monsters you kill, the more seed drops you get and the more Lifeforce you can collect for your crafting session. Any leftover Lifeforce can be stored and used to yield higher tier plants. Slain monsters also grant experience and item drops as usual, and larger fights result in larger bonuses to item drops.

We are also experimenting with creating a system that means that the more monsters you kill at a time, the more item drops and Lifeforce you get relative to the size of the Harvest. This would be displayed as a list of stats below the Collector's harvest button - similar to the list of stats next to the Metamorph 'power bar'.

[h3]Will there be some way to know when your plants are ready to Harvest without visiting your garden?[/h3]
We're currently working on some kind of signal within the UI that will alert you when you have a collector that's near plants that are ready to Harvest. Its exact implementation is currently in progress and we'll confirm the final details as soon as they are decided.

[h3]How do I get to my garden?[/h3]
When you open a seed cache, Oshabi will appear from her portal. You can walk through it to access your garden or alternatively, enter it from your hideout.

[h3]Will my garden ever reset?[/h3]
No, your garden has a set size from the beginning. You'll always access the same one but it will continue to evolve as you develop your garden. You can move infrastructure and plants around if you put them in the wrong place.

[h3]Can I access my stash in the garden?[/h3]
Yes - You can craft items that are stored in your stash, but cannot remove or add items to the stash if you're in a map.

[h3]Can I re-enter the garden if I die?[/h3]
Yes, unless you're in a Hardcore league of course. The monsters will remain until the instance closes.

[h3]How does it work in parties?[/h3]
You will be able to access your party members' gardens by entering Oshabi's portal. We are still working out the details for how seed drop allocation will work when a player opens the seed cache as well as how that will affect an individual player's progress toward growing their plants.

[h3]Am I able to access my garden from my other characters?[/h3]
Yes, you have one garden per league that each of your characters within that league can access. However, your plants will only grow if you're opening seed caches that are from a level similar to the level of the plants in your garden. For example, you can't progress your level 82 seeds while you're in the Mud Flats.

[h3]Do your map mods affect the monsters in your garden?[/h3]
We're still working out the finer details of this so can't confirm anything just yet.

[h3]Can Delirium affect the monsters in your garden?[/h3]
Our intention is that Delirium can spread through your garden and the timer will be paused if all players in the instance are inside the Grove.

[h3]When I enter Oshabi's portal will I have to wait for a loading screen?[/h3]
No, it works similar to Incursion and loads instantly.

[h3]ZiggyD's live Q&A[/h3]
Just in case you missed it, ZiggyD hosted a live Q&A with Lead Developer, Chris Wilson, where they talked in more depth about what to expect from Harvest. Check out the video below!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In Path of Exile: Harvest, we're introducing several new Brand skills and one Brand support gem. We've also reworked existing Brands and reviewed how their mechanics work. Today's news covers what changes to expect and provides a preview of the new Brand gems.

[h2]Changes to Brands[/h2]
Brands were first introduced many leagues ago with Storm Brand and Armageddon Brand. Brands are all cast on a location and attach to nearby enemies, repeatedly activating to perform their unique effect. They detach if the enemy dies, ready to jump to another target.

We've finally added some new Brand skills: Arcanist Brand, Penance Brand and Wintertide Brand. These come alongside new options for how you can build and play Brands, like the new Swiftbrand Support. These additions introduce a more aggressive, active play style.

[h2]Arcanist Brand[/h2]
Arcanist Brand is a new Brand skill that also supports any triggerable spell linked with it. Each time the Brand activates, it triggers a supported spell, allowing you to build your own Brand setup, potentially even triggering multiple different spells in succession.

As Brand mechanics naturally have great clearing capacity, the supported skills have less area, projectile range and chain range. Triggered spells have a damage penalty, to balance their ability to activate multiple times. The triggered spells also deal more damage to the branded enemy.

Projectiles will hit the branded enemy, but will aim at another nearby enemy each activation, so they often take advantage of Pierce, Chain and Fork effects.

Arcanist Brand has a shorter duration than other Brands, so isn't something you'd use on any build to passively trigger effects, but when building for Brands it can be very powerful. Like other Brands, Cast Speed affects activation rate, so it benefits from most spellcaster investment.

[h2]Penance Brand[/h2]
Penance Brand builds up energy on the branded target with each activation, though at first the activations don't deal any damage. Each activation also spreads energy to another enemy, and then that enemy can then spread it to another uncharged enemy the next activation, and so on. This means that with repeat activations it can rapidly spread through a group of enemies, energizing them all.

When the Brand is removed (for example, by its duration expiring, it being recalled, the target dying or being replaced), all of the energy is released. This releases an explosion around each enemy dealing physical damage with a portion converted to lightning. The more energy the enemy had on it, the greater the damage and area. You can pick and choose which mechanics to focus on to detonate your Penance Brands.

If the branded enemy becomes fully energised, they'll start pulsing damage around them, so reaching full charge won't waste any damage.

You can shorten the duration of the Brand to have them automatically go off after a brief time, or use Brand Recall to force detonations when you detach the Brand.

[h2]Wintertide Brand[/h2]
Wintertide Brand applies Cold Damage over time to the branded enemy and chills them. Each activation, the Brand's damage effect becomes more intense on that enemy.

When the Brand is removed (such as when its duration expires, it is recalled, the target dies or the Brand is replaced), the damage over time effect is released in an area. This affects both the branded enemy (if they're still alive) and all other enemies around them. This means that if the damage effect has grown in intensity through many activations, it could apply a very potent damage over time effect in an area.

Unlike other Brands, Wintertide Brand has a base limit of two Brands per target. With the Runebinder keystone you could apply three Wintertide Brands to a single target for massive cold damage over time. This means that your character's build will be quite different from other cold damage over time skills, but the duration based nature of Brands means you can easily cast a cold skill like Vortex, Cold Snap or Arctic Breath in between refreshing your Brand effect.

[h2]Swiftbrand Support[/h2]
The Swiftbrand Support greatly lowers the active and inactive duration of a Brand, but increases its activation rate. For a single Brand being cast once, it's not as good as other supports, but if you're rapidly placing many Brands, it's a huge damage increase. You can play a much more aggressive Brand playstyle with this support.

It also works very well with Penance Brand to rapidly detonate, as well as Armageddon Brand to make the most of its short cast time.

[h2]Brand Recall and Brand Mechanic Adjustments[/h2]
Brand Recall still instantly moves your Brands to you and activates them, but no longer refreshes the Brand's duration. It now consumes mana based on the Brands recalled. This prevents Brands benefiting heavily from the Archmage Support without the same mana upkeep the Support usually requires.

We generally feel that if a common build has ongoing damage with very little input, it should deal below average damage or require massive investment. Certain Brand builds that instantly refreshed Brand duration indefinitely provided too much power for their opportunity cost. Rather than lowering the damage of these builds, we've changed the mechanics that let the build be played passively. The cooldown of Brand Recall has been lengthened, but we've also provided new avenues of investment so that you can still bring it down to a similar length.

As a small change to remove some more of the potential passivity of Brands, Brands now return to their original or recalled location when dropped by monsters, rather than the dropped monster's location. This puts a greater focus on Brand Attachment Range, and prevents the Brand from disappearing into the distance while killing monsters you've yet to see.

Check out Brands in action by watching this video:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We've made many other changes like visual improvements to Armageddon Brand, a new Brand passive cluster, tweaks to existing Brand passives and a crazy new unique weapon. We'll be revealing many of these as well as additions to Warcries and Slams in the lead-up to the release of Path of Exile: Harvest.

In Path of Exile: Harvest, Oshabi is cultivating the Sacred Grove, an ancient garden of mysterious power. You must plant seeds that grow into dangerous enemies and use their Lifeforce to craft powerful items. This expansion also contains powerful new crafting options, 8 new skills, 2 new support gems, revamps of Two-handed Weapons, Warcry skills, Brands, Slams and the Passive Skill Tree itself. We've also introduced 12 new unique items and rebalanced over 50 existing ones. Please check out the announcement page, watch the trailer and check out the new supporter packs!

We have finished our press tour, having shown our next expansion to 19 news outlets. The journalist embargo lifts at 2pm PDT (9am NZ time) tomorrow, so we'll post the announcement/trailer simultaneously alongside the journalists posting their detailed information and interviews. Keep an eye on your favourite news sites tomorrow to see their coverage!

We will also launch a new set of supporter packs on PC that are themed around the new content. In addition, be sure to tune into ZiggyD's stream when the announcement goes live to learn more about the expansion and watch a live Q&A with Chris Wilson.

See you at the announcement! We can't wait to show you what we've been working on!

In just a few days we'll be announcing our next expansion! Alongside the 3.11 expansion announcement we'll introduce a new set of Supporter Packs on PC, which means you have only a little time left to consider whether to purchase the current Delirium Supporter Packs. It's also still possible to set up a payment plan to reserve a desirable pack for you. Find out more about your options here. In the meantime, have a look at the concept art of these Supporter Packs we've prepared for today.