Path of Exile News

We wanted to give an update talking about how the launch went and what we’re immediately working on.

Over the weekend we launched Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas. We are so thrilled to see the number of people who joined us for launch day. Welcome back, Exiles!

Starting with the elephant in the room, unfortunately our European servers have been facing a barrage of DDOS attacks. We understand that this issue has ruined such an anticipated launch for many players. This is unacceptable service and we are deeply sorry. We want to assure you that we are taking this very seriously and it is the highest priority problem for our company to solve. Due to the nature of these attacks, we’re unable to provide a timeframe on when it will be resolved but we do want to acknowledge that we do see the issue and are doing everything we can to mitigate this.

Another thing we caught just prior to the launch was an issue with our final console builds which did not affect our internal realms so couldn’t have been caught sooner than it was. Because this required brand new builds to be created, tested and then certified, this process took quite a long time to fix, but the console realms are now fully operational and players are able to login and play. We are implementing measures to prevent this occurring in the future.

While our system administration and backend team address the issues with the European servers, our development team continues to monitor feedback. Currently the leading issue we’re looking to address with the league is that a number of Mercenary skills, especially once you get to the middle of the campaign start to deal overwhelming amounts of damage to the player, often instantly killing you, you should expect a patch in the near future that puts all these skills more in line. This will not affect the Mercenary balance when they are your ally.

Additionally we’re looking at making some improvements to the Memory Skills granted in maps influenced by The Originator, we’ll have more updates on this later this week.

We also just wanted to give a huge thank you to all our players, be it those who have returned to play Path of Exile after a year with no expansions, and all those who are new to the game.

We’re very excited to not only once again be delivering content, but playing the game alongside you all.

Thank you Exiles!

Since the Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas reveal last week we’ve continued to make changes to the Mercenaries league. One such change is the introduction of the Renown system. We’ve made a quick video for you to checkout but if you’d prefer to read it at your own pace we’ve included that too!

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As you defeat Mercenaries, you will gain Renown among the Trarthan arrivals to Wraeclast. Successfully defeating a Mercenary will push you up one rank of Renown, to a maximum of three, whereas either losing or backing out of a fight will cost you one rank.

Backing out means that you speak to a Mercenary, view their gear and skills, then walk away and never fight that Mercenary. Returning to them in the same area will allow you to fight them without penalty. Only leaving and never returning to fight them will cost you Renown as they will spread the word of your cowardice amongst the other Trarthans.

For each rank of Renown that you have, you have increased odds of encountering Infamous Mercenaries, who come from far and wide to test their mettle against you.

Infamous Mercenaries are tougher fights, but have better Rucksack loot, are equipped with more powerful rare items, always have at least one unique item equipped and are the only source of Infamous modifier items.

As we mentioned in our FAQ post, you will also encounter Infamous Mercenaries more often in maps with higher numbers of modifiers, to reward you for making the content more difficult.

To spot an Infamous Mercenary, keep an eye out for this fancier golden border, as well as the prefix "Infamous" before their archetype!

Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas will launch on PC and Console soon! In this news post, we’ve gathered all the information you need to know about what happens on launch day and how to start downloading early.

The PC realms will go down and patching begins at: 10am June 13th PDT

The servers go live for PC and Console at: 1pm June 13th PDT

The above times are displayed in your local time zone. You’ll need to be logged into your account to see these. To change your local time, go to “My Account”, “Manage Account” and “Edit Preferences”.

If the time zone is displaying incorrectly for you, please disregard the above timer and refer to the countdown on the front page. Three hours before the end of the countdown, the realm will go down and patching will begin shortly after. When the countdown ends, the servers will be live and you'll be able to join the Mercenaries League.

The patch size for the update will be around 9.6GB on the standalone client, Steam and Epic. The estimated size of the patch for Consoles is 10GB.

We’re aiming to have predownload available for our console players prior to the release, keep an eye out for this.

We’ve also made a torrent available for PC. Please keep in mind that this method, while available earlier, makes it a larger update as it includes all the existing client content. When patching begins for Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas you’ll also have a few remaining files that you’ll need to update as well.



This torrent only includes the GGPK file, so you’ll need to copy it into your actual install folder once the patching server is up, no earlier than three hours before Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas launches. Please note that you can’t use this GGPK file with the Steam client, Epic client and macOS.

In case you’ve missed it, since posting we have updated the Item Filter post, be sure to check out the changes before launch if you maintain your own Loot Filters!

This is also your last chance to get the Settlers of Kalguur Mystery Box! It will leave the store when Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas launches! If you need some extra points, check out the new Cryptkeeper and Phrecian Magistrate Supporter Packs.

In case you still haven’t decided which build to play, check out the Class subsection on the forum for suggestions from the community. Many of our community streamers are also providing build guides on YouTube!

We can’t wait to see your latest adventures through Wraeclast. We’ll see you at launch!